Two New Starships from Solo: A Star Wars Story Revealed. Meet the Imperial Hauler and the Arrestor Cruiser!

Marketing for Disney’s new Solo: A Star Wars Story spin-off film is beginning to kick into high gear, and some new toys give us yet another look at the vehicles and characters that may be seen in the film. Just today, Reddit member Brodilla noticed that an upcoming Mattel Hot Wheels toy release features a vehicle based on a design originally created for George Lucas’ 1977 Star Wars. Also we get a name for one of the starships that we’ve seen in the Solo trailer a few weeks ago. Read on for More.

 

We’ve seen in the past how original Star Wars concept art can be used for the inspiration of many of the vehicles, characters, locations and props in the Star Wars films. Well it appears that a new Mattel Hot Wheels toy shows a glaringly obvious resemblances to some concept art created by former Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic VFX designer, Colin Cantwell. Cantwell was one of original lead starship designers for Star Wars that created an incredible array of concepts for the original Star Wars series of films (you can read our interview with Cantwell from July 2017 here). While some Cantwell original designs were influential, some weren’t used in the Star Wars series.

 

Here’s a first look at the Imperial Arrestor Cruiser from Solo: A Star Wars Story. The design gives the ship a very unique look. Perhaps, it will be used as a tractor beam type ship in the film.

 

 

Cantwell originally pitched the concept of that ship directly to George Lucas to be used in the original 1977 Star Wars film as a Star Destroyer, but it was ultimately scrapped in favor of a completely different version.

“The creation of the #Stardestroyer – I asked George about the scenes. We had a few words in which he described the scenes. I then asked “Is it bigger than Burbank?” to determine the size of the Imperial Cruiser and the opening scenes of the movie. The hatch concept was developed in terms of the need of actual scenes later in the movie. In the opening I was describing something WWII-ish of a concept with a gunner in the fuscelage. The ship was designed with a lot of thought on what the viewer would experience related to the massiveness of the ship. This involved thinking of things and creating relationships between all of the ships and their interactions with each other.”

 

The creation of the #Stardestroyer – I asked George about the scenes. We had a few words in which he described the scenes. I then asked “Is it bigger than Burbank?” to determine the size of the Imperial Cruiser and the opening scenes of the movie. The hatch concept was developed in terms of the need of actual scenes later in the movie. In the opeing I was describing something WWII-ish of a concept with a gunner in the fuscelage. The ship was designed with a lot of thought on what the viewer would experience related to the massiveness of the ship. This involved thinking of things and creating relationships between all of the ships and their interactions with each other. George and I also discussed several other topics in which I asked qualifying questions. This gave me enough information to start designing the ships. It also gave him the information to continue with his work. I was separate from George for most of that time and worked on the final products alone. I started by creating what had to be in the middle and things were added on and so forth. I basically designed this ship and other ships around the function and the impact of the ship on the viewer. The sequence of function and the emotion and it had to feel like it was already there. When starting on a ship, I never did know what it would look like by the end. PS – those fighters in the concept illustration were the original imperial attack ships. I didn’t create the #TIE until much later. See the other concepts at www.cantwellcollection.com

Публикация, споделена от Colin Cantwell (@colin_cantwell) на

 

 

 

Also the new Hot Wheels toys give us a better look at the Imperial Hauler:

 

 

You probably remember that last May we showed you quite a few Solo concept arts that leaked on ebay and one of the ships from there was this Imperial Hauler. We’ve also spotted it in the Solo Trailer.

 

 

From the concept it is evident that the wings will be moving in an upright positing during landings. Also when in flight the wings can extend so that the Hauler could haul another ship or cargo.

 

 

From the trailer, the starship’s name and this concept art we can speculate that in the scene seen in the trailer, Han will steal a Hauler and release some kind of exploding cargo that will cause the explosion in the mountains. Or we could be totally wrong and the footage was intentionally edited this way so that we are misled to believe that Han is piloting that ship. I guess we will find out in less than 100 days.

 

Make sure to visit Colin Cantwell’s website for more information on his concepts and projects HERE.

 

 

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81 thoughts on “Two New Starships from Solo: A Star Wars Story Revealed. Meet the Imperial Hauler and the Arrestor Cruiser!

  • February 18, 2018 at 5:54 pm
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    I can’t deny that it’s a cool gimmick to use designs from the original concept art to inspire these ‘prequel’ sort of movies…but man, that Imperial Arrestor is HIDEOUS. Colin Cantwell came up with some iconic ships, but some stuff was changed for a reason…The hauler looks cool at least.

    • February 18, 2018 at 6:41 pm
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      Totally agree that it’s nice to use old designs which would actually fit here, but it doesn’t look very Star Warsy (and therefore it wasn’t selected). Hopefully it’s not in the movie for long.

      • February 19, 2018 at 4:21 am
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        Totally, it doesn’t fit with the Star Wars vibe. It seems more like a concept for an actual human space ship, not something from another galaxy. Looks sort 2001-ish

      • February 19, 2018 at 4:25 am
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        If you cut off the dishes it looks like the shape of a super star destroyer.

    • February 18, 2018 at 6:50 pm
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      Maybe they should have used more prequel designs….

      • February 18, 2018 at 8:29 pm
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        Doug Chiang, the primary concept artist for the prequels, also worked on production and concept design for TFA and Rogue One, so that’s probably the case given he’s likely involved in Solo to some capacity.

        • February 19, 2018 at 4:19 am
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          He surely is, and it’s not his fault the top guys want to play it close to the OT concepts. I’m interested to see what Chiang would do if he’s involved with the Rian Johnson trilogy or another film not tied to the original saga. He’s great, I’d like to see some him given free reign to create some wild new stuff.

          • February 19, 2018 at 4:43 am
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            Thoroughly seconded.

        • February 19, 2018 at 4:30 am
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          Hopefully…then again TFO still use tie fighters and the resistance still use X-Wings…

  • February 18, 2018 at 6:21 pm
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    So bad. this is not star wars.
    Disney are NOT using time on design ect.

    • February 18, 2018 at 6:33 pm
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      *Face palm*

    • February 18, 2018 at 8:23 pm
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      The Arrestor is an OG McQuarrie design, so even though it looks unusual, it’s about as classic Star Wars as you can get without using something directly from the original films. Hauler looks like at least a dozen other SW ships, except for the trusses underneath, which from an engineering perspective would make sense given its purpose.

      • February 18, 2018 at 8:34 pm
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        “The Arrestor is an OG McQuarrie design”
        Cantwell, not RM. Just a small point, but while everyone knows all about how important RM’s influence on SW was, it often feels like a large number of fans don’t know or don’t appreciate the massive contribution Cantwell made to SW. 🙂

        • February 18, 2018 at 8:42 pm
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          I literally edited that 5 mins before you responded. Might wanna refresh that browser, but good point nonetheless.

      • February 19, 2018 at 1:11 am
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        Makes sense to me that since this was the original design that the Star Destroyer evolved from, it fits well into the time period slightly before Ep IV

  • February 18, 2018 at 6:28 pm
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    Hauler is good. Arrestor, not feeling it. But I am sure that in the movie they’ll drop it on a cool background and give us some cool angles on it.

    • February 18, 2018 at 7:51 pm
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      Like what kind of ‘cool background’?? Since most of these newer Star Wars movies gives us nothing but a two-dimensional, blank canvas of stars for the outer space scenes. No nebulae, no cosmic debris, nothing.

      • February 18, 2018 at 8:39 pm
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        You’ve not seen the Solo trailer then?

  • February 18, 2018 at 6:41 pm
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    The Arrestor Cruiser is stunning. They’ve done an amazing job on the Star Wars stories fitting into Ralph McQuarrie‘s world. This is pure 70s sci-fi.

  • February 18, 2018 at 6:56 pm
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    I’ve never seen official word that they discontinued the Titanium Series vehicles. Everything I’ve seen during the last year have been from Hot Wheels. Does anyone recall an official statement on the state of the Titanium Series vehicles?

  • February 18, 2018 at 7:53 pm
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    Using old concept will always give more SW sensation (retro, vintage, old ships, classic syfy…) for a film (although there are cool illustrators out there). People actually hating ships? Ooook. Say what you want, I absolutely love those new ships.

  • February 18, 2018 at 8:00 pm
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    Arrestor looks like a knock off lightsaber toy shape, which I think is kind of awesome

  • February 18, 2018 at 9:28 pm
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    The Arrestor looks awesome! I love the old SW ships because they appear to focus more on functionality rather than fancy designs. Reminds me of our real world spaceships. Ralph MQ had a background in industrial design if I remember correctly and it heavily influenced his concept art and subsequently the visual language of SW as a whole. The PT lacked this realistic look in some aspects and I am glad to see a return of less stylized designs executed with the modern technology that is available these days.

  • February 18, 2018 at 9:30 pm
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    So glad to see some of the early unused concepts repurposed. I had always thought it would’ve been very cool to have seen some of the earlier, more primitive concepts (storm troopers, destroyers, etc) strongly embraced in the PT but George decided to go in a totally different direction unfortunately. Nice to see someone decided to at least include some of Cantwell’s work for this “prequel”.

  • February 18, 2018 at 9:51 pm
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    I love both, especially the cruiser.

  • February 18, 2018 at 10:22 pm
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    It actually makes a lot of sense that these kind of “ugly” looking ships might only appear in 1 or 2 films and then never get seen again. Ships which not many people like don’t get as widely mass produced, therefore they aren’t seen around in life 20 years later. Just look up some crazy looking plane/jet and helicopter designs from the 40’s and 50’s. My grandfather started out as a riveter in the 30’s-50’s for Convair, I have a few old brochures of some interesting old planes.

  • February 18, 2018 at 10:33 pm
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    I don’t mind the design for the Arrestor Cruiser (love the name btw). Yes iI can see why some people may think those huge dishes on it are a bit silly, but they are most likely there for a purpose like many people speculate they are for a Tractor Beam which would make sense. It reminds me of that Imperial Listener Ship (iGV-55 Surveillance vessel) from Rebels. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5b1b7e9330554f5ca7e1cd62e7b095917280a5a6fecd0d1510dbdaeee7fc64e1.png

  • February 18, 2018 at 11:45 pm
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    There’s a reason certain designs don’t make it to the big screen.

    • February 22, 2018 at 12:59 am
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      There are many reasons “certain designs” don’t make it to the big screen, and you’re naive to imply that just because a design wasn’t chosen that it’s automatically bad. That’s not to say that you have to like the design, but your premise is wrong.

      • February 22, 2018 at 7:04 pm
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        At my age I’m not used to being described as naive 😀 – The reason it wasn’t chosen is pretty obvious. It was a concept not a final piece. None of the Cantwell concepts made it into the film untouched and nor should they have!

  • February 19, 2018 at 12:09 am
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    i think the Arrestor Cruiser Design looks very unique and memorable. Star Wars has a tradition to come up with very iconic looking designs and the Arrestor Cruiser fits right in that nishe.

  • February 19, 2018 at 12:22 am
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    I understand that the work of Ralph McQuarrie is usually used as the foundation of design when it comes to Star Wars. But why is it so difficult to create their own concepts without having to rely on his array of unused concept art? Mostly speaking in regards to the ST, since working on pre existing eras may hinder creativity in a sense.

    • February 19, 2018 at 1:06 am
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      It’s a Colin Cantwell design, his designs came before McQuarrie’s

      • February 19, 2018 at 1:24 am
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        Okay fair enough. But even then, the point I’m trying to make is why recycle when you have an endless opportunity to create something new and fresh and put your own staple on it for STAR WARS?! How often would one have a chance to do something like that? I feel it’s a waste to go back to old things and become a recycling bin.

        • February 19, 2018 at 1:24 pm
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          This is the reason I loved The Last Jedi.

        • February 19, 2018 at 1:53 pm
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          If they’re concepts that were never used then I don’t think you can call it recycling. The “re” in recycling means to use again and since those concepts were never actually used they aren’t being used again, they’re being used for the first time.

          As for creating their own designs, I’m sure they are but I like the nods to the unused works of the original artists.

          • February 19, 2018 at 7:09 pm
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            Yup that’s probably not the best word to describe what I’m saying.

        • February 22, 2018 at 12:55 am
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          You’re looking at the assignment like you’re an individual fine artist who’s doing the work entirely for their craft, and not as one individual in a long chain of dependencies in a film production. I think you’re also assuming that just because a design wasn’t used for its original purpose that it’s bad.

          Reuse is efficient., it saves money and time without sacrificing quality. Reinventing the wheel just because of your personal creative ego is a bad way to stay employed in the film industry.

          Even the process of taking a piece of concept art to film-ready prop can doom you to rounds and rounds of feedback. Any smart production artist minimizes churn wherever possible.

          • February 22, 2018 at 2:20 am
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            Efficient yes, but why would they resort to effiency when it’s a franchise like Star Wars? A franchise that promoted risks and innovation.

    • February 19, 2018 at 4:10 pm
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      I don’t think it’s fair to say that they’re simply relying on unused designs for the new Star Wars movies. There are plenty of original designs in recent Star Wars movies that are heavily influenced by McQuarrie and others but are completely new designs such as the U-Wing, Resistance Bomber, Ski Speedier. Star Wars design is best when it’s speaking the visual language defined in the original trilogy.

      • February 19, 2018 at 6:57 pm
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        True, but those 3 ships/speeder were the only new designs out of all the current Star Wars films. Everything else is either something we’ve seen before, updated designs or unused concept art. I agree that this is hard when making films based during the time period of the OT. But the PT is responsible for some beautiful ships and designs that were both unique yet for some odd reason felt like they belonged in Star Wars.

        • February 22, 2018 at 12:46 am
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          I guess that’s where we disagree. I’ve grown used to the prequel designs, but they are most effective when they’re taking cues from the OT design language. Besides, the prequels have their share of reused OT designs too. One example is the Turbo-tank from RotS. It’s a Joe Johnston AT-AT concept from ESB.

          • February 22, 2018 at 2:18 am
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            Right and I agree that certain designs should take inspiration from these other artists but that’s where it should stop. There is a difference between taking inspiration and incorporating it to your work to coincide with the look and feel of the franchise and simply going to unused concept art and using the same design instead of their own. And in line with some other comments in this thread, perhaps these remained unused for a reason.

    • February 22, 2018 at 12:42 am
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      Even Doug Chiang’s concepts from the prequels are heavily influenced by McQuarrie and Johnston. They created the visual language for Star Wars films so without that influence, it feels like a different universe.

      • February 22, 2018 at 2:25 am
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        And I respect that, but again what I’m arguing is mostly in regards to the ST. They had a clean slate to design new and fresh ideas, but instead we have new tie fighters and X-wings. So far I really enjoy the ST, and I’m excited to see where it goes in aspects of plot, but the lack of new and never before seen designs is my biggest let down.

  • February 19, 2018 at 1:19 am
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    While I LOVE McQuarrie, I just can’t stop wondering if these designs were left in the drawing board for a reason (Digging the 2001 vibe, though)

    • February 19, 2018 at 1:29 am
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      They have so many rich ideas based off the art of TFA and TLJ books. Beautiful things that are left in the drawing board in favor of old McQuarrie designs. I don’t get it.

      • February 19, 2018 at 4:50 pm
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        Solo takes place before TFA and TLJ.

      • February 19, 2018 at 5:52 pm
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        It’s more important to nail the SW look than to have a cool looking design that doesn’t really fit into the visual language (especially in a movie taking place before/during the OT). The Gorilla walkers in TLJ were ok designs but some of the shapes looked way too organic for a SW movie and the coloursheme (especially the red tinted glass) didn’t feel like SW at all. I was amazed how similar to an AT-AT the design was yet how out of place it felt at the same time. To me a good SW design is a lot of primitives shapes (cylinders, triangles, spheres) mashed together into an appealing silhouette without much transition in between these individual shapes. One case or two basecolours, a mostly monocoloured paintjob and detail added via metal platings or exposed machinery. But then again that’s just my opinion.
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1d958d31db64e0ef7f216f1dbe9fae1a9133c2e6d062137e201035c03ef1ef91.jpg

    • February 22, 2018 at 12:38 am
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      I’m ecstatic to see more McQuarrie, Johnston and Cantwell designs realized. It was an embarrassment of riches that Lucasfilm goes back to again and again. In some cases, I prefer the unused designs to the finals, like Johnston’s “Y-wing head” snowspeeder design.

  • February 19, 2018 at 1:48 am
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    So, the hauler… anyone else think this is the machine that goes in the falcons mandibles and give it the elongated nose?

    • February 19, 2018 at 4:49 pm
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      No. This looks Imperial.

      • February 19, 2018 at 9:29 pm
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        A part of me wonders if the Falcon has Imperial (or perhaps Republic, by extension) origins. The “fresh” interior has a somewhat Imperial vibe and if you really look at it, the exterior does too. I kinda doubt it but that’d be an interesting twist.

    • February 19, 2018 at 8:53 pm
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      first thing i thought of too as it seems to fit like a jigsaw piece

    • February 22, 2018 at 12:35 am
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      At a passing glance it seems like it could fit, but I doubt it. It doesn’t look like can fold up into that compact shape that the front of the Falcon has in the trailer

  • February 19, 2018 at 2:19 am
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    I like it. It’s certainly memorable.

  • February 19, 2018 at 2:48 am
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    Man alive, first the Sail Barge then toys based on Cantwell’s original designs. Looks like I’ll be grabbing more than one modern toy this year.

  • February 19, 2018 at 5:12 am
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    This was like “Lets make the ugliest ships ever” they nailed it.

    • February 19, 2018 at 2:30 pm
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      Yea. I don’t like it either. What’s up with the damm near star destroyer size dishes placed in the worst possible positions?

      • February 19, 2018 at 3:20 pm
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        A tractor beam ship designed for smuggler blockades.

      • February 19, 2018 at 9:06 pm
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        I think the standars for ship and vehicle design since TFA are:
        1. OT aesthetics
        2. Ugliness
        3. Carbon copy of classic OT designs
        4. Use of rejected designs

        They can use one or more or a mix, thats it.

        • February 22, 2018 at 12:29 am
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          Oh look, another Disney hater. Reusing concept art has been a time honored tradition since Empire Strikes Back – Cloud city was a design for the imperial base (pre-Death Star in the story evolution). Boba Fett was an Imperial Supercommando design. The TIE Bomber was an unused landing craft design from Star Wars.

          If you need to make something immediately feel like it belongs in Star Wars, you go back to the mountains of concept art and work from the original artists and build from there. Star Wars fans are such a contradiction of demands – “I want something exactly the same but different, that perfectly matched my personal view of what Star Wars is.”

          Y’all can go die in a fire as far as I’m concerned.

          • February 22, 2018 at 9:52 pm
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            Wow! no one has to be in a fire!

            Not a Disney hater, I just dont like some of what disney/lucas are doing this days. What I’m pointing is that they seem to be very limited regarding design, that’s sad I think, and reduce the posibility of making new and amazing designs, like those we got every time George Lucas released a new SW movie :). Now they are Copying, reusing, and trying to look like OT all the time.

            I think they can do it, a lot of the people who worked in lucas before are still there, one evidence thay they can do new beautifull stuff is BB-8 they made this droid and perfeclty matches with SW, in the other hand they copyed X-wings, and Tiefighters instead of create a new ships, for whatever reason you want they are limited, on purpose but still limited, and in TLJ they bring the a-wing back, again instead of having a new fighter, an old fighter for them if you want, but new for us.

            🙂

    • February 20, 2018 at 5:58 am
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      sry but i loled. i know it’s not funny

  • February 19, 2018 at 6:03 am
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    So is the Cantwell design from Solo or just a new toy?

    • February 22, 2018 at 12:24 am
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      It is both.

  • February 19, 2018 at 11:22 am
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    Unless they make Han a child kidnapper this movie is bound to be better than TLJ for the mere fact it’s not NH, ESB, ROTJ remakes with overpowered nobodies. I think Howard will do well all things considering.

  • February 19, 2018 at 1:49 pm
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    New toys for me to buy. Honestly the Hot Wheels space ships are the only toys I’ve been buying. The only one I can’t seem to find is the AT-ST.

  • February 19, 2018 at 7:28 pm
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    Very much looking forward to seeing another one of my ships on the silver screen. I already love how my X-Wing is featured in the newest films. You can see my 5 original concept sketches – including this early Star Destroyer – at http://www.cantwellcollection.com

  • February 19, 2018 at 8:42 pm
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    Though I think the design looks fine, I think the Arrestor looks more generic 70s sci-fi. I am a fan of the Hauler though.

    • February 22, 2018 at 12:23 am
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      Have you ever looked at Colin Cantwell’s work? The Arrestor looks like “generic 70s sci-fi” because a) that’s when it was designed and b) Colin was integral in establishing that visual vocabulary back then.

  • February 20, 2018 at 1:37 am
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    cut a destroyer hafway from nose to end, and invert the back part, and glue them again. Add some antennas

    • February 20, 2018 at 6:29 am
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      This is actually the original Colin Cantwell design that Ralph MacQuarrie evolved further into the Star Destroyers we know and love, so really you cut this one in half and modify it to make the normal version

  • February 20, 2018 at 5:29 am
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    Ok, that Arrestor Cruiser caught my eye! I’d like to see that ship “in action” so to speak as we saw the TPM Droid Control Ships with tons of radar dishes and vehicle launch ports! Please please don’t suck Solo. Fingers crossed!

    TLJ = One And Done.

  • February 20, 2018 at 5:55 am
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    the guy who designed that ship was inspired by a calamar no ? lol

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