Lieutenant Heff Tobber was a human pilot who initially served the Alliance to Restore the Republic as a transport pilot for their rebel outpost on the planet Crait. After helping to evacuate the base when it was abandoned, he transferred to Blue Squadron on the moon Yavin 4 and trained with X-wing starfighters before beginning to pilot UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support crafts. Tobber became an expert U-wing pilot and was popular and highly sought after due to his humor and booming voice.
In 1 BBY, Blue Squadron was scrambled to aid rebels stealing the Death Star plans on the planet Scarif. Tobber flew an X-wing under the callsign Blue Eight during the engagement, in which the squadron was sent to the planet's surface through a Shield Gate; however, he was not among the pilots that made it through before the gate shut. Determined to still do his part, he then joined the rebel Green Squadron in starfighter combat. Although Blue Squadron took heavy casualties in the battle, some who survived returned to Yavin once the plans had been successfully stolen.
Heff Tobber was a human who joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic and initially contributed to the effort by acting as a transport pilot and carrying various materials and supplies to the modest rebel outpost on the planet Crait where he was stationed. When the base was hurriedly abandoned between 3 BBY and 2 BBY, Tobber assisted in the evacuation. He and the other rebels left most of the facilities, including the locked down and powered off comms station and a garage full of skim speeders, intact with the hopes of returning to salvage them at a later date with heavy transport equipment.
Tobber was one of the most popular rebel U-wing pilots but could also pilot an X-wing.
Tobber was transferred to the Massassi Group of rebels based out of the Great Temple on the moon Yavin 4 and became part of Blue Squadron, a large, mixed starfighter squadron under the command of General Antoc Merrick. Tobber initially trained in X-wing starfighters but was then transferred to pilot the Alliance's newly acquired UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support craft and became one of the most popular U-wing pilots around due to his sense of humor and booming voice, earning renown and the rank of lieutenant.
After joining Blue Squadron, Tobber sent a report on the evacuation of the Crait base to General Jan Dodonna of Alliance High Command, outlining the state the base was left in and dismissing concerns about scavengers due to how secure and uncharted the location was. This report was later included in the collection of non-electronic documents known as The Rebel Files.
Shortly after part of Blue Squadron was sent on a mission to the planet Eadu in 1 BBY, Tobber was scrambled, along with the entirety of the squadron, to join an Alliance fleet led by Admiral Raddus that was traveling to the Scarif system. This was to aid a group of rebels who had defied a decision by the Alliance Cabinet and infiltrated the Galactic Empire's Citadel Tower on the planet Scarif to steal the plans to the Death Star superweapon.
Heff Tobber flew as Blue Eight during the Battle of Scarif.
Tobber flew under the callsign Blue Eight in an X-wing starfighter during the engagement and, upon arriving in the Scarif system from hyperspace, he and the rest of Blue Squadron were directed by Raddus to head to Scarif's surface before the Empire closed its Shield Gate, the sole opening in a planetary shield around the world. Before they began their descent, Merrick gave the order to follow his lead, with Tobber among those who acknowledged the order.
As Blue Squadron began diving through the Shield Gate, the Imperial crew on board the gate began to close it before all of the rebel starfighters could make it through. After Merrick's craft and eleven other X-wings, plus a U-wing piloted by Laren Joma, made it through, the gate fully sealed, causing Vangos Grek and two other Blue Squadron X-wing pilots to crash into it and perish. Tobber, alongside Jaldine Gerams, Barion Raner, and at least one other pilot, did not make it through in time but safely pulled away before a collision.
Heff Tobber was among the pilots who were trapped outside the Shield Gate after it closed.
Separated from their squadron, the Blue Squadron pilots outside the shield joined the rest of the Alliance fleet in battling the Imperial fleet above Scarif, with Tobber joining the X-wings of Green Squadron in orbital combat against enemy fighters. The Alliance fleet eventually succeeded in destroying the Shield Gate and powering down the planetary shield, allowing the rebels on the ground to transmit the Death Star plans to the fleet; however, all of the Blue Squadron pilots who had passed through the gate perished during the fighting or when the Death Star itself arrived and destroyed the Citadel Tower.
Some of the remaining Blue Squadron pilots did escape with the rebel fleet and returned to Yavin following the battle, but between Eadu and Scarif, Blue and Red Squadrons had lost nineteen pilots and crew between them. So few Blue Squadron pilots were left that when the Death Star then attacked Yavin in 0 BBY, not long after Scarif, the Alliance was unsure if it could even field the squadron and ultimately only scrambled Red Squadron, Green Squadron, and Gold Squadron.
Heff Tobber had a booming voice and a good sense of humor that made him extremely popular with the soldiers that he transported. After evacuating the Crait base, he was confident it would remain unscavenged, and after failing to pass through the Shield Gate at Scarif, he was determined to still play his part in the battle and had to settle for supporting Green Squadron. Tobber had light skin, brown hair, and brown eyes.
Tobber was at ease flying an X-wing starfighter, and could do so when circumstances required, but turned his skills toward piloting a U-wing. His previous experience running transport vehicles then helped him become an expert, making him one of the most sought-after and prominent U-wing pilots in the rebellion.
Heff Tobber's U-wing flight helmet
As part of Blue Squadron, Tobber wore a blue flight suit, a white flight harness, and a white flak vest. His U-wing piloting outfit then included a white high-atmosphere specialist life support pack worn over the vest and a black and red flight helmet with an integral comlink and intercom link. The helmet was marked with a "v" in a yellow circle then two "v"s in red circles on each side, marks that fellow rebel pilot Wion Dillems used to represent twenty enemy kills. While piloting an X-wing during the Battle of Scarif, Tobber instead wore a gray Diagnostech life support unit and a K-22995 light flight helmet with a red and white chequered pattern that also decorated the helmets of fellow rebel pilots Dillems, Puck Naeco, and Wes Janson.
Heff Tobber was portrayed by First Assistant Director Toby Hefferman.
Heff Tobber was created for the 2016 Anthology Series film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and was portrayed by the film's First Assistant Director, Toby Hefferman. Hefferman initially wore a U-wing pilot costume that was cut other than its use in still photography but, after growing a much thicker mustache, Hefferman later wore a different rebel pilot outfit to film a scene as an X-wing pilot that was included in the final cut.
The character was identified with a tuckerization of Hefferman's name in the film's accompanying reference book Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide, which was written by Pablo Hidalgo and alluded to Tobber appearing as both an X-wing and U-wing pilot. Hidalgo also later confirmed that Hefferman's U-wing and X-wing costumes both represented the same character. The seventy-first issue of the De Agostini magazine Star Wars Helmet Collection—released September 19, 2018—erroneously describes Tobber as flying a U-wing at Scarif despite him being depicted in a X-wing in the film.
- Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide
- Star Wars: Rogue One: Ultimate Sticker Encyclopedia
- Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game — U-wing Expansion Pack
- Star Wars: Geektionary: The Galaxy from A - Z
- Star Wars: The Rebel Files
- Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition — Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit
- Star Wars Helmet Collection 71