This one was really good. I hope we will never see Mandalore again, please Story Group, retcon it into the Hosnian sector.

<spoiler>Unpopular opinion: I liked the mandolorian episodes and felt it was a good closure to the arc. Glad to see satines sister step up. It also brought joy to my heart to see the word beskar get used again. I hope we get more mando lore in the future, but hopefully in a different medium. (Novel would be awesome) Also glad we got that tied up now instead of filler later in the season. Getting mandolore and saw tied up early leaves the rest of the season For thrawn/Vader/tarkin/tie defenders /lothal/???</spoiler>

1 hour ago, eMeM said:

This one was really good. I hope we will never see Mandalore again, please Story Group, retcon it into the Hosnian sector.

The family friendly non-lethal Ezra is getting absurd tho, especially considering they killed them all anyway with explosions. And speaking of explosions I don't like that the "destroyers destroyed per episode" parameter is approaching one.

It is very silly, but lets be fair they have to make the characters kid friendly, and for Disney that often means no shooting or impaling. Now, on the other hand being caught in a horrible explosion that rips your body asunder, gravity, or implied death is completely fine but you just can't show it apparently. I think it is all about not showing the heroes directly killing anyone, could be worse it could be the 90s Spiderman show which made it where he was never allowed to punch anyone, EVER. And for Disney gravity is the number one get away killer, you get rid of a 'bad guy' without ever having to directly stain the hero's hand with blood. I wish it wasn't that way, but if you actually want to see enemies being cut in half and shot then look to Clone Wars, it was the reason the bad guys in those movies are droids, so long as you aren't killing people it is fine, but pretty much going "Oh its a robot" ala Voltron/Golion then it becomes perfectly okay.

Well, at least we know why the TIE Defender initiative was shut down. Their in the field tests so far have been... poor ... to say the least. Why pay all those credits for something that dies with the same efficiency as any old TIE fighter?

18 hours ago, FlyingAnchors said:

umm

a) storm trooper armor isn't Kevlar

b) duh Hollywood is fake when it comes to action movies and bullet proof vests

and to follow up on my original comment, all those troopers chirrut whacked with his staff weren't exactly getting up. They weren't dead (well the ones admiral aimbot didn't blast anyway) but they weren't getting back in the fight anytime soon.

Uh, since when did I say Stormies wore Kevlar? And my point was that SW has portrayed injury to Stormies far more realistically than other movies, particularly the Action genre.

Plastoid only goes so far in protecting from fatal injury. Being smacked in the head by a big stick can still cause a concussion or even a cervical spine injury. It’s not like the uniform comes with a reinforced motorized neck assembly to prevent trauma.

7 minutes ago, GrimmyV said:

Uh, since when did I say Stormies wore Kevlar? And my point was that SW has portrayed injury to Stormies far more realistically than other movies, particularly the Action genre.

Plastoid only goes so far in protecting from fatal injury. Being smacked in the head by a big stick can still cause a concussion or even a cervical spine injury. It’s not like the uniform comes with a reinforced motorized neck assembly to prevent trauma.

People that wonder who man eating teddy bears defeated an entire garrison.

11 hours ago, Ken at Sunrise said:

First off, by USA law passed by the USA Congress the USA Army cannot fly the F-22. USA law prohibits the US Army from operating super-sonic aircraft, believing that is the role of the US Airforce

I'm not trying to be contrary, but you quoting the above post is one of the reasons I don't believe you understand. You are right when you say that the F-35 is a multi-roles aircraft. It is also a multi-department/agency airframe which is why it is called the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). But for all of it's amazing qualities it isn't the F-22. But it is an excellent aircraft and one that does/will make up the bulk, in various forms and roles, of the USA's air power.

Thanks for some sanity there, Ken. Greatly appreciated.

_______________________________________________________________

So the episode was interesting, to say the least. WAY stronger than the season opening, but that's not very hard given how incredibly weak that was. Always cool to see a U-Wing tear stuff up as well, that thing really does some work doesn't it?

I'd throw out more commentary but I just don't have a lot to say, other than that it was really solid.

2 hours ago, Animewarsdude said:

It is very silly, but lets be fair they have to make the characters kid friendly, and for Disney that often means no shooting or impaling. Now, on the other hand being caught in a horrible explosion that rips your body asunder, gravity, or implied death is completely fine but you just can't show it apparently. I think it is all about not showing the heroes directly killing anyone, could be worse it could be the 90s Spiderman show which made it where he was never allowed to punch anyone, EVER. And for Disney gravity is the number one get away killer, you get rid of a 'bad guy' without ever having to directly stain the hero's hand with blood. I wish it wasn't that way, but if you actually want to see enemies being cut in half and shot then look to Clone Wars, it was the reason the bad guys in those movies are droids, so long as you aren't killing people it is fine, but pretty much going "Oh its a robot" ala Voltron/Golion then it becomes perfectly okay.

Do I need to make a GIF of every time Ezra straight up shot a stormtrooper dead?

7 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Do I need to make a GIF of every time Ezra straight up shot a stormtrooper dead?

No, but the main time I remember him doing that was last season's opener where he was listening to the sith holacron...which really felt like it was ended before they could have played with it more and dealt with him actually trying to do darker stuff. I mean it isn't like anyone in the show is like "Hey Ezra, you know that time you mind controlled an AT-DP pilot to turn on his allies, kill them and then kill himself by walking off an edge? How about you do that super powered Jedi stuff all the time so we can win this war? No, you're just going to futz around with the jetpack and be our slapstick for the episode...okay."

The main point I was trying to say is that, swords with dismemberment are not usually used much in shows aside from against robots, non-humanoid aliens, and disarming guys (weapons, not limbs). Sure there are exceptions, but most of the time in a kid show they don't want to go all Monty Python with the Black Knight.

6 minutes ago, Animewarsdude said:

S ure there are exceptions, but most of the time in a kid show they don't want to go all Monty Python with the Black Knight.

They would, but then they'd have to call it a draw.

Sabine in a Lambda ...

Herra for y wing fix and saw for u wing fix, it needs to happen

2 hours ago, Larky Bobble said:

Well, at least we know why the TIE Defender initiative was shut down. Their in the field tests so far have been... poor ... to say the least. Why pay all those credits for something that dies with the same efficiency as any old TIE fighter?

Eh. To be fair, they keep getting ****ed by terrain. And the Defenders shrugged off more attacks than the cruiser they showed up on.

Anyway, those episodes more than made up for the first two. Lots of cool ****. TIE Defenders. Deathwatch. U-Wing. Death Star plot threads. A neat new design for a civilian cargo transport. It was a packed couple episodes.

20 minutes ago, DarthEnderX said:

Eh. To be fair, they keep getting ****ed by terrain. And the Defenders shrugged off more attacks than the cruiser they showed up on.

Sounds correct to me. Defenders in TIE Fighter made Vader’s destruction of Pheonix Squadron look like amateur hour.

1 hour ago, DarthEnderX said:

Deathwatch.

Deathwatch? Did I miss something?

The female death trooper was amazing - yay for more representations of women in Star Wars, especially as crazy cool Death Trooper Commanders.

Looking forward to the Saw Guererra/Two Tubes/K2-SO Uwing fix. Looking forward to Saw getting brutally dismembered or exploded sometime between now and series end to set him up for Rogue One. Looking forward to Krennic getting tired of the Rebel's nonsense, and Thrawn getting even more tired of it. Looking forward to a time when the Defenders prove to be a problem that can't be surmounted by terrain, and make targeting the factory a necessity.

2 hours ago, JediRush24 said:

Sabine in a Lambda ...

They are making a custom level of **** just for you , you know.

2 hours ago, Stew00m said:

Herra for y wing fix and saw for u wing fix, it needs to happen

Interestingly, Saw doesn't seem to be in the game at all at the moment. And we've now seen two ships in his 'Partisan' colors - the crashed X-Wing in Rogue One, and now this U-Wing in Rebels.

I can pretty easily imagine a 'Saw's Partisans' expansion pack that includes both of those ships in Partisan colors.

Now, the question is...would it be Rebel faction? Or Scum? Because both Saw and Mon Mothma have been pretty clear, consistently, that they are not on the same side . I could see the expansion taking the approach of the Scurrg, and having both factions supported, actually - that'd be somewhat interesting. (And would let us get a K-2SO as a Rebel U-Wing pilot, then)

33 minutes ago, xanderf said:

They are making a custom level of **** just for you , you know.

Interestingly, Saw doesn't seem to be in the game at all at the moment. And we've now seen two ships in his 'Partisan' colors - the crashed X-Wing in Rogue One, and now this U-Wing in Rebels.

I can pretty easily imagine a 'Saw's Partisans' expansion pack that includes both of those ships in Partisan colors.

Now, the question is...would it be Rebel faction? Or Scum? Because both Saw and Mon Mothma have been pretty clear, consistently, that they are not on the same side . I could see the expansion taking the approach of the Scurrg, and having both factions supported, actually - that'd be somewhat interesting. (And would let us get a K-2SO as a Rebel U-Wing pilot, then)

I say throw it all in a scarif expansion (because it's related really).

1 hour ago, Kreen said:

Deathwatch? Did I miss something?

The female death trooper was amazing - yay for more representations of women in Star Wars, especially as crazy cool Death Trooper Commanders.

I meant Death Trooper. Sorry.

Too bad she was vaporized...

9 hours ago, Animewarsdude said:

It is very silly, but lets be fair they have to make the characters kid friendly, and for Disney that often means no shooting or impaling. Now, on the other hand being caught in a horrible explosion that rips your body asunder, gravity, or implied death is completely fine but you just can't show it apparently. I think it is all about not showing the heroes directly killing anyone, could be worse it could be the 90s Spiderman show which made it where he was never allowed to punch anyone, EVER. And for Disney gravity is the number one get away killer, you get rid of a 'bad guy' without ever having to directly stain the hero's hand with blood. I wish it wasn't that way, but if you actually want to see enemies being cut in half and shot then look to Clone Wars, it was the reason the bad guys in those movies are droids, so long as you aren't killing people it is fine, but pretty much going "Oh its a robot" ala Voltron/Golion then it becomes perfectly okay.

Actually, I love that Ezra is back on non-lethal approach. It is good character development. He is now not fighting to kill, but is not afraid of killing those troopers in explosions either. He accepts the collateral damage, but gives them a chance. That is very fitting of a jedi. And btw, the darker Ezra did strike lethally against Stormtroopers without hesitation, we just did not get any limbs flying in the animation that's all. Season 4 Ezra is now striking intentionally for the weapons. I really like this development. He as well is trying to achieve their original goal, and only went to plan B of total annihilation once plan A failed. He basically has mastered his feelings and is no longer controlled by them, even when they are still there.

2 hours ago, SEApocalypse said:

Actually, I love that Ezra is back on non-lethal approach. It is good character development. He is now not fighting to kill, but is not afraid of killing those troopers in explosions either. He accepts the collateral damage, but gives them a chance. That is very fitting of a jedi. And btw, the darker Ezra did strike lethally against Stormtroopers without hesitation, we just did not get any limbs flying in the animation that's all. Season 4 Ezra is now striking intentionally for the weapons. I really like this development. He as well as trying to achieve their original goal, and only went to plan B of total annihilation once plan A failed. He basically has mastered his feelings and is no longer controlled by them, even when they are still there.

bUt dIsNeY iS sUrElY dOiNg iT tO bE kId fRiEnDlY!!!!!!!!

SURELY IT HAS NO OTHER REASON

IT'S THAT MOUSE AGAIN

OBVS

5 hours ago, xanderf said:

They are making a custom level of **** just for you , you know.

Interestingly, Saw doesn't seem to be in the game at all at the moment. And we've now seen two ships in his 'Partisan' colors - the crashed X-Wing in Rogue One, and now this U-Wing in Rebels.

I can pretty easily imagine a 'Saw's Partisans' expansion pack that includes both of those ships in Partisan colors.

Now, the question is...would it be Rebel faction? Or Scum? Because both Saw and Mon Mothma have been pretty clear, consistently, that they are not on the same side . I could see the expansion taking the approach of the Scurrg, and having both factions supported, actually - that'd be somewhat interesting. (And would let us get a K-2SO as a Rebel U-Wing pilot, then)

So the X-wing and U-wing fix could be Scum only? Just as the Most Wanted box made the Imperial Firespray go cry in a corner all while the Scum counterparts are clearly better. That would be the SALT to end all salt.

I really hope not.

5 hours ago, xanderf said:

They are making a custom level of **** just for you , you know.

Interestingly, Saw doesn't seem to be in the game at all at the moment. And we've now seen two ships in his 'Partisan' colors - the crashed X-Wing in Rogue One, and now this U-Wing in Rebels.

I can pretty easily imagine a 'Saw's Partisans' expansion pack that includes both of those ships in Partisan colors.

Now, the question is...would it be Rebel faction? Or Scum? Because both Saw and Mon Mothma have been pretty clear, consistently, that they are not on the same side . I could see the expansion taking the approach of the Scurrg, and having both factions supported, actually - that'd be somewhat interesting. (And would let us get a K-2SO as a Rebel U-Wing pilot, then)

They are clearly on the same side, Mothma just doesn't want to really fight. In a way, Saw is more Rebel than the rest.

11 hours ago, Animewarsdude said:

It is very silly, but lets be fair they have to make the characters kid friendly, and for Disney that often means no shooting or impaling. Now, on the other hand being caught in a horrible explosion that rips your body asunder, gravity, or implied death is completely fine but you just can't show it apparently. I think it is all about not showing the heroes directly killing anyone, could be worse it could be the 90s Spiderman show which made it where he was never allowed to punch anyone, EVER. And for Disney gravity is the number one get away killer, you get rid of a 'bad guy' without ever having to directly stain the hero's hand with blood. I wish it wasn't that way, but if you actually want to see enemies being cut in half and shot then look to Clone Wars, it was the reason the bad guys in those movies are droids, so long as you aren't killing people it is fine, but pretty much going "Oh its a robot" ala Voltron/Golion then it becomes perfectly okay.

Not necessarily, TCW had the heroes fighting organic humanoids and they didn't hold back, but that's the difference between Cartoon Network and Disney XD.

38 minutes ago, eMeM said:

They are clearly on the same side, Mothma just doesn't want to really fight. In a way, Saw is more Rebel than the rest.

No, I'd say he's actually more Imperial than the rest. Since he has no qualms about resorting to the exact same tactics the Empire would use.

Much less ridiculous than Ezra being non-lethal in this episode was Saw stunning Stormtroopers.

1 minute ago, DarthEnderX said:

No, I'd say he's actually more Imperial than the rest. Since he has no qualms about resorting to the exact same tactics the Empire would use.

Much less ridiculous than Ezra being non-lethal in this episode was Saw stunning Stormtroopers.

Sure, but I'm talking about alignment in context of X-wing factions.

Yeah, seeing the Rebels have to make use of terrain (and far superior skill/ability, arguably) to defeat the Defenders repeatedly highlights to me that these are a unique threat. We even see Zeb score a hit on a Defender that is just absorbed by the shields. I hope it doesn't become too much of a running trope. We need to see some Defenders do the equivalent of what Vader did in his TIE, I think, to raise the stakes and make the Defenders seem a little more threatening.

Hey, maybe if time and budget weren't limitations we could have shown a TIE Defender was part of the ambush on Hera, Wedge and the other Y-Wings. Would have allowed us to see Wedge show off his chops as well. But, you know, time and budget.

Anyway, NITPICK TIME

As others have said, it was remarkably jarring to see Saw stun stormtroopers. Ezra still is clearly operating under the delusion of "If I don't see the body, I didn't do a murder" but Saw isn't. I get that it's a kid's show, but ehhhhhhh

I was under the assumption that stormtroopers (and, by extension, deathtroopers) had some sort of IR scanners, which I'd expect would make smoke bombs useless. I can kinda handwave that Sabine's ninja smoke bombs might have some sort of EM chaff that might also jam/disrupt IR sensors. It was a little bit immersion breaking for helmetless Saw and the other Rebels to be able to act unimpeded by the smoke. I'm sure we've seen ninja smoke bombs before, it just stood out this week. But, you know, I'm nit-picking.

On a less picky note, pretty sure the Commander was Jennifer Hale*. Was kinda hoping she was a more pivotal character than she ended up being, I thought we were going to get more insight on the deathtroopers through her. I guess hearing them talk and behave like stormtroopers puts paid to the fan theory that their comms are all garbled because they are secretly zombies

*If they made Hale play a women who's title was Commander on purpose as an ME reference I'm going to not be so furious. They won't have, but I can dream.