The stronger the material, the longer a lightsaber needs to be in contact with it to cut it. This is demonstrated perfectly in episode 1 when qui gon cuts through the blast door

george lucas apparently told mark hamill to swing the saber like it weighed 40 pounds, cuz the saber was suppose to contain a powerful power supply. and all that power weighed down the weapon. thats why they were so uncoordinated in the original films. not until we get to the prequels did we see jedi masters that could wield the weapon efficiently. but even then this trope wasnt consistent or logical, considering they wore it around their belts and anyone can pick up a saber an wield it. *Edit. It was 40 pounds kzfaq.infoltjt7YuREU8?feature=share

My problem is the fact that nearly everyone can survived being stabbed by lightsabers now

So nice seeing a father and son spending quality time together 😢

they'll just make up some bs excuse as to why the orignals and prequels can do it but no other star wars under Disney can lol

Vader's armor is thicker than your typical stormtrooper armor. In legends, it was covered in Mandalorian iron which can actually take lightsaber blows full force.

Yeah, I didnt get the complain about sabers bouncing. I watched the originals the most so I immediately thought about the luke vs vader fights and wondered why nobody complained about them.

Prequels made lightsabers look too much dangerous, they cut through anything there with almost no effort. Yeah, it was never consistent unfortunately. But i think it's better to have such a dangerous weapon, instead of going back to the baseball bats...Disney for some reason though that this is why we love OT lol. Not for that...

A lot of the star wars lore happened because we need a reason to say it wasn't the old filmmaking tech that made it look that way. Lightsabers bounce because the props that were used weren't exactly made of vibranium. Metal reverberates on metal but because it's star wars people need a reason. For all we know yoda probably moved slow because it was cheaper to film especially in the sequels when he is always bouncing around.

they just cut through whatever is needed for the plot

There's a difference between being a plasma blade and being a blade of antimatter that disintegrates what it touches, lightsabers can cut like butter through many things, but still, It can end up bouncing in some materials

Can we just sum it up to the amount of power they put into their attack. Think of Spider-Man “pulling his punches”. If you want to cut through something you do. Or you can pull back when you swing as to just hit. Luke is somewhat unexperienced

I mean it was also the 80's. They probably weren't thinking this far ahead and the co sistency just isn't there lmao

I get it, everyone's playing into the joke and ignoring that it's just a set mistake from having actual physical blades hit actual physical objects

In regards to the lightsaber bouncing off the railing in the first clip…it didn’t. If you look, it cut right through the railing. Vader just quickly redirected his swing.

Vader’s armor specifically was made of a stronger material which was able to withstand minor lightsaber hits, as for the railing similar to Vader’s suit but not the the same extent, stronger materials take longer content to fully break through, lightsabers don’t cut through everything immediately, just most

Vader grunting in pain will never not be the greatest sound clip ever to come out of Star Wars

That second clip was not his lightsaber bouncing off of things, that was him wildly swinging it around, and barely hitting the things around him

Because a lot of them were influenced by the wielder pulling back from an attack at the last second to get their weapon ready for to defend against a counterattack. Someone also referenced lightsabers needing to be in contact with stronger materials in order to cut them. Darth Vader armor for example is actually lightsaber resistant for the same reason. But for example, in the Kenobi show when a lightsaber bounced off of a NORMAL Stormtroopers armor, yes, that is actually wrong both choreography wise (since it was a surprise attack, not need to pull or hold back) and lore wise since they didn’t have lightsaber resistant armor.

There’s actually a pretty solid behind-the-scenes explanation for why this happens. The lightsaber props used in the OT had carbon rods for the blades that were rotoscoped with color later in editing. So with the choreography, the sabers hit things that weren’t meant to be cut at certain points, letting them bounce off.

0:07 ok he was still cut by it but his armor protected him.

I like the theory that the lightsabers are like a sword blade but just glow too bright that you can’t see the exact shape. It explains how sometimes they only make clean cuts vs bouncing off things.

The distinction to be made here is that, even in Disney canon, Stormtrooper armor is horrible. It is a definitive downgrade from Clone Armor, which even then wasn't that resistant to Lightsabers. The Empire cheaped out for the Stormtroopers. Compare that to material found in the support structure of Cloud City, the Emperor's throne room, or even Vader's suit, that's going to be more durable.

George didn’t have the cgi and general practical effects from nowadays to look into every little detail, and it has always been a fact that the harder the material, the longer it’d take for the lightsaber to cut it

Those handrails are obviously mad out of beskar

Growing up I always thought there were certain materials that were just resistant. You know lightsabers and Jedi exist so someone would have had to create materials that could resist them

You can tell if they are going to bounce or not by looking at the script and seeing what it says.

Also when Luke is fighting on Jabba's sail barge. He's swinging it like a crazy person and it's just knocking people down like a stick

The idea that the blade should melt through anything like butter is actually what's ridiculous... and has never necessarily been the case. The prime example is quigon stabbing into the blast doors to the trade federation ship. What's happening is a proficient force user with a true jedis link to his lightsaber as an extension of his being used the force to penetrate the metal like that. You even see him take a beat to steady himself and reach out with the force. Disney has got a LOT wrong, but lightsabers are something they've actually done pretty well. The sequel trilogy is at its most watchable when there are lightsabers on screen.

The most toxic fandom ever.

If anybody is ever curious what it would feel like to swing a light saber around, grab a handheld vaccum cleaner and try to use it as a sword when it's turned on.

I think the thing is that it depends on the material rhe saber hits and how string the strike is. If it's a material sabers have a hard time cutting through and a weak hut then yeah it'll bounce off but the heavier the hit, it'll go through more.

Pero amigo, las originales se hicieron en los 80. Y la placa pectoral de Vader se supone que está hay para protegerlo de ese tipo de impactos y era lo que se quería mostrar en esa escena😅. Esta hecha de duracero.

To be fair, that's not even a problem. Now 2 inquisitors and one mandalorian surviving what Killed Qui Gon? Real shit. Inquisitors are generally Jedi knight level, and even so, They don't even have actual sith training, so they shouldn't be able to do like Maul. Sabine is also another example of how it shouldn't be done, Literally her connection to the force is so weak... Anyways, if you want to say "But it's not a lethal area", well, try surviving without a chunk of your stomach and a hole made by something with more heat than lava that goes from your guts to back.

My problem is it never bounced of living beings (Luke’s strike on Vader was quick because he was fucking scared and just wanted to escape him)

Sure, I'm fine with them bouncing off a steel railing. Just not a Stormtrooper.

Of course they bounce of in the og. They just had plastic sticks and did their best to make it look good. With nowadays tech you can easily make a lightsaber cut through anything, as it's supposed to be. But disney is consciously not doing it, that's what's wrong.

0:03 it damaged it though

The first clip looks like it cut through the railing and the saber was quickly lifted again when Vader realized he missed. Also, I’m pretty sure Vader’s shoulder pad chestplate thingy is made of a fairly lightsaber resistant metal, I don’t think it was beskar but something that would keep you mostly protected from a quick strike like that or maybe a blaster shot. Other than that, many of these cases look they’re just grazing the surface of something.

I once heard somewhere, I don’t remember where, that a possible explanation for why this happens is that lightsabers actually do have edges and can’t just cut through anything instantly but we can’t see them because of how bright they are

There is some merit to why lightsabers seem to “bounce” off objects. Of course when it comes to human flesh or cheaply designed battle droids, they do get cut like butter. But when it comes to say metal railings, metal hallways, metal prosthetics, etc. that requires a lot more force into the swing than just a quick scathing scratch. When it comes to cutting open blast doors, there’s a reason that takes forever. Qui-Gon impaled the door (given the tip of the lightsaber is thin it doesn’t take much force to penetrate the door HEHE lol), but when it came to cutting the door, it still took a while to even leave cuts because those kinda doors are still thick. But as for impaling the door to just let it melt and fall apart, he held his saber inside the door. The physics is sound in 1 - 6; it’s Disney that doesn’t understand the physics. Kenobi’s saber shouldn’t be bouncing off stormtrooper armor, which even Rebels confirms it doesn’t defend against anything. It’s cheaply made.

It’s pretty clear that certain materials are more resistant to a lightsaber strike. It’s not as simple as everything being either butter or beskar. But it’s safe to say flesh is much closer to the butter end of the spectrum, so the minor flesh cuts portrayed in Disney still make no sense under lore, unless we’re to believe every strike kylo ten received in TFA oh so conveniently had a few millimeters of contact at most.

The kyber crystals devolve each trilogy. In the prequels they are deadly lasers, in the OT they are slightly less deadly, but still work well, and in Disney trilogy they are glowing sticks.

I mean yeah, they bounce off of other lightsabers all the time

This by no means relieves Disney of some of their atrocities, but some people were very quick to hop on Disneys case after Obi Wan fight scenes and scenes with the dark saber in the mandalorian. I also saw a cool theory that lightsabers are an actual blade, with a sharp side and a flat side, but we can only see it on the dark saber because there’s not an immense amount of light.

The one with vadars armor is kinda BS it was built to withstand the lava that he was burned in. It can withstand a slap.

Because the metal stick that the production team used in place of the blades bounce off stuff.

These clearly are not bounces, but the users stopping and raising their blades.

like did people forget how slow it took for them to cut doors open with lightsabers, if it takes that long to cut metal its not surprising that they would bounce off some metals too

Lightsabers bounce off of stuff meanwhile shows two scenes where lightsabers cut through body parts and metal

People arent mad about the mere fact a lightsaber can bounce off stuff. It happened in the older films because they were literal plastic sticks they painted the effects onto. Not to mention vader having strong armor. But thats not a limitation anymore. And lightsabers should 100% cut clean through stormtrooper armor. Whats even the point of using a saber if a blaster or force powers would be far more lethal?

So the lightsaber’s only weakness is railings

I just chalk it up to VFX limitations they had at the time, and were doing what they could with what they had. Can't tell me out of *ALL* the things the saber has clean gone through with zero issue, that those are far outweighed by how many things they *can't* slice up.

ok but not off stormtrooper armor

That is not the point. Here Luke slashes Vader's arm when putting force on it and he completely cuts his hand. Rey hits Kylo in the face with her lightsaber and he has just a small scar, when he should've lost his head

When it comes to the Stormtrooper getting struck by Obi Wan and bouncing part, my problem isn’t that the lightsaber bounced, it’s that it took more than 1 strike to drop the Stormtrooper, and even then, it’s the least of my worries for the episode, at most it’s a nitpick that doesn’t gives the finger to the rest of the series

We are missing the scenes from Jabba's sail barge

Lightsabers are literally supposed to be heated up swords that can retract and occasionally cut through things like butter with enough force. This was even shown yet again in the prequels with Qui-Gon in the very first few minutes. I don't know what's so impossible to understand about that. People must think lightsabers can only act like the ones Jedi Knight video games I guess. Leave it to the fandom menace to complain about literally *everything…*

I think it's just because at the time it was hard to continuously make that effect of lightsabers cutting everything But i think the reason prople accept this is because unlike the sequels the originals was a good story with memorable characters. It all boils down to the quality of the wriring and plot, of the writing and plot is bad then people will look at everything else wrong

I do agree they definitely do bounce off, but i guess the problem i have is how it seems to be mostly all that happens how, and especially considering how seemingly hard obiwan swings it just kinda feels like its not doing enough, it if went in abit more then sure i would prefer it. But it just kinda feels mid to me

I always figured it was because light sabers actually had a cutting edge to its blade. If you look at many of the light saber emitters the opening was a slit, just like a sword blade. Anyone who has actually trained with a sword knows what happens if you dont hit your target with the cutting edge, it just bounces off. The amount of time its in contact with a durable material in that instance wouldnt allow it to heat up to much. Kind of like how a plasma cutter cuts so fast it doesnt even heat up the material its cutting.

The only thing that bugs me about this is 0:22 since Luke bounced off that railing a few seconds before and now his saber cuts through Vaders hand AND the railing. I mean yeah he swung it with a lot more force the second time but even so.

They’re not bouncing off. It’s a controlled stop of the weapon. Rather than waste his energy trying to cut through an item that isn’t flesh they pull back. Happens all the time in martial arts kumite matches or stunt fights where you are told to stop short

This type of technology didn’t exist, and if it did, George would likely have things slashed, rather than bouncing.

Vader wore somewhat protective armor to deflect the lightsaber strikes, as he wasn't fast enough to dodge. It is also theorized that the lightsaber does actuallt have an edge that slices easier. It's just hard to see due to the blinding light

It's not bouncing, I looked at it for like 5 seconds

I only have issues with ligntsabers bouncing off of Storm trooper armor... and still killing them??

Bad edge-alignment, am I right, sword enthusiasts? :P

Thank you to the person who was not toxic and showed the toxic people how wrong they are by making this video

I can think of 2 other examples: •Ezra vs stormtroopers rebels s3 ep 1 •Sabine vs Mandalorian commander

Darth vader's armor was very strong, and the railings could have been a bad hit and the hit was already being slowed down

This does not excuse a lightsaber bouncing off a stormtrooper in any way.

Ok that was metal, but it should BE ABLE TO CUT THROUGH HUMAN FREAKING FLESH!!!

Lightsabers gotta have an edge or something that we can’t see because they’re so bright and the darksaber is the shape of all lightsabers we just can’t tell

A good point someone had brought up is that it's likely that, while they appear cylindrical on camera due to how bright they are, lightsaber blades could actually be shaped like a standard sword/katana; a sharp edge with two flat sides, and depending on how you hit someone, that'll determine the damage. They just wouldn't look blade shaped necessarily because they're so bright that it blows out the camera shooting these fight scenes, so to speak. That would also maybe explain why the Darksaber looks the way it does, apart from the actual lore surrounding it and stuff

This supposed to make the kenobi series better and it’s writing? The lightsaber bounce is the least of its problems lol

Difference is that it was a film mistake 40 years agao compared to an actual decision for the blade to bounce off in film/show shot digitally with small cameras. Something they could have easily fixed with editing

I saw someone theorize that lightsabers actually have sharp and blunt edges, like a sword, it just looks circular because it’s so bright and that’s why the darksaber looks like a sword, it doesn’t give off much light

Dudes, it's meant to MELT and _then_ bounce off. Nobody said the Lightsaber is supposed to go through solid matter like it was a Neutrino

When I take issue with saber bouncing, this isn't what I'm talking about. Ever since Force Awakens, lightsaber on lightsaber contact is wayyyy more bouncy. That's where it looks really weird to me in every duel they've done since then. It just feels completely different to OT and Prequel duels. Alot of it is the choreo, but the bounciness is also a factor

OK so I have a bit of a theory that lightsabers have edges, just like real life swords, but it's hard to tell because of the energy around the blade, this would also explain why sabers have points sometimes

I don’t think the problem that people have is that LightSabers bounce off of stuff it’s the stuff they bounce off for instance, something like a pole or a wall or something as long as it’s done gently, it’s fine but when it’s someone’s hand or face Or whether body part, I feel like that has to be cut since it’s not just a random object and actually flesh

It was the early 1980s my dude, they didn't exactly have budget or technology to CGI that shit like Disney can, using this to defend Disney's horrible writing is laughable

Okay but how much of this was intended and how much of it was because of the limitations of film making at the time? Obi Wan still sucks regardless of whether lightsabers bounce or not.

The way lightsabers behave in movies is inconsistent and based on what plot needs. But if I had to create a justification it would be something like this: Lighsaber is basically a force field generator. It creates a force field in a shape of a tube and fills it with burning plasma. The blade is very hot at all times but if you don't swing it hard enough or hold it against something it will just bounce off of things. Fully trained Jedi draw superhuman strength and reflexes from the Force so they are able to slice things with their sabers but a regular person would find it difficult to do that, especially during stressful situations when it's hard to focus.

Correct me if im wrong but it looks more like they are just failing to cut through the objects, not actually bouncing off them though.

I think its about how much force you put into a blow.

Those movies were made in the 80s. The vfx is obv not as good as today so they just ignored the fact that lightsabers should have cut through objects. But now we have the abilities with the vfx and they still fucked up because they don't know how star wars works.

We shouldn't consider the way something is filmed because of its time as lore...

I didn't have a problem with the lightsabers bouncing off of things in the environment, like off of a wall, a door, or a railing. My problem was the lightsaber bouncing off of the Stormtrooper uniform in particular. We all know that their uniforms can be cut clean through with a lightsaber like a knife through butter (seeing as how even blaster bolts go through their uniforms like it's not even there), so seeing one bounce off of them seems really lazy and dumb.

Inconsistency of the past does not excuse modern production

Oh yeah, if technical limitations of the OT forced those bouncing mistakes, that totally excuses repeating those mistakes again and making them worse, like bouncing off stormtrooper uniform, but cutting a rock like a butter...

Wait, people complain about bouncy sabers?

I think you're ignoring the fact that these lightsabers are physical props, so are the sets. It's a technical limitation on their part, Kenobi shouldn't have that limitation, given the leaps and bounds that computer animation has gone through. When 99% of Star Wars media displays Lightsabers as superheated blades of pure energy (like what they're supposed to be) and not glowing paddles to smack people with, I'd say they're not supposed to bounce.

I’ll admit people do do this, but there are a few explanations. For one Vader’s armor is designed that way for it to deflect lightsabers, so that doesn’t change anything. And the metal controls are just that way too I guess (although I do think that’s kinda dumb tbh). However none of these reasons are this pandering video justify or support the argument it’s trying to support. There is no logical or factual reason why in Kenobi his lightsaber bounces off of storm troopers, there’s 0 reason for it especially since we know what’s not how they work we’ve seen lightsabers cut through stormtroopers a million times before so there you go. So this video doesn’t exactly prove anything.

Thank God people are finally pushing back against these lunatics that are pretending these things only happen in Disney star wars. These "fans" have me feeling insane the way they just selectively forget things from the other movies

I think the hitting Vader one can be considered blocked by some proficiency in the force. There are many things in the originals that aren't considered canon anymore. Like the weight of a lightsaber and presumably its strength. The mechanics of the world weren't that fleshed out until the prequels.

I’ve always viewed them as actual swords, whenever it bounces off something it’s because they hit it with the dull side of the blade and not the serrated edge. The only reason we can’t see it is because it’s emanating the heat of a sun but the core of the blade is under the glow

I think for a wielder to cut accurately, the person must channel the force. Grievous was not force sensitive but remember, the force flows in all beings. So to cut things, the user needs to be focused. I don't like Disney but it may explain how kylo could just cut Finn without killing him, he was not focused. He just killed his dad and got shot by chewy.

Every fandom now consume to hate. That's their default. I see it everywhere, and not just Star Wars. They hate it before even seeing it, they watch it with extreme prejudice and make up stuff to validate that prejudice, then start a hate bandwagon. The problem is, everyone is so entitled and if everything doesn't unfold like their edgy personal fanfic they will hate on it, instead of accepting things presented when a franchise first comes out. If Obi-Wan came out when the OT did they would gate keep it, and if OT came out now they would hate it.