Star Wars: The Force Awakens – “Traitor Trooper” Officially Named & Given Backstory.

FN-2199

The internet-famous “loyal Stormtrooper of sick spins” from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens – affectionately called “TR-8R” or “TR8-T0R” by fans – has been given an official name and a backstory (because why not). As it turns out, the Stormtrooper had a personal connection with FN-2187 (or “Finn”, as we know him), and there’s a good reason as to why he drops his blaster in favor of a stun baton.

 

From the official Star Wars website:

 

His name is FN-2199. But his friends call him “Nines.” As detailed in Greg Rucka’s excellent book Before the Awakening, Nines trained and served on a squad with Finn (then FN-2187) in the First Order. That explains why he seems just a little extra angry upon seeing Finn during the attack on Maz’s Castle. You can see FN-2199 in the image below by Phil Noto from Before the Awakening — he’s the trooper seated in the background with red hair. Who’d have thought?

Nines Awakens

There’s a reason that Nines gets to use an awesome weapon (which is called a Z6 baton). He’s riot control, and part of an elite squad that enforces order or squashes uprisings. While their weapons are non-lethal in theory, the Z6 can definitely cause harm or kill an opponent when used with brute force. Look, if a lightsaber can’t cut it, you know it ain’t good news.

 

The site also revealed that FN-2199’s voice was provided by David Acord, who has been involved with sound editing for Attack Of The Clones, Revenge Of The Sith, and The Force Awakens, along with the television series The Clone Wars and Rebels. The actual stuntman, however, was Liang Yang, whose credits include SkyfallWorld War ZEdge Of Tomorrow, and Kingsman: The Secret Service. There’s one more thing of note within the article itself, though…

 

Let’s hope we haven’t seen the last of Nines. Or TR-8R. Who wouldn’t want to see round two…and all the memes it could inspire?

 

We’re all rootin’ for you to make a comeback for Episode VIII, FN-2199! Maybe you could even teach your boss – Captain Phasma – a thing or two about stamping out traitors. For now, however, here’s a .GIF of Nines pulling off some sick spins for good measure.

 

Sick Spins

 

+ posts

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

59 thoughts on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens – “Traitor Trooper” Officially Named & Given Backstory.

  • January 8, 2016 at 12:44 am
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    TRAITOR!

    – Pomojema

  • January 8, 2016 at 12:46 am
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    Traitors gonna trait

  • January 8, 2016 at 1:00 am
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    He dieded for our spins

    • January 8, 2016 at 1:40 am
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      You win the internet today sir

  • January 8, 2016 at 1:16 am
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    still a little disappointed this dude had more action scenes and now backstory then phasma. so much for our first female villain.

    • January 8, 2016 at 1:54 am
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      Phasma gets choked to death by Kylo Ren.

      Ren: “You are in command now, Captain TR-8R.”

      TR-8R attains silver armour and black cloak.

      • January 8, 2016 at 1:59 am
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        lol. i like that. though i think he needs to work on the name some. 🙂

    • January 8, 2016 at 4:36 am
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      Then don’t read it. Just about every character, even background people get backstories. Been like this for a long while.

    • January 8, 2016 at 6:40 am
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      I agree about the action scene. It should have been Phasma in the fight with Finn. But she is actually featured more prominently in Before the Awakening than Nines, so she has more backstory, but I totally see your point. In the book, Nines and Finn kind of develop a little bit of rivalry. When I read it, I instantly thought it was the trooper from the fight scene in the movie. But whereas Slip was mentioned in the Junior novel (bloody hand print guy), Nines was never mentioned, which I thought was another missed opportunity. Weird that it turns out I was right all along. The connection is neat, but the reveal over a website article versus the movie or novel is a little disappointing. I was already like…hmm…well I guess this is just some random trooper who recognizes Finn from the most wanted list or something.

  • January 8, 2016 at 1:17 am
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    Erm, didn’t we see him get blasted in the chest by Han firing Chewie’s Bowcaster ???

    • January 8, 2016 at 1:54 am
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      He might have just bounced/been knocked away. I find it unlikely, but they could bring him back if they really wanted to.

      • January 8, 2016 at 2:33 am
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        This is the Star Wars EU, where people can shoot their way out of Sarlacc stomachs and droids can use the Force. Never underestimate the EU.

  • January 8, 2016 at 2:22 am
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    I don’t get why he needed a name and backstory. Part of the fun of this whole thing was that he was just a random guy. Now they ruin that.

    • January 8, 2016 at 2:29 am
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      Just following in the footsteps of the EU before them. Every character gets a name and backstory, eventually. I’d suggest looking up Willrow Hood, for example.

      • January 8, 2016 at 2:33 am
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        Ya, I’m well aware. My initial complaint remains though.

  • January 8, 2016 at 2:31 am
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    That battle was better than the duel at the ending of the movie…

    • January 8, 2016 at 3:16 am
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      lolno

    • January 8, 2016 at 3:56 am
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      You know what would have made it even better? If he hadn’t almost clubbed himself in the gut with the thing on the first spin. Seriously – look at that GIF.

      • January 8, 2016 at 4:28 am
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        “Almost” only counts in horsehoes and hand grenades.

        • January 8, 2016 at 5:39 am
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          Pffft – JJ missed an opportunity to give us our ST equivalent of “TK who bonks his head on an opening door”.

    • January 18, 2016 at 3:50 am
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      Troll account..

  • January 8, 2016 at 2:44 am
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    I was hoping that the new EU would stray away from the needless “no such thing as coincidence in Star Wars” mentality. Damn it.

    • January 8, 2016 at 2:53 am
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      the force works in mysterious ways. 😉

  • January 8, 2016 at 3:01 am
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    It would’ve been nice to have a few lines between Finn and this guy before they land on Jakku. We shouldn’t have to read a book to get a sense that TR-8R personally knew Finn.

    • January 8, 2016 at 3:52 am
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      “We shouldn’t have to read a book to get a sense that TR-8R personally knew Finn.”
      .
      “We shouldn’t have to read a book to get a sense that the Republic matters”
      .
      “We shouldn’t have to read a book to know why the Falcon hasn’t flown in years, but starts up immediately”
      .
      “We shouldn’t have to read a book to have any clue who Max Von Sydow was supposed to be”
      .
      Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…welcome to TFA.

      • January 8, 2016 at 4:34 am
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        Check the consensus of reviews Cranky…most people prefer to not be blasted w/ that level of detail. Can’t please everybody…

        • January 8, 2016 at 5:15 am
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          Yes for that level of detail you need a 23 hours TV serie.

        • January 8, 2016 at 5:37 am
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          And yet, here you are commenting on an article explaining that the drama behind this scene is to be found in some BS supplement,

          • January 8, 2016 at 7:50 am
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            I just thought it was cool to read…I don’t expect all this to fit into a 2 hr or so movie. I can’t get enough ☺ Everyone is entitled to their opinion, right? I’m just saying this was for a larger demographic who don’t want all the exposition. Sorry if you didn’t like it man…I had so much fun. It wasn’t perfect but it was oh so much what I wanted and needed. Cheers and to each his own.

  • January 8, 2016 at 3:49 am
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    “… there’s a good reason as to why he drops his blaster in favor of a stun baton.”
    .
    Aint reading it. Someone tell me – is the reason “because moar toys”?

    • January 8, 2016 at 4:52 am
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      It’s an expandable baton. In the scene where he said “Traitor!: and tossed his blaster, he extends the baton and then spins it around ending in an attack position.

      • January 8, 2016 at 5:30 am
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        Even before snapping it open, the thing is like 3 feet long. And twice as wide.

        • January 8, 2016 at 6:38 am
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          It magnetically attaches to the bag on his backside… duh..

          lol It’s a movie I think we are just supposed to suspend belief. He’s part of a special unit who carry the batons and shields. Everything else is best guess.

          • January 8, 2016 at 6:42 am
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            You realize we argue with someone called Mr Crankypants. What do we expect from a name like that?

      • January 8, 2016 at 12:14 pm
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        I thought it transformed from his blaster, hence the fancy spin. I’ll have to see it again.

  • January 8, 2016 at 4:03 am
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    Finally some love for the stormys. The only other one was HD-B0NKR

    • January 8, 2016 at 5:05 am
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      Yes, how many of them could have died in the Starkiller destruction, thousands? millions?
      Poor guys pulled up from their families when they were kids, slaved to stormtroopers and now dying.

      • January 8, 2016 at 1:20 pm
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        The original death star explosion already costed the life of something like 2 million people (there’s an infograph somewhere.)

        Here you’re talking about a weaponized, but perfectly inhabitable planet… so the number is way north of that.

      • January 8, 2016 at 2:27 pm
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        that’s sad….that people get upset about millions of non existing fictional people!

  • January 8, 2016 at 4:57 am
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    It would’ve been nice if he was actually Phasma, giving her more to do in the movie, but then idiots would probably complain about the improbability of a woman holding her own against a man like they do about Rey vs. Kylo.

    • January 8, 2016 at 5:23 am
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      Damn, you’re right – and what’s more, there is absolutely no story reason it couldn’t have been Phasma. What a stupid oversight.

      • January 8, 2016 at 10:14 am
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        Trust me… there are already people saying things that clearly reveal more about them than Christie.

    • January 8, 2016 at 5:56 pm
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      I also read this somewhere as an improvement for the Phasma character. Phasma looks bad ass, but is pretty lame. What a missed opportunity.

  • January 8, 2016 at 5:05 am
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    Glad you guys are using GIFs, it looks really good

  • January 8, 2016 at 9:38 am
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    Finally, Original Star Wars Stormtrooper concepts turned into reality after all these decades!

  • January 8, 2016 at 10:25 am
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    Finn NEVER should’ve been allowed to fight with the lightsaber. It takes away the special-ness of it. The first time that thing ignited should’ve been when it flew into Rey’s hands. That would’ve been cool. Amazing how many places Kasdan and Abrams went wrong with this film. Never should’ve rushed the script.

    • January 8, 2016 at 10:36 am
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      Yeah, because Empire was so ruined when Han used it on Hoth.

    • January 8, 2016 at 10:39 am
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      Sure, just like when Kasdan went wrong the same way in Empire, when Han used Luke’s saber. Totally ruined the whole thing. (rolls eyes)

      It’s called a pump fake. You set up one expectation, that Finn will be the jedi, and you surprise the audience when it’s not the guy who’s been wielding the lightsaber.

      But then, that doesn’t matter, because you’re not looking for dramatic convention or logic, you’re looking for a reason to complain.

    • January 8, 2016 at 12:37 pm
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      And how was it suposed it flow into Rey’s hand if Finn dosent lose it in the first place? And if only Rey’ve had used it, than whats Finn’s purpose in the movie? And people liked that scene pretty much, it was the first time a stormtrooper doing something useful in the entire franchise.

      Dont critisice anything if you have no idea what you are talking about. Leave script writing to professionals (especially a 3 times academy award nominated legend).

      • January 10, 2016 at 12:59 pm
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        Finn had it on his person. It could’ve simply fallen off him. Or he could’ve tried to use it and couldn’t figure how. His weapon is a blaster, since he’s a stormtrooper.

    • January 8, 2016 at 4:17 pm
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      Had to rush it due to Disney setting a release in advance which is why they threw out the Arndt script and shoehorned all the IV “homages”. I’m thinking up until they leave Jakku, It was going to go in a very different direction than what we got.

    • January 8, 2016 at 4:23 pm
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      They had to fool blind audiences somehow… They had me fooled.

  • January 8, 2016 at 4:16 pm
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    I understand why Finn had a problem with this guy but for him to go from humanist to killing his own Brothers-in-arms in the course of the film made no sense at all, Especially considering these are literally the only family he has and going from the aforementioned short story he was fairly close to them too.

    • January 8, 2016 at 10:48 pm
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      The short story shows the complete opposite. he never got a nickname from them, because none of them were that close to him.

      • January 8, 2016 at 10:58 pm
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        Except he saved one of their lives at the expense of his own career.

        • January 9, 2016 at 12:49 am
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          “Because it’s the right thing to do.” – Finn

          I guess the right thing to dk was to murder a ton of people in order to get out. plus, those other troopers shot villagers, so Finn probably didn’t like them all that much after that.

          • January 9, 2016 at 8:53 pm
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            Why he should have been a grizzled vet who killed them and then had enough or had in the past making his redemption and relationship with Rey that much more powerful.

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