The new stormtrooper (codenamed “Shark Yellow” during the production) is a curious mixture of new and old. We saw the head for this trooper back when three helmets were put on Instagram by Donnie Yen:

It is a combination of a Scout Trooper (Biker Scout) with Stormtrooper parts.
On set they were called “Sandtroopers.”
It has a lot of soft parts like a Scout Trooper including similar chest armor, but more narrow around the hips.
It has the same kneepad as the classic Sandtrooper.
It has some accent of color like dark red on a panel.

We have heard more about the black Stormtroopers or Death Troopers.

The green lights look really cool against the black armor.
When casting the Death Troopers they were looking for actors around 6’3″ so they’re pretty big (TFA Stormtroopers are 5’10” for comparison).

(UPDATE: The green lights come from lamps that are sort of in the position of where the Stormtrooper’s “speakers” are and not the eyes, a misunderstanding…)

We have also heard a rumor that the new package for Rogue One products will have the black Stormtrooper on it. But we still don’t know if this means the helmet above or the classic black Stormtrooper. We think they’re actually talking about the helmet above that Donnie Yen shared though.

The confusing thing about this is that we are hearing the classic black Stormtroopers are in the film. The helmet above is different. We’re hearing mixed things about the importance of the helmet above. It gets really confusing for the average person because they’re just seeing black Stormtroopers and we’re fans so we know the differences between these troopers. Is the helmet above the only black Stormtrooper we see or are there two different kinds? Is the guy above 6’3″ and the black Stormtroopers they’re using just normal guys that answer to him? It is pretty hard to figure out at this point but we should have more answers soon.