Star Wars: Rebels

[Vance]

I find it really notable that the walkers apparently pack a much larger punch from their cannons than TIE fighters as depicted in the series so far.

Actually this trend has been taking hold for a while. In TCW vehicles were usually depicted as more powerful too; and the TIE fighter in Rebels barely dents the armour of that Imperial troop transport..

[Rogue 9]

I'm referring to things that are directly comparable, i.e. TIE fighters shooting the ground compared to the walkers in Droids in Distress blowing up the rock formations. I don't have the expertise to calculate hard numbers offhand, but the results of the latter are much more visually impressive.

[NecronLord]

This is in no way unrealistic, interceptor aircraft often have less powerful cannons than ground vehicles. I'd think something was squiffy if a TIE bomber did less damage to the environment, but a TIE fighter is, well, a fighter, and not even a dedicated ground attack one at that.

[Batman]

TIE fighter cockpits got a lot roomier apparently. Used to be there was barely room for the pilot. Mind you, there's different model TIEs and if we assume standardized wing panels it was bulkier than regular TIEs but that was till one awfully big cockpit for a TIE.

[NecronLord]

I thought they were pretty spacious but yeah, that one was rather bigger I think. It might just be that Ezra's small, mind you.

[Rogue 9]

I get a 403 error on that image, but yeah, they're not all that tiny.

[Batman]

C&P the link, it works. (403 here too) Of course that's Vader's TIE which is rather bulkier than regular ones.

[Rogue 9]

Well, I have to say I wasn't expecting an Ezra-Zeb buddy comedy, but I laughed at parts, so I suppose that's what counts. Looks like they plan to get serious again next week.

[Darksider]

I honestly thought this was the worst episode of the show so far.

Maybe it's just first season-itis, but Rebels just seems......... not good.

TCW at least started out entertaining, if a tad stupid, then by season 4 it was practically a different show. I guess I was just expecting them to continue in that vein instead of backsliding like this.

[NecronLord]

The Galactic Empire continues its twenty year quest to get Palpatine the best damn fruitbowl in the cosmos.

I rather liked it. The Empire's competence is slowly rising, I think, in that the lieutenant here was soon wise to these guys. Pretty obvious confirmation that TIE fighter guns, at least in use on lothal, aren't up to scratch with the ground vehicles.

For me at least, it was nice to see old EU bits appear too, the obvious one being the transports, which are still mega-nostalgic for me, and the beige colour of the Imperial Officer's Uniform was from Dark Forces and it's sequel Jedi Knight too. Possibly that's a ground forces uniform.

On the flip side, that TIE at least, had no shields; so there's an unpleasant bit of the EU making it through.

[Rogue 9]

And one more thing. We've actually found a weapon that stormtrooper armor is effective against!

[Havok]

On the flip side, that TIE at least, had no shields; so there's an unpleasant bit of the EU making it through.

Do they literally not have shields, or do the just completely fucking suck like they clearly did in the movies if they actually even existed?

[Rogue 9]

On the flip side, that TIE at least, had no shields; so there's an unpleasant bit of the EU making it through.

Do they literally not have shields, or do the just completely fucking suck like they clearly did in the movies if they actually even existed?

One of the characters explicitly says that the TIE he's flying has no shields.

[Havok]

So, like the movies then.

[Thanas]

God this episode sucked. Stormies still suck at shooting, shots won't even penetrate fruit....a single wrench blows up a gun turret...

[Rogue 9]

For that last bit, obstructing a gun barrel with a solid object does tend to result in that sort of thing. For the rest, though, yes - I could not believe that an armful of fruit kept him from getting exploded like one himself when a blaster shot hit center-mass.

[NecronLord]

I'm not sure why folks care about the fruit. As much as there are high end examples of blasters smashing up walls and things, there are also countless examples where they hit say, snow, with no notable effect. I for one don't fancy getting hit in the chest by something that violently explodes a pineapple on contact.

It's not like the stormtrooper shouted 'SETTING FOR MAXIMUM FIREPOWER' and then shot the fruit.

[biostem]

So I don't know if everyone saw the most recent episode... but all I gotta say is "are turbolaser batteries really that fragile?"

[Darth Tanner]

So I don't know if everyone saw the most recent episode... but all I gotta say is "are turbolaser batteries really that fragile?"

Apparently much more so than moth monsters that are blaster proof when the rhino monster from AOTC was downed with a single pistol shot.

Interesting that the Empire publicly says planets are being pacified by base delta zero as if its a good thing! It also gives the impression the Empire is actually depopulating large numbers of worlds as a matter of course... as long as BDZ means the same thing here as it does in the EU.

Also apparently their ship is fully proof against sensors rather than just scrambled as I imagined before... and as this is a top notch Imperial prison it must be proof against some of the best sensors the Empire can employ... wonder if that will ever be explained?

It makes sense that the stormtroopers before they got into the cell were all taken down without even getting a shot off, even standing still for some time to permit that...it was a trap after all but the complete absence of any real effort to close the trap once sprung was pretty shambolic. Only 3 troopers were responding to the incursion and no ties were scrambled at all!

[The Romulan Republic]

The Empire being open about their brutality makes sense in a way. Wasn't the point of blowing up Alderan to terrorize people with a demonstration of their power? They want the galaxy to know they can and are willing to destroy worlds. Like what was termed "The Tarkin Doctrine" in the old EU as I recall.

Interesting that Base Delta Zeros are in the new continuity.

[NecronLord]

Also apparently their ship is fully proof against sensors rather than just scrambled as I imagined before... and as this is a top notch Imperial prison it must be proof against some of the best sensors the Empire can employ... wonder if that will ever be explained?

I imagine so, it seems like they like to just put a lot of stuff out there and drip-feed the explanation later. I appreciate that to be honest.

It makes sense that the stormtroopers before they got into the cell were all taken down without even getting a shot off, even standing still for some time to permit that...it was a trap after all but the complete absence of any real effort to close the trap once sprung was pretty shambolic. Only 3 troopers were responding to the incursion and no ties were scrambled at all!

Also with regard to the stormtroopers, on this mission, Kanan wasn't making even a token effort to conceal that he is a Jedi Knight, using telekinesis openly and even his lightsaber at various points. Some degree of hesitation can be assumed to be pretty natural for most of the troopers, because, let's be frank, prepared, alert Jedi are death incarnate, to fight them is to die. It's amazing they don't just run off.

The Inquisitor seemed far too overconfident, one wonders how many jedi he's actually fought, because, neat tricks aside, and while he clearly was more than a match for Kanan, he could have done something sensible like bring a few squads of troopers to the capture. I do hope he gets smarter.

That said, I liked their fight choreography, it looked much more realistic, and thus dangerous, than the stuff in the prequels, especially the bit where Obi Wan and Anakin twirl their sabers to fight each other and neither are actually aiming for contact.

Blaster proof animals are of course not new to the EU (there was even a lightsaber proof one once!) or to the canon (cough, zillobeast, cough) of course, though I was... bemused that they felt the need to put them in here.

[NecronLord]

By the by folks; remember the remarks about the Spice Mines of Kessel being easily accessed?

There are many, maybe even two hundred or so mining sites according to the visual guide, which rather puts them more in the 'generic work camp in Siberia that people regularly walk out of and get recaptured by the local peasants for bounty' than 'Colditz' category.

Add to that that the Ghost really is sensor-invisible and it seems quite plausible.

[Lord Revan]

yeah it seems that the Inquisitor has only fought half trained padawans at most and even then probably from the non-combat oriented parts Jedi order, in a sense he reminds me of Grevious, big flashy style that would be imtimidating and confusing to a novice but against a real master would a liability

[Tychu]

Just a question. Are you Brits getting the episodes a few days before us Americans? The last episode to air here was the "Mission to get Fruit". There hasn't been an Inquisitor lightsaber battle yet. The episodes air on Mondays here btw.

[NecronLord]

Perhaps it would be prudent now to spoiler things until the Friday regular broadcast of each episode has gone out, I'll do that going forward.