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[SalmonGod]

It looked to me more like his way of keeping himself focused and fighting, than an attempt to show off.  He didn't look like he was struggling with consciousness, but like the wound was threatening to slow him down.  You know how if you get hurt while in the middle of physical activity, the pain and debilitation doesn't fully set in until you stop moving?  I thought he was just trying to prevent that.  I've done similar things while in sports or working as a package handler in a sort facility (extremely physical job where I got some decent bruises and scrapes).

[SOLDIER First]

Finn is a stormtrooper. And he did lose. He only didn't die because Han was there.

[Emma]

Finn got his ass kicked every time he picked up a lightsaber. He should consider himself fortunate that he didn't accidentally lop off part of his own body some point.

Yeah, he nearly lost to a goddamn stormtrooper. Really think about that one. He managed to get a hit on Kylo Ren because Kylo Ren thinks he's hot shit and toyed with him for a while before getting scored a bit. Seriously, on rewatch it was sort of obvious, Kylo took less than 20 seconds after that to nearly kill Finn.

I attribute him almost hitting Kylo with the light saver more to the fact that kylo had just been hit with Chewbacca's bow caster. You have to remember that during the movie we are constantly shown how powerful it is and then kylo takes a direct hit from it and not only remains standing but he hits the wound so that the pain from it will, possibly, make him more powerful.

[Cthulufaic]

It'd actually be pretty awesome if Kylo Ren turned into a kind of Jack The Ripper from MGR: Revengeance kind of deal, where pain gives him a kind of high and lets him slice shit up like a motherfucker.

[Flying Dice]

You know, I take back everything I ever said about the stupidity of Kylo Ren's lightsaber design. It makes a hell of a lot of sense in the context of old-style SW saber-shoving; an opponent who tried to lop off one of the crossguards from a saber lock would die even if they managed to take some fingers with them, and in the meantime it lets him play games like he did poking Finn's shoulder.

[Insanegame27]

You know, I take back everything I ever said about the stupidity of Kylo Ren's lightsaber design. It makes a hell of a lot of sense in the context of old-style SW saber-shoving; an opponent who tried to lop off one of the crossguards from a saber lock would die even if they managed to take some fingers with them, and in the meantime it lets him play games like he did poking Finn's shoulder.

But the impairment of motion the crossguard adds evens that advantage out, it is nearly literally comparing a rapier and a longsword.

[Rolepgeek]

I don't know, looking at it from that perspective, actually, since a light saber is all 'edge' and an effectively 'infinitely sharp' one at that, you can hold it any way you want.

I mean, the design of it would still be a bitch for the amount of gain you would actually get, and just having an electro thing as the cross guard would make more sense, and being able to turn it on and off mid battle would probably be the best way to go about it, but whatever.

[SalmonGod]

I don't know, looking at it from that perspective, actually, since a light saber is all 'edge' and an effectively 'infinitely sharp' one at that, you can hold it any way you want.

On that note, the functionality of a crossguard is minor compared to the way lightsaber fighting styles are portrayed through all the movies in general.  All these wide sweeping motions and dramatic clashing of blades.  But you're not going to sunder a lightsaber, and brute forcing your way through someone's defenses with a weapon that has no mass is rather silly.  Lightsaber fighting should be full of deception and quick wrist motions.  You don't need power behind your strikes.  You just need to make contact.

The one thing that Episode 1 did better than most movies is the lightsaber battles struck the best balance so far on realistic and entertaining lightsaber combat.  It still had the flashy dance-like quality that audiences expect, and is satisfying to watch.  But I also think it made much more effort at the same time to portray a lightest-touch approach.  They're much more likely to sweep with their wrists instead of their entire arms to dispatch a droid than in any other Star Wars film, and saber contact in the fights with Darth Maul look more about very rapid strikes and parries while trying to find a weakness and make contact, instead of forceful clashing.  Maul seemed like he took advantage of his weapon to more quickly strike from different angles, and keep his opponent on the defensive - not the flashy gimmick I've seen some people claim.

[Insanegame27]

on that note it is possible to give your lightsaber more hitting force by having the top of it (the emitter) be heavier. Think about it like a cardboard tube (and imagination) as a normal lightsaber. Cram a battery into one end and it hits with a lot more (imaginary and hypothetical) force (no pun intended)

[Urist McScoopbeard]

I don't know, looking at it from that perspective, actually, since a light saber is all 'edge' and an effectively 'infinitely sharp' one at that, you can hold it any way you want.

On that note, the functionality of a crossguard is minor compared to the way lightsaber fighting styles are portrayed through all the movies in general.  All these wide sweeping motions and dramatic clashing of blades.  But you're not going to sunder a lightsaber, and brute forcing your way through someone's defenses with a weapon that has no mass is rather silly.  Lightsaber fighting should be full of deception and quick wrist motions.  You don't need power behind your strikes.  You just need to make contact.

The one thing that Episode 1 did better than most movies is the lightsaber battles struck the best balance so far on realistic and entertaining lightsaber combat.  It still had the flashy dance-like quality that audiences expect, and is satisfying to watch.  But I also think it made much more effort at the same time to portray a lightest-touch approach.  They're much more likely to sweep with their wrists instead of their entire arms to dispatch a droid than in any other Star Wars film, and saber contact in the fights with Darth Maul look more about very rapid strikes and parries while trying to find a weakness and make contact, instead of forceful clashing.  Maul seemed like he took advantage of his weapon to more quickly strike from different angles, and keep his opponent on the defensive - not the flashy gimmick I've seen some people claim.

I actually wrote a paper on this. It is my belief that the duel between Darth Maul and Qui-Gonn/Kenobi represents the peak of the Jedi, the Sith, and the Force. It's the metaphorical and literal passing of the ages. It's the best of Jedi and Sith in terms of technique (that can be visually obtained from the movies in any case) and though there are both force-users with more finesse (Count Dooku) or with more strength (Darth Vader) later on, none really match the intensity and weight of the Episode I duel. (I also really enjoy Episode I, all Jar-Jars aside.)

I don't know, looking at it from that perspective, actually, since a light saber is all 'edge' and an effectively 'infinitely sharp' one at that, you can hold it any way you want.

I mean, the design of it would still be a bitch for the amount of gain you would actually get, and just having an electro thing as the cross guard would make more sense, and being able to turn it on and off mid battle would probably be the best way to go about it, but whatever.

There is a noted style of lightsaber combat which involves temporarily switching the blade off to pass through an opponent's defense.

You know, I take back everything I ever said about the stupidity of Kylo Ren's lightsaber design. It makes a hell of a lot of sense in the context of old-style SW saber-shoving; an opponent who tried to lop off one of the crossguards from a saber lock would die even if they managed to take some fingers with them, and in the meantime it lets him play games like he did poking Finn's shoulder.

But the impairment of motion the crossguard adds evens that advantage out, it is nearly literally comparing a rapier and a longsword.

Another thing. It's been described multiple times--my favorite in KOTOR II--about how incredibly nimble force-users' fine motor skills are. What point is there in comparing any blade, when a Jedi or a Sith can wield a Longsword to the same effect as a Rapier and vice versa? Force Users are so incredibly fast and, if trained, so well able to predict an opponent's next move that it's almost irrelevant.

[hector13]

It'd actually be pretty awesome if Kylo Ren turned into a kind of Jack The Ripper from MGR: Revengeance kind of deal, where pain gives him a kind of high and lets him slice shit up like a motherfucker.

No. It was stupid in MGR, it would be even more ridiculous in the kids movie that is s'posed to be Star Wars

[Cthulufaic]

It'd actually be pretty awesome if Kylo Ren turned into a kind of Jack The Ripper from MGR: Revengeance kind of deal, where pain gives him a kind of high and lets him slice shit up like a motherfucker.

No. It was stupid in MGR, it would be even more ridiculous in the kids movie that is s'posed to be Star Wars

I mean... yeah the premise of Ripper mode was pretty stupid.  But it was still wiz slicing up dudes like nobody's business.

[Flying Dice]

I don't know, looking at it from that perspective, actually, since a light saber is all 'edge' and an effectively 'infinitely sharp' one at that, you can hold it any way you want.

On that note, the functionality of a crossguard is minor compared to the way lightsaber fighting styles are portrayed through all the movies in general.  All these wide sweeping motions and dramatic clashing of blades.  But you're not going to sunder a lightsaber, and brute forcing your way through someone's defenses with a weapon that has no mass is rather silly.  Lightsaber fighting should be full of deception and quick wrist motions.  You don't need power behind your strikes.  You just need to make contact.

The one thing that Episode 1 did better than most movies is the lightsaber battles struck the best balance so far on realistic and entertaining lightsaber combat.  It still had the flashy dance-like quality that audiences expect, and is satisfying to watch.  But I also think it made much more effort at the same time to portray a lightest-touch approach.  They're much more likely to sweep with their wrists instead of their entire arms to dispatch a droid than in any other Star Wars film, and saber contact in the fights with Darth Maul look more about very rapid strikes and parries while trying to find a weakness and make contact, instead of forceful clashing.  Maul seemed like he took advantage of his weapon to more quickly strike from different angles, and keep his opponent on the defensive - not the flashy gimmick I've seen some people claim.

To be perfectly honest, you described why I hated the prequel saber fights. They threw away everything that made the saber fights in the original trilogy such pivotal scenes (the emotional intensity, the layers of meaning beneath the obvious physical conflict) in favor of flashy choreographed dances made to appeal to the sort of people who thought that Obi-Wan fighting Vader on the Death Star was stupid and boring. The Episode I fight was soulless and empty throughout except for that very brief moment where Obi-Wan was trapped in the rotating doors of plot convenience after Qui-Gon died.

Even in Return of the Jedi, when Luke had grown measurably as a man, a duelist, and a Force-user, his fight with Vader had almost nothing to do with OMG SWISH FWEEEEW BZZZZ.

So no. Fuck that. Thank all the gods above and below that Abrams and his people didn't buy into that stupid bullshit.

--

Also it's apparently canon that Kylo Ren's saber has the crossguard to vent excess energy because the focus crystal he used was flawed and would blow up in his hands if it was just the standard blade. So even the stupid gimmicky saber at least reflects its owner instead of being LOL SO TACTICOOL and nothing else.

[nullBolt]

Also it's apparently canon that Kylo Ren's saber has the crossguard to vent excess energy because the focus crystal he used was flawed and would blow up in his hands if it was just the standard blade. So even the stupid gimmicky saber at least reflects its owner instead of being LOL SO TACTICOOL and nothing else.

I thought the design for Ren was one of the better parts of the Force Awakens. His saber is a barely controlled piece of junk, like Ren himself.

[TheBiggerFish]

Huh.