https://www.starwars.com/video/the-colossus-sets-a-course-resistance-rewind
https://www.starwars.com/news/buckets-list-extra-no-escape-part-2-star-wars-resistance
Art Director Amy Beth Christenson fills us in on the story behind the Colossus: “From the beginning, even at the first writers conference, it was talked about that the Colossus was actually a massive ship, buried in the sea floor under water, with the visible top part being a very small percentage of the mobile base. Although it was always the plan to have a huge ship under water, the plan was to reveal this at the very end of the season. There are a few clues throughout the season: In some of the first episodes, you see some lights that might be a reflection under the water, but in reality they are from the rest of the ship below water. Then, in later episodes, you actually see the top part of the structure just under the water, to start to imply that there is more ship. Even though it was planned all along, the final design of this section of the Colossus wasn’t completed until the final episode.”
The Colossus was designed to fly upright/vertically, like a B-wing or the Resistance bombers, for a couple of reasons. Amy Beth Christenson: “First, it helped distinguish it from a Star Destroyer, since both were wedge-shaped. Second, because Doza’s tower would still act as the bridge of the ship, it kept the characters and set upright in space. This gave it a similar feel to Skystrike Academy from Star Wars Rebels, so to help distinguish the two bases, more emphasis was put on breaking up the silhouettes and shapes of the Colossus, and repeating the angles, panels, and details that Bill George put into the top section.”
Interesting stuff, and partially answers some of the questions I have about the design.
Does anyone know where "SpirtOf" comes from that's in a lot of the concept art? Is it just a design tag or actually meaning something? I was thinking it's probably just a reference to Spirit of St. Louis (as it was a plane used in a race of sorts) but it could also be Spirit Of the Resistance or something of that nature.