nissan top

The humble stormtrooper. Shot, blown up, punched and jeered at on a near daily basis while the rebels–whom some would call “terrorists”–get all the fame and glory. It’s in their very nature to remain inconspicuous in their plain white armour, marching along in neat lines and even dying with a regimented clatter of boots on the cold metal Deathstar floors, and for that reason are rarely given a second thought by either their merciless dispatchers or the movie-going public.

But there comes a time when even the loyalest of the Empire’s helmeted servants has to get their groove on, and Japanese car maker Nissan’s newest ad campaign is allowing them to do just that.

In order to promote its new line of “Juke” mini SUVs, Nissan has teamed up with none other than George Lucas’ (or should that be Disney’s?) stormtroopers, focusing on the Juke’s ability to turn heads and stand out from the crowd, which in turn inspires some of the all-white soldiers themselves!

Via its official Juke website, Nissan is sharing a series of original web movies. Here’s the short “Prologue” episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjm-ngsSZis

Followed by the full version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXyRhPb_4Z4

And finally, the first in a three-part series, titled “The Encounter”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jseq9bAhokg

The company’s slogan for the vehicle, Medatsu tte warukunai (“It’s OK to stand out”) which appears in each of the ads is also celebrated by the frankly wonderful Juke website, which features a “Simulator” zone which allows visitors to customize a 3-D model of a Juke 15RX SUV, swapping colours, adding new trim, customising the aluminium wheels and so on, with a very funky-looking stormtrooper standing beside the car receiving the exact same cosmetic changes in real-time.

The whole thing kinds of reminds us of customising our Spartan warrior for multiplayer bouts of the video game Halo…

storm top

▼ Your Juke and stormtrooper ready to be pimped out.

storm stooper 2

▼ A nice white side sticker to match our mirrors and door handles, we think!

storm trooper 3

▼ This dark purple is perhaps more Covenant than Master Chief…

storm trooper purple

After customising your Juke, you can enter your postal address (Japanese residents only, sorry!) in the bottom right corner of the site to be in with the chance to win a prize! One lucky entrant will win a Nissan Juke of their very own, with thousands of others becoming the proud owners of official stormtooper merchandise, so if you have an address in Japan get clicking! Oh, and if you happen to win any of that coveted stormtrooper armour be sure to send us a few photos when it arrives!

Source/images: Nissan Juke
Videos via YouTube NissanNewsroom, carmovie