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[bitbydeath]

I got around to watching the final Star Wars movie yesterday and I have to ask why did each trilogy represent Storm Troopers differently?
I'm not an avid Star Wars fan so maybe there is a simple explanation but here is what I understood.

In the Original Trilogy (4-6) they were robotic, maybe not complete robots but at the very least they were largely understood to be more Cyborg than human.

In the prequels (1-3) they were found out to be clones from a famous bounty hunter.

In the soon to be forgotten sequels (7-9) they became regular black people.

Is there a reason for these inconsistent changes?
What can we expect them to perpetrated as in the next trilogy 10-12?
They fly now

 

[SurprisedPikachu]

The recent movies did it for woke points. They completely threw out canon and said fuck it, get woke and so they're pretty much going broke now. The movies made a shit ton, but from what I understand not enough to recoup the cost of buying the IP - and the parks are now closed. Disney is pretty much fucked with the Star Wars IP.

 

[JLMC469]

Couldn’t finish it: the pacing, the failed attempts at “humor”, the realization that the writers killed every likable character in the series, etc.

So many horrible decisions.

 

[poppabk]

In 1-6 they were pretty much the same, I don't remember anything indicating they were cyborgs.
In 7-9 they were mainly no longer clones but people conscripted into service.
In 1-9 they were terrible shots.

 

[bitbydeath]

In 1-6 they were pretty much the same, I don't remember anything indicating they were cyborgs.
In 7-9 they were mainly no longer clones but people conscripted into service.
In 1-9 they were terrible shots.

There was nothing truely indicative of either way but since they never take off their armour despite their circumstance made them seem more robot than human.

Shooting the armour never revealed flesh underneath either, just smoke and sparks.

 

[Kagey K]

There was nothing truely indicative of either way but since they never take off their armour despite their circumstance made them seem more robot than human.

Shooting the armour never revealed flesh underneath either, just smoke and sparks.

They go out of their way to show they are clones in 1-3, after Order 66 they were never humanized and shown to either be the same clones or adapted clones with cyborg traits. In 7-9 suddenly they weren’t clones, but conscripted People.

Maybe they wanted a mix of AI, Clones and people so as to confuse the attacker.

They shoot at clones and Driods while humans pick them off.

Horror by numbers.

 

[Robot Carnival]

were they still clones in 4-6? I thought only the prequel 1-3 ones are clones and once the empire had established they switched to just regular people. and I don't remember anything in 4-6 saying they're cyborgs.

 

[Kagey K]

were they still clones in 4-6? I thought only the prequel 1-3 ones are clones and once the empire had established they switched to just regular people. and I don't remember anything in 4-6 saying they're cyborgs.

Most people assumed they were droids or cyborgs in 4-6 because of the shock animations when they died.

It’s never been confirmed either way.

 

[Foamy]

Hey thanks for reminding me, I've been meaning to order a Storm Trooper surfer t-shirt.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

There was nothing truely indicative of either way but since they never take off their armour despite their circumstance made them seem more robot than human.

Shooting the armour never revealed flesh underneath either, just smoke and sparks.

I remember, as a young boy in the early 80ies watching these movies, I thought the stormtroopers were robots. I even remember having a discussion about this with my school friends who were not sure about this as well.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Maybe they wanted a mix of AI, Clones and people so as to confuse the attacker.

They shoot at clones and Driods while humans pick them off.

Horror by numbers.

I never got this from the movies, but that is an incredible idea for an army, one that would look uniform and have been trained/programed to behave identically when outside combat, but would act completely unpredictably in a fight. You'd never know what it is you're actually up against from trooper to trooper.

Assuming it was impossible to tell them apart from a distance, it would even be a decent solution to the problem of fighting AI's, since the big issue there is that such a program would be able to predict your most likely action before you took it.

 

[Rentahamster]

at the very least they were largely understood to be more Cyborg than human.

They were? Didn't seem that way to me.

 

[GreyHorace]

I'm by no means an expert of Star Wars lore, since I never read much on the Expanded Universe aside from Heir to the Empire trilogy and the Jedi Knight games. I'm only basing this on the movies and The Mandalorian, so here's a rough answer to your question:

The Prequel Trilogy (Episode 1, 2, 3) - The troopers were cloned from the bounty hunter Jango Fett. They were aged at an accelerated rate and trained through simulations in order to make them ready to be the new army of the Republic. Alterations to their genetic code also made them more obedient to orders from their direct superiors, who in the case were the Jedi. Unbeknownst to the Jedi however, an inhibitor chip was placed in each clone trooper's brain, which made them turn on their Jedi commanders once Palpatine gave his infamous Order 66.

The Original Trilogy (Episode 4, 5, 6) - The Stormtroopers of the Galactic Empire are made up of the old Clone troopers plus new recruits via conscription. This explains why so many of them are inept, since they've hardly had the hardened training of the Clone troopers, who were slowly being decommissioned because of their rapid aging. No more clones were being produced as the clone facilities on Kamino were shut down once the Empire came into power.

The Sequel Trilogy (Episode 7, 8, 9) - The First Order troopers were largely recruits from sections of the galaxy that the Order conquered.

 

[Alx]

Historically, clones were not a thing when the first trilogy was made. The troopers were mostly assumed to be humans (hence subject to "force suggestion").
For later canon, we can see in Star Wars Rebels that new Empire cadet troopers are regular guys, and not clones. I'm not sure it's explained at any time why the Empire ditched the clone strategy (it's probably somewhere in a novel or a comic). Maybe it's a way to control the population by enlisting it, considering those troops aren't truly fighting a war any more.

 

[GreyHorace]

Historically, clones were not a thing when the first trilogy was made. The troopers were mostly assumed to be humans (hence subject to "force suggestion").

Sure, no one at the time assumed the Stormtroopers were clones, but the Clone Wars was mentioned in the first movie as per this exchange between Luke and Obi-Wan:



Luke: You fought in the Clone Wars?
Obi-Wan: Yes... I was once a Jedi Knight the same as your father.

 

[Stitch]

Explanation at 2:56


tldr; they stopped cloning after the clone wars

 

[nush]

I remember, as a young boy in the early 80ies watching these movies, I thought the stormtroopers were robots. I even remember having a discussion about this with my school friends who were not sure about this as well.

Same here, as a kid I assumed they were robots because they looked a bit like C3PO. Watching as an adult it's clear they are human, just the fact of Luke and Had wearing the armour is enough to confirm it.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

Same here, as a kid I assumed they were robots because they looked a bit like C3PO. Watching as an adult it's clear they are human, just the fact of Luke and Had wearing the armour is enough to confirm it.

Our theory was, that they took the outer shell of the robots, and wore it. : D
We had some disputes about that in my school class, though..

 

[mcz117chief]

Unbeknownst to the Jedi however, an inhibitor chip was placed in each clone trooper's brain, which made them turn on their Jedi commanders once Palpatine gave his infamous Order 66.

I think this takes the cake for the dumbest plot point in Star Wars (1-6 anyway). This is such a ridiculously idiotic idea I just can't even begin to comprehend it. They were bred to be 100% obedient but also needed a chip Thank the Lord this dumbshit isn't in the movies so I can happily ignore it.

 

[AV]

Even before the prequels, I don't know why anyone would assume Stormtroopers were cyborgs. They're terrible shots, but they move organically compared to all the other robots in 4-6, they make small talk about drills, the heroes don their outfits as disguises, etc. To me it was always pretty obvious that they were just the shitty dispensable infantry given useless cheap armour to make them feel better.

 

[Alx]

I think this takes the cake for the dumbest plot point in Star Wars (1-6 anyway). This is such a ridiculously idiotic idea I just can't even begin to comprehend it. They were bred to be 100% obedient but also needed a chip Thank the Lord this dumbshit isn't in the movies so I can happily ignore it.

To be fair, according to one episode in the Clone Wars series, that "chip" was actually biotechnology, it was a cluser of cells that was grown in their brain as the rest of their body, it's not an additional implant. In that episode, the chip was thought to be a tumor when it malfunctioned and caused a clone trooper to kill a Jedi before Order 66.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Originally, Storm Troopers and other imperial troopers were recruited from planets within the Empire. In the very first movie, Luke talks about wanting to join the (Imperial) Academy like Biggs and Tanks (who defected from the Imperial Academy to join the Rebellion). This lore has been around since the beginning.

Episode 2 sort of messes with that by introducing clones as the precursors to Storm Troopers (yet gone within 1 generation...), but whatever.

In Episodes 4 - 9 neither the Empire nor Alliance seem to be able to make a bunch of clones en masse so they resort to good ol' recruitment and training, although in 7 - 9 the the First Order seems to take an indoctrinating "child soldier" approach when it comes to the procurement of troopers.

 

[bitbydeath]

Even before the prequels, I don't know why anyone would assume Stormtroopers were cyborgs. They're terrible shots, but they move organically compared to all the other robots in 4-6, they make small talk about drills, the heroes don their outfits as disguises, etc. To me it was always pretty obvious that they were just the shitty dispensable infantry given useless cheap armour to make them feel better.

A cyborg is just a human with machine parts attached so it’d still fit with terrible shots, move organically, heroes able to take off their disguises etc

 

[mcz117chief]

To be fair, according to one episode in the Clone Wars series, that "chip" was actually biotechnology, it was a cluser of cells that was grown in their brain as the rest of their body, it's not an additional implant. In that episode, the chip was thought to be a tumor when it malfunctioned and caused a clone trooper to kill a Jedi before Order 66.

This makes it even worse lmao! So this bio chip, when it malfunctions, turns clones into Jedi killers on the spot Omg, this keeps getting better. So I suppose they have a "chip" for every order lol! No, there is a reason why this hasn't ever been mentioned outside of some TV show, because it makes literally zero sense. The Kaminoans just took Jango's DNA and cloned willing slaves from it that were 100% obedient. They didn't care if the person they are supposed to kill just had a funny banter with them a few minutes ago, they would just do it because that is their existence, to be obedient. The whole idea of adding the chip was conceived a long time after Episode 2-3 for one reason and one reason only: because kids liked clones and thought they were cool and wouldn't kill their "homies" even if they were ordered to do because of "the power of friendship". They couldn't bring themselves to tell those kids that clones were literally just child soldiers bred for conquest and slaughter and gave exactly zero shits about anything besides carrying out their orders.

 

[AV]

A cyborg is just a human with machine parts attached so it’d still fit with terrible shots, move organically, heroes able to take off their disguises etc

I'd have thought cyborgs would be good shots. Why else would they be cyborgs if they weren't enhanced? Stormtroopers were basically useless, they're just seemed like everyday guys who signed up to the Empire for a pay check. Also, Lucas apparently didn't know what a cyborg was considering C-3P0 did "human-cyborg relations".

 

[mcz117chief]

I'd have thought cyborgs would be good shots. Why else would they be cyborgs if they weren't enhanced? Stormtroopers were basically useless, they're just seemed like everyday guys who signed up to the Empire for a pay check. Also, Lucas apparently didn't know what a cyborg was considering C-3P0 did "human-cyborg relations".

Stormtroopers were always shown as highly efficient and deadly. The opening scene shows them storming an air lock with minimal casualties, then Obi Wan says how exceptionally deadly they are and last but not least, you got their name, Stormtroopers, which were the elite german soldiers of WW1 and I am pretty sure that back then, when Star Wars came out, stormtroopers were remembered as something to be feared. I think they turned into memes in Episode 6 when they got wasted by care bears lol, but even in Episode 5 they still managed to wreck the rebels on Hoth. Then you also got the fact that Tarkin ordered the crew of the Death Star to let the rebels escape to lead them to their base.

 

[DKehoe]

Can't say it ever occurred to me that the Stormtroopers were cyborgs or anything like that. I just assumed they were regular guys. The way they talk certainly suggests that.

 

[mcz117chief]

Can't say it ever occurred to me that the Stormtroopers were cyborgs or anything like that. I just assumed they were regular guys. The way they talk certainly suggests that.

Yeah, considering how much of a trash heaps the other robots were I never even considered them being robots even when I was a kid. The difference is just way too much.