ST Will we see any lightsaber advancements?

I like the idea of a lightsaber with a guard on the hilt. It feels medieval and if I have one major problem with the prequels world it's that they took more elements from the Classical era than they did from the middle ages. I can see why they did it of course, but without the fun of lone knights out preserving justice in a lawless galaxy Jedi became pretty boring. So anything that sees more medieval influences brought in is good with me.

There is some logic to having guards just above the hand. It prevents your opponent from simply striking you in the hand. And since metal doesn't block lightsabers there's some logic to having the guard be made out of lightsabers. That said, there is quite an obvious reason why the guard is not usually sharp. No sense blocking a blow to your wrist if it just makes you cut your own hand off instead. And I agree it looks lame in the concept art. The elegance of the lightsaber comes from its elegant single blade. Having additional ones hanging off the side just distracts from the appearance. Hopefully this is just early concept art and the design looks better in practice or is just a regular metal guard.

 

I completely understand the idea of a guard. But the problem is the guard shown in the concept art would not work without the assistance of the opponent.

There are plenty of problems with the lightsabers in the films so far. Ridiculous grip placement, activation switches, boxes and other things where the user grips the saber, a very long distance between the emitter and where you grip, which is not good for dueling, etc. I am hoping for some cleaning up of these problems this time around, not add new ones.

 

I hope not. It's only been 30 years since the OT and there's no reason to think light sabers will have advanced in this time period especially since they're not used that often.


If there are radical new designs, it would seem too artificial. As if this was dreamed up in the writing process as being "cool" but not organic to the universe.

 

Agreed. Maul's double saber was a logical extension of the design but the Inquisitor's spinning lightsaber was unnecessary and is only cool because the Inquisitor is badass and genuinely needs to have an advantage over the Jedi he's supposed to be hunting. I'm not utterly against the idea of handle guards because I like the idea of treating the blades more like a broadsword, but they need to be careful how they handle it. I particularly like the suggestion that this guy is like a relic of the past, which would explain why he has a more outdated seeming lightsaber design.

 

Filoni says the Inquisitor needs a fancy blade because he's not as good as Maul. So there's a good reason behind the tech.

It's not much different than Grievous. These guys need tech to help raise their game.

 

Grieves and Inky both love spinning lightsabers.

 

Well you would hope then the Inquisitor's saber wouldn't be a disadvantage in combat.

 

Just in regards to general lightsaber combat, would it not be a smart move to, say, feign an attack on your opponent (e.g. slicing straight down towards their head), then as they raise their blade to parry your downward chop, you quickly switch off your lightsaber blade, duck down low, thrust your hands forward, and re-ignite your blade, which then travels straight through your opponent's torso...

 

They are detachable, and are used specifically for slicing bread and toasting it at the same time!

 

Egg-zack-lee! I really do not like the medieval hilt thing. The more radical changes there are, the more we get away from the heart/spirit of the universe. Star Wars should be confident and comfortable with itself, not trying too hard to please every possible cool design aesthetic.

A nuanced evolution is legit and necessary ...but the light sabers are becoming (or may be) becoming so diverse it may get to the point where one asks...why not just make a "light shield and that also shoots out light blasts." Everything is context so I'll try not to be tooo judgemental (assuming that the hilt is really in the movie) but that was one of the first art pieces that made me wince.

 

brb, writing ep 8

 

are these Episode VII lightsabers???

 

Exactly! I long for the OT where one could go their entire life and never have seen a lightsaber. I like it when they're rare and unchanged over the centuries.

 

I know some one probably already brought this up but how about they have now advanced to Slicing Cheese

 

Looking at some of the new Rebels interviews, the Inquisitor's lightsaber makes sense. It's intentionally like that, made more for doing all the flashy **** from the PT without any of the skill and practice that goes into that. It works great against inexperienced Padawan and out of shape Jedi fighting against hundreds of other Stormtroopers, but chances are that it probably wouldn't work against an actually experienced Jedi or Sith.

...but I still can't find a justification for blaster saber. It just looks so idiotic and unwieldy.

 

Wouldn't that be turning the cheese into cheese dip as you slice it?

 

Seriously, guys. Just use your mind to evenly separate the molecules. Save the lightsaber for fighting. It's not a toy.

 

i guarantee well see a flamesaber in one of the spin offs.
boba fett spin off will have a darksaber.

by then we'll be like; please stop with the spinoffs.
and theyll say it like colonel sanders in spaceballs: we cant stop its too dangerous

 

Phantom Menace: *fly buzzes in backgroun* WHAT WAS THAT NOISE *ignites saber*

 

Ha Ha Ha Very Funny.
prequel haters....

 

Stick with the basics. The basic lightsaber is awesome enough as is, period. The standard sword is the way it is because it's the simplest to use. It's practical. Multiple blades and fancy hilts are not.

 

Shotos, Lightwhips and LightClubs, Longhandled, Dual Sabre and Standard. They are all of the syles that I'd love to see.

Plus, the more lightsabre combat there is the better. PT was saved by the amount of lightsabre combat it had.

 

Oh well in that case, I want to see a retractable energy blade version of Cloud's Buster Sword.