[How to better present myself as an officer?]

For anyone agonizing too much about being a friendly officer, remember Rogue One gave us officers on Jedha who smiled, faffed about with their friends, and even played dice if I remember it right. Also, the  first Solo teaser gave us this friendly fellow.

 

[Uniform Malfuction]

That's an easy fix. If you only need to replace the hat disk, you can buy those separately.

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/485111550/code-disk-for-imperial-hat-greblie-with?ref=shop_home_active_3

 

or

 

https://www.wampawear.com/product/imperial-officer-hat/

[Uniform Malfuction]

The fastest turnaround will probably be a deluxe cosplaysky staff officer’s uniform. In my experience you can get one of those to your door in under a month. It’s rather luck-of-the-draw whether the uniform fits you though, so be ready to pull an allnighter hemming, especially the jodpuhrs. If you want a uniform that’s more likely to fit right out of the box, you can get a cosplaysky flight suit for Bridge Crew.

 

I don’t know how to get tall officer’s boots quickly. I had to get custom fitted ones, which was a bit of an ordeal. It would probably be easier to acquire the shorter Crew/Warrant officer boots. You can get those from imperialboots.com rather quickly.

 

Do you still have a hat that fits you? Somebody else could probably recommend a quick source for those. Wampawear maybe?

[How to better present myself as an officer?]

I find this difficult as well. So long as there are un-costumed handlers at the event, your responsibilities are only supplemental to theirs. Liaising with the crowd feels like the right thing to do, but I struggle to maintain the right demeanor. Scowling would probably be more in character, but I feel unapproachable when I do it. Often I can't help breaking into a smile. I'm genuinely thrilled to be doing this, and the enthusiasm at events is infectious.

 

Anyhow, I'm still very much figuring this out for myself as well, but I'd recommend just behaving in whatever way feels most natural for you. Don't give yourself a hard time. If you're more of an introvert, then just focus on looking good in photos, and let the handlers take care of the crowd.

[A Deep Aversion to Standing Armies]

I like this theory. Now, I'd like to see you tackle why shortly before the Battle of Endor, the Empire seems to have inexplicably promoted or demoted every serving officer to the rank of Captain. Was it some sort of "first among equals" doctrine gone mad?

[Krennic Belt]

If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that it’s because Krennic and Ben Mendelsohn, are both left handed.

[Simple question: why the Empire?]

As a child, the Tie Fighter computer game was the thin end of the wedge. It presented the imperial experience as being a vulnerable individual in the midst of an unsympathetic bureaucracy. While the imperial war machine taken as a whole seems overwhelming, individual bucket-heads can feel like underdogs when the films pit their paper thin ships and armor against the narrative invulnerability of the rebels. The empire feels more fallible, and therefore more interesting. To be honest I only started to take a shine to the rebels when Rogue 1 presented them with more vulnerability and moral ambiguity.