So: I'm rewatching Empire right now. I saw something I'd never before notice:

In the scene where Luke is on Bespin, and the Stormtroopers are walking with Han's Carbonite encased body. An Imperial officer notices Luke's shadow on a wall, and uses hand signals to get his troops into better position against the intruder.

That's good attention to surroundings, good interpretation of events, fast thinking, and good leadership. Not to mention great Stormtrooper training to instantly obey.

Imperial troops aren't actually a joke, I think.

He also grabs the girl, using her as a human shield.

That nameless Imperial officer was on-point that afternoon.

Imperial troops aren't actually a joke, I think.

So the "Elite" troops notice a target, use basic hand signals and obey a command to get into position... All things I learned in US Army basic training.

That makes them not a joke?

I don't get why people can't accept that Stormtroopers are mooks, always have been always will be, because that's what they were intended to be. Nameless, faceless bad guys for the heroes to mow down.

Imperial troops aren't actually a joke, I think.

So the "Elite" troops notice a target, use basic hand signals and obey a command to get into position... All things I learned in US Army basic training.

That makes them not a joke?

I don't get why people can't accept that Stormtroopers are mooks, always have been always will be, because that's what they were intended to be. Nameless, faceless bad guys for the heroes to mow down.

Who can't hit a thing

Imperial troops aren't actually a joke, I think.

So the "Elite" troops notice a target, use basic hand signals and obey a command to get into position... All things I learned in US Army basic training.That makes them not a joke?I don't get why people can't accept that Stormtroopers are mooks, always have been always will be, because that's what they were intended to be. Nameless, faceless bad guys for the heroes to mow down.

Notice a target's _shadow on the wall_, and react properly. That's a different thing.

Storm troopers are badass!

They killed like Uncle lars and Aunt Beru and..euh... maybe a few jawas... Oh and an ewok or two!

Storm Troopers are very good against elderly unarmed civilians, tiny droid Merchants and small teddybears with stone age weapons.

Yeah, total badassess!

Storm Troopers are very good against [...] and small teddybears with stone age weapons.

Did we watch the same movie? XD

That's a different thing.

Nah it's not. They were on high alert and Lando has that whole section of the city closed off. So anyone they saw would be a hostile target.

They did what any private out of bootcamp could do, nothing more. That is not the mark of elite troops.

Storm troopers are badass!

They killed like Uncle lars and Aunt Beru and..euh... maybe a few jawas... Oh and an ewok or two!

Storm Troopers are very good against elderly unarmed civilians, tiny scavengers and small teddybears with stone age weapons.

Yeah, total badasses!

No they didn't. Boba Fett did.

Storm troopers are badass!

They killed like Uncle lars and Aunt Beru and..euh... maybe a few jawas... Oh and an ewok or two!

Storm Troopers are very good against elderly unarmed civilians, tiny scavengers and small teddybears with stone age weapons.

Yeah, total badasses!

No they didn't. Boba Fett did.

The footage placing him on Tatooine was edited. I have proof.

I hope the new trilogy paints Stormtroopers in a better light and not just hapless cannon fodder.

I hope the new trilogy paints Stormtroopers in a better light and not just hapless cannon fodder.

I think they will be as a rumored major character is a Stormtrooper.

Since it's that way for story reasons, wouldn't they be canon fodder?

I think they will be as a rumored major character is a Stormtrooper.

That makes it even more likely that most will be treated as cannon fodder. Besides who can take a Star Wars movie seriously when the Stormtroopers are actually good shots... That would be like a nameless redshirt surviving an away mission in Star Trek.

I think they will be as a rumored major character is a Stormtrooper.

That makes it even more likely that most will be treated as cannon fodder. Besides who can take a Star Wars movie seriously when the Stormtroopers are actually good shots... That would be like a nameless redshirt surviving an away mission in Star Trek.

Nameless redshirts survive all the time! At least... They started to once red stopped being the color for security, and started being the color for command.

Poor gold shirts.

So: I'm rewatching Empire right now. I saw something I'd never before notice:

In the scene where Luke is on Bespin, and the Stormtroopers are walking with Han's Carbonite encased body. An Imperial officer notices Luke's shadow on a wall, and uses hand signals to get his troops into better position against the intruder.

That's good attention to surroundings, good interpretation of events, fast thinking, and good leadership. Not to mention great Stormtrooper training to instantly obey.

Imperial troops aren't actually a joke, I think.

Most the time people label them a joke because they don't understand the actions the imps are making in the stories. If the were a jok the empire would hae been ended well before luke ever joined.

I always thought the empire just made cheap wepons that didn't shoot strait... it was the troopers!?!

Storm troopers are badass!

They killed like Uncle lars and Aunt Beru and..euh... maybe a few jawas... Oh and an ewok or two!

Storm Troopers are very good against elderly unarmed civilians, tiny droid Merchants and small teddybears with stone age weapons.

Yeah, total badassess!

Meh, they also successfully took a heavily fortified enemy stronghold in adverse weather conditions in a matter of minutes.

I always thought the empire just made cheap wepons that didn't shoot strait... it was the troopers!?!

IM not sure if the E-11 is cheap but it does have a problem with beam trajectory. When your fighting alot of people though accuracy problem isnt that much of a problem, the E-11 is a street sweeper. Other IMP weapons are more powerful and or more accurate.

As was shown in the movies, Han Solo fails the hardest out of everyone that uses that weapon. He fires a bolt that goes over or around the head of a storm troop 6-7 feet away from him, maybe less.

So: I'm rewatching Empire right now. I saw something I'd never before notice:

In the scene where Luke is on Bespin, and the Stormtroopers are walking with Han's Carbonite encased body. An Imperial officer notices Luke's shadow on a wall, and uses hand signals to get his troops into better position against the intruder.

That's good attention to surroundings, good interpretation of events, fast thinking, and good leadership. Not to mention great Stormtrooper training to instantly obey.

Imperial troops aren't actually a joke, I think.

That Imperial officer is actually Boba Fett. Seriously, it's the same actor.

Jeremy Bulloch is the actors name!

I always thought the empire just made cheap wepons that didn't shoot strait... it was the troopers!?!

IM not sure if the E-11 is cheap but it does have a problem with beam trajectory. When your fighting alot of people though accuracy problem isnt that much of a problem, the E-11 is a street sweeper. Other IMP weapons are more powerful and or more accurate.

As was shown in the movies, Han Solo fails the hardest out of everyone that uses that weapon. He fires a bolt that goes over or around the head of a storm troop 6-7 feet away from him, maybe less.

Han is also the dude who saw Vader, pulled his blaster and instantly shot Vader. No pausing, no hesitation, and no missing.

Not Han's fault that Vader can deflect blaster shots with his hand.

I Always figured Vader torturing Han in Cloud city was not just to draw out Luke, but also vader's payback for what han did to him during the battle of Yavin.

I Always figured Vader torturing Han in Cloud city was not just to draw out Luke, but also vader's payback for what han did to him during the battle of Yavin.

His screams are pleasing. That's the only reason necessary.

Imperial troops aren't actually a joke, I think.

So the "Elite" troops notice a target, use basic hand signals and obey a command to get into position... All things I learned in US Army basic training.That makes them not a joke?I don't get why people can't accept that Stormtroopers are mooks, always have been always will be, because that's what they were intended to be. Nameless, faceless bad guys for the heroes to mow down.

Because they do really well whenever their orders aren't let them escape or corral them towards an objective.

Even on Endor once the ewoks ran out of traps the Empire began to route them. That only changed when Chewbacca captured the ATST, catching the other walkers off guard and allowing him to save Han and Leia.

You would be surprised how difficult it is to get trained Soldiers to effectively use hand and arm signals today. It's as if noise and light discipline are difficult to accomplish.

Easiest thing to grade as a failure when I am grading patrols.

Of course speaking of Stormtroopers and Red Shirted Ensigns, there was a site before the days of Facebook that essentially proved that A. Stormtroopers performed way better as long as no Main Characters were present. B. Red Shirts will die no matter what.