Full Series The Captain Rex thread

Seen it, but its a cool pick. Must resist urge to change avatar. I need my Neyo one.

 

Alright got myself a new profile pic

 

I am not the biggest Rex fan but that looks amazing. Look at the detail on that guy...

 

Glad you liked it, Darth Vader, and you too, Dan_Grievous_Tikkes_Fan!
And Seerow, I heart your Neyo/Santa mashup.

 

Have I ever mentioned how I hate Rex's use of the blaster pistols before? Use a carbine, idiot - pistols aren't any good at range.

 

But it looks so badass and Rex is obviously a great shot. Check out how he pwns that Rishi Eel in "Rookies" Bam! Right in the eye!

 

Rex never has a problem with them

 

I'm saying he should, though.

 

It's a testament to his skill as a soldier.

 

No, it's the show's creators deciding that a few metre-range weapon looked cool and unique so they overlooked the flaws of such a combination in a combat situation. Skill cannot overcome technical shortfalls.

 

No... really... there's like zero advantage to using a pistol. Rifles have greater range, carbines are generally better multi-purpose weapons for close quarters, etc.

Squads generally have a diversity of weapons. A long time ago I used to look this kind of stuff up, but it's been awhile and I could be mistaken, but I believe in WWII it was standard for most of the squad to be armed with bolt action rifles, the sergeant would have a submachine gun for close quarters and an additional volume of firepower, and then you might have a heavy machine gunner for suppressive fire. I think after Vietnam it was realized that modern warfare generally occurs in fairly close quarters which is why the M4 carbine is pretty much standard in the U.S. military rather than longer barreled rifles, with machine guns still being used for additional firepower.

Long story short, the pistol in pretty much all situations is the "oh crap" weapon when you run out of ammo for your main weapon or are in too close quarters (like drawing your weapon inside a vehicle).

I can see no practicality to Rex using pistols. Out of universe, it's maybe a nod to Jango Fett, and as to why Jango Fett used them, probably because just because someone thought it looked badass, or to go with the image of cowboy with two revolvers.

As far as practicality goes in universe, there would be none. We see rifles among the clones, we see carbines, we see the occasional mini-gun with additional firepower possibly filling the role of a machine gun (though imitating the impractical image of a soldier hauling a mini-gun around as was seen in Predator). But then we have poor Rex running around with two pistols.

 

It makes me grimace everytime I see Rex run into a battle with the two pistols, to be honest.

 

Agreed on pistols.

Dual wielding isn't very practical irl as it is. It's more accurate and therefore more effective to use one gun in a two handed grip. With one gun in each hand, it's hard to control the recoil and basically impossible to actually aim down the sights. But I suppose there are ways around this in Star Wars, blasters don't seem to have recoil and clones don't need to aim down sights because their helmets have targeting reticles that show wherever their blasters are aiming. Cad Bane doesn't wear a clone helmet, but he's obviously inspired by the Old West.

These things are all done for the Rule of Cool, though. Making sense need not apply. Dual-wielding is just a pet peeve of mine.

 

OOU Rex uses two pistols because it looks cool. Vash the Stampede, FTW! IU there are explanations. He isn't the only clone and is far from the only character who uses two so there must be some advantage to it. As you noted CT I don't see much recoil. These blasters may also be lighter that real pistols and more comfortable the the hand. The pistols seem to have plenty of power. Maybe the HUD in the clone helmets even uses multiple crosses to make it easier two take two targets at once with the pistols if ya got the reflexes.

 

Bly wins for most competent soldier.

 

Hah... only thing the picture show seems to prove is no one can hit the broadside of a barn except for Luke, Bly, and Rex. Fives, Echo, Stone, and Keeli used pistols as well. Then there is Cad Bane.

Rex successfully figured out plans to save his men from being thrown away and then successfully lead them in apprehending the rogue Jedi responsible for that. He's more than competent.

 

Rex is using a Rifle with Bly

 

Technically a carbine, not a rifle, but whatever.

Wasn't Rex dual-wielding carbines in "Rookies"? I always thought that was weird.

 

^No. Rex gave one of his pistols to Cody when they went to take back Rishi Base while Domino squad had the normal blasters. I think Rex actually killed the Rishi eel with a blaster. Both him and Cody landed with them.

Check out Rex vs the mastiff in the first part of that arc 'Jedi Crash". Two of my favorite parts during that episode. Also reminds me of stories of the Tsavo maneaters.

 

It wasn't Rex, my bad. Still weird. O_O

 

Hah, it would be none other than Fives.

 

Rex uses dual pistols as a tribute to Jango Fett. In SW weapons may not be that similar to real-world ones anyway and I have no problem with pistol-wielding Rex.

 

Agreed Swash,

I personally think real world facts are not always the best way to measure familiar skills in fiction.

 

This ^

It's like comparing a lightsaber to a longsword, it doesn't add up.

 

Between Bane and Jango, the dual pistols seems like a throwback to an old western with the characters that have a revolver on each hip. And dual wielding pistols is not unique to Star Wars, there are plenty of action movies where someone takes up two weapons, more for a badass effect. But in those action movies, the weapons should behave exactly as they do in real life. The explanation that they are space weapons that behave differently just seems like a copout to explain away the same mistake that many, many films and TV shows make. However, most films still have enough sense not to depict soldiers dual wielding pistols on a battlefield in war films. That's more something left to action films involving vigilantes or drug dealers having shootouts with the police, etc.

Someone carrying around a minigun is similarly absurd, but it's been done over and over. Starwars.com even called attention to the fact that the clone minigun was a nod to Predator, when what they were doing in Predator was completely ridiculous too.

It's suspension of disbelief. And I can't suspend my disbelief that a soldier on a battlefield would be wielding two pistols. A bounty hunter, perhaps. The Punisher, sure. And any stereotypical movie/TV shootout between the police and some criminals who hold their guns sideways, shoot from the hip, dual-wield, why not? I recall seeing a clip of a terrorist training exercise in which the guy is holding an AK-47 like a "thug," which makes me pessimistic enough to accept some non-professional with a gun making stupid decisions and imitating what they see on TV.

As far as aiming goes. It seems to depend on the scene and who's doing the animating. Most of the stormtroopers are firing from the hip. I could chalk that up to an actor holding an awkwardly shaped prop (there's no stock on the E-11 like a real carbine, meaning it would have to be aimed like a pistol like Luke is doing - which while correct also looks a bit odd for such a large weapon).

Aiming a pistol:



Aiming an M4 Carbine



Aiming an E-11 "rifle"





But when it comes to the prequels and TCW, all the clones are animated. So it's weird to see the clones at the Jedi Temple - with one firing like Tony Montana and the other aiming. Or a clone firing blindly while Captain Keeli - despite using two pistols, doesn't really fire both simultaneously - he does in one shot - but he mostly takes aim with each shot (despite a moment in which he looks over at Master Di and says "we can do this General," while still firing shots off without looking). So while it's absurd to use two pistols on a battlefield, he's actually aiming and alternating between both blasters. All the clones are aiming for the most part in that scene, surprisingly.

(clip begins at 0:23)



EDIT: Apparently the E-11 does have a stock, which just makes the stormtroopers bigger idiots for never using it



(though IU the stormtroopers are idiots for not using it, but OOU, was one even built onto the props?)

That's about as nerdy as I'm going to get about fictional technology. But there is generally a line. You can dual wield if you're some vigilante in films, if you're some character in a Western, or you can do it if you're criminals, etc. But you cannot do it in Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down. And as a war movie/TV show, it feels out of place here.