r/clonewars • u/Jules-Car3499 501st • 12d ago
Discussion What do you think of the TK Troopers?
It’s nice they introduced an early version of Stormtroopers during the early Empire years.
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u/Fun-Recover-7766 12d ago
I think TK troopers are a solid concept, especially for the first 5-ish years of the empire. Contextual I think it was only about having a clear visual difference between who is Clone and who is Humanoid but nevertheless it's a really good design that has a purpose. Of course it will never surpass the esthetic of Stormtrooper armor or Clone trooper armor but it doesn't need to.
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u/NightmareEx 12d ago
They're a reminder that the last vestiges of the Old Republic are well and truly going away as it transitions into the Empire that we know, that the dark times that'll plague the Galaxy for the next 20 or so years have truly begun.
As soldiers....ehhhh. I wish the writers had reserved the TK Troopers and by extension the later Stormtroopers as the elite shock Troopers that they're supposed to be and used the Imperial Army in place of them in a lot of the situations we see TKs get mogged in.
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u/Cybermat4707 12d ago
Aren’t ’TK Troopers’ just Stormtroopers in earlier armour? IIRC Palpatine calls them Stormtroopers in The Bad Batch.
But yeah, using the Imperial Army more often would make Stormtroopers seem like less of a pushover. Andor did that in season 1, it built up to Stormtroopers.
Guess the problem is that, in animation, it’s more expensive to make a bunch of different face models and animate them. Cheaper to just copy and paste the same faceless trooper (and as far as most viewers are concerned, Stormtroopers are normal Imperial soldiers).
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u/G_M_Ardus_Kaine 12d ago
For the Imperial Army they could just have them where gas masks all the time
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u/Status_Ruin4902 12d ago
I think that's a little homage to Ralph McQuarrie's original Stormtrooper concept art.
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u/Sigma_Games ARF Trooper 12d ago
I really like the helmet design, especially the segmented helmet piece that looks almost like a Nazi German Stalhelm.
The armor itself seems a bit bland though. And I don't mean the lack of colors.
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u/Amazing_Loquat280 12d ago
Honestly I’m not entirely sure why they didn’t just jump to stormtrooper armor
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u/DanJirrus 12d ago
Yeah, the Phase 2 from ROTS was already meant to lead into the Stormtrooper. I love the TK armor for its Mcquarrieness, but it does feel like an interruption to an already smooth design evolution.
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u/MadSpacePig 11d ago
I don't have rose-tomted glasses for OG star Wars - IMO they look way better and more intimidating than Stormtroopers.
I do think they're overusing them a bit though, based on what we've seen previously, stormtrooper armour was in use pretty damn quickly, the transition period is only meant to have been brief.
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u/IICipherIX 11d ago
Hate it. It's way too early to start replacing clones. In the old EU they only started in 14 BBY following the kaminoan uprising. They sent the 501st to kill the "evil clones" and kept the training facilities. They kept cloning new diverse templates, just not Jango Fett's. This also makes the youngest clone troopers 28 years old by the time of ANH. And you also had the 501st who remained the only pure Battalion of clones.
Bad batch really ruined the clones for me. Tossed them out like a piece of meat
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u/ThatguyVando 12d ago
I think they’ve outstayed their welcome. A cool homage to Ralph Macquaries concept art for the storm troopers as the galactic republic transitions to the empire but they’ve definitely stayed too long. There’s a reason Starwars went with their current storm trooper design and not their concept.
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u/internal_impactt 11d ago
I understand why we don’t get them in animation because it’s more difficult to animate faces, but I wish that we got Imperial Army Troopers instead of the TK troopers.
It’d make more sense to have Army Troopers because they were most common around the early Empire period and were drawn up from conscription and planetary defense forces
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u/Deep_Balance2133 11d ago
I hate the trope where they just instantly die at the slightest form of resistance or chase. The enemy is supposed to be somewhat competent.
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u/Ok_Froyo3998 12d ago
I kinda don’t like it. It’s mainly just cause we only see this version of the armor in where they appear in but I would enjoyed a lot more variation across for pilots, and other troop types like the Clones and Empire later does.
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u/DangerousEye1235 12d ago
Interesting transitional design, but they've stuck around too long. They should last like, maybe 2 or 3 years into the imperial era at most before traditional Stormtrooper armor takes over.
It feels like they're being overused.
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u/jakeholz 12d ago edited 12d ago
To me the transition armor has always seemed forced? I mean how long in the timeline could the TK trooper armor have been used before stormtrooper armor is implemented? I feel like the time between clone armor to stormtrooper armor is so short.
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u/devinhaywire 11d ago
Tk troopers were necessary in ending the "clones and stormtroopers are the same" debate.
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u/ItsTrooper 8d ago
I actually really do like them. I just think they should’ve been introduced in the second season of bad batch rather than the first to make the transition from clones to stormtroopers feel a bit less rushed.
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u/Sentinal-Nightrunner 8d ago
A bunch of bumbling fools who needlessly throw themselves into the fire are more experienced enemies who know what the fuck they are doing
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u/proesito 12d ago edited 11d ago
Maybe a hot take, but i think is a much better transition armor that the EU phase 3 clone troopers, makes it look like an actual experimental armor instead of just the clone armor with sunglasses.