Tag and Bink were cut from the film, but we might get their scene with the home release's bonus material. "The duo's cameo would have come after another deleted scene, where Han would have been participating in an aerial training exercise. After disobeying orders, Han would have been kicked out of the Imperial Academy via a court martial. Tag and Bink would have escorted him out of the courtroom, which would inadvertently set Han on the path to a life of crime... and by extension his life as a Rebellion general." https://screenrant.com/solo-cameos-completely-missed/
I've got the Visual Guide. The Mimbanese look cool. At anytime do you think you ever saw them in the film (rather than just a silhouette of one that gets shot)?
Louis Prima shout-out, makes sense! The Pykes (it took me a long time to decide whether or not Tolsite's henchbeings were Pykes, but I guess they are) are a strange bit of "cake and eat it too" in SOLO. As they don't match the TCW Pykes visually or linguistically -- I know, handwaves are easy enough, but -- I felt like we were in territory of "different interpretation for a different medium", which is fine, but it jars with how exactly Maul's lightsaber from Rebels was rendered when it didn't have to be. I mean, it didn't have to be onscreen at all, and it didn't have to be the same one, but they made sure it was. Just saying, if I had to choose between radical redesign of a canon race or a character having a particular lightsaber at a point in the timeline that doesn't even demand it... I woulda gone for familiar Pykes and Maul keeping his saber offscreen. No biggie though. (Is there a vague possibility that the Pykes were supposed to be motion-capture like Vos and the budget ran out? Probably not, just curious. Maybe the Art of book has some insight.)
The Art of book doesn't mention time constraints nor budgetary reasons as a reason the Pykes are masked. Neal Scanlan said they liked the previous design, but wanted to put a spin on it, worthy of a 200 million dollar Star Wars film. They wanted the design to be more coherent. There are only four concept pieces for Pykes (non-Kessel guard Pykes) in the book. Only one design exposes the face.... it has the large head carapace, with a fishy grey alien face. One piece has a non-emotive face, the other piece shows an aggressive face. The remaining two pieces are very similar to what Quay Tolsite looks like in the film.
more! These two are the same species, it appears that their horns are part of their respiratory system
I didn't say I disliked them. Thought they were a great, unsettling touch, which make the underworld seem a little darker than we're used to seeing in Star Wars. Pushing that boundary is good, IMO.
Thanks for that, I'm sure I'll pick up the Art of at some point. Although I didn't dislike the design, that rationale doesn't hit that particular mark for me, as I obviously thought it could be a case of downscaled budgetary restrictions! I like the Decraniated quite a bit. I mean, they're really damned creepy, so I don't "like" like them, but they feel pretty SW to me.
The Kessel Pykes were grunts (and a low-level project manager) working on a toxic mine. The TCW Pykes were leaders of the syndicate. That's a good enough in-universe explanation of their different look to me.
The Decraniated don't work for me. Too creepy (and wrong kind of creepy). Too scifi. Doesn't fit SW IMO.
Unfortunately the visual guide only features masked cloud riders. From memory their ranks included: - Tognath - Rodian - Mimbanese - Melbu - 2 Echani - 3/4 humans - Ubese And two unknown species I’m sure I missed some
I loved how they managed to shape the enforcers after roman soldiers, the roman armor had a very specific look so it´s a thin line between a nice and a distracting design, but they did well.
These photos demonstrate clearly, to me, that the art teams for the Anthologies have understood the Star Wars aesthetic far better than the ST teams. There are no character designs in the ST that rival these guys, for example. TFA's Kylo Ren (and the KoR) probably come closest.
@Bor Mullet Sooo true... The OT had well over a hundred (probably more!) really interesting looking background characters. The PT had about...5?? The ST has about...5?? (Kanjiklub, Guavian death gang, Maz'z castle, Canto Bight etc all being serious missed opportunities!) RO and Solo both had too many to count! Also - The Mimbanese are the best natives on a planet we have seen since the Tusken Raiders imo! What gives??
I think it’s based on a deliberate aesthetic decision. The Anthologies will follow the gritty, lived-in, realistic look of the OT, while the ST will be far more stylized/ comic book-esque. That’s fine, I guess. I just much prefer the former.
