I love these types of videos. I always imagine Shad's neighbors looking over the fence and going: "Ugh, these guys are playing with their swords again..."
@@stevedenis8292 you know, i think it may be the best phrasing lololol but now i need the archer frame to hold up for my neighbors when i swing swords around, cause i feel like that will be the most common thought anybody has 🤣
I always considered that they used the Force to put strength behind their blows and when defending said blows. Take Yoda, for example. He straight up overpowered Dooku with his tiny little body, that should never be possible with physical strength alone.
Thats literally the case. Forceusers lowkey can feel future, so for them all those flashy and inconvenient moves are not inconvenient at all. They dont bother with seeing an attack or shit, they just put sword where atack will hit. one might argue that all those wide swings of a lightsaber needed to distract oponent, irritate his senses untill he loses his touch with the Force, and then you can stab him like a normal dude.
I can't help but imagine Yoda being built like Stich from Lilo and Stitch. Genetically modified to be insanely strong and is dense like a metal block. Hey Disney you own both properties haha
Then why do they bother using their bodies at all? They would just use the force to wield the sabers. The reality is that Yoda **had** to supplement his body strength with the force to have a chance against Dooku. Then Dooku reciprocated and Yoda had to go evasive because he was no match when not using quick strike and retreat methods (aka Pinball Yoda).
Spinning is Anakin's favorite move he was doing it as a child in space battles and pod races. Grown men playing with toy lightsabers This is what keeps us young at heart.
17:06 One thing I’d like to note already for the ridges on Vader’s lightsaber is that both of his hands are robotic, so comfort and ease of grip don’t apply the same. He won’t exactly care about the grip digging into his palms wrong.
Not only that but he's also got gloves on, kinda thick ones too. With how prominent the ridges tend to be on Vader's lightsaber hilts, they probably were meant to be used with gloves since they would keep the ridges from digging too hard into your palm (and if Vader has a reduced sense of touch due to his cybernetics, the strong ridges would give him a good tell as far as where he has his hand placed, important for leverage). That might be something for the team to try out, seeing how the hilt feels without gloves VS with gloves.
Also, if the saber is uncomfortable to use for the average person, on the off chance that Vader were to get killed in a fight, people would be less likely to want to pick up and use the weapon that hurts them (at least long-term), which puts one potential weapon off of the battlefield for just that little bit longer.
The amount of energy Shad has in this vid. Is fantastic to see him almost acting like a young kid. Let's do it again let's do it again. This is fantastic content thank you guys
Duelling sabers are incredibly light, as the blades are made out of a strong polycarbonate, so a number of saber legion duellists find it easy to go from rapier to lightsaber with very little change in style.
So, from my understanding of in universe lore, the flourish is a form 3 maneuver to deflect multiple blaster bolts. What Anakin does is a hybrid of form 3's flourish with form 4's full body rotation for momentum into a form 5 counter offensive. These are all forms Anakin studied. The reason they work so well is the use of the force to augment the user. This is mainly what I got from EU books.
I really like how these guys understand the Jedi and Sith as force users and not normal people. most swordsmen that I’ve seen just trash the choreography and don’t understand why it’s meant to be like that, but these guys are very interesting to watch because the truly enjoy the fights❤
I know it's not really brought up in the movies, but the books do cover a little of what is brought up here. According to them, a duel between two people with the Force and Jedi-like reflexes are fighting each other on multiple levels. There's the actual physical combat that you guys are doing while at the same time constantly looking into the future and adjusting their tactics for what the other is going to do. Moving their blades to where they need to be through instinct and the Force guiding their actions just as much as using their own skills to fight each other. As such a big part of a lightsaber duel between two trained Force users are trying to overwhelm the other's defenses with probes and random attacks in order to wait for the opening to strike back. The defensive-focused form (Form 3, you were correct Shad!) is all about that very thing. Just dodging and blocking and parrying with no counter attacks as you keep letting your opponent overexert themselves until they make a mistake and leave an opening for you to quickly take advantage of and go for the kill shot. Great video all the same, lightsaber combat is in a weird place as far as sword fighting goes since it's basically sword fighting with super powers. Also Empire Strikes Back is the best overall film, Revenge of the Sith is on par with the OT with the best lightsaber duel, and Rogue One has my favorite non-lightsaber battle.
Weaker Jedi not that skilled at it, not actual masters. Let's not forget that the Jedi absolutely destroyed the Mandalorians all the same, "even though they have the same moves"@@santi_super_stunts2573
@@santi_super_stunts2573 not really mandalorians fight different and when they kill jedi it's either through tactics that disrupt focus like sonic weapons explosives and flash bangs or plot armor against really incompetant jedi like dinosaur guy that jango killed in attack of the clones.
The reason Anakin does a lot of moves that are more flashy than functional is because he sees himself as that much more skilled than everyone else in the Star Wars universe. For example, in episode 2, Anakin expresses his belief that he already rivals Yoda in lightsaber combat during the chase of the assassin scene.
To be fair, Anakin's arrogance wasn't totally unfounded. After Mace Windu and Yoda, Snaking was certainly one of the most proficient and skilled duelists of his time. He beat Count Dooku, who was regarded as one of the best duelists of the Jedi Order while he was one, and it's not like he lost that skill when he turned to the dark side.
From what I know, this spinning move is something Hayden (actor for Anakin), added himself. He mentioned in multiple interviews that he decided to try this move after seeing a stun actor on the set doing the move. It has now become his "signiture move"
I love these videos a lot. One thing I think a lot of people forget, however, about prequel lightsaber fight choreo is the concept behind it. It was described as "A game of chess played at a thousand miles per hour, and every move is check." A game of chess. So if you freeze frame any point in a fight and look at a move that they are performing, you can analyze that all you want, but you're not gonna get to the bottom of what's happening. Every Force-user to a certain extent has some level of precognitive abilities. So we're seeing whatever frame of the fight scene, but the fighters' minds are already 2-4 moves ahead. Each move of the fight is a move in a longer game, a strategic attempt to make the opponent mess up further down the chain of exchanges. The best and easiest-to-see example of this concept, I think, is the fight at the climax of Episode I. You can see Qui-Gon's death on Obi-Wan's face long before Maul deals the killing blow. Obi-Wan was tuned into that fight just like Maul and Qui-Gon and he saw Maul win the game of chess. I guess my point is that it might not be super helpful to look at any one move as good or bad in a vacuum since every move of a lightsaber fight from that era has a larger context. Other commenters have mentioned other things like using the Force to bypass physical limits (such as strength or leverage), being guided by the Force to a degree in which moves you actually make, and staying in motion all the time being important since they often need to deflect blaster fire. All good points that contribute to a much larger picture.
The problem with a lot of force user fights is that it is explained as 4d chess levels of maneuvering. they are always trying to throw the other off to find the right moment to attack
Exactly. the move is not practical but conisder this; you've been spararing partners for 15+ years and know each and everyone's moves so to mix it up and potetnially throw your opponent off guard you can incorporate a quick spin, that's why Anakin does it
It's certainly the most realistic sword duel so far. Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone were both trained fencers, so when they went at it in that particular duel, they could do so with all the skill and knowledge at their disposal.
The thing about fighting with a lightsaber is the lightsaber is only part of the fight. Force users in the Star Wars universe use the force to enhance their combat abilities, their speed, their prediction of their opponent, etc. even certain forms require a level of the force to work like Vaapad. These videos while fun to watch arn’t to be taken literally. A normal human with no potential with the force would more likely harm themselves accidentally with the lightsaber than actually pose a threat to anyone.
The rear flourish defence is always a risky move, timing it to work is tricky but comes in handy. That use of the Zwerch-Copter to demonstrate locking the enemies into taking the defense. Main reason I see and use "spins" for saber combat is to make it look good and confuse the opponent . The Sun Tzu Flags and Whistles approach, a confused enemy makes for a easy target
While physically and from a practical standpoint, yes the flourishes are probably not the wisest or strategic to use in a 'real' fight, but I have always wrote the spinning moves off in my head (with lore reasons) by positing that the Jedi have a sort of 'Precognition' which is how they deflect blasters etc, so with that in mind staying in constant motion and constantly changing your intent in terms of attack or defence angle makes it harder to 'Use the force' to predict the strikes.
I was about to make a similar point. From my perspective, the force sensitive fighters may use continuous motion to confuse prescience. My thoughts are that a Force sensitive can see possibilities so they are constantly moving to increase their possibilities while limiting their opponents. So, a master level lightsaber duel is straight up 4d chess.
The thing is I don't know if that flowing combat really makes sense if constantly changing motion is the goal to confuse the pre-cognition. If you are both pre-cognitive fighters, then not moving quickly and playing a game of mental chess with your future sight makes more sense to me. Being in motion traps you in moving a specific direction. Most of your possible moves are limited to fit the motion and you have to strain a lot of change the motion. If you are sprinting, you've got a lot of momentum to overcome to reverse direction. It's a lot easy to suddenly move in the opposite direction if you aren't moving in the wrong direction to begin with. The same applies to the sword-fighting with these constant flourishes. It would be much better to keep the sword in a central guard position that is really easy to move out of with lightning speed and most of the fighting would be small twitches of movement like cautious fencers feeling each other out until someone sees the opening and launches into action. The only exception I really see is if one of the fighters thinks he is weaker in the force, he might want to force a fairly standard chain of moves (e.g. If I commit to this attack, then you have to do one of these specific blocks) that way most of the foresight is pushed out of the fight in favor of forcing a standard predictable exchange that way less force-y powers like simple physical fitness starts to matter more in determining the winner.
There may actually be a reason in the old EU beyond just showing off that they can get away with reckless maneuverers. In the old EU; lightsabers weren't all at a singular consistent level of power. The power of a lightsaber's blade could be changed depending on the mechanisms in the hilt, the type and quality of the kyber crystal, etc. and there were advantages and disadvantages to having higher or lower power. Lower power levels responded better using the force to augment your movements, allowing you to move more quickly. Higher power settings could more easily "cut" through things by hitting them with more energy more quickly and, in dueling had a chance of "breaking" the opponents blade. What that meant was that it would essentially overwhelm the mechanical components of the opponent's lightsaber and short circuit the electromagnetic cell barriers that contained the plasma, causing all of the lightsabers energy to quickly disperse in an explosive shower of colorful sparks. It could be possible that the flourishes are some sort of method to adjust the lightsaber's power settings, possibly by using an internal kinetic generator to just power them up. This could also relate to a safety feature in the lightsabers that's supposed to turn them off if dropped.
The flaring and flourishing of this move makes sense when you're spinning a burning hot stick of plasma offensively. Otherwise in standard (no hot plasma rods) sword fighting it won't do anything other than wave a sharp piece of metal all over the place, which if you have a sword spear, long pole arm, or even a long sword, you might be able to just stab straight through that.
Force users have a thing called force sense. While it allows them to see hidden enemies and see in the dark. It also allows them to detect danger and feel their environment. It only tells them when they are going to be in danger, not where from. So I am assuming during duels they can sense when the opponent is going to strike but if they flurry a lot it is going to be harder to keep track of where the saber is and where to block when they do feel the attack coming with force sense.
Another thing to consider is that force users can sense what their opponent's next attack will be in the immediate future, so Anakin knew what Obi-Wan's attack would be. Additionally, lightsabers lock when they clash, so obi wans lightsaber locked and went with anakin's back deflection momentum
Form III, also known as Soresu. Is in fact the defensive style. It was most notably mastered by Obi-Wan Kenobi as it became his signature fighting style since his early training days.
As a member of a local lightsaber duelling club, it's fun to see you guys experiment with these. I've found flourish moves can work quite well on offense as a distractive tool, but I was never game to try this, and it appears that it was just as well.... :P Great video as always. Edit: The constant strikes to the hands you guys got is why the first bit of protection every member of my guild picked up were demolition and cricket gloves. I had a duel with one of my friends and we went ten hits, zero points, because it was just glove, glove, glove, and hand hits don't count in the rules. Also, some form of face protection is advised, because sabers bounce so much more than anything else I've used. Second edit: Yes, Form 3 Soresu is the defensive style, one of our guild leaders is a fan of using that style with two sabers.
They seem to forget this was almost strictly anakins move after he got a robotic arm his hits had way more force behind them his speed was faster and he also used his other hand to push , pull and grab opponent’s limbs to pull into his saber part of the spin is to hide what his other hand is doing it’s more of a distraction technique over defensive
It not only helps to have precognition, but also to have the Force itself holding you through a position even if your physical strength alone couldn't handle it. Then even if having the saber behind your back is a bad position, it's still stable bc of how strong he is in the force (and he's already exceptionally strong physically as well)
when incoporating lightsaber physics into the mix some of the spin moves start to make more sense. One of the main things to note about lightsabers is that they have magnetic fields. They stick to each other depending on where the blades collide as well as if the blades get caught in each others magnetic fields which is why they pull away from simple blocks (and also why lightsaber spin blocks work.) If the blades get caught in each other's magnetic fields they go into what's called a saber lock. there are moves that take advantage of that as well FX the move Anakin makes to disarm count dooku in episode 3.
This has been my favorite video to date. Maybe it’s cause I’m a Star Wars geek, but all three of you guys being young at heart is a blast to see. BTW: The behind the scenes content for this is *chef’s kiss*
I think what people fail to realize is that force users use the force to predict their opponents attacks. That's how they manage to deflect blaster fire and block incoming attacks moving at rapid speed. All of the spins and behind the back stuff makes a lot more sense when your opponent can see any conventional strike coming from a mile away. It's funny to sometimes laugh at the over the top prequel choreography but it makes a lot of sense really
Problem is that Anakin was fighting Obi-Wan who can also Force predict his moves so they are still on a level playing field and doing that spin block would get him killed. Because Obi-Wan can sense it coming a mile away.
@@fredjung Going by that logic each battle in Star Wars would just be like a normal sword fight. They're mystical space wizards who can see into the future, it would make sense that they wouldn't have normal battles
@@wookieezzz2551Some force users may not be as perceptive as their other Force using opponents. And they will use many other Force techniques in battle. But both Obi-wan and Anakin are at the top of the Jedi so they know each other's next moves very well and have to depend on speed, skill, and experience with each other.
I. NEED. MORE!!!!! Honestly, the interaction between you guys has me laughing so much. I love this amazing content! I have never paid for UA-cam content before, but you guys are worth it. Keep up the good work, and I cant wait to see the bonus content from this episode.
One of key points I think you miss in testing this move is fact when Anakin does this move, he's pressing his opponent. They are normal backing up because of pressure he's applying to them, so any of attacks made is out of desperation and probably doesn't have that much power behind it too. hopefully you guys will see this to let me know if this factor has any merit or not.
@@daywither927 He'd Probably wield a monstrous Sith Vibro Blade with cortosis weave, with a cybernetic left arm. And literally batter enemy lightsabers into their own wielders.
Since Guts warrior archetype is a raw human power, not a magic (jedi/sith) user, a black mandalorian armor with darksaber great sword is much more fitting imo. Of course with some heavy weaponry mandalorian gadgets, especially robotic left arm as rocket launcher.
I love this video! It’s fun to watch and as a massive Star Wars fan it’s interesting to see the lightsaber moves echoed IRL. Obvs the bottom line is spectacle over logic with filmmaking and they wanted the fight to look as flashy as possible as well, possibly a case of Anakin getting cocky and trying to show off?
I think based on the blades bouncing, it'd be interesting to discuss a weapon made of a sort of magnetic material that repels others of the weapon type but is lethal to people and how tactics would change based on the repulsion.
I was just looking around UA-cam being bored and this showed up at just the right time. This was a really fun one, looking forward to the blooper reel.
One thing I wanna add is that form 3, the defensive one, was created to repel blaster fire which real life swordfighters dont do, so jedi are used to do many flourishes while dueling because they are prepared to also reflect blaster fire while doing it, they also use their physical and force strenght to overpower others so they dont use form 2, the dueling form that Count Dooku is master in, that much
Keep in mind the Jedi precognition; those spins may be to head off attacks they sense in possible futures, or maybe to screw a bit with an opponent;s foresight. Just because it's useless for you doesn't mean it's useless for a Jedi.
Awesome video. One thing. Jedi actually are trying to aim for the lightsabers. When dueling, both jedi and sith have a force shield around them. The main goal of the fighting is to break that force shield so that they can use a lightsaber or the force on the separate opponent. So this move would have great effectiveness in both scaring the opponent and perhaps making him lose his concentration and break his force shield while also defending himself. However, again great video. I love this channel.
I think the in-lore explanation is that force users are trying to predict where the opponent is going to strike and move to block and counter, the other picks up on this also with the force and moves their blade around to try a different attack and the same thing repeats over over of predicted an attack and moving to counter the next which results in them spinng their blades to readjust their attack until they both decide to attack
So, this has actually been covered in Star Wars lore. The spins and flourishes are part of form 3 Soresu and are for blaster blocking, not saber to saber combat. The constant spinning of the blade makes blocking multiple incoming blaster shots more fluid.
something interesting about lightsabers is that in cannon the blades are almost magnetic to each other meaning every strike takes some force to pull the blades apart again because they are attracted to each other and will almost stick to each other with each strike.
See, this is why I prefer Sith, you don't have to spin or risk yourself. Just put out some UNLIMITED POWER and static shock them. And that saber-fencing at 11:38 was funny.
This reminds me of the Corridor Crew video where they brought in a stunt coordinator/sword fighting expert to discuss just how silly some of these moves are in an actual fight. Came to a similar conclusion. The resulting short story video that came from that is pretty great.
12:25 Makashi is type 2 (practiced by Dooku), the type 3 is Soresu (practiced by Luminara Unduli) and the 4 is Ataru (practiced by Yoda). Voilà, just to instruct the algorithm ;)
Force enhanced strength, force enhanced speed, precognition to a certain extent, and the fact that lightsabers bite into eachother or repel away from each other (depending on the scene as there does seem to be some inconsistency) means that if it touches at all there will be a greater effect from the touch in redirecting the other blade.
Lightsabers are made of plasma, and are bright weapons that leave a light trail... something no one brings up is that the light of the lightsaber flourish will also cause a bit of confusion or deception in where the opponents body is.
I like what the spun represents for Anakins character. He's THAT confident and skilled with his duelling that he's able to openly do things that are a bad idea and he gets away with it anyway.
I mean.... you are dealing with weightless laser blades powered by the star wars equivalent to magic.... so........... obviously it wont work in reality
I honestly could imagine Anikin during some down time out on a planet (during the clone wars) letting rex and or a couple of other republic troopers play around with a couple of fake lightsabers just like this and getting some laughs seeing them trying to learn some blocks and moves. He had his issues but he also had a sense of humor too!
I don't know if people have brought it up then, but the move you're talking about is nicknamed "the Obi-Ani" by the fandom... even though it's Anakin's signature move. The reason why it became so it's because Hayden Christensen saw one of their stunt doubles doing it, and he liked it so much he decided to master it. So much so that they included it in their choreographies as a recurrent move, and people fell in love with it. Christensen even did it again in the "Asokah" series, and he pulled it off perfectly, as if he hadn't stopped practicing for a day these past 18 years (and probably he actually didn't. lol).
When annakin did does his spin it’s usually in tight quarters like ahsoka remeber that had a professional swords man with them on set and also ray park
Where the strike is coming is key. Part of this test’s failure is that the other person is anticipating the spin and can time their attack. I’ve been dueling since I was 7, and every time I’ve thrown this out there I have successfully blocked a strike. The first time was when I was 12, I was dueling two people and my best friend thought he would be cheeky and try to run behind me with a low strike. I pulled the spin off and blocked behind my back and he quit the fight because he was mad. 🤣
Made a point that a Jedi would know how his opponent would strike. It’s kind of like a chess game where you anticipate your opponents next move. Not that this proves anything but that this move for a normal fighter could cause serious damage! 😂
Keep in mind Anakin, like most Jedi, has a level of precognition, and his was strong enough to allow him to pod race as a 10 year old. Lightsaber duels are really 4 dimensional chess matches with swords.
You do realize that flourishes aren't just a visual spectacle for showing off...? They're also useful for Intimidation, Dexterity Development & Warming Up.
2:57 demonstration Basic summary, you cant time the block with the strike, and if you do its mostly a weak block because your around your own back or your arms are in a awkward position (your back is vunrable rember this) you also see it coming as the oponent and additionally there is no benefit to doing this other then its cool, there is also such a small windo when it actually can block strike but the rest of the spin your vunrable so you need jedi reflexes to time it 3:44 why it might work 5:11 first tests, dosent block up to down strikes, but could work with jedi timing, (you know when the strike comes and time the spin) 9:45 ani obi high side strikes (dose work but something i realise is.. why would you do he same action multiple times without change.... If anything its just a way to move your opponent? And if you do it rember to aim for the head or sholders and let your enemy block the inside of your strike from ye upper gard) 10:30 longer sparing tests 13:40 summary (at the start)
Light sabers are really more like Katana. There is a *reason* the original Vader/Kenobi fight had a lot of maneuvering and few thrusts. Because with those kind of weapons, you should not be striking until your odds of ending your opponent are in your favor. So... lots of maneuvering. Lots of trying to trick your foe into getting literally 1/2" out of position. And being faster than your foe. A duel with these kind of weapons is more like a gunfight. It would be rare that the two opponents were perfectly matched in speed and skill. IMHO, The fast blows in the later films really depend on premonition via the force and are really senseless since as soon as you thought to strike, you'd also realize this particular blow would be blocked so you wouldn't actually waste time doing the strike. it would be a bit like chess. You would make the move because it forced your opponent to make a particular move in defense.
The only way the movie lightsaber fight mechanics work is if the blades are "sticky". Notice there's nearly no sliding of the blades against each other. My head canon for this is that whatever Clarke tech field is containing the hot plasma interacts with the opposing blade opposite how a normal magnet works, meaning it's easier to pull the blades apart than to slide them against each other.
Thats how I see it too. They're either actively repulsing each other or binding, perhaps depending on the will of the user (the crystals are force sensitive after all) and that would change the effectivness of moves a lot. An ineffective block irl gets much more effective if grazing the opponents blade launches it away from you. Or if you can "grab" and move the other weapon on contact.
A few things about this move in the movie: 1. During the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin, Obi-Wan was giving ground the entire move, rather than advancing or remaining static, which could have made successfully performing that flourish block easier. 2. The way lightsabers function makes the energy fields in the blades naturally repel each other, meaning that slight blows will just make them bounce off each other and you have to exert a decent amount of effort to maintain a bind. That, combined with the fact that lightsabers will cut through just about anything effortlessly and don't have to worry about a cutting edge, means that Jedi and Sith dont have to utilize hard swings and can instead focus on light, glancing blows at high speed, making flourishes like this actually viable. 3. Being Force users Anakin and Obi-Wan were able to predict each other's moves in battle, meaning that Anakin knew precisely where Obi-Wan's blade was going to be at that moment and that that flourish block would be successful. 4. The fight was choreographed and they thought it looked cool.
Remember that Jedi anticipate closest future when they fight. They know how to time blocks even on a backspin. It also adds some sense into those flashy moves it may give more probabilities to the forces analysis of the opponent.
Anecdotal, but I have successfully executed a spin block precisely one time. It was back in my church youth group days. We were doing some volunteer work, cleaning up a property, and I found an old rake handle. As any teenage boy would do, I began showing off. One of my friends decided to throw a paintbrush at my back, and by pure happenstance (or perhaps, THE FORCE, lol) I did an Obi-Ani and deflected it behind my back. I wish someone had recorded that, but 15 years ago, people didn't quite have that instinct to go for their phone every time something was happening.
I love that at some point it just seems like guys haveing fun fighting with swords and they wanted an excuse in form of a youtube video dissecting an attack in sci-fi movie. Great Video, love it!
Also jedi maintain focus in the force in order to gain a kind of spidey sense . With how they train younglings with the blinded helmet seems to be for this exact thing.
As someone who held a light- and a steel sabre, I'd like to defend the impractical lightsaber techniques. The lightsaber is flashy, it's like a shiny rave stick of death that will dismember anything on impact. Cutting with a lightsaber is hella deadly and all these flourishes that look super flashy, are thus good. Both rave-fencig and practical fencing are better than the caveman stick techniques shown in the sequels.
fun video but you always have to remember - Obi Wan did not want to fight/hurt Anakin all the way to the very end at the high ground. When he said "don't try it" it wasnt a taunt or a bait (though it may have been perceived by Anakin that way). It was one final "please don't make me do this" at which point Obi Wan fought with the purpose to stop Anakin. So if you consider that during all Anakins flair blocks they are made more viable if you take into it that Obi Wan was essentially limp wristing his strikes.
So two more pieces of Lore I want to bring up, the lightsaber hilts themselves are supposed to be much heavier then they look which makes them unwieldy for non force users to use. Also The blades of lightsabers do not slide like they would on swords. When the Plasma makes contact, it sticks so the blades do not slide up and down, in-fact its supposedly supposed to take a lot of force to pull them off each other. Very fun video to watch! Love this kind of Content! (PS... Return of the Jedi is my favorite)
My take is that Anakin picked up the move for Battle Droids, and seeing that Obi-Wan was committed to his attack, realized that Obi-Wan would think "Why would he use that against a Jedi?", so Anakin used the fact that it should be countered by another force user as a psychological tactic, when the other force-user is committed to his or her attack.
The Lightsaber fight I love the most, is the first we see. Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader, in the Death Star hallway, in A New Hope. It's how I imagine a lightsaber fight would be like.
I think whats wring about this setup is that Anakin is constantly on the verge of overpowering Obi-Wan, and he is only trying to block hits that Anakin is throwing at him; that's his fighting style, that's his strategy. He's not even trying to land a hit on Anakin because that's not how he's trained This kind of ruins every Star Wars duel analysis they do at 'versity, because they ignore the fact that in the prequels everyone's trained in a different way (kind of too in the originals but the designers were mostly just winging it based on the mood of the scene)
Yes form 3 is the form built on defense and the form Obi Wan was said to be the master of. In episode 1 Obi-Wan used form 4 which deals with all the flipping around. Yoda also deployed form 4 in both episodes 2 and 3 when he went up against Dooku and Palpatine.
This was fun. Before the Disney era, I thought the spinning was for flurries as a final strike with more power, or to block a blow the saber had to be maneuvered to a point of control rotating from the side-not the back. Forgot all about the full turns 🤣
When a fight is acted for cameras, when your enemy knows what you will do, of course it doesn't work. In a REAL fight you don't know what your opponent will do.
One of the characteristics of lightsaber's in the Star Wars universe is that they have magnetic repulsion to each other. When you see lightsaber users dueling in the movies and series is that they are pressing into each other, resisting that repulsion. Not to mention, lightsabers are not as heavy as metal swords, so not as much strength is needed to wield them. Also Jedi, Sith, and other Force-users are using the Force to enhance their senses, physical abilities, as well as sensing how the opponent is moving. It's kinda like a dynamic form of chess in a way, where they are maneuvering for the advantage.
I have never tried doing it with a spin, but i have used the parry behind the back in sparring. Usually, with catastrophic results, but sometimes... sometimes the sparring partner just decides to play along for cool factor and giggles.
If a blind force user were in a lightsaber duel, they use the force to see. What direction they're facing in terms of detecting attacks, no longer matters. They're fighting on instict and other senses, mostly the force. So to me, any jedi can turn their back whenever they want, they're not just using they're eyes to detect their opponents movements and they'll change up their motions if it becomes necessary.
Don't forget, lightsaber techniques are always more effective when Duel of the Fates is playing in the background.
🤣Very True!! This comment needs way more likes like 50k
Plto Armor is Important , least everyone just drop's
Can’t agree more
It's over Comments Section,
@LSMMIKE has the high comment!
Truth!…✋🏻🤚🏻
I love these types of videos. I always imagine Shad's neighbors looking over the fence and going: "Ugh, these guys are playing with their swords again..."
Phrasing.
@@stevedenis8292 you know, i think it may be the best phrasing lololol but now i need the archer frame to hold up for my neighbors when i swing swords around, cause i feel like that will be the most common thought anybody has 🤣
"Never mind it's lightsabers today"
I would love to had him as a Neighbor, maybe even use. His knowledge to create a functional Sith Hunter Gear, just for Fun sakes
Rug marbles.
I always considered that they used the Force to put strength behind their blows and when defending said blows. Take Yoda, for example. He straight up overpowered Dooku with his tiny little body, that should never be possible with physical strength alone.
Thats literally the case. Forceusers lowkey can feel future, so for them all those flashy and inconvenient moves are not inconvenient at all. They dont bother with seeing an attack or shit, they just put sword where atack will hit. one might argue that all those wide swings of a lightsaber needed to distract oponent, irritate his senses untill he loses his touch with the Force, and then you can stab him like a normal dude.
Except you're comparing a humanoid to an alien
I can't help but imagine Yoda being built like Stich from Lilo and Stitch. Genetically modified to be insanely strong and is dense like a metal block. Hey Disney you own both properties haha
@@pokebreederrichard1200 Yoda's race does not have super-strength. Physically they are very weak, especially a very old one.
Then why do they bother using their bodies at all? They would just use the force to wield the sabers. The reality is that Yoda **had** to supplement his body strength with the force to have a chance against Dooku. Then Dooku reciprocated and Yoda had to go evasive because he was no match when not using quick strike and retreat methods (aka Pinball Yoda).
Spinning is Anakin's favorite move he was doing it as a child in space battles and pod races. Grown men playing with toy lightsabers This is what keeps us young at heart.
17:06 One thing I’d like to note already for the ridges on Vader’s lightsaber is that both of his hands are robotic, so comfort and ease of grip don’t apply the same. He won’t exactly care about the grip digging into his palms wrong.
Not only that but he's also got gloves on, kinda thick ones too. With how prominent the ridges tend to be on Vader's lightsaber hilts, they probably were meant to be used with gloves since they would keep the ridges from digging too hard into your palm (and if Vader has a reduced sense of touch due to his cybernetics, the strong ridges would give him a good tell as far as where he has his hand placed, important for leverage). That might be something for the team to try out, seeing how the hilt feels without gloves VS with gloves.
Also, if the saber is uncomfortable to use for the average person, on the off chance that Vader were to get killed in a fight, people would be less likely to want to pick up and use the weapon that hurts them (at least long-term), which puts one potential weapon off of the battlefield for just that little bit longer.
It's the same lightsaber as his fleshy self but the accents are darker for obvious sith reasons same handle different shades
The amount of energy Shad has in this vid. Is fantastic to see him almost acting like a young kid. Let's do it again let's do it again. This is fantastic content thank you guys
I like how Nates natural inclination is to use it one handed and extended like a rapier.
Too bad he didn't have one of those angled dueling lightsabers like Count Dookoo (can't remember how to spell his name 😅)
Duelling sabers are incredibly light, as the blades are made out of a strong polycarbonate, so a number of saber legion duellists find it easy to go from rapier to lightsaber with very little change in style.
So, from my understanding of in universe lore, the flourish is a form 3 maneuver to deflect multiple blaster bolts. What Anakin does is a hybrid of form 3's flourish with form 4's full body rotation for momentum into a form 5 counter offensive. These are all forms Anakin studied. The reason they work so well is the use of the force to augment the user.
This is mainly what I got from EU books.
Vader is one of the few characters that mastered all 7 forms of lightsaber combat.
I really like how these guys understand the Jedi and Sith as force users and not normal people. most swordsmen that I’ve seen just trash the choreography and don’t understand why it’s meant to be like that, but these guys are very interesting to watch because the truly enjoy the fights❤
I know it's not really brought up in the movies, but the books do cover a little of what is brought up here. According to them, a duel between two people with the Force and Jedi-like reflexes are fighting each other on multiple levels. There's the actual physical combat that you guys are doing while at the same time constantly looking into the future and adjusting their tactics for what the other is going to do. Moving their blades to where they need to be through instinct and the Force guiding their actions just as much as using their own skills to fight each other. As such a big part of a lightsaber duel between two trained Force users are trying to overwhelm the other's defenses with probes and random attacks in order to wait for the opening to strike back. The defensive-focused form (Form 3, you were correct Shad!) is all about that very thing. Just dodging and blocking and parrying with no counter attacks as you keep letting your opponent overexert themselves until they make a mistake and leave an opening for you to quickly take advantage of and go for the kill shot. Great video all the same, lightsaber combat is in a weird place as far as sword fighting goes since it's basically sword fighting with super powers.
Also Empire Strikes Back is the best overall film, Revenge of the Sith is on par with the OT with the best lightsaber duel, and Rogue One has my favorite non-lightsaber battle.
"Sword fighting with super powers" vs "children's card games on motorcycles": Which one would win???2?!!1!?
Yea you can't really evaluate lightsaber combat without accounting for precognition super strength speed and reflexes.
Yes especially the part where mandalorians don’t look into the future at all and still kill Jedi even tho they have pretty much the same moves
Weaker Jedi not that skilled at it, not actual masters. Let's not forget that the Jedi absolutely destroyed the Mandalorians all the same, "even though they have the same moves"@@santi_super_stunts2573
@@santi_super_stunts2573 not really mandalorians fight different and when they kill jedi it's either through tactics that disrupt focus like sonic weapons explosives and flash bangs or plot armor against really incompetant jedi like dinosaur guy that jango killed in attack of the clones.
The reason Anakin does a lot of moves that are more flashy than functional is because he sees himself as that much more skilled than everyone else in the Star Wars universe. For example, in episode 2, Anakin expresses his belief that he already rivals Yoda in lightsaber combat during the chase of the assassin scene.
To be fair, Anakin's arrogance wasn't totally unfounded. After Mace Windu and Yoda, Snaking was certainly one of the most proficient and skilled duelists of his time. He beat Count Dooku, who was regarded as one of the best duelists of the Jedi Order while he was one, and it's not like he lost that skill when he turned to the dark side.
@@theickster3008 This Snaking character sounds interesting, in which movie does he appear?
Also Obiwan deant really want to kill Anakin at the time
@@SIRJACOBSTINEcan't tell if sarcasm or not recognizing autocorrect.
the real reason is Hayden Christensen wanted to create a unique aggressive fighting style for Anakin. That's why he has many spins.
From what I know, this spinning move is something Hayden (actor for Anakin), added himself. He mentioned in multiple interviews that he decided to try this move after seeing a stun actor on the set doing the move. It has now become his "signiture move"
... A stun actor. Darned autocorrect.
Wonder why “stunt actor” be autocorrected though.
@@whitewolf3051 because my English sucks.
@@samuraijackson241Genuinely thought it was due to autocorrect...
I love these videos a lot. One thing I think a lot of people forget, however, about prequel lightsaber fight choreo is the concept behind it. It was described as "A game of chess played at a thousand miles per hour, and every move is check." A game of chess. So if you freeze frame any point in a fight and look at a move that they are performing, you can analyze that all you want, but you're not gonna get to the bottom of what's happening. Every Force-user to a certain extent has some level of precognitive abilities. So we're seeing whatever frame of the fight scene, but the fighters' minds are already 2-4 moves ahead. Each move of the fight is a move in a longer game, a strategic attempt to make the opponent mess up further down the chain of exchanges.
The best and easiest-to-see example of this concept, I think, is the fight at the climax of Episode I. You can see Qui-Gon's death on Obi-Wan's face long before Maul deals the killing blow. Obi-Wan was tuned into that fight just like Maul and Qui-Gon and he saw Maul win the game of chess. I guess my point is that it might not be super helpful to look at any one move as good or bad in a vacuum since every move of a lightsaber fight from that era has a larger context.
Other commenters have mentioned other things like using the Force to bypass physical limits (such as strength or leverage), being guided by the Force to a degree in which moves you actually make, and staying in motion all the time being important since they often need to deflect blaster fire. All good points that contribute to a much larger picture.
The problem with a lot of force user fights is that it is explained as 4d chess levels of maneuvering. they are always trying to throw the other off to find the right moment to attack
Exactly. the move is not practical but conisder this; you've been spararing partners for 15+ years and know each and everyone's moves so to mix it up and potetnially throw your opponent off guard you can incorporate a quick spin, that's why Anakin does it
Apparently the Mustafar duel was the longest sword duel in cinematic history, taking up around 11 and a half minutes (i think)
Should have been half the length… it became a bit silly by the time they were swinging past each other on rope cables.
The best sword duel is in “The Mark of Zorro” (1940)
@@weswolever7477idk about best but Zorro is good
It's certainly the most realistic sword duel so far. Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone were both trained fencers, so when they went at it in that particular duel, they could do so with all the skill and knowledge at their disposal.
I blocked with a lightsaber behind my back once, (i am by no means a swordsman or fencer) I was just dueling my friend. I felt so awesome
i talked to your friend and he said your a liar and a thief and that he would like his roblox back.
@@shmogalol
The thing about fighting with a lightsaber is the lightsaber is only part of the fight. Force users in the Star Wars universe use the force to enhance their combat abilities, their speed, their prediction of their opponent, etc. even certain forms require a level of the force to work like Vaapad. These videos while fun to watch arn’t to be taken literally. A normal human with no potential with the force would more likely harm themselves accidentally with the lightsaber than actually pose a threat to anyone.
The rear flourish defence is always a risky move, timing it to work is tricky but comes in handy.
That use of the Zwerch-Copter to demonstrate locking the enemies into taking the defense.
Main reason I see and use "spins" for saber combat is to make it look good and confuse the opponent . The Sun Tzu Flags and Whistles approach, a confused enemy makes for a easy target
While physically and from a practical standpoint, yes the flourishes are probably not the wisest or strategic to use in a 'real' fight, but I have always wrote the spinning moves off in my head (with lore reasons) by positing that the Jedi have a sort of 'Precognition' which is how they deflect blasters etc, so with that in mind staying in constant motion and constantly changing your intent in terms of attack or defence angle makes it harder to 'Use the force' to predict the strikes.
I was about to make a similar point. From my perspective, the force sensitive fighters may use continuous motion to confuse prescience. My thoughts are that a Force sensitive can see possibilities so they are constantly moving to increase their possibilities while limiting their opponents. So, a master level lightsaber duel is straight up 4d chess.
They can deflect a single blaster shot. The modern nonsense of facing an entire army and not being riddled is bilge.@@jrsanders1212
The thing is I don't know if that flowing combat really makes sense if constantly changing motion is the goal to confuse the pre-cognition. If you are both pre-cognitive fighters, then not moving quickly and playing a game of mental chess with your future sight makes more sense to me. Being in motion traps you in moving a specific direction. Most of your possible moves are limited to fit the motion and you have to strain a lot of change the motion. If you are sprinting, you've got a lot of momentum to overcome to reverse direction. It's a lot easy to suddenly move in the opposite direction if you aren't moving in the wrong direction to begin with. The same applies to the sword-fighting with these constant flourishes. It would be much better to keep the sword in a central guard position that is really easy to move out of with lightning speed and most of the fighting would be small twitches of movement like cautious fencers feeling each other out until someone sees the opening and launches into action.
The only exception I really see is if one of the fighters thinks he is weaker in the force, he might want to force a fairly standard chain of moves (e.g. If I commit to this attack, then you have to do one of these specific blocks) that way most of the foresight is pushed out of the fight in favor of forcing a standard predictable exchange that way less force-y powers like simple physical fitness starts to matter more in determining the winner.
There may actually be a reason in the old EU beyond just showing off that they can get away with reckless maneuverers.
In the old EU; lightsabers weren't all at a singular consistent level of power. The power of a lightsaber's blade could be changed depending on the mechanisms in the hilt, the type and quality of the kyber crystal, etc. and there were advantages and disadvantages to having higher or lower power.
Lower power levels responded better using the force to augment your movements, allowing you to move more quickly.
Higher power settings could more easily "cut" through things by hitting them with more energy more quickly and, in dueling had a chance of "breaking" the opponents blade. What that meant was that it would essentially overwhelm the mechanical components of the opponent's lightsaber and short circuit the electromagnetic cell barriers that contained the plasma, causing all of the lightsabers energy to quickly disperse in an explosive shower of colorful sparks.
It could be possible that the flourishes are some sort of method to adjust the lightsaber's power settings, possibly by using an internal kinetic generator to just power them up. This could also relate to a safety feature in the lightsabers that's supposed to turn them off if dropped.
The spinning is also useful because the lightsaber is a very powerful centrifuge exerting angular momentum at all times.
The flaring and flourishing of this move makes sense when you're spinning a burning hot stick of plasma offensively. Otherwise in standard (no hot plasma rods) sword fighting it won't do anything other than wave a sharp piece of metal all over the place, which if you have a sword spear, long pole arm, or even a long sword, you might be able to just stab straight through that.
Force users have a thing called force sense. While it allows them to see hidden enemies and see in the dark. It also allows them to detect danger and feel their environment. It only tells them when they are going to be in danger, not where from. So I am assuming during duels they can sense when the opponent is going to strike but if they flurry a lot it is going to be harder to keep track of where the saber is and where to block when they do feel the attack coming with force sense.
Another thing to consider is that force users can sense what their opponent's next attack will be in the immediate future, so Anakin knew what Obi-Wan's attack would be. Additionally, lightsabers lock when they clash, so obi wans lightsaber locked and went with anakin's back deflection momentum
Form III, also known as Soresu. Is in fact the defensive style. It was most notably mastered by Obi-Wan Kenobi as it became his signature fighting style since his early training days.
News flash: turning your back towards an opponent in any combat scenario is a bad idea.
Idk, if you happen to be a teenage mutant ninja turtle you might be fine.
Except when you can predict the future.
You learn something new every day.
Who would have thunk
@@jonathanmillis2015yes. This
As a member of a local lightsaber duelling club, it's fun to see you guys experiment with these. I've found flourish moves can work quite well on offense as a distractive tool, but I was never game to try this, and it appears that it was just as well.... :P
Great video as always.
Edit: The constant strikes to the hands you guys got is why the first bit of protection every member of my guild picked up were demolition and cricket gloves. I had a duel with one of my friends and we went ten hits, zero points, because it was just glove, glove, glove, and hand hits don't count in the rules. Also, some form of face protection is advised, because sabers bounce so much more than anything else I've used.
Second edit: Yes, Form 3 Soresu is the defensive style, one of our guild leaders is a fan of using that style with two sabers.
They seem to forget this was almost strictly anakins move after he got a robotic arm his hits had way more force behind them his speed was faster and he also used his other hand to push , pull and grab opponent’s limbs to pull into his saber part of the spin is to hide what his other hand is doing it’s more of a distraction technique over defensive
It not only helps to have precognition, but also to have the Force itself holding you through a position even if your physical strength alone couldn't handle it. Then even if having the saber behind your back is a bad position, it's still stable bc of how strong he is in the force (and he's already exceptionally strong physically as well)
Yeah,but along your front center is always one's strongest position,and in the back your weakest.
when incoporating lightsaber physics into the mix some of the spin moves start to make more sense. One of the main things to note about lightsabers is that they have magnetic fields. They stick to each other depending on where the blades collide as well as if the blades get caught in each others magnetic fields which is why they pull away from simple blocks (and also why lightsaber spin blocks work.) If the blades get caught in each other's magnetic fields they go into what's called a saber lock. there are moves that take advantage of that as well FX the move Anakin makes to disarm count dooku in episode 3.
This has been my favorite video to date. Maybe it’s cause I’m a Star Wars geek, but all three of you guys being young at heart is a blast to see.
BTW: The behind the scenes content for this is *chef’s kiss*
I think what people fail to realize is that force users use the force to predict their opponents attacks. That's how they manage to deflect blaster fire and block incoming attacks moving at rapid speed. All of the spins and behind the back stuff makes a lot more sense when your opponent can see any conventional strike coming from a mile away. It's funny to sometimes laugh at the over the top prequel choreography but it makes a lot of sense really
Problem is that Anakin was fighting Obi-Wan who can also Force predict his moves so they are still on a level playing field and doing that spin block would get him killed. Because Obi-Wan can sense it coming a mile away.
@@fredjung Going by that logic each battle in Star Wars would just be like a normal sword fight. They're mystical space wizards who can see into the future, it would make sense that they wouldn't have normal battles
@@wookieezzz2551Some force users may not be as perceptive as their other Force using opponents. And they will use many other Force techniques in battle. But both Obi-wan and Anakin are at the top of the Jedi so they know each other's next moves very well and have to depend on speed, skill, and experience with each other.
I. NEED. MORE!!!!! Honestly, the interaction between you guys has me laughing so much. I love this amazing content! I have never paid for UA-cam content before, but you guys are worth it. Keep up the good work, and I cant wait to see the bonus content from this episode.
One of key points I think you miss in testing this move is fact when Anakin does this move, he's pressing his opponent. They are normal backing up because of pressure he's applying to them, so any of attacks made is out of desperation and probably doesn't have that much power behind it too. hopefully you guys will see this to let me know if this factor has any merit or not.
Wish Shad and team would test or create Ancient Sith War Blades.
Also Guts as an Ancient Sith is scary to me
Well, with the stated weight the blades would be entirely useless. 5 damn kilos. It's entirely magic at that point.
@@daywither927 He'd Probably wield a monstrous Sith Vibro Blade with cortosis weave, with a cybernetic left arm. And literally batter enemy lightsabers into their own wielders.
Since Guts warrior archetype is a raw human power, not a magic (jedi/sith) user, a black mandalorian armor with darksaber great sword is much more fitting imo. Of course with some heavy weaponry mandalorian gadgets, especially robotic left arm as rocket launcher.
There is the great saber or saber club
9:32 Shad nerding so hard here. Absolutely love it!
I love this video! It’s fun to watch and as a massive Star Wars fan it’s interesting to see the lightsaber moves echoed IRL. Obvs the bottom line is spectacle over logic with filmmaking and they wanted the fight to look as flashy as possible as well, possibly a case of Anakin getting cocky and trying to show off?
Same kind of chemistry between them on camera as we got in with Clarkson, May and Hammond. But with swords.
I think based on the blades bouncing, it'd be interesting to discuss a weapon made of a sort of magnetic material that repels others of the weapon type but is lethal to people and how tactics would change based on the repulsion.
I was just looking around UA-cam being bored and this showed up at just the right time. This was a really fun one, looking forward to the blooper reel.
You almost got there. In the lore, when 2 Force users fight, they are also fighting in their heads, blocking and chipping away at thoughts.
One thing I wanna add is that form 3, the defensive one, was created to repel blaster fire which real life swordfighters dont do, so jedi are used to do many flourishes while dueling because they are prepared to also reflect blaster fire while doing it, they also use their physical and force strenght to overpower others so they dont use form 2, the dueling form that Count Dooku is master in, that much
Keep in mind the Jedi precognition; those spins may be to head off attacks they sense in possible futures, or maybe to screw a bit with an opponent;s foresight. Just because it's useless for you doesn't mean it's useless for a Jedi.
Unless their opponent knows they're going to spin before they do and just wait for it
Jedi don't tend to be overweight either which probably helps with speed.
Awesome video. One thing. Jedi actually are trying to aim for the lightsabers. When dueling, both jedi and sith have a force shield around them. The main goal of the fighting is to break that force shield so that they can use a lightsaber or the force on the separate opponent. So this move would have great effectiveness in both scaring the opponent and perhaps making him lose his concentration and break his force shield while also defending himself. However, again great video. I love this channel.
I would watch an actual produced and choreographed fight by you guys, cinematic story and all if able.
I think the in-lore explanation is that force users are trying to predict where the opponent is going to strike and move to block and counter, the other picks up on this also with the force and moves their blade around to try a different attack and the same thing repeats over over of predicted an attack and moving to counter the next which results in them spinng their blades to readjust their attack until they both decide to attack
So, this has actually been covered in Star Wars lore. The spins and flourishes are part of form 3 Soresu and are for blaster blocking, not saber to saber combat. The constant spinning of the blade makes blocking multiple incoming blaster shots more fluid.
something interesting about lightsabers is that in cannon the blades are almost magnetic to each other meaning every strike takes some force to pull the blades apart again because they are attracted to each other and will almost stick to each other with each strike.
See, this is why I prefer Sith, you don't have to spin or risk yourself. Just put out some UNLIMITED POWER and static shock them.
And that saber-fencing at 11:38 was funny.
Yeah, you just put out some unlimited power and shock yourself into losing three times. Brilliant!
1138, huh?
>1138
Nice
You forget that the foundational rule for all lightsaber techniques is to respect the rule of cool.
This reminds me of the Corridor Crew video where they brought in a stunt coordinator/sword fighting expert to discuss just how silly some of these moves are in an actual fight. Came to a similar conclusion. The resulting short story video that came from that is pretty great.
I'll need to check that one out. I did catch the more recent one where they were taught how to do a few.
12:25 Makashi is type 2 (practiced by Dooku), the type 3 is Soresu (practiced by Luminara Unduli) and the 4 is Ataru (practiced by Yoda). Voilà, just to instruct the algorithm ;)
Force enhanced strength, force enhanced speed, precognition to a certain extent, and the fact that lightsabers bite into eachother or repel away from each other (depending on the scene as there does seem to be some inconsistency) means that if it touches at all there will be a greater effect from the touch in redirecting the other blade.
Lightsabers are made of plasma, and are bright weapons that leave a light trail... something no one brings up is that the light of the lightsaber flourish will also cause a bit of confusion or deception in where the opponents body is.
I like what the spun represents for Anakins character. He's THAT confident and skilled with his duelling that he's able to openly do things that are a bad idea and he gets away with it anyway.
Wow. Very illuminating. And these guys' skill and enthusiasm is adorable.
I mean.... you are dealing with weightless laser blades powered by the star wars equivalent to magic.... so........... obviously it wont work in reality
I honestly could imagine Anikin during some down time out on a planet (during the clone wars) letting rex and or a couple of other republic troopers play around with a couple of fake lightsabers just like this and getting some laughs seeing them trying to learn some blocks and moves. He had his issues but he also had a sense of humor too!
I don't know if people have brought it up then, but the move you're talking about is nicknamed "the Obi-Ani" by the fandom... even though it's Anakin's signature move.
The reason why it became so it's because Hayden Christensen saw one of their stunt doubles doing it, and he liked it so much he decided to master it. So much so that they included it in their choreographies as a recurrent move, and people fell in love with it. Christensen even did it again in the "Asokah" series, and he pulled it off perfectly, as if he hadn't stopped practicing for a day these past 18 years (and probably he actually didn't. lol).
Thanks editor for the sound and visual effects for the hits. Makes it clearer to see what connects and what doesn't. 😀
8:00 Maybe Anakins Robotic hand helped?
Also maybe it could be used to knock aside a thrust?
Another thing to consider, was Obi Wan genuinely fighting to land a killing blow and was Anakin deliberately goading him with the flourish?
When annakin did does his spin it’s usually in tight quarters like ahsoka remeber that had a professional swords man with them on set and also ray park
Where the strike is coming is key. Part of this test’s failure is that the other person is anticipating the spin and can time their attack. I’ve been dueling since I was 7, and every time I’ve thrown this out there I have successfully blocked a strike. The first time was when I was 12, I was dueling two people and my best friend thought he would be cheeky and try to run behind me with a low strike. I pulled the spin off and blocked behind my back and he quit the fight because he was mad. 🤣
I love the dynamic characteristics of you guys and the contents you guys make! Keep it up! I would love to see more and more contents like this!
The prequels set the bar so high for lightsaber duels. We may not see anything better
Made a point that a Jedi would know how his opponent would strike. It’s kind of like a chess game where you anticipate your opponents next move. Not that this proves anything but that this move for a normal fighter could cause serious damage! 😂
You guys are awesome!
This came out at just the right time when the Clone Wars remake of the Anakin vs Obi Won duel and I love it.
Keep in mind Anakin, like most Jedi, has a level of precognition, and his was strong enough to allow him to pod race as a 10 year old. Lightsaber duels are really 4 dimensional chess matches with swords.
If you think about it, if someone is flourishing a weapon of pure plasma that can kill you instantly, you’re gonna keep your distance.
You do realize that flourishes aren't just a visual spectacle for showing off...?
They're also useful for Intimidation, Dexterity Development & Warming Up.
2:57 demonstration
Basic summary, you cant time the block with the strike, and if you do its mostly a weak block because your around your own back or your arms are in a awkward position (your back is vunrable rember this) you also see it coming as the oponent and additionally there is no benefit to doing this other then its cool, there is also such a small windo when it actually can block strike but the rest of the spin your vunrable so you need jedi reflexes to time it
3:44 why it might work
5:11 first tests, dosent block up to down strikes, but could work with jedi timing, (you know when the strike comes and time the spin)
9:45 ani obi high side strikes (dose work but something i realise is.. why would you do he same action multiple times without change.... If anything its just a way to move your opponent? And if you do it rember to aim for the head or sholders and let your enemy block the inside of your strike from ye upper gard)
10:30 longer sparing tests
13:40 summary (at the start)
Watching a bunch of friends lightsaber duel is very wholesome.
Light sabers are really more like Katana. There is a *reason* the original Vader/Kenobi fight had a lot of maneuvering and few thrusts. Because with those kind of weapons, you should not be striking until your odds of ending your opponent are in your favor.
So... lots of maneuvering. Lots of trying to trick your foe into getting literally 1/2" out of position. And being faster than your foe. A duel with these kind of weapons is more like a gunfight. It would be rare that the two opponents were perfectly matched in speed and skill.
IMHO, The fast blows in the later films really depend on premonition via the force and are really senseless since as soon as you thought to strike, you'd also realize this particular blow would be blocked so you wouldn't actually waste time doing the strike. it would be a bit like chess. You would make the move because it forced your opponent to make a particular move in defense.
The only way the movie lightsaber fight mechanics work is if the blades are "sticky". Notice there's nearly no sliding of the blades against each other. My head canon for this is that whatever Clarke tech field is containing the hot plasma interacts with the opposing blade opposite how a normal magnet works, meaning it's easier to pull the blades apart than to slide them against each other.
Thats how I see it too. They're either actively repulsing each other or binding, perhaps depending on the will of the user (the crystals are force sensitive after all) and that would change the effectivness of moves a lot. An ineffective block irl gets much more effective if grazing the opponents blade launches it away from you. Or if you can "grab" and move the other weapon on contact.
A few things about this move in the movie:
1. During the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin, Obi-Wan was giving ground the entire move, rather than advancing or remaining static, which could have made successfully performing that flourish block easier.
2. The way lightsabers function makes the energy fields in the blades naturally repel each other, meaning that slight blows will just make them bounce off each other and you have to exert a decent amount of effort to maintain a bind. That, combined with the fact that lightsabers will cut through just about anything effortlessly and don't have to worry about a cutting edge, means that Jedi and Sith dont have to utilize hard swings and can instead focus on light, glancing blows at high speed, making flourishes like this actually viable.
3. Being Force users Anakin and Obi-Wan were able to predict each other's moves in battle, meaning that Anakin knew precisely where Obi-Wan's blade was going to be at that moment and that that flourish block would be successful.
4. The fight was choreographed and they thought it looked cool.
Remember that Jedi anticipate closest future when they fight. They know how to time blocks even on a backspin. It also adds some sense into those flashy moves it may give more probabilities to the forces analysis of the opponent.
Have to agree with Darth Tyranth, ROTS has the best lightsaber fight scenes hands down, some come close to it, but none can match it!
Anecdotal, but I have successfully executed a spin block precisely one time.
It was back in my church youth group days. We were doing some volunteer work, cleaning up a property, and I found an old rake handle. As any teenage boy would do, I began showing off. One of my friends decided to throw a paintbrush at my back, and by pure happenstance (or perhaps, THE FORCE, lol) I did an Obi-Ani and deflected it behind my back.
I wish someone had recorded that, but 15 years ago, people didn't quite have that instinct to go for their phone every time something was happening.
I love that at some point it just seems like guys haveing fun fighting with swords and they wanted an excuse in form of a youtube video dissecting an attack in sci-fi movie. Great Video, love it!
Shad da bad boy
Love the content❤
You guys are having so much fun with this. Gotta admit im jealous a bit but even more entertained.
Also jedi maintain focus in the force in order to gain a kind of spidey sense . With how they train younglings with the blinded helmet seems to be for this exact thing.
As someone who held a light- and a steel sabre, I'd like to defend the impractical lightsaber techniques. The lightsaber is flashy, it's like a shiny rave stick of death that will dismember anything on impact. Cutting with a lightsaber is hella deadly and all these flourishes that look super flashy, are thus good.
Both rave-fencig and practical fencing are better than the caveman stick techniques shown in the sequels.
fun video but you always have to remember - Obi Wan did not want to fight/hurt Anakin all the way to the very end at the high ground. When he said "don't try it" it wasnt a taunt or a bait (though it may have been perceived by Anakin that way). It was one final "please don't make me do this" at which point Obi Wan fought with the purpose to stop Anakin.
So if you consider that during all Anakins flair blocks they are made more viable if you take into it that Obi Wan was essentially limp wristing his strikes.
So two more pieces of Lore I want to bring up, the lightsaber hilts themselves are supposed to be much heavier then they look which makes them unwieldy for non force users to use. Also The blades of lightsabers do not slide like they would on swords. When the Plasma makes contact, it sticks so the blades do not slide up and down, in-fact its supposedly supposed to take a lot of force to pull them off each other. Very fun video to watch! Love this kind of Content! (PS... Return of the Jedi is my favorite)
The ani obi spin is soo good
My take is that Anakin picked up the move for Battle Droids, and seeing that Obi-Wan was committed to his attack, realized that Obi-Wan would think "Why would he use that against a Jedi?", so Anakin used the fact that it should be countered by another force user as a psychological tactic, when the other force-user is committed to his or her attack.
The Lightsaber fight I love the most, is the first we see. Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader, in the Death Star hallway, in A New Hope. It's how I imagine a lightsaber fight would be like.
I think whats wring about this setup is that Anakin is constantly on the verge of overpowering Obi-Wan, and he is only trying to block hits that Anakin is throwing at him; that's his fighting style, that's his strategy. He's not even trying to land a hit on Anakin because that's not how he's trained
This kind of ruins every Star Wars duel analysis they do at 'versity, because they ignore the fact that in the prequels everyone's trained in a different way (kind of too in the originals but the designers were mostly just winging it based on the mood of the scene)
Yes form 3 is the form built on defense and the form Obi Wan was said to be the master of. In episode 1 Obi-Wan used form 4 which deals with all the flipping around. Yoda also deployed form 4 in both episodes 2 and 3 when he went up against Dooku and Palpatine.
This was fun. Before the Disney era, I thought the spinning was for flurries as a final strike with more power, or to block a blow the saber had to be maneuvered to a point of control rotating from the side-not the back. Forgot all about the full turns 🤣
That up and down behind the back move is used in fire dancing and is called "Obi-Ani" - just a fun fact
When a fight is acted for cameras, when your enemy knows what you will do, of course it doesn't work. In a REAL fight you don't know what your opponent will do.
One of the characteristics of lightsaber's in the Star Wars universe is that they have magnetic repulsion to each other. When you see lightsaber users dueling in the movies and series is that they are pressing into each other, resisting that repulsion. Not to mention, lightsabers are not as heavy as metal swords, so not as much strength is needed to wield them.
Also Jedi, Sith, and other Force-users are using the Force to enhance their senses, physical abilities, as well as sensing how the opponent is moving. It's kinda like a dynamic form of chess in a way, where they are maneuvering for the advantage.
I have never tried doing it with a spin, but i have used the parry behind the back in sparring. Usually, with catastrophic results, but sometimes... sometimes the sparring partner just decides to play along for cool factor and giggles.
Great job linking this video from another! This is one I would have watched if there was a notification.
Shad, you look really good man, whatever you're doing is working.
Oh no, the entire Prequel movie fans' identity is based off of these spins.
Wait wait wait HOLD UP! Tyranth isnt wearing RED! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE REAL TYRANTH!!!!!
If a blind force user were in a lightsaber duel, they use the force to see. What direction they're facing in terms of detecting attacks, no longer matters. They're fighting on instict and other senses, mostly the force. So to me, any jedi can turn their back whenever they want, they're not just using they're eyes to detect their opponents movements and they'll change up their motions if it becomes necessary.