therethere
Freakzoid
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2013
- Messages
- 69
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I'm a bit more on the fence - I really like the logic of the changes (and I love that it may make for much more physically active stormies compared to the OT, with better visibility and freer rapid movement) and actually like that RO has a subtly distinctive look for its troopers with cleanness and symmetry. I'll be grabbing the orange Jedha single one - I just really like the look of these as a sandie/stormie variant and can't wait to see them in action in RO.
However, you also have to understand that the #1 theme for fan films over the decades has been stormie/sandie movies. They are loved. Their design is up there with Vader as an icon of SW. RO - being so close to ANH - was likely the ONLY opportunity we had to see the iconic OT stormies/sandies on the big screen, EXACTLY as they were in the OT. We've seen "kinda-stormies" for decades now - white armor and black undersuit stormie variants, PT to TFA. So it would have been amazing to have seen the real deal in action on the big screen finally, for a one-time return engagement.
But due to the changes, that won't happen now. It's certainly subtler from a distance, but these guys do indeed look different enough to say "not OT stormies/sandies" to most who have carried the SW torch. The different armor proportions (breast reduction, foreshortened shins, longer torso) and the larger rounded eyes - they do look distinct to an in-the-know fan, especially obvious if placed side-by-side with the OT version.
While it's true there have been not-insignificant variations in OT stormies - ANH hero to stunt, ESB tweaks, the misshapen ROTJ recasts, grey mouth grills becoming black - they all retained the same skull inspired, slit-eyes-and-death-grin menace. The new design softens that, mostly due to the wider, rounder eyes.
The wider issue is that the new stormie look will now also likely become the standard for all Disney merchandising. Just yesterday, I noticed an OT cereal box (that features 3PO, Chewy and R2, so not RO related) that has the RO styling to the helmet. A "stormtrooper" from now on - for Disney general merchandising - will undoubtedly be a RO retconned stormie.
So just as people should dial back the hate a little (RO has to be its own thing, and frankly, the new design has appeal) you also need to stop it with the "quit the whining, powerless fan-boy" ****. This is a little bigger deal than you're making out - as far as SW fandom can be a big deal.
If they had - for better mobility and visibility, and to undo 1970's "limitations" (cited by RO designers at Celebration re: stormies) decided to redo Vader's helmet/armor a bit to make it more "functional", would you have been cool with that? And if that redesign became the standard Vader for all merch? And considering RO ends as ANH begins, would it have made sense because Vader would look so different? Same logic applies to stormies/sandies - we see both in extreme close-up in ANH.
So to say "awww, you're all ****-hurt and your ownership of SW just got flushed" is just the generic "I like them and you don't so get out" **** you see on here all the time - and it ignores the real factors at play in this change.
Sure, you own your fandom but you don't own the films or have any control over the future direction of these or any other films. It's just the way it is. Yeah, it's a ***** sometimes but life is like that. And no, I never said anyone's fandom got flushed. Unless you did the flushing. Do you really care that a cereal box, or a backpack, or a 'whatever' piece of merchandise may contain RO stormtroopers instead of OT (ANH) stormtroopers? Will that really have any effect on your life or the fan that you are? Will it take away from your love of the OT? I doubt it. Or, is it that you buy everything that is Star Wars and are so OCD about perfection and collection continuity that your life is somehow 'blown'? I'm guessing not. If it does, or is, then that's a shame because this is all just good fun and it should never be so serious as to kill what you once appreciated and loved, or to disturb your real life in any functional way. Would I be cool with a Vader redesign? No. But it's not mine. Am I in LOVE with the new stormtrooper design? No. But I do like it and that's enough for me. And if I hated it then what could/can I actually do about it other than *****, *****, *****? And I don't want to be that guy. Ultimately some fans invest too much, and yes, I've been one of those fans. So I get it. But it's a mindset that can and often does, despite the actual film or product, set you up for all kinds of disappointment. Weirdly, you kind of have to be a 'dead man walking' and just accept what you cannot change & not **** on other people's enthusiasm. I'm sorry you misinterpreted my post as "I like them and you don't so get out". That was not at all what I was getting at. It was the posts that pretty much said "I hate them, they're not worthy of my collection and not as good as the OT so shut up" that was why I posted in the first place. The elitist negative comments with regards to the RO stormtroopers just kind of irked me. Those comments did not and do not inspire discussion. They are closed and abrupt and have overtones of superiority which is not cool. It's movies and toys. We're adults. Who's superior here? Looks like an even playing field to me. At least it should be. Anyway the only real factors at play in this change are the ones you want to make an issue out of. Don't. The movies aren't actually about stormtroopers running around. That's part of it, and a cool part, but c'mon it's bigger than that. Or smaller. Probably smaller.
