Lit Fleet Junkie Flagship- The technical discussions of the GFFA (Capital Ships thread Mk. II)

I didnt know Kylo's shuttle was so unpopular here I looove the design and it's imposing presence

 

The wings of Kylo's and Krennic's shuttles are way too long for my taste.

 

I love Krennic's Delta shuttle, but Kylo's Upsilon is just bad and boring. Edgy black and red livery, that's entry-level sophomoric bad guy design. The excessively long wings compensating for a lack of creative design philosophy by just trying to make it "more" without answering the question "more what?" And worst of all, the play action features don't do anything; the wings go from straight up to tilting slightly outwards. That's nothing. Almost every other shuttle does something interesting, Kylo's is just...there. How is that supposed to appeal to children? It fails at the most crucial of all Star Wars mantras - toyeticism.

I do have one positive thing to say about it though - its hull design was reused almost exactly to create the TIE Reaper dropship we see in Rogue One, but with a slick unique TIE panel system instead of the dumb wings. I like the TIE Reaper even better than the Strikers.

 

I've seen way too many TIE variants (AKA let's slap a different shape wing on these things) over the years to be impressed with the TIE Striker or Reaper. I didn't see the point in them making the supposedly atmospheric version for the movie. The Profundity and cargo shuttle were the only designs from Rogue One that I thought were great. Krennic's shuttle is a simple black box design that looks like it's from Interstellar rather than Star Wars, and the U-wing has these ludicrous forward or swept back wings.

Kylo's shuttle at least looks fearsome, like a giant black bird coming down to settle. Presumably the retracting wings allows it to fit into a hangar.

 

Except it doesn't really settle though, it goes from |_| to \_/

 

the TIE Striker and U-Wing were great additions. Where as the OT had the WWII aesthetic for how fighters were used/shown. The Stiker and U-Wing were very much a Vietnam era analog of the helicopter gunship...Stiker = Cobra and U-Wing = Huey.

Can't wait to see the Resistance bombers in TLJ.

 

the TIE Striker and U-Wing were great additions. Where as the OT had the WWII aesthetic for how they were used/shown. The Stiker and U-Wing were very much a Vietnam era analog of the helicopter gunship...Stiker = Cobra and U-Wing = Huey.

 

Insulting the beautiful & sophisticated U-wing will result in perm bans.

—Adm. Nick

 

I don't think either of those words really apply to the U-Wing. It's sturdy and utilitarian, but I wouldn't call it beautiful.

 

I believe the wings also retracted to shorten, though this wasn't in the Lego model (much to the chagrin of a friend of mine who complains about such things).

I don't understand how the wings on the U-wing are supposed to do anything. In forward configuration, it looks ok (if not looking like a tuning fork) and when swept back they look ok (if really long), but the notion of changing from one to the other seems unnecessary (most of the time in the movie it's flying wings front).

 

Isn't it something to do with hyperspace?

For what it's worth, I actually like Kylo's shuttle decently - its slimmed-down profile as compared to Imperial shuttles is a visible sign of technological advancement of the sort the TIEs notably lack.

 

Utilitarian and sturdy are two great words for the U-wing. That doesn't mean it can't be beautiful too. I think there is a beauty in it's rugged simplicity, especially when coupled with the swing wings.

Of course, TRUE beauty is the design of the heavy cruiser Raddus, but then again anything looks beautiful next to the sheer ugliness of the FO's Star Destroyers.

--Adm. Nick

 

The U-Wing was great and actually served a purpose as a landing craft. I barely even remember the TIE Striker in the film though, it could've just been any TIE.

 

Part landing craft, part helicopter gunship. It's role was unique enough to make it stand out. In reality, other than the Republic gunships of the Prequels, we rarely see craft like this. Plus it is a niche we've needed filled in the Alliance for a long time, IMO.

--Adm. Nick

 

It seems the Empire gets portrayed with Lambdas and Sentinels in the same role, at least in the comics and Rebels. But then they have the patrol gunship as well now.

 

The Patrol Gunship is a bit more akin to a U-wing, sort of a TIE counterpart thereof. Most stuff tends to portray the much bulkier GR75s in the same role as Imperial shuttles, though we did have that shuttle transport thing from the Shattered Empire comic.

 

By Patrol Gunship - is this what's meant? :

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Patrol_transport

It's a good example of a TCW-era Republic craft still in use - like the Arquitens for that matter, though Rebels Arquitens have a slightly different layout.

 

Dude, have you MET Ben Solo? He's a 14-year-old mall goth living in the body of a 30something Force god. Do you know how lucky we are that his costume doesn't have five extra belts hanging off it? Or spikes?

 

doubles

 

Yes, the gunship is essentially an airspeeder with space capability, but seems very confined to operation on board Star Destroyers or on planetary garrisons, given it has no hyperdrive.

 

Speaking of the Republic gunship, that one is probably my least favourite design of them all. There's an obvious Huey feeling, but it looks bulbous and ugly, reminds me a bit of the ovaries ship from A Battle Beyond the Stars.

For transports, they sure get shot down easily too.

 

It's meant to be ugly. It's inspired by the Russian Mi24 Hind helicopter gunship.

 

Funnily enough, the Republic Gunship is easily my favorite vehicle design of star wars, replacing my old favorite the B-Wing.

 

Don't you make me put my Colt 44 down....


Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

That said...I really like how the Republic Gunships an U-Wings turned out.

Too bad the FO troop landers were such disappointments....

 

LOL. I liked the FO troop lander quite a bit. What do you find disappointing about it?