How the Stormtrooper became Star Wars icon ‘More popular than Michelangelo's David'

With the launch of a new limited edition Bluetooth Speaker designed in the shape of the stormtrooper helmet, one has to wonder how forty years after its inception the Star Wars baddies have become one of the most recognised images in pop culture.

Andrew Ainsworth, who designed of the original Stormtrooper, credits his place in Star Wars history with a dose of good luck.

He told Express.co.uk: “A friend of mine next door got me the job and had a couple of meetings with [George] Lucas.

“I happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

He based the Stormtrooper on a sketch by Ralph Mcquarrie but the final design Ainsworth came up with involved a fair bit of imagination.

Ainsworth approached the design of a Stormtrooper not only as an artist but as an engineer, knowing he had to make something a human could fit inside.

He said: “The sketch was metallic and silver and I couldn’t do that 40 years ago.

“We didn’t have much choice and Lucas didn’t have much money, so he said do you want it white, white, or white?

“I was really into moulding things in new materials and so I softened everything, made it mouldable and had my own interpretations of what the details should be.

“My details are very soft, but it turned out to be useful because it meant the characters could perform.”

Thusly, a creature both organic and futuristic, the Stormtrooper was born.

The Stormtrooper was made out of a flexible material that still retained its militaristic appearance, a balance Ainsworth specifically aimed for, adding: “It’s a futuristic character that had grown on another planet but the idea is it was a bit like an armadillo.

“As they grow they overlap with their bits of armour.”

The key to the Stormtrooper was that it had to move naturally.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s probably a more popular image than Michelangelo’s David which is rather sad, really.” Ainsworth said.

When asked why he thinks the Stormtrooper has lingered as one of the most recognisable images from Star Wars, Ainsworth said: “It’s because I kept it organic, I kept it human. It’s got nostrils, and these eyes on it — evolutionarily there are flies that can see in 3 dimensions, so the Stormtrooper was the movement of where humanity might have been if it had developed on another planet.”

Despite the Stormtroopers’ role as the footsoldiers of a fascistic military regime, the outfit still has a huge appeal for all sorts of things.

Ainsworth said: “People can imagine themselves in it.

“When they put the helmet on they’re still themselves but they can say anything because no one knows who they are.”

Perhaps this is part of the appeal, something that speaks to humans on a deeper psychological level, in the same way trolling online via anonymous accounts has exploded in the last several years.

But Ainsworth has another theory, too, telling Express.co.uk: “They’re not terribly military are they, they’re a bit sort of a joke. They hit their heads they can’t shoot straight, they’re a bit of a naff army which I think is what endears them to people.

Not to mention in The Force Awakens Finn (John Boyega) gave us the hope that Stormtroopers are capable of remorse, of change, and of knowing right from wrong.

Ainsworth designed the Stormtrooper taking into account the two sides of his craft.

“I’m a moulder,” he said. “A sculptor, and I’m also an engineer, so I put a practical format to it.

“It’s got an attitude. you’ve got to put soul and attitude into it and that’s why the stormtrooper hangs in there.”

Finn certainly gave an added bit of soul to the Stormtroopers, but no matter who is inside the futuristic white armour, the Stormtrooper is one of the most widely known and beloved images from the entire Star Wars universe.

Who knows what else they’ll make in the Stormtrooper image next.