I just figured it was a "costume change" for the ship so when you've just robbed a planet sized bank and everyone is looking for your ship you jettison the hull and you have a brand new ship no one is looking for and you're free to disappear.
That seems very useful for pirates, how many movies/shows have we seen where ditch one vehicle for another in escaping? Hell in the book/show Expanse the Rocinante was given a fake hull to make it look like a tanker freighter, popping the hull off to drastically change your ship's look is a good way to get away.
Two other reasons to have armor like this, are disguise and deception. You basically have a truck that turns into a race car here. Your enemies will be looking for a bulky ship while you cruise around in a sleek racing rocket. In a battle, you can explode the armor in a well-timed way and make it look like you were destroyed.
In his log holo, Tak Renard mentioned that he added armor to the Onyx as part of his preparation for going to At Attin. I'm pretty sure he expected heavy defenses so he up armored his ship to be able to take heavier hits. The hull demolition sequence I imagine was added in case the need arose to ditch the armor in a hurry (like what happened in this episode). Although I imagined Tak thought he would need to ditch the armor in space, not on the ground to escape a trash incinerator.
The added armor would ALSO explain why nobody recognized the ship as the Onyx Cinder... which is something I just realized. They probably knew it as the sleek ship we finally get to see, so it must have been unrecognizable
That armour shell looked incredibly thick, so it had to weigh a hellava lot. Blowing off the armour shell is going to drop a huge amount of weight, letting you run like hell if things go sideways
@@weldonwin The armored shell also included the front pair of tilt engines which surprised me. Sure, they help with the added weight from the armor, but I would have expected something as complex as tilt mounted engines to be part of the original ship.
I think that being able to jettison the armor after it’s served it’s purpose is the most likely reason, as without a way to actually remove it it could considerably slow it down
@oscar.p3214 maybe? It's hard to say with sensors in Star Wars. In Trek, yeah, they paint the idea that senors can pick up nose hairs (when it fits the plot), but remember, the Empire had to board the Millenium Falcon with mobile scanners to find the passengers and crew hiding under a thin deck plate. It could also depend on the composition of the armored layer. It is a point worth considering, though
I thought it was sick as hell. And to me the ship went from a very classic imperial era industrial space ship like an x-wing or the Falcon to something more sleek and old republic-esque that we see in the prequels.
They didn't design the ship to hull detonate, it was an add on by the Pirate Captain, he says so himself in the holo recording. And you add the detonation so you can quickly get rid of weight/mass so you can get away, or change your ship's appearance and hide, really simple.
Another idea why there was a fake hull: A disguise. The sleek ship may be the true Onyx Cinder that everyone can recognize (back then), but with the extra hull, a pirate can explore for the ultimate treasure without bringing too much attention to himself.
@@jawajuice31 I think more likely the former, because Jod seemed to recognize it when they escaped the prison. And he didn't seem happy to be flying towards it.
Maybe Jod was one of the few people that knew it design was changed. I think that’s also the reason why no one seemingly realized the Onyx Cinder at first in Port Borgo. It’s a really smart move.
@simeonwiegrink8991 Also possible, since Jod does seem to know a LOT about the original Captain. ...we also haven't SEEN the original captain's face directly. The hologram was blurred out around the face. It's possible Jod actually is the captain and the ship went to At Attin without him because of the mutinous crew.
@@NikkiTheOtter Maybe….but wouldn’t that be a problem time-wise? 🥹 Bc like it seemed to me that the Onyx Cinder was buried a long time ago before the kids found it. I even would say 100 Years or more.
I knew somehow that Hull Demolition Sequence button would be hit at some point in an episode. The Onyx Cinder sheds the hull armour and the forward VTOL engines for a sleeker style appearance reminiscent of the Normandy. A true Blockade Runner or Corsair. Neil and KB are becoming my favourite members of the crew. I relate to Neil’s more cautious side and aversion to war and conflict. Kinda relate with KB and her challenges with the cybernetics and how vulnerable they are to corrosion. Can’t wait to watch the final two episodes next week!
I think the hull armour was installed specifically for the raid on At Aten. Whatever those satililles are probably have serious firepower, so the Onyx Cinder probably needed some extra beef to survive long enough to land. After that, it could dump the extra bulk and make a quick getaway.
Historically pirates, privateers and the occasional naval captain tended to at times disguise their vessels to mimic a allied ship for the enemy to target, a easy prey such as a whaler ship or merchant ship, or a trading vessel, hiding its identity until they are able to attack their prey or avoid detection to smuggle or sneak out of areas. Onyx Cinder follows this tradition.
Surface commerce raiders as late as WW1 did something similar, too. They'd add in entire fake funnels to make themselves look like one vessel or another. Up-close the disguise wouldn't fool anyone, but at the distances you actually tend to see other ships at sea from, they worked *incredibly* well.
This will be a bit of a long comment but I needed to say it, I deal with alot of both physical and mental disabilities, I think we can all agree over the past year the internet had gotten more and more negative. Due to my physical disabilities I spend alot of time staying in bed unable to do much else. When I'm laying in bed I usually scroll the internet and seeing nothing but negativity affects my mental health alot, I only just discovered this channel yesterday and I love it gen tech seems to stay positive and doesn't sit and complain and whine about everything. So therefore I would like to thank generation tech for always staying positive and making very entertaining videos.
IIRC Luke used a similar trick to escape the Chimaera in The Last Command novel(?). Basically, blew up a container in which his X-Wing was hidden, with the debris confusing or disrupting the tractor beam lock, allowing him to escape.
That's right. He was in a freight large enough to hide his X Wing in the cargo hold and the outer ship was designed to blow apart in a way that allowed him to escape in his X wing while the remains of the freighter disrupted the tractor beam. In the earlier novel Heir to the Empire he'd used a trick with his Hyper Drive to get the Star Destroyer to lock on to a proton torpedo he'd launched. Unfortunately the technique he used blew the Hyper Drive and left him stranded in deep space until he was rescued by Talon Karde and Mara Jade. Even though they aren't cannon and Zahn's understanding of the Force and the Clone Wars was way off when he wrote them they are still some of the finest Star Wars ever put on paper IMO. They were extremely well written and more than anything I wish they could have brought Mara Jade into the cannon. She was such a fascinating character to me.
@@ashleighelizabeth5916 I adore Mara Jade - she's one of my favourite Legends characters, alongside Grand Admiral Thrawn. But considering what a mess Filoni has made of Thrawn, I hate to say it, but I hope Mara stays only in Legends.
It could also be a way of changing your ship's physical identity to evade pursuit. It's also really cool that it had extra engines to support the extra mass.
Well, you don’t need to fix that armor by explosive bolts if it’s purely for armor’s sake. In fact, if that were the only purpose, you’d probably use standard connectors to fix the armor to your hull
@@kinglegoiii they lost the two bow thrusters and a lot of mass forward, and gained the use of the 4 aft secondary thrusters that were concealed by the armor...which would make sense too, if someone shot the "main engines" thinking to disable, they could blow the tail section and escape on the auxiliary engines!
I was also thinking that the extra armor alows them to weather possible defenses, swope in and grab the loot and then remove the heavy armor for a quicker get away
Good points about the mynocks and tractor beams. I figured it was either to disguise the ship or maybe to shed some weight if they ever had to make a quick getaway. Whatever its original purpose was that was a pretty cool use of it lol
I was first reminded of Kir Kanos' ship from the Crimson empire comics, when at the end of the first series, the cargo ship's exterior splits into two and a Skipray Blastboat emerges from inside.
I hope someone is able to build the new version from the original Lego model. I will check rebrickable from time to time. But first have to buy current Lego model 😅
0:27 lol my cousin was just talking "back in the day" about putting a V12 in a Ford Pinto wagon. In NE Ohio though, so not quite Pennsylvania. Anyway, thanks, I feel seen. Uncomfortably so.
first thing i thought of was tractor beams, but theres so many use cases. add the symbolism and this was a great plot element, spectacular and thematic.
I think the armor was important for getting through the barrier above At Attin. The barrier is both a cloak and a physical shield, I think. And the kids almost seemed afraid they’d hit it when the ship was taking off.
Disguise too. But yeah, it was definitely a metaphor more than anything practical - emerging from the cocoon - the kids had neither Jod nor '33 and had to take it upon themselves.
I don’t think it was about disguise & deception. Captain Rennod said in his log entry it was ARMOR. I think he was just prepared to shoot his way out after making his heist. Changing its appearance to fool anyone giving chase as well as likely being FASTER & MORE MANEUVERABLE was just additional bonuses to jettisoning the outer shell. I can’t find the exact number (it’s sort of CLASSIFIED) but more than one source said that MOST of the weight of a 65-ton American M1A1 Abrams tank is from the armor.
More like punching his way in TO the heist. I think he needed the armor due to the Chekov's Cannon we saw in ep.4. And maybe the barrier satellites are also armed.
I love the detail about Wim, he is a danger to everyone, if you look at the scene the boy hits the antenna and you can see a bright red dot where he did. It was an awesome scene! That was sort of a Q-Ship, like Luthen"s ship, though the Fondor Hullcraft fits that description even better. Like someone else commented, this would be a great getaway tactic, sort of like driving into a car wash, wash away the paint and drive off while the cops look for the same car but in some garish color.
Now we know why it used VTOL thrusters instead of repulsorlifts; the latter were covered on the lower hull by the false/extra hull. They would've pushed against it instead of the ground, at least as Legends describes them working.
Also, without the engines at all four corners for landing and propulsion, it now has only two movable engines at the back, so it must have gravity repulsors to keep the front from dipping down when landing.
@@jebkerman5422@jebkerman5422 Allen mentioned in a previous video on the ship that it was old and didn't use repulsors but instead used the four pairs of engines at each corner to lift the spacecraft off the ground and then rotate them for power (forward) flight and that it was probably constructed before repulsors were invented. If Strong Gyros were installed, the front engines would still be unnecessary. It's a conundrum.
@@CATDRL2 firstly with all the armor the ship is much heavier. It doesn't matter if you can keep the ship stable if you don't have enough to overcome the planets gravity. Secondly, it never hurts to have redundent systems in case some of them fail or are destroyed. Especially for a combat-vessel.
The 4 main engines in the rear still pivot along with the wings. So the theory that the ship predates repulsorlift technology still holds *for now*. There's significantly less weight in the front now, that's for sure.
I just guessed that Tac rennod modified a luxury star cruiser into an armored pirate ship and had the hull detonation as a backup in case of a mutiny or in case of being captured but the new ship looks cool 😎
1977 Jerrai Custom Wagoneer, a jeep with a jaguar engine. Owned by Bill Harrah. On display at the Reno Automobile Museum. So crazy engines in unassuming cars happens everywhere in the US ;).
The ship is a grenade with an "escape clause" to avoid mutual destruction. The last resort is an ISD crippler or killer. When you think about it, the vulnerable section of an ISD is the hanger bay. A fragmentation weapon detonating there could snap an ISD. Wouldn't that be a sight.
I think the large cannon that is likely sitting atop one of the buildings in At Attin ala the one on the mirror planet will play a significant role in the final defense as well. I don't think they showed us that for no reason. Just a thought.
Aye it would stand to reason that all the major buildings on At Attin have these hidden away on the rooftops. The building they were in was a school of all things so all the Govt buildings definitely are gonna be as armed or even more so. We're probably gonna end up seeing the Pirate fleet getting shredded pretty badly in the finale by them before they get to ground and the security droids aren't as equipped to deal with them.
The only reason that makes sense to eject your armour mid flight (apart from the incredibly niche case of avoiding being dragged in by a Star Destroyer) would be if you factor in how the weight of said armour might slow your acceleration. Essentially so you can out-run an attacker.
It’s like an ERA, external boosters and weapons package in one. Makes sense for Star Wars ships cause they’re basically flying tanks by real life standards.
It is a strategy that was used a few times in the Legends books. Have a freighter full of fighters make its way inside of an enemies defensive line around a world, then have the freighter send out a distress call and then explode, but a squadron of ties boil out of the remains and open a hole for the ISD and support ships coming out of Hyperspace. On one occasion I can think of it was used to allow the ships to escape a tractor beam.
Great episode. And showing both the ships and the kids coming out of their cocoons... in a sense. A couple of notes: 1 - The Engine output change from yellow on the "Junker" to Blue on the sleek design. This seems to indicate that the Onyx CInder has much better engines as well. It even had junk covering the engines up. 2 - The Sleek ship DOES NOT fit inside the junker hull. This is a pretty much all in the rear section. The Junker hull tappers right past the rear turret. But The sleek hull extends doesn't tapper into a thin edge at all. So there should NOT be room for those four small engines.
My initial take was that it's a heavy armor upgrade with 2 extra engines to compensate for the added mass. Drop it to become more svelte or if the outer shell is damaged beyond usefulness
People need to go back to Episode 1 and read the text before the action: “These PIRATES boldly brand their armored hulls as a sign to all ships. Surrender or die…” The Onxy Cinder simply just has an armored hull as a way to show others to back off.
Seeing how it was stated the armor was installed for the mission, it was needed to raid at attin. Having extra weight makes a ship slower both in and out of atmosphere, and being able to remove it quickly can make for a hastier escape. The scene takes away from that, removing the armor in atmosphere makes it look more like shedding old skin and adds to the scene but from the information given it's safe to say the armor was disposable and intended to temporarily protect the ship during the mission.
Another reason is from Legends. In the OG Thrawn Trilogy while looking for the Cloning Vats NR intel had Luke flying around in a ship. The Chimera herself found Luke during this and hook his ship in a Tractor beam. Right as it seem Luke was going to be reel in, He had Artoo fire the Detonators and basically what happened to the Onyx Cinder happened but with Lukes X-wing blasting out and jumping to hyperspace while the husk slamed into one of the ISD tractor arrays taking it out.
I'm thinking that big gun they showed Neil on the school on At Achron was a foreshadowing of a similar big gun on the school on At Atton and neil will use it against the pirates.
I think it was also a secondary option of a mutiny at the pirate cove the ships there were chained so they couldn't escape. So being able to shed that skin and blast all the other ships in radius was a huge tactical advantage lol
What I love about the hull detonation is that it gives us insight into what Tak Reno’s was like. I view the armor less as an advantage, and more as a deception. It’s ugly and heavy. This makes the ship appear and run like a heap of junk, when in actuality it is top class. This allows the ship to remain inconspicuous, while also giving a surprise advantage in battle. What’s even more telling is how delightfully deceptive “emergency hull demolition sequence” is. Clearly Renod did not want his crew to know the true capabilities of the ship they were on.
You just described a scene in Han Solo At Stars' End. They hid the Falcon inside a grain barge that was supposed to be a droid driven vehicle that was programmed to pick up grain on one planet and deliver it elsewhere. They were sneaking on to an Agricultrure planet that had a major Data Center run by the Corporate Sector Authority. Te CSA was the big bad for the first teo oarts of that trilogy since it was a prequel and Brian Daley did not have access to use the Empire as the villian. People around the CSA were disappearing, and Han needed the Falcon fixed and permits to operate in CSA space. So he struck a deal with a tech group whose leader was disappeared, so he got pulled into the mission to keep the Falcon in business. They got the data, but things went wrong, so they had to get past a captial ship in orbit. Han dumped the grain to disrupt the capital ship's sensors and tractor beam emittors and then blew the Falcon out of the barge to have it hit the capital ship following it. A corporation building a private prison to imprison political prisoners who opposed the Empire and, more importantly, a corporation. Yeah, Star Wars was never political in the old days.
I would love for the CSA to become canonized. They were the first thing I thought of when I saw the Mining Guild in Rebels. The Imperial prison colony in Andor also gave off CSA vibes.
@brianwhedon8442 Same, especially Andor. I got my older son to read the trilogy after that. They are quick reads, and Daley had some interesting ideas. The idea of Xim's vault and At-Attan share some similarities.
@@docweidner Oh you're right! It's been over 25 some years since I read the books; I still own the gaming sourcebook. Since Skeleton Crew started, I've seen people point out there's some similarities to Xim the Despot but I forgot about his vault. Disney has a good opportunity here to make the CSA a great "bad guy" for the Skeleton Crew series. It's still too early for the First Order, and its not just a continuation of the "evil Empire" that's at war with the New Republic (they're neutral when it comes to galactic politics). And with our current geopolitical climate, its an antagonist a lot of fans could understand
The debris from the hall detention could also act as a kind of chaff or flare that would mess with enemy radar and other targeting systems when the Onyx Cinder wants to make a jump. Can you track a ship’s hyper space jump if you don’t know what coordinates they’re using?
I remember in early Robocraft the thing to do was layer cheap blocks around everything. The most non vital bits that can get shot off the longer you'll last
I wonder why the extra engines went with the hull unless they were added to off set the armor and since the armor is no longer needed you don't need the engines but still wondering if you would lose mobility or speed because of the lack of engines
A ship, within a ship....... was first seen In a legends book where and x wing piloted by luke used the same trick. Cant remember the name of the book though. I do remember it was used to avoid a tractor beam
I assumed it was for if you get boarded by other pirates, as we saw they have claw like clamps to lock onto the ship before boarding so being able to remove that outer layer and escape seems expensive yes but in the right situation (a massive haul from at-attin) it would be an essential failsafe
I thought the outer shell thing of the ship was quite clever. Imagine it being in a tractor beam situation, the tractor beam unknowingly pulls the shell instead of the real thing, giving the pilot enough time to quickly escape via lightspeed.
I think it was pretty clear in the last episode when the pirate lord said he up armored his ship for the final mission. That was all the stuff he added falling off, it was never original to the ship.
I'm thinking that the "armour" was mostly cosmetic and was used because, for some reason, the actual ship would be readily recognizable by a large number of people. It also looks like when they shed the armour, a couple more turrets were revealed.
I think "explosive bolts," which are a thing in real life, wouldn't be that expensive. I think the wires necessary to link them all together would be more expensive.
You used the Armored Shell as a decoy and they believed that's all whats left of your ship after you were able to break line of sight and they would see what's left of your ships Armor Shell would look like a destroyed remains
Plus, this is something I’ve just thought of when you have a image that is well known such as the Onyx ship and it’s lighter form shiny or form that’s a little more dignified and elegant. You would never think is a pirate ship is not well known it does pay tolay down the credits to basically have someone weld down your ship with scrap metal to make it more practical and a lot bigger so that way when you are caught, people aren’t looking for your new shiny or lighter vehicle they think your other vehicle was destroyed
"Why design a ship to do this" Before i watch the video i'll just say this.. The old Captain said his ship had been armord and was ready for the trip to Att-Attin.. im assuming thats what this is, the extra armor he put on Now on to the video
ERA, Explosive Reactive Armor, isn't a sequential system. It's a bunch of individual panels, designed to explode outwards without sympathetic detonation of neighboring panels. What you're thinking, or at least what it sounds like you're thinking, is demolition charges, which are run in sequence with certain charges going first, with others detonating afterwards. The footage shown from Skeleton Crew would have been designed with the outward effect of a reactive armor panel, but like a demolition charge to remove a section of false hull structure. Still a cool effect on the show, no matter what it was patterned from.
the main reason i could see for needing this is the ship looks completely different in the armor then out of the armor so if you get to much attention on you waring the armor you can dich the armor and now your ship looks completely different so loses the attention you gained
“There’s something called Pennsylvania in America”… 😝. There’s some other states that could fill that role as well. Fantastic🧟♀️. Check out the show “Street Outlaws” and the Farm Truck.
The Onyx Cinder has no teeth. It's guns don't work. Remember that Rebels episode where they find the old battle droids and their blasters can't do any harm because those droids have old blasters that are under charged? Well how long was the Cinder underground? Centuries at least. I don't think that trash droid was well armored, I think the blaster turrets can't do squat. In episode 3, Wym scored a lucky shot on that x-wing right between the engines and the cockpit. If those blaster cannons were working properly, that shot should have been fatal.
Good points but I’d also like to point out dropping that armor has got mean dropping a huge amount of mass, therefore making the ship more maneuverable and better able to accelerate. It’s actually a pretty great feature to have as a last ditch measure.
Nice vide Allan . Keep bringing us this great SW content . Hard to find folks whi can appreciate SW the way we do .. Thanks . Lookong forward to next vid .
I think this is actually a very good design for pirates. This is a shell of modyfied stuff, other engines, weapons, armour. If you need to lose weight, you lose the shell. If you need to run from anybody, you change your appearence. If you get caught by someone or something, you lose the shell like in the show. It's really cool to see this type of technology being explored. I think skelleton crew is one of the best star wars shows ever, top 5 probably
Yo i hope this comment reach you,the big point here is> the design is almost the same of the Eu lore, Sith mandalorian interceptor courier of the military aliance in the time of Darth revan,most military ships from that era where banned in modern republic era,this is in various Eu books,comics,and videogames,so it makes sence that the pirate hid the true form of the ship with aditional cargo holds,canons an those extra pair of trusters for hvy lifting,all star wars design pas a form of conceptual art based on previous designs of the universe an in sync with the lore,nothing is random! when i saw the episode i almost fell of my chair,like me and many old eu lore people,when i saw the design i was noo wayyy a mando sith ship!!!! and it all makes sence.
Something that I haven't seen mentioned in the comments is that the Hull Detonation was used within gravity- in the vacuum of space, that armor plating would most likely have shot off similar to how a ship detonates. It loses two full engines, and part of the rear two; timed right, it could have functioned as countermeasure chaff and decoy wreckage to make an opponent think the ship was destroyed, leaving the Onyx Cinder to escape with ease into FTL.
I just figured it was a "costume change" for the ship so when you've just robbed a planet sized bank and everyone is looking for your ship you jettison the hull and you have a brand new ship no one is looking for and you're free to disappear.
This could possibly be another reason, honestly
Works for me !
I love this theory!
That seems very useful for pirates, how many movies/shows have we seen where ditch one vehicle for another in escaping? Hell in the book/show Expanse the Rocinante was given a fake hull to make it look like a tanker freighter, popping the hull off to drastically change your ship's look is a good way to get away.
I could see multiple reasons applying
Two other reasons to have armor like this, are disguise and deception. You basically have a truck that turns into a race car here. Your enemies will be looking for a bulky ship while you cruise around in a sleek racing rocket. In a battle, you can explode the armor in a well-timed way and make it look like you were destroyed.
Great thinking
I like this a lot. It makes so much more sense that it could have multiple potential uses to justify such a big modification.
getting rid of the bow thrusters and engaging the secondary aft thrusters also has the benifit of changing the drive signature.
Anyone else think that microphone needs a curcumcision ?
Rocinante gas hauler.
What's funny is that the ship got caught by a crab and it pulled it's own crab technique by detaching a "limb" to save the rest. Ironic
That giant trash crab made me think of Tamatoa
They should have sacrificed their dead weight (Wim and Neel) to the Crab...
it wasn't a crab it was a metal recycler machine
@@SomeTheorist9090 No. Neel must be protected at all costs. Wim I can see getting sacrificed however.
@@Tuttomenui I was referring to the giant momma trash crab. She reminds me of Tamatoa.
In his log holo, Tak Renard mentioned that he added armor to the Onyx as part of his preparation for going to At Attin. I'm pretty sure he expected heavy defenses so he up armored his ship to be able to take heavier hits.
The hull demolition sequence I imagine was added in case the need arose to ditch the armor in a hurry (like what happened in this episode). Although I imagined Tak thought he would need to ditch the armor in space, not on the ground to escape a trash incinerator.
The added armor would ALSO explain why nobody recognized the ship as the Onyx Cinder... which is something I just realized. They probably knew it as the sleek ship we finally get to see, so it must have been unrecognizable
That armour shell looked incredibly thick, so it had to weigh a hellava lot. Blowing off the armour shell is going to drop a huge amount of weight, letting you run like hell if things go sideways
@@weldonwin The armored shell also included the front pair of tilt engines which surprised me. Sure, they help with the added weight from the armor, but I would have expected something as complex as tilt mounted engines to be part of the original ship.
I think that being able to jettison the armor after it’s served it’s purpose is the most likely reason, as without a way to actually remove it it could considerably slow it down
Plus that armor allowed the Onyx to crash into At Attin with relatively no damage 👌
Also that ship definitely faster now
One other use for shedding the hull armor: the ship is now unrecognizable to anyone who has only seen it in its armored configuration
And none of the pirates recognized it *with* the extra armor. I bet they will now.
But .. the ships sensors would know the difference
@@oscar.p3214 I mean the armor looks heavy, you'd imagine it's the equivalent of 'lead lined' to confuse / prevent deep sensor scans?
@oscar.p3214 maybe? It's hard to say with sensors in Star Wars. In Trek, yeah, they paint the idea that senors can pick up nose hairs (when it fits the plot), but remember, the Empire had to board the Millenium Falcon with mobile scanners to find the passengers and crew hiding under a thin deck plate. It could also depend on the composition of the armored layer. It is a point worth considering, though
This scene caught me by surprise and loved it, by far one of the coolest visuals SW has done recently
The Rebels would be considered privateriars . They did piracy for political military reasons
It was one of my big "no way!" moments for the series. I grinned from ear to ear.
completely agree!
I thought it was sick as hell. And to me the ship went from a very classic imperial era industrial space ship like an x-wing or the Falcon to something more sleek and old republic-esque that we see in the prequels.
They didn't design the ship to hull detonate, it was an add on by the Pirate Captain, he says so himself in the holo recording. And you add the detonation so you can quickly get rid of weight/mass so you can get away, or change your ship's appearance and hide, really simple.
So basically it's like a new stealth mode for the ship
Another idea why there was a fake hull: A disguise. The sleek ship may be the true Onyx Cinder that everyone can recognize (back then), but with the extra hull, a pirate can explore for the ultimate treasure without bringing too much attention to himself.
Or even vice versa, people knew the bulkier version, but not the sleeker version
@@jawajuice31 I think more likely the former, because Jod seemed to recognize it when they escaped the prison. And he didn't seem happy to be flying towards it.
Maybe Jod was one of the few people that knew it design was changed. I think that’s also the reason why no one seemingly realized the Onyx Cinder at first in Port Borgo. It’s a really smart move.
@simeonwiegrink8991 Also possible, since Jod does seem to know a LOT about the original Captain.
...we also haven't SEEN the original captain's face directly. The hologram was blurred out around the face. It's possible Jod actually is the captain and the ship went to At Attin without him because of the mutinous crew.
@@NikkiTheOtter Maybe….but wouldn’t that be a problem time-wise? 🥹 Bc like it seemed to me that the Onyx Cinder was buried a long time ago before the kids found it. I even would say 100 Years or more.
I knew somehow that Hull Demolition Sequence button would be hit at some point in an episode. The Onyx Cinder sheds the hull armour and the forward VTOL engines for a sleeker style appearance reminiscent of the Normandy. A true Blockade Runner or Corsair.
Neil and KB are becoming my favourite members of the crew. I relate to Neil’s more cautious side and aversion to war and conflict. Kinda relate with KB and her challenges with the cybernetics and how vulnerable they are to corrosion. Can’t wait to watch the final two episodes next week!
"Wim belongs in the turret because that's the only place everyone else is safe from him." I laughed out loud and badly startled the cat.
I think the hull armour was installed specifically for the raid on At Aten. Whatever those satililles are probably have serious firepower, so the Onyx Cinder probably needed some extra beef to survive long enough to land. After that, it could dump the extra bulk and make a quick getaway.
Or if there's a tractor beam to capture invading ships.
@sandal_thong8631 yup. All those reasons.
Historically pirates, privateers and the occasional naval captain tended to at times disguise their vessels to mimic a allied ship for the enemy to target, a easy prey such as a whaler ship or merchant ship, or a trading vessel, hiding its identity until they are able to attack their prey or avoid detection to smuggle or sneak out of areas.
Onyx Cinder follows this tradition.
Surface commerce raiders as late as WW1 did something similar, too. They'd add in entire fake funnels to make themselves look like one vessel or another. Up-close the disguise wouldn't fool anyone, but at the distances you actually tend to see other ships at sea from, they worked *incredibly* well.
This will be a bit of a long comment but I needed to say it,
I deal with alot of both physical and mental disabilities, I think we can all agree over the past year the internet had gotten more and more negative. Due to my physical disabilities I spend alot of time staying in bed unable to do much else. When I'm laying in bed I usually scroll the internet and seeing nothing but negativity affects my mental health alot, I only just discovered this channel yesterday and I love it gen tech seems to stay positive and doesn't sit and complain and whine about everything. So therefore I would like to thank generation tech for always staying positive and making very entertaining videos.
Welcome to the family!
Generation Tech truly is a breath of fresh air when it comes to Starwars content
thanks man your comment made my day :) hope you're doing well
❤❤❤
Welcome to the club!
Cool idea for possibly escaping a tractor beam as well. Or to counter being boarded. (Both of which you covered as I was writing this, nice!)
Yep, I mentioned the tractor beam thing after reading a few comments, then it came up in in the video. D’oh!
IIRC Luke used a similar trick to escape the Chimaera in The Last Command novel(?). Basically, blew up a container in which his X-Wing was hidden, with the debris confusing or disrupting the tractor beam lock, allowing him to escape.
That's right. He was in a freight large enough to hide his X Wing in the cargo hold and the outer ship was designed to blow apart in a way that allowed him to escape in his X wing while the remains of the freighter disrupted the tractor beam.
In the earlier novel Heir to the Empire he'd used a trick with his Hyper Drive to get the Star Destroyer to lock on to a proton torpedo he'd launched. Unfortunately the technique he used blew the Hyper Drive and left him stranded in deep space until he was rescued by Talon Karde and Mara Jade.
Even though they aren't cannon and Zahn's understanding of the Force and the Clone Wars was way off when he wrote them they are still some of the finest Star Wars ever put on paper IMO. They were extremely well written and more than anything I wish they could have brought Mara Jade into the cannon. She was such a fascinating character to me.
Old tricks are the best tricks.
Keep on canonizing Legends!
It's much better than the current "canon".
@@ashleighelizabeth5916 I adore Mara Jade - she's one of my favourite Legends characters, alongside Grand Admiral Thrawn. But considering what a mess Filoni has made of Thrawn, I hate to say it, but I hope Mara stays only in Legends.
It could also be a way of changing your ship's physical identity to evade pursuit. It's also really cool that it had extra engines to support the extra mass.
As you said...It's also a metaphor for this episode that the kids become one and shed their past and become something new.
I honestly like the junky looking version of the ship more, it has more personality to it than a sleek looking pirate ship
It is a neat ship either way. But yea the more sleek ship doesn’t quite have the character as the pre-hull-demolition ship.
Well they told us in episode 5. The old captain put extra armor on for the trip to At-Attin.
They just shed the armor. I imagine for a quick escape.
The set up was really solid for this twist
Well, you don’t need to fix that armor by explosive bolts if it’s purely for armor’s sake. In fact, if that were the only purpose, you’d probably use standard connectors to fix the armor to your hull
@@GGBlaster Yeah, but where's the fun in that? No style. No flair. No boom.
They did loose some engines though right?
@@kinglegoiii they lost the two bow thrusters and a lot of mass forward, and gained the use of the 4 aft secondary thrusters that were concealed by the armor...which would make sense too, if someone shot the "main engines" thinking to disable, they could blow the tail section and escape on the auxiliary engines!
I was also thinking that the extra armor alows them to weather possible defenses, swope in and grab the loot and then remove the heavy armor for a quicker get away
Good points about the mynocks and tractor beams. I figured it was either to disguise the ship or maybe to shed some weight if they ever had to make a quick getaway. Whatever its original purpose was that was a pretty cool use of it lol
I was first reminded of Kir Kanos' ship from the Crimson empire comics, when at the end of the first series, the cargo ship's exterior splits into two and a Skipray Blastboat emerges from inside.
Can't wait for the Lego version of this
same 😂
I hope someone is able to build the new version from the original Lego model. I will check rebrickable from time to time. But first have to buy current Lego model 😅
@@taxi9554 Oh that be so awesome
0:27 lol my cousin was just talking "back in the day" about putting a V12 in a Ford Pinto wagon. In NE Ohio though, so not quite Pennsylvania. Anyway, thanks, I feel seen. Uncomfortably so.
This show is so good i loved the sequence, and it just adds to wanting to know more about the ship and its history.
It might have something to do specifically with the defenses of at atten. Tak might have known he needed defense to get in but speed to get out.
Exactly what I'm thinking. And we know there is at least one big cannon on the school, so probably more. Plus, the "barrier"…
The Onyx Cinder seems like an ancient Mandalorian design
This was a very Gundam Alex moment. I wouldn't be surprised if it is significantly faster and more maneuverable without the armor plating as well.
Obviously faster and more agile.
Note that it ditched the two forward engines along with the armor. It needed the extra thrust to cope with the extra weight.
See, I was thinking something on the lines of the Full Armor Gundam Thunderbolt
I was thinking gundam virtue purging it's armour to become the nadleeh is more fitting
The Kamen Rider fan in me expected to hear a loud "CAST OFF" shouting over the intercom when they pressed the button to shed the armor.
When I saw the scene, I immediately saw it as a lizard shedding its skin. The only problem now, is that it’s now more vulnerable to ‘predators’.
first thing i thought of was tractor beams, but theres so many use cases. add the symbolism and this was a great plot element, spectacular and thematic.
I think the armor was important for getting through the barrier above At Attin. The barrier is both a cloak and a physical shield, I think. And the kids almost seemed afraid they’d hit it when the ship was taking off.
Damn. I was just starting to write a comment about the Tantive IV and overloading the lock on a tractor beam. Alan, you're as good as ever...
Disguise too. But yeah, it was definitely a metaphor more than anything practical - emerging from the cocoon - the kids had neither Jod nor '33 and had to take it upon themselves.
I don’t think it was about disguise & deception. Captain Rennod said in his log entry it was ARMOR.
I think he was just prepared to shoot his way out after making his heist. Changing its appearance to fool anyone giving chase as well as likely being FASTER & MORE MANEUVERABLE was just additional bonuses to jettisoning the outer shell.
I can’t find the exact number (it’s sort of CLASSIFIED) but more than one source said that MOST of the weight of a 65-ton American M1A1 Abrams tank is from the armor.
More like punching his way in TO the heist. I think he needed the armor due to the Chekov's Cannon we saw in ep.4. And maybe the barrier satellites are also armed.
I love the detail about Wim, he is a danger to everyone, if you look at the scene the boy hits the antenna and you can see a bright red dot where he did.
It was an awesome scene! That was sort of a Q-Ship, like Luthen"s ship, though the Fondor Hullcraft fits that description even better. Like someone else commented, this would be a great getaway tactic, sort of like driving into a car wash, wash away the paint and drive off while the cops look for the same car but in some garish color.
The Onyx Cinder with this explosive hull demolition is almost a Q-ship design. Hidden thrusters, perhaps hidden weapons, and a whole ne look.
Now we know why it used VTOL thrusters instead of repulsorlifts; the latter were covered on the lower hull by the false/extra hull. They would've pushed against it instead of the ground, at least as Legends describes them working.
Also, without the engines at all four corners for landing and propulsion, it now has only two movable engines at the back, so it must have gravity repulsors to keep the front from dipping down when landing.
Or REALLY strong Gyroscopes
@@jebkerman5422@jebkerman5422 Allen mentioned in a previous video on the ship that it was old and didn't use repulsors but instead used the four pairs of engines at each corner to lift the spacecraft off the ground and then rotate them for power (forward) flight and that it was probably constructed before repulsors were invented. If Strong Gyros were installed, the front engines would still be unnecessary. It's a conundrum.
@@CATDRL2 firstly with all the armor the ship is much heavier. It doesn't matter if you can keep the ship stable if you don't have enough to overcome the planets gravity.
Secondly, it never hurts to have redundent systems in case some of them fail or are destroyed. Especially for a combat-vessel.
@@jebkerman5422 I agree; it's just that Allen presupposed the ship did not have repulsors. I believe it did have them.
The 4 main engines in the rear still pivot along with the wings. So the theory that the ship predates repulsorlift technology still holds *for now*.
There's significantly less weight in the front now, that's for sure.
I just guessed that Tac rennod modified a luxury star cruiser into an armored pirate ship and had the hull detonation as a backup in case of a mutiny or in case of being captured but the new ship looks cool 😎
That has to be one of the best features I've seen, on par with the Halcyon Class's honeycomb structure.
oh yeah that was sick i remember reading the books
@@GenerationTech It's also critical for the first game, that structure is why the Pillar of Autumn was able to land at all.
1977 Jerrai Custom Wagoneer, a jeep with a jaguar engine. Owned by Bill Harrah. On display at the Reno Automobile Museum. So crazy engines in unassuming cars happens everywhere in the US ;).
The ship is a grenade with an "escape clause" to avoid mutual destruction. The last resort is an ISD crippler or killer. When you think about it, the vulnerable section of an ISD is the hanger bay. A fragmentation weapon detonating there could snap an ISD. Wouldn't that be a sight.
I think the large cannon that is likely sitting atop one of the buildings in At Attin ala the one on the mirror planet will play a significant role in the final defense as well. I don't think they showed us that for no reason. Just a thought.
Aye it would stand to reason that all the major buildings on At Attin have these hidden away on the rooftops.
The building they were in was a school of all things so all the Govt buildings definitely are gonna be as armed or even more so. We're probably gonna end up seeing the Pirate fleet getting shredded pretty badly in the finale by them before they get to ground and the security droids aren't as equipped to deal with them.
The only reason that makes sense to eject your armour mid flight (apart from the incredibly niche case of avoiding being dragged in by a Star Destroyer) would be if you factor in how the weight of said armour might slow your acceleration. Essentially so you can out-run an attacker.
Rule of cool tbh and it was cool
In SW stories rule of cool should be prioritized.
@rojaws1183 Agreed
@@Anakin_Skywalker-vu6tv agreed. It was very cool
It’s like an ERA, external boosters and weapons package in one. Makes sense for Star Wars ships cause they’re basically flying tanks by real life standards.
The kids are brilliant. KB is my girl!
It is a strategy that was used a few times in the Legends books. Have a freighter full of fighters make its way inside of an enemies defensive line around a world, then have the freighter send out a distress call and then explode, but a squadron of ties boil out of the remains and open a hole for the ISD and support ships coming out of Hyperspace.
On one occasion I can think of it was used to allow the ships to escape a tractor beam.
Great episode. And showing both the ships and the kids coming out of their cocoons... in a sense.
A couple of notes:
1 - The Engine output change from yellow on the "Junker" to Blue on the sleek design. This seems to indicate that the Onyx CInder has much better engines as well. It even had junk covering the engines up.
2 - The Sleek ship DOES NOT fit inside the junker hull. This is a pretty much all in the rear section. The Junker hull tappers right past the rear turret. But The sleek hull extends doesn't tapper into a thin edge at all. So there should NOT be room for those four small engines.
It is the right thing to do, Cap'n!
My initial take was that it's a heavy armor upgrade with 2 extra engines to compensate for the added mass. Drop it to become more svelte or if the outer shell is damaged beyond usefulness
It’s like when trying to catch a thief by holding on to his jacket and he squirms out of it leaving you empty handed
People need to go back to Episode 1 and read the text before the action:
“These PIRATES boldly brand their armored hulls as a sign to all ships. Surrender or die…”
The Onxy Cinder simply just has an armored hull as a way to show others to back off.
The branding is the black stripes on all the ships and the armor on the other pirate ships we've seen isn't as thick
Seeing how it was stated the armor was installed for the mission, it was needed to raid at attin. Having extra weight makes a ship slower both in and out of atmosphere, and being able to remove it quickly can make for a hastier escape. The scene takes away from that, removing the armor in atmosphere makes it look more like shedding old skin and adds to the scene but from the information given it's safe to say the armor was disposable and intended to temporarily protect the ship during the mission.
The Onyx Cinder seems like an ancient Mandalorian design
Another reason is from Legends.
In the OG Thrawn Trilogy while looking for the Cloning Vats NR intel had Luke flying around in a ship.
The Chimera herself found Luke during this and hook his ship in a Tractor beam.
Right as it seem Luke was going to be reel in, He had Artoo fire the Detonators and basically what happened to the Onyx Cinder happened but with Lukes X-wing blasting out and jumping to hyperspace while the husk slamed into one of the ISD tractor arrays taking it out.
I'm thinking that big gun they showed Neil on the school on At Achron was a foreshadowing of a similar big gun on the school on At Atton and neil will use it against the pirates.
I imagine it was in case anyone was towing the ship or hooking in to board the ship, he could get away from them?
I think it was also a secondary option of a mutiny at the pirate cove the ships there were chained so they couldn't escape. So being able to shed that skin and blast all the other ships in radius was a huge tactical advantage lol
What I love about the hull detonation is that it gives us insight into what Tak Reno’s was like.
I view the armor less as an advantage, and more as a deception. It’s ugly and heavy. This makes the ship appear and run like a heap of junk, when in actuality it is top class.
This allows the ship to remain inconspicuous, while also giving a surprise advantage in battle.
What’s even more telling is how delightfully deceptive “emergency hull demolition sequence” is. Clearly Renod did not want his crew to know the true capabilities of the ship they were on.
You just described a scene in Han Solo At Stars' End. They hid the Falcon inside a grain barge that was supposed to be a droid driven vehicle that was programmed to pick up grain on one planet and deliver it elsewhere. They were sneaking on to an Agricultrure planet that had a major Data Center run by the Corporate Sector Authority.
Te CSA was the big bad for the first teo oarts of that trilogy since it was a prequel and Brian Daley did not have access to use the Empire as the villian.
People around the CSA were disappearing, and Han needed the Falcon fixed and permits to operate in CSA space. So he struck a deal with a tech group whose leader was disappeared, so he got pulled into the mission to keep the Falcon in business. They got the data, but things went wrong, so they had to get past a captial ship in orbit. Han dumped the grain to disrupt the capital ship's sensors and tractor beam emittors and then blew the Falcon out of the barge to have it hit the capital ship following it.
A corporation building a private prison to imprison political prisoners who opposed the Empire and, more importantly, a corporation. Yeah, Star Wars was never political in the old days.
I would love for the CSA to become canonized. They were the first thing I thought of when I saw the Mining Guild in Rebels. The Imperial prison colony in Andor also gave off CSA vibes.
@brianwhedon8442 Same, especially Andor. I got my older son to read the trilogy after that. They are quick reads, and Daley had some interesting ideas. The idea of Xim's vault and At-Attan share some similarities.
@@docweidner Oh you're right! It's been over 25 some years since I read the books; I still own the gaming sourcebook. Since Skeleton Crew started, I've seen people point out there's some similarities to Xim the Despot but I forgot about his vault.
Disney has a good opportunity here to make the CSA a great "bad guy" for the Skeleton Crew series. It's still too early for the First Order, and its not just a continuation of the "evil Empire" that's at war with the New Republic (they're neutral when it comes to galactic politics). And with our current geopolitical climate, its an antagonist a lot of fans could understand
The debris from the hall detention could also act as a kind of chaff or flare that would mess with enemy radar and other targeting systems when the Onyx Cinder wants to make a jump.
Can you track a ship’s hyper space jump if you don’t know what coordinates they’re using?
I remember in early Robocraft the thing to do was layer cheap blocks around everything. The most non vital bits that can get shot off the longer you'll last
I wonder why the extra engines went with the hull unless they were added to off set the armor and since the armor is no longer needed you don't need the engines but still wondering if you would lose mobility or speed because of the lack of engines
A ship, within a ship....... was first seen In a legends book where and x wing piloted by luke used the same trick. Cant remember the name of the book though. I do remember it was used to avoid a tractor beam
I assumed it was for if you get boarded by other pirates, as we saw they have claw like clamps to lock onto the ship before boarding so being able to remove that outer layer and escape seems expensive yes but in the right situation (a massive haul from at-attin) it would be an essential failsafe
One of the coolest moments SW has ever put out. Such an awesome ship trick!!!
I thought the outer shell thing of the ship was quite clever. Imagine it being in a tractor beam situation, the tractor beam unknowingly pulls the shell instead of the real thing, giving the pilot enough time to quickly escape via lightspeed.
My theory was that it was made to repel attackers on the outer hull, or break away from airlock gangways.
That 🎤 is something else. It cracks me up.
This whole episode is a character growth episode. It seems quite natural that the Onyx Cinder also changed for the better
It’s also a good way to change the appearance of the ship in case the authorities are hot on your trail.
The people of At Atton keep mentioning a barrier. Perhaps the armor was meant for that.
I think it was pretty clear in the last episode when the pirate lord said he up armored his ship for the final mission. That was all the stuff he added falling off, it was never original to the ship.
I'm thinking that the "armour" was mostly cosmetic and was used because, for some reason, the actual ship would be readily recognizable by a large number of people. It also looks like when they shed the armour, a couple more turrets were revealed.
Look when the rebellion steals a ship it's called borrowing with enthusiasm
Top notch Pennsylvania joke Allan! We do get a lil wild out here in the sticks.
Yes!!! THE NORMANDY! thanks for curing the itch I had about where I thought I'd seen this design before lol
Also the Valkyrie from Titan A.E.
I think "explosive bolts," which are a thing in real life, wouldn't be that expensive.
I think the wires necessary to link them all together would be more expensive.
In the end of the last episode I legitimately thought that the button they pressed was just a bunch of claymores strapped to the outside of the ship
You used the Armored Shell as a decoy and they believed that's all whats left of your ship after you were able to break line of sight and they would see what's left of your ships Armor Shell would look like a destroyed remains
"We have you now, Tak Rennod."
"HA! You have not seen my final form!!!" **HITS HULL DEMOLITION**
I think they needed the exterior add on hull to get through the barrier to at-attin. Probably done by the pirates on purpose.
Camouflage, people should not recognise it as the Onyx Cinder... Or LEGO wants to sell more Ships after Christmas 😂
Thankfully they didn't give this to Lego. Nerdist used to do full Lego reveals.
when the the outside fell off, i was thinking...that's exactly what a paranoid pirate would do. lol
Plus, this is something I’ve just thought of when you have a image that is well known such as the Onyx ship and it’s lighter form shiny or form that’s a little more dignified and elegant. You would never think is a pirate ship is not well known it does pay tolay down the credits to basically have someone weld down your ship with scrap metal to make it more practical and a lot bigger so that way when you are caught, people aren’t looking for your new shiny or lighter vehicle they think your other vehicle was destroyed
"Why design a ship to do this"
Before i watch the video i'll just say this.. The old Captain said his ship had been armord and was ready for the trip to Att-Attin.. im assuming thats what this is, the extra armor he put on
Now on to the video
ERA, Explosive Reactive Armor, isn't a sequential system. It's a bunch of individual panels, designed to explode outwards without sympathetic detonation of neighboring panels.
What you're thinking, or at least what it sounds like you're thinking, is demolition charges, which are run in sequence with certain charges going first, with others detonating afterwards. The footage shown from Skeleton Crew would have been designed with the outward effect of a reactive armor panel, but like a demolition charge to remove a section of false hull structure.
Still a cool effect on the show, no matter what it was patterned from.
What a great episode and a cool ship
Or it was just a way to put in an action sequence to suit the tension they wanted to portray or just a disguise.
the main reason i could see for needing this is the ship looks completely different in the armor then out of the armor so if you get to much attention on you waring the armor you can dich the armor and now your ship looks completely different so loses the attention you gained
Best Star Wars in a long time.
“There’s something called Pennsylvania in America”… 😝. There’s some other states that could fill that role as well. Fantastic🧟♀️. Check out the show “Street Outlaws” and the Farm Truck.
The Onyx Cinder has no teeth. It's guns don't work. Remember that Rebels episode where they find the old battle droids and their blasters can't do any harm because those droids have old blasters that are under charged? Well how long was the Cinder underground? Centuries at least.
I don't think that trash droid was well armored, I think the blaster turrets can't do squat. In episode 3, Wym scored a lucky shot on that x-wing right between the engines and the cockpit. If those blaster cannons were working properly, that shot should have been fatal.
Good points but I’d also like to point out dropping that armor has got mean dropping a huge amount of mass, therefore making the ship more maneuverable and better able to accelerate. It’s actually a pretty great feature to have as a last ditch measure.
What if Tak was a rogue Jedi and Jod was his Padawan 🤔
Nice vide Allan . Keep bringing us this great SW content . Hard to find folks whi can appreciate SW the way we do ..
Thanks . Lookong forward to next vid .
I think this is actually a very good design for pirates. This is a shell of modyfied stuff, other engines, weapons, armour. If you need to lose weight, you lose the shell. If you need to run from anybody, you change your appearence. If you get caught by someone or something, you lose the shell like in the show. It's really cool to see this type of technology being explored. I think skelleton crew is one of the best star wars shows ever, top 5 probably
Yo i hope this comment reach you,the big point here is> the design is almost the same of the Eu lore, Sith mandalorian interceptor courier of the military aliance in the time of Darth revan,most military ships from that era where banned in modern republic era,this is in various Eu books,comics,and videogames,so it makes sence that the pirate hid the true form of the ship with aditional cargo holds,canons an those extra pair of trusters for hvy lifting,all star wars design pas a form of conceptual art based on previous designs of the universe an in sync with the lore,nothing is random! when i saw the episode i almost fell of my chair,like me and many old eu lore people,when i saw the design i was noo wayyy a mando sith ship!!!! and it all makes sence.
Something that I haven't seen mentioned in the comments is that the Hull Detonation was used within gravity- in the vacuum of space, that armor plating would most likely have shot off similar to how a ship detonates.
It loses two full engines, and part of the rear two; timed right, it could have functioned as countermeasure chaff and decoy wreckage to make an opponent think the ship was destroyed, leaving the Onyx Cinder to escape with ease into FTL.