SSG BATTLE OF THE MACHINES Semi-Finals - Fight 4

[Tycho]

So far the matchups have lent themselves logical choices. Tonight's fight is a tough one.

In terms of set-ups, I came out of the Quarterfinals with 8 vehicles:

The TIE Interceptor and TIE Bomber (match still open about 1 more day from the time of this post) were both classic Starfighters - 1 man ships used in dog fighting. They've been paired with opponents of the same caliber throughout the BotM, fighting Rebels and Imperials alike. It seems space vehicle competitions are most likely for them, rather than price-points, as they widely varied from the 1995 TIE Fighter's $20 to 2000's B-wing which initially retailed for $50 I think (I didn't buy it at that price). And only the X-wing (standard version) had electronics. So it seemed fair to let the dog-fighters decide who's king of the hill. By a narrow margin, that looks like its the ESB's TIE Bomber right now.

The Speederbike and Landspeeder were natural opponents. There were 8 light vehicles like the STAP, Anakin's speeder from AOTC, Darth Maul's Sith Speeder, etc. It was a mixed contest between prequel vehicles and classic ones, and two classics came down to fight for the final decision in their size range. ROTJ's speederbike took that title.

With Slave-One ($24-30, AOTC), the N-1 ($20-30, TPM/AOTC), the AT-ST ($20 in '95, Classic SW), and the AT-AT ($80 in '97, Classic SW), price point really didn't distinguish obvious pairs with these.

Instead I could separate them by:


air or ground assault vehicles

and

classic or prequel vehicles - which still has made a difference to some here.

So I went AT-AT vs AT-ST and N-1 versus Slave-One.


Now, with 1 prequel starship, the TIE Bomber, and the AT-AT in the mix, the speederbike versus any of these will be a bit ridiculous, but there's no where for it to go during the Finals.

It would have been a waste of a match to purposely try and eliminate the speederbike earlier, plus put the landspeeder up in the same type of competition??? These were both $9 vehicles. Now we know which one is on top of the heap in the lightweight category.

But these matches are not intended to RANK the vehicles. We do not have a write-in option poll program that statistically tallies which craft comes next. BotM is first and foremost for fun, but it will select the top dog and SSG Readers' pick of the Best of the Best. The AT-AT already defeated the Falcon which successfully took on the Royal Starship, so it's had its fights in its own size and weight category. If the huge Imperial juggernaut makes it to the Championship, it will have earned the Title, no doubt.

But BotM has in no way implied that the TIE Bomber is better than the Millennium Falcon, just because it made it to the Semi-Finals. Instead I've been trying to set up the most fair matches that yeild equal opportunities to each opponent.

The time for that is over. The Speederbike must fight in the Finals. It will be a David-and-Goliath type match, but there's nothing that can be done about "fair" for the Speederbike now.

As to the N-1 and Slave-One, they are a perfect match-up for the Semi-Finals, and we are not saying the speederbike is better than either vehicle if they lose this round. All we will know, is which ship fans prefer, the Naboo Fighter, or Jango Fett's Slave-One.

[stillakid]

Hmm...(flipping a coin)....Slave I.

More projectiles to shoot, I guess, is why the scales tipped this way. Both are fantastic renditions of the movie ships and for the most part, are easy to play with, for young and old alike.

[corporal AMF]

I'm with the N1....I still fly it around my house making sounds with it.......it's a shame Slave One doesn't come with FX.....

[JediTricks]

IMO, this should have been split up by 3 size classifications and then had 2 combatants pulled from a hat at the first round, then 2 price classifications for these semifinals and again, the hat. Just my opinion, but it feels like some vehicles that were too similar battled too early.

I personally don't care about electronics in the vehicles, they too often don't sound right (the Naboo Fighter's guns sound very "chunky" and an awful lot like a WW2-era prop plane trying to start, while the flyby sound makes me want to answer the phone while looking out the window for the aforementioned prop-plane), they take up space that could be used for another feature or legroom, and the lights usually light up the plastic in the wrong places (the N-1's guns light up green, but the yellow hull behind the guns ALSO lights up). If given the choice between the TRU X-wing and the Power FX X-wing at the same price, I'll go with the TRU version (should I ever find it ).

[dr_evazan22]

I, like most, if not all, of you like both ships a lot.

For aesthetic reasons I like the N-1 more. I think the design is beautiful, and I love the chrome (on the actual ship) which gives it a very sleek and sporty look.

Despite this I voted for the Slave-1 because I think that it has better play potential (AOTC version).

There were other reasons that contributed to this, but others have already stated them very well (JediTricks). Even though both ships are so good, where you would expect them to be close like in Round 3, I foresee the Slave-1 to hold onto the lead it now has.

You've got some great fights here Tycho! Keep them coming!

[LusiferSam]

I'm going with Slave 1. Normally any with vehicle with electronics would have my vote. Because no version of Slave 1 has had electronics it has doesn't matter that much to me. I like the cockpit of better in Slave 1 and the weapons are fun to play with. And I don't like the fact the paint on the windshield of the N1 chips off easily.

[Darth Marra 54]

Slave One all the way. Just too unstopable with all those extra weapons!