I get asked a lot of questions about stormtrooper armor. Most people see one of the CostumeBot YouTube vids and it whets their appetite for more info. Unfortunately there’s just not a lot of reliable information out there. Now, I’m certainly not the most knowledgeable person on this subject but I have been a 501st member for a few years and I know my way around.

You have to understand how precarious the relationship between Lucasfilm and the fan armor makers is. LFL supports the 501st because the 501st supports LFL. We can mobilize a literal army of stormtroopers (and Tuskens and Clones and…) at the drop of a hat and the majority of them will not embarrass themselves or LFL. That’s a tremendous resource for LFL to use in promotions and goodwill opportunities worldwide. Trouble is, none of our armor is licensed.

LFL makes a LOT of money off of licensing Star Wars products. When a company buys a license they are also buying the strong arm of LFL to help protect their investment. In other words, if I buy the rights to make and sell light bulbs shaped like Imperial Guards, I want to be assured that LFL will go after anyone else who tries to bring the same items to market. If they don’t protect my investment then I bought nothing…I could have made my light bulbs without the expensive licensing deal.

So there’s a bit of a catch 22. LFL likes having fans in armor but no one has made a good set of licensed armor to date. LFL’s lawyers have eaten up a few armor makers over the years (the ones who try to make their wares available to the general public) but generally leaves the underground armor makers alone. Why?

I think part of the reason is that LFL has traditionally thought that there aren’t likely to be any real companies who will want to buy licenses to make such an expensive and difficult to manufacture and fit costume (this may be changing – more on that in a bit). Now they’ve set a precedent that they will leave the underground hobbyists alone AS LONG AS THEY STAY UNDERGROUND. This is why you will never see the contact info for one of the armor makers mentioned out in the open on any of the 501st forums. Members will debate the armor to death on the boards but the makers info remains quietly in private messages. So couldn’t LFL watchdogs dig into the forums and ask for the armor makers’ contact info? Sure they could, but it’s become something of a don’t ask don’t tell kind of rule with them because the 501st is – A. On Lucasfilm’s side (most of the time) and B. Doing lots of charity work around the world in the name of Star Wars.

So, that said, I will not openly post info here regarding how you can contact any of the armor makers. Most of these guys do what they do out of love for the hobby and they don’t make a living doing this. One of them is even a cop so I KNOW you don’t want to be on his bad side. What I will do is give you the info you need to be able to take the next step and decide if this is really for you or not.

I cannot recommend highly enough the Mos Eisley Police Department. They are the Sandtrooper detachment of the 501st legion and they are some of the most detail-obsessed guys (and girls) in the hobby. The unusual part is the fact that they are also open, welcoming, and friendly. Just visit the site and join the forums and you’re in. There’s a lot more info there than I could ever hope to include in a single web page.

If you’re looking for pics and info on the original costumes (and some of the fan-made suits and helmets as well) check out Jez’s site Star Wars Helmets. His is an invaluable resource when doing research for Star Wars costumes.

So now you wanna know about the armor, right? Okay, but put on your thinking caps. It gets a little confusing.

The first thing you should know is that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks is the best armor out there if you’re happy with what you have. All of the suits I’m going to discuss are high-quality kits. All of them can be made into very nice costumes. Some people get hung up on the holy grail of screen-accuracy (I’ve been known to take a dip or two in that pool myself) but you should know that you don’t have to spend $3K to have a very nice suit. You’ll probably end up spending close to $1K when all is said and done though, even with the cheapest options because none of these kits comes with necessities like an undersuit, gloves, boots, straps, blaster, voice amp, mic, fans, etc. The only element I’m going to be discussing here is the armor itself. Also of note is the fact that I’ll only include armor that can actually be purchased. There are those who build and sell to only a tight-knit circle of friends and while their armor is top-notch, I don’t include them because their paranoia has kept their wares off the market. As far as I’m concerned, they might as well not exist at all.

Stormtrooper armor falls into three categories – those fan kits derived from LFL sources, those that are entirely fan sculpts, and licensed consumer models.

Fan Armor Cast from LFL Sources
There are a couple of kits that are readily available that were supposedly cast off a LFL tour suit of ROTJ armor. The molds were modified to make the armor more accurate to ANH but these are the only makers whose work is physically based on a real suit. They are TrooperExpert (TE) and AuthenticProps (AP). Both will fit well if you’re under 5-11 or so and under 190 pounds. Smaller folks can be accommodated but larger folks should probably look elsewhere.

TE has declared himself done with the hobby a couple of times and even though he keeps popping up, I’d recommend TrooperExpert2 over him anyway. TE sold a set of his molds to TE2, hence the name. TE2 is one of the nicest guys in this biz and is one of the most honorable armor sellers out there. His suits are made of styrene and sport some of the sharpest pulls because of it. Unfortunately because they’re styrene, his suits also require painting. The styrene can also crack easily if mishandled. His kits come untrimmed although you can order your helmet assembled (I think). I’ve never purchased from him but I’ve met him and he has a firm reputation in 501st circles.

AP is similar to TE2 but is formed out of glossy ABS so there’s no painting required but since his ABS is thicker than the styrene TE2 uses, the AP kit pulls aren’t as sharp and well-defined as TE2’s. It’s a reasonably accurate kit except for the reuse of one of the shin sections on both sides and the fact that both forearms are the same. Still, it’s a very nice kit and AP is easy to deal with.

Fan Sculpts
This is the category that’s been growing every year. As more and more fans get interested in the hobby it’s inevitable that more people with the skills needed to sculpt and form their own armor will surface. For my money, the best of this lot is the UK’s own TrooperMaster (TM). While not as easy to obtain as some of the others, the TM armor in high-gloss HIPS is really a sight to behold. It runs a little larger than the LFL-derived armors but not by a lot. I own one of TM’s stunt helmets and was able to compare it to a LFL hero and while they weren’t identical the resemblance was uncanny.

RT-Mod is a Canadian armor maker and his stormtrooper armor was designed for us bigger guys. He attempted to scale up the standard trooper look with very good results. His armor is made of heavy ABS. If I ever purchase another suit, it’ll most likely be one of his.

FX armor is what most (probably upwards of 90%) troopers currently wear. I’m wearing FX armor in my “How to Dress a Stormtrooper” tutorial. It’s not accurate in any way but it’s a good looking kit that’s durable for trooping. It can be adapted to fit a large range of body types but the helmet can certainly look oversized on smaller troopers. The helmet is the worst part of the design but you have to remember that this was sculpted long before we had the visual resources we have today. My recommendation for new recruits is to purchase an FX armor kit minus the helmet then purchase a good helmet separately. This is the way that many 501st troopers are currently upgrading their gear.

Licensed Vendors
While his isn’t actually a license (unless it’s a license to steal), Andrew Ainsworth’s company, Shepperton Design Studios, has been producing armor “from the original molds” for a few years now. they’re currently embroiled in a legal battle with LFL over it and are not available directly to US citizens as a result. There’s considerable doubt that what Ainsworth is selling is actually from the original armor molds, although his helmets most likely are genuine. He fabricated the original armor for A New Hope working from the designs given to him. He currently claims the right to reproduce the helmets and armor based on his claim that he designed them. However, I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in anything he says. Some say that the armor he’s selling is a recast of an AP suit and for more than twice what AP charges!

Surprisingly, for Halloween 2008, Rubies is releasing a set of armor that has a suggested retail of about $1K. The early pics I’ve seen from several cons isn’t encouraging. It looks like it was modeled on the ROTJ armor but it has soft details and what looks to be a pitiful helmet. You never know if what they show prior to release will be anything like the production models, though. I’ll wait to formulate my final judgement after seeing the production model.

So that’s it for now. Hopefully that will be enough to get you started. I’ll be updating this page as time allows. Happy trooping!