Emperor's Shadow Guards

[Peregrinus]

Those shoulder bells, what do you think they used. Mando?

Actually, take a look at Anakin's shoulder bells in the Clone Wars cartoon.

--Jonah

[kivas]

For shoulder bells I am using TB - that way there is no need to get rid of the ridge.

[Peregrinus]

Good plan. Let us see how they turn out, yes?

--Jonah

[tavrikgannon]

Well, I still don't necessarily subscribe to the belief that "Shadow" equals "stealth". The Amazing Disappearing Shadowtroopers in The Force Unleashed notwithstanding, "Shadow" still seems more a mark of elite status or special training/tasking than the white (or red, in these guys' case) troopers at the other end of the spectrum.

--Jonah

Well, Jonah, I guess opinion is only mere conjecture here. You can differ with my view all you like. The truth of the matter is that it all comes down to personal choice. Because there isn't anything set in stone as to who is right or who is wrong. Just as it was over at Spec Ops, the same is true here!

- Bill

[tavrikgannon]

I had a set of TB and TK bells.... for me, the TK bells were more accurate looking. I mean, to each their own. Either will probably work. I just think with the extra work done to the TK bells, you get a better looking set of shoulder bells for this costume.

- Bill

[Peregrinus]

Well, Jonah, I guess opinion is only mere conjecture here. You can differ with my view all you like. The truth of the matter is that it all comes down to personal choice. Because there isn't anything set in stone as to who is right or who is wrong. Just as it was over at Spec Ops, the same is true here!

Oh, I know. That's the biggest problem with this not being in a movie. We end up with many other points of view tackling things in the EU. When a writer or artist five years ago did their version of what they thought they were seeing/reading ten or twenty years earlier -- but without talking to the original writer or artist whose work they were trying to carry forward... well, that's basically a game of "telephone". There's all manner of opportunities in there for different concepts of what is intended to be the same character to creep in. This is how we ended up with the different versions of Storm Commando, for instance. The most recent is always the most suspect, and the likliest to have misinterpreted something from earlier up the chain.

In this case, perhaps it's more accurate to say I have found the emphasis going on the wrong feature. I always go with the pattern of accumulated evidence. You've seen me lay this out over on the SpecOps board as regards the Storm Commando and Magmatrooper mess...

The Blackhole Stormtroopers of the original newspaper comic strip from the late '70s are the original source here. Blackhole had had his troops' armour cast in stygian-tripolymer alloy, which gave them added sensor-stealth (not invisibility). But that was a side benefit. His main reason was so that his troopers would be black, to coincide with his code-name. But as Russ Manning drew them, they were shiny, so their focus obviously wasn't visual stealth. Same applies to the Shadow Scout "Commandos" in 2005's three-issue Rogue Leader miniseries. They were all shiny.

The only non-shiny black trooper I know of is the actual Storm Commando design. And the only time I've seen Shadow Stormtroopers employing visual stealth tactics is in The Force Unleashed, where they are equipped with personal visual-cloaking devices.

Actually, I'm not even sure where the "shadow" designator first appeared. I know they were called Darktroopers in 1992 in the Dark Empire miniseries, and Blackhole Stormtroopers before that (even though they weren't called that in the actual Russ Manning strip). Somewhere in the last decade-and-a-half, then.

Anyway, all this is saying that -- for the Shadow Guard shiny black would be in keeping with the other "shadow" armours we've seen over the years. If there are any stealth properties to be gained, it is in sensor-stealth rather than visual-stealth, in which case shininess doesn't matter. If they want to be visually stealthy, then they'd have a cloaking device like the Shadow Troopers they were leading or Reflec like the matte-coated (original) Storm Commandos.

*sigh* Another of my analytical mini-essays for the ages...

--Jonah

[Peregrinus]

But I will tacitly agree with you about the shoulder bells, Bill. This is very much a YMMV matter, depending on which make of TK or TB bells one starts with and how one mods them. Which did you use, and is your approach to cut out the insets or to add extra material to the bottom edge?

--Jonah

[LuciousTalvloinne]

I will treat this like fabric it is always better to take away than it is to add. I think when the crl comes around for this we will set out to make a template for the pattern.

[Peregrinus]

This version of armour is starting to grow on me. Like a fungus. Re-thinking about the TB bells I know of, I agree again they'd probably be too shallow and wide for this application. Rather than turn to TK bells, I think I'm just going to sculpt a pair from scratch.

I'm still going to stick with a Mandalorian-derived backplate, possibly interchangable with my CE armour. And a modded TK breastplate. Clonetrooper shoulder straps...

I wish they'd done a better job on the ab armour, though... Something either more Mando or more Crimson Empire...

I like the greaves and sabatons, but they don't jibe with the screen-seen boots. These may be restricted to Shadow Guard only...

And the vambraces need more, I think.

--Jonah

[tavrikgannon]

I used TK bells. I had the help of a fellow garrison member in drawing out and cutting the bells to the proper shape. We used bondo to smooth out the entire surface, hiding the ridge of the bells.

The ab plate I have made myself. In fact, I have three master molds made out of plywood for easy vac-forming.

I have a TK chest plate that I will be modifying to reflect the proper shape of the chest armor.

After that, it is a matter of getting a Jango Fett back plate and lower leg armor,modifying them appropriately.

The vambraces and boot spats will give me some trouble. I do remember a guy over in Spec Ops that made his own vambraces out of Sintra. If I can learn how to make them, I should be good. The spats may not be as difficult as I may think.

Ultimately, I would like to get master molds together and put whole kits together for troopers who want them. I am pretty much at the mercy of my buddy who has the vac-forming machine - his element went out.

- Bill