The Force Awakens.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Kylo is heavily wounded and fought Fin briefly

[Bebop Man]

Well, it's not like Rey is perfect. She's the one who accidentally released whatever those were called by taking out the wrong fuse despite being a self-proclaimed expert who should have known which part to tinker with. I was very happy to see her make that mistake rather than, say, Finn, because I do think it balances her out more, even if in the end it was also an excuse to show her accidentally using the force and saving Finn.

Yeah but that's played for laughs, it's a harmless whoops that works out to their favor in the end anyway. Otherwise she's always shown being consistently better than everyone at everything. She's a better fighter than Finn, she eschews his assistance at the b. She's a better swordsman than Kylo. She's a better pilot than Han and Chewie, as well as a better mechanic. She stands the torture that Poe couldn't stand. She's one of those characters whose one flaw is being "too determined". The whole "I'm stubbornly waiting for my parents" is flavor at best.

[Booster]

Well, it's not like Rey is perfect. She's the one who accidentally released whatever those were called by taking out the wrong fuse despite being a self-proclaimed expert who should have known which part to tinker with. I was very happy to see her make that mistake rather than, say, Finn, because I do think it balances her out more, even if in the end it was also an excuse to show her accidentally using the force and saving Finn.

Yeah but that's played for laughs, it's a harmless whoops that works out to their favor in the end anyway. Otherwise she's always shown being consistently better than everyone at everything. She's a better fighter than Finn, she eschews his assistance at the b. She's a better swordsman than Kylo. She's a better pilot than Han and Chewie, as well as a better mechanic. She stands the torture that Poe couldn't stand. She's one of those characters whose one flaw is being "too determined". The whole "I'm stubbornly waiting for my parents" is flavor at best.

She isn't a better swordsman than Kylo. Kylo was injured by both Chewie and Finn before fighting her. So he wasn't at full strength. It allows Rey to win and keeps Kylo a credible threat in later movies

[Bebop Man]

Well, it's not like Rey is perfect. She's the one who accidentally released whatever those were called by taking out the wrong fuse despite being a self-proclaimed expert who should have known which part to tinker with. I was very happy to see her make that mistake rather than, say, Finn, because I do think it balances her out more, even if in the end it was also an excuse to show her accidentally using the force and saving Finn.

Yeah but that's played for laughs, it's a harmless whoops that works out to their favor in the end anyway. Otherwise she's always shown being consistently better than everyone at everything. She's a better fighter than Finn, she eschews his assistance at the b. She's a better swordsman than Kylo. She's a better pilot than Han and Chewie, as well as a better mechanic. She stands the torture that Poe couldn't stand. She's one of those characters whose one flaw is being "too determined". The whole "I'm stubbornly waiting for my parents" is flavor at best.

She isn't a better swordsman than Kylo. Kylo was injured by both Chewie and Finn before fighting her. So he wasn't at full strength. It allows Rey to win and keeps Kylo a credible threat in later movies

However you frame it, it's just another instance of Rey besting another character - rather effortlessly - at what they do best. I'm sure by the end of the new trilogy she will be better than Luke at forcing or whatever.

[MinniChi]

Her skill with a bow staff was shown early in the film (when Finn first sees her), why is it so hard to think she would have some level of skill with a sword/lightsaber?
Had Kylo not been injured or so angry (he was shown to display anger like a 7 year old) he would have been the better fighter far as I can tell. Simply because Rey didn't look so comfortable with the lightsaber, though she was able to fight with it.
As for Rey being a better fighter than Finn, before we found her, he said he was only good at shooting blasters.

[tbug]

I liked Rey. She didn't earn all her victories, but she's not as bad as James Bond in that regard so whatever. I still enjoyed the film.

The only instance of her über-competence that bugged me was when she was better than Han Solo at jury-rigging the Falcon. Yeah, I get that she's spend her life doing stuff like that; I just didn't enjoy seeing it.

[Bebop Man]

Her skill with a bow staff was shown early in the film (when Finn first sees her), why is it so hard to think she would have some level of skill with a sword/lightsaber?

Because she has every other skill already (and she has more than "some" level of swordplay). Finn and Poe were way more interesting simply by not immediately acing absolutely everything they set their minds to.

[tbug]

Also, how did she learn to understand the Wookiee language? Was that explained?

[Elomin Sha]

Let alone droid. Probably a hint that she has force powers.

[Master Gunner]

Presumably living near a port where humans appeared to be in the minority, she picked up a number of languages. I don't know if the Wookiee language was ever established to be a difficult language to learn in-universe, but I don't believe Chewbacca was ever shown having difficulties communicating with people in this or prior films.

[CSt]

Presumably living near a port where humans appeared to be in the minority, she picked up a number of languages. I don't know if the Wookiee language was ever established to be a difficult language to learn in-universe, but I don't believe Chewbacca was ever shown having difficulties communicating with people in this or prior films.

Well, alien languages never really worked in that universe. Nonhuman aliens routinely speak their own language (Greedo, Jabba, that Jabba-lookalike in TFA) while being understood without problems by every other character. Makes me wonder, why there would be need for a droid to translate.

That hypercompetence did make her whole character a bit weird though. She spends her days climbing through wrecks, ripping out shiny stuff and being told that it is worth nothing in the town. Then she goes to her home where she sits and does nothing. But she is a genius pilot (that one could be explained away), a great mechanic (nope) and apparently she can use most weapons, no matter how different and difficult to use.

[CamelKnackRambleHort]

I wouldn't say Rey is hyper competent, at least not by force user standards. She shows a lot of skill and pulls off some impressive feats, but nothing more astounding than we see force users do all the time. Luke, during his very first lesson in using the force manages to block 3 blasts with a sword while blind. Even striking the blindness this is a feat a person who trained for life could not achieve. He is also an ace pilot and better at targeting guided missiles than a literal targeting computer.

Zero effort hyper competence is par for the course with force users, even untrained force users. It is part of the setting. I find it a bit odd that suddenly everyone has a problem with it. There is a reason Darth Vader says the Death Star is insignificant next to the power of the force.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I was expecting:"Rey is a weak arse for fighting a heavily wounded Kylo! Kylo lost only because he was very wounded and was 1v2"
No, it seems it's about Rey[spoiler] being [spoilertoo good.

Anyone else flinched when Kylo Ren's mask was removed? I was not expecting seeing someone like that behind the mask. A twenty-something indie kid.

[Master Gunner]

Presumably living near a port where humans appeared to be in the minority, she picked up a number of languages. I don't know if the Wookiee language was ever established to be a difficult language to learn in-universe, but I don't believe Chewbacca was ever shown having difficulties communicating with people in this or prior films.

Well, alien languages never really worked in that universe. Nonhuman aliens routinely speak their own language (Greedo, Jabba, that Jabba-lookalike in TFA) while being understood without problems by every other character. Makes me wonder, why there would be need for a droid to translate.

Well C3-PO is supposedly fluent in over six million forms of communication, so it's still going to be a bit of a crapshoot what languages any two people will have in common (especially when some (presumably most, really) are only physically capable of speaking a narrow range of languages, even if they can understand several). Galactic Basic is the common mercantile language of the Galaxy (like English is on Earth today), but even then not everyone is necessarily going to be comfortable speaking it, and would prefer to have a protocol droid translate.

As for her being a genius pilot, supposedly she passed a lot of her time on Jakku in a restored flight simulator (presumably pulled off one of the crashed Star Destroyers)...but it would have being nice to actually see that.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Some people think Poe is sexually attracted to Fin. Evidence being telling Fin to keep his jacket due to it looking good on him and then biting his lip suggestively. I didn't notice this subtext until it was pointed out and I looked it up

[Master Gunner]

Well, people will turn any friendship into a 'ship', and look for any small hints that may support their fandom of that ship.

As for why this particular ship has gotten so much attention, part of it is simply the parts of the internet we frequent, but also it's because a good chunk of the Star Wars community (and movie fans in general) really want a major big-screen same-sex relationship - and the added diversity of the TFA cast makes it seem like the franchise-runners may be willing to take that leap.

Were TFA cast more like the cast of the original movie (or even the prequels), then that ship would likely be more like the normal background shipping noise.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I saw the clip, and I did get a bit excited by it. Intentional or not, it certain hit a note with me.

[JustAName]

Some people think Poe is sexually attracted to Fin. Evidence being telling Fin to keep his jacket due to it looking good on him and then biting his lip suggestively. I didn't notice this subtext until it was pointed out and I looked it up

I mean, the minute I saw this on the screen I turned to IX and made a hand-smooshing-together motion and went "now kiss". I was shipping them the moment they escaped, tho. It's too good not to.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Click to Expand

https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CWzNjCYUYAAnSsC.mp4
A 3 second video loop in the white void above. Click it!

[JustAName]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[MotorWaffle]

I should clarify, the reason Rey's hypercompetence and quick force-learning abilities bug me is that the core difference between sith and jedi, literally the heart of the drama, is that the sith are supposed to quickly become very powerful. The speed and ease is the temptation. It's supposed to take a jedi a LONG time of dedication and training to step to them.

[Arclight_Dynamo]

Just got home from seeing it. Pretty good, not great. Worth seeing, but I feel a little let down after how crazy-go-nuts the internet seemed about it. Did not live up to the hype, I feel. No desire to see it multiple times, for example. As space-romps go, I much preferred Guardians of the Galaxy.

Still also a little irritated that the one big spoil able thing was spoiled for me in LRL chat by a jerktroll.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

What if the plot of the 3 films is Kylo being tempted by the light side and Rey being tempted by the dark side? And what if they both switch places?

[CamelKnackRambleHort]

I should clarify, the reason Rey's hypercompetence and quick force-learning abilities bug me is that the core difference between sith and jedi, literally the heart of the drama, is that the sith are supposed to quickly become very powerful. The speed and ease is the temptation. It's supposed to take a jedi a LONG time of dedication and training to step to them.

I don't really agree with that. I mean, the first time around Luke is with Yoda only a matter of days before Yoda instructs him to be able to lift his X-wing, and according to yoda the reason he fails is because he doesn't believe. Luke, like Anikin before him, is plauged with fear, doubt and greed. Their world view is one where power is of paramount importance, even if their intention is to do good. To them, the force is merely a means to an end. A method of obtaining power. It is little more than an especially effective weapon. This is why Luke has such difficulty harnessing the light side.

The dark side is a short cut to power in that you don't have to rise above the particular flaws very common among those who desire power. You can take what scraps of skill you have with the force and twist and pervert it, gaining some impressive abilities in the process but ultimately missing the point and deeply corrupting yourself in the process.

The issue is not if the dark or light side is more powerful. The mistake is in thinking of the force in such narrow terms of power at all.

But that's only my take on it. I think nailing the force down to strict rules on what Jedi can do and Sith can do removes the only actually interesting part of the force. Otherwise it is just a hokey religion space wizards came up with to explain their magic so they could feel special.

[RoboNixon]

Has it occurred to anyone else that Leia is now a Disney Princess?