Full Series Will the stormtroopers be the new battle droids?

from what I've seen from the previews they don't look so good, there getting beaten by a kid, and there not the best at riding speeder bikes, the stormtroopers were pretty BA in the OT and EU, why do they look like crap now, there helmets aren't the best looking either.

 

Since the stormtroopers are supposed to be human recruits, then hopefully some will be more competent than others.

 

The Galactic Empire must be in so much dept to the Galactic Bank they force young men into tight fitting pointless "armor" that is so useless even Ewok sling shots and arrows do a number of them, with helmets they cant see outve . They do not bother to train them as they cant afford it all money goes to building those large Star Destroyers that are too slow and cumbersome but they're just good for enemy target practice. Stormtroopers are just handed a blaster or placed into toilet seat with a windshield and wings where eventually 1 stormtrooper or Tie Pilot will land an enemy kill due to shear numbers alone. Somewhere out there Darth Plagueis does his evil Skeletor laugh while Sidious is tucked away behind his desk eating pies.

 

"Will the Stormtroopers be the new battle droids?"

Oh, I so, so very much hope not (though I fear it may well be inevitable).

IMO, they really ought to be setter than that. Stormtroopers have never, never been meant to be portrayed as standard infantrymen, and have always been described as "elite." And I don't just mean the EU, either. Right now, as I speak, starwars.com describes Stormies as "elite shock troops..." (and goes on from there).

Before Rebels, we only saw Stormtroopers in the OT attached to the most prominent beings/deployed during the biggest missions (Tantive IV, Death Star, Hoth, Bespin at Vader's side/sent to Tatooine to secure the Death Star plans/the Emperor's trap on Endor, etc.), so nothing ever went against their description as specialists.

Now, I understand the need for cannon-fodder, and though I don't like the idea of using Stormtroopers in the role of a common foot-soldier, I get why the producers of Rebels want to use the iconic image of the Imperial Stormtrooper in their show.

So use them. Make them widespread and used for every common purpose, if you must. But they needn't be used for comic relief like the battle droids (particularly the B1) were, and boy did it start to get boring watching Jedi methodically cutting through row after row of battle droids like a hot knife through butter. Let's make these soldiers worthwhile and engaging, so that maybe we can feel something again whenever our heroes take out one of the "baddies."

 

Battle droids were the new stormtroopers, so I guess it'd be quite similar the other way around.

 

Well said, indeed! @ Trebor Sabreon. Please, someone give the Stormies and the Imperial officers some depth, already. It is ridiculous how paper-thin and incompetent most are presented. Make people see there are *people* on both sides of the war. War isn't a game.

 

Yea, but they look even dumber than in the movies , they all pause and/or do that dumb routine stare at the grenade until it goes off, sometimes they figure it out the micro-second before it goes off - it is as if thats this all part of their elite training. Maybe the plastic armor is toxic and their IQ drops every 24hrs for as long as they wear it....

 

I wonder how many 'knocking head on things' moments they'll have. Hm...

 

I'll say it again:

Stormtroopers in Rebels cannot be held to a higher standard than Stormtroopers in the OT, and that's not exactly the highest bar which is about as gentle as I can be about it.

This is science-fiction adventure, people. There have to be legions of bad guys for the good guys to mow down. Get with the program already.

 

How can these elite troopers be the new battle droids?

 

obviously Jax_the_Admiral wins this thread!

 

Tarkas: Interesting view. Perhaps not all share it. Why is 'mowing down' countless people 'adventurous'? I have always preferred the more philosophical and human elements of SW. I don't care about action.

 

The good vs evil stuff.
The lone hero has to fight the entire Empire by himself. The hero against overwhelming odds and prevails.
SW to some of us is a fun action/adventure good vs evil story.

 

Okay, thanks, FS. I don't see it so as I've said. For me SW is very grey and both 'sides' are pretty much the same but thanks for the clarification.

 

Anything by Stover usually fits the bill for that imo. SW can be anything anything you want to it be. Best thing about it imo. Fun action story one back, a romance in another, a comedy in another, horror, crime heist, chase etc. SW has something for everyone.

 

What Force Smuggler said plus it follows the lead of the forefathers of the genre Flash Gordon and John Carter: Warlord of Mars.

 

I really need to get around to watching Flash Gordon, John Carter and other movies.

 

Stormtroopers have always been incompetent cannon fodder. All they did for to make the droids different was throw in some humor, in increasing amounts with each appearance, I might add. Stormtrooper incompetence is to be expected, but please don't make them wise-cracking, joke-telling morons like TCW battle droids are.

 

As I said in another thread, I don't expect the stormtroopers to be threatening in the sense that they are going to slaughter the heroes. Obviously there's plot armor and all that. But the way the heroes react to the stormtroopers is fundamentally different in Rebels (from what we've seen thus far) than what was seen in the films.

The stormtroopers are said to be precise. We see them take the consular ship in the opening scene of ANH. Do some of them die? Yep. But they get the job done. When the stormtroopers attack the Millennium Falcon in Docking Bay 94, Han gets his butt on board and the heroes RUN. Do they take out some stormtroopers, yes; I'm not saying the heroes can't kill stormtroopers, but the troopers that are taken out are usually taken out while the heroes are retreating (i.e. the heroes are reacting to the stormtroopers as a threat).

We see this again when Luke and Leia escape across the Death Star chasm; we see this in the detention block; and we see it when the Millennium Falcon finally departs the Death Star ("blast the door, kid!"). In ESB, we see the heroes retreat from snowtroopers attacking Echo Base, and as the heroes flee Cloud City. The stormtroopers never kill a main character, but they are ALWAYS treated as a threat in ANH and ESB; but yeah, this did slip a bit in ROTJ, as in the above GIF.

But in Rebels, it's fundamentally different. They AREN'T treated as a threat. Thus far, from what I've seen, it just looks like the heroes thumbing their noses at the stormtroopers as incompetent. While the stormtroopers taken out in ANH and ESB are done so, while the heroes are retreating; in Rebels, it seems like the stormtroopers are taken out largely when the heroes actively go looking to pick a fight with them, including a street urchin kid (i.e. the heroes do not perceive stormtroopers to be threatening).

 

Well, I hope not. One of my biggest issues in TCW was that we kept HEARING the CIS was a huge threat and the republic was spread thin, but we very rarely saw why they were a threat. I think the OT did this to a certain extent, but at least they did stuff occasionally and were threatening. They beat the rebels on Hoth, Vader trounced Luke in a duel, etc. I think where it went down hill was Endor, but that's a different discussion.

I want the Empire to be large, competent, and threatening, like it was in the Empire's better moments in the OT.

 

What Drenn said but I'd add I also want the Empire's motives clear for once.

 

I completely agree with you on this. Let's see some stormtroopers actually taking out rebel forces and winning. Not getting shot down by the dozen and being pushed back repeatedly.

 

Yeah, instead of just doing bad things because the Empire is bad. I'd prefer it not be some complex political reason, but I'd watch it if it's interesting enough.