There's plenty in the dialog to infer that she also had piloted more than just the basic hauler that we saw her on by the time the movie found her, even just the fact that she pointed out that she had piloting experience as they were looking for a ship suggests that she had likely been behind the controls a few times when that kind of work was available. And by the time she aimed herself at the freighter, she was letting her instincts take over instead of trying to actively control the ship, which means it was the force, not personal skill that got them through.
A point that is undermined by her initial moments of flying the Falcon. She said she's a pilot, we have to accept that, even if it makes no logical sense for a scrounger on a desert planet who's living day to day on rations. But we don't see a good reason for that level of instant development.
I wasn't complaining about Poe's survival - I just expected that - but his beyond ridiculous piloting. I cited the specific instance at Orange Yoda's temple that seemed bizarre. It's not like we haven't seen inside fighter cockpits before and what it takes to get a target lock on a tie fighter. He shot down 4-5 on a single spin around the temple, then bulls-eyed with an X-wing scale blaster (which previously was causing concussion blasts - much like a bowcaster that seems to sometimes cause a concussion) a stormtrooper standing right beside Han.
But now that you mention it, its another well known silly character trait that top level movie pilots are also for some reason often treated as top level commando's as well. At least with Poe it makes sense with a scout background that he'd be good at both.
Can someone explain why there is a "resistance" when there is a Republic? Why create a tiny cell group when presumably there are entire divisions of Republic troops and ships available that should be concerned about the First Order's actions?
Because the Republic had signed a treaty with the first order and was refusing to put any resources into the battle. This is covered in the novel, but there was no point where it would have made sense to drop it into exposition in the movie. It wasn't essential to the internal plot and it would have required a break of character and action to shoehorn it in.
Yes it is essential to the plot. I wondered at the time when the first order crazy was going on about the Republic government whether he was making justified claims. If what you say is true, then he was, the Republic signed a peace treaty then allowed a terrorist group to operate. Whether they should not have signed such a treaty with the First Order is a different question.
If you're assaulting a base, wouldn't you want a few bombers like a good ole y-wing or b-wing?
I'm sure the resistance would have loved to get a hold of them, but unlike the old rebellion, which was an alliance of several planets, with full fleets trying to push the Empire back, the resistance was pretty much exactly as much as we saw on screen. A very small splinter group scraping for any resource it could get its hands on.
How about a single line, "wish we had some bombers for this mission." Or even a secondary line, "the -Mon Calamari- took them with them when they rejoined the Republic" Ackbar could have even sighed or rolled his eyes after. 4 seconds and it makes more sense, of course that's enough time for Poe to destroy at least 3 tie fighters so maybe too much.
Speaking of assaulting a shield generator protected death star, where were the ewoks? At least on Endor the poorly guarded back door was a deliberate trap, it took a trick to get through it the second time. Why did the first order leave a door to their secret base open and barely guarded.
Did you miss that it took an insane trick to get through the shield?
I left that out on purpose, are you really siting to the
Star Trek style solution they used to get through the shield? If that works, why not just accelerate a projectile to that speed and crash it into the planet? Or heck, fly your x-wings inside the second death star's shield, surely Poe could have just done the mission by himself.
Hosnia, not Coruscant.
Missed that entirely, thanks! Still don't understand how they could watch the blast and the destruction from the planet the rebels were standing on? Was it in the same system?
The had trouble fully keeping the clones in line, I can imagine that, over time, the probability of a break slowly increased. Especially with a hothead like Kylo deciding to take green troops out on a slaughter mission. If you're going to massacre innocents, you should probably bring troops hardened enough to have build a wall of rationalization and justification around it not first timers that might still have a personal sense of right and wrong.
I totally agree with you, but the only chance they took to explain it in the movie (to my recollection) was a conversation between the General and either Phasma or Ren, where they said he had the normal conditioning.
I understand your complaint about fan service versus author wish fulfillment, but honestly, who cares? The objection about the character doesn't hang on either condition being true, it's based on her being a prototypical Mary Sue heroine. Would it really make you happier, if we could pull out a writer, lets call her "Ray" who is a giant Star Wars fan-girl who wrote every line for Rey? You're missing the forest for the trees on that complaint, though I get you also seem to be disputing that she is in fact a jack of all trades, master of all trades character.
