Full Series Official Star Wars Rebels Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

"You will be interogated, tortrured, you will give me the names of you friends and alies." (short pause) "And then you will die"

I'd say that is pretty classic Sheev!

 

Lol I loved that Sheev scene. TFU may no longer be canon, but that speech in defiantly in my head-canon.

 

'Sheev' still makes me chuckle every time I read it.

 

Sam Witwer is the best replacement for McDiarmid. He sounds almost exactly like him. There's a video on YouTube at a convention where he's discussing play Palpatine in TFU and starts saying some ROTJ lines, and it's scary how he sounds JUST like him, I swear it's as if Ian was there. So if anyone is to take the role, glad it's Witwer.

 

The new issue of Kanan the last padawan comes out tomorrow
Can't wait to see how Kanan survives this

 

An article about ultimate star wars on SW.com says X-wings are in rebels.

 

Interesting. I personally hope for Y-Wings, especially a transitional design from the CW fully plated version to the stripped down version of the movies.

 

Personally I'd prefer the Empire was still using G.A.R. vehicles which are superior to the Tie series. Tie's are nice visually and signature for the bad guys, but aside from that they're pretty useless unless a main villain is flying them.

 

Unless they are TIE Defenders....

 

I think them using TIEs and less advanced weapons and ships make sense. In the Clone Wars there was a huge war to fight so they can justify having the best stuff. Now of course Imperials are victorious and have little real threats against them, which makes it seem like overkill and a waste of money to get better stuff. I think the Empire's idea is quantity over quality since they are not running short on people or resources.

 

Conventional TIEs destroyed plenty of ships in ANH, so I don't know what you people are talking about. They're no use against a frigate, but very useful at stopping bombers and other fighters.

 

The Tarkin novel already addressed why Tie fighters aren't very good. They're cheap. The empire wants quantity over quality so they're meant to swarm the enemy.

 

Cheap isn't the same as "completely useless", or TIEs would just be a complete waste of money.

 

I've always viewed the TIE/LN as the A6M (AKA "Zero") of Star Wars.

The A6M was fast, maneuverable and had decent firepower, all at the expense of protection. The Imperial Navy (appropriate, no?) needed a carrier-borne fighter that could be produced with the limited resources available. With the Zero they got a very effective fighter, but one that still had some limitations. You can have the trifecta: Firepower, Maneuverability/Speed and Protection, but you'll pay a high price for it. The Imperial Navy couldn't afford that.

The Galactic Empire needed a fighter that can be produced in large numbers so that it can be deployed in force across the galaxy. For instance, an ISD's normal complement includes 48+ TIE/LN. So, they needed a lot of them. I don't think that the TIE/LN is bad, it just has a weakness, i.e., the lack of protection. So they skimped on protection, but kept the firepower and speed.

I think the TIE/LN has performed adequately. But remember that Imperial fighter doctrine also developed in an era where it faced no credible naval threat, aside from the the occasional pirate or smuggler. When the TIE/LN was designed, the HMFIIC in charge of procurement probably never thought the navy would be facing something like the X-Wing: a tough, maneuverable, powerful space-superiority fighter. At least not in any organized fashion. Later developments like the TIE/I and others were created to address the shortcomings of the TIE/LN.

 

The TIE Interceptor is basically "the TIE, only faster and heavier-armed" - four lasers instead of two, higher top acceleration. Same durability though.

My guess is that they were willing to accept the higher cost at that point.

 

Thanks to Family Guy, I cannot help think of this - when discussing TIE fighters

 

Lucas himself compared the TIEs to the light Japanese planes whereas the X-Wings were likened to the heavier USN fighters. The Y-Wings also fit into that, because they were the Star Wars equivalent to the Avenger torpedo bombers, complete with the bubble turret of later versions (which the production back then could not realize on the ANH Y-Wings. We had to wait until TCW).
We even saw what many veterans reported: if a nimble TIE/Zero/Oscar got behind a X-Wing/Hellcat/etc., his teammate would help out.

I too think that the TIEs did well in ANH, and also in RotJ (except inside the DS). The concept of an extremely maneuverable fighter en masse seems like a viable one anyway if you want to overcome enemy fighters. I would like to stress that the lack of protection says nothing bad about the pilots. On the contrary, I imagine they proudly ride their TIEs into battle much like bare-shirted berserkers charged against lines of armoured infantry. Soldiers are often willing to accept high mortality rates in exchange for elite status, especially when heavily indoctrinated and well trained. It tells a lot about the TIE fighter pilots that the aristocracy, like Valen Rudor, is willing to join them and accept such a death ride.
It is the EU, and especially that dreadful X-Wing book series that made the TIEs look like Stormtroopers in space (while buffing the Stormtroopers image beyond reasoning. But that is another discussion..).

Anyway, there is one thing that strikes me as odd. The TIEs are well designed to combat other fighters, but are pretty useless patrol craft. We repeatedly saw them fail to stop freighters because of their insufficient armament. Also their range is bad for a patrol craft. For a navy with the job of keeping the peace, not engaged in symmetrical wars, the TIE is a remarkably unsuited fighter. I would expect something like the opposite of the TIE to be the a craft for controlling the galaxy. The ARC-170 springs to mind. Sure they are more expensive, but without a full fledged Rebellion to challenge the Empire symmetrically you don't need that many fighters anyway.

 

It's not like the X-Wings shields were especially useful, often enough one hit by a TIE was sufficient to destroy them. This is why the Empire probably decided to cut them, they just weren't worth the extra cost.

 

^I don't know that I agree with that. Several of Red Squadron's X-wings at Yavin were shown surviving hits, ostensibly because of their shields.

 

And how often was it Luke's X-Wing that withstood the shots? Like I said, sometimes the shield work but often they don't. You can't rely on them and if your opponent can get multiple shots in you're dead (unless your name is Skywalker).

 

Red Leader only lost one engine instead of exploding instantly. That was enough for him to crash though.

 

it's always been that way.

 

Vader lol. Poor Ezra.

 

http://video.disney.com/watch/disneyxd-star-wars-rebels-epic-battle-5183015257f1bc20a49cf123

It's hard to tell on the link Karl0413 posted, but on this video link it looks like they revamped the entire character lighting since any of the other previous Season 2 trailers.