Shadow stormtrooper



The Blackhole stormtroopers, or shadow stormtroopers, were specialized Imperial stormtroopers under the command of Agent Blackhole. 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.

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



In 10 ABY, Zasm Katth commanded "Darktrooper Teams" (such as Darktrooper Team Two), which were comprised of black-clad stormtroopers. Grath was one of them. It is unknown if this had any connection with Blackhole's unit.

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 élite 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 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 Blackhole stormtrooper has been produced as a collectible twice, both from Gentle Giant Studios. One was a full-size minibust, 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".


 * The Blackhole stormtrooper items are entirely black except for silver lenses and very dark grey 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.

Appearances

 * Gambler's World
 * Dark Empire II
 * Crimson Empire