Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Star Wars Titanium Series B-Wing

Star Wars B-Wing Starfighter: Round and Round it goes
Presenting the Star Wars B-Wing Starfighter from the Titanium Series toyline.

This is the B-Wing Starfighter or A/SF-01 B-wing heavy assault starfighter, AKA Crosses. Supposedly when the craft is upright the B-Wing's outline makes a "B" shape, but we don't see it. The idea that the name comes from the fact that the wings look like blades, makes more sense.

At the core of the B-Wing is a special gyroscope that keeps the cockpit steady while the entire ship rotated around it. Piloting a B-Wing required a certain amount of skill.

Speaking of Blades, here's where the controversy begins: the traditional canon states that B-Wing Starfighters were developed by the Slay & Korpil corporation and were designed by - Gial "it's a trap" Ackbar - who was then a mere Commander. Star Wars Rebels recently rebuilt the history of the B-Wing by having it created by a mad-engineer named Quarrie on the planet Shantipole.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP:


Not only did Star Wars Rebels screw with the history of the B-Wing, they also gave it a Death-Star laser-system that could take out a whole Imperial cruiser by itself.


With secret weapons like this, why exactly was the Empire in power? True Ackbar designed the B-Wing to take out capital ships. But he designed them as weapons platforms that would overwhelm the defenses of capital ships,  not destroy them with a junior planet-killer. A "Normal" B-Wing starfighter coes armed with:

  • Three (3) ArMek SW-7a light ion cannons 
  • A Gyrhil R-9X heavy laser cannon
  • Gyrhil 72 twin autoblasters 
  • Two (2) Krupx MG9 proton torpedo launchers (2) with four (4) proton torpedoes each
No Death-star laser, just a series of shield breakers followed by hull cutters and explosives.

What's to like about the Star Wars Titanium Series B-Wing?

FIRST: For something so small it comes with incredible detailing. Check out each of the blades and how none of them are simply smooth surfaces - which you would come to expect from something so small. The designers really worked a lot of detail into the Titanium Series B-Wing.

We're particularly happy with the gold trimmings on the Slayn & Korpil JZ-5 Fusial Thrust Engines

And yes, the cockpit can be rotated. The pilot will be level facing whatever opponent he has while the B-Wing spins around it. Why? Nobody knows. Because of the required skill level in piloting a B-Wing, the Rebellion chose to field more Y-Wings instead. Though a squad of B-Wings were credited with the destruction of a pair of Imperial Class Star Destroyers in the Battle of Endor.





And yes, the S-foils fold.



Someone in Kenner thought it would be a great idea to make the toy version of Dash Rendar's Outrider a B-Wing:

Strictly non-canon

What's NOT to like about the Star Wars Titanium Series B-Wing?

FIRST: It's tiny (Around 3.5 inches from cockpit to gun-pod). We'd prefer if it was bigger. But this particular tiny Starfighter has always piqued our interest into acquiring a 1/18th B-Wing.

SECOND: One particular detail that the Star Wars Titanium Series B-Wing lacks is, "How does this thing land?"

THIRD:  It would have been nice if the Star Wars Titanium Series B-Wing could be mounted vertically.

The Star Wars Titanium Series B-Wing is still available on Amazon for US$ 16.97 (Roughly PhP 800 plus shipping). A fleet of these would be really cool.

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