Nocturnal Dreams

"That's what you said when Biggs and Tank left."

It's a throw away line from Star Wars: A New Hope.  It's what Luke says to his uncle when his hopes of attending the academy are dashed once again.  We got to meet Luke's best friend Biggs.  He flew with him during the attack on the Death Star.  There were also scenes cut out of the beginning of the movie where he tells Luke in Anchorhead that he is going to join the Rebellion.  But who was that Tank guy?

In the almost 30 years of Star Wars fandom, just about every obscure character has been given a story and fleshed out in games, novels and comics... with the exception of Tank.  All we know is that Tank was a boyhood friend of Luke's that got to go to the Academy with Biggs while Luke stayed home.  This past year (though we did not know it at the time) we got our first look at Janek "Tank" Sunber's story in the "Empire" series of comics.  He is one of the few "good" officers that the imperials have.  He is not only effective, but fair minded with the idealism that comes with being young.  If Luke had gone to the academy, he might have ended up just like Tank. 

But Sunber sees many troubling things as an officer in the Imperial forces.  Captives that are taken as slaves after losing to the troopers trouble him.  "My grandfather was a slave, what would he say if he could see me now?"  Luke accidentally meets with Sunber while on a mission for the rebellion.  "No one calls me Tank anymore, I haven't been the biggest for a long time." he tells Luke.   Sunber learns of Luke and Biggs joining the rebellion and of Biggs death and it crushes him.  Both of his closest friends become lost to him in a matter of minutes.  Conflicted with what he knows, he approaches Darth Vader to tell him everything. 

Tank is a good man who follows his heart and ends up being on the wrong side of the war.  He does things because he thinks they are right, not because of self interest or the broader implications.  He puts a blaster to the head of a fellow officer to stop him from raping a prisoner.  He does what he thinks is necessary and risks his life to save the men that are under him.  He really believes that he is keeping the galaxy from falling into chaos.  There are bad things being done by people in the Imperial forces, but on the whole, the Empire is necessary.  He thinks he is a good guy.  His story is very compelling and you don't even know that he is "Tank" up until he bumps into Luke on a landing platform for a short lived joyous reunion. 


I am going to be cosplaying in an imperial officer uniform this summer, but rather than be an admiral or a non descript character, I would rather be this guy.  I am already 6'4" so I have Tank's size pretty down.  I have a few modifications I think I can make to the costume to make it more like those Sunber wears in the series.