Build the suggested sabers shown or mix and match to forge your own custom lightsaber!Īssembly is simple and easy: Attach your core to the choice of button housing pieces, and then choose your emitter, handle and pommel - each piece screws on securely. Anyway you look at it, its an insidious weapon that the Rebels just casually have.For those drawn to the Dark Side of the Force, this dark themed battle chest comes loaded with saber parts so you can forge your own custom lightsaber. Instead of a Death Star, the Rebels have the technology that a Bond villain might use to hold an entire city, or planet, hostage. It’s also similarly unclear if the Rebel Alliance - or extremist factions - would use ion cannon-type weapons to knock out electrical functions in more than just military targets. It’s unclear if the ion cannon disruptions in Star Wars operate on the exact same principles as an EMP would for us. At least, that’s how it would work in our galaxy. In reality, the scale of this EMP would have to be created by a nuclear detonation. The James Bond movie GoldenEye posited a satellite in orbit could deliver such a pulse and send modern cities into the dark ages. Knocking out a bunch of electricity in a localized area is often used in other sensational fiction. In this way, the Rebel Alliance is weaponizing the same natural thing that happens when an electrical lightning storm messes with phone reception. In the real world, taking into consideration that different voltages have different effects, a high enough voltage EMP can disable electronic equipment and instruments. The real equivalent of this kind of “electronic disruption” technology is called an EMP (electromagnetic pulse). The U-Wings are disrupting all the electronic systems on the AT-ATs, making them, like the Star Destroyer that gets rammed in orbit, easier to deal with. This partially explains why the modified AT-AT walkers in Rogue One seem easier to take down than the ones in Empire. The new U-Wing ships in Rogue One have ion cannons, too. So, both the Battle of Scarif and the evacuation of Hoth were mostly successful Rebel operations and wholly dependent on the possession and use of an ion cannon. Meaning, without the ion cannons, there would be no way to disable the Star Destroyer above Scarif, and the destruction of the shield gate wouldn’t have happened. To be clear: What happens to the Star Destroyer in Rogue One looks very similar to what happens to the Star Destroyer in The Empire Strikes Back. In fact, the entire Battle of Scarif in Rogue One hinges on the ion cannons on the Y-Wings disabling one of the Star Destroyers, which allows for it to be pushed around by the Hammerhead Corvette at the last minute. These weapons range in size from Jawas’ custom ion blasters, used to disable droids, to massive cannons that can turn starships into silent, drifting hulks.”Ĭhronologically, Star maintains ion cannons first showed up during The Clone Wars, though the technology appears to have persisted well past that point. The official Star Wars databank defines ion weapons thusly: “Ion weapons fire ionized particles that disrupt electronic systems. The Rebels use big ion cannons on Hoth, but tinier ones on their ships, like the Y-Wings. If the Rebels have this kind of weapon, what chance does the Empire have?įor anyone who’s played the old ‘90s Star Wars video games from X-Wing to Rogue Squadron, this is old news. What? The Rebels just have an awesome cannon that can take out giant Imperial vessels? I’m not talking about the local bulk cruisers, mind you, these are the big Corellian ships. After a pilot meekly points out that two fighters against a Star Destroyer isn’t going to cut it, Leia responds, “The ion cannon will fire several shots to make sure that any enemy ships will be out of your flight path.” Wait. In The Empire Strikes Back, Princess Leia gives the troops a pep talk and explains exactly how everyone is going to get off of Hoth. But the most surprising thing about it is that it has belonged to the Rebellion this whole time. It’s called an ion cannon and basically, it’s a device which is the Star Wars universe equivalent of weaponizing an electromagnetic pulse. The movie did a good job at demonstrating the planet-killing evil of the Empire and the moral ambiguity of the Rebels, but failed to mention another Star Wars superweapon that has been hiding in plain sight since the original trilogy. In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the Rebel Alliance is up in arms over the Empire’s willingness to use a weapon of mass destruction called the Death Star.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |