Headscratchers / Star Fox Command

• Fox uses the Arwing Mk. II, which is Jack of All Stats of ships and has a single laser. Fair enough. However, in a few missions it's possible to play as Peppy and James, and they pilot the Arwing (note the lack of "Mk. II"). What's the difference? Well, the Arwing Mk II has a single laser, while the Mk. I has a double laser. Let me repeat that. The only real difference is that the Arwing II has a weaker laser. No other differences. How is making your ship weaker an "upgrade"?
  • Fox is still technically a mercenary, while Peppy is drawing in a fat General's commission (And James may not exist, so I'm ignoring him in this argument). Fox's financial commitments are involved with owning and running both a personal starfighter and a carrier, while completely manning and maintaining both pretty much solo. Peppy has a regular wage, and probably a personal hangar and support crew. Fox might have commissioned a new Arwing model from Space Dynamics, but the situation is that he can't either maintain it at peak performance or purposely bought a cheaper model in order to save a few bucks. Peppy has no such financial limits. It's also largely hinted that Fox is still paying his father's debt on the first Great Fox, which is now debris. Fox's Arwing is newer, but not necessarily better, while Peppy probably could maintain his first generation Arwing and probably have it upgraded. Expanding further, the big problem with the "Mk. II" designation is that it's wrong. There's been several generations of Arwings: The first being those flown by the original Star Fox (James, Peppy, Dengar) and probably in the original Star Fox game (Which Assault still counts as canon). Ignoring SF2, SF64 introduced a whole new generation of Arwings with an all-range mode, and Adventures featured this same Arwing albeit stripped down to the bare bones (And Peppy and Slippy's sold off to earn some cash) in order to keep running costs and maintenance low. Assault featured another generation of Arwings (And Landmasters), bought for with the commission from the Sauria job, minus whatever Fox kept aside for other running costs and paying off daddy's fat debt. Three canonical generations of Arwings with different specifications have shown up in the games before the Mk. II. The Mk. II designation is wrong (Or correct in that it's a cheaper, more generalized version for commercial sale rather than specific contract commission) and should be ignored. In the Japanese version, Fox didn't fly an Arwing Mk. II, he flew an Arwing "Fire Fox", while Peppy stuck with his his classic Arwing. That's probably more accurate, and I personally propose that, while we don't strike Command from the canon, we strike the English version and keep the more accurate, makes-more-sense, Japanese Special Editionâ„¢.
  • Or, more simply, Peppy picked up the dual-laser powerup from the three bridges and gate.
  • To be honest, I just simply chalk up the Arwings as a case of You Don't Look Like You. I.e., it's the same Arwing each time until Command, each with a different mecha designer at the helm.
  • The question was answered yet ignored. Fox pilots an Arwing MK II, but there are more than two generations of Arwings.
    • It may be that the variations in Arwing design aren't new generations of Arwing, so much as modifications on an existing MK-I frame. As an analogue, it's similar to the RX-79 Ez 8. Still the same model, but extensively retuned and rebuilt with newer parts and improved technology (which would make sense, as getting new parts or having Slippy install new tech would be cheaper than commissioning an entire new model of ship).
  • Perhaps Fox pilots an Arwing Mk II... but the model that has been used (which the series calls simply "Arwing") is of a higher mark? If he's strapped for cash, buying a cheaper fighter might seem like a better option than having no fighter at all. Like buying a used car.
  • Mk-II doesn't always imply "better", either. Just newer. (See the Gundam Mk-II). Maybe Space Dynamics dialed back the armament of the Mk-II to put military brass at ease in the wake of the Lylat Wars.
• Lucy Hare. While Peppy being married and having a daughter isn't unlikely, why is it that she's the same age as Fox, and a skilled pilot, but only brought up NOW? Why hasn't she (and Vivian) been brought up before?
  • Probably because of one of three reasons, your to busy fighting for your life to chat about family and the like, Lucy was an astrophysics teacher (or something of the like) with apparently only bare minimum pilot training so she wouldn't be showing up for much in the way of military actions (and she apparently only gets in a plane to help Fox look for her dad) and Peppy might have been divorced at the time of Star Fox 64 with no visitation rights to his daughter so it might have been a sore spot for him at the time.
    • I was under the impression that Vivian died rather than divorcing Peppy. One of Command's endings, if memory serves, involves Peppy and Lucy reminiscing about Vivian, implying that she died at some point, probably before Star Fox 64. Most likely, the topic just never came up because they had other things to deal with, such as Andross's invasion in 64 and the Aparoids in Assault (though you'd think Peppy would show a little concern for his daughter with all the chaos going on).
• If you have Fox ask where Falco is, the spotlight shifts to Falco who is suddenly in command of his own copy of the Great Fox and Rob-64, where the hell did he get all that?
  • Internet.
• In Command, Krystal has two variations in game, one with her in a custom Arwing and wearing a flight suit akin to the one she wore in Assault, and one with her in a Cornerian army uniform and flying one of their standard ships. The former is used for routes where she rejoins Star Fox, and the latter is used for routes where she’s with the Cornerian army. But there are routes where she’s joined Star Wolf, who are wanted fugitives by Corneria, yet in those routes, she uses her Cornerian army variant. How does she have access to military equipment when she’s effectively a fugitive by proxy? Maybe the devs didn’t have the time and/or desire to give her a Star Wolf variant, but wouldn’t it at least make more sense for her to be using her personalised ship with them instead?