LIONBLOG #3 – WE GOT DEATH STAR! WE GOT DEATH STAR!

What’s good Lions??  Winter has finally reached the Texas Pridelands, and as an added bonus, these sub 50 temperatures came with a healthy dose of H20.  More the liquid type than the snowy type unfortunately.  So yea, a big roaring “NO” to going outside.  Hakuna Matata tho, I decided to stay in and scratch my Star Wars itch by doing some art and taking in some media.  Let’s get into it!

First up, here’s a look at the piece I’m working on currently.  Of course there is still an Apprentice to add; someone of Skywalker and Solo lineage.  And yes, there will be a Light Side version for yall goody 2 shoes out there (Click the pic for full size)

INCOMING SPOILERS FOR EVERYTHING STAR WARS.  YOU HAVE BEEN MF’ING WARNED!!

So I’m always roided up for Star Wars, but after seeing Rogue One (a few times) my hype levels are 12/10.  Not to mention SW: Rebels is beast right now.  Did yall see the trailer for the second half of season 3?  Bruuuh…

Obi Wan vs Maul REMATCH????

Anyway, I decided to compile my favorite lightsaber fights for the Pride; everything from movies, to TV shows to fan-made.  These are in no specific order.  Too hard for me to choose anyway.

RYAN VS. KYL–BRANDON 2

RvB2 is part of a series of fan made lightsaber videos that came out shortly after Revenge of the Sith.  This video is preceded by Ryan vs. Dorkman 1 & 2, and Ryan vs. Brandon 1.  RvB2 is definitely my favorite but–PROTIP:  You should watch all of them, especially RvD2.  The scarring on the environment from the lightsaber slashes is incredible and I’m sure Uncle Lucas would give the head nod or worthiness.

 

LUKE SKYWALKER VS DARTH VADER I

The classic.  I so wish I could’ve seen the prequels before the OG trilogy.  Imagine…we’ve seen Luke do absolutely NO work with his lightsaber outside of being super average at level 0 padawan training and disarming (haaaa *finger guns*) a wampa.  His pops Anakin, on the other hand (I’m so sorry) killed a MF’ing SITH LORD at his age and then proceeded to go on a galaxy-wide murder spree, bodying Jedi MASTERS for fun!  Now, Luke gotta one on one with the Dark One. Do yall understand how tense that situation is for us viewers?  My mans is lucky he made it out missing only a hand.

 

DARTH SIDIOUS VS MAUL & SAVAGE OPRESS

Maaaan, this fight is sooo beast!  Emperor Palpatine aka Darth Sidious is one of my favorite SW characters; dude is like one of the only villains ever to succeed.  Like, think about it.  He was as old as time by the events of Return of the Jedi.  How many years did he really have left, even with the Force prolonging his life?  He became a Sith Lord, then a Sith Master, then Chancellor of the Republic, THEN Emperor of the f*** Galaxy!  I don’t think there was anything he wanted that he didn’t get.  Papa Palpatine won, man.

But this fight sees him in his pre-Emperor days, going to personally school some lil youngbloods on the Rule of Two.  And by youngbloods I mean his former Apprentice/Lord, Maul and his unofficial apprentice Savage Oppress (most godlike in Star Wars, no contest).  RIP to Ian Abercrombie btw.  Sidious’ voice in the Clone Wars series is perfection.  So much tension in everything he says and does.  Lol, just peep how Maul gets shook like he got an F on his report card and he just heard his mama’s car pull up outside.

 

SATELE SHAN and KAO CEN DARACH vs LORD VINDICAN and DARTH MALGUS

The Old Republic is a decent game, I suppose, but these cinematic trailers…these are Star Wars gold.  Compile them together and you actually get a semi-competent SW short film.  The best thing about these, though, are the battles between Jedi and Sith and their absurd power level compared to the current timeline (Ep I -VII).  Luke could barely lift rocks while balancing on his hands; meanwhile Vindican casually shoots lightning at a starship and tanks a blast from its main cannon.  In fact, the way Force powers are used in these short films along with the fight choreography is some of, if not the coldest I’ve seen.

 

MASTER YODA vs COUNT DOOKU ( DARTH TYRANUS)

I remember seeing Empire Strikes Back and hearing about how Yoda was supposed to be this ultra wise and powerful Jedi Master.  But all we see him do is troll Luke, lift an X-Wing out of a swamp, tell riddles and die.  Fast forward to 2002…I’m in the theater watching Attack of the Clones.  Obi-Wan got knocked tf out and Anakin just got rekt and lost a hand.  Everything’s looking bleak until….Yoda walks in?  He and Dooku exchange some words and then have the Force sensitive equivalent of a d*** measuring contest.  I mean, yea that’s cool but come on; I saw Yoda move stuff with the Force in the 80’s.

And then Dooku spoke those words….”It is obvious that this contest cannot be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with a lightsaber”

Honestly, the fight isn’t even THAT good.  But the straight up hype of seeing Yoda use a saber for the first time has still not been matched for me, so I have to always include this as one of my favorites.

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS: MACE WINDU vs DOOMED DROID ARMY | GENERAL PONG KRELL vs UNLUCKIEST CLONE TROOPERS EVER

These aren’t exactly lightsaber fights (Mace is actually saberless for most of the video), but are super trill Star Wars scenes you should see if you are a fan.  Enjoy and thanks for reading/watching.