Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers is a fixation of mine. Just looking at our movie page reveals that this marks the sixth time I've written about the franchise in the past year. And that's why I'm readily aware that the below probably interests me far more than it does your average sci-fi fan.

So, if you're not a Troopers nut, a quick refresher: In Robert A. Heinlein's original novel, the marines fought the aliens from inside high-tech suits of armor. As special effects wizard Phil Tippett told us in an interview last year, Verhoeven's film could only afford to either do giant bugs or giant power suits, and they decided on the former. The suits eventually were introduced in the third film, Marauder, but, again for budget reasons, they couldn't go nuts with full-on power suit action.

The fourth Starship Troopers film, though, will be packed with power suit action. We got a hint of their design in the first teaser trailer for the film from anime director Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed), but now we've got a full look at their complete designs thanks to the film's official Tumblr page. As it turns out, there will actually be three suits in the film, each worn on top of the other. Check 'em out.

The inner suit, designed to support and expand on the wearer's own muscles:

The main power suit, which is then worn over the muscle suit. Pictured below is the female version of it.

The Marauder, the giant mech that's operated by someone inside wearing a power suit.

And lastly, how the power suit will look in the final movie:

As for what the movie is actually about, some earlier posts on the film's Tumblr give us the rundown:

The story centers around 2 teams of Roughnecks: the Alpha 1 team embarking on a mission to rescue Fort Casey and the K-12 team already stationed at Fort Casey. The two war-depleted squads must band together with a common objective, but personalities and ambition ensure a bumpy ride.



Flint came up with a variety of characters and story elements that will harken back to the archetypes ubiquitous in your favorite Sci-Fi, War, and Action/Adventure movies. We have an old loyal lieutenant, a quiet gladiator-type hero, a not-so-smart but straight-forward meathead, a creepy unlucky guy, a grim explosives expert, a Zen religious master, a handsome womanizer, a psychic horny scout, a hot girl sniper, a tough beautiful single mom, and so on — along with some returning characters. Safe to say, it will get dicey!



There is one character who will be at the center: Major Henry Varro, nickname Hero. He was the commander of the K-12 team at Fort Casey, but he is arrested for insubordination by Dr Carl Jenkins. He is a prisoner on the ship Alesia as he is being transported to Earth for court marshal. While it’s not immediately apparent why he’s perceived as a threat, we do know that he retains the respect and admiration of all those that served under him. His experience, in combination with the undying trust of the troopers, is an asset the Federation won’t be able to survive without indefinitely…

Sounds good to us. But what say you? If you weren't already interested in Starship Troopers: Invasion, does any of this do the trick for you?