[Jester]

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Originally Posted by Jeddostotle7

Again, I don't think Stormtroopers are supposed to be quite as elite as you t hink, and they definitely aren't just Vader's personal army.

That's not at all what I'm arguing. My points are 1: that Stormtroopers, by their name and design, are space-borne shock troops, not regular infantry, and 2: the only reason they were patrolling a little hole-in-the-sand like Mos Eisley in the first place was because they'd been deployed there by Darth Vader (who, as the Emperor's personal attack-dog, has a certain amount of leeway in Stormtrooper deployment) to search for the stolen Death Star schematics. The "Special Edition" of ANH basically confirms this with the Imperial troop dropship flying away in the background when the troopers find evidence of droids.

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Originally Posted by Jeddostotle7

I know this isn't in the films, but in Star Wars Rebels, sometimes after a firefight between the crew of the Ghost and Stormtroopers, it would show some of the Stormtroopers (emphasis on some) get back up afterwards. Now, I know this isn't Disney trying to shy away from death on a kids' show, because there are definitely many times on the show when there are people (including Stormtroopers) very clearly being shown to die. But there are also definitely a couple of times where some Stormtroopers are shown to get back up after being shot. That's probably the effect of how Stormtrooper armor was designed, to disperse the energy of a blaster bolt, as I described earlier. We can probably use this information to assume that not every single Stormtrooper shot by people in the OT died as a result of being shot, that they were instead incapacitated, and the camera didn't stick around long enough to see them come to.

When Darth Vader boards the Tantive IV, some of the Stormtroopers appear to be checking on their downed comrades.

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Originally Posted by Jeddostotle7

Yeah, your point about cost-per-suit also holds weight, but it doesn't need to conflict with what I said earlier. Revised explanation: there's a limit to how strong they can make their armor before it's too bulky/heavy, unless they want to spend a relatively ludicrous amount on armoring their main (at least in the new canon, and inconsistently portrayed that way in the old EU) fighting force. One person spending a little extra on their armor to use duraplast instead of plastoid is a lot different than doing that for an army with billions or trillions of troops.

Pretty much.

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Originally Posted by Jeddostotle7

Eh, the only reason Palpatine's personal transport was chrome is because he's from Naboo. That's kinda their ship aesthetic.

Indeed.

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Originally Posted by En Sabah Nerd

Apparently the ship they made Phasma's armor out of was the one we saw in The Phantom Menace (or at least one identical in build) which is why her armor is all silver-chrome. So I think the idea is that it was made from Palpatine's ship as in his ship when he was still just senator Palpatine and not his ship when he was the Emperor. That ship design always bothered me since nothing in the OT, not even the good Imperial stuff, was that sleek and shiny.

Lucas supposedly wanted the less pragmatic designs of the PT to suggest that this was "a more civilized age."

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Originally Posted by deecee4

heh, yeah, pretty much. its sleek and cool (well the shf version is anyway, the bs version looks a little dumpy imo) but,i don't think many people would guess that he pilots a hover tank if they just saw the design by itself.

The combination of the tight-fitting bodyglove-top over baggy trousers is pretty weird (which reminds me: why the hell does FN-2187 have different boots than the other "First Order" Stormtroopers?)

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Originally Posted by deecee4

going back to the original trilogy, you can look look at the troopers without any sort of context and get an idea of what their function is on the visuals alone. the snow troopers look like they're well insulated to function in harsh climates, the biker scouts are less armored and lighter than the standard stormtrooper and have an almost bmx rider aesthetic to them.

Without any sort of context, I'd guess that the troops involved in the Hoth assault were not Stormtroopers but rather Imperial Army soldiers.

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Originally Posted by deecee4

that kind of thought and practicality for designs seems to be fading in favor of simply coming up with cool looking designs regardless of their job designation and function.

Oh, they've been doing that for decades now, but it only really started to get out of control after AOTC came out in theatres.