One of the biggest problems withStar Warsmovies that many fans and detractors like to point out is how incompetent the Stormtroopers are, especially their marksman abilities. A hallmark of every movie shows the Stormtroopers firing wildly,missing even the slowest moving targetsand placing shots nowhere near their intended aim. Their abilities are highlighted inA New Hopefrom some Obi-Wan dialogue, but we never really get to see their “precise” handiwork. That has all changed now that one competent Stormtrooper has been identified.
As it turns out, the underappreciatedStormtrooper, identified as TK-714, was seen inReturn of the Jedi, right under our noses the entire time. During the main battle on Endor, we see a ton of bad shots by the Empire, basically only connecting with the shield generator. Then comes the moment that we’ve all seemed to forget: when TK-714 takes aim, shoots, and connects with Princess Leia’s arm. It’s mind boggling that it’s taken this long to find the one Stormtrooper with any aim whatsoever, but he’s finally being recognized for his work, 34 years later.
Some believe that the Stormtroopers are just mimicking real-life soldiers who are battling in war. A study conducted years ago finds that not many soldiers fire their weapons at all and when they do, they don’t want to take another life. So, they wildly shoot in an effort not to hit anything, which could explain why the Stormtroopers have theworst aim in the history of movies. Or, it could just be some lazyStar Warsstorytelling. If they were as precise as Obi-Wan claimed, nobody would have made it out ofA New Hopealive.
InStar Warsmovies, there was another Stormtrooper who was a decent shot.FN-2187inThe Force Awakensturned out to be pretty good with a blaster, but he wasn’t a part of the Empire and he later joined the Resistance, where his blasting aim really started to flourish. Finn might be an outlier, but he was once a Stormtrooper, so that has to count for something, right? Maybe this is something that J.J. Abrams will address in the upcomingStar Wars 9or maybe even in Rian Johnson’s new trilogy that he’s currently cooking up.
While 99 percent of Stormtroopers have terrible aim, it’s important to let TK-714 shine bright like the hero that he/she is. Out of 9 movies, he was the one to make a difference and it took 34 years to get recognized. The next time that aStar Warsfan or even hater talks about the horrible aim of the Stormtroopers, we can now safely defend ourselves because one member of the Empire was able to successfully hit Princess Leia in the arm during the main battle sequence on Endor. You can check out TK-714’s employee of the month award below, courtesy ofDepressed Darth’s Twitteraccount.
