The Empire’s elite Shoretrooper forces stationed on Scarif might have much more important responsibilities than just protecting the tropical planet’s beachheads against Rebel attacks. In fact, they might be the Death Star construction site’s highly-trained security guards.
Fans have had to rely on things other than the official Rogue One trailers to get any scraps of information about director Gareth Edwards’s latest Star Wars movie, and a newly released toy commercial about exclusives from Walmart is no different. We now have our first legitimate peek at the mysterious Imperial Shoretroopers in action on the beach planet of Scarif.
The ad is a nicely shot bit of Star Wars awesomeness that unfortunately won’t be seen on-screen when the movie hits theaters on December 16. Its all to showcase Walmart’s exclusive 6-inch Black Series figure for what they’re calling the “Scarif Stormtrooper,” or Shoretrooper.
These dudes have previously been in the backgrounds of leaked Rogue One art and have featured semi-prominently in Hasbros action figure rollout for the film, but we haven’t actually gotten a solid look at the Shoretroopers until now. And it might give fans a hint at what they’re doing on Scarif.
Check out the seemingly innocuous Walmart clip below:
That circular insignia on their helmets looks an awful lot like the Death Star, the Imperial superweapon at the heart of the Rogue One plotline. What does that mean? The official Star Wars Databank entry describes the Shoretroopers as follows:
Specialist stormtroopers stationed at the top secret Imperial military headquarters on Scarif, Shoretroopers patrol the beaches and bunkers of the planetary facility.
What we’re led to believe is that the Shoretroopers are some kind of elite Death Star corps. The other elite new troopers in Rogue One are the Death Troopers, who seem to be the hoity-toity personal escort for VIPs like the evil Director Krennic.
The Shoretroopers, however, seem to be the boots-on-the-ground individuals (possibly clones?) who act as the specific security for the Imperial construction operation of the Death Star.
Still, the question remains. What are they running from with these normal Stormtroopers from the Rogue One teaser?
Shoretroopers are in there somewhere.
It seems like Jyn Erso and her band of Rebels out to steal the Death Star plans aren’t going to have the easiest time.
