Watch Star Wars Episode VII's First Official Trailer Right Here

[Pinky's Brain]

Double lightsaber is not prima facie ridiculous if you don't put too much thought or experience with weapons into it ... which is why we have so many double weapons in D&D, including the every funny spiked chain.

A crossguard made of lightsabers makes the spiked chain look reasonable, it's just too far out.

 

[A_Parked_Car]

I'm not sure why some people are getting paranoid about the X-Wings being low to the ground. X-Wings are fully capable of in-atmosphere flight. The first thing I thought when I saw that shot, being very familiar with real life air power, is that they are avoiding ground-based air defense systems and/or radar. That is where the saying "flying below the radar" comes from for describing someone that isn't very conspicuous.

 

[Olas]

And then you don't have to worry about this:

Except Luke's saber blade was out in a direction where a cross guard wouldn't have helped, so that's not correct.

Spoiler

What about that scene suggests Luke would still have a hand if he had a cross guard?

Look, I was just trying to illustrate why hand protection would be nice. Whether that one specific example would have benefitted from a cross guard isn't really that important, clearly you can see the value in having something to protect your hands (and the hilt of your weapon) without me needed to present anecdotal cases?

 

[Godhead]

I wasn't even that hyped for these Star Wars flicks, but man does my enthusiasm feel deflated.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Welp. That trailer told me fuck-all about the movie save that...it's Star Wars.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

If the whole hilt of the lightsaber was made of Cortosis, that would at least make some sense... but it still wouldn't negate the otherwise uselessness of having lasers sticking out of the side of the handle. They serve no offensive or defensive function.

You can't attack anybody with it because if you aim one of the blades at an opponent, the other one is aimed at you.
And you can't defend attacks with it unless you politely ask your opponent to direct their attacks three to nine inches away from the hilt.

There's no doubt the force user wielding it will have to watch the laser hilt but again, lightsabers alone require very special training to use. This lightsaber requires a tradeoff of difficulty of style in exchange for more use from the lightsaber.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

That lightsaber crossguard looks like it both offers no added defense and like it would be a good way to slice your own bodyparts off.

Seriously though, I HATE new lightsaber designs. You've got a blade that cuts through almost everything, there's no need to make it even more "kewl", you just ruin it that way.

Other than that, it actually looked pretty solid.

 

[Rellik San]

Can anyone enlighten me as to exactly which version of the X-Wing those fighters are, as the wing span and engine intakes aren't in line the T-65 model we see in the original trilogy.

They're new, the old EU is GONE as far as this movie is concerned. Those x wings are something new that Abram's people came up with.

I dunno, from what I've seen they are taking elements from it, it's more just the over arching story that's gone but a lot of the tech and universe building that was done seems to be kept in tact.

 

[Brian Tams]

I honestly think that the lightsaber longsword looks the way it does as a sort of callback to actual medieval swords. Like, perhaps the person wielding it some kind of ancient sith hundreds of years old, or the lightsaber itself could be a sith relic that was found by someone. It would also explain the weird look to the energy blade, since older tech would be less efficient.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Take a break from arguing about the crossguard and watch this 'Special Edition' remix of the trailer. Man, I nearly died laughing.

 

[Boba Frag]

*sighs* Sooo many people using the words 'broadsword' (a 17th century Scottish sword, not medieval one), and claymore (a large 16th century two handed sword designed with fighting pike formations in mind) in reference to that rather odd looking lightsaber.

Yeah, I hate it when people use common parlance to describe something in a way the general public will immediately recognise. I mean, what do they think language is? Some sort of living set of rules defined largely by culture? No! That's why we speak exactly as we did when those swords were in widespread use.

Excuse me, but if you'd take that attitude with misconceptions about your own field (mine is history) then that's your business.

Misconceptions about nomenclature are where misconceptions and stereotypes take root and most of my time is spent correcting these errors, honestly made, in an effort to undo the damage that hollywood and video games have only perpetuated.

So, thank you for the juvenile sarcasm, but no thanks.

My God, this thread represents everything I can't stand about this site and the unbearable pseudo-intellectual cynicism that's affecting everything about games I used to like.

 

[Alma Mare]

*sighs* Sooo many people using the words 'broadsword' (a 17th century Scottish sword, not medieval one), and claymore (a large 16th century two handed sword designed with fighting pike formations in mind) in reference to that rather odd looking lightsaber.

Yeah, I hate it when people use common parlance to describe something in a way the general public will immediately recognise. I mean, what do they think language is? Some sort of living set of rules defined largely by culture? No! That's why we speak exactly as we did when those swords were in widespread use.

Excuse me, but if you'd take that attitude with misconceptions about your own field (mine is history) then that's your business.

Misconceptions about nomenclature are where misconceptions and stereotypes take root and most of my time is spent correcting these errors, honestly made, in an effort to undo the damage that hollywood and video games have only perpetuated.

So, thank you for the juvenile sarcasm, but no thanks.

My God, this thread represents everything I can't stand about this site and the unbearable pseudo-intellectual cynicism that's affecting everything about games I used to like.

Oh my god, these filthy peasents and their lack of expertise on medieval weapon nomenclature!! How unrobust. I shall spend most of my time endeavouring to purge these grievous misconceptions from my space opera debate!

 

[Boba Frag]

*sighs* Sooo many people using the words 'broadsword' (a 17th century Scottish sword, not medieval one), and claymore (a large 16th century two handed sword designed with fighting pike formations in mind) in reference to that rather odd looking lightsaber.

Yeah, I hate it when people use common parlance to describe something in a way the general public will immediately recognise. I mean, what do they think language is? Some sort of living set of rules defined largely by culture? No! That's why we speak exactly as we did when those swords were in widespread use.

Excuse me, but if you'd take that attitude with misconceptions about your own field (mine is history) then that's your business.

Misconceptions about nomenclature are where misconceptions and stereotypes take root and most of my time is spent correcting these errors, honestly made, in an effort to undo the damage that hollywood and video games have only perpetuated.

So, thank you for the juvenile sarcasm, but no thanks.

My God, this thread represents everything I can't stand about this site and the unbearable pseudo-intellectual cynicism that's affecting everything about games I used to like.

Oh my god, these filthy peasents and their lack of expertise on medieval weapon nomenclature!! How unrobust. I shall spend most of my time endeavouring to purge these grievous misconceptions from my space opera debate!

And thanks for reminding why I should never engage with anyone on the Escapist forums any more.

I also suggest you open a book once in a while.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I really don't understand the lightsaber hate. Is that really where people draw the line? It's a freakin' Star Wars movie. Lightsabers are fun. They've never been practical. AT ALL. So what if the lightsaber has crossguards? Why don't you simply assume that the guy knows how to use it? That seems to make the most sense since he probably didn't just order a random lightsaber from eBay. These people build their own lightsabers. They know what they're doing.

Like, perhaps the person wielding it some kind of ancient sith hundreds of years old

It's Darth Revan. Mark my words. Abrams is a giant Star Wars nerd and a gamer. Why else would Disney out of the blue announce that the Extended Universe is non-canon, unless they wanted to use something or someone from that universe in a movie? If that isn't Revan I'll eat a live spider.

 

[Alma Mare]

*sighs* Sooo many people using the words 'broadsword' (a 17th century Scottish sword, not medieval one), and claymore (a large 16th century two handed sword designed with fighting pike formations in mind) in reference to that rather odd looking lightsaber.

Yeah, I hate it when people use common parlance to describe something in a way the general public will immediately recognise. I mean, what do they think language is? Some sort of living set of rules defined largely by culture? No! That's why we speak exactly as we did when those swords were in widespread use.

Excuse me, but if you'd take that attitude with misconceptions about your own field (mine is history) then that's your business.

Misconceptions about nomenclature are where misconceptions and stereotypes take root and most of my time is spent correcting these errors, honestly made, in an effort to undo the damage that hollywood and video games have only perpetuated.

So, thank you for the juvenile sarcasm, but no thanks.

My God, this thread represents everything I can't stand about this site and the unbearable pseudo-intellectual cynicism that's affecting everything about games I used to like.

Oh my god, these filthy peasents and their lack of expertise on medieval weapon nomenclature!! How unrobust. I shall spend most of my time endeavouring to purge these grievous misconceptions from my space opera debate!

And thanks for reminding why I should never engage with anyone on the Escapist forums any more.

I also suggest you open a book once in a while.

And you have the gall to call others on pseudo-intellectual cynicism. Comedy gold. Now run along, you have ignorant masses to educate and I have light-claymores to ***** about.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Wiki states that all of the weight is contained within the 1kg hilt, part of the reason they're so difficult to wield:

"one of them being that all of the weight a lightsaber had was in its hilt, and the gyroscopic effect caused resistance to changes in motion, or built up momentum so quickly than an untrained wielder could lose control of the weapon." Which would tie more in with the prequal trilogies where they're all flipping out ninja gaiden style.

The thing is, there's EU lore, there's whatever Lucas and co said at any given time (clearly they didn't think through any of this before filming, and theirs was a world without teh internetz hyper-analyzing everything ever all the time... ), then there's what's on screen, and in animation, and in videogames. There's zero consistency, although, actually, pretty much everything I've seen supports the 'we're treating them as weighted' aesthetic. Lightsaber properties and technique just change at the whim of whoever's pulling the strings.

Personally, as I mostly only care about the films? I just think of the blades as weighted to some degree, as barely any of the techniques are actually designed around a lack of weight.

I immediately saw what's effectively a religious Cross, made out of evil lookin' red energy...

So Disney's saying Christianity are the bad guys?

I don't know, if we're going down the pareidolia route, it doesn't seem a stretch to go a little further.

Oh, absolutely. Sith as evil space-Christians is a given, now.

Take a break from arguing about the crossguard and watch this 'Special Edition' remix of the trailer. Man, I nearly died laughing.

That is awesome. Saw the multi-multi blade/crossguard saber coming, but still laughed.

 

[loa]

I really don't understand the lightsaber hate. Is that really where people draw the line?

Yes. Suspension of disbelief is not an infinite resource.

 

[SAMAS]

I got some major Dam Busters vibes from the low-altitude X-Wings. Though I feel if they are going full Dam Busters, they should've gone with the Y-Wing seeing as that's the bomber.

That would be appropriate, had they not already done that in '77.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Yes. Suspension of disbelief is not an infinite resource.

I don't buy that excuse. This is primarily a gaming website. People here are used to weird shit that doesn't make any sense. I think people are hating everything about the new Star Wars because that's the accepted norm within the geek community these days. Nobody expects this to be good, so everything about it is negative and exaggerated. Basically, people think it's cool to find flaws in an easy target and then ***** about it. Some of them are even complaining about the fact that a teaser didn't reveal much. IT'S A TEASER!