It’s a question that’s almost certain to cause an argument, as every fan of the franchise has their own strongly held and fiercely defended opinions. In fact, we may as well just ask whether or not Han shot first and then just sit back and regret even bringing it up.
Still, in the spirit of journalistic integrity, let’s press on. Star Wars has bought us some of the most iconic characters, vehicles, worlds and weaponry ever to grace the big screen, from the legendary light saber through to the equally revered Millennium Falcon.
You may be surprised however to learn just how many weapons there are in the Star Wars universe. Most of us can name the standards; the light saber, the blaster pistol, the blaster rifle, etc. but the sheer volume of individual weapons present is staggering – particularly if you include the cartoons, books and other instalments of the franchise.
Let’s take just the light saber, off the top of my head I can think of the standard Jedi lightsaber, the double-bladed saber, the Sith lightsaber, the darksaber and the lightwhip. A quick look online reveals the lightfoil, the lightclub, the Shoto, the dual-phase lightsaber, the training lightsaber, the Sabercan, the lightsaber pike, the Crossguard lightsaber and scores of others. It’s the same for blaster pistols, I found over 300 unique varieties of blaster pistols after a short period of rather fascinating online research.
I think it’s fair to say that the lightsaber and the blaster pistol are fairly near the top of the greatest Star Wars weapons, just for the sheer detailing and variety – not to mention the fact that very few of us can say we didn’t pretend to be wielding at least one of those weapons at some point during our formative years.
But what other Star Wars weapons deserve a mention in an article with such a provocative title? Luckily I’ve come across an infographic that does some of the legwork for us, rather fittingly entitled The Weapons of Star Wars:
Created by Buddy Loans, the infographic celebrates the weaponry of the franchise through lovingly created, detailed illustrations, and gets us excited about the upcoming release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
It’s almost a certainty we won’t all agree with the choices of weapons for the infographic, but I love the concept. What weaponry do you feel is conspicuous by its absence? What would you class as the greatest Star Wars weapons? Let us know in the comments?