The 501st Legion was distinctive in both its actions and coloring. With their blue markings, they set themselves apart from other clone battalions. Yet, that changed with the Imperial era. They lost their blue colors soon after Order 66.
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The 501st Lost Their Blue Markings
The initial response to this Reddit question states that in both canon and Legends, the 501st lost their blue markings “when the Empire phase[d] out clone troopers and personal unit markings” after Order 66. Another response adds how The Bad Batch reflected that “once the Empire” took over, “it’s nothing but white armor across the board.”
These responses are attuned to the shift that occurred after the Clone Wars. We know that officers like Captain Rex initially wore blue markings before it spread across the 501st with the issuance of Phase II armor during the wars. Afterwards, those markings disappeared, but it seems not immediately.
In canon, the 501st “remained the personal troops of Lord Vader” as “Vader’s Fist” and appear to have retained their markings for a couple of years. The timeline is vague and difficult to pinpoint an exact transition, but it transpired fairly rapidly once stormtroopers replaced them.
It was decided “early on by the Imperial leadership” to abandon cloning at Kamino. And, “removal of armor color distinctions” instills a loyalty to only the Emperor. As fans noted above, the Empire wanted their troopers to have “a more orderly, intimidating, and impersonal look.”
So, phasing out the blue markings was an objective, but since it was a large bureaucracy and they were Vader’s troops, we probably had a year or two lag in making the clones uniform in color.
Legends Provides More Insights
Although Legends and canon seem to be about the same with color change for the 501st, we can find some divergences that show more nuance and perhaps a shorter timeline.
A fan in this discussion points out how the 501st still had their blue markings in the Battle of Kashyyyk. Since the battle occurred in 19BBY, serving as “the first Imperial invasion of the Wookiee homeworld,” it happened in the same year as Order 66. So, this invasion coincided with the very early Imperial era.
Books like Imperial Commando depict how the 501st was deployed to track down Jedi wearing white and black armor. These events are very early on too, so we gain some sense that the transition may have been very quick in Legends. As the below video emphasizes, Palpatine had ordered that “all markings” were “banned” to stifle individuality and connections to the Jedi past. His orders were followed as rapidly as possible.
By 12 BBY and the Kamino Uprising, the change away from colors seems to definitely be complete. This unique battle “pitted” Kamino-grown troops against their own Imperial brothers”, a fratricidal event in white armor.
501st Lost Their Blue Markings
Soon after Order 66, the 501st lost their distinctive blue markings. Canon places the transition somewhere within a couple of years. Legends seems to indicate it happened even sooner. Either way, stormtroopers became the new, blander, white reality.