Battle of Yavin (Part IV):  Gold Squadron

If you missed any parts of the series, click below...

PART I: Alliance Forces at Yavin 6/18/2018
PART II: Red Squadron Pilots 6/19/2018 (Updated 11/11/2022)
PART III: Figures and Toys of Red Squadron 6/20/2018 (Updated 10/26/2022)
PART IV: Gold Squadron 6/21/2018
PART V: Blue and Green Squadrons 6/27/2018 (Updated 10/26/2022)

Like Red, Gold underwent some changes when Disney dumped the EU. As you'll see, that move left a bigger mark on Dutch Vander's squadron than it did on Garven Dries's.





In the old Expanded Universe, there were 7 named pilots, all of whom were represented by live action actors in A New Hope - with the exception of Keyan Farlander. He was spotted later in Return of the Jedi during the Home One briefing scene, wearing a B-wing flight suit. Keyan is notable because the EU designated him as the pilot of the lone surviving Y-Wing streaking away before the Death Star exploded.





In Rogue One, Gold Squadron consisted of 9 Y-Wing Fighters. Only Gold Leader, Jon "Dutch" Vander, is familiar from the OT.





As with Red Squadron, Disney's purge of the old EU meant that the names and/or backstories of several of the Gold Squadron pilots changed.

Gold Squadron was called upon to fly against the Death Star shortly after the Battle of Scarif. Vander was in command again, but with one less fighter than at Scarif.

Gold Four, Lieutenant Lepira, has not been confirmed as existing in the new canon. It doesn't mean he's been wiped out, but he's not yet referenced in any new canon sources.

In both timelines, there is only one survivor of the Battle of Yavin. Unlike with Red Squadron, the identity of Gold's lone survivor was changed from Keyan Farlander (who currently does not exist in the New Canon) to Evaan Verlaine, a female pilot from Alderaan. Verlaine was apparently in Iden Versio's crosshairs near the end of the battle. (Versio was retconned as present at Yavin, after her character's creation for Battlefront II). However, the Death Star's explosive destruction distracted Versio, and Verlaine escaped.

As for Farlander, your Vintage Collection figure of him isn't necessarily rendered moot. While the named character may not yet have been re-canonized, he's still an ROTJ backgrounder. Hasbro never made a figure of him in his off screen X-wing gear, so your Gold Squadron set is not affected by this particular change.





While all 7 pilots were identified in the old EU, only one astromech droid was known: Lieutenant Lepira's R5-F7. Interestingly, we have some information on 2 new droids. Dutch Vander, who participated at Scarif, had his droid canonized in the Rogue One Essential Guide: the all metallic R2-BHD "Tooby". This is interesting because there is a silver/grey droid dome in some behind the scenes shots from A New Hope that is co-piloting Gold One. In the short story "Sparks", from the anthology "From a Certain Point of View", we get the nickname of Dex Tiree's R5 astromech, although neither the full alpha-numeric designation, nor the color scheme.

As for Hasbro, we see that there's a lot of work to do...





While all the pilots of Red Squadron are named in both EU and New Canon, Gold Squadron was only complete in the old EU and is now missing some pilots in the new canon. Two characters are new, but are not identified as having live action film actors represent them in either Rogue One or A New Hope.

Jon "Dutch" Vander: TBS (orange) - Basic [2013]
Dex Tiree: TPM3D - Yavin Pilot Pack [2012]
Lepira: TAC [Toys R Us - 2006]*
Davish Krail: TPM3D - Yavin Pilot Pack [2012]
Unknown Pilot: POTF2 - Y-wing Fighter [Target - 2000]**





Like Lepira, his EU yellow and white droid, R5-F7, has been neither confirmed nor wiped out. The red and blue domed droid that comes fixed with the POTF2 Y-Wing has never been identified by name, nor canonized.

Gold Leader: R2-BHD "Tooby" only exists as a Disney Droid Factory Figure. WARNING WARNING WARNING! Bootleg Figure Approaching! Boooo to the bootleg figures!
Gold 2: R5-?? "Sparks" is identified by name in From A Certain Point of View, but no color scheme is mentioned.
Gold 4: R5-F7 - We'll go with it, since the new canon hasn't actually vaporized this droid.*

As we mentioned in an earlier installment of this series, a tremendous (Legends) resource for astromechs can be found on Angelfire.com.

Or, none of this matters because of this shot:







Gold 4 ???: Y-wing Fighter - TAC - [TRU-2007]*
Gold ???: Y-wing Fighter - POTF2 - [Target-2000]**























Notes:

*While not officially cannon, it's not officially not canon either. I'll keep Lepira, R5-F7, and their Y-Wing starfighter in my fleet as Gold 4 until someone in a position of authority tells us otherwise.

**For the POTF2 Y-Wing, neither the droid nor the pilot were ever named or canonized. But if you really want, they can fit in your collection as part of Gold 6 or 8, as the "unidentified pilots", as long as you keep the pilot well hidden inside the cockpit, since it's a terrible figure.

PART V coming soon...

PART V: Blue and Green Squadrons

---

comments powered by Disqus