Recommended music: Pink Floyd – Learning To Fly
This #WhateverWednesday, we’re looking ahead to the 10th anniversary of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in December. Check out these trading cards from Topps Star Wars: Rogue One: Mission Briefing!
Since my action figures are still packed away, waiting for a new display, the cards keep coming out to play.
In September 2016, Topps released the Rogue One: Mission Briefing trading card set in order to generate excitement ahead of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; the main set consists of 100 cards featuring stories from Episodes I to VI as well as the animated series of that era, including the creation and destruction of the Death Star.
I believe there is one more group of inserts I haven’t mentioned from this Rogue One set. Similar in design to the nine-card Heroes of the Rebel Alliance insert set, Villains of the Galactic Empire is an eight-card set featuring Imperial characters from the Original Trilogy. Behind each character is a starfield and a large Imperial cog. These cards appear in 1:8 packs, about three per hobby box.
Today, I’m showing the next four base cards, which focus on characters who first appeared in A New Hope. Though the idea of having one character per card is reminiscent of the ‘Star File’ cards first seen way back in the 1980 Topps Empire Strikes Back cards, this is definitely the most in-depth look at X-wing pilots I can think of in a trading card set.
Reunited with Luke before the Battle of Yavin, Biggs Darklighter is Luke’s childhood friend from Tatooine who joined the Rebel Alliance as an X-wing pilot in Red Squadron. Biggs provides crucial cover during the Death Star trench run, sacrificing his life to buy Luke the time needed to destroy the superweapon. He is also a character whose dialogue and scenes were mostly left on the cutting room floor. Though fascinating to me, his Tosche Station scene honestly does slow the pacing during the first act of A New Hope. Thankfully, his hangar scene at the Rebel base, originally cut from the 1977 theatrical release, was restored in the 1997 Special Edition.
John D. Branon flew as Red Four during the Battle of Yavin. A veteran Rebel pilot, he helped draw Imperial TIE fighters away from Gold Squadron’s initial trench run before being shot down and killed, becoming Red Squadron’s first casualty of the battle.
Before appearing as Major Eaton in Raiders of the Lost Ark or Lt. Eckhardt in Batman, William Hootkins played Jek Tono Porkins. Porkins flew as Red Six, providing cover during the Death Star’s surface assault before technical malfunctions and ground fire damaged his X-wing, causing him to crash and become Red Squadron’s second casualty.
Finally, we have Jon “Dutch” Vander, who commanded Gold Squadron. Flying a Y-wing bomber (Gold Leader), he led the initial, unsuccessful trench run against the Death Star, bravely attempting to destroy the thermal exhaust port before being shot down by Darth Vader. Perhaps it was an impossible shot without the use of The Force.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still the number one film at the box office, and if you’re after a summer movie to watch at home, you might want to take another look at Masters of the Universe, which is still among the top movies on Amazon Prime!
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