Watch: Darth Vader arrives in new Star Wars 'Rogue One' trailer

[Daneyul]

@akbar5656

Well, there is also the theory that droid was the first ever non living force sensitive being. He glimpsed a future where R2’s plans never made it out of Jawa hands and sacrificed himself so the dark side would not prevail.

Sounds a bit of a stretch, but hey… if it avoids the “logic bomb” trope rearing its ugly head in Star Wars, I’m all for it!

[Daneyul]

I read some people argue that there’s some references (somewhere) to Chewie constantly tinkering with different bowcasters, and also upgrading the ones he has.

So… it could be explained as Han just never having handled THAT (presumably extra powerful) particular bowcaster before. Maybe?

[akbar5656]

You can just file it away with the theory that the real hero of the entire Star Wars story is the officer who stopped them firing on the escape pod 3PO and R2 were in.

[akbar5656]

A fair enough explanation. It did seem to have more of a punch now than we last saw it in RotJ.

[timothy_krause]

@akbar5656

What didn’t work was the whole schtick to make us believe that for the years they have been together Han has never fired Chewies gun. I shoot with family members and friends and I have fired at least once every single weapon available. Han and Chewie are life long bros. No way had Han never handled the bowcaster.

I’d tend to agree, but Han’s not you or me I guess. He’s certainly not a weapons master, and he’s perhaps jazzed about having fired the bowcaster during combat, which it’s likelier he’s never done. Remember this is the guy whose big secret tech upgrade to the never-working perfectly Falcon are fake hidey holes under the walkways to smuggle things in. Han’s lazy af is my take.

[akbar5656]

I think Han has done alot more to the Falcon than just the smuggle compartments. He does seem to know the workings of the ship intimately (“this one goes there, that one goes there” and his geeking out with Rey about the modifications done after it was stolen) I think you are selling him short a bit.

IIRC Lucas modeled Solo partially off of the gear heads and road jocks he knew growing up who knew everything about their cars and modified things themselves.

[adonai]

Well that’s good, I suppose…for everything Timothy Zahn did, we also had everything Kevin J. Anderson did

[jamesnsc]

I asked Google but couldn’t find a reference (tho just because it’s on the web doesn’t make it true- but if it does, it’s true as soon as I post this) but I distinctly recall reading that H&C heavily modified the Falcon - up to and including using speeder bike engine parts to speed up pumping systems to the engines.

[Donald_Petersen]

@jamesnsc

I distinctly recall reading that H&C heavily modified the Falcon - up to and including using speeder bike engine parts to speed up pumping systems to the engines.

Yeah, Han and Chewie are hotrodders. I mean, if the Falcon were more than 70% bone-stock YT-1300, would this approach have been effective in a pinch?

“I’ve made a lot of special modifications myself.”

I seem to remember it being established in the old EU (now “Legends”) canon that Wookiee bowcasters were simply too big, unwieldy, and heavy to be comfortably used by average-size humans. I guess J.J. thought it’d be fun for Han to use it, and since the old canon was no longer preventing him from doing what he wanted, he went ahead and let Han do it.

But yeah, it’s pretty dumb to show Han using it successfully for the first time some 40+ years after he first started spending every goddamned day of his adult professional life around it.

[Brainspore]

@Donald_Petersen

if the Falcon were more than 70% bone-stock YT-1300, would this approach have been effective in a pinch?

That just shows that Han was Space Fonzie.

[nimelennar]

@Donald_Petersen

I seem to remember it being established in the old EU (now “Legends”) canon that Wookiee bowcasters were simply too big, unwieldy, and heavy to be comfortably used by average-size humans.

I don’t think the problem is firing the bowcaster, but it’s a high-tech crossbow.

No human is strong enough to crank it to reload it.

[Donald_Petersen]

Was that the issue? I can’t remember. I don’t specifically remember Chewie ever firing it in the old movies, let alone reloading it.

[jamesnsc]

& @nimelennar, the “string” on a bowcaster doesn’t move. You can get a pretty much as exact as it gets prop replica from here (while supplies last) if anyone wants one:

https://collectibles.starwars.com/prop-replicas/chewbacca-bowcaster/

[TimmoWarner]

Re: ditching of all the expanded universe stuff, as far as I’m concerned, if it wasn’t in a movie, it never happened. I’m like that for pretty much all series. If it hasn’t been shown in the primary media, then it’s not set in stone.

If they choose to take some of that and PUT it in a movie, fine, but I feel better knowing ANYTHING can happen in the future and they aren’t tied to stories that have already been written.

[anon73430903]

You mean he isn’t a book writing AI that went rogue before being fully trained?

[Daneyul]

Another possible explanation would be that that was the 3rd time the old man had used Chewie’s gun for the “first time” that week alone.

(This would also explain why the Falcon’s left turn signal was blinking for the entire movie.)