[A to Z April] P is for Plans and Passengers: the Story of a Consular Ship

Still heady (and head-achey) from Comic Con yesterday, I want to share with you what I found. I hinted at it in yesterday's post, but I now have pictures and can share the bounty!

What we have here is a "vintage" Tantive IV, a.k.a. "Rebel Blockade Runner, from the Star Wars Action Fleet, circa 1997. It lacked its box, but has all the other parts, including the mini-fig Rebel Trooper and Princess Leia.

Here it is, in all its nerdtastic glory: the Tantive IV! We see it here as it first appears (OK, wrong angle and with the addition of a giant space calculator...) in the original Star Wars movie.

It's also known as the Corellian Engineering Corporation's CR-90 Corvette. I always knew it as the "Blockade Runner" but now that I think about it, I'm not sure WHY. My best guess is because that's what Kenner called it on all their products. Hmm. Interesting question. But then, Kenner is responsible for some "alternative" names to products that are worse than this, I suppose.

Here it is from another "famous" angle, the camera shot as it is enveloped by the Star Destroyer Devastator high above Tatooine. Mostly, I just wanted to look at the detail on this little guy. The display stand is a bit awkwardly placed, and covers up the aft ventral laser battery. I will admit that I may have it on incorrectly, but this is the only placement that actually holds the ship up. From this view you can also see the forward ventral laser and the pull-out "landing gear."

And I should also confess at this point that, while carrying this around with me all day yesterday, I had two thought ringing constantly through my mind:
■ "If this is a consular ship, Where. Is. The. Ambassador?"
and
■ "Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans and bring me the passengers. I want them alive!"
Hence (obviously) the name of today's post....

Here's a look at what it looks like next to one of the X-Wing miniatures from FFG's X-Wing Miniatures Game. Yeah. The scale is WAAAY off. But I purchased it intending to use it in this game, and knowing that the scale was off. I've seen others use the bigger version that Kenner produced in their Collector's line--it's a lot more massive. (I actually saw one of those for sale at a STEAL yesterday, but it was late in the day and I talked myself out of it. It was gone this morning when I was ready to buy it. :( Isn't that always the way?)

Those bigger ones are a lot closer in scale than this. However, I've also seen the MicroMachines Action Fleet versions of the capitol ships used as stand-ins for a senatorial shuttle, for example. When I lucked into this at a great price (more than half of what the same, unboxed versions are going for on e-Bay) I couldn't resist. I've also picked up a couple of the so-called "Republic Cruisers" from Episode I for the same purpose. I'd seen these used online by a couple different players, and thought I'd pick them up at another STEAL. (It helps the cost that I don't need them MIB, I suppose.)

Now, I acknowledge that FFG is releasing its own version of this craft. Mine is a bit smaller than the "announced"/estimated size of the official FFG version. I'll probably still use this as a stand-in or as a replacement for another craft and eventually pick up FFG's version (if for nothing else than the extras in the box--templates, mission, etc.) if I can find it at a bargain. I'm still searching today for another Kenner version; I'm not having much luck at finding an affordable one, though. THAT one is much closer to scale and looks impressive with the smaller ships around it. (OK. I'm a geek. I just grabbed a ruler and a calculator. According to Wookieepedia an X-Wing is 12.5 meters long while the Tantive IV is 150 meters. The miniature X-Wing is 1.75" long; That means the Tantive IV model would have to be 21" long to be in scale. Mine is only 7" long. However, on a high note, Amazon lists the Kenner Collector's version at 16" long, which is much, much closer to the correct scale. I can see now why FFG includes this little blurb in its description of its version of the Tantive IV:

The Tantive IV and Rebel Transport will be the first X-Wing starships released outside of the game’s 1/270 scale. Simply too big to function in the game at that scale, they left us with two options. We could change their scale, or we could leave them out of the game. In the end, we decided these ships were simply too iconic and exciting to ignore, and we invented a new “relative” scale, carefully balancing each ship's playability against its presence on the table.

(Emphasis added.) The cost alone for such a "miniature" would make it altogether prohibitive for most but the hardcore gamers to accept.

Now...I just need to learn how to play the freakin' game....



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Previous "P"s:
2013: P is for Pond Stalker (creature)
2012: P is for Pyramid of Swords (locale)
2011: P is for Poushif Bonereader (npc)