Still, my head cannon believes that the Superlaser took up too much power and they had to balance it with the hyperdrive. So off it went, a standard heavy laser cannon was installed for the production version, and we ended up with the B-Wing we more or less had from the expanded universe. Any Superlaser-touting B-Wings can be passed off as a limited production version, about as common as the old B-Wing/E.

Well yeah that's exactly what they did to change the B-Wing. Note that the frame and shape is just WAY freakin' larger- like, ridiculously so. You wanna' see some Rebel Production-Run B-Wings that may appear in the show? Here ya' go..!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRvv1JC9E-E

@Azrapse: fusion power is definately not unlimited, in the sense that you still need fusionable matter such as hydrogen or one of its isotopes for effecient fusion. The interstellar medium is just not rich enough to sustain Bussard ram scoops of the like.

And besides, I thought Legends stated that reactors use hypermatter, whatever that is.

@Norsehound: Crystals in lightsabers...just no. I know my view goes against what we've seen in TCW and rebels but I don't see why a lightsabre, a sophisticated energy beam producing weapon, needs a raw piece of crystal shoved into it to 'focus' an energy beam. The only way I can see those crystals being of any use is that they somehow resonate with the force and they allow a Jedi to better tune in to where and in what position his lightsabre is to better control it. Perhaps the crystals help with meditation as well. And the cutaways of lightsabers showing a huge irregular Quartz crystal taking up half of the lightsabre...just no.

Sorry, but sometimes my inner nerd loves to nitpick.

@Azrapse: fusion power is definately not unlimited, in the sense that you still need fusionable matter such as hydrogen or one of its isotopes for effecient fusion. The interstellar medium is just not rich enough to sustain Bussard ram scoops of the like.

And besides, I thought Legends stated that reactors use hypermatter, whatever that is.

Star Wars' "fusion reactors" is a similar use of a technological term as Star Wars' "laser cannons".

That is, something the story writer heard or read about by the time from magazines or sci-fi books, that was being then described as the ultimate panacea technology of the future, and the writer thought that he could just use that for Star Wars.

We are still today discussing why laser cannons in Star Wars are called "laser" at all, when they are clearly plasma shots. Or at least something that definitely doesn't move at light speed, that can be evaded, and that have a range.

- Shoot them down.

- Sir, they are out of range.

Out of range of something that moves at lightspeed? Okay...

Still, diehard apologizers (LFL official texts or fan made) keep trying to shoehorn the term even when it is totally silly. They behave just like bullets, but their looks replaced with a glowy special effect, and perhaps not affected by gravity before they fade (they at least faded in the videogames, but that is never shown on the movies).

In the same way, a fusion reactor in Star Wars is something that produces energy enough to power the weapons, systems, engines and hyperdrive, for a long time without having to go to the gas station every couple of light years. It doesn't matter what or how fusion reactors actually work on Earth. Or if mathematically makes sense or not that the dimensions of the reactor could realistically be enough to actually do the things they say it can do. Probably, because it makes no sense that so little matter could provide so much energy, they came with the term "hypermatter". Just something that lets us band-aid the silly "fusion reactor" idea and fill up some Guide of Ships and Vehicles book.

At this point I was even willing to accept in my mental canon that Star Wars fusion reactors were similar to Back To The Future's "Mr Fusion" reactor. They could be fed with any kind of matter and turn it to energy.

But of course, then they came in Rebels with this liquid fuel, that suspiciously looks and behaves like normal kerosene. It at least doesn't look any "hyper-anything", or some high-energy radiactive element, or liquid antimatter. It's just plain gasoline leaking few meters away from Hera and Sabine...

Seriously: fantasy, not sci-fi.

^ laser swords. (Sigh)

That is all.

We have no problem believing in magic, be it rabbits coming out of hats or starships that run on rainbows.

What we won't believe is the magician saying "My hat is out of rabbits." without a suitable and consistent explanation.

All we ask is for consistency, because inconsistency breaks suspension of disbelief.

Asking for consistency outside of the films IS asking for magic.

@Azrapse: fusion power is definately not unlimited, in the sense that you still need fusionable matter such as hydrogen or one of its isotopes for effecient fusion. The interstellar medium is just not rich enough to sustain Bussard ram scoops of the like.

And besides, I thought Legends stated that reactors use hypermatter, whatever that is.

Star Wars' "fusion reactors" is a similar use of a technological term as Star Wars' "laser cannons".

That is, something the story writer heard or read about by the time from magazines or sci-fi books, that was being then described as the ultimate panacea technology of the future, and the writer thought that he could just use that for Star Wars.

We are still today discussing why laser cannons in Star Wars are called "laser" at all, when they are clearly plasma shots. Or at least something that definitely doesn't move at light speed, that can be evaded, and that have a range.

- Shoot them down.

- Sir, they are out of range.

Out of range of something that moves at lightspeed? Okay...

Still, diehard apologizers (LFL official texts or fan made) keep trying to shoehorn the term even when it is totally silly. They behave just like bullets, but their looks replaced with a glowy special effect, and perhaps not affected by gravity before they fade (they at least faded in the videogames, but that is never shown on the movies).

In the same way, a fusion reactor in Star Wars is something that produces energy enough to power the weapons, systems, engines and hyperdrive, for a long time without having to go to the gas station every couple of light years. It doesn't matter what or how fusion reactors actually work on Earth. Or if mathematically makes sense or not that the dimensions of the reactor could realistically be enough to actually do the things they say it can do. Probably, because it makes no sense that so little matter could provide so much energy, they came with the term "hypermatter". Just something that lets us band-aid the silly "fusion reactor" idea and fill up some Guide of Ships and Vehicles book.

At this point I was even willing to accept in my mental canon that Star Wars fusion reactors were similar to Back To The Future's "Mr Fusion" reactor. They could be fed with any kind of matter and turn it to energy.

But of course, then they came in Rebels with this liquid fuel, that suspiciously looks and behaves like normal kerosene. It at least doesn't look any "hyper-anything", or some high-energy radiactive element, or liquid antimatter. It's just plain gasoline leaking few meters away from Hera and Sabine...

Seriously: fantasy, not sci-fi.

Just to nitpick your nitpicking, but "out of range" is actually quite reasonable for a number of reasons. First - lasers aren't infinite range. They still disperse (contrary to popular belief, space isn't actually empty). As they disperse over distance, the amount of energy delivered reduces. Now, in space, there's a lot less to disperse that energy, so ranges would be quite long. But that brings us to another issue: targeting. There's going to be a distance where it's simply not possible to be accurate enough with a laser to hit something. A tiny movement of the emitter will translate to being off by kilometers if the target is far enough away. Plus, the ability to even detect a target gets that much harder.

So, it's quite possible to get out of range of lasers.

That said, they don't have anything that actually behaves like a laser. Of course, their ranged weapons are usually called either "blasters" or "turbolasers". Considering that applying "turbo" to the term "laser" doesn't really make sense, I'm just going to assume that it's a name that was given to a weapon system that isn't actually a "laser".

Well, no, I'm not going to do that, I'm really just going to ignore science entirely when watching Star Wars

@Norsehound: Crystals in lightsabers...just no. I know my view goes against what we've seen in TCW and rebels but I don't see why a lightsabre, a sophisticated energy beam producing weapon, needs a raw piece of crystal shoved into it to 'focus' an energy beam. The only way I can see those crystals being of any use is that they somehow resonate with the force and they allow a Jedi to better tune in to where and in what position his lightsabre is to better control it. Perhaps the crystals help with meditation as well. And the cutaways of lightsabers showing a huge irregular Quartz crystal taking up half of the lightsabre...just no.

Sorry, but sometimes my inner nerd loves to nitpick.

The crystals in the cutaway images came even before the prequels, so clearly it was always Lucas' intention for that to be how they work.

@Norsehound: Crystals in lightsabers...just no. I know my view goes against what we've seen in TCW and rebels but I don't see why a lightsabre, a sophisticated energy beam producing weapon, needs a raw piece of crystal shoved into it to 'focus' an energy beam. The only way I can see those crystals being of any use is that they somehow resonate with the force and they allow a Jedi to better tune in to where and in what position his lightsabre is to better control it. Perhaps the crystals help with meditation as well. And the cutaways of lightsabers showing a huge irregular Quartz crystal taking up half of the lightsabre...just no.

Sorry, but sometimes my inner nerd loves to nitpick.

The crystals in the cutaway images came even before the prequels, so clearly it was always Lucas' intention for that to be how they work.

The cutaways have nothing to do with Lucas. He didn't make he prop, he didn't photograph it and he didn't publish it. All he did was not veto it. I'm not even sure he was ever aware of it. On the other hand he had way too much to do with the prequels and we see a couple of ligtsabres being damaged and no sign of any crystals.

And rebels shows us both that smallish glowing Kyber Krystals are used (somehow) in constructing a Jedi lightsabre, while the inquisitors have Sabres that have seperate emitters that spin around a track, showing that the 'blades' are emitted by very small mechanism that would be difficult to fit even the smallish Kyber Krystals .

Yes, yes. But the Sith use synthetic Kyber Krystals ™, which presumably can grown larger and cut into discs, tubes, and other build-convenient shapes for building lightsabers.

^ laser swords. (Sigh)

That is all.

"Superlaser".

It's obviously a KLR-PlotDevice.

Well at least they aren't Sonic Lasers. Although sonic Sabres might work.

Rocket lasers? Jet swords!

Yes, yes. But the Sith use synthetic Kyber Krystals ™, which presumably can grown larger and cut into discs, tubes, and other build-convenient shapes for building lightsabers.

Yeah, uh, no. No presuming. And inquisitors are not Sith, exactly.

I never liked the requirement of Jedi and other force users to build their actual ligtsabres. Did knights in the Middle Ages have to be weaponsmiths too? What about samuria or ninja? No, they all obtained their weapons from craftsmen. In the OT it made sense that Vader and Luke had to build their lightsabers, there was no other way to get them other than finding them as relics.

In the PT it would have been nice to see Jedi swordsmiths that crafted each sabre. Then if we must have a mystical part to an otherwise technological piece of equipment, we can have young Jedi choose their sabre from a collection of many, perhaps like Harry in the wand shop. That's basically what we have now as cannon, except the Jedi went on a quest to find the crystal that called to them.

TPM: Obi Wan uses (and summons to his hand using the force) Qui Gonn's sabre to defeat Maul. This sabre was in his presence many times but had never been his personal possession.

AOTC: Anakin and Obi Wan are tossed some Sabres during the arena rescue and have no trouble using them effectively, although both are defeated by Tyranus (mostly through Anakin rushing into battle). Anakin even used both of these Sabres at once. Anakin doesn't seem too upset about his first sabre being destroyed

ANH and ESB: Luke uses his father's sabre (either a different one than AOTC or that sabre after it was repaired). We do not know ultimately who made Anakin's sabre although since he built his own pod racer and droid he probably made it himself. It is unlikely that all Jedi were so skilled mechanically. Vader uses a new sabre, probably of his own construction.

ROTJ: Luke has definately built his green bladed sabre and may have used extra parts lying around Ben's hut, since it resembles Kenobi's ANH sabre. Luke was a skilled mechanic like his father.

So, we see many instances of Jedi using random Sabres in battle, usually with success. We also see very few examples of Jedi building their own Sabres, and none of them mentioned anything about crystals.

Well at least they aren't Sonic Lasers. Although sonic Sabres might work.

Rocket lasers? Jet swords!

Rocket lasers were actually the main ship-to-ship weapon in Honor Harrington.

I never liked the requirement of Jedi and other force users to build their actual ligtsabres. Did knights in the Middle Ages have to be weaponsmiths too? What about samuria or ninja?

Remember the Force is magic(except when it's bacteria...)

I never liked the requirement of Jedi and other force users to build their actual ligtsabres. Did knights in the Middle Ages have to be weaponsmiths too? What about samuria or ninja? No, they all obtained their weapons from craftsmen. In the OT it made sense that Vader and Luke had to build their lightsabers, there was no other way to get them other than finding them as relics.

In the PT it would have been nice to see Jedi swordsmiths that crafted each sabre. Then if we must have a mystical part to an otherwise technological piece of equipment.

So, we see many instances of Jedi using random Sabres in battle, usually with success. We also see very few examples of Jedi building their own Sabres, and none of them mentioned anything about crystals.

There should be a new rule we that we can't have conversations until all new canon material is read

So, we see many instances of Jedi using random Sabres in battle, usually with success. We also see very few examples of Jedi building their own Sabres, and none of them mentioned anything about crystals.

I can think of at least 7 canon examples of padawans building lightsabers where it was clearly a thing that all padawans did at some point, and they all began the process by finding or selecting a crystal.

Noooooooooo!!!!! Boba Fett is dead!

I just found out that the new Disney canon nulls his escape, so as of right now canon says he is being slowly digested!

And, since Rebels is before the movies, and Episode 7 is so long after... I don't think he's gonna make it guys.

Noooooooooo!!!!! Boba Fett is dead!

I just found out that the new Disney canon nulls his escape, so as of right now canon says he is being slowly digested!

And, since Rebels is before the movies, and Episode 7 is so long after... I don't think he's gonna make it guys.

have you read Aftermath?

Things:

1- Maybe laser is like kleenex. The company that made it was called Laser. Why? I'unno. Maybe they made lasers and then got into the directed energy weapon business. Thus, "laser." For something that is clearly not a LASER (caps not for emphasis, but because LASER is an acronym). Then when they made big versions, they called them, "turbolasers." But it was thousands of years ago and nobody remembers this.

2- Laserswords: Actually, at least in myth and legend, the weapons were made for the characters, not picked out of a box of trinkets. TCW did sort of take the middle way between the legendary swordsmith making a weapon for the warrior and the wizard crafting his own wand. It's probably safe to assume that Palpatine had someone else make his lightsaber(s) for him, as he wasn't exactly a guy who would have spent all that time building his own. Just like the craploads of Sith artifacts that he kept in the Chancellor's office. And then there is the fact that after losing his lightsaber in his duel with Yoda following Order 66, he's never seen with a lightsaber again (readers of Dark Lords correct me if I'm wrong), thus giving a possible indicator that the man who crafted Palpatine's lightsaber was corpsified and gross (because who would Palpatine want to know that he'd had them build a lightsaber?) and thus unavailable to craft a new one. And then Palpatine got into running the Empire and pretty obviously wouldn't want to be seen as weak by asking his apprentice to build him one.

Which leads to a sort of 2b: It seems that there is or should be, at the very least, a small factory manufacturing lightsabers for the Empire. The Inquisition clearly have mass-produced lightsabers.

My zwei P fennige .

Yes, I know current canon has many examples of padawans constructing their own lightsabers and putting their own personal special magic crystals into them. It's just that all of it goes against. It just what we see in the films but also the nature of the Force and the code of the Jedi. Why are padawans forced to make a connection with an inanimate object (a lethal weapon, actually) when everything else about their philosophy is about not making connections or having sentamental feelings about anyone or anything? A lightsaber is a tool, it's not a magic wand. It can save a life or take a life, it's a symbol of authority, but it shouldn't be magic talisman and it shouldn't require rough, uncut mineral deposits to 'focus' a beam that is clearly more magnetic and 'plasma-like' than any form of EMF.

And from one of the 'canon' quotes from above, why would Luke have to ever align anything mechanical by hand when he has actual tools and measuring devices unheard of on this planet. I'm sure even a lowly astromech droid like R2 could align a couple of crystals to keep something from exploding...since when did the force only become telekinesis?

As far as I can tell the nu canon writers are simply the same old back Legends/EU ilk watering down the saga and breaking characterization for the sakes of their own egos.

A lightsaber is a tool, it's not a magic wand. It can save a life or take a life, it's a symbol of authority, but it shouldn't be magic talisman

It's not a police badge. This is a universe where a type of magic exists. And these objects are specific to those who use that magic. Obviously the objects would have some connection to that magic.

I do obviously agree that Jedi being portrayed as an order of peaceful monks, while their symbol is a weapon is contradictory. So is them serving as general in the galactic army, etc. But, at the end of the day, these are still action movies. So their philosophical wizards also have to be warriors.

A lightsaber is a tool, it's not a magic wand. It can save a life or take a life, it's a symbol of authority, but it shouldn't be magic talisman

Well, I disagree.

It's not a police badge. This is a universe where a type of magic exists. And these objects are specific to those who use that magic. Obviously the objects would have some connection to that magic.

I do obviously agree that Jedi being portrayed as an order of peaceful monks, while their symbol is a weapon is contradictory. So is them serving as general in the galactic army, etc. But, at the end of the day, these are still action movies. So their philosophical wizards also have to be warriors.

Not really seeing that, it is definitely tied the the mysticsm of the Jedi but they are not the only ones who can use it, but they are the only ones who can use it well.

Get a regular pleb to swing it around and you are going to chop a lot of limbs off, awesome. But it is implied,possibly flat out said, that you need Jedi reflexes/precog to be able to deflect the blaster bolts or to last long in a lightsaber vs lightsaber fight.

I do see it a great learning experience for the Jedi though, if you give them a saber they are going to be chuffed and over excited. Make them go through perilous trials and exacting tribulations to make their own, well there is a far greater lesson to be learned there.

Do you teach the youngling about responsibility and the importance of care of their weapon...or do you give them a bunch of pixie sticks and a pistol?

First, it's not unusual for "peaceful" monks to master weapons and to carry them prominently.

Second, the Jedi are not peace ful . They're peace keepers . They cultivate a philosophy of internal peace, but clearly do not believe in passively observing the galaxy.

A Jedi Knight - you'll note that fully-fledged Jedi carry the title of a warrior class - carrying a weapon is no more unusual than a UN Peacekeeper carrying a rifle or a police officer carrying a truncheon and handgun.

I would also note that the arms of the Jedi are uniquely defensive in nature: They carry a lightsaber, a weapon that can be used to parry the blaster bolts of attackers and requires proximity to be used in an offensive manner. They generally travel in either unarmed diplomatic ships or small, light, fast fighters bereft of any form of ordnance - and the purpose of the fighter is fundamentally a defensive one.

The trials for a Jedi to acquire their lightsaber - or more accurately their crystal - are generally pretty short and straightforward and generally more of a spiritual ordeal than a physical one.