#death star prototype

[alphamecha-mkii]

The Maw Installation by Erick Herand

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Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels - Imperial Department of Military Research Death Star Prototype

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The Maw by ThyBlake

[vintagegeekculture]

I am sometimes sorry that Star Wars de-canonized some of their supplementary materials, like the comics and tie-in novels, because many of them had intriguing ideas. 

This for instance, is the Death Star Prototype, created as proof-of-concept before work began on the actual Death Star, and lost at a secret Manhattan Project-like installation, where it was rediscovered by Imperial Officers after the Empire fell. 

Side note: since everything in Star Wars, no matter how trivial, was formerly considered canon, there was a theory that the “Death Star” we saw in the Star Tours ride was actually a previously unknown third Death Star, since it was set after Return of the Jedi.