# What's the purpose of storm troopers' armor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468 "2017-07-31T00:01:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/41 "2017-08-03T23:30:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Vader’s getup clearly is armor. At one point he gets hit in the shoulder with a lightsabre, and is merely damaged, not dismembered as is typical for people getting hit in the shoulder with lightsabres. Anything that tough that’s worn by a person counts as armor in my book. Vaders “get up” Is a life support system and partial cybernetic replacement system for an otherwise frail and dying man. He is not much more than a head attached to a machine. The Emperor could create artificial bodies, but he needed willing minds ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/42 "2017-08-04T00:11:57Z")
Armor? I thought they were a bipedal life form with a white exoskeleton. > [@Trancephalic](#): > > Maybe it’s useful for actual storms, like a rain poncho. Sure kicked the ass of those good weather to relax in a hammock with a cold beer troopers of the old republic. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/43 "2017-08-04T00:22:37Z")
OK, so it’s more machinery than flesh inside of the black stuff. But that black stuff does still resist a lightsabre. Call it a machinery case instead of clothing, if you insist, but it’s still armor. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/44 "2017-08-04T02:17:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, so it’s more machinery than flesh inside of the black stuff. But that black stuff does still resist a lightsabre. Call it a machinery case instead of clothing, if you insist, but it’s still armor. [Wookiepedia sayeth](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Vader%27s_armor): > [@](#): > > Vader’s armor, also known as Dark armor, was a suit of cybernetic armor worn by the Sith Lord Darth Vader. He was encased in the armor as a result of grave injuries he sustained in a lightsaber duel with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. So, yeah, armor. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/45 "2017-08-04T12:28:17Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > To steer this towards more of a GD direction, could there be any sort of armor or protection to stop either a laser shot or even a light saber? If not any specific material substance then perhaps some electroreactive armor? How about stopping a Star Trek phaser? In the Expanded Universe, a metal exists (“phrik”) that is lightsaber resistant, and another (“cortosis”) that actually causes lighsabers to temporarily fail upon contact. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/46 "2017-08-04T13:29:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Vader’s getup clearly is armor. At one point he gets hit in the shoulder with a lightsabre, and is merely damaged, not dismembered as is typical for people getting hit in the shoulder with lightsabres. > [@Bricker](#): > > In the Expanded Universe, a metal exists (“phrik”) that is lightsaber resistant, and another (“cortosis”) that actually causes lighsabers to temporarily fail upon contact. It cracks me up to think of the Emperor outfitting every stormtrooper in armor that’s absolutely useless against blaster fire – and even against a stone-tipped spear in the diminutive hands of an Ewok – but that offers protection against a lightsaber. Because he hates Jedis _so, so, so much._ ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/47 "2017-08-04T13:59:11Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Real Reason: To make them all appear uniform and anonymous. Which is why that stupid shiny metal one that Captain Phasma had was all the more stupid. As for gun powder … it’s a galaxy a long time ago and far away. Gunpowder was just invented in the 9th century. It hasn’t been invented yet. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/48 "2017-08-04T15:44:47Z")
Stormtrooper armor probably isn’t resistant to lightsabres (though I’m not sure if we ever actually see a lightsabre cutting through them). Vader’s is, and you might have already noticed that he gets all the best toys. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/49 "2017-08-04T15:56:41Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > Armor? I thought they were a bipedal life form with a white exoskeleton. Huh? Did you see the movie? Remember when Han and Luke put on stormtrooper suits to escort Chewie to the detention levels? And when Luke busts in to save Leia, he says “Oh, the uniform”? ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/50 "2017-08-04T20:48:00Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > It’s primary purpose is obviously skull protection, in case you accidentally bump head-first into something… So that’s why that scene is there. It’s not a mistake! ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/51 "2017-08-04T20:58:18Z")
\*\*What’s the purpose of storm troopers’ armor? \*\* Hard to get a PG rating with hundreds of naked dudes running around with guns all over the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/52 "2017-08-04T21:08:52Z")
Also, it saves you the time and expense of hiring thousands of lookalikes. (Were the STs always intended to be the clones of Obiwan’s “clone wars” expository lecture? Smells like a lazy retcon to me) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/53 "2017-08-04T21:22:11Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > Also, it saves you the time and expense of hiring thousands of lookalikes. > > (Were the STs always intended to be the clones of Obiwan’s “clone wars” expository lecture? Smells like a lazy retcon to me) The Stormtroopers in the original trilogy aren’t clones. The clone program was shuttered at the end of the Clone Wars, and the surviving clones put out to pasture. Stormtroopers are conscripts/volunteers. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/54 "2017-08-04T22:08:58Z")
Wookieeepedia says that the armor is primarily an environmental suit, and that it is designed to withstand blaster bolts. So most of the troopers that get shot down get back up again after a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/55 "2017-09-06T15:12:03Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Forget gunpowder, I’m not sure anyone there ever invented the wheel. Indeed they did. [![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/5641f690e4b07d9ae5c82879/1453913655678-DGC2XNAQ451XWL6DXRXB/sandcrawler2004.jpg?content-type=image%2Fjpeg) ](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/5641f690e4b07d9ae5c82879/1453913655678-DGC2XNAQ451XWL6DXRXB/sandcrawler2004.jpg?content-type=image%2Fjpeg) [![](https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/f/f7/JuggernautROTS.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091201162123) ](https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/f/f7/JuggernautROTS.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091201162123) [![](https://media.moddb.com/images/members/1/438/437542/Imperial_siege_tank.png) ](https://media.moddb.com/images/members/1/438/437542/Imperial_siege_tank.png) ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/56 "2017-09-06T17:14:12Z")
> [@dirty\_hippie](#): > > I watched Star Wars: A New Hope fairly recently, and while I liked it over the other newer SW episodes, I didn’t find it all that memorable. Anyway, in this movie I noticed that the storm troopers in their iconic white armor are easily disabled (not killed, since this is a Disney movie). I assume this is an armor suit, but the blind Asian guy can beat them up with his staff! Other than the cool factor, what is the suit’s purpose and function? It can’t even protect them from being hit with a stick. > > Wearing such a suit would decrease mobility, and even if it’s a small decrease, I guess that would be acceptable if it offered superior protection as a trade off. But it seems like it can’t. Come to think of it, the storm trooper armor looks stupid without any real function. > > Sent from my C6916 using Tapatalk Reasons to wear the white armor: 1 ) To conceal the identity of the troopers. and add intimidation. 2 ) Gas mask filter, protection from heat, cold, and elements. 1. Light arms protection from blades and sticks. It won’t stop blasters, but being light it offers mobility. 4 ) To protect the senses, eyes, and ears… from light, or sonic attacks. Helmet radio is included. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/57 "2017-09-06T20:04:09Z")
It gets the same treatment armor ALWAYS gets from hollywood: It’s purely for decoration. Watch any medieval movie and you’ll see sword cuts that barely connect, killing dudes in mail, or even plate armor. Armor is to look cool. If you’re a bad guy, it’s to look cool while dying. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/58 "2017-09-07T03:37:52Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#): > > Reasons to wear the white armor: > …2 ) Gas mask filter, protection from heat, cold, and elements… In at least one scene, it seems to function as a fully-protective spacesuit: [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Klx71qvOGI/UcW\_gU6CeRI/AAAAAAAAA\_g/YWhUUSdRk4E/s1600/Death+Star+Millennium+Falcon.jpg](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Klx71qvOGI/UcW_gU6CeRI/AAAAAAAAA_g/YWhUUSdRk4E/s1600/Death+Star+Millennium+Falcon.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/59 "2017-09-07T06:38:04Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > To steer this towards more of a GD direction, could there be any sort of armor or protection to stop either a laser shot or even a light saber? If not any specific material substance then perhaps some electroreactive armor? How about stopping a Star Trek phaser? I guess you could make an armor that essentially was a lightsaber on the outside. That would block a light saber. Obviously you’d only turn it on during battles; otherwise day-to-day tasks on the death star would become yet more hazardous (but then, when you signed up to work on “The Death Star”…). Of course it’s quite a rabbit hole when you start to ask why they don’t use light sabers energy / force for more purposes. Something that blocks and cuts through just about anything has thousands of uses, inside and outside of combat. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468/60 "2017-09-07T13:41:34Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Which is why that stupid shiny metal one that Captain Phasma had was all the more stupid. Officers often wear uniforms different from the grunts. It’s a uniform with some mild degree of protection. I don’t think it needs to be fanwanked. From a movie making perspective, the Stormtrooper look is one of the most brilliant costuming designs in the history of cinema. There’s a reason “Star Wars” won the Oscar for costume design; it’s just brilliant in every respect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-storm-troopers-armor/792468.md?page=4)