An AV-21 Landspeeder
The AV-21 was a limited-production landspeeder built for raw straight-line speed rather than delicate handling. Long, low, and lean, the AV-21 featured a striking wasp-waisted profile that made the speeder look fast even while standing still. From the front, the speeder looked like a small starfighter, with a forward hull section that resembled a smaller, narrower Y-wing cockpit. A small, well-appointed, two-seat cockpit was located in the middle of the vehicle. However, other configurations of the speeder allowed for a capacity of up to three passengers in addition to the pilot. The vehicle's aft section was dominated by razor-thin control surfaces and two massive ion thrusters in streamlined outboard nacelles. Every panel was precision-made and hand-fitted to make as smooth and aerodynamically efficient a surface as possible in an effort to squeeze every ounce of speed out of the powerful engines. The AV-21's maximum altitude was 3 meters, and its top speed and acceleration rate was comparable to that offered by a Zephyr-G swoop or BARC speeder.
Rebels in an AV-21 under fire
Each AV-21 was almost completely hand-built in a special Mobquet facility as a limited-production landspeeder. This contributed to its rarity, and the Corellia Times reported on its reputation as being a speeder of unknown origin. The Galactic Empire originally assumed the rare and sleek vehicle to be a prototype for a Rebel Alliance fast attack vehicle. While the Rebel Alliance did make use of the speeder, the AV-21 was in actuality a racing vehicle highly sought after by speed freaks, racing aficionados, and various stripes of wealthy elite as both a status symbol and as a stunning example of the landspeeder builder's art. While the speeder retailed for a price of 6,500 credits, the waiting list to purchase a new one was over a standard year long. If one was found, it would often sell for two to four times the standard price. By around 1 ABY, schematics for the AV-21 fell into the possession of various factions, including the Rebel Alliance, Jabba Desilijic Tiure's criminal empire, and the Empire, the latter of which had their stormtroopers use larger transport versions of the speeder in at least some capacity.
These schematics were at times awarded to soldiers in recognition of their service. The Empire, for instance, bestowed AV-21 schematics to their recipients of various medals, as did the Rebel Alliance. Underlings of Jabba Desilijic Tiure likewise received these schematics as a gift for demonstrating courage, valor, and heroism in service of the Hutt crime lord.
So long as they had access to these schematics and the requisite technical knowledge, independent artisans and engineers were capable of producing AV-21 Landspeeders themselves. However, this still necessitated a supply of the various parts and metal materials, including a specialized AV-21 power plant. These power plants were sometimes ferried aboard CR90 Corellian corvettes, where they could be found stowed within the vessel's armory cabinets.
Imperial stormtroopers piloting an AV-21 with a larger seating capacity
The AV-21 Landspeeder was a vehicle in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts, prior to its closure on December 15, 2011. The vehicle was introduced on April 13, 2004 as part of the Publish 7 Droid Invasion update, which introduced a new series of instanced dungeon quests featuring the Corellian corvette. Nine quests were added in total, including three destroy missions, three assassination missions, and three rescue missions for Imperial, Rebel, and neutral players. Players who completed any one of these nine quests would receive an AV-21 Landspeeder schematic as a reward. Artisans could then construct the speeder with ferrous and non-ferous metals, in addition to another key component, an AV-21 power plant. These power plants could primarily be found by looting armory containers onboard the Corellian corvettes.
The AV-21 first appeared in Star Wars Galaxies.
With the release of Publish 25's New Game Enhancements on November 15, 2005, artisans were removed as a playable profession, however the vehicle could still be crafted by players of the newly-created engineering trader profession. Capitalization of the speeder's name is somewhat inconsistent between sources. Two Star Wars Galaxies website articles presented the name as "AV-21 landspeeder," as did the in-game description for the AV-21 schematic. However, the majority of sources present the name fully capitalized as "AV-21 Landspeeder," including the description for the actual in-game speeder itself, as well as the description for the AV-21 power plant.