Star Wars: The Last Jedi release thread (spoilers)

[Kojiro]

Its like not only can some hot head junior officer commandeer a strike force, but because he does so the fleet commander is now compelled to disregard her now public pronouncement of orders and suffer whatever may come? Talk about a fucking lack of military leadership, and Leia is supposed to be the mature and calculating one of the two?

That also irks me. If she'd ordered their forces to retreat, they could have turned around and left as every craft has a hyperdrive. Poe would have been forced to call of his attack. But she lets it play out just so she can slap (the number of problems with that) and scold/demote Poe. Like it's worth spending those lives to teach Poe a lesson or something?

Worse yet, that whole drama is the basis of Holdo being a complete ass to Poe, which is the justification for Canto Bight.

As for the transports, they're just masked from sensors- at least until you tell your sensors to really try, then they show up easily and you can precision pick them off at extreme range. I'm looking forward to seeing if you can spot them from Snoke's throne room without the magnifying glass.

[Vympel]

That also irks me. If she'd ordered their forces to retreat, they could have turned around and left as every craft has a hyperdrive. Poe would have been forced to call of his attack. But she lets it play out just so she can slap (the number of problems with that) and scold/demote Poe. Like it's worth spending those lives to teach Poe a lesson or something?

Worse yet, that whole drama is the basis of Holdo being a complete ass to Poe, which is the justification for Canto Bight.

As for the transports, they're just masked from sensors- at least until you tell your sensors to really try, then they show up easily and you can precision pick them off at extreme range. I'm looking forward to seeing if you can spot them from Snoke's throne room without the magnifying glass.

Rama on SB did a screenshot analysis to show that you really can't. At the distance the Supremacy is (IIRC some ~426km away when its firing on them), the largest object you'd be able to spot is something like 120m wide - i.e. the Rebel transports would have been 10 times too small to see with the naked eye.

One of the things that annoyed me was how they referred to the rebel transports as being "cloaked", even though none of the ships were shown to have either cloaking devices or actually turning invisible. What would have been more accurate would have been to say that they were using some sort of scrambling tech to keep themselves off the FO's sensors, since actual cloaking devices have been around since the Clone Wars.

As for the remaining Jedi students, I got the impression it was they who comprised the Elite Praetorian Guard, based on their numbers and capabilities.

Yeah the E8ICS describes the 'cloaks' as sensor 'bafflers'. 'Cloak' seems to be a colloquialism.

The Praetorians aren't force sensitives. The remaining students are certainly the Ren Knights.

[Kojiro]

When you say analysis, do you mean like pixel measurements? Because I saw a... version... that looked like you could see the transports from Snoke's room even outside the looking glass. Granted it wasn't top quality, but if they're visible without magnification that's a problem.

[Vympel]

When you say analysis, do you mean like pixel measurements? Because I saw a... version... that looked like you could see the transports from Snoke's room even outside the looking glass. Granted it wasn't top quality, but if they're visible without magnification that's a problem.

Yeah, pixel measurement. As to the magnifying glass, I've got a ... version. I've screencapped the crack in the red curtain as it opens just as the image of the transports is resolving - I don't see anything out there myself.

[Patroklos]

As was discussed previously such an distance calculation requires the field of view of the camera. Do you have a link to the numbers?

We are also looking directly at their ass end, so even if all you see is their drive flare (remember you can see satellites in orbit just from reflected sunlight) it would still clue you in. Our own real world passive sensors can detect the burns from our primitive space craft planetary orbits away. The FO would have been intensely monitoring that specific spot in space. They were literally shooting at it, so we are talking all manners of fire controls probably including infrared and most certainly straight up magnifying optics. And those are passive, so no jamming. Not to mention that in this situation looking out for escape attempts is sort of a no brainer given what the FO was trying to accomplish, not unlike the Tantive IV...

So while you can get away with saying they somehow defeated sensors that don't normally give a third party observer visual clues that they are working in the first place (radar, lidar, whatever) through technobabble, even active jamming would have been plausible given neither side had a reason to worry about giving their position away, the audience straight up watches the ships not be invisible visually. With the enemy in direct line of sight in the background. This would be like if the Star Trek cloaks didn't visually hide ships and episode after episode we watch Picard stare out his windows and view screen and fail to notice the ships that routinely faced off from him at a few dozen kilometers. This is of course a fucking plot point in at least on of the movies, the main characters just staring out the window and seeing a star occlusion (stupid stupid stupid, what is the fucking point if our own 2018 sensors could accomplish that? Are we supposed to think ST sensors can't monitor star occulusion!?!?).

But whatever, once again the movie just does whatever is convenient. Poe and Rose need to escape the exact same situation without even a mention of a cloak? Done. You need Rey to be able to inexplicably approach and escape the same threat only MUCH closer and then fly up to the dame ship? Fuck it, DONE. Now Rose/Finn need to do the same thing? Whatever, cloaks for everyone! All of a sudden when you want to do the exact same thing Rose/Finn did at the beginning of the movie but you need an inexplicable reason why it can't be that easy? Whatever, we aren't even trying anymore, just make some shit up.

They are so all over the place with this shit its really impossible to evaluate why one particular method works, because essentially anything and everything works even if how they work directly contradicts what we just saw happen minutes ago.

[The Romulan Republic]

Its like not only can some hot head junior officer commandeer a strike force, but because he does so the fleet commander is now compelled to disregard her now public pronouncement of orders and suffer whatever may come? Talk about a fucking lack of military leadership, and Leia is supposed to be the mature and calculating one of the two?

That also irks me. If she'd ordered their forces to retreat, they could have turned around and left as every craft has a hyperdrive. Poe would have been forced to call of his attack. But she lets it play out just so she can slap (the number of problems with that) and scold/demote Poe. Like it's worth spending those lives to teach Poe a lesson or something?

Worse yet, that whole drama is the basis of Holdo being a complete ass to Poe, which is the justification for Canto Bight.

As for the transports, they're just masked from sensors- at least until you tell your sensors to really try, then they show up easily and you can precision pick them off at extreme range. I'm looking forward to seeing if you can spot them from Snoke's throne room without the magnifying glass.

I think its pretty obvious what was going on with Leia- she knew the attack was a bad idea, but wasn't prepared to just cut and run and abandon two squadrons to their fate.

An important question here is- are the bombers hyperdrive-equipped? Or would Leia be abandoning them altogether if she retreated?

Now you could argue that she should have just cut her losses and abandoned two squadrons for the greater good. But I can get why she wouldn't, especially when they're so low on troops to begin with.

Edit: For that matter... when did the last transport dock? Before or after Poe launched his attack on the dreadnought? If the transports aren't hypercapable (which seems to be the case)...

[The Romulan Republic]

But what of TLJ? While it's good they didn't make Ben a Vader clone, he's not that strong of a character to be a standalone bad guy. Snoke is dead. Hux is a tard. Phasma is presumed dead but, even if they bring her back, just as Ben, she has been bested too many times to be a credible antagonist. The rest of the Republic had decided to hide under a table. Rey is now a full Jedi. And the entire Resistance fit in the MF.

TLJ left SW without a good enemy. The FO has far more military might but they seem to be about to shoot themselves. There are no character arcs that to see resolved in the next one. Unless somone considers that a love triangle, cuadrangle, whatever, is enough of a theme to be called an arc.

Going back to this, because its an oft-repeated criticism of TLJ that isn't really well-justified.

Rey's character arc is admittedly a bit thinly-developed, but the closest thing to an overall theme seems to be about her coming to grips with her identity, embracing her role as a Jedi and moving beyond her insecurities over her background. If Rey is "nobody" in terms of her heritage, then the question naturally becomes "What identity will she create for herself?" She's a Jedi... but that is only the end of her journey if one expects her journey to follow the exact same pattern as Luke's in the OT. That journey, to become a Jedi, is complete, more or less. But the obvious next step is that Rey has to step into the role of leader and teacher. She has to see if she can in fact surpass Luke's failures as a Jedi. So far, she has no real experience in and has shown no real talent at either of those roles. Hell, she failed to redeem Kylo Ren, failed to persuade Luke to come help her... her record of providing guidance to other Jedi is abysmal.

She's a decent person who can kick ass in a fight. That's what Rey has going for her. Want to challenge her? Put her in a role she has no training for. That will force the character to grow.

As to what TLJ leaves for the next film- quite a bit, actually. The main points are:

1. Rey needs to rebuild the Jedi and embrace a leadership role.
2. They need to find a way to write Leia out of the series, sadly.
3. Kylo has to be defeated. There are also the Knights of Ren (more on that momentarily).
4. Possible First Order infighting subplot (which could help explain how the heroes could threaten the First Order despite being reduced to about a squad's worth of infantry on a single freighter last film).
5. Rey/Rose/Finn love triangle. Could be tied into addressing the whole Jedi attachment issue.
6. Possibly formation of a new New Republic? Or something else?

That's... a lot to work with, for just one film, actually.

The lack of a strong villain is a problem, but there is at least one thing that they can easily do in that respect. We've had a lot of hints dropped about the Knights of Ren (aka Luke's surviving former students), but never really seen them in action. With Kylo as head-honcho now, it makes sense for the Knights of Ren to fill the role of chief lackeys/secondary antagonists.

There's also potential there for exploring in more detail Luke's Order and how it was ultimately destroyed. And I'd actually like to see Rey turn one of the KoR back to the Light Side, both because it would keep Luke's Order from having a 100% failure rate, and because it would tie into the OT's theme of redemption, where a Kylo redemption no longer seems very viable. It would also be a good culmination of the direction I suggested taking Rey's character above.

I have no idea if Abrams will follow up on any of this, much less do so competently. But its all right there- there's plenty to work with if they choose to take advantage of it.

[Batman]

Edit: For that matter... when did the last transport dock? Before or after Poe launched his attack on the dreadnought? If the transports aren't hypercapable (which seems to be the case)...

According to the ICS the bombers are hyper-capable while the transports are not.

[The Romulan Republic]

Edit: For that matter... when did the last transport dock? Before or after Poe launched his attack on the dreadnought? If the transports aren't hypercapable (which seems to be the case)...

According to the ICS the bombers are hyper-capable while the transports are not.

Okay. So, not having a copy of the film on-hand, had the last transport docked before or after Poe launched his bomber attack?

[The Romulan Republic]

You know, I was just over on Youtube, watching a clip from the Prequels, and reading the comments... specifically, all the comments about how much better it was than TFA/TLJ.

Now, I'm old enough to remember the days of "The Prequels are the worst movies ever". And while I'm not saying its the same people doing a 180 (probably a lot of them are people who grew up with the Prequels, as the Prequel bashers grew up with the OT), its a rather amusing juxtaposition. And I'm willing to bet that in ten or fifteen years, there will be a generation of proud ST fans bashing whatever movies are coming out then for having ruined Star Wars.

God, fandoms can be so predictable sometimes.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I grew up with the prequels and even I could tell how stupid Binks was. It's kind of telling how bad TPM was when it was only in the wake of 'Taken', that Neeson became better known, despite him portraying Qui-Gon Jinn a full nine years beforehand.

I was also struck how dark RotS was, despite the whole thing being a foregone conclusion.

[Elheru Aran]

I dunno, Liam Neeson has never been -quite- a unknown since Rob Roy. He was in plenty of stuff. The prequels didn't particularly hurt Ewan McGregor much either, or Sam Jackson.

Can't say the same for Hayden Christensen though, much less Jake Lloyd...

[The Romulan Republic]

I dunno, Liam Neeson has never been -quite- a unknown since Rob Roy. He was in plenty of stuff. The prequels didn't particularly hurt Ewan McGregor much either, or Sam Jackson.

Can't say the same for Hayden Christensen though, much less Jake Lloyd...

Portman came out of them okay too.

[tezunegari]

Edit: For that matter... when did the last transport dock? Before or after Poe launched his attack on the dreadnought? If the transports aren't hypercapable (which seems to be the case)...

According to the ICS the bombers are hyper-capable while the transports are not.

Okay. So, not having a copy of the film on-hand, had the last transport docked before or after Poe launched his bomber attack?

Evacuation was completed during Poes attack run on the Defense Turrets of the Fulminatrix.
One turret was left when Connix reported evacuation completed.

So it was before the Bombers started their attack run.


IIRC: (based on my very faulty and bad quality memory of the Evacuation scene)

1. First Order Resurgents arrive during evac. Mandator IV "Fulminatrix" arrives shortly after.
2. Poe confronts First Order fleet, stalls for time by phone-pranking Hux.
3. Poe engages booster pack and starts attack run on Fulminatrix.
4. All but one defense turret is destroyed.
5. Fulminatrix TIE/fn engage Poe and damage Black-Leaders weapon system.
6. Fulminatrix fires siege cannons at D'Qar Base.
7. Lt. Connix barely escapes bombardment aboard the last transporter, sends "Evacuation complete" to Raddus.
8. Leia orders attack to be aborted.
9. Poe disagrees. "No General. We can do this. We have the chance to take out a dreadnought. These things are fleetkillers. We cannot let it get away."
   Leia response: "Disengage now, Commander. That is an order."
   
   Poe deactivates communications with Raddus.
10. BB-8 "repairs" Black-Leader weapons.
    Poe destroys last defense turret.
    Poe sends "All clear. Bring the bombs."
11. Bombers are order in tight formation by Blue Leader. (A-Wing, Tallissan Lintra)
12. Fulminatrix TIE/fn engage bombers. Blue Squadron and X-Wings intercept.
    One Bomber destroyed by TIE/fn fire. (1/8 Resistance Bombers destroyed)
13. Canady orders siege cannons to be recharged and aimed at Resistance cruiser Raddus.
    Poe informs Blue Leader that Fulminatrix has begun targeting sequence on Raddus.
    Blue Leader orders Bombers to start drop-sequence.
14. Bomber "Bad Luck 13" opens bomb chute and disengages bomb safety.
15. TIE/fn "Just two days to retirement" is destroyed and pilot chamber impacts "Bad Luck 13" rougly above the dorsal opening.
16. Chain reaction in bomb chute of "Bad Luck 13". "Bad Luck 13" destroyed. (2/8 Resistance Bombers destroyed)
    Friendly fire of "bad Luck 13" destroys 2 Resistance Bombers. (4/8 Resistance Bombers destroyed)
17. Fulminatrox Bridge crew reports "Autocannons aimed. 40 seconds to fully charged."
    Canady orders concentrated attack on last Resistance Bomber.
18. Poe confirms Paiges "Cobalt Hammer" is last bomber. 3 Bombers destroyed off-screen. (7/8 Resistance Bombers destroyed)
    Bomb doors not open. Gunner of "Cobalt hammer" unconcious.
19. TIE/fn focus attack on "Cobalt Hammer". Pilot killed.
    Paige drops down Bomb chute. Gets release control. Drops bombs on Fulminatrix.
20. "Cobalt Hammer" destroyed by explosions caused by its own payload / explosion of main reactor of the Fulminatrix.
21. Raddus Officers reports "Direct Hit. Dreadnought down." Command crew of the Raddus cheers.
    Leia looks defeated?
22. Display with 7 Bombers (all destroyed), 4 A-Wings (1 destroyed) and 8 X-Wings (3 destroyed). 8th bomber possibly hidden by screen shroud.
23. Another close-up on Leia. Pained look after fighter display.
24. Fulminatrix burns and drops into D'Qar gravity well. Resurgent bridge crew looks watches.
25. 8 Resistance Fighters return to Raddus.
26. Raddus jumps to Hyperspace.
27. Hux gets "reprimanded" by Snoke. "We have them tied to the end of a string."

[Kojiro]

I think its pretty obvious what was going on with Leia- she knew the attack was a bad idea, but wasn't prepared to just cut and run and abandon two squadrons to their fate.

An important question here is- are the bombers hyperdrive-equipped? Or would Leia be abandoning them altogether if she retreated?

Every ship out there had a hyperdrive. As I said, had she ordered them to retreat, they could have done so. There was no reason whatsoever to leave the Raddus vulnerable waiting for them. The bombers in fact almost certainly cannot fit in the Raddus as they're about 22 meters/71ft high (or roughly seven stories). While the hangar does look large, it does not look like it can accommodate that. They would have had to use hyperdrives.

Now you could argue that she should have just cut her losses and abandoned two squadrons for the greater good. But I can get why she wouldn't, especially when they're so low on troops to begin with.

The only person she'd be 'abandoning' is Poe, who would simply be forced to follow.

Sitting on her ass and watching people die is absolutely in no way better than ordering their retreat.

Edit: For that matter... when did the last transport dock? Before or after Poe launched his attack on the dreadnought? If the transports aren't hypercapable (which seems to be the case)...

I can't remember, but we do know they have at least one hyperspace capable transport on board. They pull the end off it and take that part to Canto Bight.

[jollyreaper]

As for the transports, they're just masked from sensors- at least until you tell your sensors to really try, then they show up easily and you can precision pick them off at extreme range. I'm looking forward to seeing if you can spot them from Snoke's throne room without the magnifying glass.

If it costs you nothing, you would be searching with whatever that scanning setting is anyway, just to be sure someone isn't trying to sneak something by? It'd be like saying that you were going to sneak up behind the ship except someone warned them to check their 6. What? Wouldn't you be looking in all directions anyway, just as a matter of SOP?

[Kojiro]

If it costs you nothing, you would be searching with whatever that scanning setting is anyway, just to be sure someone isn't trying to sneak something by? It'd be like saying that you were going to sneak up behind the ship except someone warned them to check their 6. What? Wouldn't you be looking in all directions anyway, just as a matter of SOP?

Well you'd think right? I mean, the very purpose of a sensor is to reveal to you what you can't otherwise perceive. Having sensors that can detect 'stealth' ships but simply choosing not to use them is beyond baffling stupidity. I mean FFS, they ran a 'decloaking scan'. That's as brilliant as Leia's 'cloaked beacon'.

It really feels like one of those moments where Johnson was just thinking 'ok, we'll apply stealth to this fleet of transports because... sure that's doable. Until we don't want them stealth, then the FO just pushes a button and boom, decloaked. But hey, we've also got DJ and his plugging in a console that rendered a luxury yatch cloaked enough to board the Supremacy, so fuck it, cloaks all round. Everything is exactly as cloaked as it needs to be.

[The Romulan Republic]

Every ship out there had a hyperdrive. As I said, had she ordered them to retreat, they could have done so.

Apparently the transports did not.

Hence my asking when the last transport had docked.

There was no reason whatsoever to leave the Raddus vulnerable waiting for them. The bombers in fact almost certainly cannot fit in the Raddus as they're about 22 meters/71ft high (or roughly seven stories). While the hangar does look large, it does not look like it can accommodate that. They would have had to use hyperdrives.

See above.

Sitting on her ass and watching people die is absolutely in no way better than ordering their retreat.

No shit.

What I'm trying to determine is weather that's actually an accurate description of events.

I can't remember, but we do know they have at least one hyperspace capable transport on board. They pull the end off it and take that part to Canto Bight.

So the crux of the issue is weather Leia could have retreated then without abandoning a large portion of her forces.

If the film failed to convey the answer to that question clearly, then that is admittedly a fair criticism of the film, though in my opinion a relatively minor one, which would likely be largely overlooked if not for the general hostility towards the film for other reasons.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I still find it unreasonable for the transports not to have hyperdrives. Fucking probe droids have hyperdrives. Every space vessel without a TIE in front of its name has a hyperdrive. Clown cars have hyperdrives. Deluxe chocolate bars? Probably have hyperdrives! The thing Luke picked from his nose? Probably had a Goodman hyperdrive!! Grrraaahhh! Fucking cloaked-ass, shield less non-hyper capable transports?. Who signed off on those? Put his ass in front of a firing squad! Jesus!

[The Romulan Republic]

I still find it unreasonable for the transports not to have hyperdrives. Fucking probe droids have hyperdrives. Every space vessel without a TIE in front of its name has a hyperdrive. Clown cars have hyperdrives. Deluxe chocolate bars? Probably have hyperdrives! The thing Luke picked from his nose? Probably had a Goodman hyperdrive!! Grrraaahhh! Fucking cloaked-ass, shield less non-hyper capable transports?. Who signed off on those? Put his ass in front of a firing squad! Jesus!

That certainly suggests that the Resistance has shit for funding, at any rate. I mean fuck, the Rebel Alliance had hyper-capable transports.

Its like the US navy using dugout canoes. I mean... you could probably come up with a scenario where it would happen, but it really shouldn't.

[Batman]

The probe droids didn't have hyperdrive, their drop pods did.
And we don't know what those transports were designed for. If they were only for transporting stuff/people from planet A to planet B within a single system they didn't need hyperdrive.
Yes they CAN build hyperdrives into something as small as an A-Wing. Why would they for something they don't expect to need one?
For all we know those were short range transports meant purely for intrasystem travel.

[jollyreaper]

The probe droids didn't have hyperdrive, their drop pods did.
And we don't know what those transports were designed for. If they were only for transporting stuff/people from planet A to planet B within a single system they didn't need hyperdrive.
Yes they CAN build hyperdrives into something as small as an A-Wing. Why would they for something they don't expect to need one?
For all we know those were short range transports meant purely for intrasystem travel.

If you can afford to put a hyperdrive in anything, why not? It's kind of like fleet trucks that have a radio but no cassette deck. Did that save you a dollar? Even U-Hauls started getting tape decks and now all of them have AUX ports for phones.

It'd be one thing if hyperdrives were incredibly expensive but even shit buckets can have them. A-Wings are bloody tiny things. It's hard to imagine a scenario where leaving that out makes a whole lot of sense given how useful it would be to have them. Like nobody is doing intrasystem travel without FTL. Sublight speeds to go planet to planet would be months. The only possible use case would be as literal dropships from orbit to surface but we've already seen ships of similar size have interstellar-capable hyperdrive. FTL is cheap in the Star Wars verse. And we see similar-sized ships going planetary surface to planetary surface all the time.

[CaoCao]

1. Rey needs to rebuild the Jedi and embrace a leadership role.
2. They need to find a way to write Leia out of the series, sadly.
3. Kylo has to be defeated. There are also the Knights of Ren (more on that momentarily).
4. Possible First Order infighting subplot (which could help explain how the heroes could threaten the First Order despite being reduced to about a squad's worth of infantry on a single freighter last film).
5. Rey/Rose/Finn love triangle. Could be tied into addressing the whole Jedi attachment issue.
6. Possibly formation of a new New Republic? Or something else?

On Rey developing as a character, let me remind you that her being nobody may be up to yet another twist. One of the main points of her being someone's child, was to explain her sudden abilities.

On your list:

1. That would require to explain why it should work this time. Unless they go to the gray jedi route.
2. Hope they, at least, don't mess it. Let one of the old cast have a proper goodbye.
3. Or they may try, once again, the redemption.
4. I'm placing bets on Starkiller II. Bigger, meaner, and with an artificial satellite with bathrooms (no janitors allowed near the weapon).
5. That can be more of a miss than hit.
6. This part may be the most controversial.

You know, I was just over on Youtube, watching a clip from the Prequels, and reading the comments... specifically, all the comments about how much better it was than TFA/TLJ.

Now, I'm old enough to remember the days of "The Prequels are the worst movies ever". And while I'm not saying its the same people doing a 180 (probably a lot of them are people who grew up with the Prequels, as the Prequel bashers grew up with the OT), its a rather amusing juxtaposition. And I'm willing to bet that in ten or fifteen years, there will be a generation of proud ST fans bashing whatever movies are coming out then for having ruined Star Wars.

God, fandoms can be so predictable sometimes.

Some people though the Ewoks were lame...until the Gungans appeared. Are the Porgs the ST replacement or is it Hux?

I don't think there's going to be big supporters of TLJ in ten or so years, the movie was way too bad. The prequels had 2 problems, Gungans and AOTC Anakin. The plot was good despite of that. The ST has a poor to no coherent plot.

[Kojiro]

So the crux of the issue is weather Leia could have retreated then without abandoning a large portion of her forces.

Hux orders the destruction of their fleet (yes he says fleet).
The dreadnought appears.
Sensor operator says 'Sir a single light fighter in attack mode approaching' to Hux
Poe signals Hux.
We get an awkward exchange.
Poe's thruster finishes... charging? And he begins his attack. (note the X wing appears to 'brake' once it's S-foils deploy)
Poe says 'Taking out the cannons now, Callie (I think) start your approach now).
Poe does some more shooting and TIEs are scrambled.
Poe is hit and loses weapons.
The dreadnought fires but the last transport escapes.
The evacuation is declared complete.
Leia orders Poe to return.

Note at this point we still have not seen the bombers on screen.

Poe and Leia argue about killing the dreadnought.
Leia yells at C3PO
BB8 finally gets the weapons online and Poe blows up the last turret.
Poe does his little burnout move and says 'All clear, bring the bombs!'
A First Order... periscope officer? Tells the captain that resistance bombers are incoming.

FINALLY we see the bombers, at some distance, incoming.

There's a full minute between Leia's order to withdraw and the bombers making an appearance, to say nothing of Poe's weapon systems being down. There is ample time for Leia to tell the bombers to get the fuck out of there, if they've even launched.

As for hyperdrives and shuttles, either rip the extremely small hyperdrive off the transport Finn and Rose used (assuming you have just one) and put it on a stealthed shuttle or stealth up the shuttle with the hyperdrive. Either way, start getting people off that ship.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

The probe droids didn't have hyperdrive, their drop pods did.
And we don't know what those transports were designed for. If they were only for transporting stuff/people from planet A to planet B within a single system they didn't need hyperdrive.
Yes they CAN build hyperdrives into something as small as an A-Wing. Why would they for something they don't expect to need one?
For all we know those were short range transports meant purely for intrasystem travel.

Yes, yes, the disposable drop pods that transported the probe droids is the long version. In essence, each probe droid was equipped with a hyperdrive, even if it was not attached permanently to the probe droid. If anything, that makes it even more obnoxious that the resistance couldn't scrape together a few.

And come the fuck on. Star Wars features a mature space-faring civilization where every last rust bucket has a hyperdrive. Imperial shuttles and star tour buses have hyperdrives. There is no reason why they wouldn't install a hyperdrive on a transport, even if only as an emergency feature. It's lazy writing necessary to contrive some tension, and it's stupid.