Shadow stormtrooper

The shadow stormtroopers, sometimes called Blackhole stormtroopers because of their use under Agent Blackhole, were specialized Imperial stormtroopers.

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.

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
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
The shadow stormtrooper has been produced as a collectible twice by Gentle Giant Studios. One was a full-size mini-bust, the other was a series of "chase" micro-size Bust-Ups.

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.

The shadow stormtrooper items are entirely black except for silver lenses and very dark gray gloves. Hasbro's prototype for the shadow stormtrooper has it completely black with a very dark navy blue body glove. As these are two different troops with two distinct names and decorations, it is entirely possible that these two squadrons are not as closely related as previously thought.

In addition, LEGO has also released a minifigure of a shadow stormtrooper. There are two available in the TIE Crawler set, and one in the Imperial Dropship set.

The shadow stormtrooper has also been released in the Star Wars Miniatures: Legacy of the Force expansion as an uncommon rarity figure.

Two shadow stormtroopers in metallic gray armor have been produced along with Palpatine in a Force Unleashed action-figure line.

In The Force Unleashed game for the PSP, Wii, and PS2, if you enter the code INTHEDARK, you can play as a shadow stormtrooper, but cutscenes are deleted. In the Xbox 360 and PS3 version, if you enter the code BLACKHOLE, you can play as a shadow stormtrooper.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game
 * Gambler's World
 * Star Wars: Galaxies
 * Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
 * Dark Empire II
 * Crimson Empire