The Mandalorian Dark Troopers in The Mandalorian

Now that they've appeared and we've gotten a pretty good look at them...



Gotta say, the Dark Troopers represent basically everything about the comic booky/silly parts of the Star Wars Expanded Universe that made me (even as a kid) not want to bother with the Star Wars Expanded Universe.... but here, in this particular series, with its pulp sci-fi and vintage, retro TV style, I have to say I actually wound up finding the goofy look really endearing. They're big clunky action figures walking around on the set, and if ever there was a Star Wars project where that felt appropriate, The Mandalorian is it.

 

Seems like they're a mix of the legends Dark Trooper and the Sentry Droids from Rebels. Very evil looking.

 

The helmet looks like a there's a bit of Warhammer 40K Space Marine influence as well.

 

I kind of get shades of the Cylons from the original Battlestar Galactica series:



And the "remade" version of them used during the Battlestar Galactica reboot whenever they did flashbacks to the first Cylon War:

 

The head/helmet is like a cross between the Uprising Purge Trooper and the Range Trooper. Brian Matyas drew quite few Imperial concept with those triangular eye slits. All in all it simply looks like a more humanoid Storm/Death Trooperish version of Imperial Sentry droid that Thrawn used on Rebels.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/DT-series_sentry_droid

I still like the Phase III Dark Troopers better.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Phase_III_dark_trooper

 

Ohhh I was in the way of making this thread! I´m glad to have the Dark Troopers back in canon, being a big part of my childhood...

They do seem like an evolution of those Sentry droids, but I´m still happy with this new aesthetic, because the Rebels one was a new thing inspired by the original Dark Troopers. This is the actual canon version of the original ones. I was mentioning in another thread, the one thing I felt a little strange, was not to give them their traditional jetpacks. It seemed like a pretty reasonable choice to do so, seeing that they are being presented in a show were mandalorians (and their jetpacks) are prominent. It would have helped presenting them as this dark, corrupted version of these traditional, (somewhat) noble warriors, and given some interesting visuals in turn.

Not complaining, anyway! Just having them in canon makes me happy enough...

 

Gotta say I like them, they seem to me to be a better fit in this period than during the reign of Palpatine. Gideon's Imperial Remnant needs force multipliers, especial after Din, Cara, Greef and now Fennec and Boba are killing so many of his Stormies.

 

The Dark Troopers were created by Man.......

They rebelled.......

They evolved........

 

They looked silly...sorry.

 

ICAM. They look of the times in comparison to storm troopers.

 

I'm hoping this means Kyle Katarn will make an appearance in a future episode.

 

NSFW - SWEARING IN VIDEO:



The way the Dark Troopers were used in the finale, especially in the one on one fight with Din, reminded me of the ending of the original The Terminator. Even the clunky movements gave the impression of stop motion animation, which feels pretty distinct from the more "man in a suit" original BSG Cylon vibe that the Dark Troopers gave me in Chapter 13.

Also:

 

So just what were those things made of?

 

Not Beskar as Luke cut through them like nothing

 

Yeah, I figured that much. Cortosis and Phrik are out too, but it's definitely something pretty strong.

 

Blasters didn’t seem to effect them at all

 

When Star Wars is taken seriously, there’s nothing better.

 

Just regular hard armor I assume. Resistant to handheld weapons fire, but if you would hit them with large caliber, they would still go down.

 

Like I mentioned in the episode thread, the one that was punching Din's helmet suffered no hand damage though and also his beskar little rockets did no damage to it. Their punches were able to dent up some heavy doors, which were similar to the ones that QuiGon had to slowly cut through in TPM. Even if the DT are not beskar armoured, Luke's sabre goes though them far too quickly and easily.

 

In Dark Forces, they looked like beefed up storm troopers, just in black armor. If I remember from the game, the armor was made from an alloy called Phrik. And they had ultra heavy repeater rifle, that also fired concussion grenades.

 

They needed a little bit more than two episodes IMO, especially when they did nothing the first time. The one on one fight with Mando was finally a great demonstration of them, but the rest of the team never experienced them firsthand or were seriously threatened. Even with the dark saber and spear, we never saw a good fight.

I did like how well it works with the concepts of the prequels though. The pendulum has swung back around and the human Stormtroopers are proving more and more feeble compared to droids. Now it seems as though the advancements of the Trade Federation didn’t suddenly stop

 

I mean droids fighting your wars for you makes perfect sense

 

Their design and movement was very memorable. Reminded me of The Terminator and Cylons as mentioned above. I was starting to think, how are they going to be stopped...