Onyx Cinder

Onyx Cinder

TheOnyx Cinder was aGalactic Republicstarship utilized forcredit chip transportation from a Republicmint. At some point, it was stolen by the notoriouspirateTak Rennod. Based inSkull Ridge Mountain on theplanetLanupa, Rennod ruled the spacelanes for years, and ultimately used the ship to bypass theBarrier of the mint planetAt Attin, but the mission resulted in the death of the entire crew after a mutiny and theCinder became buried in a forest. The only surviving crew member was thedroidSM-33.

In9 ABY, ayoungling namedWim discovered it and, together with three other childrenNeel,Fern andKB, investigated the ship, in the process accidentally activating itsengines andhyperdrive and jumped intohyperspace. Thegroup of kids then forged an alliance with SM-33 and aForce-sensitive man calledJod Na Nawood to find their way back home and avoid aband of pirates led byCaptainBrutus.^[4]

Description[]

TheOnyx Cinder was a medium-sizedstarship similar to alight freighter with achrome-coloredhull. It had ahyperdrive and eightengines located at the rear, four of which were stationary and four others that could be rotated 90 degrees for landing. The front of the ship was covered with ablack-colored hull sleeve with four white stripes and two additional engines^[3] which gave it the appearance of an older, damaged starship;^[4] this could be fully blown off using theEmergency hull demolition sequencer.^[3] TheCinder was also equipped with four extendable landing legs, twoentry ramps (one at the front and one at the rear), and two dorsallaser cannonturrets. The hull sleeve contained five larger dual laser cannons. Three of these were mounted on the starboard side, with two on top and one on bottom. A fourth one was located on the bottom of the port side, and the other was mounted on the side of the cockpit.^[4]

Itscockpit had a bigwindow at the front and two other different sized windows at its sides. It contained a seat for the pilot and copilot, as well as one for a navigator .^[1] By around9 ABY,^[8] theOnyx Cinder was almost completely buried in dirt,roots grew from its overhead and smallanimals lived in it.SM-33 had become corroded and decrepit, walking with a limp as the result of the loss of his left foot. Theskeletal remains of two individuals were found in a compartment, one pinned to a bulkhead by aknife in its chest.^[1] Despite its bulky appearance, theOnyx Cinder was quite maneuverable, able to evade and outrun pursuers.^[4]

History[]

Infiltrating the mint[]

TheOnyx Cinder originally belonged to theGalactic Republic, being utilized as thetransport for one of its hiddenCreditchipmints. As such, it was uniquely able to bypass the protectiveBarrier envelopingplanets likeAt Attin andAt Achrann, which normally destroyed any starships attempting to pass through. At some point, legendarypirateTak Rennod, researching the legend of the "treasure planet" At Attin discovered its nature as a Republic mint and stole theCinder to penetrate its defenses and infiltrate the planet.^[6] Rennodarmored the ship^[5] with an additional hull sleeve and extra engines and weapons^[3] and hired a well-trainedpirate crew for the mission, making sure to record his plans in his captain's log inSkull Ridge Mountain. After leaving hislair behind, he,SM-33 and his crew made for At Attin, however, a mutiny followed, during which Rennod killed his entire crew but was fatally wounded byhis concubine and perished, with the ship successfully going through the barrier, but crash-landing into the surface, leaving SM-33 trapped inside the upside-down wreckage for years.^[5]

Re-discovery by the Skeleton Crew[]

In9 ABY,^[8] a child from At Attin,Wim, discovered the entrance to theCinder buried in the forest while taking a short-cut tohis school. Believing it to be the gate to aJedi Temple, Wym took his friendNeel there later to dig it out; they were however followed byFern andKB who called "claimsies" on the door, promising to leave whatever was inside for the boys in exchange for digging the entrance out. The boys reluctantly complied, and the group entered theCinder. The door was however locked behind them, forcing them to look for a power source to re-open it. KB found one of theCinder's engines, realizing that the structure was in fact a spaceship, and asking the kids not to touch anything. However Wim had already found the cockpit and pressed the start button, causing the ship's engines to ignite, righting it and lifting off. Despite the kids; attempts to stop it, the ship took off and jumped tohyperspace.^[1]

Upon exiting hyperspace far away from At Attin, the kids panicked, not knowing how to return. At this point, SM-33 appeared, having been reactivated along with the ship. After initially attempting to attack the kids due to perceiving them as infiltrators to Tak Rennod's ship, he was convinced by Fern that she had in fact been the one who killed him, causing the droid to recognize her as the new rightful captain of the ship. Fern then ordered SM-33 to return the ship to At Attin; having been ordered by Rennod not to reveal its location to anyone, SM-33 claimed he couldn't say he had heard of the place and pointed out the need for the ship to be repaired due to sustaining heavy damages from years of abandonment. Following his advice, the kids had 33 fly the ship to theshadowportBorgo Prime, where the ship was docked and the kids disembarked to find directions to At Attin. After briefly being kidnapped bySilvo's pirates due to revealing their old Republic credits in acantina,^[9] the kids were able to escape back to the ship with SM-33 and fellow prisonerJod Na Nawood.^[4]

Adventures with Nawood[]

Nawood took the kids' claims about At Attin seriously, having heard of the treasure planet legend himself, and agreed to take the kids home as long as he was rewarded for his actions with part of the planet's treasure. To find the coordinates of the planet, Nawood took the kids to theObservatory Moon to meet withastronomerKh'ymm. While she managed to discover the coordinates of anotherJewel of the Old Republic, At Achrann, thanks to the kids' descriptions of their home, Kh'ymm also called in aNew Republic patrol suspecting that Jod had kidnapped the kids. The patrol'sT-65B X-wing starfighters engaged theCinder, trying to force it to land without harming the kids, but Jod had Fern and Wim man theturrets and fire back. In the ensuing battle, the Skeleton Crew managed to damage one of the twostarfighters and jump to At Achrann.^[4]

After arriving and landing in At Achrann, the kids had SM-33 keep Nawood to the ship and went out to explore. The starship was however discovered by aHattan patrol, forcing Nawood to spend all of the kids' credits he had previously stolen to buy theireopiees and rescue the kids from theTroik. While on the planet, the Skeleton Crew and Jod discovered SM-33's programming about not revealing At ttin to anyone, as well as his backstory with Rennod,^[10] realizing that the coordinates for the treasure planet could only be on Rennod's lair under the Skullridge Mountain. The Crew arrived atLanupa, but to SM-33's surprise the mountain had been turned into aluxury hotel, which didn't allow any children in the premises. Rennod took over, pretending that theCinder was the transport of the Wise Elders of theBratric system and dressing the kids accordingly.^[5]

A new ship[]

The crew then made their way to Rennod's lair under the mountain, pursued by Nawood's old crew which had been alerted byPokkit. Inside the lair they found Rennod's treasure and log, containing the coordinates to At Attin, at which point Rennod used his right to challenge Fern's captainship, forcing her to surrender and taking over theOnyx Cinder as its captain.^[5] Before he could escape with it however he was detained byGunter and taken prisoner on board hisfrigate. Abandoned on thehangar, theCinder was taken by the hotel crew to be scrapped in the trash fields by a massivescrapper barge. The kids were able to reach the ship on time and KB took over the controls while Wim went to the turret to shoot the barge off, but the engines weren't powerful enough to escape and the barge got a hold of the forward hull, tearing it off. With all other measures exhausted, Fern pressed theEmergency hull demolition sequencer, which blew off the armored hull sleeve the barge was attached to and allowed theCinder to remove itself from the wreck and fly away, escaping certain doom.^[3]

Having finally obtained the coordinates for At Attin, the kids jumped directly to it, but upon arrival they were trapped by the pirate frigate'stractor beam, as Nawood had taken the pirate crew there first. Having realized that the ship was the key to entering the planet, Nawood had his pirates board it and SM-33 search for the beacon that allowed it to pass through the barrier field. SM-33 pointed out that Nawood was the captain of the pirate frigate now, and as such couldn't captain another ship. Wim saw the chance to claim captainship on theCinder again, but Nawood claimed it first. Fern desperately called "unclaimsies" to reclaim the ship for kids only, and although this wasn't part of thePirate's Code, SM-33 complied, attacking the pirates and kicking them off the ship. Despite the pirates attempting to pursue them through the barrier, their ships were destroyed by the planet's defenses with only the Cinder making it through.^[6]

Back to At Attin[]

After the ship cleared the field, Nawood revealed himself, having boarded theCinder before it left the pirate frigate, sliced SM-33's head off withTak Rennod's lightsaber and threatened to kill the kids' parents if they intervened. The planet's droids recognized the ship as belonging to a Republic envoy having arrived to collect a credit shipment and allowed theCinder to land on the central landing platform, welcoming him and taking him directly to the vault.^[6] He claimed to be both a Republic Emissary and Jedi. As the droids loaded theCinder, Nawood asked to taken toThe Supervisor.^[7]

After Nawood destroyed the Supervisor, Wim,Wendle, andKB were able to free theOnyx from the docking clamps. KB was able to repairSM-33 and the two of them were able to fly the ship past Nawood's pirates' fighters and theBarrier. KB was able to contactKh'ymm and she was able to contact theNew RepublicDefense Force. Hit by fire from the pirates, theOnyx was no longer capable of being airborne and crashed into theAt Attin's Middle School. However, thanks to the skills of KB and SM-33, the landing was somewhat cushioned by last-second maneuvers before impacting a building, allowing all aboard to survive.^[7]

Behind the scenes[]

TheOnyx Cinder appears in theDisney+ television seriesStar Wars: Skeleton Crew. It was first identified in a listing byGerman retailerMüller revealing theLEGO set75374 The Onyx Cinder.^[11] TheOnyx Cinder was the show's largest practical set, with large parts being fully built and having working technology and mechanics.^[12] Speaking toTech Radar ahead of the series premier in an interview published the day after its release,Skeleton Crew co-creatorChristopher Ford affirmed the vessel's name to be theOnyx Cinder and that there was a story behind it. According to Ford, whoever named the ship "was trying to make it sound cool."^[13] On April 24, 2025, it was mentioned by John Goodson, the maker of the Onyx Cinder model, that the ship had been buried on At Attin for 100 years.^[14] The digital version of the ship was modeled byJay Machado ofIndustrial Light and Magic with textures painted byKim Vongbunyong.^[15]

Appearances[]

• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — "This Could Be a Real Adventure"(First appearance, simultaneous with "Way, Way Out Past the Barrier")
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — "Way, Way Out Past the Barrier"
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — "Very Interesting, As an Astrogation Problem"
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — "Can't Say I Remember No At Attin"
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — "You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates"
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — "Zero Friends Again"
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — "We're Gonna Be In So Much Trouble"
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — "The Real Good Guys"

Sources[]

This out-of-universe list is incomplete. You can help Wookieepedia byexpanding it.

• LEGOStar Wars(Set:75374 The Onyx Cinder)(First identified asOnyx Cinder)
• Skeleton Crew | Official Trailer | Streaming December 3 on Disney+ on the officialStar WarsYouTube channel(backup link)
• Brand-NewSkeleton Crew Trailer and Key Art Revealed onStarWars.com(backup link)
• WithStar Wars: Skeleton Crew, Jon Watts and Chris Ford are Ready for Their Own Pirate Adventure onStarWars.com(backup link)
• Skeleton Crew | Official Trailer | Disney+ on the officialStar WarsYouTube channel(backup link)
• Star Wars: Card TraderSet:Skeleton Crew - Patch Relics, Card:The Onyx Cinder
• Welcome to the Worlds ofStar Wars: Skeleton Crew: An Interview with Doug Chiang and Oliver Scholl onStarWars.com(backup link)
• The Inside Story ofStar Wars: Skeleton Crew's Creature Effects onStarWars.com(backup link)
• Matte Paintings and Models: The Visual Effects ofStar Wars: Skeleton Crew onStarWars.com(backup link)
• Directed By… : Meet the Filmmakers ofStar Wars: Skeleton Crew onStarWars.com(backup link)
• "Model Behavior: Inside theOnyx Cinder" —Star Wars Insider 231
• 'Star Wars: Skeleton Crew': ILM's Visual Effects Adventure from the Observatory Moon to Lanupa and back to At Attin onIndustrial Light & Magic'sofficial website(backup link)
• Onyx Cinder in theDatabank(backup link)

Notes and references[]

External links[]

• LEGO Star Wars 75374 Skeleton Crew Die Onyx Cinder (in German) onMüller (July 29,2024) (backup link archived onJuly 29,2024)(First identified as Onyx Cinder)