"I have seen this raw strength once before" brought flashbacks of DBZ and power levels. It was one thing to be strong in the force before, but now its seems (granted this is just what I got out of the trailer) that Rey and I am assuming Kylo's strength in the force in over 9000.
Uhmmmh - While it's safe to assume that this forum is rather nerdy, maybe it would be worthwile not to assume that everybody is intimate familiar with DragonBallz, or its technical aspects? Some of us were exiled from that beautiful land called neoteny (just) before DBZ became a youth-culture phenomenon. (And what's the 9000 about? And how do you conclude that only Kylo Ren is ridiculously overpowered - why not Rey, too?)
Are you referring to Midi-Clorians? Or is it merely that the
"Outsider with never-before seen Force-sensitivity going up against the evil Force-Goliath"-meme has become a bit tedious - certainly so after Luke was retconned as
"The guy who defeated the most powerful Jedi of all times after two years of mostly autodidactic training in his meagre spare time".
I mean - what kind of
monsters must Rey and Kylo Ren be if they scare someone who is himself the galactic gold-standard for 'ridiculously overpowered Jedi who handily defeated the last never-seen-before ridiculously overpowered Jedi while still green behind the ears'.
Tangential:
I always felt this was the central problem of the former Expanded Universe's novels about Luke, especially after Episodes I-III became canon, and the guy he defeated was elevated to
"mythical levels of powerful" -> TDP. He's
too damn powerful to easily write credible challenges for him, without invoking
yet another attack from a belligerent species from beyond the known Galaxy.
I love Timothy Zahn's novels, but even he seemed to be struggling at times with the question of what a 40-, 50- or 60-year old Luke
cannot do, when the 20-year old Luke already handily bested one of the most powerful and most-experienced Force-users ever, after two years of intermittent training, mostly by a Force-ghost.
"Decisive Battle for the future of the Galactic Civilization was joined at 10:30 local time. Grandmaster Skywalker set course homewards at 10:41 ..." makes for a pretty boring read. Zahn solved this with the idea that while SeniorLuke was certainly capable of crippling battleships with his mind alone, using his full force-strength came with a price-tag: The more actively a powerful Force-user
wields the Force, the more desensitized they become to its subtle
guidances (force-assisted piloting, lightsaber combat, blaster-deflection are all
passive 'talents'), so Luke put himself on a "Force-diet".
Luke seems like a punk who doesn't want to help the galaxy. He appears (again this is just what the trailer seemed and may not be the final product) like he will train Rey, something will happen, and he will abandon her or quit.
Ah, ok. I sometimes forget that the word punk existed before punk-rock or punk-culture. Over here, it's mostly associated with punk-attitude and culture (
wiki:
"Punk-related ideologies are mostly concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment views. Common punk viewpoints include anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic, non-conformity, direct action and not selling out."Come to think of it: Patricide is certainly one of the purest expressions of anti-authoritarian attitude, even if you eventually settle for merely chopping Dad's hand off.
So yes, Luke is a punk in all meanings of the word. What else is new?