Scout Trooper

A Scout Trooper, also known as a Biker Scout, is a minifigure from the Star Wars theme.
== Description ==
The first version of Scout Trooper was released in the very first wave of Star Wars sets, back in 1999. The trooper has plain white legs with a black leg joint, and a white torso with white arms and black hands. The torso has printing on the front- black printing at the bottom of the piece for outlining the lower part of the light armour with some dark grey for detailing. It also has dark grey outlining for the chest plate, and black printing for two horizonal stripes on the left chest area. Additionally, black printing is used near the arm and neck joints, depicting gaps between the Scout Trooper's armour plating. This minifigure has a yellow head, with printing for large black glasses with white lines on them depicting a reflection, and straight lines for the mouth, giving the trooper a serious expression. The Scout Trooper also has a white helmet, the piece being specially design for the trooper. It has a gap in the eye area so that when the trooper is wearing the helmet, the glasses show in the gap, giving the appearance of the helmet's visor. The trooper also comes armed with a blaster- in 3342 Star Wars #3, the blaster is made up of a black piece commonly used as a megaphone in the City theme with a transparent reddish-orange stud attached to the narrower end. In the trooper's other appearances, it has a similar blaster, but without the stud.
The second version of the Scout Trooper was released in 2009, ten years after the first release of the original variant. It is largely similar to the original, with the only differences being that the dark grey printing was changed to dark stone grey due to a change in the colour palette in 2003. The yellow head was also replaced with a plain unprinted black head piece. This trooper comes armed with a black moulded blaster piece.
The third variant of the Scout Trooper was released in 2012, and is exclusive to 9489 Endor Rebel Trooper & Imperial Trooper Battle Pack. Its only difference between the second variant is the headpiece- while the piece is still black, it has printed area for a yellow face with eyebrows, black eyes with white pupils, a white grin, and black stubble around the mouth. For the helmet to be properly worn, the head has to be turned around so only black shows through the gap in the helmet to give the illusion of a visor. This trooper comes armed with a black blaster pistol.
The 2013 variant received a major redesign. Less white and more black is present on this trooper than the previous variants, to give a better impression of the Scout Trooper's light armour, with the extra black representing more of the black body suit worn underneath the trooper's armour. Additionally, the head has the same design as the previous 2012 version, however, instead of a pale yellow, the face has a darker, flesh-coloured shade. The legs of this variant are black with a white leg joint, and for the first time, the Scout Trooper comes with leg printing- white for depicting straps and armour plates including knee plates, with dark stone grey printing for detailing. The top of the leg joint also features black printing with four dark grey lines, representing the bottom of a belt. The belt continues on the bottom of the trooper's white torso piece which also has a medium stone grey strip above the belt for the area below the chest plates. A white inverted diamond shape outlined in dark stone grey above the grey area is in the horizontal centre, dividing the chest area in two. On the right side of the chest plate, there is a single black horizontal bar outlined in grey, and additional grey lines are used on the piece for armour detailing. This variant also has printing on the back of the torso, with the main features being a white backpack, and a thermal detonator printed on the belt towards the bottom of the piece. As opposed to the original variant, this trooper has black arms, but retains the black hands from the previous versions. The 2013 variant keeps the same Scout Trooper helmet as all previous versions, and in 10236 Ewok Village, both Scout Troopers were each armed with a black blaster pistol.
=== Video game variants ===
Scout Troopers appeared in both LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, with the character design based on the minifigure's early physical variants. They carried blasters and had the same abilities as normal blaster characters; jump, shoot, grappling hook, and the ability to build. In addition to this, they could also use Imperial panels to unlock doors.
In LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Scout Trooper's abilities consist of the following:
* Can scan for hidden objects
* Can shoot LEGO targets
== Background ==
Scout troopers were specialised soldiers in the Imperial Army. These troopers wore lighter armour than standard stormtroopers, and were trained in reconnaissance and infiltration. Scout troopers commonly used speeder bikes for transport. A number of scout troopers were stationed around the Imperial base on Endor, which provided the orbiting Death Star with a shield. Scout troopers were present during the ground assault of the Battle of Endor when the base came under attack by Rebel commandos lead by General Han Solo and the Ewoks who allied themselves with the Rebels. A number of scout troopers were killed in the battle, with the rest eventually surrendering.
== Gallery of variants ==
===Video game variants===
== Appearances ==
* 3342 Star Wars #3 
* 7128 Speeder Bikes 
* 7139 Ewok Attack 
* 7956 Ewok Attack 
* 8038 The Battle of Endor 
* 9489 Endor Rebel Trooper & Imperial Trooper Battle Pack 
* 10236 Ewok Village 
* 75023 Star Wars Advent Calendar 
* 852845 Han Solo Magnet Set 
=== Book appearances ===
* 2853402 LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
* 2853508 LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
=== Video game appearances ===
* LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
* LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
* LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
== External links ==