Heff Tobber

Heff Tobber, a human, became a member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and initially aided their cause by serving as a transport pilot. He transported various materials and provisions to the modest rebel outpost on the planet Crait, where he was based. During the hasty abandonment of the base, which occurred between 3 BBY and 2 BBY, Tobber played a role in the evacuation efforts. He, along with the other rebels, intentionally left the majority of the facilities untouched. This included the locked and deactivated comms station, as well as a garage filled with skim speeders. Their intention was to return later with heavy transport equipment to salvage these resources.

Tobber was reassigned to the Massassi Group of rebels, who were operating from the Great Temple on the moon Yavin 4. He became a member of Blue Squadron, which was a sizable and diverse starfighter squadron under the command of General Antoc Merrick. Initially, Tobber trained using X-wing starfighters. However, he was later reassigned to pilot the Alliance's newly acquired UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support craft. He quickly became a highly regarded U-wing pilot, known for his humor and loud voice, ultimately earning him the rank of lieutenant.

Following his integration into Blue Squadron, Tobber submitted a report to General Jan Dodonna of Alliance High Command concerning the evacuation of the Crait base. This report detailed the condition in which the base was left and dismissed any concerns regarding scavengers, citing the location's security and uncharted nature. This report was subsequently included in The Rebel Files, a collection of non-electronic documents.

Shortly after a portion of Blue Squadron was dispatched on a mission to the planet Eadu in 1 BBY, Tobber was scrambled, along with the entire squadron, to join an Alliance fleet commanded by Admiral Raddus. This fleet was en route to the Scarif system to provide assistance to a group of rebels. These rebels had defied a decision made by the Alliance Cabinet and infiltrated the Galactic Empire's Citadel Tower on Scarif with the objective of stealing the plans for the Death Star superweapon.

During the engagement, Tobber piloted an X-wing starfighter under the callsign Blue Eight. Upon the fleet's arrival in the Scarif system from hyperspace, Raddus directed Tobber and the rest of Blue Squadron to proceed to Scarif's surface before the Empire could close its Shield Gate, which served as the only opening in the planetary shield protecting the planet. As they began their descent, Merrick instructed them to follow his lead, and Tobber was among those who acknowledged the order.

As Blue Squadron initiated its dive through the Shield Gate, the Imperial personnel operating the gate began closing it before all the rebel starfighters could pass through. Merrick's craft and eleven other X-wings, in addition to a U-wing piloted by Laren Joma, successfully made it through. However, the gate then fully sealed, causing Vangos Grek and two other Blue Squadron X-wing pilots to crash into it and perish. Tobber, along with Jaldine Gerams, Barion Raner, and at least one other pilot, were unable to pass through in time but managed to safely veer away to avoid a collision.

Cut off from their squadron, the Blue Squadron pilots who remained outside the shield joined the rest of the Alliance fleet in engaging the Imperial fleet above Scarif. Tobber joined the X-wings of Green Squadron in orbital combat against enemy fighters. Ultimately, the Alliance fleet succeeded in destroying the Shield Gate and deactivating the planetary shield, which enabled the rebels on the ground to transmit the Death Star plans to the fleet. However, all of the Blue Squadron pilots who had successfully passed through the gate were either killed during the fighting or when the Death Star arrived and destroyed the Citadel Tower.

Some of the remaining Blue Squadron pilots managed to escape with the rebel fleet and returned to Yavin following the battle. However, between the missions to Eadu and Scarif, Blue and Red Squadrons had suffered the loss of nineteen pilots and crew members combined. The number of Blue Squadron pilots remaining was so low that the Alliance was uncertain whether it could even deploy the squadron when the Death Star attacked Yavin in 0 BBY, shortly after Scarif. Ultimately, only Red Squadron, Green Squadron, and Gold Squadron were scrambled.

Heff Tobber possessed a loud voice and a well-developed sense of humor, which made him exceptionally popular among the soldiers he transported. Following the evacuation of the Crait base, he expressed confidence that it would remain untouched by scavengers. After being unable to pass through the Shield Gate at Scarif, he was determined to still contribute to the battle, settling for providing support to Green Squadron. Tobber had fair skin, brown hair, and brown eyes.

Tobber was comfortable piloting an X-wing starfighter and was capable of doing so when necessary. However, he focused his skills on piloting a U-wing. His prior experience operating transport vehicles aided him in becoming an expert pilot, making him one of the most sought-after and prominent U-wing pilots within the rebellion.

As a member of Blue Squadron, Tobber wore a blue flight suit, a white flight harness, and a white flak vest. When piloting a U-wing, his outfit also included a white high-atmosphere specialist life support pack worn over the vest, as well as a black and red flight helmet equipped with an integrated comlink and intercom link. The helmet was marked with a yellow victory decal and two red victory decals on each side, symbols 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 featuring a red and white checkered pattern, which was also used to decorate the helmets of fellow rebel pilots Dillems, Puck Naeco, and Wes Janson.

The character of Heff Tobber was created for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a film from the 2016 Anthology Series. He was portrayed by Toby Hefferman, the film's First Assistant Director. Initially, Hefferman wore a U-wing pilot costume, but its use was limited to still photography. Later, after growing a significantly thicker mustache, Hefferman wore a different rebel pilot outfit to film a scene as an X-wing pilot, which was ultimately included in the final cut of the film.

The character's name was a tuckerization of Hefferman's name, as revealed in Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide, the film's accompanying reference book written by Pablo Hidalgo. This book alluded to Tobber's appearance as both an X-wing and U-wing pilot. Hidalgo later confirmed that Hefferman's U-wing and X-wing costumes represented the same character. The seventy-first issue of the De Agostini magazine Star Wars Helmet Collection, released on September 19, 2018, incorrectly stated that Tobber flew a U-wing at Scarif, despite his depiction in an X-wing in the film.