Just watched it! Pretty good episode. They did a good job of establishing that Vader was well above their power level, and that they'd never even HOPE to stand a chance against him.

It had some more powerful scenes, and a few surprises as well! I was hoping to see Rex and the boys but it looks like we'll see them in a future episode.

So are the A-wings still supposed to be R-22 Spearheads? It's nice to see Rebels that aren't the same Alderaan bucket heads for a change.

I just had a smile on my face whenever Vader was on screen. Perfect depiction.

Just sucks we have to wait for the rest of the season.

So are the A-wings still supposed to be R-22 Spearheads? It's nice to see Rebels that aren't the same Alderaan bucket heads for a change.

I don't think they are. Pretty much the entire reason that the R-22 was created was because WEG stated he A-Wing was created post-A New Hope despite some sources published both before and after WEG stated that fact showing A-Wings before A New Hope took place. Ditto for the H-60 Tempest and the B-Wing.

Nerf Vader!

I feel like episode 2 will just be a "Nevermind lets just give up and wait for Luke." episode.

So are the A-wings still supposed to be R-22 Spearheads? It's nice to see Rebels that aren't the same Alderaan bucket heads for a change.

I don't think they are. Pretty much the entire reason that the R-22 was created was because WEG stated he A-Wing was created post-A New Hope despite some sources published both before and after WEG stated that fact showing A-Wings before A New Hope took place. Ditto for the H-60 Tempest and the B-Wing.

It seems to me that the R-22 and the RZ-1 are basically two versions of the same craft, with the RZ being a special made variant of an existing fighter. Dodonna may have had a hand in designing the new version and improving its performance. Kind of like the X-wing having multiple models and the Y-wing having BTL-B, S3 and A4 models, some looking very different from the others.

I have no idea why WEG had to make almost every fighter into some super secret prototype, like every new fighter was meant to outperform anything from before. The X-wing/TIE fighter games unfortunately continued this trend, but made the 'arms race' somewhat believable. The empire having cutting edge ships is one thing, but the Rebels stealing or creating at least three super fighters (X, A and B) is just silly. The rebels most likely had access to some old workhorse, tried and true ships or ships that were used by militias or system/sector forces. The A-wing showing up in Droids as well as Rebels points to a ship that is not particular new or special by the time of ROTJ or even ANH. The B-wing seems to be a non recent fighter as of ROTJ as well. And I really doubt X-wings were super prototype space superiority fighters that the designers defected to the rebels with. Seeing that Incom uses similar controls in the t-16 and T-65 indicates the later is meant to be used by local forces and not a top of th line fighter. Look at the X-wing, it's got huge guns and torpedoes, it's meant to deal with larger targets and maybe dogfight a near counterpart, multirole assault ship with much morin common with Y-wings than we might want to think. The rebel x-wings might even be 'super up' to increase speed and maneuverablity over their factor durability specs.

and if you hit an X-wing dead center aft the fuel cells tend to explode. Watch ANH and ROTJ again, they splode real good. Big design flaw.

If the design team for a project defects and manages to bring the blueprints with them why couldn't the rebels build the X-Wing?

And none of the famous rebel fighters were really superfighters IMO

The A-Wing was incredibly fast but it paid for that speed by being very fragile, and being a nightmare to maintain.

The B-Wing was also a nightmare to maintain plus needed highly specialized training to use effectively in return for only a slight increase in firepower compared to its 20 year old counterpart. Compare an RL fighter bomber designed in the 1960s to one designed in the 80s and tell me the difference in performance isn't much greater then that between the Y-Wing and the B-Wing.

The only reason the rebel fighters look so good compared to most imperial fighters is because most of the time the Empire chose cheaper fighters rather then better fighters. If the Empire had really tried it could have easily mass produced fighters equal to or slightly superior to the rebel designs but instead it chose to use cheap craft for its main line units and a few super fighters.

Did anyone else think that Lando's droid resembled the old Ralph McQuarry images of C-3PO?

Most of Rebels is based on the original McQuarry art. C1-1OP is based on the original R2D2, Zeb is the original Chewbacca, etc.

Yeah, they use McQuarrie a lot. Which is why the A-wings had the blue paint scheme. Still, gave another reason why we should get a green A-wing.

Also, James Earl Jones was great. Shivers when he said "The apprentice lives". Followed by the perfect reaction from Ahsoka. I'm going to be rewatching these episodes a lot before the actual start of the season.

Poor a wings

Season 2 beginning was intense. Never really a fan of the Clone Wars cartoon. This one has a completely different feel to it. Made me want to buy some freakin A-wings though!

Anyone notice the K-Turn from Vader?

And he singlehandedly killed the Phoenix Squadron and a Command-Ship!

I made some Gifs from the endbattle:

http://rebelcaptive.blogspot.de/2015/06/bilder-star-wars-rebels-staffel-2.html

I never bought the story that the Rebels actually had the manufacturing capability to turn out X-wings on their own, even if the entire design team had defected. More than likely they aquired the fighters from surplus or local forces joining them. WEG seems to have wanted to make the X seem very special, when it was just a cool looking average fighter.

Did anyone else think that Lando's droid resembled the old Ralph McQuarry images of C-3PO?

The voice was really weird though..

Vader was a beast in the Tie Advanced. Good thing that its getting a buff in X-wing.

"The apprentice lives..."

That line.

*shivers*

Also Chopper slamming the doors shut on the stormtroopers was great. Chopper is the best.

Kanan's response to not wanting to get involved in a war was interesting too.

"The apprentice lives..."

That line.

*shivers*

Also Chopper slamming the doors shut on the stormtroopers was great. Chopper is the best.

Kanan's response to not wanting to get involved in a war was interesting too.

The troopers should just be glad they weren't astromechs. Chopper is a serial killer of astromechs.

I just had a smile on my face whenever Vader was on screen. Perfect depiction.

I agree, that was one of the few times I think Vader was as powerful as the EU made him out to be. Especially the part with him in the Tie Advanced.

Vader was also very Ralph McQuarrie -ish.

I just had a smile on my face whenever Vader was on screen. Perfect depiction.

I agree, that was one of the few times I think Vader was as powerful as the EU made him out to be. Especially the part with him in the Tie Advanced.

Between Rebels and the Darth Vader comic, it has been a good time to be a Vader fan. Dark Horse tried, but nothing really lived up to Ghost Prison.

Yeah, its good to see Vader as a true powerhouse. The only real glimpse of his combat ability in the OT is during ANH in the trench, but he was really just shooting fish in a barrel. In Empire he was against a very noobish Luke. Not even close to a fair fight.

I never bought the story that the Rebels actually had the manufacturing capability to turn out X-wings on their own, even if the entire design team had defected. More than likely they aquired the fighters from surplus or local forces joining them. WEG seems to have wanted to make the X seem very special, when it was just a cool looking average fighter.

I get the real feeling that in Star Wars the difficulty is in prototype, research, and design. Actual manufacturing seems to be _incredibly_ easy. Look at the droid factory in (movie) Episode 2. It's able to churn out battle droids in a matter of minutes, and can continue doing so for as long as it has the raw materials.

The first Death Star took about 20 years to build- most of that was spent designing and prototyping. The second Death Star took roughly 3 years- they were able to take the existing plans and start building.

I'd say the reason the Rebellion has more difficulty with getting raw materials and pilots than it does actually finding space to manufacture their fighters.

I never bought the story that the Rebels actually had the manufacturing capability to turn out X-wings on their own, even if the entire design team had defected. More than likely they aquired the fighters from surplus or local forces joining them. WEG seems to have wanted to make the X seem very special, when it was just a cool looking average fighter.

Why not? We're talking about a galaxy wide rebellion and you have a problem with them managing to assemble a starfighter factory.

Why not? We're talking about a galaxy wide rebellion and you have a problem with them managing to assemble a starfighter factory.

Yes. The Rebellion was an insurgency. Their strength was mobility and distributed organization. They had to be constantly on the move from one base of operations to the next and divided into cells to avoid Imperial capture. A factory is nothing but a great big target that they can't protect. Having a vital logistical resource that can't be moved would be a huge handicap that they couldn't afford. That's why rebellions, insurgencies, resistance movements and terrorists always use scrounged together, out dated, surplus supplies. They don't have the infrastructure to make their own equipment, they have to steal it.

And the cost of being discovered is incredibly harsh, ie the Organa's home planet.