What constitutes “idealized”?

[planktonimore]

I see that some costumes go for accuracy to screen above all else, imperfections and all, while other costumes lend more to an “idealized” design. I’m curious about the distinction and what constitutes idealized and whatnot. For example, could one construct a shadow stormtrooper costume using a rogue one stormtrooper kit as their base, or something similar? What about making a symmetrical bucket without the slight imperfections on the eye shapes and so on. Let me know your thoughts, as I am currently shopping for kits to start my armor and I want to know what the limits are with “idealization” which is a term I hear a lot and don’t know if I understand it.

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

Hello, Asher, I'll see if I can answer this for you.

LONG ANSWER:

Since Spec Ops has a lot of the expanded universe costumes (e.g., comics, video games, etc.) mixed with screen-time costumes (e.g., Death Trooper, First Order Flametrooper, etc.) we have very differing ways of handing each CRL. When it comes to comics and video games, depending on the game and comic, there is sometimes very limited detail/poly-count depending on the age of the game, or artistic differences when it comes to comics. For the shadow stormtrooper, that was a costume that we created a CRL for a long time ago, and throughout the years we've had supporting refences in the form of black series figures to allow us to shape the CRL for the most accessible versions of the kit. What this means is that we follow the ANH style armor for these costumes (EXCEPT for allowing a fused back/kidney armor; and then regular cover strips with butt joints, no clam-shell hand guards, etc.) over the Rogue One newer style which has vastly different cover strips, joining of the chest/back plate, different back plate, helmet, etc.). The Rogue One style is a lot newer and our CRLs have no supporting evidence currently to allow for a Rogue One stylization.

With the Imperial Army Troopers, those came out of comics and we took the most common detailing across most comic panels and applied it to the costume to develop something that was feasible and would represent the costume well. A lot of discussion went into the coloration (dirty vs. clean, etc.) and we did this with models who developed the kits and gained input from the Spec Ops/501st community.

With the Imperial Death Troopers, there is plenty of on-screen imagery for the development of that CRL, so it is pretty straight forward.

For our lower poly/detailed video game characters such as the Novatroopers, Imperial Navy Commando, etc. we followed similar logic to that of the shadow stormtrooper above for the ease of the costume and consistency amongst members across the 501st. Every so often we may find a new reference somewhere that allows us to reopen CRLs to add details, or the creation of a black series figurine as a supporting reference to allow for such modifications. On the newer video games, costumes such as the Battlefront Shadow Stormtrooper (different from the regular Shadow Stormtrooper) used ROTJ models, thus the CRL follows the logic of requiring a black version of the ROTJ with some modifications to accurately represent the costume.

I believe that with the new Star Wars Outlaws game they are using a Rogue One style model from what I've seen, despite the era the game takes place in, which may drive for additional modeling on any Spec Ops costumes that may come from that game if it has add-ons/patches later. I don't have the game so I'm unaware of the costumes that are in it, but I do know that the Imperial Death Trooper is in that game.

SHORT ANSWER:

If you are looking to do the shadow stormtrooper costume found here: https://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:TX_shadow_stormtrooper, then you want an ANH style armor (with the exception for the allowance of a fused back/kidney armor singular armor plate). Be aware that ROTJ armor often has the molded edges on it and thus would have to be removed.

[planktonimore]

Thank you, that does clear it up.