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Star Wars Episode VII, The Force Awakens...

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ngon master
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almighty_gir ngon master
...some really bad ideas on lightsaber design.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOVFvcNfvE"]Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens Official Teaser Trailer #1 (2015) - J.J. Abrams Movie HD - YouTube[/ame]

Not overly enthused =[

Edit: I have this really nagging feeling that this film is going to be good, really good... but not good enough when compared to other movies out there. Guardians of the Galaxy set the bar really high (for me) in terms of a modern space quest film.

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  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    You beat me to posting that by four minutes.
  • Stinger88
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    Stinger88 polycounter
    Yeah, some nice things looking designs and things in there. Like the big industrial speeder bike thing. Don't like the little football r2d2 thing though.

    Strange trailer though. Each scene has not context with the next. Just seems like random action clips involving various things thrown together.
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    It's not a proper trailer, just a few bits of footage in response to the other rubbish doing the rounds.
  • battlecow
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    battlecow polycounter lvl 12
    It needs more Gunkans!
  • unit187
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    unit187 polycounter lvl 9
    I don't know... is it only me who thinks it doesn't look interesting at all? Looks like some fairly talented guys did a fan youtube video. I know it is a teaser for a trailer, but it just doesn't seem to be exciting.
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    Lightsaber is dope, claymore style. Feels like more Ralph Mcquarrie juice coming to life.

    It is completely non-functional though.. those little bits on the side would just get cut off if you actually tried to do anything with them xD
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    Lightsaber is dope, claymore style. Feels like more Ralph Mcquarrie juice coming to life.

    Bro... you remember how lightsabers work, right? what happens when other stuff comes in contact with them? that lightsaber cross-guard is a fucking stupid idea.
  • Eric Chadwick
    I dunno about not achieving the high bar, I can forgive some oddities when I hear that score, and see it with that beautiful shop-worn 70's futurism. Bring it on!
  • skyline5gtr
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    skyline5gtr polycounter lvl 9
    uh that lightsaber utterly killed it for me, ugly and totally impractical unless the goal it to cut hand off
  • Fogbrain
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    Fogbrain polycounter lvl 5
    I'm just gonna sit here and watch people over-analyze and speculate over 1 min of spliced footage because its Star Wars, and that name alone incites many laws placed by fans that simply cannot be broken.

    Like the lightsaber claymore.

    It's fantasy. It's Star Wars. I don't care, this looks potentially fun. I'll leave it at that.
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    Yeah, I remember Luke getting his hand sliced off without that style of protection

    REALLY BIG SPOILER - READ AT OWN RISK
    I like how that link doesn't get spoiler-tagged out. The link is concept art.
    From what I gather talking to people who built the propers, that's Luke in the trailer.

    Concept art for awesome:
    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T-mMknfRfEQ/VD7TAoukmtI/AAAAAAAAbio/zXpZVC_o5pU/s1600/vader-mask-sith-figure-conceptart.jpg
    I also remember some dude have a double sided one. Also it's a space opera, who cares unless it looks cool which it does.

    The second blade is functional.
  • low odor
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    low odor polycounter lvl 17
    don't drink the haterade... maybe the wielder has some kind of magical Force he uses to make the weapon more practical?

    I am going to go into this with zero expectations...at the very least I get to see X-wings, tie fighters and the Falcon rip up the screen

    anyone else notice the Falcon got a new sensor array....
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    ambershee wrote: »
    REALLY BIG SPOILER - READ AT OWN RISK
    I like how that link doesn't get spoiler-tagged out. The link is concept art.
    From what I gather talking to people who built the propers, that's Luke in the trailer.

    Concept art for awesome:
    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T-mMknfRfEQ/VD7TAoukmtI/AAAAAAAAbio/zXpZVC_o5pU/s1600/vader-mask-sith-figure-conceptart.jpg
    there's a pretty huge EU story arc where the emperor's spirit refuses to move on, and corrupts luke. Wouldn't be surprised if this is some variation on that.
  • cryrid
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    cryrid interpolator
    Looks awesome so far!
    It is completely non-functional though.. those little bits on the side would just get cut off if you actually tried to do anything with them xD
    Ever play with one of the toys of Darth Maul's saber? That thing would hack your own limbs off quick enough if it were real too. The force probably gives Jedi a bit more control over things like that though. This means its functional, and badass. (They could also function the same way as the training lightsabers did)
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    there's a pretty huge EU story arc where the emperor's spirit refuses to move on, and corrupts luke. Wouldn't be surprised if this is some variation on that.
    This film is set around 30 years after Episode VI, in a fairly dark future where the empire still isn't defeated. Luke disappears shortly after the events of Episode VI as he's paranoid about falling to the Dark Side like his father.
  • Fwap
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    Fwap polycounter lvl 13
    I honestly thought the intro was another one of those fake trailers.
    I really dig the X-wing snippet.
  • skyline5gtr
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    skyline5gtr polycounter lvl 9
    It did look like a fan made trailer
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    Yeah, I honestly thought it was fake up until about half way through.
  • Lord McMutton
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    Lord McMutton polycounter lvl 17
    I guess Henry is Sith now:
    1379723-tradingcardno147.png

    But hey, I like it.
  • SveinY
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    SveinY polycounter lvl 6
    lSlqiUA.jpg

    But seriously I hate the new design of the lightsaber other then that it looks like another popcorn movie 2 me. Time will tell if its a good movie :)
  • Dazz3r
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    Dazz3r polycounter lvl 12
    Whaaat??? You guys? I thought it looked awesome, the sound, the visuals, I'm more hyped than before and I was already hyped!!
  • Spoon
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    Spoon polycounter lvl 11
    uh that lightsaber utterly killed it for me, ugly and totally impractical unless the goal it to cut hand off

    +1
  • Fuiosg
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    Fuiosg polycounter lvl 5
    Looks alright, aside from that lightsaber.

    Not a big fan of Abrams though, everything he touches has this sort of whiff of fanboy commercialism. But I'll keep an open mind, VFX looked good.
  • iniside
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    iniside polycounter lvl 6
    Call me utter fanboy, but when I heard Main Theme and saw Star Wars I had shivers over entire body.

    As for light saber. Yeah it looks stupid I grant you that. But you forget about one thing.
    Light saber as it is, is totally impractical. It have no weight beyond hilt, and you need literally supernatural coordination to do not hack yourself apart with it. If you would be using something like light saber you would be able to feel where the blade is, beyond seeing it.

    Anyone how ever did some sword fighting can tell that feeling the weight if blade is important for coordination.

    So these new "decorations" are not more impractical than entire concept of light saber when used by Jedi/Sith/Other force users, who can literally sense position of blade.

    edit:
    I just really hope that fighting choreography will be kept from Episodes 1-3.
    The 4-6, felt like knight using heavy swords and clad in heavy armor.. Which is ridiculous considering that Jedi barely have any armor and sword barely any weight to it..
  • Bobby J Rice 3rd
    It kinda reminded me of jedi academy. I like this. It will be a jj abbrams film in that his flavor will come through much like it did in star trek. This will be a good movie.

    I dont like the lightsabers. They look like blow torches rather than solid swords of light. But, i can live with it if it means no more ewoks, gungans, bad acting and cheesy stupid plot.
  • The Mad Artist
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    The Mad Artist polycounter lvl 13
    It appears most people are glass half empty types when it comes to this TEASER. It's not a proper trailer, just put out to garner interest.

    I'm fucking stoked as hell. There was nothing there that upset me at all. Cross guard sabers already have popped up in the EU, I think it looks badass, don't care about the functionality, lol.

    I can't wait.
  • dfacto
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    dfacto polycounter lvl 18
    Not sure why everyone is hating on the lightsaber, there's wackier stuff in the EU and games, plus medieval swords are awesome.
    I just really hope that fighting choreography will be kept from Episodes 1-3.
    The 4-6, felt like knight using heavy swords and clad in heavy armor.. Which is ridiculous considering that Jedi barely have any armor and sword barely any weight to it..

    I hope they use both. Vader and Luke both use the power form of lightsaber styles which is powerful and slow. Episodes 1-3 were a twirlfest, which was fun, but having styles be really visually distinct would be good. And the big medieval style sword would work great with a powerful but slower style.
  • reverendK
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    reverendK polycounter lvl 7
    i have very little faith in JJ. don't care so much about the lighsaber, though I do wonder why it's become a thing that every movie must showcase some new lightsaber configuration.

    Not sure how i feel about this whole "ghost of the emperor posessing luke skywalker" nonsense. I hope that's not it. TO ME that sounds like a really hand-wavy stupid way to take the protagonist of the original films and make him the antagonist of the new ones. like...really stupid. and lazy. (my opinion. i'm allowed to have it :p )

    so yeah. it being JJ i'm not overly hopeful. but hey, at least it's not Micheal Bay.
  • Fuiosg
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    Fuiosg polycounter lvl 5
    Everytime they ramp up the lightsaber stuff, this is all I think of

    original.jpg

    I liked it in EP 1, but when you start going akimbo and all that, it goes too far into the Hong Kong action film territory. I know they're jedis but it's nice to have some hint of practicality.
  • PixelMasher
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    PixelMasher veteran polycounter
    haha it looks fuckin cool? reminds me of the sandcrawler in a new hope. thank god its not all chromed out and shiny new looking.
  • reverendK
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    reverendK polycounter lvl 7
    Fuiosg wrote: »
    I liked it in EP 1, but when you start going akimbo and all that, it goes too far into the Hong Kong action film territory. I know they're jedis but it's nice to have some hint of practicality.

    well...i mean...there's always this
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    iniside wrote: »
    I just really hope that fighting choreography will be kept from Episodes 1-3.

    NO.

    No retarded dance-stepping around each other with twirly lightsaber effects added in afterwards (that don't even line up with what the characters are doing). Honestly, that stuff was fucking atrocious.


    Lightsabers are not impractical, how they are portrayed in the prequel trilogies are. A lightsaber should be more like a fencer's foil, and it's no secret that the actor who played Darth Vader in the fight scenes was an Olympic fencer, and that a lot of what he was doing made perfect sense, especially with his legs. They didn't behave exactly like fencers, because it doesn't make for particularly good cinema. Skywalker on the other hand simply doesn't know how to fight, and Vader is simply toying with him and trying to wear him down - he neither wants to kill Skywalker, and is under strict orders from the Emperor not to do so. Combat feels slow, because there is talking in between the fighting for plot advancement / dramatic purposes (not to mention real sword combat is generally over in a matter of seconds anyway).

    The presequel trilogies were filmed using flamboyant dance steps, then sped up some 150-200% and had the blades composited over the top. The result is utter trash that goes on for minutes at a time and achieves very little except looking flashy.
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    I'd settle for lightsaber duels like Obiwan and Anakin, that was arguably the best dual in the series.
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
  • Fuiosg
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    Fuiosg polycounter lvl 5
    I thought the best was the vader skywalker one from Jedi, probably in the minority though.
  • ErichWK
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    ErichWK polycounter lvl 12
    tumblr_inline_mknjuiP1gM1qz4rgp.gif



    Oh my god. Yes. Disney buying star wars was the best decision. Guys. The light Saber is sick. It's the sickest.
  • Will Faucher
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    Will Faucher polycounter lvl 12
    ambershee wrote: »
    NO.


    A lightsaber should be more like a fencer's foil, and it's no secret that the actor who played Darth Vader in the fight scenes was an Olympic fencer, and that a lot of what he was doing made perfect sense, especially with his legs.
    Kendo, not fencing. George Lucas was very much inspired by the Japanese fighting style of the Samurai.
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    Kendo is often referred to as the Japanese form of fencing - but a lightsaber realistically would behave a lot like a foil, rather than a blade. The reason they don't use them outright like that is because it doesn't really look good.

    Nevertheless, you can see a lot of normal fencing techniques; beats and binds are used, and the footwork is definitely more of the directly forwards-backward style found in fencing than the lateral movements often seen in kendo:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8kpHK4YIwY4

    Much of the cinematography is actually a pretty direct clone of certain older Japanese directed films:
    http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/kurosawa2.html
  • dfacto
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    dfacto polycounter lvl 18
    Fuiosg wrote: »
    I thought the best was the vader skywalker one from Jedi, probably in the minority though.

    The best by far. That was art.
  • Kridian
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    Kridian polycounter lvl 14
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    That was nice !! The part with the X-wings over the lake was freaking great. It's all looking very fresh yet still true to the originals.

    The one tiny nitpick that I have is about the end title card : the way the tagline overlaps the main title doesn't quite do it for me. I feel like this effect wouldn't have been possible back then, or would have resulted in some kind of undesirable ghosting artifact. Seeing it composited like that today feels off somehow.
  • mats effect
    Really liked it, had a very fresh feel with awesome CG but at the same time the CG didn't feel over done and it fits well with everything else. That's a problem I had with episodes I-III.
  • Oniram
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    Oniram polycounter lvl 15
    im fuckin stoked!!
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    Ship or lightsaber...

    It's a lightsaber.

    BIG SPOILER - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK:
    It belongs to the commander of a new type of stealth storm trooper, the hilt is constructed out of Wampa claws
    .
  • bounchfx
    im pumped to see it. didn't really like the prequels and to be honest I think I haven't watched the original trilogy since those three... when I used to watch it like once a week. heh

    either way, the 'vibe' is cool so far even though we haven't really seen shit yet


    but seriously that lightsaber looks fucking stupid, dude is gonna cut off his fingers :\ it's just too impractical in its current form imo
  • PixelMasher
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    PixelMasher veteran polycounter
    omg...something creative and implausible in an imaginary universe with "magic powers"?! how dare they. it just looks like a huge claymore. probably a totally different fighting style. jesus, people will find anything to moan about. also yes, please go back to original trillogy style of saber fights, that flipply twirly shit was just lame and so try hard looking. aimed at wowing children.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZEdDMQZaCU
  • low odor
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    low odor polycounter lvl 17
    lol.. because it is implausible for someone using a unique weapon to incorporate a unique style when using it...we could throw Darth Maul's double endded saber into the same pictures and make the same argument.
  • dfacto
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    dfacto polycounter lvl 18
    "THIS LIGHTSABER IS TOTALLY DANGEROUS AND UNREALISTIC! Now excuse me while I watch this midget space wizard levitate an FTL capable fighter out of a swamp."

    You guys are being ridiculous.
  • Swizzle
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    Swizzle polycounter lvl 15
    Sorry, I can't hear your lightsaber complaints over the sound of the MUHFUGGIN' MILLENNIUM FALCON FFFFFWWWWWWAAAAAOOOOHHHHHHHHHHSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH PEW PEW PEW PEW
  • Dataday
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    Dataday polycounter lvl 8
    I suppose it could be worse.... *cough* Michael Bay *cough*. I'm going to side with those pointing out the Lightsaber is completely impractical. It doesnt really fit in, not even sure the tech works that way. I'm afraid its going to end up being a mishmash of styles (new visual theme and style clashing with the old).

    I'm sure the film will do well though.
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