I agree with Chewie here. I think this trooper looks sharp, and personally, I dig the legion markings on the clones and welcome unit decos on the stormtroopers too. I think the standard white-hat is boring. Their armor looks dated compared to the clone armor designs, almost like Palpatine bought his stormtroopers their armor at the dirtmall on liquidation.
The OT was great when I was a kid, and it's ok now, but the prequels and the EU properties brought new life to a galaxy far, far away for me. I think the weight Lucas is putting behind the force unleashed combined with the animation and live action tv properties are going to make the Star Wars universe even more viable. So yeah, bring on the colored stormies, variant legions, and whatever else.
Thanks, glad you see it that way... while I do still prefer my Stormies to be pure white, I have no problem with this expansion. There's about a 20 year gap between ROTS and ANH. How could there not be another transition in the appearance of Imperial troops between ROTS and ANH?
I understand that some people don't want to accept change in Star Wars and want everything to be what it was back in the day, but this isn't changing the OT at all. It's only covering a new era in Star Wars that has had limited exploration. And remember there are new fans coming into this hobby all the time - if you want to be set in your ways and only care about the OT, then that's your right. But that would lead to a quicker end to the line.
Personally, I don't want to see the line ending anytime soon - I want my son to experience some of the same magic with Star Wars that I did - the OT was marketed towards me when I was a kid, and the EU and whatever Lucas has in mind can be marketed towards his generation. That means new characters, new worlds, and new ideas. Not stuck in the 1970s.
As for Shadow Troops, I'm in the same boat as most others - I don't care for those. I was shocked to see how good they did in fan polls - but I'll just pass on them when they are on the pegs. This Force Unleashed stuff though has me very excited. Bring it on... I'll probably add black pauldrons and rifles to a few of these guys... I wonder how many people that are dissing this figure now will end up getting it later on? Or if a long lost Ralph McQuarrie painting of a Stormie with stripes surfaced, how many people would still be complaining?
