Art of SW:TFA - Any good?
- Thread starter Jedi2016
- Start date
your a genius yes!! i totally remember now!
Ok to each their own. I like it though. Main reason being when the hit the deck and the door drops the troopers look so cool charging out. It works great as a quick deploy vehicle.I don't mind being the only one who likes it but yes I do like the ANH-SE lander better too. 
Ben
Ben
I don't like the SE lander. It's like a bad Kenner second-tier kitbash toy.
If the shuttle needs wings way larger than its fuselage, why does the lander make do with identical wings way smaller that ITS fuselage, and stuck way out in the back to boot?
It's goofy lookin'.
If the shuttle needs wings way larger than its fuselage, why does the lander make do with identical wings way smaller that ITS fuselage, and stuck way out in the back to boot?
It's goofy lookin'.
The lack of strong SW vehicle designs that feel like they are properly "Star Wars"?! I agree for the most part, there was something slightly off about a few of them.
Once you've stripped out the modified X wings/Ties/SDs (the new and wreaked) and the Falcon there is a surprising lack of vehicles/spaceships overall and the few that are glimpsed felt wrong to me. It was only as I read the "Art of" that I realized that JJ had a few of his Star Trek artists working on this and its they're concept designs and his selection of them that are the issue. They look like they belong to Star Trek because its the same minds that designed and picked them. Its something they need to address for the next film and I hope JJ DOESN'T get to influence those choices again, even as a producer.
I am glad a lot of the concepts in the book got discounted because they were even weaker than what we have in the film. They may be trying for a new look to indicate time has moved on, but its a subtle art to get right. I have to say they got the X wing spot on, its a beautiful progression , though its "swallow" flight POV from Finn in the battle above the castle looked a little daft and the TIES were great. The props, sets, costumes and creature designs were on the whole fantastic and those design element really did recapture the old and the new SW universe as perfectly progressed (Aka Stormtroopers and alike ) or nostalgically referenced (ie Jakku and Mazes Castle}. Its just their success made things like the resistance transport lego brick , the boring troop lander, the snowspeeder, and young Reys departing space craft look even more out of context.
At least I imagine with Rogue One we should be getting a lot of the old favourites back!
Once you've stripped out the modified X wings/Ties/SDs (the new and wreaked) and the Falcon there is a surprising lack of vehicles/spaceships overall and the few that are glimpsed felt wrong to me. It was only as I read the "Art of" that I realized that JJ had a few of his Star Trek artists working on this and its they're concept designs and his selection of them that are the issue. They look like they belong to Star Trek because its the same minds that designed and picked them. Its something they need to address for the next film and I hope JJ DOESN'T get to influence those choices again, even as a producer.
I am glad a lot of the concepts in the book got discounted because they were even weaker than what we have in the film. They may be trying for a new look to indicate time has moved on, but its a subtle art to get right. I have to say they got the X wing spot on, its a beautiful progression , though its "swallow" flight POV from Finn in the battle above the castle looked a little daft and the TIES were great. The props, sets, costumes and creature designs were on the whole fantastic and those design element really did recapture the old and the new SW universe as perfectly progressed (Aka Stormtroopers and alike ) or nostalgically referenced (ie Jakku and Mazes Castle}. Its just their success made things like the resistance transport lego brick , the boring troop lander, the snowspeeder, and young Reys departing space craft look even more out of context.
At least I imagine with Rogue One we should be getting a lot of the old favourites back!
Jaitea
Master Member
I'm disappointed that there are few new 'cool' spaceship & craft designs in the film,....but overall I'm glad that it wasn't a priority for Disney/Lucasfilm.....in the past, after ESB, the cart was put before the horse because of toy sales
J
While I didn't care much for the x-wing attack on starkiller base apart from the new pilot helmets and the x-wings/ties I really liked the interior of the base. In the book it talked about how they used Death Star panel designs and Bespin gantry wall designs mixed with new designs,I thought it turned out very Star Warsy. Very imperial and sanitized. Same for the star destroyer interiors. The same style as OT imperial designs but with enough new aesthetics to be a continuation.
Maz's castle was just all over fantastic and it doesn't have to be said for the old wrecked ships at the start.
I don't like the quad jumpers and yes young Rey's departing ship was a bit iffy.
Ben
Maz's castle was just all over fantastic and it doesn't have to be said for the old wrecked ships at the start.
I don't like the quad jumpers and yes young Rey's departing ship was a bit iffy.
Ben
What about Hans frieghter?I liked it. I thought it looked very 80's scifi. Liked the greebly covered front and all the storage containers at the back linked with all those corridors. The only bit thats a bit awkward for me is the engines but the rest I liked.
Darth Lars
Master Member
It is not as if there aren't many different toys made of the new crafts in TFA: Stormtrooper transport, Ren's shuttle, new X-wings and TIEs, the boxy Resistance shuttle... Even the snowspeeder that was mostly cut out of the movie was also made into toys.
I do think that if they are made into toys, then Lucasfilm should first have made the designs interesting enough for children to want them!
Jaitea
Master Member
Yeah,...I know,...but you've got to admit most of the toys out now focus on the characters & costumes,.....since ROtJ theres been different TIES,....A-Wings, B-Wings,...the prequels, which is before the OT is always new craft,...never do we see pristine Y-Wings or X-Wings,....a new Jedi Starfighter each episode,....Ok its supposed to show the evolution,...but each film had an abundance of new craft different than the previous film,...why was there no YT's? because you can sell more variations of Starfighters
Most of the scenes in the prequels were set up for video games as well,....all merchandise.....this film just seems different in priorities,....character driven
I know Disney likes its merchandise,...but where are the Guardians of the Galaxy toys?...(or model kits, for me).....a film which had that new universe '77 feel,...with hardly any toys??....if Guardians were George's property,...there would be mountains of the stuff
J
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What is this "Special Edition" of which you speak?
While not many my son has a few GOTG toys. A ship and a heap of small figures. We had to go far and wide to find them though. Worth it though.
Ben
Darth Lars
Master Member
The Sentinel-class landing ship was apparently first in Shadows of the Empire. You don't need to know about the "Special Edition" to learn about it.
astroboy
Master Member
The things that drive me nuts about that ship are:
-It's a crappy design that looks like it's a boat from normandy. When has star wars ever ripped off our tech this badly?
-It has a single gunner on top. Why? It's a drop ship. not a boat that flies along the surface of a planet. Oh wait, that's what it did in the movie. Because they do planet combat, not space combat
-The republic gunship was one of the best designs in the series. It made sense. It's a great vehicle to drop soldiers in from above. The military should continue to use them. Not a flying boat.
Richard Baker
Sr Member
To me a lot of the animated Clone Wars and Rebels craft do not look to good either- both the Twilight and Ghost look like some model kits kitbashed together.
I got the Cutaways book and it is very thin- so few ships to illustrate- they fluffed it out with double spread stills from the film and even featured a craft that was on screen for about seven second before it got blown up (the Quad Jumper).
I can understand about keeping the focus on people in this new film, but the classic movies had a focus on people as well while it introduced us to a whole universe full of cool designs.
I got the Cutaways book and it is very thin- so few ships to illustrate- they fluffed it out with double spread stills from the film and even featured a craft that was on screen for about seven second before it got blown up (the Quad Jumper).
I can understand about keeping the focus on people in this new film, but the classic movies had a focus on people as well while it introduced us to a whole universe full of cool designs.
Wolfsburg
Master Member
I too though the ship designs in TFA were overall "meh", but I don't mind Han's new ship. I just wish we could've seen more of it. I like that it actually looks like a freighter.
Let's see... First off, apart from background speeders, Star Wars (how I refer to the original, non-Special-Edition version of the original film) had a whopping six spaceship designs: X-Wing and Y-Wing and TIE Fighters, the Millennium Falcon, the Star Destroyer, and Leia's ship. And only four of those were made into toys. So I can forgive a dearth of designs, even if I do think more designs helps sell the idea of a larger galaxy (with more shipbuilders).
I don't really like the landing craft, but they fall between the Clone Wars-era gunships and the SotE/ANH:SE Sentinel-class thing as far as a good and logicial design. I would have preferred a call go out to all the artists everywhere for something like "come up with an idea for how the Republic Gunship would evolve over twenty-five years of Empire and twenty-five more scraping by in the Unknown Regions", then winnow the results. The Sentinel is ungainly and bodged-together-looking -- like someone stuck the cockpit and wings of a Lambda-class shuttle on a double-wide cargo container. Problem is, Aliens nailed it, and it's hard to recapture that without ripping it off.
I got the art book. I love the art book. I, too, wish there was more commentary on the evolution of everything. I wish Jakku had been the more watery world shown in some of the images. I really wish they'd gone with those new TIEs shown in the frontpiece. And I agree on the artist stable. Why I feel they should have just put out an open call. Then you wouldn't end up with concept artists who designed the new X-Wings without being aware of the original McQuarrie art they were unintentionally copying (the split-circle engine inlets). There were more "Swarzy" looking ships in the West End RPG and the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter flight-sim games. Lots of stuff in the EU to use without reinventing a well-made wheel.
I saw a Predaking that makes me weep it's so huge and gorgeous. I so don't have the money to buy it. :cry Thanks to my local reprographer, I have rolled blueprints for a 3-3/4" scale Millennium Falcon that fixes the problems with the interior. I've just never wanted to tackle building the thing, for lack of space to build what would be an almost six-and-a-half-foot-long toy/playset.
--Jonah
I don't really like the landing craft, but they fall between the Clone Wars-era gunships and the SotE/ANH:SE Sentinel-class thing as far as a good and logicial design. I would have preferred a call go out to all the artists everywhere for something like "come up with an idea for how the Republic Gunship would evolve over twenty-five years of Empire and twenty-five more scraping by in the Unknown Regions", then winnow the results. The Sentinel is ungainly and bodged-together-looking -- like someone stuck the cockpit and wings of a Lambda-class shuttle on a double-wide cargo container. Problem is, Aliens nailed it, and it's hard to recapture that without ripping it off.
I got the art book. I love the art book. I, too, wish there was more commentary on the evolution of everything. I wish Jakku had been the more watery world shown in some of the images. I really wish they'd gone with those new TIEs shown in the frontpiece. And I agree on the artist stable. Why I feel they should have just put out an open call. Then you wouldn't end up with concept artists who designed the new X-Wings without being aware of the original McQuarrie art they were unintentionally copying (the split-circle engine inlets). There were more "Swarzy" looking ships in the West End RPG and the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter flight-sim games. Lots of stuff in the EU to use without reinventing a well-made wheel.
I saw a Predaking that makes me weep it's so huge and gorgeous. I so don't have the money to buy it. :cry Thanks to my local reprographer, I have rolled blueprints for a 3-3/4" scale Millennium Falcon that fixes the problems with the interior. I've just never wanted to tackle building the thing, for lack of space to build what would be an almost six-and-a-half-foot-long toy/playset.
--Jonah
astroboy
Master Member
I saw a Predaking that makes me weep it's so huge and gorgeous. I so don't have the money to buy it. :cry Thanks to my local reprographer, I have rolled blueprints for a 3-3/4" scale Millennium Falcon that fixes the problems with the interior. I've just never wanted to tackle building the thing, for lack of space to build what would be an almost six-and-a-half-foot-long toy/playset.
--Jonah
I'd love to see your blueprunts!
Personally...I don't mind if a falcon toy is a little wonky. I can accept a cockpit that seats only 2 figures instead of four. One gunner is okay, too. And you don't need the inside to be a full playset either.
But I would love to see what this group could come up with to eclipse hasbro!
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