Rogue One: A Star Wars Story May Feature Stormtroopers Using Jetpacks.

STAR WARS 12-INCH InteracTech Imperial Stormtrooper Figure - toy
Hasbro’s 12-inch InteracTech Imperial Stormtrooper Figure

 

One of the toys that’s being promoted for the big push for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s wave of merchandise is a Stormtrooper class with a jetpack, though there hasn’t been an explicit confirmation that this type of soldier will be seen in the movie itself. Reddit user Toa_Quarax makes a good case for when and where the soldier may be seen in the movie.

 

 

To play devil’s advocate for a moment, it’s worth noting that just because a toy is made featuring a certain design or element doesn’t mean that it will be representative of what’s actually in the movie. For instance, there are a lot of Spider-Man toys based on the film adaptations, and many of those action figures have the title character use gadgets that he doesn’t use in the movie. The reason they do this is to sell more variants of a specific figure to use fewer resources in designing new models, and it’s not uncommon to do this with a masked/armored figure like a Stormtrooper. Still, the amount of research done by the Redditor suggests that there is a lot more to this than meets the eye.

 

Jump_Trooper_SWB

 

Stormtroopers with jetpacks aren’t actually anything new to Star Wars, both in Legends and the Canon – to name a few appearances, they showed up in The Force Unleashed, the two Pandemic Battlefront titles, Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, and even the ongoing Poe Dameron comic. More importantly, however, is that they appeared in DICE’s Battlefront (shown above), which would be set closer to Rogue One than any other work in the timeline. You might notice that the design of the Stormtrooper directly above and the actual action figure at the top of this article are quite different – primarily through the markings on the helmet and the McQuarrie-inspired jetpack that the toy has – strongly suggesting that the action figure is not based on Battlefront, but Rogue One.

 

Before getting into where this Stormtrooper might appear in the movie, something worth noting about the figure is that the Stormtrooper’s blaster does not have a flashlight on it, unlike many of the other blasters for Rogue One. As I alluded to earlier in the article, this kind of thing is probably done for the purpose of cutting corners and saving a bit when it comes to manufacturing the accessories – and based on Toa_Quarax’s original post, it appears that this frugal way of saving seems to be the operating principle with a few of the forthcoming Stormtrooper toys. If this jetpack-using Stormtrooper is in the film, then it would most likely have a flashlight attached to the gun. Logically-speaking, the peripheral to the weapon would have to be utilized in a place where it would actually be needed – specifically, a scene taking place at night. Also worth noting is that one of the toy’s quotes is “Head for the canyon!”, which suggests that this Stormtrooper may be fighting in the desert.

 

rogue one

 

Based on what we know about the movie and the footage shown in the trailer, it would seem as though the best fit for an evening fight in the desert would be the late-night assault on an Imperial outpost on Jedha. There is an aerial element to the battle (as seen with the X-wings) and a ground element (as Baze Malbus is seen sniping Stormtroopers). Having infantry that serve as a nuisance to both groups of Rebels would create a kind of fight that we have yet to see in a Star Wars movie, and hey, isn’t that what the Anthology films are all about?

 

Thanks again to Toa_Quarax for the original analysis! I would strongly recommend that you check it out, as he has a lot of visual evidence supporting his theory.

 

 

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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.

18 thoughts on “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story May Feature Stormtroopers Using Jetpacks.

  • September 14, 2016 at 8:05 pm
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    A Moonraker inspired-device it seems?

  • September 14, 2016 at 8:13 pm
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    aren’t these jetpack stormtroopers in the Battlefront game? maybe Hasbro just wanted to make one and the Rogue One merchandise blitz was their excuse because there isn’t a toy line for the game (even the candy cane Imperial Shocktrooper in TBS 6″ didn’t have game title on the package).

    • September 14, 2016 at 8:23 pm
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      Yeah very popular in the game, but seeing one or two in action in the film would be cool.

      • September 14, 2016 at 11:59 pm
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        Jetpacks, what the disruption card was made for.

    • September 14, 2016 at 9:15 pm
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      Yes I thought the same. Even thought I read that somewhere that it is from the Battlefront Game.

    • September 14, 2016 at 10:27 pm
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      The render in the article is from Battlefront, but note that the jetpacks have very different designs. Hot Toys released a Battlefront jumptrooper, but Hasbro hasn’t, and since the last DLC for Battlefront is Rogue One related, there’s still a chance that this is simply a tie-in. We’ll know soon enough.

  • September 14, 2016 at 8:46 pm
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    Stormtroopers with jetpacks, a childhood dream realized. Now if they’d work some sharks with frickin’ laser beams in, I could die a happy geek.

    • September 15, 2016 at 11:51 pm
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      Tru dat – I mean, rotating chair already achieved, right?

  • September 14, 2016 at 9:51 pm
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    If Boba Fett had jetpack technology then why not the Empire? Makes sense for them to have it.

  • September 14, 2016 at 10:25 pm
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    The ones used in Battlefront are “jump packs,” not full on jet packs. So there’s one explanation for the difference.

    • September 15, 2016 at 2:52 am
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      Thanks! It seems the wiki I was reading labeled it wrong. I’ll update the post.

  • September 14, 2016 at 10:37 pm
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    Fuck yes, that’s what I wanted, frok Rebellion of Empire, I just wanted jetpacks, why they afraid to use it sooner? I am so glad this movie has bowls to do something new

  • September 14, 2016 at 10:50 pm
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    I guess supershadow was right all along lol

  • September 15, 2016 at 12:20 am
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    To paraphrase Kylo Ren reacting to the Rogue One trailer:
    “Why didn’t they have that on [Luke’s Death Star escape]? They might have actually won!!!”

  • September 15, 2016 at 1:53 am
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    Well, that’s neat. That was also the location I was thinking they might appear in.

    • September 15, 2016 at 3:46 am
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      I mentioned that in the original post. Not sure why they cut it out.

  • September 15, 2016 at 1:03 pm
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    Saw Gerrera wears an armored suit for ‘flight and maintenance’ according to Whitaker. It would be odd if he’s the only one hopping around the battlefield with this technology.

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