Critics of Stormtrooper armour should bite their tongues when they learn that while the white battle suit may do little against lightsabers it is highly effective in protecting against venomous snake bites.
At least according to 47-year-old Melbourne man Scott Loxley who was saved from saved from a potentially deadly bite from a King Brown snake because he was wearing the iconic Stormtrooper suit at the time.
According to 9news, Loxley was in the midst of a 15,000km journey across Australia dressed as a Stormtrooper in an attempt to raise $100,000 for the Monash Children’s Hospital. It was on day 277 of his journey in Queensland, just north of Mackay, when he came across the snake in question.
He initially thought the snake was dead and tried to pass it, when it lunged forward and tried to bite him. “He’s lunged at me and bit me but the good news is the armour, he bit me in the shin, the armour actually protected me and stopped the bite,” Mr Loxley said via his official Facebook page. “I could feel the teeth on the plastic scraping but the armour actually stopped something.”
The King Brown snake is reportedly the sixth most dangerous snake in Australia, and according to the Australian Geographic it has the “largest-recorded venom output of any in the world – delivering 150mg in one bite”.
“So all those people who rag on the old stormtroopers, ‘you know, the armour doesn’t do this, it doesn’t do that’ … it stopped the snake bite and probably saved my life today,” added Mr Loxley.
Despite his close encounter, Mr Loxley continues his journey across the country and has raised close to $40,000 for the hospital.
