>So. Just got back from seeing it.
>
>- Rey's accent. Rrowr.

Just...a strong heroine in general. Rowr. I loathe damsels in distress.

>- Also, forget lightsabers. Somebody give that girl a 'saber-proof
>staff and then stand back.

Calling it now: She needs a double saber like Maul. She strikes me as more martially inclined and less force-use-happy than Luke.

>- Rey's reluctance to pick up The Saber is, to me, pretty clearly
>not a 'legacy' thing, except in the sense of somebody being
>unwilling to bunk down in one of Auschwitz's communal shower rooms.

I thought it was clear she received a psychometric vision the moment she touched it the first time, and Maz tried to explain it to her. Her reluctance seemed based on that; it made a good excuse for her to run back to Jakku.

>Even if it's harmless to her, now...
>- I get what Finn's lying streak is intended to be, both IC and OOC.
>It makes sense in context. But I did not find it endearing or amusing,
>and, for me, it actively hurt to watch. So he's my least
>favorite of the new characters.

It hurt to watch that nonsense, too, and though it makes sense in context it's still a Young Guy In Love kind of mistake. =)

>- I can see why people dismiss Kylo Ren as 'Darth Emo', I can. His
>personality and... issues... are certainly his weakspot, both
>in-character and as a character.

Yes, very much so. He has a Young Guy problem, too--he is emotionally torn to bits and Snoke has quite intentionally made his problem worse.

>- They're still making a huge, huge mistake. His 'Force Freeze' trick
>is terrifying, properly applied. His... let's be honest, mindrape gig
>is also terrifying. And in the new-line canon, bloody
>nobody has taken anything like the kind of battering
>needed to stop him. Even in the old EU, the only one that comes to
>mind is Darth Sion.

All this is absolutely true--some of Kylo's powers are VERY potent. Freezing the blaster bolt is especially frightening. What blows my mind though is how wealk his telekinesis was when trying to get Luke's lightsaber at the end. I knew Rey was going to draw it to her hand (I knew it'd happen at -some- point the moment Finn carried it onto Starkiller) and I'm sure everyone knew she'd pull it from the snow the moment it appeared there--the callback to Empire is obvious. But Kylo was struggling with that simple telekinesis mightily and Rey was a great deal stronger. It will be interesting to see how they develop their different strengths.

IIRC, Darth Sion's amazing resilience was due to a constant mental focus thing; you couldn't actually beat him conventionally. You had to convince him of something. Maybe that he was really already dead? Been ages since I beat KOTOR2.

>- Starkiller is an idea that, on paper, just looks like the Nostril of
>Palpatine. But when you actually lay out its tactical and strategic
>implications - it's a terrifying war-winner. If the First Order had
>had the same kind of resources the Empire had to throw at defending
>the thing, you'd need something on the scale of the Battle of
>Coruscant to take it out. It's like if GDI got to call down Ion Cannon
>strikes on map coordinates without needing line of sight.

Actually, if I remember C&C3 and Kane's Wrath correctly the Ion Cannon, Nuclear Missile and Black Hole Generator (the superweapons) were the only powers that -could- be targeted into the Fog of War. =) Been ages for that, too, though.

------
Fearless creatures, we all learn to fight the Reaper
Can't defeat Her, so instead I'll have to be Her