Finally saw the new star wars movie

And I have a new favorite character:

Everyone hail TR-8R, the greatest Storm Trooper to have ever lived!!!

Comments

[howard035]

That guy was a bad-ass, no doubt. But his appearance raises two questions for me:

1) If the force and the Jedi are commonly assumed to be gone (ignoring the whole "something that happened 50 years ago in a society with computers has slipped into mythology" aspect), why are some Stormtroopers trained, armed and deployed with weapons that seem specifically designed to fight lightsabers?

2) If Stormtroopers are trained in awesome staff-fighting, assuming that all Stormtroopers receive basic combat training the way all members of the armed forces do, why wasn't Finn better able to handle a staff attack from a small girl with a non-electrified staff?

[ZeroSpawn]

3648743
1) We can only speculate. Maybe a contingency enacted by the supreme leader who knows the truth? Maybe it's not specifically designed to fight lightsabers and it's just coincidence that it can do that? I mean, why wouldn't you train your army for melee combat?

2) Finn worked in sanitation before the events of the movie, that raid scene in the very beginning was his first mission, and he was kind of a coward.

[howard035]

3649047 You have a point about being ready, clearly the First Order is trying to find Skywalker so they can kill him. Finn actually seems trained in melee combat enough to do pretty well with that lightsaber, which supports point 1 but not point 2. Maybe his cowardice just kept him from being aggressive in early fights until he fell madly in love with Mary SueKye and was emboldened to fight properly.

[Mattricole]

3649580 Actually, TR-8R is a riot stormtrooper. He's equipped with a small blaster, a riot shield, and an electric baton that I assume is used for non lethal take downs. Why he decides to use the electric baton instead of his blaster, I'll never know, but it was easily the most bad ass thing I ever seen. Sucks that Han Solo ended up going Indiana Jones on his ass.

[howard035]

3649592 It's an important lesson that melee weapons, including lightsabers, are generally inferior to ranged weapons, unless you have jedi precognition and can use said weapon to bat away laser beams.

[ZeroSpawn]

3649580

Finn actually seems trained in melee combat enough to do pretty well with that lightsaber

I'm assuming that all storm troopers have some amount of melee training, but considering Finn was assigned to sanitation, maybe he only had the minimum required training and under-performed in tests. I remember thinking his style was pretty sloppy when I saw the movie. Like, he had a passing understanding of the basics, but wasn't very good at it.

3649592

Why he decides to use the electric baton instead of his blaster, I'll never know

I remember him shouting at Finn about being a traitor, so it seems to me like he had a personal stake in that fight. As in, it's more gratifying to beat Finn senseless in melee combat that to just shoot him and be done with it.

[howard035]

3650638 There's a lot of interesting conjecture we can make about Finn. Finished combat training in the bottom of his class, so assigned to maintenance. Served for a while as a janitor on the Planet Star, the presumably when they finished construction and didn't need live personnel in that base they transfer him out. Records show he is compliant but not exactly a warrior, so Phasma has his first mission gunning down some nameless village to ease him into fighting.

[ZeroSpawn]

3650882
This is a sign of a great character. So many little hints and details that point toward larger implications, leaving plenty of room for dissecting actions and dialogue to draw very realistic theories from in discussion. This is storytelling without telling done well. Finn is easily my favorite character in this movie. I loved how because he was a coward, he was able to display great courage throughout the movie, taking action even though he was always terrified. He makes me want to see the next movie, just to hopefully find out more about him. On a side note, this kind of potential depth reminds me of Trixie.

[howard035]

3651053 Finn was definitely the best part of the movie to me, if only because he seemed like the one really new, interesting thing that was not just an homage to New Hope. I hope someday he has to face some other Stormtrooper that he was close to growing up.