As I mentioned in yesterday's post... The heat can be the worst enemy of a Stormtrooper or any soldier of the Empire. On today's Troublesome Tuesday, I discuss the hardships handling the heat as well as the methods of surviving.
Worlds most frequent questions a stormtrooper gets asked: "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" and "Isn't it hot in that?". The answer to the second is almost always YES! On rare occasions when a stormtrooper might be out in 14 degree cold, they will be comfortable. Anything hotter or more humid and you're looking at a yes answer.
The primary cause of this is the helmet. Ever go out in the summer and wear a hat and just feel so hot from the hat itself because you can't feel a breeze on the top of your head and the heat cant escape well through your scalp? Ok, now consider that the hat is completely covering your head with little gap available at the neck. Now you've created a pocket of heat that'll just beat you down.
Secondly is obviously the full encasement in armor. Heck anything short of shorts (pun intended) is too much material to wear. A stormtrooper before ever putting armor on is encased neck to toe in solid black... can anyone say "sun absorbing"? Add the armor ontop of that to block out the breeze over 90% of you and then the helmet to prevent heat from escaping and you've created the perfect (though awesome looking) attire for a heat stroke.
Hydration is very important to prevent this and you will often see stormtroopers disappear for 15 minutes every so often. This is most of the time us going into a private area like our changing room, taking our helmet off to gasp at fresh air and let heat escape and drink down some water, cold or not.
Another important step to help with heat are helmet fans. Often using small CPU (computer) fans mounted in the helmet, a Stormtrooper can atleast simulate a breeze over his or her face to make the heat more bearable. This is nothing like the fans you'll have on in your house. Being so enclosed in the helmet doesn't really allow much but warm air to be circulated, but compared to not having the fans, it's a life saver.
Personally, I don't have the fans in my helmets at the moment... But with the summer heat fast approaching, and my exhaustion from this past weekend... they will be reinstalled very very soon.
Heat truly is the worst enemy of a stormtrooper, more so than an entire fleet of Jedi scum. Independant of the toll it takes on the trooper itself is the havoc it will deliver on the armor itself. Thin enough plastic can warp, glues can melt, velcro can un-stick... the list goes on. If you want to make a stormtrooper your best friend in the whole wide world... offer him/her shade or a bottle of water and you will be eternally joined at the hip.
Signing off I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Star Wars Day and May the Fourth be with you!!
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