One of my favorite mid-1990s video games is Star Wars: Dark Forces for PC. In the game, you play as Kyle Katarn, a mercenary employed by the Rebel Alliance, who stumbles on the Dark Trooper project through one of his missions (none of Dark Forces is considered canon, but the Dark Troopers were brought into canon via the second season of The Mandalorian). I played Dark Forces often on my 486DX2/66MHz machine, but I was unable to beat it back then (the video game Force is weak in this one). Thanks to DOSBox, I finally beat it about 25 years after I first played it!
The Star Wars universe created by George Lucas is, like his earlier film American Graffiti (1973), about motion, movement, travel, and vehicles. The importance of movement in Star Wars is what elevates vehicles like Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon to be a character in their own right. The same is true for Katarn’s HWK-290 light freighter named The Moldy Crow. I liked its angular, bird-like appearance. It reminded me also of He-Man’s Talon Fighter from 1983’s Point Dread and Talon Fighter playset. The image of the Moldy Crow stuck with me, and when I was building with LEGO in Atlanta in 2014, I thought of a way to capture the Crow’s design in a LEGO MOC (my own creation).
Rotational Side Views
Top Views
Bottom Views
Crew Compartment
Details
Reflection
Unfortunately, I sold my LEGO Moldy Crow on eBay before Y and I moved to Brooklyn (along with a boatload of other LEGOs). I wonder if the buyer still has it or modified it in some way.
A lot of the bricks that I used in the build were older style dark grey, which I don’t have many of any more. I would like to take another stab at The Moldy Crow with my newer bricks and use techniques that I’ve learned over the years since then. Another project added to an already long list!
