Much of the Star Wars fandom focuses on the characters, and that’s certainly not a fault. But it’s always nice to see some more attention given to the awesome vehicles of the trilogy. The Millennium Falcon, X-Wing, and TIE Fighters are beloved by many, but what about some of the vehicles down on the ground? These awesome photo-manipulations by Pauline Acalin showcase three worthy candidates.
We start off with a picture of the Sandcrawler, a massive beast of a vehicle used by the Jawas on Tattooine. Originally designed as mining bases, they were left abandoned on the harsh desert planet, after which the Jawas squatted within. The hazy orange and yellow background, complete with dual suns, is simple yet still undeniably Tattooine, bringing back memories of the first film and Luke Skywalker’s home.
Next up is one of the more popular ground vehicles, the AT-AT or All Terrain Armored Transport. These massive quadruped tanks look almost dog like, in a nightmarish way. We never really see the interior, but The Empire Strikes Back gives plenty of attention to the huge legs and wide feet, not to mention the AT-AT’s moving head and powerful turbolaser cannons. Sure, Luke finds the weakness of these huge walkers and they end up going down fairly easy, but our first impressions are of a terrifying, devastating death machine. We get two images here, both quite awesome, with my personal preference going to the blue one in all its Hoth-ness.
The fourth pic is of the smallest vehicle portrayed here, the AT-ST or All Terrain Scout Transport. These biped walkers look more like birds or a T-Rex and while seen in Empire, they get a larger role in Return of the Jedi. Unfortunately it’s a sad role, leaving them more humiliated than the AT-ATs. The AT-ATs were brought down by skilled pilots of the Rebel Alliance, whereas the AT-STs were brought down with primitive traps by Ewoks. In fact, the only time the AT-ST looks truly awesome is when Chewbacca pilots it. Well, there, and in this stunning picture, showing off the poor AT-ST on a green backdrop reminiscent of the forest moon of Endor. Don’t you just want to hug it and tell it everything will be OK?
