The very first living enemies we see in the Star Wars saga, in the opening of A New Hope back in 1977, are the Imperial Stormtroopers as they take over Princess Leia’s blockade runner and make way for Darth Vader. Their white-on-black armor, designed by the legendary Ralph McQuarrie, made them into instant space opera icons, and they’ve since been immortalized through everything from action figures and T-shirts to coffee mugs and every other imaginable form of merchandise. You can even get your picture taken with them at Disney World.

Of course, as the Star Wars universe has grown in the more than four decades since the first film was released, so, too, has the sheer number of variations on the classic Stormtrooper look. With each new film, TV series, video game, comic book, toy line, and novel, Lucasfilm seems determined to show off a new kind of trooper, whether they represent the Galactic Empire or its successor, the sinister First Order. There are a lot of them, so many that we can pretty much count on more joining the ranks in the not-too-distant future, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to keep up. This is every type of Stormtrooper (so far) explained.

Note: Because «Stormtrooper» didn’t arise as a designation until the Imperial era, we’re leaving the well-meaning Clone Troopers out of this. We’re also leaving out other assorted Imperial military personnel who don’t have the word «trooper» attached to their job title, just for ease of understanding.

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