Fallenangel

Man, that was just a bad excuse for a UCS set. Not to mention that I just spent a paragraph bashing the N-1 in the "Clone Wars vs. Original Trilogy vs. Prequels" thread... The set almost sounds too good to be true. But we did get 10188, so I suppose there's hope.

As intricate and complex as the Prequels may be, as Plinkett said, most of it makes no sense. In other words, it's superfluously complex. And to add to that, I have to say that while I was watching the films, I really didn't care much about the politics of it all. I admit that I was moderately engaged with Anakin in Clones and Sith, but the whole deal about the agreement between the Trade Federation and the Corporate Alliance or whatever organization went completely over my head. Yes, I realize I sound like your typical stupid Internet nerd, but come on, how much political activity do you see in the Original Trilogy? As I've said, Star Wars is just not a political story. It's even mentioned in Star Wars that the Emperor actually dissolved the Imperial Senate because it was implied that fear of the Death Star would maintain order. Thus we see that part of how the Emperor holds power in his government is by making things simpler to prevent rebellion, something that's symbolized in the cookie-cutter design of the TIE fighter or the triangular shape of the star destroyers. It's comparable to the Party's simplification of language through Newspeak in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (see sig) in order to restrict independent thought, thus preventing deviation from the ideals which are promoted by the Party. Vader doesn't go through the complex process of firing an officer, he just kills him. The Empire doesn't try to confiscate the droids from Owen and Beru, they just burn their house down. Furthermore, while considerably simpler than the events of the Prequels, progressing the plot in this way allows the audience to connect with the characters and the plot more. We can expect your average Saturday-morning 8-year old not to know so much about Senate decisions but at least recognize that a guy in black armour who kills a guy and then throws his corpse at a wall is evil. In less than a minute Vader is established as the antagonist, something that took three films over six years to do with Palpatine in the Prequels. To include a vote for both the Prequels and the Original Trilogy would defeat the purpose of the poll. Yes, you can like both, but then you're irrelevant to the argument. I can say that Evolution and Creation coexist, but that doesn't reinforce the arguments of the people who are advocating one of those issues and not the other. (And no worries moderators, I am not opening up the thread to discuss this serious issue. In fact, I will explicitly request that anyone with an opinion on this not present it anywhere on these forums, in accordance with the wishes of the moderators. Thank you.) It's also kind of like saying, "Well I don't like any of this Star Wars stuff, where's the vote for Babylon 5?"

Well, we learn next to nothing about Maul from the films whereas Vader had this mystical backstory to him. Sorry, but Vader has my vote. And N-1s in the Prequels don't even come close to the level of character and familiarity we see with the X-wing. N-1s are shiny, flashy, oddly curvaceous ships which are almost never seen up close, one of which is ultimately a toy for a 9-year old to accidentally blow up a space station with. They are brightly colored (and thus an easier target as well as a method of drawing attention) and just really weird-looking. You never develop any sort of connection with the fighter at all, and I don't even remember whether any of them got blown up during the battle of Naboo. What's more, they ripped off the entire proton torpedo concept from the X-wing, the core from the second Death Star, and even the exhaust port from the first Death Star. The placement of the astromech droid socket required retconning to make astrodroids' heads telescope upward ( ). They don't resemble anything we've ever seen in the Star Wars galaxy other than Padme's ships, all of which are also flashy, chrome, curvaceous, and unlike any other Star Wars ship. X-wings are the embodiment of the Rebel Alliance; they are small, beat-up, one-man fighters (in accordance with the disorganized ragtag bunch of freedom fighters that the Rebels are) which succeeded in destroying an immense superweapon the size of a small moon (symbolizing the powerful and intimidating presence of the Galactic Empire, its destruction demonstrating the ultimate triumph of good over evil) at the cost of all but three ships out of thirty, including one of Luke's close friends (illustrating the will to accept immense losses so long as their idealistic goals are reached - a rather romantic ideal well suited for great space opera, <insert that tiresome argument> or otherwise). What's more, they are so widely seen in the Star Wars canon that they even have an entire book series about their use, and most everyone who's in their forties now would know what an X-wing is, what it did, and how they did it (Luke used the Force...). There is no way that the yellow blob that is the N-1, surrounded by tons of CGI and no more noticeable than the thousands of lasers, droid fighters, and Lucrehulks flashing across the screen, would stay in a person's mind more than the battered X-wing, its dirty white hull standing out against the blackness of space and the dull gray of the Death Star's trenches. Nobody would remember Threepio at all because he did absolutely nothing in Episode I, and Artoo would be... Artoo.

Indeed, it's a bit rude to expect someone who's slaved away on an MOC to make a .lfx file on request. And does cavegod even make instructions for his stuff?

Okay, Shadows was a legitimate blunder (what was I thinking?) but by the Han Solo Trilogy I was referring to the older trilogy that wasn't called the Han Solo Trilogy - Han Solo at Stars' End, Han Solo's Revenge, and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy. According to Wookieepedia, the three are referred to as The Han Solo Adventures trilogy.

Bump. I found some decent pics of the Revell kit, which is pretty much the only tangible reference I could find as pictures of the full-sized studio mockup are nowhere to be found. With these, I hope you can improve... Top Side, rear Bottom The rest of the gallery

Okay, a few points I'd like to mention: - I know Jedi wasn't the end, and I don't really acknowledge it. I know there have the Han Solo and Lando Calrissian trilogies, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Shadows of the Empire, etc, even before Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy in the 90's. - Okay, I can't argue against the fact that the '08 Clone Wars is in the fashion of the old serials which inspired, among other things, the famous opening crawl of Star Wars, but it's somehow... different. Something's missing. - The Prequels didn't have to happen. As others said, what happened with Anakin was pretty much implied with what Ben said and didn't really need to be explained in depth. Sure, you can tell it, but the emotion in the Prequels were such that nobody really cares (except for Star Wars fans and kids buying toys). The word "Sith" is never mentioned in the Original Trilogy, only the novelization; nothing is said of their rise to power, only the Great Jedi Purge; it's implied that Luke and the droids have never met before; Luke could sense that Leia had some strong connection to him, that's the (in-universe) explanation for why he was able to guess correctly when Ben so awkwardly tipped him off on Dagobah. If you ask me, Jar Jar was an attempt to incorporate a stronger element of slapstick humor than was possible with Threepio, and that's part of what the audience didn't like, which is why he proved to be so unpopular (and I think Lucas realized this after Episode I, which is why he says next to nothing in the other two Prequels). If anything, CGI "saved" the Prequels. Well in any case, kudos for using a term I coined.

Okay, I have to agree with you there. Although maintain that several of the points in the Sith review were valid, I guess I should have mentioned that many of Plinkett's points aren't valid because he knows next to nothing about the Clone Wars, which honestly hurt his argument (how much time does the guy spend asking who 'General Grievance' is?!). I guess that's my personal reason for liking Sith more than the other two Prequels - there are just so many elements carried over from the Clone Wars (like those Eta-2s which just look fantastic) and it actually fits together, even though the consensus would be that (as Plinkett implied) only Star Wars nerds would actually care. And despite what he said about CGI being no big deal, the Venator in the beginning did make for a pretty good opening sequence.

Yeah, and their X-wing...

Interesting... I always did wonder why 'Parental Guidance Suggested' meant that kids could watch it. Sorry to bring up the Red Letter Media reviews again, but I'd like to say that towards the end of the review for Sith Plinkett suddenly begins to sound intelligent and compares dialogue scenes and the use of plot devices in the Prequels, and I was quite surprised at how similar in character movement the dialogue scenes for the Prequels were. And when he transitioned between Prequel and Original Trilogy footage it was amazing how much more alive and human the Original Trilogy scenes felt in comparison to, say, Anakin and Padme sitting on a couch (though I don't understand why he used so much footage from the Special Editions if he doesn't like all the CGI garbage that they stuffed into it). As for sand... the only reason I even remember that line in the first place is because I've watched at least ten times... "Master Yoda, where are the clones?" "Hmm, lost the clones I did, hmm, hmm?" "You lost them?!" "Not so good my memory is, hmm?"

Yes, a strange accent and some very crude humor, and half the time he's complaining about how stupid all the characters are, but he does have good points. Yes, like something an 8-year old would expect to see... Again, Clones wasn't a complete failure - for example, I liked some of the vehicle designs ( such as the Delta-7 and the AT-TE) - but the dialogue was just... "I hate sand..."

I always thought that camera blasters worked better for stormtroopers, while the molded blasters from the '07 sets suited the Rebels... All right, so I tried my hand at a couple more of these. Unfortunately, there wasn't very good lighting where I could set up a white background (as many members suggested), so some of these turned out rather dark. (Gotta get myself some white poster board...) "REALLY?!"* "What do you mean he won't fit?"** If you don't get this one, try and remember what I've been saying about the Vader helmet (or just read the name of the image): "Crap! I knew I forgot something." Couldn't get my camera to focus correctly, but it should be pretty obvious what you're seeing: "Eh? Where's the rest of the cockpit?" *Yeah, it's not canonically accurate (the main hatch is actually in the back), but it's still funny if you remember where Hasbro put it. **It's actually a minifigure that won't fit, but I thought more people would get it if were Solo in carbonite.

This belongs in the General Questions thread, and in any case it's already been answered.

I guess what I was asking was, by an "ARK Fighter" did you mean a V-19? Because an "ARC Fighter" would refer to an ARC-170. Unless you meant a fighter piloted by an ARC (Advanced Recon Commando), which I suppose could refer to the LAAT/i with rancor patterning used by the Muunilinst 10. Let's try and use the right names for things, it confuses me: a Juggernaut tank is the 10-wheeled vehicle seen on Kashyyyk while a Turbo Tank is a toy Juggernaut tank, and I don't even know what an "Obiwan Star-Fighter" is...

No, Star Wars and Empire were teen/adult movies. It was only from Jedi on that Lucas aimed the films at children (and it shows). Allow me: *ahem* "Episode V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK It is a dark time for the Rebellion. Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the Rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy. Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters led by Luke Skywalker has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth. The evil lord Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker, has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of space..." I can't write Aurebesh, but I can at least recite the opening crawls for all three films by heart. For those mentioning The Force Unleashed - I think that as this is primarily a Prequels & '08 Clone Warsvs-Original Trilogy argument, it's not quite relevant, just as Shadows of the Empire and Expanded Universe lit wouldn't be relevant.

Wow... and you make cracks at me? (Don't get me wrong, I am impressed, but...)

Sorry, but your explanation tells me.. nothing I don't already know. I got that Valorum was already Chancellor and that the Queen's ship flew through a blockade (though I don't see how a shiny target could fly through a fleet of Lucrehulks without being obliterated, but whatev, it's a movie). What I don't remember is how and why the Senate was involved in the blockading of some random planet by a militaristic organization that we've never heard of - in other words, the whole "something about politics" which judging from your response you did not seem to get either. The same can be said about the whole political situation around the emergency powers - okay, some systems seceded, Jar Jar represents Naboo since Padme is in danger, but Naboo was involved in Palpatine getting emergency powers HOW? And what does this all have to do with Obi-wan being captured at Geonosis and the Jedi beginning the Clone Wars? I guess if you watch Sith where it all gets tied together it does make some kind of sense (Palpatine becomes Emperor and initiates the Great Jedi Purge), but otherwise... what? At least Star Wars and Empire hold up pretty well on their own as well as part of a saga (which is why you can understand the events of Empire without having seen Star Wars, as you said). Only Sith was rated PG-13 - the rest, including Episode I, were PG (though Sith certainly had its PG moments - "It's only because I'm soooo in love..." ugh.) See my response above.

Story? I remember how I felt the first couple of times I watched Episode I - I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Despite having watched that film at least three times, to this day I cannot remember why Chancellor Valorum was so important or what Qui-Gon and Obi-wan were sent as "ambassadors" for in the first place (something about "Aggressive Negotiations"). And having recently watched the Red Letter Media review for Episode I at simonjedi's suggestion (in which the guy doing the review does not seem to understand how the movie fits together any better than I do) I am further convinced that Episode I had an unengaging plot with poor acting which they tried to cover up with massive amounts of CGI shots, none of which I can remember clearly. And of course, the characterization of Qui-Gon Jinn as a cheating and illogical drunkard was hilarious (to say nothing of all that rubbish he said about midi-chlorians). In any case, to be honest, other than Maul and the Sith beginning to take revenge against the Jedi, the plot details didn't make any sense to me. At least Clones and Sith made some kind of sense (though the whole business about "emergency powers" and whatnot went completely over my head and would certainly have escaped the minds of the 8-year olds these movies were targeted at - which, on second thought, is a pretty good explanation for why there are so few LEGO sets from Clones). Now, I'm not saying Episode I was completely terrible - Jake and Natalie are kinda cute, and I do like the design of the Radiant VII - but in terms of the plot, I maintain that it was just a bad movie. One of the things that the guy pointed out in the Red Letter Media review is that Qui-Gon, being so willing to manipulate others with his Jedi mind tricks, could have just stolen the parts from Watto and avoided the whole mess with Anakin and Maul, which I suppose would have resulted in a more efficient solution to the blockade and spared us a lot of bad dialogue, and then how would the Prequels have turned out?

Those two look basically the same to me, no significant differences design-wise. I feel that using inverted slope bricks doesn't really work here. You have to go with angled plates to get the shape right; otherwise it's too bulky.

I know the Invisible Hand was a Providence carrier, but what's this about Neimoidian and non-Neimoidian?

As siseon already mentioned, those are from Brickdoctor's model. I'd actually consider it a bit of a regression, since siseon omitted the plug for the tow cable. It's basically Larry Lars' model with a few mods, so it probably looks like this. I honestly don't see the resemblance, though.

Mm. Besides, Muftak was with Momaw Nadon in the Mos Eisley cantina, so I don't see anything wrong with it.

Is it this? Also, what's with the random capitalizing?

You meant 'casual glance', right? Because what I did was basically a careful glance. And 'but' rather than 'and' for the conjunction - it's likely that accuracy wouldn't be noticeable to someone who's 'no expert' on the subject, especially for LEGO (why do you think people buy 6212?). KielDaMan, that's very interesting. Was the red designation also true of the Venators in the '03 Clone Wars, or is this unique to the '08 series? (In other words, is it a retcon or not? )

What do you mean, soft? I addressed everything which I felt was clearly at fault. I thought the wings looked off as well, but it could just as well be the camera angle. Also remember that the full-scale mockups had a steeper angle for the wings, and I don't know which version this is based off of (though it's likely he attempted to incorporate elements from both, which doesn't always work out great). The way I saw it that area was just a messy attempt. Although it is true that the model is clearly oversized if you take the size of the minifigure as a whole into account, you can see in this picture that the sizes of their heads are just about right. Again, messy attempt. I did address the stray cheese slopes and unnecessary greebling. The proportions of the wing are actually pretty good.