Indie Revolver EXCLUSIVE: First Look at the Stormtroopers From Star Wars Episode VII |

By: Jay Carlson

We have very reliable information that the images below represent how some of the Imperial Forces will appear in JJ Abrams’ Star Wars film.

The sequel Stormtrooper helmet feels like a natural continuation from the original, but there are distinct differences. The helmet is not symmetrical – there’s only one breather/vent on the bottom near the mouth, on his left side. The black “mouth” area under the white nose plate appears to be a cloth/mesh (which you can better see in the detail shot below). The eye lenses are still separate, but set into a black frame to connect them and give the illusion of one single piece.

A couple people have referred to this as a “Jungle Trooper,” but I have a few good reasons to believe that this is actually an update to the Empire Strikes Back’s Snowtrooper. This new helmet has a flared dome and a single thin horizontal eyepiece to it (as we first saw described at Making Star Wars) and appears to have a removable face mask.

As with the X-Wing that was highlighted in the Force for Change commercial, they’re borrowing heavily from the original trilogy production concepts of Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston with these designs.

They’ve slowly won me over more and more with each piece of information. Shooting on film instead of digital? I like it. Rumors that Drew Struzan is doing the poster? I’m listening. John Williams scoring? Keep going. Bringing back Han, Luke, Leia and Chewie? That has to make everyone as happy as it’s made me. After seeing these designs I am even more hopeful. It genuinely feels like Abrams is approaching Episode VII in way which respects both the fans and the original films themselves.

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UPDATE: We’ve gotten a lot of referral clicks from the RPF – a site dedicated to replicas of movie props and costumes – and naturally, they have an additional prop image in their thread mentioning our story:

Here you can see that the vent is only on the left side of the face, and a slotted vent on top of the dome. These helmets feel like Star Wars in a way that the clone troopers never did. It’s an exciting time to be a fan – and who thought we’d ever be able to say that again?

While I agree these helmets look awesome. Saying that the clone trooper helmets did not “look” Star Wars is a bit unfair I think. They were supposed to be further back in the evolution of the Empire and that comment sounds like more traditional Lucas bashing. Not to say the man did not makes mistake along the way, some of them huge. But those who have hopped on the prequel hate wagon seem to forget that without Lucas there would be NO Star Wars at all. For me Star Wars has always been about Lightsabers, Jedi, blasters and space battles. And the prequels succeeded at that, IMO. Were they the best plots–nope but to be fair IV-VI were almost taken straight from Campbell’s Heroes Journey and were nothing new plot wise. When I saw Star Wars in ’77 and hit the playground the next day none of the kids were discussing the merits of the plot or the acting, we were whacking each other with sticks while pretending they were light sabers (Back when kids could do that). My kids did much the same upon seeing the prequels and could care less about the flaws all the adult fans seems to dwell on. Star Wars was always targeted at 8-12 year old kids–we adults just stole it and tried to make it more sophisticated that it ever really was. A New Hope did not secure a Best Picture nom because to was good, it got the nom because it made a ton of money. Mind you, I say this as a HUGE Star Wars fan who looks forward to the new movies. I just think we over-Idolize the Original Trilogy and bash the prequels. IMO the Originals had some major flaws but I still love em, just the same. I’m sure Abrams will take the new movies in a darker direction and while that will be cool to explore at the same time I think the franchise will lose some of its innocence, how that plays out–only time will tell. Oh and I pray he does not use 1/10th of the lens flares he used in Star Trek—that S–t gets annoying.

Indie Revolver EXCLUSIVE: First Look at the Stormtroopers From Star Wars Episode VII

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