Tri-Wing S-91x Pegasus Starfighter

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"Ooh. A Tri-wing. That's a new one."

―Leia Organa, to her droid Lola^[4]

The Tri-Wing S-91x Pegasus Starfighter, or simply the Tri-wing, was a type of starship that was manufactured by Incom Corporation and later classified as a New Republic Light Assault Starship. It was active during the Imperial Era, with one spotted by Princess Leia Organa on Alderaan in 9 BBY. The Tri-wing continued service during the New Republic Era.

Characteristics

The cockpit and droid socket of a Tri-Wing S-91x Pegasus Starfighter

The Tri-Wing S-91x Pegasus Starfighter, simply referred to as a Tri-wing, was a class of starship that was manufactured by Incom Corporation. It was equipped with two engines, an R2 series astromech droid pocket, at least two frontal laser cannons, and a cockpit for a pilot and two passengers. The hull was metallic silver.^[2] The starfighter was later considered to be a New Republic Light Assault Starship.^[1]

History

"Anything good today?"
"A trade ship and an Aquillian Ranger."

―Bail and Leia Organa discuss the Tri-Wing she saw^[4]

A Tri-Wing departs from Aldera in 9 BBY.

The Tri-Wing S-91 Pegasus Starfighter was active during the Imperial Era,^[4] introduced by 9 BBY.^[5] One tri-wing was present on the capital city of the Core Worlds planet Alderaan, Aldera. Princess Leia Organa witnessed the tri-wing depart the city from a forested area while she was starship spotting. Leia spoke with her droid, L0-LA59, hypothesizing that an Aquillian Ranger was piloting it to scout for the Merson pirates. After Lola was skeptical, Leia then believed it could be a trader.^[4] The Tri-wing went on to serve during the New Republic Era, and was used by the New Republic and Resistance,^[3] with at least one present at the Battle of Exegol.^[6]

Behind the scenes

Overview

"The worldwide appeal of the Star Wars and Porsche brands is shaped decisively by their iconic designs. We are bringing together two worlds with this project: the exotic film design of a galaxy far, far away and the precision work that goes into developing emotive Porsche sports cars. This collaboration promises to produce an innovative design that will blend the best of both brands to create an exciting new starship worthy of Porsche and Star Wars."

―Doug Chiang^[7]

The Tri-Wing S-91x Pegasus Starfighter was a collaboration between the car maker Porsche and Lucasfilm, who teamed up specifically to create this starship as part of the marketing and promotion for Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. Its design was revealed in a video published by the car maker, and was stated to appear in future Star Wars media.

The combined effort was marketed as The Designer Alliance, as the team consisted of seven members from Porsche and Lucasfilm, with the team being led by Lucasfilm Vice President Executive Creative Director Doug Chiang and Porsche Vice President Style Michael Mauer. Team members included Lucasfilm's Amy Beth Christenson,^[1] Ryan Church along with Porsche's Salar Vakili, Doeke de Walle, Emiel Burki, Fabian Schmoelz,^[8]Tobias Benedini,^[1] and Sophie Tillema,^[8] and the alliance first met at Porsche headquarters in Weissach, Germany. Later meetings included meetings in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart and in Skywalker Ranch in San Francisco California, with the design phase of the project lasting six weeks.^[1]

Design and production

"Porsche design philosophy is based on six key elements. What are these major ingredients of a successful product, the proportion, the architecture, the height to width ratio, proportions, proportions, proportions. You will recognize this element in all our products."

―Michael Mauer on Porsche's principle design elements^[1]

After meeting in Porsche Headquarters and a tour of the Porsche Museum, Doug Chiang led the design brief for the team. They started with identifying how to create a blend between an X-wing starfighter, a BTL Y-wing starfighter, and a U-wing and mix it with the Porsche Taycan with the goal of creating a new class of vehicle. Overall, the project was to blend Porsche's design pathos of .... and the simplistic design criteria of George Lucas which was overall the design principles of the Star Wars saga. There were several key design specifications for the new vessel, which included in-universe specifications. It was going to be a New Republic Light Assault Starship manufactured by Incom Corporation, it was going to have a maximum of four engines or a minimum of two, its crew was going to vary from two to five, a large cargo door for other passengers, along with two entry doors into the vehicle. According to Doug Chiang, for the starship to have personality, they were going to design a "good guy ship." As a result, the starship could not be dark colored similarly to Darth Vader.^[1]

Process underway

"The idea is we're going to create a new class of vehicles imagining that it's going to be a blend between the X-wing and the Y-wing and the U-wing with the Porsche Taycan. How do you blend the two based aesthetically they're very different."

―Dough Chiang on the design^[1]

To begin the design process, the team started with a blue sky iteration and after two weeks, both Doug and Michael were meant to define the direction. After that, in a week and a half, the team planned to work together as a whole to determine the design direction. The schedule then called for a hero design and 3D modeling two and a half weeks after the previous checkpoint.^[1]

Because a focus of the starship was to be a "sports car spaceship," the design shapes needed to be streamlined and a big engine to demonstrate power. The design process for the engines began with thinking how the engines were going to be arranged and were first added to the ends of the wings. With this, the design team realized that the closer the engines were to the cockpit, the craft looked more like the sports orientation of the vehicle and looked more automotive.^[1]

Four weeks before the deadline, the team used video conference calls and technology to coordinate and lock down on a proportional design package for the vehicle. After Dough Chiang advised the team that the wings could be configured in different ways to demonstrate more power. As such, the concept artists worked extensively on different designs, with Ryan Church using Porsche's four fender shapes that he turned into wings, while another artist designed the wings to move separately and independently like a bird. Another concept designer observed insects and assembled the wings in different positions and angles, and designed them to be rotational.^[1]

After some time, the members of Porsche travelled to Lucasfilm headquarters to determine the final design of the starship and used two days to go more in depth into the styling and details of the ship. With the various designs printed out, the team began physically cutting and pasting design features to assemble new designs. Initially, the cockpit designs were wider, but were later forgone in favor of a more compact space and putting the pilot in the middle with two co-pilots behind. This allowed for a narrow cabin, similarly attributed to that of a jet fighter plane or Formula 1 car. The way the pilots sat in the vehicle had to be Porsche-inspired and have a "sporty" vehicle. Two weeks before the deadline, the final design language of smaller and wider proportions was put in place. The collage of designs that were cut and pasted was given to Rene Garcia, a Concept Modeling Supervisor at Lucasfilm, to render the final digital model of the craft.^[1]

On December 13, 2019, the ship was revealed citing its inspirations as being the Porsche products 911, Taycan, and 918 Spyder.^[9]