HOME | DD

Description
"Highly experimental in nature, the true purpose of the Crossfield Class has never been fully understood. The majority of Starfleet records from the era have been sketchy at best. This is acerbated by idle speculation and numerous conspiracy theories by veterans, enthusiasts and media over the years. Allegedly, the scientific nature of the design was a cover story, and Crossfields were advanced vessels with tremendous range and speed. How this was achieved is still unknown."

Fresh from her refit, the USS Crossfield undergoes trial runs, testing her new propulsion system that remains classified.

Model by Gruftbestie
Max conversion by FleetAdmiral01

OOC: The idea of progress (specifically progress "at all costs") is going out of fashion it seems. An increasing amount of people tend to believe that yesterday was better than today. Which, by most standards, is objectively wrong. However, as good as progress can be, people are getting lost in the move with no clear vision of where things are heading. Now, certain fandomites (especially in the grassroots level) have made a strong case for canon-conservatism. Especially in Trek's modern era, where its creatives have an incessant habit of rewriting and rebooting things on a whim. So, let's assume for a second that Star Trek is a respectable institution, and there are those who feel that its original vision and message is being perverted/misused to subtly or blatantly forward a propaganda-like agenda. Ooooh, we're moving to tinfoil territory now, scary! Funnily enough, TOS apologists seem to be my harshest critics, possibly because I tend to break every rule in their little red books. Trekkies no longer want to be challenged, they'd rather be affirmed and pandered to like spoiled, juvenile children.

Enter the Crossfield Class, a bronze plated behemoth from rejected 1970's concept art. What could go wrong? The saucer starts off cheeky with Googie-era dome and accents. Classically inspired certainly, and fits the mold of the space age era. However, this is totally undone by gimmicky gaps in the saucer mid-section, in an attempt to add more windows and to emphasize the Spore Drive "kewl factor" (more on this later). Up next is the humongous and faceted stardrive section. Clearly aviation inspired, with many cues taken from the XB-70 bomber. Quite appropriately too as the Crossfield and Valkyrie are large, experimental projects that went nowhere. (Wait, so the Connie is the B-52 then?) Anyway, the deflector dish and its adjacent lightbars are a compromise between TOS and the glowy bits requirement of modern sci-fi. Meanwhile, the unnecessarily long nacelles are meant to "balance out" the Crossfield's profile. They're the standard DSC era triple bussards, with hard edged cowlings and features a glowing section quite similar to the Vesta Class. There's also a hint of the Excelsior proportions if one squints hard enough. Perhaps a small body/large nacelle ratio is indicative of a new propulsion method, who knows? Speaking of propulsion, the Spore Drive is "rule of kewl" turned up to 11, turning the ship into this mushroom powered space pizza cutter straight out of an adolescent fanfic. Eaglemoss also drops a massive 750m length as a cruel one up to the JJPrise's 725m. Overcompensating much?

So, just like the excessive hazing of the NX and JJprise, the internet fandom specialists have spared no expense nitpicking a design meant to fly the flag of the newest Trek series. Over-analysis, speculation, conjecture and canon browbeating light the fires of every little Trekkie. Registry nerds were also happy and perplexed with the NCC-10XX range (yay for dis-continuity). The bronze (non white) tinted hull also reeks of a misinformed attempt to merge with the ENT era, yuck! Simply put, the Crossfield is a Star Trek ship designed with an utterly 2010's hipster, generically pandering, retro (but not exactly) mindset. "Wow, we're so vintage and hardcore that we've based it on 1970's concept art!" - as if that gives the design some sort of credibility. On the other side of the spectrum, a quick internet search of "pre-TOS ships" reveals a monotonous plastic wasteland anyway. So it seems that Ralph McQuarrie's Planet of the Titans reject appears to have been vindicated after all.

PS
The lonely pure-ist fanbois like his highness Princess Metlesits are crying in the corner. I'll *respect* my elders when they get their act together and if they actually deserve it. Until then, try to keep up old man.

Description
"Highly experimental in nature, the true purpose of the Crossfield Class has never been fully understood. The majority of Starfleet records from the era have been sketchy at best. This is acerbated by idle speculation and numerous conspiracy theories by veterans, enthusiasts and media over the years. Allegedly, the scientific nature of the design was a cover story, and Crossfields were advanced vessels with tremendous range and speed. How this was achieved is still unknown."

Fresh from her refit, the USS Crossfield undergoes trial runs, testing her new propulsion system that remains classified.

Model by Gruftbestie
Max conversion by FleetAdmiral01

OOC: The idea of progress (specifically progress "at all costs") is going out of fashion it seems. An increasing amount of people tend to believe that yesterday was better than today. Which, by most standards, is objectively wrong. However, as good as progress can be, people are getting lost in the move with no clear vision of where things are heading. Now, certain fandomites (especially in the grassroots level) have made a strong case for canon-conservatism. Especially in Trek's modern era, where its creatives have an incessant habit of rewriting and rebooting things on a whim. So, let's assume for a second that Star Trek is a respectable institution, and there are those who feel that its original vision and message is being perverted/misused to subtly or blatantly forward a propaganda-like agenda. Ooooh, we're moving to tinfoil territory now, scary! Funnily enough, TOS apologists seem to be my harshest critics, possibly because I tend to break every rule in their little red books. Trekkies no longer want to be challenged, they'd rather be affirmed and pandered to like spoiled, juvenile children.

Enter the Crossfield Class, a bronze plated behemoth from rejected 1970's concept art. What could go wrong? The saucer starts off cheeky with Googie-era dome and accents. Classically inspired certainly, and fits the mold of the space age era. However, this is totally undone by gimmicky gaps in the saucer mid-section, in an attempt to add more windows and to emphasize the Spore Drive "kewl factor" (more on this later). Up next is the humongous and faceted stardrive section. Clearly aviation inspired, with many cues taken from the XB-70 bomber. Quite appropriately too as the Crossfield and Valkyrie are large, experimental projects that went nowhere. (Wait, so the Connie is the B-52 then?) Anyway, the deflector dish and its adjacent lightbars are a compromise between TOS and the glowy bits requirement of modern sci-fi. Meanwhile, the unnecessarily long nacelles are meant to "balance out" the Crossfield's profile. They're the standard DSC era triple bussards, with hard edged cowlings and features a glowing section quite similar to the Vesta Class. There's also a hint of the Excelsior proportions if one squints hard enough. Perhaps a small body/large nacelle ratio is indicative of a new propulsion method, who knows? Speaking of propulsion, the Spore Drive is "rule of kewl" turned up to 11, turning the ship into this mushroom powered space pizza cutter straight out of an adolescent fanfic. Eaglemoss also drops a massive 750m length as a cruel one up to the JJPrise's 725m. Overcompensating much?

So, just like the excessive hazing of the NX and JJprise, the internet fandom specialists have spared no expense nitpicking a design meant to fly the flag of the newest Trek series. Over-analysis, speculation, conjecture and canon browbeating light the fires of every little Trekkie. Registry nerds were also happy and perplexed with the NCC-10XX range (yay for dis-continuity). The bronze (non white) tinted hull also reeks of a misinformed attempt to merge with the ENT era, yuck! Simply put, the Crossfield is a Star Trek ship designed with an utterly 2010's hipster, generically pandering, retro (but not exactly) mindset. "Wow, we're so vintage and hardcore that we've based it on 1970's concept art!" - as if that gives the design some sort of credibility. On the other side of the spectrum, a quick internet search of "pre-TOS ships" reveals a monotonous plastic wasteland anyway. So it seems that Ralph McQuarrie's Planet of the Titans reject appears to have been vindicated after all.

PS
The lonely pure-ist fanbois like his highness Princess Metlesits are crying in the corner. I'll *respect* my elders when they get their act together and if they actually deserve it. Until then, try to keep up old man.