On 1/7/2018 at 8:36 AM, Mark Caliber said:

You started with an impossible premise.

You can blame Rian Johnson & JJ Abrams. It's a good place to start.

Actually, the true source of the blame are those alleged "fans' who simply cannot or will not move past the Original Trilogy, and decry anything new or even remotely different as being "bad" when the reality of the matter is that those so-called "fans" are the ones incapable of letting go of the fact that they're not small children any more and that NOTHING that ANYONE does is going to ever allow them to recapture that 'magic' of seeing Star Wars for the first time. All while completely ignoring that we live in an age where new Star Wars media is an ongoing thing.

Ultimately, it boils down to that small and overly vocal minority having unrealistic expectations and not being able to set those expectations aside, to the degree I'd contend they're not fans of Star Wars in general, but just fans of the original films and simply are incapable of moving past those three movies, which have just as many flaws and plotholes and dubious acting performances as anything that's come since.

Only difference is that the OT films get a pass due to nostalgia when they can be just as easily dissected and torn down as the prequels or the sequels have been.

Edit: In fact, I'll go one further. If you are so obsessed with mocking/deriding everything new that gets released simply because it's new , then do yourselves a favor and just stop seeing the new movies, reading the new books, or playing the new games. In spite of what some of the more demented folks claim, neither Lucasfilm (the people who actually make Star Wars and probably have a better handle on the overall franchise than 95% of the fanbase) or Disney (who have no actual involvement in making Star Wars) are taking away your ability to watch and re-watch the Original Trilogy until the end of days and the trumpets blare.

47 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

Lucasfilm (the people who actually make Star Wars and probably have a better handle on the overall franchise than 95% of the fanbase)

I've seen some around here outright state that their personal opinion on matters of story are correct while explicit statements from Pablo Hidalgo or other members of the LFL story group on those same matters are wrong.

In other corners of the intarwebz I've seen fans seriously propose that Lucasfilm should set up a committee of SW fans and run screenplays, rough cuts, etc. by them to ensure that they stay true to the spirit of Star Wars.

And, of course, only the ones making that suggestion really understand "the true spirit of Star Wars," right?

(Insert "I am not a committee!" joke here.)

3 hours ago, Stan Fresh said:

I think a lot of those complaints are constructed backwards, in the spirit of: Let's look for reasons why the movie was bad so that I can post some hate screeds online!

Yeah, that's the general feeling I get from most of these complaints.

On 1/6/2018 at 5:53 AM, penpenpen said:

I like me some Shakespeare and I used to like the Lion King

Until someone pointed out how, intentionally or not, it plays like a fascist propaganda piece.

Now I can't unsee it. YMMV.

(The link is in Swedish, as I couldn't find an equally well-written one in English (but quite a few incensed alt-right rebuttals). Run it through Google translate yourselves or look the topic up in your language of choice. For the lazy here is a reddit post that makes a few of the same points but "only" goes so far as calling it conservative.)

The Lion King was directly lifted from the 1960’s Japanese cartoon “Simba the white lion”. They may have based it on Shakespeare, but it likely really is fascist propaganda.

6 hours ago, Nytwyng said:

I've seen some around here outright state that their personal opinion on matters of story are correct while explicit statements from Pablo Hidalgo or other members of the LFL story group on those same matters are wrong.

Which ultimately proves the truth of my statement.

I've seen and read a fair amount of what those self-appointed keepers of all things Star Wars want the franchise to be, and it's one gigantic steaming pile of bantha excrement that would only ensure the franchise's demise as a cultural phenomenon.

5 hours ago, Stan Fresh said:

In other corners of the intarwebz I've seen fans seriously propose that Lucasfilm should set up a committee of SW fans and run screenplays, rough cuts, etc. by them to ensure that they stay true to the spirit of Star Wars.

Which if you look at the Story Group, that's pretty much what they are, a committee Star Wars fans (albeit one with a far more open mind than the people "asking" for such a committee in the first place).

But the Story Group and most importantly Kathleen Kennedy also get that only way for this franchise to grow and most importantly thrive is to strike a balance between acknowledging the past and challenging assumptions.

Otherwise, you get the period of time between the release of Episode 6 and the special editions, when the franchise was pretty much a zombie that lurched on being "actively supported" by a very small community of diehards with books that re-hashed the same few plots while introducing very few new leading heroes. And maybe that's the core of the problem, is that these small collection of individuals are so attached to the Star Wars from their youth that they're simply incapable of accepting anything truly new or that challenges their preconceived notions of what Star Wars. Or worse, they believe that their vision of Star Wars is what's best for everyone and that anyone who has a different take on how the franchise has changed/grown is "wrong" or any of a plethora of negative and derogatory labels.

And the underlying message is always they're not REAL fans, unlike US.

On 12/18/2017 at 5:24 AM, Sturn said:

Quite a few things popped up in the Last Jedi that need to be explained away so it doesn't become an issue in future gaming sessions. GM's let us arm ourselves for the inevitable hyperspace bombs coming our way.

SPOILERS BELOW

First, a list of what may need to be explained or receive rules changes? Please respond with other issues and I will edit this list.

1. Slow-moving capital ships can be destroyed by kamikaze ships launching into hyperspace. Why haven't we seen this before? How can we make this a rare, over-costly, or extremely hard to do option for our PCs to avoid, "I'm putting my astromech in this battered Z95 and having it hyperspace into that pirate Corvette!"
2. "Bombers" exist that for some reason must get close to attack (as opposed to launching missiles like a Y-wing) and have bombs that fall....in 0G.
3. Force powers have taken a leap in what they can do. "I want that ultimate protection that Leia has so I can brush off huge explosions and survive in space....and she was only a force sensitive btw". or "But, Move can be used to toss aside large amounts of heavy boulders or demolish small buildings, so why can't I do it too?"
4. Turbolasers are much less effective (less damage) at longer ranges (which don't seem to be very far) per a quote during the space chase. Rule change needed?
5. Hyperspace fuel.
6. .......

Don't have a problem with a cruiser damaging a super dreadnaught at light-speed. Most of the ship survived anyways it was so huge.

You realize there were Tie Bombers which dropped bombs in space in Empire Strikes Back don't you? So space bombs have been a thing since 1980.

All Leia did was survive in space for a few minutes, and force pull herself back into the ship which caused her to fall into a coma. It's hardy an genre breaking ability. Kanan does this in Rebels too.

Turbolasers being less effective at extreme range is not that big of deal.

Hyperspace fuel has been a thing since the Phantom Menace, also there is mention of fuel in ROTS when Kenobi refuels his fighter. Also there are plenty mentions of fuel in The Clone Wars.

While it's not really relevant to the discussion, since physics doesn't jibe with what we see on screen (IE both ships being instantly sublimated into vapor and nearby Crait being scorched to the mantle), it's still a pretty interesting video:

It's not really interesting, because it's base premise is stupid.
We create near infinite energy out of nowhere. Either the hypermatter has already near infinite energy levels, in which case a conventional collision and following hypermater explosion would achieve the same thing or the calculations are wrong and overlooking something.

Considering that the calculations don't fit the visuals either AND that there is established star wars technology to ignore relativistic effects .... we are using the wrong formula for kinetic energy calculation. Which means we are back to good old newton, which is an older formula, but should check out for this case.

Yeah, the starting point seems to be that you can create near infinite energy without requiring near infinite energy, and then use it. So basically assuming that hitting hyperspace ignores rules of conservation of energy of our physics, but then picking and choosing what of our physics to use. It's like discarding 2 + 2 = 4 and saying it can be anything we like, and then showing weird behaviour for Pythagoras.

Also, from an engineers perspective, they are also assuming that the kinetic energy is brought to zero by the force of the impact, which is highly unlikely. The most that I think could be absorbed is the energy required to break through the target, which is probably much closer to what we see.

Being brought to near zero is what we saw in Pammant collision, where the planet was mostly destroyed and the entire system was blasted with radiation, killing basically everyone.

On 1/13/2018 at 5:10 PM, Donovan Morningfire said:

Which if you look at the Story Group, that's pretty much what they are, a committee Star Wars fans (albeit one with a far more open mind than the people "asking" for such a committee in the first place).

No joke. When you have cosplaying creators like Dave Filoni who openly talk about why Y-wings were their favorite toys as a kid or writers like Chuck Wendig who wrote a published short story about the Mos Eisley Cantina bartender , complaints about "not true fans" smack of petty narcissism, not reverence for the franchise.

On 1/17/2018 at 7:02 AM, Darzil said:

Also, from an engineers perspective, they are also assuming that the kinetic energy is brought to zero by the force of the impact, which is highly unlikely. The most that I think could be absorbed is the energy required to break through the target, which is probably much closer to what we see.

What is your engineering perspective on artificial gravity created without centrifugal force, faster-than-light travel, laser beams flying like bullets, and flashlights that generate heat equivalent to the surface of a star? Not to mention giant wildlife that violates the square cube law?

I've been absorbing science-fiction media for 35 years, from novels to television, games, and movies. Star Wars is fun speculative fiction but it's straight-up fantasy.

Yeah, I don't care, it's a fantasy.

I do care when someone starts doing real world physics on it and gets the real world collision wrong !

1 hour ago, Darzil said:

Yeah, I don't care, it's a fantasy.

I do care when someone starts doing real world physics on it and gets the real world collision wrong !

But pop science and fantasy are both just a form of entertainment. And pop science is the main reason why "nerds" are cool these days … becomes a lot easier when you handle your science like your fantasy. ;-)

1 hour ago, Darzil said:

Yeah, I don't care, it's a fantasy.

I do care when someone starts doing real world physics on it and gets the real world collision wrong !

Does that affect the plot or the story?

39 minutes ago, Concise Locket said:

Does that affect the plot or the story?

I was commenting on the video posted by Desslok where they consider real world physics. I saw neither plot nor story within it.

I have relatively few issues with TLJ.

For those who still blame Disney for ruining star wars:

What we really need at this point is “how nobody at all has killed Star Wars”.

No you don't understand, a movie that was both a creative and financial success is clearly a sign of a dead franchise.

On 1/12/2018 at 6:04 AM, Concise Locket said:

If they pay attention to social media, the last few years decades have been a rough time to be a creator

The new trilogy has it's haters. The Prequels have their haters. There were letters running in Starlog about how Jedi was a piece of crap and there were critics ripping apart Empire for that green guy being too goofy and the story not having an ending.

Face it, if you put your work out, you have to have a thick skin.

This scene: I've had this for ages. Kept it locked away.... Where'd you get that?.... A good question. For another time.

Actually I'd have liked a quick flashback of someone telling someone of a rumour about a lost lightsaber on Cloud City, then cutting to a scavenger in the air ducts finding it.. then selling it to Maz. Now I suspect HoM will want us to but 2 novels - how the lightsaber was found and how Snoke and the FO came to power. I got 2/3ish through After birth math and put it down

2 hours ago, ExpandingUniverse said:

This scene: I've had this for ages. Kept it locked away.... Where'd you get that?.... A good question. For another time.

Actually I'd have liked a quick flashback of someone telling someone of a rumour about a lost lightsaber on Cloud City, then cutting to a scavenger in the air ducts finding it.. then selling it to Maz. Now I suspect HoM will want us to but 2 novels - how the lightsaber was found and how Snoke and the FO came to power. I got 2/3ish through After birth math and put it down

Nobody explained how Obi-Wan got Vaders lightsaber either...
I mean, it makes sense, at first... "your father wanted you to have this"... but then *plot twist* Vader is your father! (But he gave the lightsaber to Obi-wan before he turned? Or something?)

(at least not in the original movies... you had to wait 20 years for that)