I should add the job ILM is doing at integrating all of these new droids into scenes, BB8, L337, and K2SO has been exceptional.
Forgive me if this has been asked/answered already. But L3-37 is a droid who built herself from various different droid parts...correct? If so, then why does she have a name designation like most other mass manufactured droids? Given her desire for Droid rights you'd think maybe she'd have given herself a different name, one that doesn't recall the mass production of controlled droids.
I'm assuming she didn't build herself from scratch, she presumably started off as a mass-produced droid then modified herself over time. And presumably she hadn't yet reached that level of consciousness where she would want to give herself a new name.
Get bent. I am very moderate Republican (you know, the kind that can be a rational adult and doesn't wear a red had) and I loved the character. Just because someone isn't like you doesn't make them unlikable or lack any redeeming value.
1) Grow the #@$% up, you child. 2) She was as much a satire of what you folks might call "SJWs" as an endorsement. 3) In a world where robots are sentient enough to have funny personalities, it's about time SW acknowledged the idea of "droid rights." It's Sci-Fi 101. Now if they can address the lack of railings on walkways, I'll be happy. 4) Why can't you enjoy movies that don't align with your personal politics? I absolutely love Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs despite its politics being extremely, um, different from mine. It's compelling and brilliantly executed for what it's trying to do. 5) Hate to break it to you, but Star Wars has always been "CTRL-Left." George is as lefty as it gets.
The conversation between L3 and Qi'ra on the Falcon had me and my theater rolling with laughter. I had seen Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag, so I knew she'd be funny, but I like what they did with the character instead of just making her another deadpan "killbot" like K-2SO. Also, her memory being uploaded into the Falcon, which helps explain its quirky behavior, was a great touch. It doesn't change anything in the OT, but it adds a fun wrinkle in retrospect.
The Alt-Right doesnt hate L3 because of sentient rights. They hate L3 because they completely missed the point of the character. That happens when you have ideological movements or ethno-tribes based completely on emotion that swing wildly at whatever they think is an affront, real or imagined.
There's a pretty strong argument that L3 was there as a rorschach test to spot the man-babies, and worked a charm. Whether the character is annoying in other ways is a whole 'nother question. I'm enjoying her slightly more in the Lando comic than I did in the film, but I thought she had some strong moments in both and I'm into the whole droid-sentience thing as a way forward in SW so I'm not being too critical. As to the Phasma-voice thing... I think there was a small way in which that wasn't thought through but as a longtime Anglophile I never would have noticed it -- yes, they're both female British RP-accented voices with vocal processing, but by that same token if you'd swapped those actresses with the female leads in all four Disney era SW films, you'd probably be hearing the same complaint.
L3 could have been a lot less obnoxious. But hey, at least she has one advantage over K2SO (I can't help comparing the two): her death scene actually felt like a robot that stops working while K2's voice actor (badly) acted like a dying human with the voice weakening. "Cliiiiimb, cliiimb!" Ugh lol.
Well what if his vocabulator was nicked by blaster fire and began short circuiting or leaking? Then it would get weaker as the damage got worse. Right?
I know. Point is he sounded like a badly acted human character instead of a robot at that moment and it kind of ruins the scene for me. L3 did that better.
I don't think L3's quest for Droid Rights is supposed to be totally seriously legit tragic serious stuff, it's presented as a bit of a joke (the droid revolution on Kessel is as much a comedy thing as anything). It's a quirky aspect of her personality. But she seems to be genuinely moved by it, so much so to the point that she isn't paying attention and gets blasted. Now Lando was friends, maybe more with her, and it's shown as sad when she dies and it works very well. But, eventually, Lando slaps her into the Falcon which arguably strips her of her identity and he's using her for her component star charts. She ends up the most dehumannized (or izzat de-sentientized) droid of all, slaved to the ship. But, on the flipside,The Falcon didn't seem to glitch with Lando. It could be seen that the glitches in the Falcon throughout Han's run of it could be seen as L3 fighting back. She misses Lando and doesn't want Han flying her so she glitches. Or she didn't wanted to be used as a tool, now she is, and it glitches. She's still doing her droid revolution to one human and his wookiee.
Though I loathed the idea of an SJW droid - I am happy how the character was handled (the butt of jokes, and not respected by other characters) and ended up as a cog in the millennium falcon (finally a real job!).
Maybe BB-8 will find fragments of L3's mind in the Falcon, and resurrect her. Or, maybe not her personality, but just her voice. L3: "In point-zero-zero-zero-zero-one-three-nine-two parsecs, turn left after the C-type asteroid. Then, continue on for the next point-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-one-one-four parsecs until you reach your destination."
I liked L3-37 well enough. With the voice comparisons to Captain Phasma, I will say that both Gwendonline Christie and Phoebe Waller-Bridge seem kind of endearingly goofy.
Interesting idea. Like when Han starts up the cockpit and it dies so he has to bang it to get it going again. Or when he says "She's got a few surprises left in her sweetheart", perhaps the ship itself lowers that cannon to fire at the snowtroopers in Echo Base? Intriguing. Certainly turns things on its head. Like in "A New Hope" when Han says "Hear me baby, hold together" he speaks into his intercom, but instead of that being just a kind of quick-prayer type comment hoping the ship doesn't fall apart, he really IS talking to the ship.
*pulls pin on thread-thermal-detonator* L3-37 will eventually be uploaded to Lobot's headgear. *drops thread-thermal-detonator and runs*