Ok so I’m back from Star Wars Celebration London and we’ve had some amazing announcements,
a lot of which is ship-related so let’s take a look.
Ok so first up we’ve got a new Imperial Shuttlecraft, the Delta Class T-3c Shuttle,
in keeping with the usual Greek naming convention for Imperial Shuttles, we’ve had the Nu,
Lambda, Theta and Upsilon and now we’ve got the Delta as well.
This shuttle did briefly feature in the Rogue One trailer they showed us at the talk but
unfortunately that footage is not yet available.
The design of this ship is really interesting, looks like a hybrid of the Lambda and the
Upsilon, and kind of reminds me of Goa’uld designs from Stargate.
It’s interesting that Director Krennic doesn’t just use a Theta or Lambda shuttle like nearly
every other official in the Empire, I wonder why he warrants a special design.
One possible explanation is that the ship is a new prototype that only Krennic has access
to in his capacity as Director of Advanced Weapons Research.
I also found confirmation that the TIE Striker is in fact capable of travelling in space,
but its design purpose is for Atmospheric combat, this makes a lot of sense as the Empire
would logically want an alternative to using their spacefaring fighters in every atmospheric
battle, where their effectiveness would be diminished.
This also provides an excellent reason as to why they were not seen at any point in
the original trilogy, since no major atmospheric battles took place.
Another thing I noticed while examining this poster was that the three TIE Strikers flanking
this AT-ACT appear to have a different wing configuration to what we’ve seen in previous
Striker images, these fighters have a much flatter profile in their solar panels, with
the canopy and engine housing hanging down beneath them.
It’s possible that the TIE Striker uses its normal configuration while travelling
in space, and then shifts its panels to use as wings in atmosphere, allowing the ship
to glide.
Another thing I should mention is that after I uploaded my last Rogue One ship update,
Spacedock Follower Travis McGruder left a comment featuring this image from a long while
back which shows the U-Wing as a Gunship Troop Transport rather than a Torpedo Bomber like
the leaked promo seemed to imply, this has been further backed up by the Celebration
reel for Rogue One which shows the interior of the U-Wing troop compartment as well as
a door gunner on the ship so good catch there Travis.
Personally I’m very happy to see the Alliance getting a Gunship like this, it’s gonna
make for some really awesome scenes in the film, dropping troops onto the beaches of
Scarif, and with the Battle of Scarif having been confirmed as the final Battlefront DLC,
we’ll presumably see the ship there too.
Gone are the days of the Battlefront dev’s being forced to give the rebellion awkwardly
repainted LAAT’s because there were simply no alliance troop ships of the right size.
Easily the biggest and most exciting announcement we got at Celebration was the return of Grand
Admiral Thrawn to the star wars canon in the third season of the excellent Star Wars Rebels.
This is seriously exciting news for fans of space combat in the Star Wars Universe, we
can all rest assured that we’ll get to see some classic out-of-the-box strategies and
manoeuvres from Thrawn during season 3, and with the simultaneous reveal of Wedge Antilles
for season 3, we’ll likely see some great dogfighting scenes too.
Another point that’s gone unnoticed by many is this shot here, where we can see what appear
to be the markings of the 181st Imperial Figher Wing, the TIE Unit led by the legendary Baron
of the Empire, Soontir Fel.
I’m not sure we’ll necessarily get Fel himself, at least not this season, but it’s
really awesome to see not only TIE Interceptors in rebels, but also Interceptors from this
legendary unit.
Another thing from the trailer worth mentioning is this shot of a Corellian YT-2400 series
freighter, Dave Filoni confirmed during the panel that this is not the Outrider, and we
will not be seeing Dash Rendar, but frankly with Thrawn and Wedge playing a major role
this season, I’m quite content, and it’s nice to see the design regardless.
Ok one final point here, I was lucky enough to be present for the season 3 announcement,
and those of us there we’re treated to seeing the first two episodes of season 3, long before
their release.
I won’t spoil any plot relevant information but turn off now if you want to remain completely
in the dark.
The two part episode chronicles an attempt by the Phoenix Cell to capture a squadron
of BTL-A4 Y-Wing Bombers dating back to the Clone Wars.
This represents the first time the Rebellion has come into possession of what would become
one of their most recognisable craft, and toward the end of the episode we hear that
the Y-Wings are planned to be sent to General Jan Dodonna’s Rebel Cell, for use in a special
operation, this means that the Y-Wings seen in this episode could well be the ships that
would go on to make up Gold Squadron, and take part in the Battle of Yavin.
It occurred to me that with Keyan Farlander no longer being canon, the pilot and gunner
of the single Y-Wing that survived Yavin have not been confirmed, with these Y-Wings now
in the possession of the Rebellion, and Chopper’s history confirmed as a navigator for a Republic
Y-Wing during the Clone Wars, this Y-Wing could provide an opportunity for a Rebels
crossover with A New Hope, allowing one or two of the Rebels characters to take part
in the Battle of Yavin.
Spacedock will continue to provide updates on more Star Wars ship information for upcoming
content as it becomes available, thanks for watching.