Imperial LAAT: The Best Ship the Empire Never Used
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- čas přidán 3. 05. 2024
- The LAAT is one of the most versatile vehicles in Star Wars, yet the Empire barely used it. Why is that? In this video. I design a successor to the Republic LAAT, and detail some hypothetical lore to explain why this extremely practical ship was overlooked by the Galactic Empire.
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/ echenry
Art Direction by Angelos Karderinis www.artstation.com/angeloskar...
Opening animation by Ryan Fletcher @SkyForgeFilms
Combat Hauler animation by Eric Guedes www.artstation.com/ericguedes
Background music : Alcablast (Bastien Boiton)
/ @alcablast
Mastering : Studio Oleoproteus
oleoproteus.bandcamp.com/music - Zábava
EC Henry over here just casually putting out the coolest ship designs in sci fi
Disney couldn’t ever compete 😂
Why compete when they'll just gank it off him without attribution? It wouldn't be the first time
@@Winter_Of_Civilisation *looks at the Ship in Mando, Rogue One, Rebels* come on, just say you don't want to like the new stuff out of "principle"
The U-wing looks really cool. I don’t like the Police gunship in Rebels because it doesn’t make sense for stormtroopers to be using the equivalent of a swat van. While I think that the sequel trilogy is often nitpicked, it feels like they are trying to hard to be the same while looking like bad imitations. Like the new x-wing the resistance uses which has smaller engines that look worse and mess up the four engine design. I don’t think anyone was impressed yet the triangle shaped tie fighter.
Somebody told him “don’t mess with perfection” and he responds “hold my beer”
I like to imagine that all these fan made imperial desigs are equipment used by warlords.
In one of Aftermath novels in the new canon, a similar vehicle is described as being part of a Imperial holdout’s forces.
Lucasfilm / Disney really needs to hire EC Henry yesterday. ✌️
@@Maphisto86that would lead to weeks or months of it being suggested before it gets approval from all ranks inside corpro.
I could see the Imperial Remnant in Legends increasingly turning to these gunships as their stock of other war machines dwindled, belatedly realizing that they had been neglecting a gem of a design this whole time.
Works better for EU Imperial Warlords, since they actually had territory, resources and man-power - and didn't destroy it all because a dead man said to do it.
@@sinisterisrandom8537 No not really.
A Star Trek showrunner Terry Matalas saw a fan design and he had his production design hire the artist for the show and they used the design almost exactly as it was.
EC Henry has been hired to do designs for Star Trek Online (they're fantastic btw).
Maybe Star Wars just doesn't pay as much attention to fan designs? Dunno.
If this were official it would be a fan favorite.
10/10 Star Wars design.
give Disney a few months to steal the design.
If you liked that you should check out the LAAV by Fractalsponge
I LOVE that you recreated the LAAT blasting through the wall in the original Clone Wars micro-series. That's beautiful!
I'm surprised how all of us could right away recognise it! More iconic entrance than I thought
i mean, if youre gonna do something awesome, make it the right way!, and there is only TWO ways you can make an EPIC entrance for the LAAT, Geonosis Arena sequence, or Hypori entrance into Acclamator ruins. and it was awesome!
Shocking that EC Henry would acknowledge the EU at all. He's all in on Disney slop
This is the reason I am watching haha
@@Richardblue1963 He did sequel stuff while it was coming out, but it seems like since then he's stuck pretty much to the OT and the Prequels.
I love how "in character" the backstory is for the Empire - building a good ship then side-lining it because it's not an expression of sheer brute force. The artwork and animation is also amazing as always.
Unlike the Republic, the Empire was occupying territory instead of invading. So bringing a heavily armed LAAT like this to a occupation is like using a Apache gunship in a SWAT raid. Utter overkill and the media would have a field day on the optics of it.
I could see it being used by Fel Empire in Legacy
@@mrzirak792 This gunship should have been used by the First Order instead of the AAL.
@@zachhecita doesnt fit FO/Sequels design philosphy. They either take Galactix Empire vehicle from OT and makes it "bigger and badder", or they make original bt nonsense vehicle like that oke walker that was made into Lego set but wasnt even in movie, or that gorilla-AT. And sequels act as if prequels never existed
@@mrzirak792 That's kinda strange argument to make, considering EC Henry demonstrates how his fan designs could plausibly fit into canon. He even addresses the conflicts in design philosophy. The LAAG didn't really fit the Empire's military doctrine, after all. I don't see how we couldn't adopt a similar approach and project how the LAAG could evolve into a First Order craft. The only limit is imagination.
That said, the LAAG would actually fit into FO's design philosophy, as it has that brutalist aesthetic found in AT-M6 and a focus on overwhelming firepower. I find that the movies contradict the FO's design philosophy. According to the cross-sections and visual dictionaries, the FO was supposed to perfect old imperial design, even drawing on Old Republic designs. The Resurgent-class Star Destroyer is one of the few successful examples of this design philosophy. Not only is the Resurgent a successor to the Imperial II but also the Venator, serving both as carrier and battlecruiser. Unfortunately, the Resurgent seems to be the exception that follows the rule.
So you're half-right. The show runners deemphasize the Clone Wars lineage of the FO, so the faction's design philosophy is butchered by poor execution. I would think, for instance, that the First Order would resurrect the TIE/D Defender project, as the FO supposedly has a greater commitment to pilot survival than the Empire. Instead, we get the same, fragile TIE fighters with a new paint job.
I KNEW HE WAS COOKING LOOK AT THAT BEAUTY
Let him "cook"
I love how you re-created the 2003 Arc trooper entrance in the beginning. Really brings both models together
And it starts with that homage to a heroic entrance, and then the ship kind of descends into fire and darkness and imperial tones. It was a really great scene.
Love the dish turrets, they're simultaneously super original while perfectly fitting the design language and having a logical evolution from the ball turrets.
A much larger composite laser system was used by the B-Wing prototype in Rebels. That was one underrated ship.
But it’s not an evolution it’s a step backwards. If the design is prone to malfunctioning it’s useless. I’d rather go for slightly less powerful lasers that actually work when you need them then powerful lasers that break and can’t be used when you need them
@@darwinskeeper421 Yeah, cause the original B-Wing is just a more interesting ship. Rather than Super Turbo Death Ray 5000, it's an assault bomber with cannons, ion guns, and torpedos. It fits the universe far better, and is a much more intriguing design as opposed to "we made the deathstar again, but its a fighter this time"
@@Matt-yg8ub I mean to be fair. The AT-TE did turn into the AT-AT, I wouldn't put it past the empire for them to take a step backwards
@@idioticed4379 a lot of what the Empire did was a step back. Now realistically that’s because the original trilogy was filmed in the 70s 70s and that’s what the technology was limited to, but the Canon explanation was that Palpatine needed jobs programs to keep people busy and so they intentionally downgraded the technology so that it was more manpower intensive.
The fact that EC Henry has not been hired to design for official Star Wars media is proof that the wrong people are in charge.
considering how much of his stuff ends up stolen and used in Star Wars media I wouldn't be surprised if it were intentional.
You should honestly try creating your own entire sci-fi universe at some point. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love your Star Wars designs and how well you manage to fit them into the lore, but you’re so good at world building and ship designs that I think it would be amazing to see what you could create on your own without the restrictions of fitting it into Star Wars.
But either way I love your work and I’m still very hyped for Trial on the Island Moon
Or.... a alternate reality of Star Wars or Trek, where the powers in charge went into very pragmatic designs.
e.g. A Star Wars where Thrawn was made Grand Moff instead of Tarken (and Tarken was disposed of so he couldn't stab Thrawn in the back).
Or a Clone Wars Republic where Palpatine got eaten by that Zillo Beast.
And my own favourite trek spin-off.... where Starfleet Engineering put out a Directive to bring back new tech for reverse engineering.
Star Trek: Pragmatic.
Star Trek Pacific: 🥲
Just hearing about this thing's ability to insert FULL SQUADS WITH ARMORED VEHICLES gave me shivers. Truly a weapon to strike fear into would-be rebels.
frankly, I think the efficiency of this thing to get forces where the empire wants them would strike fear into actual rebels... except Headhunter, X-wing pilots. They would be tasty air kills.
Until rebels use any AA gun or rocket which will one shot LAAT :/
The dual at-st drop is absolute genius. So so good
Could probably also carry a single AT-DT as well.
Not to mention the speeder bike stowage under the wings. That was pure flippin' genius!!
The beam dishes in the wings really feels like its asking the gunner to shoot out the wings on accident haha
Yeah, maybe it’s designed to shut itself off when it’s pointed too close to the wings
Maybe thats among the reasons why its stated to be only used sparingly.
if you loook at it closely at least forward there appears to be some kinda gun looking thing with the hole in the back for the beam to shoot in. its even gimbled up front so you can shoot the dish straight forward into that and have it not blow upt eh ring. Forward is the only direction tho where it can do that it seems so no backwards shooting with that.
A lot of weopons in our world are designed to cut off if they endanger the aircraft. For example, before planes could fire from fuselage they would be placed above the pilot or be equipped with rear gunners. The Italians eventually developed a synchronization gear so that the gun wouldn’t fire while the propeller was in the way. I see no reason why this same principle couldn’t be applied
@@chuckbuck5002 To add to that, in WW2, heavy bombers with defensive turrets would have mechanical linkages that prevented gunners from accidentally shooting their own rear stabilizers or wings.
Seeing a conveyor line of LAATs being dropped into a furnace broke my heart, especially after seeing Venetors being torn apart in "Jedi Fallen Order".
you should see what happened to the german fleet after ww1, the entire fleet was scuttled in scapa flow by their crews, as the british were going to take the entire navy post surrender, they scuttled 10 battleships, 5 battlecruisers 8 cruisers, and dozens of destroyers, figured it might be kinda a neat parallel between real life and movies
The Empire was run by idiots.
OMG, I want one. Get on it, LEGO!
An incredibly intimidating design, from a more _civilized_ time.
Amazing design. Seriously Lucas Film people. HIRE THIS GUY.
You beautifully managed to weave the Tarkin Doctrine yet again shooting the Empire in the foot in your fan vehicle's lore. ^^
This vehicle had the potential to be this universe's "Pelican", but the Empire's focus on intimidation prevented them from developping such a craft.
Thrawn: It's ugly but beautiful at the same time.
Tarkin was a mistake.
The amount of damage that the Internet, echo chambers, and influencers have done to most fanbases within the last decade is tragedy.
I always got the impression that the reason the LAAT was never followed up on by the empire was due to the sheer firepower of a single LAAT being grossly overkill for the kinds of operations imperial forces would be conducting.
Ironic, considering the Empire is known for overkill. Base Delta Zero and Missile Boat, anyone?
Imperial laat looks so good
Man that thing looks brutally gorgeous. Probably one of your best designs.
This was AMAZING. The LAAT has always been one of my favorite star wars vehicles, and your take on an imperial gunship just hits right in any way. I NEED this to be canon, and NEED to be able to fly it in a game someday.
Stunning work henry!
Heck, at the very least I just want a model kit of this to sit on my shelf!! 😁
LA-AGs vs U-Wings in chopper dogfights let’s gooo!!
Single-handedly reinvigorating my love for Star Wars lore. You have my thanks, sir.
How is this guy not hired by Star Wars to do lore videos and actual new and re-developed designs for the current and old lore like this is free marketing and fan engagement it's literally some of the best Star Wars fan lore out there and it beats, rivals, or fully compliments the current lore as incredible additions.
Beats me dude. We’ll never know
This HAS to be in your next fan film!
Incredible and thoughtful evolution of what a LAAT might have looked like in imperial service. I freakin love the economy of space as well with the storage locker for the speeder bikes.
I was LITERALLY screaming at the televison just now. "Oh shit.. OH SHIT, AW SHIT THATS COOL!" EC. This was amazing!
No one, I mean that, no one in the fandom does it like you. EXCEPTIONAL STUFF, my man!
Legends created (and later added to Disney canon) Imperial successor of LAAT was Imperial Dropship Transport it is absolute beauty in Star Wars the force unleashed 2
The Heck is "Canonical Legends"?! Are they like a majorly accepted order of Legends content? Are they Legends that are games? Like, really, what is Canonical Legends? I'm genuinly curios! I hope it's not "this Legends content should be *The* Canon"-type of stuff...
@@Taron_HaiTar The Imperial Dropship Transport was created for star wars unleashed but a air speed that looks very similar to it, and has the same name, appears in the star wars commander mobile game.
Which is in a sort of grey zone for cannon seen as it is part of the disney canon in the sence that was made by them.
Many obscure legends vehicles are "canon" because of this game.
@@rickvrieling Ah, so it's either semi-canon, could fit right in with minor or no modifiacations and "similar vehicle appeared on screen, let's stretch it to fit this vehicle" situations, got it. Thanks much for telling me this, I'm so happy to learn this fact, and the fact that it's NOT "Legends should be *The* Canon" stuff!
@@Taron_HaiTar I worded it badly IDP got created originally for original canon (now Legends) in 2008 but immediately upon buying Star Wars by Disney in 2012 it was included in new Disney canon as used by Galactic Empire as an successor to LAAT.
He did briefly mention that in the video, but like he said it doesn’t exactly fill the same niche as the LAAT. It’s more focused on being a dropship for deploying troops and not the gunship role that the LAAT filled.
This man is physically incapable of missing. Absolutely beautiful.
Welp, I'll be building this one in Lego, absolutely amazing
yea, Im tryna reconstruct this one too.
Ok, this is just about as professional a ship concept as I have ever seen, dude deserves to go viral
I am always BAFFLED by how much effort he puts into these videos
This truly deserves a respectable canonization
I really enjoy the creativity of these ships and he is so close to hitting 200k subscribers
It may have been a while, but this was worth the wait.
This is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best star wars channel. The production of those assets, the art and the world building you and the rest of the artists do is just unparalleled.
*Least violent Imperial investment:*
I wonder if the pilots had to go thru as rigorous training as the TIE pilots. The "elite" pilots got "disposable" ships but dropouts got safe assignments in LAAG muscle and heavy armor.
Superior redesigning a vehicle than the Sequels
For a bit I though that the animation was something that Disney or someone else with a giant budget made and then I realised it's just EC Henry.
Those animations are really great.
Holy moly! The amount of work that you've done here!... 😳
This is genuinely one of the coolest fan designs I've seen in awhile and now I genuinely want to see this in an Empire at war mod lol.
That opening sequence is simply gorgeous!
That opening was beautiful. Pretty much a well animated, much more action packed version of the scene of the ARC troopers landing to save the jedi from Grevious in the animated series.
Now this is what I've been waiting for! I've always thought the empire lacked a proper assault dropship, the lamda and sentinel always seemed more like transports than proper combat vehicles
Did we start with a CW Micro-Series reference/remake? NIIIIIICE.
It was a pleasure as always to contribute just a small amount to this amazing project!!
I absolutely love this gunship design. Also I agree with everyone else, I love the 2003 Clone Wars reference in the beginning of the video.
Why aren’t you hired as art director for Star Wars? You have understood Star wars more than many people working at disney and you are an amazing artist!
Great as always man.
Lucas film. They need to hire this guy. Just imagine the glorious design in a TV show in this vehicle on full display the power of the empire
I love your attention to detail with the Imperial snowspeeders escorting the LAAG! I'd imagine they would be deployed together quite often, seeing as they're both optimized for atmospheric flight.
Me: Bing watches EC Henry, then goes to take a nap
2 hours later: Wake up
EC Henry: Posts video
A new upload from EC Henry means we're in for some absolutely top tier quality content! Phenomenal job! This fits so well into the lore, such a perfect blend of the prequel era Republic military machinery with the original trilogy era Imperial vehicle design!
I love the bomber module! I never really thought about that and it's an excellent "cannon" addition!
I love those huge intimidating wings. I could see rebel forces freaking out at the arrival of this gunship. And the hauler variant is so freaking cool coming in and dropping off two AT-ST's
Truly amazing! This was the highlight of May 4th. I am awestruck with what you have created here.
Bro, the animations, pictures, and artwork you make for these ships are soooo good.
You're kind of a design genius. So many people watch these videos of yours and say "why don't we have people making this cool stuff up for Disney?" Or something to that effect. Well, they can't. They aren't you, we only get to have one EC Henry because that's talent that we just can't expect from anyone. Seriously, everything about every ship you make is a gift to us all and we will be poorer not to have you one day. I hope your work inspires other genius artistic strokes.
Perfect absolutely perfect in everyway
Loving that reference in the opening of this video! ❤️
This is amazing! The design and renders of the LA-AG look _awesome,_ and the lore behind it is very well thought through!👍👍👍 5000/10
Thanks for creating this. From the renders, animations and lore to the Ralph Mcquarrie style Illustrations, this is some stellar work.
This is a bloody work of art. I haven't that charged up by technical specs and arms manufacturer commentary within this universe in years.
Awesome! So much of this art exudes Ralph McQuarrie's style, incredibly well done.
Cheers
YOU ARE SO GOOD AT THIS!!!
That opening was incredible
Now imagine a squad of death troopers deploying from this beauty
Wow. Love the lore & backgrounds on top of the graphics. Brilliant.
The Death-star style laser dishes on the wing tips is such a cool design detail
I love the way you can integrate your designs into Star Wars Lore. They sound like they have always been there.
As someone who loves LAATs, I admired the Imperial design, the drawings and CGI are great...
Simply incredible as always! Much more thought than most sci-fi creators.
I’m eventually going to run out of space in my brain for Star Wars head canon watching this channel
The lore for this is so in-depth we got to see the Phase III clone trooper armor. I've been waiting for this for so long
Didn't know ec Henry could top the nebulan b but now i have a new type of favorite shop
That LACH with 2 at-st walkers dropping off is very very cool
It's very similar to the MAAT shown in The Force Unleashed
Amazing work as usual EC
That is a beautiful, awe-inspiring design. A true successor to the LAAT. The 3d and 2d art is awesome. The backstory is great. I love the extra details you put in, like the interchangeable weapons pods and the speeder bike storage in the wings. The LA-CH is awesome, and the animation showing it in action is so cool. You guys have outdone yourselves again.
brother I thought this was a new offical SW ship your design is incredible, seriously beautiful ship and the lore you made spot on with the empires naval doctrine.
May the 4th be with you
You could literally get people into Star Wars again with an official show focused on ships, strategy, and environments, instead of whatever disney is doing
I'm so glad you've given the empire their LAATs back!
Dude! I didn't even know we needed this in Star Wars, and now that I've seen it I can't imagine it not being there.
As ever and always, very, very impressive!
Truly one of your best efforts.
The artistry in this is insane!
Cheers
I love coming across video's that fix the flaws with the Tarkin Doctrine, and filling the massive gaps in their fleet.
I choose to believe this is canon, sadly scrapped due to Imperial cost cutting
ok this looks great i wonna try to build this in space engineers
Let us know!
This is so cool! Awesome seeing multiple artists collab and make something really cool. Great interpretation of probably my favourite vehicle in the SWU ever.
I'm always amazed anew at the craftsmanship of these models. Just stunning.
The closest we may actually get to an imperial laat in canon is that small corporate troop transport from andor.
HOT DAMN this is incredible! 🤘😝
Just an absolute BEAST!
EC Henry's content is better than most of the current "official" Star Wars.
The first twenty seconds made me gasp, I hadn't noticed I'd been holding my breath 'til the thirty second mark.
The idea of a dedicated military vehicle being used in policing action has some very powerful implications that would be right up Star Wars' alley. Kinda wish we got an imperial LAAT, but I'm not sure if it'd be as iconic as yours.
You sir are the ultimate Star Wars fan and you should be the head of Disney
Better Star Wars content than most of Disney.
Man, I love these videos. I’m studying concept design and this is a huge inspiration, the way you put so much care and consideration into every detail so that it fits neatly into the established universe.
The quality of the renders and paintings is insane. I love the design of the pilots too. Beautiful video.