Shadow stormtrooper

The shadow stormtroopers, sometimes called Blackhole stormtroopers because of their use under Agent Blackhole, were specialized Imperial stormtroopers and did not replace the Republic's clone shadow troopers which continued the Phase II armour.

Overview
The shadow troopers were an elite squadron within the Imperial stormtroopers who were assigned an experimental cloaking armor. This allowed them to disappear in virtually any environment. These soldiers were trained to use their advanced technology to ambush their enemies who they often surrounded before they were capable of defending themselves. They typically acted as reserve units that backed up standard stormtrooper squadrons and only appeared when a battle turned against the Empire.

During such conditions, stormtrooper commanders often called the shadow troopers to provide them with reinforcements. In addition to their cloaking devices, the armor was laced with durasteel fibers which made them more resistant to physical as well as energy attacks when compared to standard stormtrooper armor.

The Emperor's Shadow Guard often made use of shadow stormtroopers during their missions. Variants of the design were a dark trooper version as well as an EVO trooper version, Incinerator trooper version, and a Jumptrooper version.

Equipment
Their most distinguishing feature was their all-black armor&mdash;a stark contrast to the typical white armor common to other stormtroopers. This unique black armor provided some stealth benefits, which resulted from the stygian-triprismatic polymer material used in the production of the armor. Lord Blackhole also incorporated meltmassif into his shadow stormtroopers for use when he would disable them. Shadow stormtroopers also carried cloaking devices that rendered them invisible for a short period of time.

Early history
Members of the shadow stormtrooper unit were deployed on various operations under the eye of an Emperor's Shadow Guard. A number of them were used in various skirmishes against Galen Marek.

On Vorzyd V
Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa were sent on a mission to Vorzyd V, the "Gambler's World," where they were to disrupt the Imperial gambling operations with the support of the president of that world. However, the operation was disrupted by Blackhole himself, and platoons of his stormtroopers were seen fighting the local resistance and the Alliance troops.

Battle of Mindor
"Answer me this: Why is the armor of my stormtroopers black? I'll give you a hint: It's not just paint."

- Lord Shadowspawn

Lord Shadowspawn led legions of shadow stormtroopers against New Republic forces at the Battle of Mindor in 5 ABY. These shadow troopers armor was made of meltmassif which allowed Shadowspawn to control them completely at will.

Carnor Jax's command
In 11 ABY, a squad of shadow stormtroopers formed a bodyguard for aspiring Dark Lord Carnor Jax during his attempt to take control of the Empire; it is believed that these were soldiers from Blackhole's old elite unit, but it is not known how they had come into service with Jax, or whether their attachment to him implies any contact with Blackhole. It is possible they were some of the forces placed under his command by the Imperial Ruling Council following the Battle of Endor. It is notable that Jax himself had formerly served in Blackhole's old unit. Although crack troops, they were all slain by Kir Kanos on Yinchorr.

The only noticeable difference between Jax's shadow stormtroopers and the original group were black viewplates on the helmet. The first Blackhole stormtroopers had white viewplates.

Behind the scenes
Hasbro produced a shadow stormtrooper action figure for the 2006 San Diego Comic Convention, although it was only sold at StarWarsShop.com. The exclusive figure is referred to as a "shadow stormtrooper" on the packaging; however, the Databank entry has the name as "Blackhole stormtrooper". Hasbro later re-released the action figure as part of the Saga Legends line.

In The Force Unleashed game for the PSP, Wii, and PS2, the shadow stormtrooper playable skin is unlocked by the code INTHEDARK, and in the Xbox 360, PC and PS3 version, by the code BLACKHOLE.

The LEGO Group Released two Shadow Stormtrooper Minifigures in 2007 in the "Tie Crawler" set. Another Shadow Stormtrooper also came with the 2008 "Imperial Dropship", along with three standard Stormtroopers. It also was released by the Lego Group as a limited edition maquette in partnership with Gentle Giant. Also according to DK's Lego Star Wars mini-figure book the Imperial Dropship set incorrectly labled the Shadow Stormtrooper as an Imperial Pilot.

In the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies, Shadow stormtroopers were called black hole stormtroopers (note the space between the words black and hole). In appearance, they were little more than standard stormtroopers with black armor. They would often be given randomly-generated names, such as TK-807.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game
 * Gambler's World
 * Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
 * Dark Empire II
 * Crimson Empire
 * LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
 * ''Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
 * ''Star Tours: The Adventures Continue