Stormtrooper Armor May Have Saved Charity Cosplayer's Life

Fanghawk

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Stormtrooper Armor May Have Saved Charity Cosplayer's Life

Star Wars Stormtrooper armor can't protect you from Rebel blasters or Ewok arrows... but it's a great defense against snake bites.

It's pretty easy to mock <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/stormtrooper>Stormtrooper armor for not being able to protect its wearer from... well, anything. It's supposed to be <a href=http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Stormtrooper_armor>highly advanced protective gear, but in the original trilogy blaster fire, stone arrows, and thrown rocks are enough to disable Imperial forces. But it seems Stormtrooper armor is a great defense from one of the deadliest hazards in the galaxy - Australian snake bites.

The critical knowledge was learned first-hand by <a href=https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=931242603554403>Scott Loxley, who's walking across Australia in Stormtrooper armor to raise donations for a children's hospital. During his travels, he encountered what thought was a dead snake. But since this was Australia the snake was (a) very much alive, and (b) <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudechis_australis>a King Brown snake, one of the longest venomous snakes in the world. This species is known to deliver massive amounts of venom in a single bite and is fairly aggressive. King Browns are even known to bite humans who are sleeping as opposed to the usual snake policy of biting in self-defense.

As Loxley approached, the "dead" snake shot up and bit him on the shin. The good news, however, was that while he could feel the teeth on his armor's plastic, it never broke through to the skin. "So all those people who rag on stormtroopers," Loxley said, "saying the armor doesn't do this or doesn't do that, it stopped a snake bite and probably saved my life."

I'd say that's a good sign that Stormtrooper armor has a slight edge in extreme environments, even if it a cosplay recreation. Not that it you should stress test your costumes in the Australian outback.

That said, it's still no excuse for the whole Ewok rock thing.

Source: Fashionably Geek

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Doom972

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Stormtrooper armor or not, you shouldn't approach a snake (dead looking or not) in the wild for any reason. You need a suit of T-51b Power Armor for that.
 

Misterian

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Wow, that's actually pretty cool!

if nothing else, The Empire has something they can legitimately boast at their Rebel foes about.

"Don't screw with us, Rebel scum! our armor can withstand snake bites!"

"But it withstand our blasters?"

"uh... no?"

okay, maybe something that much worth boasting, but it's still awesome!
 

Neverhoodian

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Doom972 said:
Stormtrooper armor or not, you shouldn't approach a snake (dead looking or not) in the wild for any reason. You need a suit of T-51b Power Armor for that.
Better yet, call in a Dark trooper [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_trooper] to take care of it for you. Battle droids can't be poisoned, after all. Hell, I'd probably keep it around as a bodyguard against Australian wildlife in general.
 

dalek sec

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Trishbot said:
When it comes to venomous snakes, you can NEVER have too much armor:
Holy shit that is bad ass! :D

But as a Necron player I laugh at your puny armor!

OT: Wow, atleast it finally saved someone's life. Dude's lucky that armor worked against such a nasty snake.
 

Sniper Team 4

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Neat. I was kind of wondering why he was walking through the outback in full Stormtrooper gear, but it explains it. Personally, I would have gone no where near that snake, dead or otherwise. Snakes kind of creep me out. I'm fine if they're behind glass or I know they're there, but if I just happen to stumble on one? I jump pretty freaking high.

Can I be that guy? I'm going to be that guy, because it's Star Wars. The armor actually does protect against the arrows. You never actually see a Stormtrooper go down because of an arrow. The officers, yes, but not them. Plus, there's even a shot where you see the arrow bounce off a Scout's armor. He raises his arm to block it and then looks off screen like, "What the hell was that?"
As for the rocks, I always took it as the same concept as a bulletproof vest. Yeah, it stops the bullet from punching a hole through you, but the kinetic energy is still going to hurt like a beast. And those were big rocks being thrown, not just dropped, on their heads. And thrown with slings, which speeds them up considerably. I think most people in armor are still going to feel that.
As for blaster fire? Okay, you got me on that one. In the books there are several times where the armor does it job, but in the movies it's totally useless.
 

Ironman126

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Trishbot said:
When it comes to venomous snakes, you can NEVER have too much armor:
Oh. Hi there, Lysander. When did you get here? Please keep that hammer away from my tanks.

dalek sec said:
But as a Necron player I laugh at your puny armor!
Sag was? Puny armor? That armor isn't puny when the table is full of hammernators... It's a technical term.

OT: I mean, this is Australia we're talking about. It has the reputation of being full of horrible, venomous monsters for a reason. I'm sort of surprised that knee-high, full coverage leg guards aren't standard practice when slogging it across the outback. Hell, in my part of the States, it's still common for people to where shin-high boots in case of rattlesnakes.
 

Thaluikhain

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Ironman126 said:
OT: I mean, this is Australia we're talking about. It has the reputation of being full of horrible, venomous monsters for a reason. I'm sort of surprised that knee-high, full coverage leg guards aren't standard practice when slogging it across the outback. Hell, in my part of the States, it's still common for people to where shin-high boots in case of rattlesnakes.
Eh, the guy saw the snake beforehand. He had the option of keeping away from it.
 

Redlin5_v1legacy

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Honestly though, really lucky he didn't get some venom in him after that. I'm so glad to live in a mostly snake free place.
 

Kuala BangoDango

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One could argue that wearing Stormtrooper armor is what put his life in danger anyway. If he hadn't been wearing it he wouldn't have been walking across the desert for charity. If he hadn't been walking across the desert he wouldn't have been bitten.

New title for the article, "Stormtrooper armor gets man bitten by snake".

I'm kidding of course. Glad he didn't get hurt.
 

RaikuFA

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Doom972 said:
Stormtrooper armor or not, you shouldn't approach a snake (dead looking or not) in the wild for any reason. You need a suit of T-51b Power Armor for that.
Fuck that. I'll only use an AT-AT walker to travel in Australia.
 

Elijin

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So the armour protected him?

Guess he wasnt going for accuracy in his cosplay then.
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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In a recent interview, the snake expressed it's confusion at the Stormtrooper not dying. It was further quoted as being disenfranchised with Hollywood in general.
 

Doom972

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RaikuFA said:
Doom972 said:
Stormtrooper armor or not, you shouldn't approach a snake (dead looking or not) in the wild for any reason. You need a suit of T-51b Power Armor for that.
Fuck that. I'll only use an AT-AT walker to travel in Australia.
Are you kidding? Those Australian snakes will tie around your AT-AT's legs, make it fall, and then it'll explode when a snake will accidentally cough on it.
 

Thaluikhain

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Doom972 said:
RaikuFA said:
Doom972 said:
Stormtrooper armor or not, you shouldn't approach a snake (dead looking or not) in the wild for any reason. You need a suit of T-51b Power Armor for that.
Fuck that. I'll only use an AT-AT walker to travel in Australia.
Are you kidding? Those Australian snakes will tie around your AT-AT's legs, make it fall, and then it'll explode when a snake will accidentally cough on it.
Eh, once anti-venom was developed, spiders stopped killing people by biting them, they wait till they are driving and then jump onto their faces or something and make them crash. Snakes could do the same, making you much safer walking than driving a vehicle. Especially an explodey one.
 

Lightknight

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I'd always assumed that the armor was more of a strength-reinforcing suit or an environment suit (considering the breathing apparatus). Maybe something about the blaster makes it impossible to dodge with armor so they gave up trying and instead just make armor that makes them impervious to gases and able to lift more weights while running further? Heck, maybe it's a toilet suit.
 

Scorpid

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Trishbot said:
When it comes to venomous snakes, you can NEVER have too much armor:
I approve this message. Those King Brown snakes are notorious assholes.