4) The Stormtroopers Are Back (And Have New Helmets!)
A few months ago, some concept art from the film found its way online, showing off what looked like a new helmet design for the Stormtroopers. Now, that new design – based on early concept art drawn by Christopher McQuarrie – has been confirmed, and while it’s a minor detail, it’s an important one.
First of all, the expanded visors on the helmets show that maybe the Imperial helmet designers realized that if the Stormtroopers were actually able to see out of the thing, they’d have better aim. That has yet to be confirmed, and I’m sure that some blaster fire will, inevitably, miss its target (this is a Star Wars movie, after all!), but it’s a logistical design change.
Secondly, the inclusion of Stormtroopers is incredibly important because it shows that the Empire is still at large, even after the events of Return of the Jedi. Add in the fact that Abrams not only puts Boyega, who is reportedly the star of the film, in a Stormtrooper outfit but also shows us a glimpse of the Troopers ready to exit a dropship, and it’s clear that we’ll get to see a bit more of the iconic soldiers this time around. They were nothing more than cannon fodder in the original trilogy, and became generic, CGI cannon fodder in the prequels, so they deserve a bit of the spotlight now that we’re seven films in.
Also, Boyega being a Stormtrooper shows, definitively, that the Empire no longer resorts to cloning for their soldiers. There are real people under those helmets.
