The Mandalorian

[DaveSumm]

5 hours ago, Toth said:

 

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Speaking of Fett... is it just me or does he act very out of character? I know, his last appearance where he was actually a speaking character was when he was a kid in Clone Wars, but there and later on I always regarded him as a jackass who is only out for himself. I don't think he would give a shit about Mando, especially after he refused to give him his armor when he asked. Or why he would fight Imperials when Vader used to be his best employer. The stormtroopers even called out to them that they don't have trouble with them (which... in itself was an odd thing to say after the Imperials were attacked first).

 

Spoiler

I think there’s some wriggle room here, especially since they’ve reestablished that he’s a genuine Mandolorian. I’m trying to think of any specific instances in the OT of him doing anything than his job as a bounty hunter, maybe he’s just making his way in life but has a code just like Mando does? Do we have any other reason to believe he’s an asshole?

Anyway, great episode. I was laughing throughout out how much more badass Boba was here. Imagine you were told five years ago that in 2020, there’d be a live action series depicting one of Yoda’s species trying to contact other Jedi, having been directed by Ahsoka Tano, while he’s defended by Boba Fett and some Dark Troopers try to kidnap him. I mean for something that sounds like such a fangasm, it’s so well done. 

 

[Jaxom 1974]

Spoiler

Does this show really need Boba Fett though...? And having him actually be the badass the fanboys insisted that he was based on two brief movie appearances...?  

 

[Poobah]

1 minute ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

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Does this show really need Boba Fett though...? And having him actually be the badass the fanboys insisted that he was based on two brief movie appearances...?  

 

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Yeah the fan-cult around Fett always astounded me. He barely does anything in the movies and dies a really dumb and ignominious death when he's accidentally smacked in the backpack by the then-blind Han.

 

[Vaughn]

What I enjoy about the Filoni shows is that stuff is built up and paid off.

Spoiler

The one shot from the season opener has now paid off in a satisfying way.

This in contrast to the OT and ST where random McGuffins rule the day. The sith knife or whatever that was in the RoS is the clearest example and for me highlights why I am enjoying this so much more than RoS. It's the right balance of a small cast of characters (which makes sense as Din only has a few allies and lots of enemies) and callbacks landing without having to have everything on the galactic level need to flow through those same few people.

Spoiler

Anyone else kind of expecting Bendu to show up?

 

[Vaughn]

9 hours ago, Werthead said:

Argh.

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Bit brave to blow up the Razor Crest when Hasbro have just launched a ludicrously expensive model version of it. Although I guess there's a good chance we end the season with the Razor Crest-A showing up.

Also, Boba Fett! After thirty years, his post-RotJ survival is finally canon.

 

 

Spoiler

Wasn't it established that it is a class of ship vs. a one off like the Falcon? He can get another one down at the used ship lot.

 

[Soylent Brown]

I'll never understand people who complain about people thinking that people in cool armour are cool.

[Toth]

In the immortal words of the Robot Chicken Emperor: That's what you get when you sell the most action figures.

[Rhom]

28 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

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Does this show really need Boba Fett though...? And having him actually be the badass the fanboys insisted that he was based on two brief movie appearances...?  

 

Listen... no one fights with a modified weed eater like that guy.

[Jace, Extat]

No, Mando! Don't you see? Groku doesn't need a Jedi to train him, you need Groku to train you to take off that helmet and be the father he needs!

[Corvinus85]

3 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

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Does this show really need Boba Fett though...? And having him actually be the badass the fanboys insisted that he was based on two brief movie appearances...?  

 

 

3 hours ago, Poobah said:

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Yeah the fan-cult around Fett always astounded me. He barely does anything in the movies and dies a really dumb and ignominious death when he's accidentally smacked in the backpack by the then-blind Han.

 

You could say the fanboys' presence of faith has been rewarded. 

[Kalbear]

Interesting to me that Robert Rodriguez directed this ep. 

I like that things actually happened, but holy crap were the fights garbage. Stormtroopers remain absolutely pointless. Their ships had big fucking guns on them - why not use those? Meh.

 

[Jaxom 1974]

3 minutes ago, Kalbear Total Landscaping said:

Interesting to me that Robert Rodriguez directed this ep. 

I like that things actually happened, but holy crap were the fights garbage. Stormtroopers remain absolutely pointless. Their ships had big fucking guns on them - why not use those? Meh.

 

True. But there was a semblance of tactics...?

[Kalbear]

1 minute ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

True. But there was a semblance of tactics...?

Why even bother with them? It was just basically to get into a battle and show off Fett's mad skills. 

Which, okay, rule of cool and all, but the plot was worse than most kung fu movies.

[Jaxom 1974]

3 minutes ago, Kalbear Total Landscaping said:

Why even bother with them? It was just basically to get into a battle and show off Fett's mad skills. 

Which, okay, rule of cool and all, but the plot was worse than most kung fu movies.

But...but...semblance of tactics...how else are they gonna showcase for the fanboy?

[karaddin]

5 hours ago, Soylent Brown said:

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Also, was anyone else waiting for Mando to call Grogu by his name while trying to shake him from his Jedi trance? Dumbass!

 

Definitely.

Spoiler

You've seen how he responds better to his name than kid, use it!

 

[Veltigar]

I'd say it is a toss up between this and the opening episode for most favorite episode of the season so far for me. There were still a lot of problems, but I felt like they kept the story line sufficiently energized to help me ignore a lot of the silly stuff this time around. I didn't even notice the

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jet pack fail which has been rightly called out as immensely stupid. 

 

1 hour ago, Kalbear Total Landscaping said:

Interesting to me that Robert Rodriguez directed this ep. 

That is indeed interesting. I was saying to my friend how well directed I thought the episode was, particularly the action. 

Spoiler

None of the tactics on display made any sense. On top of that, the often mentioned problem that Stormtroopers just aren't a credible threat anymore (unless they are able to fire at Beskar, all of a sudden there is perfect aim) was again on full display.

That being said, Rodriguez made that nonsensical fight energetic and fun enough for me to get swept away in the emotions of the event. I could even accept Boba's use of a club. It makes zero sense, but he was so good that I could hand waive it. After he got his armor back on, he was a total bad ass. Really enjoyable!

It is a shame though, that Boba didn't take a bigger crew. He was willing to take one other person with him, why couldn't he have had some more droids or soldiers of his own? Some of them could have been killed by the Stormtroopers and would at least have given more of the illusion of sacrifice and danger. 

There were a lot of other things that felt off though, but I'm open to wait with judgement until seeing later developments.

Spoiler

It doesn't feel like the Boba Fett we see on the show is the character from the OT. At least to me, this sudden conversion to honorable man feels incredibly jarring. I do think that Fett's presence in the OT is small and insignificant enough to not permanently define his character, so I'm curious to see whether they can stick the landing.

Regardless of what they do with that, I still feel a bit queasy bringing characters from the dead. That really is the bane of the Fantasy genre. The curse that never ends. I do wonder whether I would have been more okay with it, if TROS never happened.  But now that we have more than one character rising from the dead, I'll hope they'll stop with it. 

I just don't want to cheapen this universe anymore than TROS already did. I guess I'm a tad worried due to the inherent fanservicy nature of the creative team behind this show (stop putting that dark saber everywhere Filloni, it is not as cool as you think it is).

My biggest fear however is that they'll introduce Boba Fett just so that the Dark Troopers have someone to kill in the next episodes to show just how bad ass and dangerous they are. That would be a really cheap storytelling device that I would absolutely hate. 

What I hope is that Boba gets added to the team more permanently. If we have to have him return from the dead, than I'd much rather he stick around for a while to serve as a mentor figure to our Dadalorian. That might be an interesting twist, with the quest on Tython resulting not in a mentor for Baby Yoda but for Mando. 

 

[Jaxom 1974]

5 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

 

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What I hope is that Boba gets added to the team more permanently. If we have to have him return from the dead, than I'd much rather he stick around for a while to serve as a mentor figure to our Dadalorian. That might be an interesting twist, with the quest on Tython resulting not in a mentor for Baby Yoda but for Mando. 

 

That would be an absolute horrible idea.  

[Veltigar]

11 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

That would be an absolute horrible idea.  

Perhaps, although I would still prefer to take that risk instead of  

Spoiler

Boba getting killed in one of the remaining episodes by fully active Dark Troopers just to showcase how menacing they are. It's one of the most lazy storytelling devices and retroactively cheapens the characters (be they villains or heroes) that are subjugated to that treatment.

I guess Fet could teach Mando a thing or to about hand to hand combat based on what we saw the last episode. Quite useful when you know that Beskar spear is going to be the weapon Mando's is going to use to defeat the big bad of the season. He's also the son of a foundling, which means he understands the relationship Grogu and Mando have better than any character we know. I think there could be potential there for a few episodes together before them moving in separate directions. 

 

[TrueMetis]

Okay the name's growing on my, Mando saying his name just to get a reaction out of him then laughing is pretty great.

Stormtroopers fight like crap as always, but Boba's fighting was pretty good and just kind of highlights to me how bad the choreography in the last episode was in comparison.

Boba's a mando again! I'm gonna go laugh at some other people I know on the internet. Wonder if this makes the Fetts in SWTOR canon again? Jango was a foundling of clan Fett?

Baby Yoda manhandling those troopers was funny as hell, but Gideon's decision to have a chat with the kid was pretty weird.

Good episode, liked it. Really good set up for the season ender.

[Vaughn]

Calling Filoni 'fan servicey' is weird. He's probably done more to add great stuff to the SW canon than anyone outside of Lucas and the key players in the OT creative team 40 years ago. Making references to historically relevant stuff from the deep world you've been a key builder of is not fan service.

JJ Abrams - he's the gold standard for fan service (even though I really enjoyed TFA and Trek '09.)

You know Gideon is really evil because he had Grogu sized restraints in inventory already. WTF, man.