Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
Now we know what the Privateer NPCs have been doing in their spare time! BlueSky user ATMcashpoint recently noticed something interesting while watching a let's play video: some familiar faces! The game in question was German studio Motelsoft's 1995 "Escape from Ragor" and the faces in the game's character select are these handsome fellows:
That's right, they've both been modified directly from character heads in the original Wing Commander Privateer. The female option is Privateer's Mercenary Guild secretary and the male option is starting fixer Sandoval! [Did you know Sandoval's first name is Ernesto? It's in the Playtester's Guide! - ed.]
And they aren't just limited to the character select screen. Whichever one you choose appears throughout your game, in the corner of the screen and in cutscenes.
Then AllTinker noticed that this… borrow… isn't a one-off situation! He found Privateer portraits in screenshots from several more Motelsoft. Here's Sandoval again in a puzzle game called Master Mind (1993):
And here's a screenshot from Der Eisplanet (1994) which features a whole collection of familiar Privateer characters… all decked out for the holidays? This game also seems to borrow a lot of portraits from Cryo's Dune!
What a fun discovery! If you're more familiar with Motelsoft's output than we are, we'd love to know if there are any other Wing Commander assets with a double life. Or just what the deal with these games is in the first place!
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Original update published on October 3, 2026
That's right, they've both been modified directly from character heads in the original Wing Commander Privateer. The female option is Privateer's Mercenary Guild secretary and the male option is starting fixer Sandoval! [Did you know Sandoval's first name is Ernesto? It's in the Playtester's Guide! - ed.]
And they aren't just limited to the character select screen. Whichever one you choose appears throughout your game, in the corner of the screen and in cutscenes.
Then AllTinker noticed that this… borrow… isn't a one-off situation! He found Privateer portraits in screenshots from several more Motelsoft. Here's Sandoval again in a puzzle game called Master Mind (1993):
And here's a screenshot from Der Eisplanet (1994) which features a whole collection of familiar Privateer characters… all decked out for the holidays? This game also seems to borrow a lot of portraits from Cryo's Dune!
What a fun discovery! If you're more familiar with Motelsoft's output than we are, we'd love to know if there are any other Wing Commander assets with a double life. Or just what the deal with these games is in the first place!
--
Original update published on October 3, 2026
