I always figured it was because they switched from being actively at war to just being basically armored military officers.
The EU canon reason I've heard for this is that the Empire didn't want any individuality, just a group dedicated to the Emperor. It's probably also a factor that it was the Jedi, in between AOTC and ROTS, who pushed for the clones to express their individuality more and be seen as people, not robots.
JediG60racer
Sr Member
Cost cutting. 8 fl. oz of paint times 20 million troops gets pricey. The money for those Death Stars had to come from somewhere!
Laspector
Master Member
That makes good sense to me.
rundown
Sr Member
Yea my and my brother once thought about this. For howlong has the war bin at hand in episode 4(starwars original)?
It would cost allot. Also technology changes so maybe they all got these awesome displays in their helmets wich shows nametags, ranks,... above their heads.
Solo4114
Master Member
If they have internal electronics that can quickly identify who they're talking to, it'd actually make more sense to not have individualized armor of any sort. This would make it harder for enemies to target obvious leaders (e.g. "Shoot the guy with the red armor! He's their captain!").
I don't think they've made it clear yet how much rebel groups have been harassing the Empire in between ROTS and ANH. I'm guessing it's just scattered resistance. The ANH crawl says that the theft of the Death Star plans is their first victory. Leland Chee (aka Keeper of the Holocron, continuity guy at Lucasfilm) said in either a past SW Insider or SW.com article, that the crawl meant that that was the first time the Rebel Alliance officially came out and took credit for an attack. So it sounds like skirmishes happened a lot, but the Empire never knew until then that the rebel groups had consolidated.
Riceball
Master Member
Building on that, that would also be a reason for no more painted armor, they're now at "peace" and the Stormtrooper corps has transformed from a war time military to a peace time force in garrison and as anyone who has served in the military knows that uniform regs tend to be strictly enforced when in garrison. So basically the Imperial military is now, essentially, in garrison mode and subject to all of the various uniform regs that tend to go by the wayside when in the field and esp. when you're on a battlefield.
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:lol That made me think too that they probably did have Stormtrooper toys in universe. They probably even have Stormtrooper costumes for kids.
tubachris85x
Master Member
I'm standing behind the individuality theory.
When the clones were first deployed, you see that they all were almost identical without separate markings, with the exception of the leadership and specific units/squads/Legions. While clones were 100% identical (with the exception of the ARCs and RCs), they lacked the individuality, which they gradually learned through their time spent in combat with the Jedi, which is easily said to have influenced the clone's mentalities and sway them into self-identification.
Fast forward, the "clone wars" as we know it are over, the Jedi are being hunted down. You could say order 66 was a programmed order to execute the Jedi's while at the same time "clicking" the clone's minds into a mental conditioning state to that when they are first grown and trained, hence, reversing everything they learned from the Jedi (now seen as the enemy) in regards to individuality. Since the influence of the Jedi is no longer present, the military forces have also lost everything the Jedi taught.
With the addition of non-clones, you have stormtroopers who came out of period after the jedi, so the general knowledge of the Jedi to the population is limited, given that records and histories have been restricted or erased by the Empire. I think all of these factors play into why they no longer have markings of any kind.
Though, we see in the Force Unleashed games, the individualized troopers, stormtrooper commanders, Nova troopers, etc. While not 100% individualized, they still stand out to represent their unit.
To add to the general population's knowledge of the Jedi, it's also widely known that anyone who speaks/researches or attempts to train as such, can find themselves in some serious trouble with the Empire. It may also be that those who do wish to individualized their armor externally could be seen as a form of dissent within the ranks which would fall in line with the Jedi's teachings, therefore, being illegal in the Empire's eyes.
When the clones were first deployed, you see that they all were almost identical without separate markings, with the exception of the leadership and specific units/squads/Legions. While clones were 100% identical (with the exception of the ARCs and RCs), they lacked the individuality, which they gradually learned through their time spent in combat with the Jedi, which is easily said to have influenced the clone's mentalities and sway them into self-identification.
Fast forward, the "clone wars" as we know it are over, the Jedi are being hunted down. You could say order 66 was a programmed order to execute the Jedi's while at the same time "clicking" the clone's minds into a mental conditioning state to that when they are first grown and trained, hence, reversing everything they learned from the Jedi (now seen as the enemy) in regards to individuality. Since the influence of the Jedi is no longer present, the military forces have also lost everything the Jedi taught.
With the addition of non-clones, you have stormtroopers who came out of period after the jedi, so the general knowledge of the Jedi to the population is limited, given that records and histories have been restricted or erased by the Empire. I think all of these factors play into why they no longer have markings of any kind.
Though, we see in the Force Unleashed games, the individualized troopers, stormtrooper commanders, Nova troopers, etc. While not 100% individualized, they still stand out to represent their unit.
To add to the general population's knowledge of the Jedi, it's also widely known that anyone who speaks/researches or attempts to train as such, can find themselves in some serious trouble with the Empire. It may also be that those who do wish to individualized their armor externally could be seen as a form of dissent within the ranks which would fall in line with the Jedi's teachings, therefore, being illegal in the Empire's eyes.
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The official Lucas line on Order 66 is that it wasn't a programmed response. It was just an order. They were flash trained to follow orders immediately, so when the order came down they followed it. That's why the fan theory is that most of the Jedi didn't sense it coming because the Clonetroopers weren't acting out of emotion. That along with the Dark Side clouding things, only allowed the more powerful Jedi to sense it (like Yoda).
The one thing I liked from the Darth Vader novel, was the Commando squad who defied the order and tried to get more info to verify it. Then they tried to defend the Jedi they were with against Vader because they didn't recognize his authority. Didn't turn out well, but it was an interesting thing to explore about Order 66.
Darth Lars
Master Member
Each unit of Clone Troopers served under a Jedi general, so the Jedi would have marked the clones in his unit as belonging to him or her.
It was the Jedi that allowed, or even encouraged, individual clones to show individuality.
When the Jedi were gone, there was no longer any need for markings.
Also, Stormtroopers are not clones, they are conscripts... and many years after the Clone Wars.
It was the Jedi that allowed, or even encouraged, individual clones to show individuality.
When the Jedi were gone, there was no longer any need for markings.
Also, Stormtroopers are not clones, they are conscripts... and many years after the Clone Wars.
No some are still clones. Not all of them are from the Jango line though. Lucas said so himself.
Tremas
Master Member
I've thought that, too...without adequate 'material', you'd just be copying copies.
Which might also explain their lack of marksmanship---each copied copy degrades.
Well he said that some clone templates are political. So some Senator does you a favor and then his son (who can't shoot straight) becomes a clone template. That kind of thing. All of it just sounds like an attempt to justify why the Stormtroopers couldn't shoot anything in the OT. OTOH, if Jango clones were kept as elite Stormtroopers, then you have to assume the Emperor's "legion of his best troops" comment meant those were Jango clones. So they either degraded severely between ROTS and ROTJ, were scared to death of Ewoks, or it was just a bad line, plot, etc.
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