Meet the Fleet, part 26

   

Flashback to Wave IX. I was skeptical at first about wanting to include the ARC-170 in my collection, but FFG did a great job making them look believably beat-up and scrounged. The Rebels have no doubt been rough on these old warhorses, and it shows.

The ship is a beast, the down-turned nose reminds me a bit of a vulture somehow.

In an interesting design choice, they only have 4 unique pilots for this ship in the game...underlining the notion that this is not a widespread vehicle in the Rebel fleet. There aren't any full squadrons of ARC-170s, for instance, if the clues are to be believed. As to who those pilots are, its a bit surprising: Norra Wexley, Shara Bey, Thane Kyrell, and Braylen Stramm.

Norra Wexley, from the terrible Aftermath books, who flew a Y-wing into the second Death Star.

Shara Bey, from the Shattered Empire comics, who flew an A-wing at Endor.

Thane Kyrell, from the great Lost Stars book, a great early Empire TIE fighter pilot and then X-wing pilot, from Hoth to Endor to Jakku.

Braylen Stramm, from Star Wars Insider's Blade Squadron mini-series (the first new official canon fiction after the Disney Legends reboot!), who flew a B-wing at the Battle of Endor as a Deputy Wing Leader.

Why FFG choose to shoe-horn all of these pilots from different craft into this outdated vessel is unknown to me. I guess they have a list of pilots they'd like to include, and a list of ships they want to develop, and the two lists are independent of each other.

I hope that Bey, Kyrell, and Stramm find their way into their "regular" ships at some point in the future. I don't care what happens to Norra Wexley or Mr. Bones.