The simple explanation of why Rey is so strong. [TLJ Spoilers]

[Illidan Stormrage]

WARNING SPOILERS

Look... you wanna know why Rey is so strong in the force.... and Kylo is not? For the exact same reason why North is North, why the handsome guy(me) always gets the girl, and why every spaceship in the universe is shaped like a cock. It's destiny, guys."
—Illidan Stormrage 3:46 EST 1/6/2018

No but seriously the force works in mysterious ways as said by many people so maybe its the force? I mean it would be a simple explanation to something. I mean why did Luke blow up the Death Star? The Force. Why did Obi Wan beat Anakin? He had the force and the high ground. How did the Rogue One group succeed? The Force. How did Rey beat Kylo? The Force. How did Kylo kill Snoke? The Force. How is Mace MotherFucking Windu so good? The Force, Bitch. How Did Papaltine hide himself from the Jedi? The Force. How did Darth Vader slaughter a rebel base of 10000? The Force Bitch.

I mean we can go on and on, but what we have to accept is that the force works in strange ways. Its what you considered is driving the plot. If you cant accept that then i don't know what else to say.

[Lord Xizer]

Look... you wanna know why Rey is so strong in the force.... and Kylo is not? For the exact same reason why North is North, why the handsome guy(me) always gets the girl, and why every spaceship in the universe is shaped like a cock. It's destiny, guys."
—Illidan Stormrage 3:46 EST 1/6/2018

No but seriously the force works in mysterious ways as said by many people so maybe its the force? I mean it would be a simple explanation to something. I mean why did Luke blow up the Death Star? The Force. Why did Obi Wan beat Anakin? He had the force and the high ground. How did the Rogue One group succeed? The Force. How did Rey beat Kylo? The Force. How did Kylo kill Snoke? The Force. How is Mace MotherFucking Windu so good? The Force, Bitch. How Did Papaltine hide himself from the Jedi? The Force. How did Darth Vader slaughter a rebel base of 10000? The Force Bitch.

I mean we can go on and on, but what we have to accept is that the force works in strange ways. Its what you considered is driving the plot. If you cant accept that then i don't know what else to say.

The term you're looking for is Super Mary Sue. She's done the way she is because of focus groups wanting"strong independent woman ' she's not a character so much as a series of check boxes on a poll chart.

[Guderian]

Just to poke a gigantic hole into your argument:
It takes training, a loooooot of training to Master the Force...

Example Luke: Yes he had the Force, but firing Proton Torpedos is something entirely different than fighting a Lightsaber Duel.

Example Obi Wan - Anakin: Anakin was overcome by rage and out of control, he overestimated himself and jumped into Obi-Wan's Saber,
Plus: Obi Wan WAS Anakins Master, he had training, lots of Training, Anakin was just a Jedi Knight strong with the force but undisciplined.

Rogue One: Plot Reasons, none other than Plot Reasons was the reason they succeded.

Rey beating Kylo: She is a Mary Sue!

Kylo killing Snoke: REASONS.

Mace Windu: He had a fuck ton of training.

Palpatine: He was trained by motherf*** Darth Plagueis! He was TRAINED! He didn't just do that because of the Force he had TRAINING.

Darth Vader Slaughtering Rebels: HE HAD TRAINING! He has a Lightsaber with which he can deflect Blasters, IT's not just the Force.

The Force might work in strange ways but MOST of the time you can explain things with TRAINING!

Luke didn't go up to Darth Vader in Episode IV and beat up his ass, because he wasn't trained.
Anakin lost to Count Dooku in Episode II because Dooku was better disciplined and trained!
Obi-Wan killed Darth Maul on Tatooine in one strike because he meditated and analysed about his opponent and Darth Maul tried the same trick twice - TRAINING/DISCIPLINE!

Rey has neither Training nor Discipline she is a Mary Sue.
That's it.

[Illidan Stormrage]

The term you're looking for is Super Mary Sue. She's done the way she is because of focus groups wanting"strong independent woman ' she's not a character so much as a series of check boxes on a poll chart.

This mentality needs to stop. It really is not appropriate and isn't fair. George Lucas also wanted a female lead so no this was suppose to happen anyway. If its a female character who gives a shit? I mean idc about the characters gender at all as long as they write the character well. Just because she is a woman does not mean anything okay?

Just to poke a gigantic hole into your argument:
It takes training, a loooooot of training to Master the Force...
Example Luke: Yes he had the Force, but firing Proton Torpedos is something entirely different than fighting a Lightsaber Duel.

So by you logic that a force user requires training to do the things they do, then Luke should not have been able to blow up the death star. Yes it is different then a lightsaber duel, but that means its a lot harder than that. Its easiler to kill another in a lightsbaer duel then it is to blow up a fucking superweapon.

Rogue One: Plot Reasons, none other than Plot Reasons was the reason they succeded.

umm The Empire with hit by a surpirise attack by a bunch of rebel terrorists one of whom had the force. The rebels also sent a massive fleet and win the battle becuase of the Empire not using any support ships or getting renforicements untill late in the game. What does this have to do with the force? Jyn was trained in terrorism and is a rebel extremist who was taught by a terrorist named Saw Gerra.

Example Obi Wan - Anakin: Anakin was overcome by rage and out of control, he overestimated himself and jumped into Obi-Wan's Saber,
Plus: Obi Wan WAS Anakins Master, he had training, lots of Training, Anakin was just a Jedi Knight strong with the force but undisciplined.

Rey beating Kylo: She is a Mary Sue!
Kylo killing Snoke: REASONS.

How is the fight between Rey and Kylo any different? Kylo was overcome with rage and fought out of control like Anakin while Rey fought with disapline. Also Kylo had been shot by a fucking explosive crossbow, stab by Finn duuring their quick Lightsaber duel, and was using the force in order to keep himself from passing out. He was weak plain and simple. Tell me, would it be realistc for Kylo Ren after being fucking shot with a explosive weapon that could have killed him, stab in his shoulder, and literally bleeding beat a woman who knows a thing or two about fighting with Mele weapons?

Aslo as for Kylo killing Snoke: You do realize why that happened? Kylo is sick of everyone's shit. So he is going to build a new world order based on his ideas. The reason he manage to kill Snoke is so simple that even my friends understand why. Kylo's thoughts were that he was going to kill his greatest enemy. Snoke thought it was Rey, but it was Snoke himself. The reason Snoke didnt realize this is because like the fucking Emperor he was over confident. THe Emperor was so powerful he should have sense Vader's betrayal from a mile away. Also Kylo turns his blade as he turns the blue lightsaber next to Snoke.
Done and Done.

The Force might work in strange ways but MOST of the time you can explain things with TRAINING!
Luke didn't go up to Darth Vader in Episode IV and beat up his ass, because he wasn't trained.
Anakin lost to Count Dooku in Episode II because Dooku was better disciplined and trained!
Obi-Wan killed Darth Maul on Tatooine in one strike because he meditated and analysed about his opponent and Darth Maul tried the same trick twice - TRAINING/DISCIPLINE!
Rey has neither Training nor Discipline she is a Mary Sue.
That's it.

Yeah because Luke was barely trained. But you are assuming that Kylo and Vader are equal in power which is not true. Luke was trained slightly, but he did not finish his training. Same goes with Anakin and Dooku.

Maul losted because he wanted to die fighting Obi Wan training had nothing to do with it. this was confrimed by the show writers.
Rey was trained in using her staff and their are plenty of non forceusers who have used lightsabers
Pre-Vizla fought Maul pretty well and held his own.
i can name more but this is already long enough.

[Lord Xizer]

You do realize my issue is with Rey not being a good character and that the reason they are afraid of making her have to rely on others or have faults is to appease female viewers. I don't have any issue with a female lead so long as the character gets both good development and implementation. I have significant issues with Rey being insanely amazing at everything without work or explanation. I can't get invested with someone who starts where most characters end, max level.

[Mr.Puerto]

Just edit your first post and make a large text saying



WARNING SPOILERS

[Illidan Stormrage]

Thanks Mr.Puerto

But really guys i think the problem is that we are assuming using a lightsaber is a hard thing to fight with. I would disagree. Finn, TR8R, Han, Leia, General Kreel(Scar Squad), and many more non force users that are shown to use lightsabers pretty well.
One example was a comic story where Luke when to Nal Hutta and was captured by a Hutt who collected old Clone Wars stuff including Jedi Relics. Some of the relics were lightsabers. At one point Luke is taken into a fighting pit where he fights a Alien pit master who wields a lightsaber. When Leia, and Han are capture as well, they are given lightsabers since they had their guns taken from them. later we find out the Pit Master was a Alien Imperial named Kreel, who serves Darth Vader. Kreel after this mission is granted control of Scar Squad a elite Imperial squad made up of some of the best Imperials. He was acutally given a green Lightsaber to use. It appears in the Storyline The Last Flight of the Harbinger.

Rey uses a staff, its very fair to say she is good with mele weapons and she has been on Jakku for YEARS. Its not out of the ball park to say that she knows a thing or two about fighting, ships, and electronics.

[kucsidave]

The thing you still fail to understand is that it is not how it works.
For example, I give you a katana. You try to swing it left and right and sooner or later you will cut yourself or you will be disarmed easily since you do not understand how to use it properly.
Now if I give you a wooden sword and you train with it for 3-5 years, it won't matter if your enemy has a katana if he doesn't know how to use it, you will disarm him easily with the wooden sword.
And it doesn't matter if it is Rey or Roy, if a male would show such qualities as Rey does in this movie, I would still call him a Mary Sue or whatever the male term is for it (I always forget the name), and I would still critisize the caracter for being OP.
The difference between Luke and Rey is that Luke had training from both Obi Wan AND Yoda, two of the mostpowerful Jedi masters still alive, and still Luke had been defeated by Vader in Empire, since he wasn't trained enough to do so.
In Return, he stood his ground against him, and managed to beat him, but it was still a compromise, since he used his anger, so not a clean victory.
And then the emperor kicked his butt immediately, and only survived because Vader decided that noone messes with my son.
Now we look at Rey. She kicks ass because independent strong female and needs no training from a male.
Yes, she had 3 lessons from Luke, but dang. 3 Lessons and already beats Kylo. Hell, she beat him with 0 training. Kylo who was the GODDAMN JEDI KILLER WHO DESTROYED LUKE'S ACADEMY...
Admit it. SHE IS A MARY SUE!
No way around it.

[Guderian]

So by you logic that a force user requires training to do the things they do, then Luke should not have been able to blow up the death star. Yes it is different then a lightsaber duel, but that means its a lot harder than that. Its easiler to kill another in a lightsbaer duel then it is to blow up a fucking superweapon.

With the simple difference:
Luke already knew how to fly, Luke already shot targets as big as the Ventilation Vent
he did get a minimal amount of Training on the Milenium Falcon and if you combine all those facts the difference is huge.

How is the fight between Rey and Kylo any different? Kylo was overcome with rage and fought out of control like Anakin while Rey fought with disapline. Also Kylo had been shot by a fucking explosive crossbow, stab by Finn duuring their quick Lightsaber duel, and was using the force in order to keep himself from passing out. He was weak plain and simple. Tell me, would it be realistc for Kylo Ren after being fucking shot with a explosive weapon that could have killed him, stab in his shoulder, and literally bleeding beat a woman who knows a thing or two about fighting with Mele weapons?

Rey just stabbed
she litteraly just used once move, over and over and over again
against the best pupil of Luke Skywalker....
Rey never handled a Lightsaber before, Rey never heard of the Force before but suddenly can force grab the Lightsaber
For which Luke needed the time Between IV and V to learn and only then with A LOT of concentration

And your Argument "fighting" with Meele Weapons? yeah
i refer to the one-move-she-had: Stabbing
And we saw her use that staff of her once? A staff is not a Light-Saber
If you touch a body part of yourself with a staff maybe it hurts, maybe your bone breaks if you are doing something stupid.
With a Lightsaber: You do one wrong move you can kill yourself.
The only valid point might be that Kylo got shot.

Also:
The other major difference between the fight Anakin - Obi-Wan/ Rey - Kylo is: Obi-Wan was a trained and combat experienced Jedi-MASTER, who knew Anakins Fighting Style!

Yeah because Luke was barely trained. But you are assuming that Kylo and Vader are equal in power which is not true.

Kylo was Lukes best Pupil
even if they are not equal, We saw Kylo stop a frigging Laser-Blast in Mid air!
For a rather long time!

Rey was trained in using her staff

By whom and when?
This is the first i heard of it

Pre-Vizla fought Maul pretty well and held his own.

Pre Viszla? The Head of Death Watch, a Mandalorian, who i believe i have read are stronger than the average human.
A Warrior through and through who trained for quit a while and must have been very skilled to become Leader of Death Watch.
He held his own against Maul.

Yes very good comparison to Rey, who is no trained Warrior, who is not a Mandalorian, who did not grow up i a Warrior Culture...

The new movies are just badly writen, if they had attempted to try and explain
WHY she can use Jedi-Mind-Trick beside never ever heard of it
WHY she can use the force on the same level as Luke after about 3 years of self-training
HOW she suddenly know how to fix the Millenium Falcon she never set a foot in
HOW she can hold her own against Kylo Ren in Episode VIII where he is NOT! wounded
WHY she suddenly has such huge Force Powers and it was never shown before
HOW she could understand BB-8 without a translator and never really interacting with droids

Nothing of this was ever explained or mentioned
Anakin, Luke and basically every other Character had some sort of explanation to why and how
this makes Rey a Mary Sue.

You had enough Opportunity to spend time with the Character, develop her, and explain her abilities:

- Show her repairing a droid or something and then sell it for a good price - some explanation why she can the Falcon
instead of: She can because she can repair it.

- show her fighting someone else or better a few guys with a stick to show that she can actually use it as a Weapon!

Both movies are badly written!
Those Flaws aren't just limited to Rey but go on to ALL other Characters in Force Awakens and Last Jedi.
With Rey we just feel it the most.

@kucsidave
Amen Brother!

[Illidan Stormrage]

The thing you still fail to understand is that it is not how it works.
For example, I give you a katana. You try to swing it left and right and sooner or later you will cut yourself or you will be disarmed easily since you do not understand how to use it properly.
Now if I give you a wooden sword and you train with it for 3-5 years, it won't matter if your enemy has a katana if he doesn't know how to use it, you will disarm him easily with the wooden sword.
And it doesn't matter if it is Rey or Roy, if a male would show such qualities as Rey does in this movie, I would still call him a Mary Sue or whatever the male term is for it (I always forget the name), and I would still critisize the caracter for being OP.
Now we look at Rey. She kicks ass because independent strong female and needs no training from a male.
Yes, she had 3 lessons from Luke, but dang. 3 Lessons and already beats Kylo. Hell, she beat him with 0 training. Kylo who was the GODDAMN JEDI KILLER WHO DESTROYED LUKE'S ACADEMY...
Admit it. SHE IS A MARY SUE!
No way around it.

As someone who is a fencer and trains in historical fencing you are wrong. You can apply moves from a Sword to a staff. I know this because basic stances, attacks, parries, and counters are the SAME with the only different being the weapon you use which makes the position look different. Rey has bee living on Jakku for years and she clearly has fought off attackers before and knows exactly how to fight.

You also said Luke had training, but that was not until episode 5. He had no training when he blew up the death star, he just tapped into the force then some how hit a thermal exahuast port only TWO METERS WIDE! While fighting the Empire's best pilots including Darth Vader and Iden Veriso.

Again Kylo had been shot by Chewbaca, stabbed by Finn, and was bleeding. You cannot ignore those factors. Using historical fencing knowledge a fighter can be cut and stab but still fight but over time they become weaker. Applying that to Kylo he was bleeding and got into a eariler fight which he took another hit. Rey was not as injured as Kylo was. Rey had only suffered slight back injuries from being thrown. You can argue that Rey could beat Kylo based on that logic. It does not matter if someone has training, you cannot fight that well if you have been badly injured. In fact Kylo should have bleed out, but my brother argues that Kylo was using the force to keep his guts from falling out.

Rey never handled a Lightsaber before, Rey never heard of the Force before but suddenly can force grab the Lightsaber
For which Luke needed the time Between IV and V to learn and only then with A LOT of concentration

And your Argument "fighting" with Meele Weapons? yeah
i refer to the one-move-she-had: Stabbing
And we saw her use that staff of her once? A staff is not a Light-Saber
If you touch a body part of yourself with a staff maybe it hurts, maybe your bone breaks if you are doing something stupid.
With a Lightsaber: You do one wrong move you can kill yourself.
The only valid point might be that Kylo got shot.

Pre Viszla? The Head of Death Watch, a Mandalorian, who i believe i have read are stronger than the average human.
A Warrior through and through who trained for quit a while and must have been very skilled to become Leader of Death Watch.
He held his own against Maul.

Yes very good comparison to Rey, who is no trained Warrior, who is not a Mandalorian, who did not grow up i a Warrior Culture...

The new movies are just badly writen, if they had attempted to try and explain
WHY she can use Jedi-Mind-Trick beside never ever heard of it
WHY she can use the force on the same level as Luke after about 3 years of self-training
HOW she suddenly know how to fix the Millenium Falcon she never set a foot in
HOW she can hold her own against Kylo Ren in Episode VIII where he is NOT! wounded
WHY she suddenly has such huge Force Powers and it was never shown before
HOW she could understand BB-8 without a translator and never really interacting with droids

You had enough Opportunity to spend time with the Character, develop her, and explain her abilities:
- Show her repairing a droid or something and then sell it for a good price - some explanation why she can the Falcon
instead of: She can because she can repair it.
- show her fighting someone else or better a few guys with a stick to show that she can actually use it as a Weapon!

Dude did you not watch the movie? SHe beat up two guys with her staff on Jakku. Also she worked for Unkar Plutt and apparently worked on alot of his ships, and we are told she had used old Imperial pilot simulators in her down time in the novelization. She has been on Jakku savenging for a lone ass time you can assume she has found old droids and repaired them a bit before. We dont to what Rey did everyday, but you can rule out she had not encounter lunatics who tried to kill her.

Also no Mandolrians are not super humans. THey are just humans that trained to be great warriors and even then they still lost to Jedi. Maul is a fucking Sith Lord who is a monster. He has killed plenty of Jedi and was so powerful he cheated Death. Mandalore in the new canon is a waste land just like Jakku. People in said conditions is becuase they adept and learn to fight. Its not out of the realm of possibity.

1 She messed up the mind-trick once before she did it. Again we dont know how the force works in this new universe, but it does impact people's actions.
2 Luke has fought Vader in the comics without training and beat hm once before Empire. Rey beat Kylo for various reasons i have stated before. Also Ezra was able to dodge Tie FIghter blasts before he met Kanan using the force.
3 She has. She did work on the ship for Unkar Plutt and had been savenging old ships ruins. You could say she learn this on Jakku.
4 They did not fight each other techinally they just tried to use the force to take Lukes lightsaber which split it in half. THey fought together aganist Snoke's red hombres and Kylo was fully healed as could be and he was in element taking on three guards at once while Rey was fighting one.
5 What insane force powers? She lifted rocks, make the ground shake and tried to use the force to reach for her lightsaber. MEANWHILE LUKE FUCKING PROJECTED HIMSELF ACROSS THE GALAXY!
6 Where did you get that she never interacted with driods before? She could have on Jakku since she worked their. Again your saying something with no information backing it. If thats a question yout asking then how did Luke understand R2-D2.

Your other point about Rey never using her staff is wrong since we she her use it on two thugs who tried to take BB8 from her.

[Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus]

Stormrage, should we take it that you are completely satisfied with how Rey and her force abilities are portrayed in TFA/TLJ? Do you think that everything about her character in these films is perfect in every way? Depending on your answer I will decide whether to join this conversation or not.

[Guderian]

@Illidan Stormrage
That you could apply Sword - Staff is good to know i am no fencer so in that regard: Thank you.
Though i am still not sure if you could apply it to a Lightsaber, as i said: One wrong move and you are dead.

The "training" part of Luke reffered to the scene where Luke fights the automated Drone or rather tries to pary the Blasts and get's his first impression to how to connect to the Force.
With the 2meter thing: Again if i recall Episode IV correct he did tell the other Pilots he shot Wamp-Rats in his T-16 which are also only 2m big.
Plus: Luke was nearly blasted away by Darth Vader if Han hadn't Deus-ex-machina'ed it, so i wouldn't really call it "fighting" the Empires best Pilot.

regarding the Mandalorians: As i said i believe to have read/heard somewhere that they were supposed to be stronger. I am/was not completly sure about that.

to 1: She didn't even know Mind-Trick existed! How could she possibly use it? If i had a hidden Superpower i don't know about, how could i use it, if i didn't knew it was there?
to 5: Please don't get me started on the BS-Force Projection god that was just... NO....
to 6: Luke didn't understand R2 in Episode IV, he needed C3P0 for that, and later in the X-Wing i believe what R2 said was displayed on a Screen
and my Assumption is based solely on what i saw in the Movie: She didn't interact with Droids so for me there is no explanation to that Skill of her - thus Mary-Sueing it.

But may i say: I think we are turning in circles here?
I think we could go on and on always finding new arguments/facts/opinions about it.
Maybe we should settle at:
They should/could have done a way better Job to explain Why and how Rey got the Skills she has in the Movies.
I am not satisfied with the (lack of) explanation and thus for me she is and will be a Mary Sue.
For you the Explanation is simple: The Force
And i can accept that, for me it is not satisfying enough and i expect more from my beloved Star Wars, which is why i argue so passionatly about it

[kucsidave]

Maybe we should settle at:
They should/could have done a way better Job to explain Why and how Rey got the Skills she has in the Movies.
I am not satisfied with the (lack of) explanation and thus for me she is and will be a Mary Sue.
For you the Explanation is simple: The Force
And i can accept that, for me it is not satisfying enough and i expect more from my beloved Star Wars, which is why i argue so passionatly about it

Amen to that, Guderian.
100% agreed

[Slornie]

Luke already knew how to fly, Luke already shot targets as big as the Ventilation Vent

Evidence? All we have is Luke's word for it, which is really no different to Rey's "I'm a pilot" to Finn before they board the Falcon in TFA.  Really across all three trilogies the only desert-planet protagonist who properly proved their ability was Anakin with his podracing.

WHY she can use Jedi-Mind-Trick beside never ever heard of it
WHY she can use the force on the same level as Luke after about 3 years of self-training
HOW she can hold her own against Kylo Ren in Episode VIII where he is NOT! wounded
WHY she suddenly has such huge Force Powers and it was never shown before

Personally I'm happy to chalk this up to the film subtitle - "The Force Awakens" in Rey and for some reason she's naturally in-tune with what it can do.

to 5: Please don't get me started on the BS-Force Projection god that was just... NO....

What? That segment with Luke facing down the might of the First Order and then showing up Kylo Ren was one of the highlights of the movie.  I loved how they portrayed Luke's power to project his image and thought it was really well done (it's consistent with Legends Luke too).

Maybe we should settle at:
They should/could have done a way better Job to explain Why and how Rey got the Skills she has in the Movies.

I agree they could have done a better job at putting it front and centre for the audience.  A lot of cues are there in the background or covered in off-hand remarks, but obviously not as prominent as they might have been.

[Lord Xizer]

Evidence? All we have is Luke's word for it, which is really no different to Rey's "I'm a pilot" to Finn before they board the Falcon in TFA.  Really across all three trilogies the only desert-planet protagonist who properly proved their ability was Anakin with his podracing.
Personally I'm happy to chalk this up to the film subtitle - "The Force Awakens" in Rey and for some reason she's naturally in-tune with what it can do.
What? That segment with Luke facing down the might of the First Order and then showing up Kylo Ren was one of the highlights of the movie.  I loved how they portrayed Luke's power to project his image and thought it was really well done (it's consistent with Legends Luke too).
I agree they could have done a better job at putting it front and centre for the audience.  A lot of cues are there in the background or covered in off-hand remarks, but obviously not as prominent as they might have been.

To correct you on a few points here Slornie, we don't just have Luke's word he's a pilot, we also have Biggs Darklighter referencing their piloting of Beggars Canyon and that they both flew to practice for the academy. Finally we have Luke's familiarity with the T16 transferring over to the X Wing since both have an almost identical control scheme.
Your second point also doesn't hold up very well as again the "Force" wasn't gone or anything, Rey just begins...using it en masse without fail immediately.
Third, with Luke there's quite a few issues with the projection scene, but I've covered them in another post and retreading that ground is becoming tiresome. Short version, might as well have been there, dies anyway, could have done this waaaay before things got this bad.
On this last topic I agree, I just feel they missed some great opportunities to develop Rey as both a powerful and interesting character with depth.

[Pali]

To correct you on a few points here Slornie, we don't just have Luke's word he's a pilot, we also have Biggs Darklighter referencing their piloting of Beggars Canyon and that they both flew to practice for the academy. Finally we have Luke's familiarity with the T16 transferring over to the X Wing since both have an almost identical control scheme.

Biggs saying this only happens in the special editions - the original theatrical release of Star Wars didn't include it (and including this scene is one of few good moves made by the SEs).  Also, the movies give zero hints that a T16 and an X-wing have similar controls - we only know that they are both Incom products from sources beyond the movies.

edit:
Rey's abilities come in, essentially, four forms.  1) She's a good mechanic; 2) she's a good pilot; 3) she's a good melee combatant; 4) she's a Force prodigy.  1-3 are mostly covered by her background, though I definitely think this could've been made a bit more explicit, and all three are abilities that we've seen plenty of precedent from the EU for latent Force potential enhancing - Anakin Solo was great with machines from childhood, and piloting and combat abilities seem almost ubiquitous among those with Force potential.  So it's really just 4 that needs explanation, and I think the important thing to remember is the Yoda-Luke conversation after Yoda lifts the X-Wing out of the swamp: "I don't believe it."  "That is why you fail."

Unlike Luke, Rey believes it, right from the start.  She lacks his skepticism - we never see her insist that something won't work or can't be done or demand an explanation for why the way Luke does on multiple occasions (the blast shield on the helmet, lifting the X-Wing being entirely different from lifting rocks, etc.).  Luke had to spend time unlearning what he had learned, in Yoda's words, but Rey doesn't seem to have that handicap holding her back; she just accepts at face value what she's told about the Force, and so because she believes she can do these things, she can do them.

[kucsidave]

okay, I'm out of this conversation. I let fanboys be fanboys, fans be fans, and I keep the discontent and feelings of Rey being a mary sue to myself and to threads that are not just to forgive every, in my oppinion, bull's residue Rey has.

[Illidan Stormrage]

okay, I'm out of this conversation. I let fanboys be fanboys, fans be fans, and I keep the discontent and feelings of Rey being a mary sue to myself and to threads that are not just to forgive every, in my oppinion, bull's residue Rey has.

I am not a die hard Disney Canon fanboy. I just want to not have to constantly see criticism that is not really warranted. We need to give this new canon a chance. We are talking 30 years of expanded universe lore vs about half a decade of Canon lore in the new canon. Good Star Wars movies, books, comics, and TV shows will have to come around. Who knows maybe this new canon will get a Thrawn movie or maybe a Revan movie. We have to give it time guys.

[Pali]

I am not a die hard Disney Canon fanboy.

Agreed.  The implication that anyone is just accepting Rey because of some simplistic notion of "I want more Star Wars and don't care about the packaging" is impolite, unfair, and self-congratulatory, as it implies that others are simply blind to what you so clearly see.  I may not agree with them, but fans of AotC exist, and I'm not about to tell them that their opinion is less valid than mine simply because they're fanboys; we just disagree about what makes for a good Star Wars movie (or scene or theme or character), and that's okay, because there is no one piece of art that everyone will agree is a masterpiece.

Rey's challenges, in my mind, are more internal than external - she's trying to figure out how to define herself and her place in the events that she's unexpectedly found herself swept up in, rather than having her abilities or allegiances tested by trials others throw at her.  Her growth isn't about overcoming some obstacle in her path, it's about her determining for herself what that path is, and how she wants to identify herself and her role in the events to come (Finn is on a similar arc).  This may not be any specific person's cup of tea when it comes to character development, but I'm enjoying it quite a bit thus far and look forward to more.  If you don't like it, fair enough, but don't shit on me for enjoying what you don't.

[taupin121]

We need to give this new canon a chance. We are talking 30 years of expanded universe lore vs about half a decade of Canon lore in the new canon. Good Star Wars movies, books, comics, and TV shows will have to come around.

I've compared on another forum the good content we had the two years besides TPM to what we had besides TFA... The comparison put to shame the Story Group Canon. You can take any period between 1991 (the start of a monitored coherent continuity which was nothing less than the curent Story Group) and 2014, that's better than any time period since the reboot (not to mention the rehashing, like Thrawn).