Star Wars: Rebels

[Rogue 9]

Here we go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26MjdKGCvbE&t=2m40s

[RogueIce]

Which is nonsense because Obi Wan saw not only the first, best clone models, he also saw later, rushed ones and partially conscripted army. He also had 25 years (in which time he didn't only sit in a cave) to observe changes. Jesus, did that idiot ever tried to consider what happened in the gap between trilogies or just turned brain off and assumed the gap was as long as time needed to change DVDs?

In my opinion, having made The Clone Wars and now working with Stormtroopers, I would say that a Clone trooper could outgun a Stormtrooper rather easily. A Clone trooper was bred, born, raised to be a soldier. Lucky for them, the Jedi gave them a lot of personality, but they were very dedicated soldiers. Stormtroopers are drafted into service; you can join through academies. If you watch A New Hope they stand around and say, ‘Hey, you seen the new BT-16?’ They seem interested in their job but you question their dedication. They’re treated as expendable by the Empire, and they definitely can’t shoot anything.

...

That's about M Night Shalayman level of stupid. Does he seriously compare 2 alone troopers in the middle of long shift on most powerful battle station in the universe who might have been just mind clouded by Obi Wan to clonetroopers in the middle of battle?

*snip*

Uh, did he ever watch TOT? Where the only battle ever lost by stormtroopers was one where rebels had unexpected native reinforcements? Pulling not hitting R2D2 into it is also all kinds of dumb, considering stormtroopers were right in the middle of battle and were trying to hit rebels, not harmless robot. In fact, not panicking and not hitting R2 requires considerable discipline and level head. In IT, there is word for an idiot who doesn't get what he sees: GIGO

By the way, I know it's probably non canon anymore, but TCG identified these stormtroopers he tarred as clones, not draftees:

*snip images*

So it shows how much he knows about his supposedly "beloved" setting...

He is an executive producer of the franchise now, his interpretation informs what becomes canon.

No, he is executive producer of children Disney cartoon. Post about as important as Marvel comic writers were in 70s.

Whether you like it or not, the fact is he has been principally involved in producing the vast majority of what is now Canon in Star Wars, which makes his opinions pretty important. It's more than just a "children Disney cartoon" as far as the franchise is concerned.

Maybe a few years from now additional authors and creators will have their input and we'll get more elite stormtroopers. For all we know, Rebels itself will show us a better breed of trooper than presently exists on Lothal - given we're all of six episodes into the series so far, and the latest episode didn't even feature them.

Only imperial apologist fans like a lot of folks here think stormtroopers are elite warriors.

To be fair, "elite stormtroopers" was an EU thing as well...to an extent. Only the WEG sourcebooks and Timothy Zahn really portrayed it that way, though. Well okay, other authors had varying degrees of competency, but so far as an elite force above the rest, see below.

The problem could be easily avoided if not everybody in the white armour was a Stormtrooper. Modern day elite units use pretty much the same gear as regular soldiers do, so 'guys in white armour'=generic Imperial infantry, Stormtroopers='elite troops Ben was referring to who also wear that armour' would've worked. Unfortunately, so far all of canon (old and new) indicates that Stormtrooper does cover everybody wearing that armour.

That's the way a lot of the old EU seemed to play it. The stormtrooper armor was pretty much the basic Imperial ground forces. WEG, Zahn and the Empire/Rebellion comics were notable* for having a distinctly separate Imperial Army, with different uniforms and armor, but the vast majority of the EU seemed be Stormtroopers = Imperial Ground Forces.

The closest to your particular idea occurred* in X-Wing: The Bacta War with the Thyferran Home Defense Corps wearing Stormtrooper armor, but the insurgent lady noted how they were anything but professional stormtroopers.

*So far as my knowledge of the old EU is concerned, anyway. Though there was a (minor) example in the game Rebellion with separate Imperial Army Regiments and Stormtrooper Regiments, with the Stormtroopers having higher overall stats than the Army. That one was rather dubiously C-Canon though given the total sandbox nature of the game.

Well, there are also all those Imperial Navy Troopers we see in the movies but for all we know they were essentially just the Imperial Navy Master-at-Arms rather than a formal ground fighting force.

[biostem]

The most recent episode had me wondering about the nature of SW tech:

1. So the detachable shuttle portion of the Ghost uses some sort of liquid/gel fuel?

2. There is apparently nothing on said shuttle to let you know that there is a fuel leak - unless you use some separate ship/device to run a diagnostic? This seems like a huge oversight, as the shuttle has hyperspace capability. I can only chalk this up to the highly modified nature of the Ghost and her shuttle.

3. The asteroid they were on didn't seem large enough to sustain an atmosphere on its own - I know there was an abandoned base on it - are we to assume there was some still-functional equipment to maintain that?

4. Who do you think Fulcrum is? Spoiler

I think it is Senator Organa

5. They go on these critical supply runs - to only retrieve 3-4 crates? I suppose, depending upon what are in said crates, it may be worth it. At least one of them had some special marking on it, so maybe vaccines or Imperial intelligence?

6. I can accept that Ezra, Zeb, and Chopper have this sort of "sibling rivalry" relationship, but with the exception of Ezra who's still a kid, are you telling me that Zeb and Chopper can really be that negligent in their tasks? I mean, I know they *were* in this case, but it just seemed like a poor setup to the events in the episode.

7. If Hera & Sabine had all those explosive barrels - why not just blow up the shuttle that was wedging the hangar gate open? They already had the crates loaded - they could have tried to unjam the door or even cave in the hangar.

Either way, it was nice to see Hera & Sabine get some screentime - I tend to find the side characters more interesting in many of these series...

[tezunegari]

3. The asteroid they were on didn't seem large enough to sustain an atmosphere on its own - I know there was an abandoned base on it - are we to assume there was some still-functional equipment to maintain that?

The life support of a military installation has to withstand possible attacks. Even if this was just an unimportant base, a really sturdy system would make sense.
Though the hangar looks like it was abandoned quite suddenly.

6. I can accept that Ezra, Zeb, and Chopper have this sort of "sibling rivalry" relationship, but with the exception of Ezra who's still a kid, are you telling me that Zeb and Chopper can really be that negligent in their tasks? I mean, I know they *were* in this case, but it just seemed like a poor setup to the events in the episode.

I wonder why Hera scolded Ezra as well as Zeb. Ezra did the job assigned to him unless he was supposed to double checl Zebs work.
It was Zeb who screwed the Bantha by getting riled up and not checking the final report. And one might argue that Chopper is responsible as well with his antics that riled up Zeb.
I wonder how dangerous to health that life support flushing is.

7. If Hera & Sabine had all those explosive barrels - why not just blow up the shuttle that was wedging the hangar gate open? They already had the crates loaded - they could have tried to unjam the door or even cave in the hangar.

The door might be jammed by other means beside that ARC-170 (pretty resilient frame if it can jam a door of this size and mass).
And the hangar is possible reinforced due to it being part of a military outpost, so the barrels might not have had enough power to make it cave in.


Ezra needs a gun. That slingshot of his is just depressingly underpowered...

[Mange]

Whether you like it or not, the fact is he has been principally involved in producing the vast majority of what is now Canon in Star Wars, which makes his opinions pretty important. It's more than just a "children Disney cartoon" as far as the franchise is concerned.

And that is somewhat unfortunate as Filoni has also claimed that Han Solo can't understand Chewbacca when it's perfectly clear from the movies that he does (same thing with the rather inane claim about Obi-Wan. The stormtroopers had obviously hit the crawler perfectly regardless of how well Obi-Wan knew the stormtroopers). However, Filoni has made good contributions to the canon (but I would rather have seen more seasons of TCW than the stupid, from what I've seen anyway, Rebels).

[RogueIce]

And that is somewhat unfortunate as Filoni has also claimed that Han Solo can't understand Chewbacca when it's perfectly clear from the movies that he does

Do you happen to have a link to the interview or video where he says that? I'd be interested in the context of that statement.

[Mange]

And that is somewhat unfortunate as Filoni has also claimed that Han Solo can't understand Chewbacca when it's perfectly clear from the movies that he does

Do you happen to have a link to the interview or video where he says that? I'd be interested in the context of that statement.

I'll look further, but I only managed to dig up the quote (from an interview at Wondercon): "Ahsoka can understand Chewie. Han Solo cannot and can only guess Chewie's emotions."

[Borgholio]

There's a scene in ROTJ where Han is still blind and flailing around on the barge looking for Boba Fett. Unless Chewie has an emotion specifically for Fett, Han must have understood his language.

[Crazedwraith]

Can we have more context please? Beacuse To me that statement doesn't seem to refer to language at all. More like understand Chewie's mindset and cultural background and shit.

[Mange]

My memory seems to have clouded over the years: It came from a live feed from Wondercon on Twitter, so it's only a secondary source. The feed says: "Ahsoka understands Chewbacca thanks to her training at the temple. Han just understands his emotes." so it's different from the quote I dug up yesterday.

Twitter: Far Far Away Radio

[Adam Reynolds]

So Jedi training is better than years of constant companionship for understanding a language? If Han only understands Chewie's emotes how do they possibly have technical conversations?

[biostem]

There's a scene in ROTJ where Han is still blind and flailing around on the barge looking for Boba Fett. Unless Chewie has an emotion specifically for Fett, Han must have understood his language.

There's also that scene in ANH where Chewie makes a noise about the vent Leia blasted open and Han basically says "I don't care what you smell, get in there!" - which to me implies that there was more expressed than just "don't wanna".

////////////////////

As for the latest episode of Rebels - it got me thinking about a few more things:

1. The Empire would send TIE Pilots to go somewhere, exit their craft, then attempt to interrogate/track down a fugitive? I wonder why they didn't just use a shuttle w/ a search team or something similar?

2. So it's mandatory that establishments broadcast the Imperial news channel all the time? I wonder if there are any other channels permitted to be broadcast, and what ratio of non-Imperial broadcasts to Imperial ones is allowed.

3. I suppose that small isolated power sources are so common in Star Wars that Ezra keeping that tower powered up is not really a concern for whomever actually "owns" it. I guess it could be a municipal building of some sort that is just kinda neglected, with Ezra being the one who kinda took care of it.

4. I also guess we'll have to accept that the Empire never sent in any kind of scanning crew for the illegal broadcasting equipment Ezra's parents had.

5. The experimental TIE was interesting - somewhat similar to Vader's, (but lacking the extended fuselage). It was nice to see the Inquisitor wearing a helmet while piloting it - frankly, it bothered me that Ezra and Zeb were flying around in one with the hatch closed - I assume a TIE is still sealed, even though it doesn't maintain an atmosphere inside the cockpit, and they wouldn't have had more than a few minutes of air. It seems they continue their love affair with craft that have folding bits on them.

6. There was a line about the Empire planning to use the planet to ramp up TIE production - I thought that the Empire contracted that kind of stuff out (to Sienar Fleet Systems or somesuch). Speaking of which, have we seen anything besides the generic TIE fighter and the experimental one thus far?

[Darksider]

There were schematics of a TIE Bomber in the data in the rodian dudes head.

[Darth Tanner]

Quite a good episode, first attempt to tell a compelling story....

The Inquisitor looks significantly better and more intimidating with his helmet on & those biker troops at the end were half way competent!

Ezra doesn't strike me as 15 though... bit of a psychopath wanting to kill the cat too... potential fall to the dark side coming.

The Empire forcing people to raise their drinks to the Emperor at gun point was pretty dumb and the fighter pilots looking for a Rodian were pretty sloppy in not immediately focusing on the only Rodian in the room! Empire has pretty shoddy workplace security if they download all their secrets into a Rodian (is the Empire not racist in this era?) and then just loses him while he is lacking any ability to think straight.

Also Star Wars has pretty convenient fireworks technology... you can get an entire display from throwing a small sphere into the air!

[biostem]

Empire has pretty shoddy workplace security if they download all their secrets into a Rodian (is the Empire not racist in this era?)

I interpreted things that the Rodian voluntarily joined the Information Bureau, but was probably forced into the cybernetic implants *due to* him not being human. As for the security breach - I can't say for certain, but perhaps the cybernetics didn't quite take properly due to the inhuman physiology, and perhaps it was thought that he would be a 10)% loyal drone after the procedure, so him walking out went unchallenged... it was still bad security I agree.

Also Star Wars has pretty convenient fireworks technology... you can get an entire display from throwing a small sphere into the air!

Well, Sabine *is* a demolitions expert with an artistic bent, so it doesn't put me off to accept that she can make firework grenades...

[Rogue 9]

Those bike troopers were fucking amazing. The only reason they didn't just end the whole thing right there was Jedi shenanigans. Also, Kallus has got great big brass ones to stand within lunge range of a Jedi with a lightsaber and start emptying a blaster rifle at him.

[FaxModem1]

I thought the Rodian was being used as a lab experiment, and was just able to get away? Wasn't it in the EU that the cyborg run as Lando's right hand man was basically a convict who got mindwiped for his crimes and was made into a walking computer?

[Rogue 9]

No, they said in the episode that he worked for the Imperial Information Bureau, and that this was a thing they sometimes did to low-level functionaries. Which doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense if it disables them like that.

[biostem]

No, they said in the episode that he worked for the Imperial Information Bureau, and that this was a thing they sometimes did to low-level functionaries. Which doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense if it disables them like that.

If they'e smart, they'll play things off that the Rodian, being a friend of Ezra's parents, was similarly anti-Empire, and basically overloaded his implant with stolen Imperial intelligence and made his getaway - knowing that it would negatively impact him, but hoping someone sympathetic to his cause would evac him. Lobot from Cloud City did not appear to have any weird behavioral quirks, so I hope they explain the Rodian's strange behavior in some way...

[NecronLord]

Ezra needs a gun. That slingshot of his is just depressingly underpowered...

Well, the secondary media shows: Spoiler

That he will eventually construct a lightsaber with a guard and a blaster in the lightsaber. He did seem to like the inquisitor's technosaber.

[Rogue 9]

What the hell happened to the Star Destroyer?

[RogueIce]

What the hell happened to the Star Destroyer?

Which episode are you referring to?

[Rogue 9]

What the hell happened to the Star Destroyer?

Which episode are you referring to?

Gathering Forces, the airing of which had just ended when I posted that. The Inquisitor chased Kanan and Ezra to the asteroid base in a Star Destroyer, which made no attempt to pursue them after they blew up his shuttle and left.

[RogueIce]

Ah. I don't know. Stealth?

[Batman]

Technically we don't know the ISD didn't pursue, we just know the 'Phantom' got away. There's a number of possible explanations (none of them mentioned in the episode naturally) for this-
1. As RI noted, Stealth. The ISD either never noticed the ship leaving to begin with or lost it sometime during pursuit-the 'Ghost' is extremely stealthy and it would only make sense to use the same technology in the 'Phantom' if at all possible, and the name 'is' something of a hint...
2. They did successfully pursue but not in time to prevent it from jumping to hyperspace (nuCanon Wars ability to track ships once in hyperspace without a homing beacon is at best undetermined)
3. The Inquisitor's orders said 'do not get involved until I say otherwise', and with the loss of the shuttle he no longer had the ability to tell the ISD otherwise
4. The entire command staff was made of rebel sympathizers and they let the 'Phantom' get away on purpose
5. It was a Flight 1 Galaxy class ISD and the Warp Core I mean hypermatter reactor exploded because somebody told a dirty joke next to it

Problem is all we actually see in the episode is...the 'Phantom' getting away with no explanation of why that big honking ISD (and its myriad parasite craft) didn't try/didn't manage to stop the escape.