Originally posted by DarthAnt66
Back.Your argument doesn't really make a lot of sense, sorry. I'm not insulting you, by the way. Just your reasoning in this particular discussion.
Okay, I still find it unnecessary to, even indirectly, insult me or my argumentation or anything. It's isn't going to provide anything usefull to the discussion so I see no reason why to do it anyway.
First, let's address the form trick. Yes, there's no disputing that Dooku was initially unprepared for Skywalker and Kenobi changing their stances.However, as shown in the text, while Dooku wasn't prepared for the start, he was expecting Skywalker's Djem So with the attack relevant to this debate. Prior in battle, he even changed his tactics to specifically handle against it. Your argument revolves around the notion that Dooku's kick against Skywalker was indication of them being peers. This theory is laughable because it ignores both the context of how Dooku did this, and what happened directly before and thereafter.
He indeed changed his tactics by using Djem So's lack of mobility in order to leap away and gather his energy again, something he didn't have the time or space to do before. However instead of leaping away after he succesfully unbalanced Skywalker, Obi-Wan was there to keep him busy until Anakin recovered from it. So no, even though Dooku's tactic actually worked to some degree, Obi-Wan's interference stopped Dooku from executing the rest of it, thereby making it useless. The point still stands that Anakin was attacking a Dooku who had lost a noticeably amount of energy without having the opportunity to recover form it.
My argument resolves around the fact that Dooku could still land hits on Anakin, despite that he had to come up with a tactic in the midst of battle, was facing a secondary opponent in the form of Obi-Wan and was supporting a form disadvantage which was in turn amplified by Kenobi's presence. Even if you believe that Dooku could only land a kick on Anakin because he latter was still distracted by the droids, other sources like the movie or the junior novelization have supported the idea that even without the help of his droids, Dooku could stun Anakin long enough to take out Obi-Wan at the same time.
So, Skywalker was explicitly dominating Dooku in a one-versus-one combat. There's no disputing that. When Kenobi returned to the fight, Dooku recognized that there was absolutely no chance of a fair victory, so he ordered his droids to open fire. He honestly had no chance against Skywalker either though, as made clear by the fact all he could do is barely defend himself against Anakin's fury. The droids spared him from Skywalker's assault, presumably allowing him to recover. Just as the final droid was destroyed, Dooku attacked Skywalker, suggesting it wasn't a fair attack. Also, not that the text said that Anain "whirled," suggesting he wasn't even facing Dooku when the attack happened. Plus, Dooku wouldn't have been able to even launch said attack unless he cheated (and even he claims he cheated, so that's not arguable). Besides, a kick is not indication of lightsaber parity anyway.
Skywalker was pushing Dooku back under very favorable circumstances, not to mention that the Revenge of the Sith novel points out that Makashi's vulnerability against Djem So was the reason Dooku couldn't confront Anakin head on and had to rely on tactics like kicking him. If we take a look at other sources (Junior novel, Movie itself, Dark Disciple,...) we see that Anakin only was relatively equal to Dooku until he began actively tapping into his rage.
In other words, when they were put in direct combat, Skywalker dominated the scene. Dooku fared better against Yoda than he did against Skywalker, based on their respective performances in the adult novelization. Against Yoda's assault, Dooku was never teetering on unconsciousness. Hell, against Skywalker, he wasn't even able to strike back. That's how overwhelming Anakin's attack was. Sure, Dooku got a cheap shot, but that's exactly what it was: a cheap shot. Skywalker's a tier nine duelist. Dooku's a tier eight duelist. Their fight shows as much.
The only thing that confirmed Anakin's supposed domination is the RotS novel, and even then it puts forward quit a bit of circumstances in Anakin's favor. All the other sources (Junior novel, Movie) have them as equals while even the more recent sources like Dark Disciple support this idea rather then Anakin absolutely dominating Dooku. Regarding Yoda's fight with Dooku, once Yoda actually launched his full offensive Dooku could only parry and defend, he never tried to change his tactics or even land any kicks on the former. So again no, a tier 9 duelist isn't stunned by an almost exhausted Dooku or seen as his relative equal since the gap between tier 8 and 9 is huge.
In regards to Windu, I have no interest arguing personal opinion on what Gillard or Lucas means, or your interpretation of Vaapad.
You mean you're going to neglect all the evidence that I put forward and blindly follow Gillard's system? You can do that if you really want it. Gillard was only responsible for the stunts, he only needed to factor in how the characters where going to perform, not how they achieved that status or anything else in that area, so that's how his tiering system workes. Don't get me wrong, I want to wank Anakin all the way to Walhalla, he's been my favorite character since I first saw the movies, but I'm not just blindly going to follow someone's ranking when that person completely neglects the circumstances involved.
BTW, when are you going to upload the Caedus RT?
