And so, that made me happy, so I was all-in.

I was a big Gigantor fan as a kid, although he flies with his hands forward, Superman-style. Plus, the Dark Troopers kind of fly like Gigantor. Robots are my thing, they’re my jam, so I was excited about it on that basis. Somewhere along the line, the Dark Trooper designs popped up in there-I think it was either there or a Third Floor previs where I got my first peek at it.Īnd I love robots. So it’ll be versioned and it gets pushed out to those of us that need to see it on a regular basis. He’s got a big PDF document, if you will, of imagery, and it evolves over the course of the show. Hal Hickel: I’m reasonably sure the first thing I saw was imagery and the design-scape that Doug Chiang produces. Here, befores & afters caught up with Hickel to discuss all things Dark Troopers, including giving them the right kind of personality, how particular fight and battle moments were handled, and even Hickel’s response to the suggestion that the Troopers may have been stop-motion.ī&a: What was the first thing you saw of the Dark Troopers as you came to work on this series, Hal?

In crafting those droids-which were largely CG but did incorporate suited performers on set- The Mandalorian animation supervisor Hal Hickel, who hails from ILM, looked to tap into his and Star Wars’ rich history of robots. The menacing robots manage to steal Grogu and almost thwart the plans of Mando and his team on Moff Gideon’s Light Cruiser, until they are dispatched by a certain Jedi Knight. They were not, but ‘The Mandalorian’s’ anim supe thought it was a fun observation.Ī new kind of battle droid is featured in the second season of The Mandalorian: the Dark Troopers.

Dark troopers star wars