Skipray 2.0: The Dreaded Imperial Blastboat (fan lore)

The Skipray Blastboat is a fan-favorite ship from the old Star Wars Expanded Universe. Today, I'll be exploring my fan-made ship: the Empire's cutting edge-successor to the Skipray Blastboat.
Brought to you by amazing supporters on Patreon:
/ echenry
Art Direction by Angelos Karderinis
www.artstation...
Opening animation by Ryan Fletcher ‪@SkyForgeFilms‬
Original Skipray Model by Robert Rose
www.artstation...
Background music : Alcablast (Bastien Boiton)
/ @alcablast
Mastering : Studio Oleoproteus
oleoproteus.ba...

[@raideurng2508]

Henry once again proving Star Wars isn't allergic to curves. You just have to use them properly.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

I mean Moncalla and Naboian designs are nothing but curves...

[@captin3149]

I never much cared for the Skipray all these years, but EC Henry made it a very sexy vessel

[@weldonwin]

#RealShipsHaveCurves!

[@alexcamacho1842]

It is good day to be a Star Wars fan when EC Henry uploads

[@GOCAPSDMV]

Especially being it’s only twice a month 🤣

[@highlordtedpool6081]

Facts

[@bananabob2793]

So true

[@OriginalZo1]

Eff yeah

[@stephenjohnston7630]

Testify

[@HunterTheHero]

Wow, this seems like a combination between an Imperial Shuttle, a Kom'rk-class fighter, and a TIE Reaper.

[@comicmoniker]

Made me think of the VT-49 Decimator, with the swept forward triangular wings. I would love to see that one updated in the same way.

[@baron7755]

which imperial shuttle? Also, this ship has been around since way before the Kom'rk-class fighter or TIE Reaper. We are talking WEG's Imperial Sourcebook from 1989.

[@comicmoniker]

​​​@@baron7755 well no, THIS ship has been around for about... 6 hours as of this comment. Or at least I'm pretty sure that's what they were referring to. The ship it's *based on* has been around a lot longer, but I wouldn't say that one looks particularly like any of those three.

[@loganwhitney8471]

I was thinking that it looks similar to the TIE Reaper, and I'd thought "This is probably the ship the Death Troopers use in heavy star-fighter combat instead of the TIE Reaper" right?

[@v-Lex-v]

​@@comicmoniker real

[@thedoctor4637]

I appreciate the F-111 Aardvark style escape pod!

[@beavismount]

My mind went to the B-1A escape pod, but same sentiment!

[@thedoctor4637]

@@beavismount I often forget about the B-1A.

[@xXatomic2009Xx]

@@beavismount It's awesome that both planes share that technology!

[@acompletelynormalhuman6392]

It's nose has a similar awkward widens to it which makes it reminiscent of the Ardvark also didn't realize the Bone had an escape capsule system I assume it used a similar thing to the B52

[@beavismount]

@@acompletelynormalhuman6392 I think the B-1B moved to ejection seats more like the BUFF, only a few early B-1A's had the pod.

[@seanporcelli3965]

Damn, you REALLY have star wars design down. That's beautiful. I genuinely can't understand why you don't work for Disney. But I'm sure they'd have more control over your designs than you'd like.

[@IAmTheAce5]

Disney would be a hindrance- ‘make it new but fundamentally the same, somehow’

[@seanporcelli3965]

@@IAmTheAce5 Unfortunately I completely agree.

[@philosotree5876]

@@IAmTheAce5 Essentially a reskin. His ideas for first order tie bombers, and resistance x-wings/b-wings were far superior to Disney's.

[@isharkyshark3974]

​@@philosotree5876 i disagree on the first order tie bombers, i prefer the design lucasfilm made over EC's, but that is a rare exception bc EC is often on point.

[@philosotree5876]

@@isharkyshark3974 Okay. That's fair. It is just a reskin though whereas the EC Henry one is it's own thing. I won't fault you for liking the design though.

[@ItzmeFlez]

I'm very impressed by how consistently you nail the design language of the OT, even down to the explosion in the intro. Very nice work!

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Love the inclusion of the TIE hatch on top. Gives that, "Why re-invent the wheel" engineering flow.

[@dragonblaster-vu8wz]

I love this ship. It feels like a step down from a VT-49 Decimator that had its troop area gutted for more weapons. I could kinda see these Imperial Blastboats operating in tandem with a Decimator, actually. A pair of blastboats disable an enemy ship, and the Decimator docks to deploy its troop compliment along with the combat drones to overwhelm any criminals on board

[@MonkeyJedi99]

It's kind of a Star Wars version of a Coast Guard customs cutter.

[@tomackerman2781]

Always love to see the Decimator mentioned. I was thinking about it while watching this vid.

[@jeffreycarman2185]

9:09 this ship would pair nicely with a Cantwell-class Arrestor Cruiser for interdiction and other customs action.

[@SapphireCrusader1988]

Absolutely!

[@aarongivens2274]

Exactly 💯 The Arrestor Cruiser doesn’t need Tie fighters. 12 blast boats and some Gamma class assault shuttles and no pirate , smuggler or rebel scum are a threat

[@marcellinma6169]

"Skipray Blastboat here." ―Unidentified Zann Consortium Pilots

[@BierBart12]

200 of them at the same time, right before 400 proton torpedoes hit an Acclamator

[@bradhedgehog12]

@@BierBart12or how about an Executor Star dreadnought. Sheesh

[@worldtraveler930]

ALL Hale the Zann Consortium!!! 🤠👍

[@v-Lex-v]

I heared this so often its insane

[@bradhedgehog12]

@@worldtraveler930 Yes!

[@MightyYaks]

That feeling you get when one of EC Henry's VFX sequences significantly outperforms the recent output of major Hollywood studios... 🤤

[@elodiefiorella4750]

A pair of these working with a Gozanti would make for a tremendously formidable patrol squad

[@RLaci81]

No worries, it's only 4 TIEs under that Gozanti ... wait what???

[@Airatgl]

SW needs more middle size gunboats. Perfect for bounty hunters. Skipray 2.0 joins the Firespray gunboat as one of my favorite SW ships.

[@jtjames79]

I also like the idea of the old ones falling into the hands of criminals. So you never know what you're going to get, it might just be an old worn out. Skipray, or it could just look like one and be tuned to within an inch of its life. They make such fantastic hero ships.

[@danmoss1685]

A modified yt-1300 could be a gunboat all on its own. Replace both airlocks with quad turrets, and add 8 dual ion turrets, and it can fight everything.

[@williamnixon3994]

@@danmoss1685 The bigger question isn't "Will it fit" but rather "Can you power it", you can probably get away with a pair of these superlight turbolasers in the 1300's mandibles if you find any, but you'd need to stuff a much better battery system if you can't afford a better reactor to run such powerful equipment

[@danmoss1685]

@williamnixon3994 the "easiest" way would be eliminating the cargo space, and add a secondary power generator and tabanna tanks. But adding 2 mini turbolasers to the sides, would be just as badass.

[@coltnichols4502]

Fell in love with skipray all the way back in the original thrawn trilogy

[@sim.frischh9781]

When Mara chased after Luke, i remember that, yes. But frankly, i only later came to appreciate it in Star Wars X-Wing Alliance where you could fly it in the simulator. It really became prominent in the Empire at War Forces of Corruption game.

[@coltnichols4502]

@@sim.frischh9781 that's the exact scene I usually think of, where they have the crash in the forest after the chase

[@sim.frischh9781]

@@coltnichols4502 Yup, that one! :)

[@SephirothRyu]

Vark! Vark! Vark!

[@sq_paradox]

The Imperial Blastboat is a fantastic and matches the Imperial aesthetic so well, but I LOVE that Republic Skipray Blastboat model!

[@comicmoniker]

I would LOVE to see you give this same treatment to all the random ships we have deckplans for from the Star Wars RPG. I've never played it, but every time I come across some weird ship that doesn't look like anything else I've seen, it seems to come from there. Plus they have a whole bunch of the kind of small craft that your style really suits. Not that I don't believe in your ability to keep finding obscure background ships in the OT, but it feels like a natural progression from that. Honestly, typing this comment got me more and more excited about the prospect. Please, EC Henry. You're our only hope!

[@tred6292]

This sounds like the kind of ship that Bounty Hunters, smugglers, private police forces, and/or Mandalorians might try and get their hands on after the Galactic Civil War to make their jobs easier in the Outer Rim during the age of the New Republic. I absolutely love your niche ship designs and the stories you craft for them.

[@Tclans]

“Blastboat” heck yeah! Love that name and role. Always a good day when you upload Henry!

[@thenatural1759]

The new EC Henry just dropped. Time to go pretend like I'm pooping at work for the next 9m36s

[@Spiel-Film]

When fans bring better Star Wars content than Disney itself!

[@teakat9608]

Disney only wishes they could make content this good. Thank you for reminding me that I still enjoy the Star Wars setting. Also, it'd be cool to see a size comparison to all of your fan designs. Oh, and this vessel totally reminds me an empire version of your B-Wing Mark 2. I wonder which ship would win in a duel?

[@amerifatcheeseburger]

2:02 it’s not implausible. Theyve done it for countless cases. The carack cruiser, the acclamator the lancer frigate, at-te’s, swamp speeders. Though i do like when they update it slightly i still think they’d use a mixture of old and newer designs. I mean take the tie fighters for example they made the tie advanced and the tie interceptor yet for years after they still made and used tie fighters

[@l1ghtd3m0n3]

0:14 These guys are less kill happy than most Imperials, they only switched from ion to more lethal weapons when they were shot at

[@Angelos_K]

Disable, slow down, kill

[@SewayPL]

Good cop bad cop

[@tennozeorymer]

Utterly fantastic in every single way.

[@Pathfinder118]

The thing I love about the Skipray is that in some of the lore the monster mounts a FULL power turbo laser, one as powerful as one on a victorys main gun deck, YEAH one of the TURRET turbolasers, THATS an amazing amount of firepower for a vessel so small. It really seemed to me that it was really designed to punch through the modded sheilds of all those pesky rebel hero ships and give them a run for their money. In the old X-wing games I used to run circles around my friends with the skipray, its firepower letting me blast them to oblivion with just a few shots, It to this day stands as my #1 go to in any star wars RPG.

[@dogloversrule8476]

The Skipray always made me think of the PT boats of WW2 & later

[@DILegion]

This guy has such a great understanding of visual design, really gets the science behind why thing should look the way they do.

[@mitwhitgaming7722]

My introduction to these things was in Empire at War. "Skipray Blastboat, standing by."

[@magonus195]

Your design was so good that I forgot that it wasn't the original in the opening cinematic.

[@UGNAvalon]

For some reason this feels like an imperial “hero ship” to me. Not too small that you can’t have multiple colorful characters onboard, not too weak that it can’t hold its own against larger foes.

[@andreykuzmin4317]

T-2 yacht (think Seinar Star Courier/Skimitar, but bigger) is my group's ride... but I agree, it shouldbe upgraded to EC Henry's ImpBoat!

[@cmedtheuniverseofcmed8775]

Well done as always, EC Henry. The Skipray is much like how the Assault Gunboat is looked at by the Empire. It gives the Imperials a badly needed heavy, long-range starfighter/patrol craft. As much as ISDs are everywhere, there isn't enough of them to patrol every inch of Imperial space. The Skipray still has a lot of room to exist in SW as Cygnus based the Assault Gunboat on the shuttles. Skiprays from Sienar might be a stretch, but not everything made from Sienar has to be TIE-related either. Corporations have to naturally expand to different markets besides being restricted to one product.

[@hydrospanner]

While that last part of your comment is very true, I also feel like Sienar would have (rightly) identified the TIE line as their company's most iconic and successful product line...and as such, it'd only make sense for them to intentionally steer new offerings into that line's "branding". The Imperial Navy loves their TIE fighters and buys them by the thousands...it would likely go a long way toward the success of the GAT-18 to make its appearance remind Imperial commanders (and their Imperial contracting liaisons with purchasing power) of the reason they love Sienar so much.

[@ghostbeetle2950]

You, my friend, are a relic of a bygone era. The era of the EU, when SW-fans both within and outside of production were the guardians of consistency and solid world-building. A more civilized era. Rock on!

[@lachlanparker570]

We need the Legends continuity more than ever before. Filoni and Favreau would be ideal candidates to head this, of course.

[@ghostbeetle2950]

@@lachlanparker570 Agreed on the Legends part. The Disney sequels have to go.I am, however, sorely and utterly disappointed by Dave Filoni. He has proven beyond the shadow of any doubt that he is either unwilling or unable to write anything on his own. All of his own Disney-era stuff has been one affront after another to story-telling quality, nvm the canon! I am done with him. I would have been willing to accept Asohka into the New Republic era, but that was before I saw what they did with the Asohka series and Mando S3. And even trying to continue New Republic/New Jedi Order stories WITHOUT featuring the OT characters CENTERSTAGE is a complete and total no-go. I am done. Even if Andor, for example, turned out to actually be the best thing since sliced bread, I would still be done.

[@lukerope1906]

I love the Visual Dictionary/Incredible Cross-section page!

[@gigisead1621]

First video ive seen from you recommended to me in YEARS.

[@catfish552]

Excellent design! Republic Blastboat vs Separatist CR90 is also a very fun matchup.

[@majesticmsfc]

Great how fans produce may more creative designs than Disney. Congrats on another awesome design EC Henry.

[@v-Lex-v]

The TIE hatch on the top alone made me already fall in love with this design. God this thing is beautiful

[@drewgilbertson]

Nice update. Personally I love the Blastbost because it was one of the only ships to capitalize on critically underutilized ion weapons. You'd think that groups like pirates and bounty hunters, both of whom should have a vested interest in taking ships mostly intact, would love ion weapons. But no, it's always blasters and more blasters. So weather you are a merc, a pirate or a cops, the blastboat is a trim little ship with alot of punch.

[@Bolt33827]

Phenomenal design! EC Henry's videos just get more and more spectacular with the animations and renders.. this is some high quality work!

[@Spartan120]

Absolutely beautiful work, Henry! I still remember my jaw hitting the floor in Empire at War when I first saw a small group of these dive bomb a Star Destroyer and just tear it apart like it was nothing. Next thought was, "Damn, why didn't the Rebels use more of these?!"

[@agerothn]

This thing needs to be featured in a series. It's never been given the love it needs.

[@Emberheart_]

Now it finally feels like a BLAST boat with guns like that and its size.

[@Sporejunk]

i Love that re-designe your videos are awesome thanks for holding Star wars Up

[@TempestsFist]

Between you and Fractal, we have just about every ship, tank, walker, and fighter in the entirety of Star Wars modeled in superb detail. You're amazing!

[@admiralshackleford]

This video is fantastic. The model itself, the renders, graphics, even the Incredible Cross Sections style info page. It really feels like you, Angelos Karderinis, and Ansel Hsiao have done more to flesh out the Star Wars world than any recent movie or show

[@Angelos_K]

Cheers 🍻

[@waspoptic]

Henry out here single handedly carrying the Star Wars community

[@Dermenscha]

What a wonderful addition. Could easily see this fitting into either Legends or D-Canon with no effort. Nailed the feel of the Imperial aesthetic.

[@christopherduthu2452]

We’ve gone from cool lost ship revivals, to cool action shots/cinematics, to now short voice acted clips of action shots. Eventually lucasfilms is going to hire this man and we’ll get some of the best Star Wars media ever

[@Frenchguy261]

I love how you combined elements from Sienar's most iconic vehicles. Fantastic model and world building!

[@rahjoh780]

This is so good, I want to make a plastic model of it!

[@technologic21]

This is how I imagined the Sienar gunship from the illustration growing up. A big, beefy Lambda armed to the teeth with swiveling wings. The only comperable class would be Boba's patrol vessel, or a B-wing Tempest.

[@GreggStaley]

The Skipray has always been my favorite ship in Star wars and you sir have done it justice and absolutely love your Imperial version!

[@tetsubo57]

This would make a great protagonist ship.

[@baron7755]

The Imperials are the bad guys, they are the antagonists.

[@john091077]

I used to play the Star Wars flight sim games. This was the ship I'd love to be stationed on if in the Imperial Navy.

[@Bucketroo]

I'm into sci-fi for the ships, man. And EC Henry provides! Really digging this update. Gonna have to make a LEGO MOC of it at some point.

[@eminhuz9628]

Awesome design . You have made another amazing vehicle that is not seen in the movies but is needed by the empire. I would love to see a design similar to Cis HMP Droid Gunship . Empire really need a weapon that can seek out and destroy rebels without rest all day long

[@senorelroboto2]

I've always loved the skipray since I first saw it in the original Essential Guide. This is such a treat

[@brandonguthrie6511]

Every time one of these videos drops, all I can think is how awesome it would be to play a Star Wars RPG with Henry as the GM. He's so good with world building.

[@ethannorton564]

That opening animation is the most starwars syle I've seen in any fan animation ever. It's so crazy it holds up to ILM. Crazy good.

[@cjrecord]

That is a gorgeous ship!

[@chadnine3432]

I think part of the appeal of the Skipray is that it's a different design from the TIE/Lambda family. Not every design has to fall into only those two categories. And the Skipray is more of a patrol craft like a Space Coast Guard ship than a frontline military vessel. But any EC Henry variant is appreciated! :)

[@DerpsWithWolves]

I get vibes of a Star Wing and a B-Wing smashed together, with the Imperial Shuttle and rotating cockpit (relatively), and I love it... Fills a similar roll, too.

[@TheRedshirt93]

Amazing work! The ship would blend right in during the events of any movie! Any movie with the Empire, anyway. Also, that freighter @7:33 looks awfully familiar...

[@Angelos_K]

Soooooon

[@RocketmanBao]

Speaking of, do you happen to know what the name of that ship is?

[@TheRedshirt93]

@@RocketmanBao No. and Im going to be honest, I was hoping someone else would mention it.

[@RocketmanBao]

@@TheRedshirt93 Got it. Decided to do a reverse image search and it’s actually a mockup by EC Henry himself - it’s a rework of the Nonnah from an old Star Wars game

[@ronaldramirez5601]

Wohoooo I knew it! when you asked what vessel was! Great work!

[@AnakinSkyobiliviator]

I'm not usually a fan of adding TIE aesthetic to things to make them Imperial, but at the very least the radiator panels make sense in this context of massive reactor size!

[@DoomGhost001]

That is just AWESOME!!! Thank you.👍

[@weldonwin]

This is a gorgeous ship and I love mid-size Gunship type vessels, especially when you see them working together in packs

[@FreddyB41]

Very good, Henry! Very inspired and still respects the original design while making it fit better in the Imperial doctrine and style. Another redesign, another homerun!

[@judicialcollege4444]

This is so cool, I love fan lore being given attention.

[@alexanderleach3365]

OMG! This is totally awesome. Glad to see it as what it would look like in the movies and shows.

[@jamescampbell8482]

How on earth Lucasfilm has not approached you to hire you is beyond my understanding. I always look forward to your uploads these are amazing

[@Harry.said.so.]

Your channel is one of the main things that still keeps me loving star wars in this time where the mainstream content is so inconsistent, thank you friend.

[@IAmTheAce5]

Your lines of ships, including this and Imperial LAAT should’ve been the thing to breath new life into modern Star Wars

[@billcunigan288]

This description of a fan-made Starship was better storytelling than 90% of the stuff that Dignity has produced in the last 12 years excellent job.

[@Trek001]

And as was foretold in the ancient scrolls, EC Henry has returned to us with more knowledge BLESSED BE HIM

[@Larry-Lobster]

Wow that looks absolutely sick!

[@Snapper314]

You sir, have put far more thought and detail into the design of this ship than Disney & Lucasfilm have put into the last few projects and years!

[@janxspirit6707]

Very attractive design, makes me want a model of it! Ty.

[@blackbilly1965]

Nice job EC Great story telling

[@jasoncaldwell5627]

The Skipray Blastboat is very much like a Star Wars version of Trek's Runabout. It's the smallest design that serves as a corvette, customs speedboat and anti- piracy design. Great job updating this for Imperial use- though removing the dorsal turret leaves plenty of room for an astromech- something very useful for extended missions.

[@keith6706]

The ship is big enough there's no reason to have an astromech sticking out.

[@jasoncaldwell5627]

@keith6706 Why not? An Astromech is to be a ship's mechanic- doing repairs outside the ship, where a pilot can't reach. With an airlock and the interior being roomy, there's enough room for critical parts storage - giving the ship a longer mission profile.

[@DanteYewToob]

Woah! I absolutely love the Republic/Rebel version too! I’d love to see that as a protag ship in some SW project…

[@Happy_Tunafish22]

Thanks for sharing your design process with us! I really enjoyed seeing how your prototype idea changed, and hope you'll continue this look as you show more of your designs in the future.

[@JustTheJames]

The level of thought and detail that went into this design is mindblowingly impressive, you should be hella proud of this one!

[@davidponseigo8811]

I have always loved the Skipray so I am thrilled that others do also !

[@DanteYewToob]

2:44 Personally, I really like this version. It’s my favorite but the finished model is incredible as always and the quality is absolutely insane! EC Henry never cuts corners… except when he… cuts.. corners.. yknow, like on ships and stuff… lol

[@theaninova]

Absolutely beautiful design. It feels like a mix of 2001, Spaceballs and Star Wars.

[@CrazedGamer117]

My favourite Star Wars ship is here!

[@commissaradidas8004]

Henry has basically made a F-111 Aardvark in space and I love it

[@danielsalem7624]

Dude, you got me. Always :) Excellent work, again.

[@tonyjim8053]

Every time with your designs. 10/10 your truly skilled at what you do

[@jasoncaldwell5627]

YEAH BUDDY! My favorite SW ship design! We NEED to learn who these amazing designers from West End Games were so they can get the credit they so richly deserve. The Skipray first debuted in the Heir To The Empire series by Timothy Zhan. I had the chance to meet Zhan at a sci fi convention and ask him a hundred geeky questions about his Star Wars novels- and he told me that WEG created almost all of the tech stuff used in the novels (like the Skipray)

[@MysticalDragon73]

he's my favorite star wars author

[@jasoncaldwell5627]

@MysticalDragon73 Hell of a nice guy in person too. His wife was very sweet as well. I got to meet them on the first day of the show and it was DEAD, so I got to geek out and chat. I showed him a cool model diorama by my friend Hackcore of the Dreadnought ramming the Katana Fleet command ship.

[@TheBenji800]

Just put a turret on the back and this would be my perfect bounty hunter ship. Great work as always EC,back story always lives up to the excellent modeling.

[@Angelos_K]

Back turret was considered but it was dropped early in the development

[@ToawstTheToast]

oh he’s back hell yeah

[@MrShrog]

I love this new approach

[@Brickeater222]

Why does this video only have 100k views? It deserves 1 million!

[@MattRob1c]

Dude I love these video's so much. Not only the design of the ship but also the lore you add to them.

[@elitemook4234]

1:26 The Buff is forever

[@alphatyrant8677]

Its last pilot hasn’t been born yet. When we inevitably colonize the galaxy upon finding oil on Mars or something, Papa Buff will be the one kicking off the fight.

[@Johnlanzer]

Just waiting for new impulse engines to get it interplanetary and then warp nacelles to get it interstellar

[@Dr.Kenobi264]

I absolutely love your series on unknown vessels from movies! It is “S” tier Star Wars content.

[@madviola183]

Fantastic as always sir! Imperial Blastboat has been added to my headcanon. Thank you for the time you invested in this. It was not in vain.

[@SpiritWolf1966]

I enjoy all of EC Henry videos 🎉🎉😅😊