Stormtrooper (Star Wars) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Stormtrooper |
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| Star Wars characters | |
Stormtrooper cosplay at Romics 2013, Italy
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| First appearance | Star Wars (1977) |
| Created by | George Lucas |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male and female |
| Occupation | Soldiers |
| Affiliation | Galactic Empire First Order |
In the fictional Star Wars universe, Stormtroopers are highly trained soldiers working for the evil Emperor and his sidekick Darth Vader. They wear white armor and helmets, and use blaster guns.
Some of the Stormtroopers are clones (copies) of a man named Boba Fett. These clones used to be on the side of the good guys, but after being told by the Emperor to kill all the Jedi, they did, and afterwards became Stormtroopers. Regular men became Stormtroopers too.
Introduced in the original Star Wars film, the stormtroopers are the shock troops/space marines of the Galactic Empire, under the leadership of Emperor Palpatine. Accompanying the Imperial Navy, stormtroopers are able to be deployed swiftly and respond to states of civil unrest or insurrection, act as a planetary garrison, and police areas within the Galactic Empire. They are shown in collective groups of varying organizational sizes ranging from squads to legions and for some, their armour and training are modified for special operations and environments.
Description
- Modern Mandalorian (Jango Fett)
- Phase I clone trooper (RC-1140 "Fixer")
- Phase II clone trooper (Commander Gree)
- Imperial stormtrooper
- First Order stormtrooper
Imperial stormtroopers are men and women who have been recruited (or conscripted) at a young age to serve as expendable foot soldiers of the Empire, gradually replacing clone troopers as their accelerated aging forces them to retire. These recruits are trained at Imperial Academies spread out across the galaxy where they undergo intense conditioning that instills fierce loyalty, strict discipline and ruthless efficiency while removing any sense of individualism or empathy. As the backbone of the Imperial Army, stormtroopers are dreaded for their brutality. After subduing any remaining Separatist holdouts left over from the Clone Wars, stormtroopers primarily serve as an internal security and peacekeeping force until the Galactic Civil War where they start to engage the Rebel Alliance in large-scale battles.
Unable to conscript noventillions of soldiers to fill its stormtrooper ranks, yet unwilling to switch back to using rapidly produced clone troopers, First Order stormtroopers are bred, trained and indoctrinated from birth, raised their entire lives for no other purpose. First Order soldiers and crews have constantly trained for combat in war games and simulations, making them much more effective one-on-one than the endless waves of stormtrooper conscripts fielded by the Galactic Empire. First Order stormtroopers are regularly put through mental indoctrination and propaganda programs, to make sure that they remain fanatically loyal and never hesitate or question orders. Being taken from their families at birth, these soldiers are not even given individual names for themselves but merely serial numbers, such as "FN-2187".
Equipment
Standard Imperial stormtrooper armor is white and has a utility belt and helmet.
Weapons
The standard firearm for Imperial stormtroopers is the BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle, described in Star Wars sources as combining excellent range and firepower in a compact and rugged design. Features include a telescopic range-finding sight, accessory mounting rail, power setting adjuster, three-point folding stock, magnatomic adhesive pistol grip, and advanced cooling system. Plasma cartridges provide enough gas for 500 shots, though a standard power cell which energizes the gas to produce blaster bolts will last for approximately 100 shots. In addition to the E-11, stormtroopers employ a variety of different weapons as seen in the Star Wars films and other media. Examples include thermal detonators, sniper rifles, crew-served heavy repeating blasters, and mortars.
Both firing and non-firing prop models of the E-11 were based on the Mk 4 Sterling submachine gun, with approximately 20 models built for the first Star Wars movie A New Hope. External modifications to the Sterlings to transform them into blaster rifles varied based on the parts available but most were similar in design. This included an American Mk38 azimuth tank scope and a Hengstler industrial counter box affixed to the top and left side of the receiver respectively. The Sterling would continue to serve as the basis for or inspire other blaster rifle designs in the rest of the Star Wars films.
Background literature explains how the First Order's stormtroopers were armed in secret by the Sonn-Blas Corporation, a subsidiary of BlasTech Industries and Merr-Sonn Munitions created to circumvent the New Republic's disarmament treaties. Building on classic design templates, they are meant to possess greater battlefield accuracy, ammunition yields and operational lifespans. Examples include the F-11D blaster rifle, SE-44C blaster pistol, and FWMB-10 repeating blaster cannon. For subduing civilian populations, First Order stormtroopers will also carry ballistic riot shields and riot control batons.
Armor
As established in the original Star Wars trilogy of films, the troopers' most distinctive equipment is their white battle armor, which completely encases the body and typically has no individually distinguishing markings. According to in-universe reference material, this armor was developed and manufactured by the Imperial Department of Military Research, and consists of 18 white plastoid armor plates magnatomically attached to a black body glove. These plates are generally impervious to most projectile weapons and blast shrapnel, and will protect against glancing hits by other blaster rifles though a direct hit will penetrate. The armor also provides protection against inhospitable environments, including the vacuum of space for a short period of time. Their helmets are fitted with filtration systems for polluted environments, with hookups for incorporating an external atmospheric tank while operating in space or to filter potent toxins. The helmets also include built-in communication system and multi-frequency targeting and acquisition system linked to in-lens displays that provide tactical information, protection from excessive brightness, and vision modes for seeing through smoke, fire and darkness.
Based on conceptual drawings by Ralph McQuarrie, Liz Moore and Nick Pemberton sculpted designs for the helmet, Brian Muir sculpted armor pieces for the stormtrooper costume. Muir, who was also responsible for sculpting the Darth Vader costume, worked out of the Art Department at Elstree Studios. The suit was molded and initially cast in plaster, with Muir sharpening the detail at the plaster stage. The plaster casts were then remolded and cast in fiberglass to use as the "tools" for the vacuum forming process. The suits were produced in house by Tashy Baines, the resident vacuum former, but then a problem developed with the machine. As Shepperton Design Studios had already been used to vacuum form the helmets, the fiberglass molds for the armor were then sent to them for vacuum forming the suits. By the end of production, two different helmets were produced; one for the common stunt trooper and a second design for close-ups. Fifty stunt helmets were produced in white-painted HDPE and six hero helmets were produced in white ABS plastic. Besides the material used, the two designs can be differentiated by differences in the eyes, the ears, and the mouth area.
The copyright status of the armor design has undergone legal challenges. A 2004 lawsuit by Lucasfilm against one of the original prop designers, Andrew Ainsworth, who had been selling helmet replicas, confirmed the design to be under copyright in the US. However, a 2011 UK court decision in Ainsworth's favor deemed the costume to be industrial design, which is protected there only for 15 years. This puts the armor design in the public domain in the UK, and likely throughout the European Union.
To differentiate the First Order stormtroopers from their earlier Imperial counterparts, the helmet and armor were redesigned for the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens by costume designer Michael Kaplan with input from director J. J. Abrams. Within the Star Wars setting, this armor is described as being an improvement over the previous iteration, including better joint design for greater flexibility, stronger betaplast armor plating, and upgraded helmet communication and targeting systems.
501st Legion
The 501st Legion Elite Stormtrooper Unit, or "Vader's Fist", is a stormtrooper unit from the Star Wars movies and Star Wars Legends continuity. Commanded by the ruthlessly cunning General Maximilian Veers and composed of the best trained soldiers in the Star Wars galaxy, the legion earned a fierce reputation for completing missions considered unwinnable. The 501st serves as Darth Vader's personal death squadron, whom he notably leads in the Jedi extermination. The 501st spearhead the assault upon the Tantive IV consular ship, and capture Princess Leia. During the Battle of Hoth, the 501st is instrumental in the destruction of the Rebel Alliance base, and nearly succeeds in capturing the Millennium Falcon. Most of the background story linked to the 501st comes from Star Wars novels, the games Star Wars: Battlefront II and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and the TV show Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
The elite 501st designation is resurrected by Grand Admiral Thrawn, who in the Thrawn trilogy is charged with the defense of the "Empire of the Hand" Imperial Remnant forces. Thrawn's 501st is composed of aliens and humans.
The Legion's name is based on a fan organization of the same name; their inclusion in the official continuity was based on the worldwide organization's dedication to Star Wars fandom.
Cultural impact
Stormtroopers have become cultural icons, and a widely recognized element of the Star Wars franchise. In 2015, an Imperial stormtrooper helmet from The Empire Strikes Back that was expected to sell at auction for $92,000 sold for $120,000. In 2019, a team of biologists named a new genus of Colombian spiders, Stormtropis, after the stormtroopers, noting the spiders, like the fictional soldiers, are "very similar to each other, with some capacity for camouflage but with unskillful movements". Stormtroopers also appear as cosmetic outfits in Fortnite.
Images for kids
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Cosplayers in Kylo Ren and First Order Stormtrooper costumes, as seen in The Force Awakens, at the 2015 Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest.
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Stormtrooper cosplayers in Paris, France (2015).
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Long Beach Comic & Horror Con 2011 - snowtrooper
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SWCA - Sandtrooper costume
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C2E2 2014 - Scout Trooper
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London Comic Con 2015 - Clone trooper
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See also
In Spanish: Stormtrooper para niños
