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Then I move some objects can become 'imprinted' with the Force, not so much to contain power themselves, but to be strong conduits. I think that is not overreaching. (Think of the cave on Dagobah. Before he even went inside it, Luke sensed that it was strongly imbued with the Force.) The effect remains the same: a stronger connection to the Force, possibly knowledge or added ability associated with the object, such as with psychometry. Say that Luke was trained. Who trained him? Not Yoda, and not Obi-Wan, for the reasons I mentioned before. So if he trained, he was certainly not instructed. I expect we will have some more light shed on Rey's past and her connection to the Force in the movies that follow. I hope that the movies won't be too derivative, will be a bit more 'daring', but somehow I am not worried.

Okay. In that case I make as my counterpoint that you know you are mistaken. As for the rest: The Force is the deciding factor in these movies... I don't think that there is anything more true about the Star Wars franchise. Kylo Ren's character is unfocused - it is practically his defining characteristic, overshadowed only by his nose. The movie goes out of its way to show that he is powerful, but not certain in his power. Would Vader ever throw a temper tantrum? Even his light saber - as you mentioned - serves to underscore it: the shaft is wavering, almost flickering like flame, unlike Anakin's light sabre's. You do not think light sabres are mystical objects, but Rey received a powerful vision when she came near the sabre, which became much more intense when she touched it. And if they are merely weapons to be used, I doubt someone as practical-minded as Maz Kanata would go through the apparent trouble of recovering it from, I must assume, the atmosphere of Bespin. And Luke's training... but what training was that? Did he receive more training on Dagobah? There seems to be no evidence of that, nor even any indication. No, rather, since Luke brought up the fact that Darth Vader was his father on Yoda's death bed, it seems extremely likely that this is, in fact, the first time he has seen him since he left for Cloud City. The same goes for Obi-Wan's ghost. Did he train on his own? Possible, but then he did it without instruction. And it certainly wasn't the only thing he was doing. Unless we go with your extremely charged interpretation - that Rey's rapid advancement in the Force and overpowering of someone who has in fact received a great deal of training is nothing more than pandering to the 'politically correct society' - we must assume that she had 'trained' in a different way before. She was an exceptional individual - undertaking dangerous missions all alone in a hostile environment without getting crippled, scarred or killed. For years. Without growing cynical or embittered. We cannot dismiss the notion that she is naturally strong in the Force - Anakin Skywalker was very strong in the Force and was using it without realizing it, in an incredibly dangerous sport, and for engineering. Luke Skywalker was very strong in the Force - although we never really found out how he compared to Anakin - but he learned incredibly quickly, considering Jedi are supposed to receive training from their early childhood... he received very little, yet ultimately proved the better of Darth Vader (Leaving aside whether Vader was weakened in his resolve because he was, after all, facing his own son). I do not think this is different - I think her environment had trained her; that she was already 'primed' so to speak... and Kylo Ren, the Bad Luck Brian of the Dark Side, did precisely the worst possible thing: he triggered it. And then, like a dam bursting, or a machine that was assembled over many years and finally got switched on... boom. And then the battle is not so much between conflicted, injured Kylo Ren (although perhaps we should look into how well even a highly-trained fighter performs under comparable circumstances) and focused, still-fresh Rey as it is between the Dark Side and the Light Side of the Force... under those circumstances, the one who blinks first inevitably loses.

And why not? Yoda was a two-foot green squirt who bested Count Dooku. More training? How much training makes a difference eventually? Luke Skywalker beat Darth Vader - not because he had been trained for a grand total of MAYBE a week (Or? Just how long was Luke tutored by Yoda, anyway? Did he return to Dagobah between 'Empire' and 'Return'? But how much training could he have done, compared to the four decades of Darth Vader?) but because he let the Force flow freely. The power of a Jedi comes from the Force. And Rey was a fresh Force user... barely been introduced to the concept... but was that really true? How long had she been surviving, alone, on a desert planet, eating what little rations she could afford, but nevertheless healthy as a horse and pretty as a picture? In her duel with Kylo Ren, she was giving him a fight, but then he made yet another mistake to compound the many he already had: he alerted her to the fact she was using the Force. And suddenly, it went 'click' inside her head. And what was she fighting with? Luke and Anakin's old light saber. It was shown in the movie itself that objects, especially objects so intensely Force-applied as a light saber, retain 'echoes' of their wielders. Is it possible the sword was 'teaching' her to fight? Or guiding her hand? Kylo Ren was pretty eager to get his hands on it. Because it had belonged to Darth Vader? Maybe, maybe not - Vader made his own light saber (Which presumably blew up with the Death Star), and he desperately wants to be a lord of the Sith, not a Jedi. And Kylo Ren was not at his best. He wasn't just bleeding from the hole in his side Chewie gave him (Kind of odd that it was bleeding though. Don't those blasts cauterize?), he had just told Han that he was torn up inside from the struggle between the Dark and Light sides. He had hoped that killing his father would decide the struggle once and for all, but it doesn't seem that way - imagine how that made him feel. And the way a Jedi or a Sith feels affects their power in the Force. Early on in the movie he stopped a blaster bolt without even moving. Now, he couldn't even telekinetically lift a light saber. And then he finds himself facing a woman he knows for a fact is a very potent Force sensitive, and what's worse he himself awakened her by poking her with the Dark side. Everything has gone wrong from the moment he took her prisoner, instead of pursuing the droid. The failure of the plan is entirely his fault. The most powerful weapon ever created is collapsing about him, he has failed to obtain Skywalker's location and his father's death has not brought him what he so desired. Given that he did everything wrong so far, and she is much, much stronger than she was even that morning, he must have felt severe doubt and fear. Something Rey did not: there was no doubt at all, and she had little reason to fear this guy who had failed to defeat her even when she was at his mercy. Where the Force is concerned, training is less important than the connection you have to it. He was outmatched: even the deepest darkness must flee before even the weakest light. "We all know it was put in there just please a certain crowd and to follow a politically correct society." I really wish you hadn't put it that way. "We all know"? I certainly know no such thing. Please don't speak for me. *** One more thing... Rey used an unusual sort of swinging technique where she sort of jabbed the blade inward, almost like she was pushing it in like a corkscrew. I've only ever seen that motion used in light saber combat by one other person. Odd, that.

Star Wars lacks strong female villains. Imagine if Kylo Ren had removed his helmet... and underneath it was a woman. Admittedly a screwed-up woman. Or Snoke? ....Which, of course, is still very much a possibility...

Something you want to tell us, Mirabilis? Because I somehow managed to completely miss that subtext in the movie.

Actually I am pretty surprised they haven't retconned Stane into a HYDRA member. And responsible for their deaths. Mind you. The Winter Soldier being responsible for Tony's parents' death would be almost necessary for this movie.

What... you were at Pearl Harbor when it got hit? Baka.

It was corrected, I can see it now. Yay.

I still can't see them.

I just envisioned a Xenomorph with human hair...

"ASH...PAR...NALL!" Still have no clue what it means. Do you guys like Aliens comics in general? Some of them were pretty awesome. Others, less so.

Hybridization doesn't work for me. I mean it looked pretty good, IMHO... Many people have denounced it, but remember it was only the equivalent to this... Imagine if it had had the chance to mature. In the novel, it was already changing... Hmmm. Perhaps hybridization works after all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcUKDIfwAQ4

The pacing of 'A New Hope' was also really fast.

It's possible to process someone in a few hours, but there are adverse side effects (such as dying at an inopportune moment). I don't think a definite time limit was ever mentioned, however.

I'll let you sit and think about that one for a while.

Yuki - did I read correctly that you prefer the prequel trilogy?

Twist: the two pics are not separate, Archanfel really is just a gamer and 'Guyver' is a computer game in which the object is to turn humanity into an army of super-warriors while the Guyver tries to stop you

Hah. In the original novelization by Alan Dean Foster the alien was insanely strong, ripping through bulkheads at walking speed.

Aliens was too good to ignore. And again, that theme... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-jGrL7U09Y

Oh goody.

...I am sorry, I can't find it.