[MOD] Galaxy Squad X-SI

[JoeyB]

The Buggoid War was a brief but frightening stint in the history of LEGO space, and beings from all across the galaxy were lead into the fray to combat the creeping terror. The Galaxy Squad was formed to combat the hive mind, and they found themselves in need of equipment capable of dealing with the Buggoids. Specifically, they needed a fighter, one with capabilities in and out of atmosphere. One that was versatile and relatively compact.

They found what they were looking for in the X-SI.

As an experimental air/spacecraft, the X-SI lacks many of the features the actual Swarm Interceptor, most notably it's weapon systems and armor. It also exhibits several details not found on the end result. Namely, the antennae on the nose house a number of important experimental instruments, as do the wingtips and rounded nacelles near the body.

The variable wings gave it not only a striking appearance, but held several important functions as well. The wingtips- in addition to holding powerful beam weapons in the official service vehicle- have exhaust vents granting the X-SI VTOL capabilities when the wings are angled downward. This came to be one of the most useful features of the craft, as it could reach incredibly high speeds in one state, decelerate to engage in more intimate encounters, and then hover into a base. No long landing strips required. Here it is in a common hovering configuration.

That's not the only benefit of it's hovering capabilities. With the wings fully folded, the SI leaves a smaller footprint than its fixed-wing competitors, freeing up hangar space for other vehicles or even more Interceptors.

The cockpit is especially noteworthy, able to freely spin due to vents on the winglets. Many criticized this at first, claiming this wouldn't be useful in . It found use in microgravity, the cockpit able to rotate to whatever the pilot deemed most comfortable, in addition to some niche applications for air-to-ground combat.

Of course, the true reason for the rotating canopy comes from the cockpit's function as an escape flier. This could occur from a docked state, the rest of the body able to function as a missile turret. However, this ended up being one of the few failings of the Interceptor, and this function saw exceedingly limited use in action. In spite of this, the cockpit's escape pod feature is credited for saving the lives of countless soldiers, who would otherwise have been killed during crashes or else cocooned by the Buggoid forces.

Many beings across the galaxy can thank the advancements of the X-SI for saving their exoskeletons.

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This was a lot of fun. I was inspired to make this years ago, after I got the City Space Shuttle containing that stickered wing piece, and getting the training jet set from a later line. Since I only had one of the shuttle, for the longest time I thought I'd never be able to make a prototype Swarm Interceptor... until a few days ago! Someone went to the LEGO Store to dump some of their kid's old LEGO, and I spied the wing piece in the brick recycle! I've spent the past few nights trying to get all the pieces I needed together, and I'm very happy with what I ended up with. Let me know what you think! 

[TheLazyChicken]

Nice job! I liked the interceptors design but the color scheme was always a bit lacking, you made the black and white work really well! Love the extra little details as well.