I don't know why, but I like that Y-wing..

I like it too. I loved the mini-rigs when I was a kid too. The amount of negativity being spewed against a toy line is just depressing. Lighten the **** up you grumpy old bastards. Jeebus.

Jim

Scout bomber makes sense. Bombers often have long duration, and so are easily adapted to patrol roles. Think the PBY Catalina or P3 Orion.

So you're out on a long run, scouting out enemy forces and positions, and you, what, find a secret base and think "Well, I might as well blow this up on my own while I'm out here."

Exactly. They're not used to bomb strategic targets, such as a B2 or B52 would, but they go out and see what's out there and blow up targets of opportunity. It severely restricts enemy freedom of movement, because everything has to move in a battle group or take the risk that it gets cherry picked.

The P8 Poseidon is based off a freaking passenger jet, but you know, naval vessels don't really care what kind of plane launched an antiship missile when the missile is on the way.

This:

I had most of these as a kid. No one was calling for the shark jump back then. Rather silly to try an pick something to death because you don't agree with it.

Dang, you beat me to it! I agree -- no sense hating on the toys. My brother and I had a bunch of these, and only when we were older did we question their screenworthiness. We loved all of this when we were kids. Why do we think we have the right to be snobs about it now?

I think tossing the EU canon sucks, but I love a good Star Wars story, so I let it go. We all ought to do the same.

These have never had an impact on anything. Nobody came up and said, "This is the new Y-Wing".

Why would anybody ever do that

The two Imperial units in the dark bluish grey plastic are quite stylish and I could see them finding a place in the Star Wars Universe. I actually owned the little claw-bot vehicle as a kid and loved it. I always wanted the other micro-fighter one but never got it.

The white ones are all pretty lame though... Especially the one with the roller wheels. Even as a kid, I thought that one was just painfully silly.

Many toy companies come up with a small dumb looking vehicle for kids. Trust me, there are many many stupid looking vehicles in the Movie/TV section in toys. I am a father and I makes me cringe.

But this does not make anything canon, just a dumb looking toy.

for instance, this

didn't stop it from showing up in Rebels, 35 years after it came out.

I got this for my 11th birthday - and thought it would look WAY cooler if I melted holes in it with a soldering iron

Wtf, is a scout bomber? That's, like, an oxymoron!

Scout bomber makes sense. Bombers often have long duration, and so are easily adapted to patrol roles. Think the PBY Catalina or P3 Orion.

Wtf, is a scout bomber? That's, like, an oxymoron!

Actually it isn't. During WW2 the US Navy's primary carrier based bomber was the SBD Dauntless. The SBD stands for Scout Bomber, Dive. The Dauntless was used for scouting ahead of the fleet and, once the enemy was spotted, used to attack as a dive bomber.

90% there. The D actually stands for Douglass, the manufacturer of the Dauntless. F stood for Grumman, U for Vought, C for Curtiss, and so on. So SB2C would have been Scout Bomber, Curtiss Type 2, and F6F-3 would be Fighter, Grumman Type 6, Version 3. The Navy used this method for type designation until the 50s, when they switched to the current method.

The PBY and P-3 are Patrol Bombers, not Scout Bombers. The difference is in range and loiter time, PBs having much higher numbers for both.

Scout bomber makes sense. Bombers often have long duration, and so are easily adapted to patrol roles. Think the PBY Catalina or P3 Orion.

So you're out on a long run, scouting out enemy forces and positions, and you, what, find a secret base and think "Well, I might as well blow this up on my own while I'm out here."

As opposed to gambling that the enemy will still be at that secret base when the other bombers show up hours/days later? Can you guarentee that your scout won't be seen?

The Rebels spotted the Imperial probe droid on Hoth. It gave them advance warning that the Imperials had discovered them, which is what enabled them mobilize and depart so quickly. Had the Imperials sent something with bombing capabilities, they could have taken out the Shield Generators ahead of the rest of the Imperial fleet's arrival and crippled the Rebellion right then and there.

Well I remember owning this and it never made canon.

I had one of those!

As opposed to gambling that the enemy will still be at that secret base when the other bombers show up hours/days later? Can you guarentee that your scout won't be seen?

If the scout actually does his job, in the ship specifically designed for that purpose, then yes.

I mean, you can't guarantee anything. You can't guarantee that the bomber will actually hit his target with his bombs. But that's his job, and that's what his ship is designed to do.

Seems to me like a Scout Bomber would be a ship that would have to have been designed for two completely opposite tasks, and thus, is probably terrible at both of them.

As opposed to gambling that the enemy will still be at that secret base when the other bombers show up hours/days later? Can you guarentee that your scout won't be seen?

If the scout actually does his job, in the ship specifically designed for that purpose, then yes.

I mean, you can't guarantee anything. You can't guarantee that the bomber will actually hit his target with his bombs. But that's his job, and that's what his ship is designed to do.

Seems to me like a Scout Bomber would be a ship that would have to have been designed for two completely opposite tasks, and thus, is probably terrible at both of them.

The SBD would like a word or two with you.

As opposed to gambling that the enemy will still be at that secret base when the other bombers show up hours/days later? Can you guarentee that your scout won't be seen?

If the scout actually does his job, in the ship specifically designed for that purpose, then yes.

I mean, you can't guarantee anything. You can't guarantee that the bomber will actually hit his target with his bombs. But that's his job, and that's what his ship is designed to do.

Seems to me like a Scout Bomber would be a ship that would have to have been designed for two completely opposite tasks, and thus, is probably terrible at both of them.

You can think that, but you have been provided with real-world examples of very successful planes that perform scout/patrol duties and we're also armed with missiles/bombs to attack found targets.

As opposed to gambling that the enemy will still be at that secret base when the other bombers show up hours/days later? Can you guarentee that your scout won't be seen?

If the scout actually does his job, in the ship specifically designed for that purpose, then yes.

I mean, you can't guarantee anything. You can't guarantee that the bomber will actually hit his target with his bombs. But that's his job, and that's what his ship is designed to do.

Seems to me like a Scout Bomber would be a ship that would have to have been designed for two completely opposite tasks, and thus, is probably terrible at both of them.

Heck, one of the big reasons behind the Catalina flying boat was that it could be on station in calm waters before taking off and finding shipping to bomb with no support from a fleet or airfield until it needed to resupply. Even some of the first planes during WWI dropped hand grenades and crude bombs while they were scouting out enemy lines.

Well I remember owning this and it never made canon.

If you fiddled with the proportions and stuff to de-toy-ify it that wouldn't look bad at all.

Of course, it is apparently named the "music television 7", which seems an odd name for a sci fi snowmobile.

Edit: Or maybe it's a paint gun for spraying road lines?

The two Imperial units in the dark bluish grey plastic are quite stylish and I could see them finding a place in the Star Wars Universe. I actually owned the little claw-bot vehicle as a kid and loved it. I always wanted the other micro-fighter one but never got it.

The white ones are all pretty lame though... Especially the one with the roller wheels. Even as a kid, I thought that one was just painfully silly.

Actually, I'm the opposite. The grey ones look really lame, but the white ones just look like super-deformed, toy-ified interpretations of cool vehicles.

Although, wasn't the scout walker head thing eventually canonized as so e kind of lame boarding craft in a comic book, it sonetning?

Well I remember owning this and it never made canon.

Star Wars Commander. It's canon now.

Well I remember owning this and it never made canon.

Star Wars Commander. It's canon now.

http://www.star-wars-commander.com/empire/mtv-7

Wow.

EDIT: While I've seen the articles that lead me to believe SWC is canon, it does raise some interesting questions.

For instance, Dark Trooper Phase II is in there. The Rebel vehicles are almost all TCW stuff (from both CIS and Republic forces). Has any of this stuff actually been explained? Probably not. I do like that the VT-49, the Z-95, and the HWK-290 are in there as well, bringing their place in the GCW era in to canon.

As opposed to gambling that the enemy will still be at that secret base when the other bombers show up hours/days later? Can you guarentee that your scout won't be seen?

If the scout actually does his job, in the ship specifically designed for that purpose, then yes.

I mean, you can't guarantee anything. You can't guarantee that the bomber will actually hit his target with his bombs. But that's his job, and that's what his ship is designed to do.

Seems to me like a Scout Bomber would be a ship that would have to have been designed for two completely opposite tasks, and thus, is probably terrible at both of them.

The SBD would like a word or two with you.

Yeah. Something else the Dauntless did was CAP (Combat Air Patrol) for the USS Yorktown during the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urfbQUcH-sU

Well I remember owning this and it never made canon.

Star Wars Commander. It's canon now.

Looks like an imperial tron cycle...

Looks like an imperial tron cycle...

I had one of those as well - think I've still got it somewhere in a box of old toys

Looks like an imperial tron cycle...

I had one of those as well - think I've still got it somewhere in a box of old toys

You had awesome parents.

Looks like an imperial tron cycle...

I had one of those as well - think I've still got it somewhere in a box of old toys

You had awesome parents.

well there was a VERY long list of space toys that I also wanted but never got - but that's being a kid for you

But yeah - Mr and Mrs Funkleton Snr were (and still are) pretty darned awesome

As opposed to gambling that the enemy will still be at that secret base when the other bombers show up hours/days later? Can you guarentee that your scout won't be seen?

If the scout actually does his job, in the ship specifically designed for that purpose, then yes.

I mean, you can't guarantee anything. You can't guarantee that the bomber will actually hit his target with his bombs. But that's his job, and that's what his ship is designed to do.

Seems to me like a Scout Bomber would be a ship that would have to have been designed for two completely opposite tasks, and thus, is probably terrible at both of them.

The SBD would like a word or two with you.

Yeah. Something else the Dauntless did was CAP (Combat Air Patrol) for the USS Yorktown during the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urfbQUcH-sU

Apparently the IJN used the B5N Kate in that role as well. Amazing what can work when you're desperate!