Star Wars Bandai Shadow Trooper 1:12

[Mike]

I got this the other week - I think it's a limited edition or something, as it comes in an all-black box.  It's basically a standard Stormtrooper that's been moulded in shiny black rather than shiny white.  No worries - you can't have enough Stormtroopers in the cabinet.  I'm not sure where these guys appear in the series, but they'd look good next to the Death Troopers.  Anyway, rather than stash it away in my Bandai Star Wars stack, I figured I'd build it straight away.

 

I didn't use paint other than a bit of Molotow Liquid Chrome for the chest-plate lights/buttons (?) and the detail parts on the helmet that don't settle down well as decals.  All the rest has just had the sprue gates sanded back, then polished back to a glossy shine with buffer pads, and put together with a little liquid glue in the friction tubes.  Totally OOB, and I'm not going to do any weathering on it, as I don't know where they were posted, if at all so far.  I thought I'd make a post in here just so I could claim another completed model for 2019   There's not much to tell about construction, as everything goes together awesomely, and I fiddled with it in between extended bouts of during this hot weather.  Here it... he? is:

 

 

 

 

[Andy Moore]

Lovely build Mike, and I imagine he wasn't easy to photograph.

 

I've never been all that keen on the look of the Shadow Troopers - not as stark and imposing as the regular white ones. I do like the looks of the new strawberry flavour troopers from Ep 9 though🍓.

 

Andy

[Andrés S.]

Hi Mike.

A perfectly neat job.

I think these soldiers appear at the beginning of Rogue One.

Greetings.

[Mike]

3 hours ago, Andrés S. said:

I think these soldiers appear at the beginning of Rogue One.

I think you might be referring to the Death Troopers, who are massive guys with more angular uniforms, bigger guns and encrypted speech.  That said, there might be Shadow Troopers in the background in any of the new films that I've not noticed yet.  Good excuse for a re-watch, I think!

 

3 hours ago, AndyRM101 said:

I imagine he wasn't easy to photograph.

Not too bad actually - I think the highlights and huge expanses of blue were giving the camera enough data to do a decent job.  I just increased the exposure a bit and that's what transpired.  Sometimes I'll pick out dark things with a Quick Selection marquee and lighten darker areas without affecting the rest, but it wasn't necessary this time around You can really see the photo booth in his helmet, can't you?

 

3 hours ago, AndyRM101 said:

strawberry flavour troopers

It worries me that you know what they taste like

[Andrés S.]

46 minutes ago, Mike said:

I think you might be referring to the Death Troopers, who are massive guys with more angular uniforms, bigger guns and encrypted speech.  That said, there might be Shadow Troopers in the background in any of the new films that I've not noticed yet.  Good excuse for a re-watch, I think!

I have made this screenshot of the initial scene of Rogue One.
I meant the soldiers marked in red.
You can see some small differences, such as a chest protection or dark eye visors or a silver belt buckle. The image of the frame is not very good but I think your model is surely one of them.
They are the only imperial soldiers I remember seeing in a black uniform, except for the pilots.

 

Ah, it's always the right time to see some SW again.

 

Andrés S.

 

 

 

 

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Andrés S. said:

The image of the frame is not very good but I think your model is surely one of them.

Yep, those are the Death Troopers we're both talking about These Shadow Troopers are just black Stormtroopers (from the exact same moulds) though, so I'm not sure where they're from in the saga.  I've got a couple of Death Trooper kits too, but I haven't built them yet.

[DalekCheese]

Slightly older topic (lovely model btw), but the Shadow Troopers aren’t from the movies, although they do look similar to the death troopers- I think they were from some of the old comics. 🤔 

[Mike]

5 minutes ago, DalekCheese said:

Slightly older topic (lovely model btw), but the Shadow Troopers aren’t from the movies, although they do look similar to the death troopers- I think they were from some of the old comics. 🤔 

Thanks That sounds feasible... I'll buy that

[DalekCheese]

4 minutes ago, Mike said:

Thanks That sounds feasible... I'll buy that

 well, I think that’s right... but yeah, wonderful model.

[Mike]

26 minutes ago, DalekCheese said:

 well, I think that’s right

I've never read any Star Wars comics, so I bow to anyone that has (aren't we supposed to call them graphic novels now?).

 

Are there many comics/graphic novels in the Star Wars universe?

[DalekCheese]

16 hours ago, Mike said:

I've never read any Star Wars comics, so I bow to anyone that has (aren't we supposed to call them graphic novels now?).

 

Are there many comics/graphic novels in the Star Wars universe?

I haven’t read many...

 

there are a fair few, but not many now. Most them were published during the 90s, so a friend of mine who later lent them all to me read them when Dr. Who was cancelled

[Mike]

12 minutes ago, DalekCheese said:

Most them were published during the 90s

Probably why I missed them.  comics and graphic novels were put on the back burner while chased after girls and drank booze. Wonder if there are any accumulated volumes where I could have a read of complete series etc.?

[CT7567]

The Shadow Troopers also appeared in several iteratioms of Star Wars video games, e.g. the Battlefront series.  Strictly speaking, I'm not sure where this places them with respect to the now-official canon ("Legends," formerly EU, vs. the mainstream continuity) but they're definitely meant to be around during the Rogue One/Original Trilogy era so don't look for them in Episode IX.