I Love It When Cassian’s Blaster Does the Thing

There is simply a batch to emotion in Andor. It is simply a dense show, a large show, 1 that is filled with fascinatingly layered characters worthy diving heavy into, twisting plotlines that clasp a reflector up to our satellite and the postulation far, acold distant alike. It’s a amusement that, successful spite of a definite estimation successful opposition to other Star Wars stories, is filled with small nods to the franchise’s history aged and new.

But close now, astatine slightest successful our infinitesimal of interest, it’s a amusement wherever Cassian Andor’s blaster pistol goes vuh-weeeeee.

Just like Andor much broadly, there’s besides a batch to emotion astir Cassian’s blaster pistol. It’s a MW-20 Bryar pistol, itself 1 of those aforementioned small nods: the plan is heavy inspired by the legendary K-16 Bryar pistol wielded by Kyle Katarn successful the Star Wars video crippled series Dark Forces, a quality with intriguing parallels to Cassian adjacent beyond the second successful portion subsuming the role of the former successful modern continuity.

It’s a good-looking weapon plan adjacent beyond that legacy, conscionable a level wedge of weaponry with a grip attached—different capable to Han’s iconic DL-44 but successful that benignant of vein, that fantabulous Star Wars premix of looking conscionable askance to a real-world weapon but with a greebled, sci-fi layer. It besides does a small flippy-thing with the assemblage of the blaster that’s precise cool, which brings america to that sound.

The vuh-weeeeee is what accompanies that spinning of main conception of the blaster, and successful a franchise conscionable bursting with unthinkable dependable design, it’s possibly 1 of Andor‘s champion additions to the auditory canon. It’s subtle, but pointed, a furniture of Cassian’s intimidation whenever helium pulls the pistol retired to constituent astatine someone. Star Wars guns don’t request cocking oregon reloading similar immoderate existent weapons do; a blaster bolt is superheated state condensed into a shard of axenic energy. Maybe that’s the state being primed, possibly the enclosure is re-filling the travel of tibanna acceptable to beryllium charged up and fired. Honestly I don’t truly attraction to know, due to the fact that portion the interior mechanics of a MW-20 Bryar blaster pistol mightiness beryllium cool, but they’re benignant of not the point.

© Lucasfilm

The vuh-weeeeee serves arsenic a akin auditory hint to some the assemblage and the characters astir Cassian that he’s acceptable to popular disconnected astatine a moment’s notice. There’s an existent mechanical ka-chunk sound too, presumably of that spinning conception locking backmost into spot connected the blaster, but it’s the vuh-weeeeee that truly sticks successful your ear, this high-pitched small whine. In Andor Cassian is the benignant of antheral who seldom pulls retired a blaster pistol to not usage it: from Skeen to Cloris, erstwhile the bryar’s breached out, helium means business. You perceive that ka-chunk, arsenic it settles into a vuh-weeeeee, and you cognize Cassian’s bully to go, and that somebody’s astir apt astir to get a bolt enactment done them.

This precocious strung, aggravated small sound is not dissimilar the wielder of the limb that makes it. After all, what is Cassian Andor if not a primed bolt of axenic energy, acceptable to spell disconnected astatine a moment’s notice, acceptable to beryllium aimed successful the absorption of thing and fired astatine it for maximum effect? All it takes is simply a ka-chunk, past a vuh-weeeeee, and he’s acceptable to pain a spread done the structures of powerfulness he’s rebelling against.

Perhaps each that’s true. But possibly it’s besides conscionable existent that vuh-weeeeee sounds chill arsenic hell, and successful a amusement already bursting with truthful galore ideas and details, astatine the extremity of the day, you besides conscionable request a clump of chill spacey noises. Andor is each that quality work, each that symbolism and commentary, but it’s besides the vuh-weeeeee. And it wouldn’t rather be Star Wars if it wasn’t both.

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