I don't know about the storm trooper/fett armor connection. that would also have been seen as tying it in to something previously that was random.
Personally, I have no problem with all mando warriors looking like Fett. if the warriors where the mando army at one point, the costume may have become a tradition, and that seems to be something they'd hold dear. having the storm troopers look exactly like fett would have left little mystery as to where they came from.
as for IG 88 -, they very well could be a KIND of battle droid. in this case, assassins. we've seen all different types of droids, so why should the main battle droids look like Ig88?
Well, the "Supertroopers" were before the character of Boba existed, so no conflict. But. That just would have been the armor worn by these elite commandos from Mandalore that the Empire used for the hard work. Not "Stormtrooper" armor. They would have been part of the Stormtrooper Corps/Imperial military, yes, but not
Stormtroopers. Given how things have evolved, I actually hope we see some white-armored Mandalorians like that at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore in Rebels, being trained to be exactly this kind of Imperial commando. I can definitely see them keeping the styling, even if it's made out of the same stuff as Stormtrooper armor (or non-black-coated but better Shadow Trooper armor).
As for droids, there's been stuff going all the way back that the droids made by various species often look like those species, at least vestigially. So the BT-1 Battle Droids look a bit like Geonosians, while the various IG droids (as the name implies, made by the InterGalactic Banking Clan) have the long, narrow heads of the Muuns. And so forth. The original description for IG-88 was "a battered chrome war droid". The Clone Wars showed us that the Separatists used a bunch of droids for the conflict, all suited to particular use. So I see no problem there.
If I remember correctly, the bonus footage of ANH show's Luke talking to Biggs about joining the academy. And they are referring to the Imperial academy. But Biggs breaks the news to Luke that he's starting to sway the other direction and wants to join the rebel alliance.
From the previous page...
I'm annoyed at the EU writers/artists who put in the whole notion that it was an Imperial Academy. Biggs flying TIE Fighters and Tank being an Imperial officer in the comics... We've had the script since the late '70s. The novelization, comic adaptation, and storybook all have Luke's reunion with Biggs -- it was only cut back out of the film pretty late before release. [...] That's also not any kind of Imperial uniform Biggs is sporting in Anchorhead. My take for a couple decades has been that it's an Outer Rim merchantmarine academy. Biggs' main point when talking to Luke is that he's been posted to a freighter, the Empire is nationalizing trade in the core systems, and it's only a matter of time before it turns its attention to the Rim. Sounds merchantmarine-y to me...
[
Edited to add...]
The problem with all Mandalorians wearing the exact same kind of armor just makes no sense unless they're all Mandos are part of a planet or at least nationwide military force. Just take a look at European knights and Samurai, while all of their armor was of the same type (plate and lamellar) no two ever looked the same, not to the same degree that we see most Mando armor which is typically not much more than re-colored Fett armor. Even if the armor covering the body is mostly the same historical armor from warrior classes at least varied considerably in helmet design but more often than not there was a fair amount of personalization to armor with it becoming more elaborate the wealthier and higher ranking the wearer is. In my mind, having all Mandos wearing Fett armor, but in different colors, would be little different than them wearing Stormtrooper armor, mass produced, munitions grade armor for the common soldier, not the armor of an elite warrior class.
Good points. Being involved in the Mandalorian Mercs, I've actually studied the minutiæ that will be less obvious to the casual viewer. I've talked to Tom Hodges, for instance, who's done a lot of the latter EU Mando art (several of which were used by Entertainment Earth to make their Mando reworks in their two "Elite Forces of the Republic" sets). I can see commonality of design, and can give informed conjecture as to why this is this way and that is that way. I can point to the almost universal elongated hexagon in the center of the chest that's also shown up as an architectural and textile motif among the New Mandalorians, so it's a symbol of cultural significance. I can point to non-human Mandalorians with the necessarily-different helmets (there's a Togruta one that is just
awesome)...
So like an expert on medieval Japanese armor can point to a bunch of suits made during the same time period in the same region and point to the common design elements as well as the individual variation, I can, too. As I said previous, in the old EU, Tobbi Dala referred to the ESB Boba costume (or rather, the almost-identical version of it he was wearing) as the uniform of a Mandalorian Protector. But even then he, Boba, and Fenn had their own individual accessories, weapons loadouts, and helmet/chest markings. Then as things diverge further, I can get into things like armor coverage, helmet accessories, rocketpack versus no, loose versus fitted flight suit, double sleeve on that or no, flak vest or the plates mounted directly to the flight suit, and so on and so on. I can instantly see the differences between this:
...these:
...this:
...and this:
...as well as the common elements that mark them all as coming from the same culture and time period.
--Jonah
