The Art of Wing Commander Arena - Part Sixty-Five (February 5, 2008)

Bandit LOAF

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
This 'Terran Commander' image was drawn as part of a single player campaign concept. Wing Commander fans everywhere will know his name - Admiral Vance Richards.


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This is part of a series of beautiful Wing Commander Arena concept images graciously provided by Gaia Industries. You can find the original article here. You can thank the guys at Gaia by picking up Street Trace NYC on Xbox Live Arcade!


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Original update published on February 5, 2008
 
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Ah, if it isn't the infamous Admiral Richards... You're swarthier than I expected.

I like the space-buccaneer prosthetic leg; that's from when his flagship goes down at the battle at Baka Kar, or my memory leaving out something?
 
Interesting. I don't recall Vance as having lost a lower leg. I'm guessing that's something that happened during his incredible escape from Baka Kar or something that came later.

He certainly looks good in his old age. It really shows the superhuman effort the people at Gaia put into this seemingly small project. Great jobs guys!
 
Really nice piece!

I must admit that I imagined Adm. Richards as a "nice old man" - a kind of "innocent", much less sour looking appearance which hides his true nature as an intel. admiral.

But that's an excellent piece none-the-less (and of course a few things might have happen since Baka-Kar which made him such a sour-face).

I especially like that prosthetic leg of his :).
 
HammerHead said:
I must admit that I imagined Adm. Richards as a "nice old man" - a kind of "innocent", much less sour looking appearance which hides his true nature as an intel. admiral.
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Forstschen and Keith are pretty sparse with descriptions of him; he's usually described as a bald, lanky, tired-looking old man, if that. (Forstchen from my reading of him is pretty sparse with descriptions in general, but that comes off even more when Richards is concerned.) I think there's a passage in False Colors during his introduction where Bear, about to meet him for the first time, thinks about how shifty the popular image of him is, which contrasts to his somewhat unimposing actual presense.

That said, this portrait and mannerisms fit extraordinarily well with the overall background and 'feel' that Arena in this incarnation was going for - a very kinetic, active, comic-book sense of tension that comes out in a lot of these sketches; but I don't think that any of them really capture that feeling as well as this piece right here, with the spook-turned-swashbuckling-space-hero (fighting-admiral?) transformation. I'd like to have been able to see Kruger in this style; the man's craggy demeanor seems to fit this artist perfectly.

As for appearance; well, apart from complexion the one thing that came to mind was the rather large and imposing nose (something which I'd think would be hard for others to miss unless Richards, good spy that he is, is trying out a new look). His face in general brings to mind gruff Admiral Wilford, as well as a number of other actors and/or historical personages that slip my mind.

(Actually, his overall bearing reminds me somewhat of James Mason.)
 
He looks funny. :) I like it though I would have trouble taking him entirely seriously. Like Klaus Steiner from SL...

So, he was supposed to be still alive in 2701? In his 90s?
 
Mekt-Hakkikt said:
He looks funny. :) I like it though I would have trouble taking him entirely seriously. Like Klaus Steiner from SL...

So, he was supposed to be still alive in 2701? In his 90s?
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He escapes Baka Kar and eventually returns to the Landreich to add Bondarevsky in the war against the Confederation. He's also mentioned in the TPoF novel as being a part of the Landreich still. He's a tough guy to kill off :D
 
I didn't want to imply that. I only wondered what age he would be in 2701. I guessed that during AS he was mid-twenty and made a quick and dirty "+70 years" calculation.
 
I think I read somewhere that there were numerous health breakthroughs... like the cure for almost all cancers, and also some type of rejuvanation aging process thing too that makes you live a bit longer like 40+ years without the aging look. so if 80 was the average death age it came out to like around 120 or somethin Correct if wrong.
 
The more time I've had to look this rendering the more and more I think it fits my image of Vance. Although, the "peg leg" seems like something that he would have done with some prodding from Kruger. I can see Kruger now, "Vance we're living on the fringes of civilization and we're viewed as pirates and scoundrels by Confed, so why not truly play the role?"

We know Confed has the ability to generate plasti-limbs (If I'm remembering the terminology correctly) as Duke Grecko and Bondarevsky both had arms replaced and from the descriptions (especially Bondarevsky's in FC which is really great) they are meant to look as real as possible. Seeing Vance with the peg leg though just seems right. Kruger and Vance go way back and with all the time Vance has spent with Kruger it really fits perfectly.
 
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