# TR-8R the Stormtrooper TR-8R the Stormtrooper, also known as Tray Tor or TR8-T0R, is the baton-wielding First Order riot trooper from Star Wars: The Force Awakens who screams 'Traitor!' at Finn before dueling him. The 2015 film clip spawned months of spinning-baton video edits and the character got official attention from Lucasfilm the following year. ## Origin The character appears briefly during the First Order raid on Maz Kanata's castle in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which hit theaters in December 2015. He confronts Finn, shouts 'Traitor!' and goes a few rounds with a Z6 baton before Han Solo blasts him off-screen[1]. The in-universe designation is FN-2199, nicknamed 'Nines,' and Greg Rucka's prequel novel Before the Awakening establishes that he trained alongside Finn (FN-2187), which is why he singles him out so personally[1]. The TR-8R nickname did not come from Lucasfilm. Fan sites were playing with the pun within days of the film's premiere, and the StarWars.com news post later acknowledged it as a nickname 'lovingly dubbed' by the internet[1]. A December 22, 2015 writeup at Dork Side of the Force documented the gag early, flagging that no official source confirmed the TR-8R designation and that the joke was simply fans retrofitting his insult into a serial number[2]. - **Platform:** The Force Awakens (film) / YouTube and Reddit (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2015 ## Overview TR-8R, sometimes spelled TR8-T0R or Tray Tor, is the fan nickname slapped on a riot-control First Order trooper who gets about ten seconds of screen time during the Takodana battle in The Force Awakens[1]. The joke writes itself: his one audible line is a bellowed 'Traitor!' aimed at Finn, so fans turned the designation TR-8R into both a mock serial number and the shorthand name for the character[2]. The meme itself skews toward video edits rather than captioned image macros. Because the trooper spins his Z6 riot baton in a tight flourish before clashing with Finn's lightsaber, remixers looped that twirl against pop songs or dropped him into unrelated action scenes[3]. Image jokes tend to lean on the single-word insult, pairing a screenshot of the baton pose with text that casts anyone who switched sides, flipped a stance, or bailed on a group as the Finn figure in the shot[4]. ## How It Spread After the movie opened in December 2015, discussion of the riot trooper lit up 4chan's /k/ board and 8chan's /tv/ board, with threads praising the design and his melee weapon loadout against mostly blaster-armed troopers[4]. On Reddit, a thread on r/StarWars asking about his name climbed to 3,293 points at 88% upvoted, which is where a lot of casual fans first picked up the FN-2199 and 'Nines' details from Before the Awakening[4]. The clearest viral moment is a December 23, 2015 YouTube upload from a user named Arby, which syncs the trooper's baton twirl to Dead or Alive's 'You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)'[3]. The clip set the template for a wave of follow-up edits that swapped in different songs and kept the spinning gesture as the punchline. By early 2016 the nickname was common enough that StarWars.com ran an official explainer titled 'Meet FN-2199, a.k.a. TR-8R, the Stormtrooper Behind the Meme,' revealing that the voice came from Skywalker Sound editor David Acord and the stunt performance from Liang Yang[1]. As a classic Star Wars character meme, TR-8R is still cited whenever a stormtrooper gets a bigger-than-expected fan reaction, and the single-word 'Traitor!' shout is still used as a reaction clip for defection jokes[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is TR-8R the Stormtrooper? TR-8R is the fan nickname for a First Order riot-control stormtrooper in Star Wars: The Force Awakens who yells 'Traitor!' at Finn and fights him with a Z6 baton[1]. His canon designation is FN-2199, nicknamed 'Nines'[1]. ### Where did TR-8R the Stormtrooper come from? The character debuted in The Force Awakens in December 2015, and fan posts like a December 22, 2015 writeup at Dork Side of the Force were already using the TR-8R pun days later[2]. ### What does TR-8R the Stormtrooper mean? TR-8R is a mock stormtrooper serial number built from the word 'traitor,' which is the only line the character shouts during his brief duel with Finn[1]. Fans also spell it TR8-T0R or Tray Tor[4]. ### How do you use TR-8R the Stormtrooper? The format typically pairs a clip of the trooper spinning his baton with a song or soundtrack swap, following the December 23, 2015 'You Spin Me Round' edit by YouTuber Arby[3]. Still-image jokes often cast a defector or stance-switcher as the Finn figure getting called out[4]. ### Is TR-8R the Stormtrooper still popular? It is a classic Force Awakens meme that still gets referenced whenever a side character gets outsized fan attention, and StarWars.com itself acknowledged it as a lasting fan nickname[1]. Dork Side of the Force treated the gag as part of the film's recognized Easter eggs[2]. ## References 1. [https://www.starwars.com/news/meet-fn-2199-a-k-a-tr-8r-the-stormtrooper-behind-the-meme]() 2. [https://dorksideoftheforce.com/2015/12/22/star-wars-the-force-awakens-daniel-craigs-stormtroopers-designation-revealed/]() 3. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uMns2IuEN0]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/tr-8r-the-stormtrooper]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/tr-8r-the-stormtrooper Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library