Why was General Grievous built with cheap Metal?

As well all have seen in Revenge of the Sith, On Utapau Grievous and Obi have a short lightsaber duel. Grievous starts out the duel with 4 arms and a saber in each arm spinning and twirling them around at incredible speed, however due to his inability to use the force, Obi-wan is able to chop of two of the arms quite quickly and easily it seems. I was thinking why, was Grievous'exoskeleton (since his true form at this point was basically a brain and a spinal cord) and especially his arms for that matter, built with such cheap metal that could have so easily been shredded through like wet toilet paper by a lightsaber? There are a few metals in the star wars universe that are either completely or partially resistant to lightsabers. One of these such metals is the lightsaber resistant Cortosis. Its not like it was unavailible to him. This is what Grievous' Magnaguards' electrostaffs (electrostaves?) were made out of, as we see in the film they are capable of blocking a lightsaber strike. Now my question is why on earth couldn't grievous use this metal for his arms or body instead of the cheapo metal he did use. While Im at it why couldnt lightsaber hilts be made of Cortosis as well, in Attack of the Clones, 2 of Anakin's lightsabers are destroyed, one in the driod factory and one by Dooku. What do you make of this?

 

To save money.

 

I think that the electro-staffs were resistant to lightsabers not just because of the metals they were made of, but by the current of energy coursing through them.

So, in answer to your question, I offer ANOTHER question:

Why wasn't General Grievous constantly "electrified?"

 

The MagnaGuard's staffs were able to block a light saber because of the energy that they created. I believe that Cortosis is an EU creation which is why Lucas did not use it. If you have played Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast you would know that Cortosis can be penetrated with a lightsaber it only resists it better than ordinary materials.

 

I think because Grievous was constructed for offensive fighting, to kill his victim even before he/she could react this also means his armor has to be light in order to move fast, and in his fight with Obi Wan he was facing his enemy head on. Another thing; Grievous seems to be slower and less impressive than in the Clonewars cartoon, this might be explained by Mace Windu crushing his 'gutsack'. This could have made him a bit disabled.

-S-

 

You're starting to sound like a seperatist!

 

In the films, almost no metal is resistant to a Lightsaber blade. The eu explaination is that the Geonosians did not have access to the Quantum Armor that was used to create the Sun Crusher. And Cortosis Ore was not employed for creating Grievous' body. The staves were protected by an energy feild which prevents a Lightsaber blade from slicing it in two.

Grievous was only built for the short term. All that mattered was that he was under control and did his job.

 

In ROTS he was damaged by a lightsaber. It doesn't explain it in the film, but in the novelization Obi Wan is also able to damage GG with the Force while grappling with him, enough to get his organic innards exposed, which then lead to the blaster shot that kills him.
I like to think that the major Force Push Kenobi hits GG with in the film is what weakened his armor enough so he could bend the chest plates enough to expose his organs later on. Otherwise nothing else damages him. The novelization also says he could take a shot from a starfighter cannon. I think I'll take that as a slight exaggeration.

I see no indication that his armor is cheap or of low quality.

 

A. The Bodyguards' electrostaffs have a force field (much like the shields carried by the Gungans) that keeps it from getting sliced in half by a lightsaber.

B. Catorsis is an EU concoction created as a GFFA kryptonite for the all-powerful Jedi and has no place in the films. The idea that some "special" kind of rock could naturally block a lightsaber is ridiculous IMHO.

 

Don't confuse eu with the movies. They are practically two different realms.

 

im with him ^

 

Yet for some reason the books are used to explain everything on this board by basically everybody including the mods.

 

A wise man once said:


"Why? Why? There is no 'why'!"

 

its not because he was made of cheap metal, i dont kno where you got that from.....we havent seem much in the movies that would show that metal is resistant to a saber...the only things i can think of is when qui gon is coming through the door in the begging of ep 1, and that is simply because that was like a foot or two thick...

 

although, it does make me wonder how obi can bend open grevious chest plate so easily, unless hes using the force to help him

 

Bingo!

 

Vaders armor seeded to be LS resistant.

Lukes blow to his right shoulder just made vader pissed off more than anything!

That should have cut through, shouldn't it have?

 

I could have sworn there was a thread long ago pertaining to users who's posts are over looked. I guess I'm one of those.

B. Catorsis is an EU concoction created as a GFFA kryptonite for the all-powerful Jedi and has no place in the films. The idea that some "special" kind of rock could naturally block a lightsaber is ridiculous IMHO.

Much like the Yaslarmi(sp). Bad plot devices that authors come up with to deal with Jedi are annoying, not clever.

Yet for some reason the books are used to explain everything on this board by basically everybody including the mods.

I hardly use the EU for anything since things already have an explanation or they are simply very easy to figure out by thinking about it for a moment.

 

Cortosis does not exist in the movies. If it did, Grievous would be made of it, battle droids would be made of it, stormtroopers would have cortosis armor, Vader would have cortosis armor, Luke would wear cortosis armor, Darth Maul and Darth Tyranus would wear cortosis gloves at the least, Jango and Boba Fett would wear cortosis armor... I can do this all day. Leave "Jedi kryptonite" to the EU.

 

Grievous was only built for the short term. All that mattered was that he was under control and did his job.

Planned obsolescence.

 

Cortosis is not the uber-metal so many make it out to be. Would you want to be made of a metal that shatters under blaster fire? How is it that so many people think simply in RPGesque terms of 'strength'.

A material's resistance is but one of its qualities. While one must also take kinetics into account, the effects of a chemical composition and energetics are important too.

 

Yeah, cortosis can temporarily deactivate a lightsaber, but that's it. I recall Mara saying once that it wasn't common because it was rare and because it broke easily under everything except lightsabers.

 

lightsabers can cut through basically any metal, what I wanna know about cheap metal, is the kind on his chest. obi is not a super strong guy, how can he pull apart his chest armor like that.

 

The Force. Anytime you see something superhuman being done by a jedi he or she is using the Force. In the novelization it states that Grievous is ten times stronger than a normal human and through the Force Kenobi was able to grapple with him.

 

See Vader's death due to the emperor's lightning (i.e. elctricity) metal and electircity wit biotic tissue equals death of said tissue.