X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Wedge_XWingSaga.jpg|frame| This is Wedge Antilles, pilot and Rebel hero. Behind him are several Incom T-65B X-wing starfighters. Together, they are the two constants for the series.]]
{{quote|''"[[We Do the Impossible|Impossible is our stock in trade, and success is what we deliver.]]"''
|Rogue Squadron motto}}
{{quote|''[[Crazy Awesome|"Pretty. What do we blow up first?"]]''
|Wraith Squadron motto}}
The X-Wing series is a sizable part of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]. This page covers the comic book series and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130421040127/http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:X-wing_novels novel series], which were produced more or less in that order, although several of the books came out after the main comics series ended and the most recent comic book was in 2005. As the page image says, the character Wedge Antilles and the X-Wing starfighter are the absolute constants. The games, being only vaguely connected, each have [[Rogue Squadron|their]] own [[Star Wars: X-Wing|pages]].
The comics are collectively titled "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131020215125/http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/X-
The books are written by [[Michael Stackpole]] and [[Aaron Allston]]. Most of those run directly from the end of one book to the beginning of the next, but ''Isard's Revenge'' starts just after the last book of the [[The Thrawn Trilogy]], and ''Starfighters of Adumar'' is set years later. Each book is prefaced with "Star Wars: X-Wing", but we're trying not to develop [[Colon Cancer]] here. The books are:
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* [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]: The more badass Rogues quickly shoot up the ranks. Late in the series and in other EU books, old Rogue and Wraith squadron members later become Generals, Admirals, and other high ranking individuals.
* [[Awesomeness By Analysis]]: Face's Holmesian ability to determine someone's planet of origin and past just by the way they walk.
* [[Bad Boss]]: ''Isard.'' When one of her ship captain minions [[Heel Face Turn|betrays her]], her response is to order not just his death, but the death of his girlfriend's ''entire family''; a calmly delivered, easily missable line reveals that she started killing the families of all the ship's crew hours ago. Her management style was mocked in one of the later Wraith Squadron books by a more [[Affably Evil]] villain, who noted that anyone who worked for a capricious psycho like Isard only had one of two things to look forward to: [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]], or [[You Have Failed Me...]]. Of course, Admiral Trigit, the Imp in question, is not much better. He's a [[Benevolent Boss]] as long as this are running smoothly, but when the chips are down, he's perfectly willing to sacrifice his Star Destroyer and everyone aboard to [[It's All About Me|save his own sorry ass]].
** Even Isard's co-conspirators hold her in such contempt for such insanity that one of them (who's the POV character for the scene above, and has pretty well already decided to betray her) decides that he'll make sure the families in question remain safe despite not giving a damn whether they live or die, just because it'll annoy her.
** Her backstory in the comics and a mini-novel by Stackpole and [[Timothy Zahn]] makes it abundantly clear she's willing to [[Hold Your Hippogriffs|throw anyone to the rancors]] to advance her own agenda. {{spoiler|Including her own father, whom she has arrested for treason before taking over his post as Director of Imperial Intelligence.}}
** On the other hand, this trope is zigzagged with Zsinj, who is sometimes prone to [[You Have Failed Me...]], but other times displays a Thrawn-like pragmatism.
* [[Badass Crew]]: Both the Rogues and the Wraiths, naturally, which is par for the course for squadrons captained by Wedge Antilles. The four pilots of Red Flight from ''Starfighters of Adumar'' are also quite badass. They're the four Rogues that were there since before Hoth, and they know what they're doing.
* [[Badass Normal]]: Other EU focuses on Jedi, or Han Solo, or clone commandos trained from birth by [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|elite Mandalorian mercenaries]]. This series? ''Pilots''.
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* [[BFG]]: [[Character Name and the Noun Phrase|Voort "Piggy" saBinring and the two-meter-long starfighter's cannon]]. Now ''that's'' a title.
* [[Big Bad]]: Ysanne Isard, natch.
* [[Big Bad Wannabe]]: Kirtan Loor is introduced with a mention he rose through his ranks quickly because of his uncanny resemblance to Tarkin. Once he's forced to be more than [[The Watson]], it becomes increasingly clear he was promoted above his competency to the point {{spoiler|he's forced to work for another villain through mere threat of death}}.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: "Mind if we crash your party, Wedge?"
* [[Big Damn Gunship]]: While escorting a bacta convoy in the Alderaan Graveyard, Rogue Squadron is ambushed by a ''Victory''-class Star Destroyer and an Interdictor Cruiser. Suddenly, an ancient, automated Alderaanian frigate appears and starts blasting away at the Imperials, tipping the battle into the Rogues' favor.
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* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Plourr is a rare female example.
* [[Book Safe]]: During his escape from the ''Lusankya'', Corran Horn discovers a blaster hidden in the purported casing of ''The Complete History of Corvis Minor'', in a reference to ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]''.
* [[Break the Haughty]]: Realizing Corran Horn's self centered nature and inability to work as a team, Wedge engineers a training exercise so Corran scores the lowest by far, confusing an enraging him before revealing his run was actually feeding the team valuable intelligence that allows them to ''all'' do better than any one member could do on their own. The lesson works.
* [[Brick Joke]]: The series in general is fond of them. Some even span entirely separate series. For example, in ''Wraith Squadron'' Kell tells off Grinder for calling him "Demolition Boy" ("That's 'Demolition Boy Sir'") while by the time of the New Jedi Order books the Wraiths are using nicknames of this type as standard code names (Face is "Poster Boy", Kell is "Explosions Boy", Bhindi is "Circuitry Girl").
* [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp]]: As the books deal with everyday life more than most EU books, we get a lot of [[Star Wars]] terms for items. For example, refrigerators are 'conservators' and bathrooms are 'refreshers'.
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* [[Emotional Torque]]: Allston's writing is composed primarily of [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Funny]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Awesome]], [[Tear Jerker|Tearjerkers]], and [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Heartwarming.]] It borders on [[Mood Whiplash]] sometimes. In the later books the emotional torque itself is a large part of the plot. Since so many bad things keep happening, Wedge is constantly trying to find ways to keep the mood and morale up, but Zsinj or just his own pilots keep on bringing it down.
* [[Enemy Mine]]: In the Allston books, Han and an Imperial commander hatch a secret plan to combine forces against Zsinj. Then there's ''Isard's Revenge'', in which several Rogues die and the others end up having to work with an old enemy.
* [[Epiphany Therapy]]: Kell's fear and hatred of the man who killed his father ''and'' his, for lack of a better term, performance anxiety are cured this way. The first is after he realizes that Janson isn't the [[You Have Failed Me...]] type, the second when it dawns on him just what running away will mean to the love of his life. (It's not ''quite'' so simple, as it's mentioned Kell will never get rid of the fear entirely... but then the fear is mentioned only fleetingly.)
* [[Escalating War]]: The prank war in the Wraith Squadron books. The moral of the story: Wedge doesn't have a particular love or knack for practical jokes, but he does have resources.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Happens a lot, particularly to Isard. Uwlla Iillor, captain of the Interdictor Cruiser ''Black Asp'' decides she's though putting up with Isard's [[Bad Boss]] tendencies {{spoiler|and defects with her ship}}. Kirtan Loor decides [[Wouldn't Hurt a Child|bombing a school]] is beneath him. Gara Petothel dislikes [[Senseless Waste of Human Life|senseless sacrifices]]. Fliry Vorru is more [[Pragmatic Villainy|practical]] -- he hates having to pander to Isard's [[Revenge Before Reason]].
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* [[Former Child Star]]: Garik "Face" Loran used to be a child actor in Imperial propaganda holodramas. [[The Atoner|He regrets his involvement]], and now uses his piloting skills and considerable acting ability to help the New Republic.
* [[Fridge Brilliance]]: By ''Isard's Revenge'' Ysanne Isard is no longer affiliated with the legitimate Empire of Thrawn and Pellaeon. ''She'' claims it is by her choice but evidence in ''The Bacta War'' (where an Imperial warlord only very reluctantly loans her ship -- and then lectures her when it is destroyed) implies she has a acquired a reputation as a [[General Failure]] and it may actually be the Empire that wants nothing to do with her.
* [[Fun Personified]]: Wes Janson. Making it all the more dissonant in ''Wraith Squadron'' that Kell (because of being misinformed of the manner of his father's death) is terrified of him, believing him to be a [[General Ripper]] prone to [[You Have Failed Me...]].
* [[Gambit Roulette]]: Subverted. {{spoiler|When Corran returns from the ''Lusankya'' with information exonerating Tycho, someone wonders if the information could have been planted to keep the accused Imperial sleeper in place. This is casually dismissed, as it would have required an absurd level of planning and foreknowledge of completely random events.}}
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Voort is a [[Pig Man|Gammorrean]] whose brain chemistry was altered, making him intelligent and stable enough to become a very good pilot. And he has a habit of being able to knock out any human in one punch.
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* [[The Infiltration]]: Many, many times in many, many disguises.
** The top example is the entirety of the ''Wraith Squadron'' book, where the Wraiths maintain a disguise as Imperial operatives for several weeks without even being suspected, despite having their cover blown fully during a battle. They manage to keep the information from leaving the battlefield. It reaches [[Refuge in Audacity]] levels. Their cover is blown during a battle, so they take out everyone else on the other side, and turn around and tell the boss that they were ambushed and escaped, the only survivors, and the enemy BUYS it!
* [[Informed Ability]]: Tycho is probably the second best X-Wing pilot in the New Republic, behind Wedge, and is in command of Rogue Squadron by the time of ''Starfighters of Adumar''. And yet, in said book, he gets shot down ''three times''. Allston [https://web.archive.org/web/20120507201324/http://www.aaronallston.com/factpages/faqswars.html mentions why] in his FAQ. Part of the fairly long answer about why Tycho didn't do so well:
{{quote|After reviewing Tycho's flying history (training originally in TIEs, moving to A-Wings and X-Wings when he moved to the Rebel Alliance) and his performance in ''[[I Jedi]]'', I concluded that Tycho's strengths as a pilot might not translate so well to less maneuverable spacecraft. In short, Blades, Y-Wings and the lot can't really keep up with the speed of his own physical reactions. }}
** Long story short, as Hobbie explains after the first test fight in Blade-32s, Tycho's a [[Fragile Speedster]] pilot stuck in [[Mighty Glacier]] hardware. This also may fall under [[Worf Effect]].
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*** Kell actually does manage to show off his bomb making expertise in the preview for ''Mercy Kill'', where he manages to build a bomb that looks like a priceless gem, is powerful enough take out several city blocks, and is programmed to detonate when it reaches a certain depth below ground. He considers the bomb a work of art and gets ''highly'' offended when somebody suggests otherwise.
* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Gavin and Asyr, Nawara and Rhysati, Face and Dia. In the comics, Ibitsam and Nrin, neither of them human (the romance wasn't outright stated, but the implication could hardly be more obvious). Corran tells a story about a brief relationship with a Selonian that dealt with some of the issues of such a romance; their personal chemistry was fine, but their ''bio''chemistry was incompatible and they parted amicably. One arc that's poorly regarded for different reasons has very strong hints of more temporary human/Bothan encounters.
* [[I Resemble That Remark]]: Booster Terrik is trying to negotiate with the New Republic to {{spoiler|keep a Star Destroyer he captured. The New Republic's agent tells him the New Republic can't let someone other than them or their allies keep a ship with enough firepower to slag a planet. Booster retorts he should just use it to conquer a random world and declare himself a New Republic ally}} before his daughter tells him that's ''exactly'' what the New Republic is afraid of.
* [[Ironic Echo]]: Sometimes done with entire paragraphs of narration. For example, ''Iron Fist'' begins with a description of a cyborg attacking the Wraiths in a bar, all part of a setup for Zsinj to have them taken out. The Wraiths (after thwarting this) borrow his idea, and a few chapters later, an almost identical opening describes Phanan pulling the same setup on an Imperial planet as part of a scheme to steal some TIE fighters.
** In another example from ''Solo Command'', Han and Warlord Zsinj each oversee work on a secret project, the ''Millennium Falsehood'' and the ''Second Death'' respectively, and both of them consider what they're looking at the "ugliest ship they'd ever seen". (This is [[Played for Laughs]] on Han's end, since the phrase is a [[Call Back]] regarding the actual ''Falcon'', but he thinks the fake looks nothing like the real one.) ''Wraith Squadron'' itself opens with what will become an [[Ironic Echo]], the "twelve snubfighters swooping down through the sky" appearing first as the newly-reinstated Rogue Squadron performing for Leia and the Provisional Council, then as Myn Donos's doomed Talon Squadron.
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* [[Mookmobile]]: TIE Fighters. Wedge absolutely ''loathes'' them because of this:
{{quote|No [[Deflector Shields|shields]]. No [[Ejection Seat]]. TIE Fighters were disposable attack vehicles for [[Red Shirt|disposable pilots]], and Wedge never cared to feel disposable.}}
** Other EU works clarify that TIEs ''do'' have ejection systems, but using them in space generally means a slow death so pilots rarely eject and take the quick one instead.
* [[Moral Dissonance]]: The New Republic picking a fight with the neutral (if admittedly pro-Imperial) Ciutric Hegemony in ''Isard's Revenge''. Prince-Admiral Krennel is obviously not a nice man, but the best pretext the New Republic can come up with for starting the war is Krennel's execution of a defecting Imperial several years previously, during the comics, before Krennel himself left the Empire, a cynical justification which even the Rogues admit is "pretty thin". Even the generally saintly Admiral Ackbar more or less confesses that going after Krennel is as much about New Republic sabre-rattling to frighten bigger warlords like Teradoc as it about "liberating" the people under his rule.
** And that's before considering the fact that [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sate_Pestage Sate Pestage], the Imperial in question, was a total scumbag (basically a less cool, non-Sith version of [[Complete Monster|Emperor Palpatine]]), and only defected to save his own hide. While Krennel's murder of Pestage's family counts as a [[Moral Event Horizon]], his murder of Pestage is, at the very worst, [[Kick the Son of a Bitch]]. Wedge notes that he was sorely tempted to kill Pestage himself, even though he was an unarmed prisoner at the time, because the man was so repulsive.
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* [[Shoot Your Mate]]: In ''Iron Fist''.
* [[Shout-Out]]: There are quite a few to other ''Star Wars'' works and authors. Besides the Zahn references, there is also the ''Requiem'' scenario, which is based off an actual level in the ''[[Star Wars: X-Wing]]'' game.
** Elassar Targon's name references two ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' characters... Elessar is, of course, Aragorn's other name (Elessar being the Wraiths' new medic, Aragorn being a ranger and king with healing skills and powers), and Targon is the [[Genius Bonus|blink-and-you'll-miss-him armorer]] in ''The Return of the King''.
** Possible in Iron Fist. A stormtrooper begins to ask Castin "What's your-- (operating number, presumably)" but Castin just starts blasting his way out straight away.
** The name ''Lusankya'' is inspired by Lubyanka, the infamous KGB prison in which similar activities went on.
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** Then there's the last moments of {{spoiler|''Lusankya's'' captain's}} life. He promotes himself to Grand Admiral, threatens to [[Apocalypse How|crash the ''Lusankya'' into Thyferra]], {{spoiler|and is then [[Shoot the Dog|shot by his First Officer]], who surrenders the ship.}}
* [[Visual Pun]]: The marquee of the Headquarters, a bar on Coruscant that Corran finds his way to in ''Wedge's Gamble''. It features a stormtrooper's helmet being torn into four pieces.
* [[The Watson]]: Kirtan Loor, an officer promoted above his competence due to his appearance (and presumably post-Endor personnel shortages) serves as a villainous example, getting an explanation of the villain's plans.
* [[We Can Rebuild Him]]: Ton Phanan is "allergic to bacta" and has to get cybernetic replacements for any and all damaged parts. He has a ''lot'' of damaged parts. A huge plot point for him, since he deeply resents this side of himself, leading to much very uncomedic angst.
* [[We Have Reserves]]: Admiral Trigit. [[Even Evil Has Standards|Revulsion over this]] is what drives Gara Petothel's [[Heel Face Turn|defection to the Republic]] in ''Wraith Squadron'', after Trigit decides to sacrifice the tens of thousands of crew members to keep his Star Destroyer out of Republic hands. Trigit's boss Zsinj, though, is a little more canny -- in ''Iron Fist'' he decides to hire a fleet full of mercenaries and pirates to get shot at in lieu of his troops during a major attack.
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{{quote|'''Face:''' Zsinj can investigate all he wants… because he won't be investigating ''us.''}}
* [[You Killed My Father]]: Wes Janson was forced to shoot Kell's father during a mission. This makes things very awkward when they're on the same squadron.
* [[You Have Failed Me...]]: Isard is the Queen of this trope, whose murderous punishments for failure were known to go as far as Familicide. Isard's love affair with this trope is skewered in one of Allston's novels, where the slightly more [[Benevolent Boss|benevolent]] Admiral Trigit notes that anyone working for a [[Bad Boss|capricious psycho]] like Isard had nothing to look forward to except either death by the Rebels, or death by ''her''.
** Averted once by her in the first novel (Before we ''really'' get to know her, possibly?). When someone he's interrogating dies before giving up the information he needs, Kirtan Loor is summoned back to Imperial Center by Isard, Empress in all but name. All along the way, even while [[The World Is Just Awesome|marveling at the view]], he's sweating and expecting her to kill him. She doesn't -- not at that point in time -- but she does make her displeasure at his poor thinking clear, and wants him to perform better.
** Zsinj goes back and forth on this trope. On the one hand, he has had a number of subordinates killed - some for major things (losing a highly valuable Ewok test subject, then lying about it), and some for not-so-major things (slacking off on the bridge one time too many). On the other hand, he knows when to shut up and let people do their jobs, as in ''Solo Command'' when fighting off {{spoiler|Lara's}} sabotage-bots -- even giving the chief engineer a bonus for fixing his ship early (he approves of efficiency).
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