Stormtrooper armor
Just one more observation about Stormtrooper armor before we move on. I don’t want to push anyone’s buttons –it’s awfully easy to do that these days– but there is something cool about female cosplayers who don’t feel the need to “sex up” a costume or add frills and skin. At least, when it comes to replica costumes anyway. I have to admit, there are times when I’ve been at a convention or event and I have not known the gender of the stormtrooper until the bucket comes off. The midriff bearing Stormtroopers obviously make no functional sense, and for me that kind of detracts from the coolness of what a Stormtrooper is supposed to be.
And I just want to add, that although we poke gentle fun at the Royal Guards and Stormtroopers in BMS, I am one of those who subscribes to the theory that the Stormtroopers are great shots, they were just ordered to allow Princess Leia and co to escape on the Faclon due to the homing beacon. Never forget all those Rebel Fleet Troopers who were overwhelmed by the Stormtroopers at the beginning of the first film. Can I account for the Ewoks slaughtering the Stormtroopers in Return of the Jedi? Of course I can. Those Imperials at the bunker were dead drunk.
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I’ve heard this argument before and I think you need to look closer at the “Rebel Fleet Troopers” at the beginning of the movie. Those were *not* soldiers. Those were a bunch of cobblers, shopkeepers and waiters that were just tired of suffering under the Empire. Clearly the most the Rebellion could do for them was stick them in a uniform and push them out the door.
Although the colloquial term for them is Rebel Fleet Troopers, what these guys are, IMO are senatorial guards from Alderaan. Any Expanded Universe material saying they were some sort of coddled together militia seems to come from outside the film canon. Regardless, the Stormtroopers had no problem shooting these guys down and not missing. They even hit Princess Leia “there’s one, set for stun.” They kill the Jawas and Sand Crawler with blasts that are too precise for the untrained, non-professional Sand People. Obi-Wan’s words. The only time they fire and miss in the film is during the Death Star escape, which was an order from the top to allow them to escape so they could learn the true location of the Rebel base. So, the argument that they suck isn’t really as strong as it would seem when you really take these scenes into account.
It’s almost as if they’re just under the influence of plot armour the rest of the time, isn’t it? It’s kind of like arguing that Greedo was a terrible bounty hunter because he let Han shoot first. Which is what happened. But of course that’s what happened – how would they get to Alderaan without Han? They wouldn’t! At least, not unless they had someone else fly them there, but then why do we need to see Han?
It’s not that the Stormtroopers were terrible shots – it’s that the story required them to miss, and nobody, no matter how strong they are in the force, can overcome the power of the plotside.
Yes, I know. And the PLOT was that they were ordered to let Princess Leia’s rescuers escape. In the case of the ability to aim and hit targets, there is a legitimate reason why they miss during the Death Star hallways and hangar bay battles. Vader convinced Tarkin to let them escape because they could use them to locate the Rebel Base, which was the objective of the bad guys throughout the film. So the only time in the film that the Stormtroopers do a crap job is at Mos Eisley Spaceport when Han Solo is running up the ramp into the Falcon.
Even when Luke arrives at Cloud City, they are under orders to not to kill him.
It’s only on Endor that the Stormtroopers finally do look like idiots. They certainly aren’t as bad as the general public mis-remembers them as being. Therefore, with my tongue in my cheek, I rationalize the Endor Stormtroopers were drunk.
And can you blame them? A whole galaxy of civilized planets and they get stuck babysitting a force field generator on a planet run by teddy bears, I’d try drinking myself to death too.
Well, I think the number of Ewoks killed is also much higher than the movies shows us, since it only focuses on the death of Wicket’s buddy and his short grieving.
That said, Ewoks must have had some other advantage to have become the apex predator that they are. They seem to know and use camouflage well, and the complexity of the traps indicate that they had been planning this long before the Rebellion showed up. The main fault for the garrison failure is that the perimeter scouts were the true incompetents, and Imperial contempt meant they did not take seriously just how bad they were pissing off the locals, and didn’t bother to do more than cursory scans. I expect that Ewoks also would be very muscular, and would have to cover huge distances to gather enough food to support their villages (they do not farm).
I think people forget who the stormtrooper shoot at through the vast majority of the movies. The main characters. It wouldn’t make sense to have them getting shot up every hour they’re on screen. Even then Leia gets shot twice, R2 gets nailed as does 3PO. I bet if you took the % of shots fired that you see on screen at non main characters, their hit ratio is pretty high.
I love telling little girls when they come up to take pictures with our guys that the person in the armor is a woman. They get so excited knowing that.
I just figure there is enough wiggle room in the Cosplay Hobby to accommodate all tastes, budgets, and skill sets.
I get annoyed by those who are over-serious about what is acceptable and what isn’t.
I have to agree about the stormtroopers being ordered to not hit anyone in A New Hope…why? They only sent four TIEs to take out the Falcon. Why not send a whole wing? I mean, by the time the Falcon launched, they could have had dozens of ships waiting for them outside the hanger not to mention the Death Star’s own weapons.
Not to mention the fact that they didn’t close the exterior door to the Falcon, shut down its engines such as in Empire where they repair but then disable the hyperdrive. They don’t shut down the hanger itself. I presume for safety sake it has its own physical door and not just a shield screen to keep the air inside.
And while I will admit that most guns are not as hugely accurate as people think they are- none of them were hit?
Leia even offers up the perfect explanation “They let us go.”
Oh, and I’ve always thought stormtrooper armor was designed to intimidate and cause fear, not actually stop anything.
You guys are awesome!! I just found you Monday and spent all week at work reading from the beginning. Thank you for making this week awesome. Looking forward to many more strips.
Welcome to the Party. Come on in and enjoy.
I don’t recall exactly where I read it but it was many years ago about how trooper armor wouldn’t stop a direct hit (or it’d be too heavy to make cheaply to mass produce or allow troopers to move as freely as they did) but was designed to resist glancing shots,deflections or poor angle shots allowing the trooper to continue to fight where unarmored they’d be out of the fight if not dead.
basically a compromise between ease of use and protectiveness.
I had a thought a while ago. There’s the Luke Skywalker quote “I can’t see a thing in this helmet”, which combined with the shooting that was “too accurate for sandpeople” happening off screen only left me with one conclusion.
When the stormtroopers attacked the jawas they took their helmets off.
The rest of the time they’re half blind (the ewoks were below their sight line with the helmets on).
LOL. As Mr. Spock would say: “That seems logical.” 🙂
Huh. That and what Fnordius said up there should completely refute any tedious “Ewoks can’t defeat stormtroopers” argument.
It was my understanding already that there have always been female stormtroopers, even in the first movie (IV). It’s just there aren’t as many of them and they wear the same armor as the males so they are hard to spot.