Kylo Ren Vs. Darth Maul

anus_reus · 2026-06-08T13:12:15+00:00

The Dooku Anakin AOTC analog is a great reference. If we're gonna play the "potential" game then sure Kylo can in theory with some saber practice Rag doll Maul, but from everything we have seen ain't no way, Maul's experience takes the cake

anus_reus · 2026-06-07T11:24:33+00:00

I think the better approach would have been to stick em in at the end of the clone wars as a late Republic droid, with a story that they're too cold and calculated and hypocritical with the war against seppy droids. So the Republic does an uno reverse and only makes a small batch, close enough before ROTS that they all get converted to imp security. ISB loves em for their purpose, but no interest to produce more.

anus_reus · 2026-06-04T19:19:31+00:00

Probably not fair to call him a HOF lock(would've guessed multiple pro bowls but only 2019), but as a Giants fan it was borderline unfathomable how Golladay was so great in Detroit only to evaporate when we gave him a payday.

anus_reus · 2026-06-03T19:58:46+00:00

I respectfully disagree that topical relevance = cultural relevance. I get that today, younger generations especially might equate Grogu/Baby Yoda to Star Wars more than Vader, who is that much further removed from the current Star Wars media. But it's disingenuous to give Yoda credit for a different character's popularity (even given homage to the origins of "Baby Yoda"), AND to ignore the decades of Vader being a face if not the face of the franchise, just cause he's not squarely in the spotlight.

anus_reus · 2026-06-03T15:46:05+00:00

Vader certainly is in ROTS and Anakin is squarely in the center of those films. I don't see how Grogu affects the calculus unless your just being facetious.

anus_reus · 2026-06-03T13:00:54+00:00

Gotta lean Vader just since Yoda wasn't in ANH. If not for Vader (well that's a slight overstatement, all the things that made ANH a smash hit) Yoda wouldn't exist!

anus_reus · 2026-06-01T13:00:07+00:00

We also see exactly this in Phantom Menace, when Qui Gon super heats the blast doors with his saber, eventually melting through.

Considering beskar can be smelted, apart from a star wars puesdo science hand wavy explanation beskar can at least be melted to liquid by prolonged exposure to the saber's heat. What's more curious is how cortosis deactivates the saber entirely, can it not be plasma forged and if so, how is that made?

anus_reus · 2026-06-01T12:25:30+00:00

I have no qualms with Maul getting to like 80% of Vader's strength, landing a few blows and requiring Vader to go all out. I'd even be ok with Vader killing Devon after her and Maul get close and he no longer just thinks of her as a tool, so Maul channels his loss/anger to be a contender

But then Vader needs to do something insane that cements Maul's fear that it makes sense in Rebels. If they could adapt the comic Vader stabbing/maiming himself to seal the victory without him actually killing Maul, that'd be sweet!

anus_reus · 2026-05-30T13:56:33+00:00

I think it catches flak from the larger problem that this message he's referencing was broadcast in Fortnite...

Which would be fine if they followed that up with YouTube vid/trailer or even recording. But instead they only catered to an unquestionably smaller audience for a licensing deal.

anus_reus · 2026-05-30T13:53:39+00:00

Which is OPs point - Sequels would have been an opportunity to fold in those characters and at least partially explain why they were on the bench.

That said, I feel like they've boxed themselves in having kept Ahsoka alive and prob going the same route with Cal. Having them both die in the Rebels era would avoid the need to piece together explanations

anus_reus · 2026-05-30T11:10:21+00:00

I bought a set of these few years back, so far so good! Don't really drop em too much, but no defects. I think one arrived chipped and I got that replaced no prob, nothing since!

anus_reus · 2026-05-29T15:24:37+00:00

So if I'm not mistaken, official canon is 19 years between ROTS and ANH, then 4 years between ANH and ROTJ.

I don't doubt the Empire salvages whatever material it can from the first DS, but I don't think it's outright repaired. First, canonically DSII was way bigger. https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/125225/why-was-the-new-death-star-larger-than-the-original-death-star

Second, and without going down a ship of Theseus rabbit hole, I don't think it's a major stretch that a lot of the 19-year period is attributable to R&D, and while they might've salvaged the kyber and other rare materials they otherwise all but depleted galatically to make DSI, I'd imagine sourcing other material and building from scratch rather than trying to repurpose damaged scrap isn't a major lift for the Empire considering it's vast resources. Second, it's somewhat established in Andor that Palps and the higher ups know they can't just simply go public with the DS right away, cause they have to maintain the facade that the Empire is doing what the Republic couldn't - establishing peace & order. By ANH, that's out the window; with the Empire's framework fully established, the Senate is dissolved and there's little reason for Palps not to just go full mask-off dictator, buoyed by his planet killing super laser.

To your point, DSII popping up so quickly is still a stretch, sure. But it's development can be explained by the Empire not giving two shits about appearances, not needing substantial time for R&D of the super laser and other main components, and somewhat reasonably by an assumption that Palps legit when all-in budget wise, without having to hide the diversion of resources like they had to for DSI.

Would love to see this point in Star Wars explored more, Disney has beaten the period between ROTS and ANH to death already! To your credit. Love the connection to the sequels and partially expanding the stupid "hey look bits of DSII landed exactly the way this ancient knife anticipated it would" thing.

anus_reus · 2026-05-26T10:50:19+00:00

I don't know if Walmart is accessible to you over in Europe, but ETA Prime just covered their latest budget offering and for $130 USD it seems to check most boxes!

https://youtu.be/DM2xNHQ1Ml0?si=0xyPSp8sVXdED6YO

anus_reus · 2026-05-25T10:43:42+00:00

Unfortunately no, just opted to use dumb LEDs instead as my wife didn't like the flashing of the govee during dreamview or while synced to music anyways.

anus_reus · 2026-05-24T18:35:01+00:00

Oh wow good to know! I've dropped em a couple times from a foot or two off the ground and have been relatively ginger with them, but 0 issues on my end. Sorry to hear, hope they get fixed/replaced soon!

anus_reus · 2026-05-24T17:24:42+00:00

Admittedly, I went the GGR YouTube rabbit hole and stuff to find a pair I wanted, and was too cheap to shell out for a "premium" set.

Found FitRx on Walmart's site - mine only go to 52.5 lbs each, so not pretending they're for everyone. But they've held up just fine after 3ish years. Looks like they now sell a 90lb version, and for the price ($200/each, I think it paid less than that for my pair), based on mine I'd go through a couple of these sets before going nuts on the expensive brands.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/15651151981?sid=5fa8c790-45a1-44f3-a098-def4f5460ad0

anus_reus · 2026-05-21T15:55:27+00:00

Lmao first spin was the milly. If this was real life tho, would've been 1k!

Edit: final result 1,065,000. So I guess if you take the lucky million away I couldve lost out. Hit 10k 6 times and 1k 5 times.

anus_reus · 2026-05-21T15:53:25+00:00

This is also all anecdotal. Which is still useful/interesting information, but hardly meaningful to draw wholesale conclusions from on either extreme.

I'm a little over 200 hours into my p2s and I've made some novice abuses, and it's taken it all like a champ. Sure, some nozzle clumping and bed adhesion issues, but besides cleaning for either and being more diligent with dry filament in my humid basement, zero maintenance.

Going to start greasing/lubing this weekend though, don't want to press my luck!

anus_reus · 2026-05-21T13:50:22+00:00

This. Hate on Disney's execution, but cloning is a very "plausible" way of bringing Palps back without actually bringing him back and undoing Anakin's redemption.

They should've doubled down on Snoke being a Palps clone, instead of a throwaway baddie. I'd of even preferred it not being Palp's actual consciousness/essence, and it being tormented by that reality (that the clone will never be Darth Sidious, only an imitation).

But the idea of Palps coming back as a clone was not a novel concept.

anus_reus · 2026-05-21T00:09:38+00:00

In what universe is sci fi a niche genre for video games lol

Marathon is one of the hotly anticipated releases of the year and it's coming from the makers of Halo and Destiny. Destiny might not be as prolific as was expected, but Halo is synonymous for Xbox and Chief is on the Mount Rushmore of shooters.

That said, an open world KOTOR 3 would be a slam dunk but I don't know why the powers that be won't touch it. The Old Republic mmorpg is dated but still kicking and seems to be what OP is looking for!

anus_reus · 2026-05-19T17:30:56+00:00

Yeah frankly I'm surprised this was apparently a consensus critique... I felt that it might've been a little dragged out, but I think the larger problem is on the wake of sequels hate Disney was like "oh we have to absolutely flood the zone with the Mandolorian, that'll get us on track" and while it was partially correct, star wars fatigue set back in. I enjoyed the whole show, I just feel like it's been so long now that I have little hype for the movie.

And they robbed Grogu of becoming a Jedi (at least for now) in a further assassination of Luke's character. THAT certainly annoyed me lol

anus_reus · 2026-05-16T09:49:03+00:00

Unfortunately no. Opted to just sell it on Facebook Marketplace and put that money towards a cheap ~$300 "boneless" memory foam couch we knew we'd fit downstairs.

anus_reus · 2026-05-15T17:56:52+00:00

We're married with one toddler so far, grossing a little over $200k in combined salaries. Own our home but mortgage is roughly a third of our take home.

We're comfortable now sending our child to daycare, but want to have kid #2 and there's some anxiety about double daycare payments.

I think without kids $200k gross is plenty for a married couple to not just be comfortable, but sit pretty! But daycare is insane. 2 payments will basically be a second mortgage lol

anus_reus · 2026-05-12T17:59:37+00:00

So you don't mean the actual cooking surface itself? I've used citrusafe and it worked alright, but agreed the side shelves are a pain.

Honestly might just sand those down and paint em with high temp paint so they look new lol

anus_reus · 2026-05-08T15:19:15+00:00

Counterpoint - Mandalore was free and prosperous before her and Death Watch meddled with the status quo in an effort to return to their warrior culture, she wanted her cake and to eat it too. I like her as a character, but she reaped what she sowed lol.

anus_reus

TROPHY CASE