Star Wars: The Force Shall Free Us All

[Fedel]

"It's not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home, they're not much bigger than two meters." - Luke Skywalker.

:>

But yeah, I agree prior to Rogue One addressing that inconsistency, the exhaust existing in the first place is a glaring problem with ANH.

I mean it's really not when you stop to think about it.

God. Me attempting to be nice has gotten me more shit than any of my actual criticisms.

I don't actually think the Death Star flaw is a huge issue...

[The Huskar Social Union]

Palpatine should have constructed more star destroyers instead of the Deathstar II dont @ me

That's just because you play HOI4 and Palpatine plays Egomaniac Simulator 2000.

[Vassenor]

I mean it's really not when you stop to think about it.

God. Me attempting to be nice has gotten me more shit than any of my actual criticisms.

I don't actually think the Death Star flaw is a huge issue...

...How the hell is that flinging shit at you?

[The Huskar Social Union]

Hot take: Phantom Menace would be a worse movie if Jar Jar Binks was not in it.

[Andsed]

Hot take: Phantom Menace would be a worse movie if Jar Jar Binks was not in it.

Hot take: Imma shove a lightsaber hilt up your arse if you ever say such a thing again. My eyes have never been so molested by such a foolish statement. And the sheer rage this fills me with makes Vader looks like a 5 year old locking himself in his room.

But for real I disagree. Aside from the Gungan plotline I really don´t think Jar Jar contributed anything to the movie. He was just the worst way to do comedic relief imo. Did not do much to actually contribute to the movie while just not really being funny.

[Valrifell]

Hot take: Phantom Menace would be a worse movie if Jar Jar Binks was not in it.

Hot take: Imma shove a lightsaber hilt up your arse if you ever say such a thing again. My eyes have never been so molested by such a foolish statement. And the sheer rage this fills me with makes Vader looks like a 5 year old locking himself in his room.

But for real I disagree. Aside from the Gungan plotline I really don´t think Jar Jar contributed anything to the movie. He was just the worst way to do comedic relief imo. Did not do much to actually contribute to the movie while just not really being funny.

If he weren't there, who would be the lightning rod to direct your hatred? If it weren't for the "Jar Jar ruined everything" meme there would not be a prequel revivalist movement today, I tell you!

The scourge of that Gungan transcends the years.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Hot take: Phantom Menace would be a worse movie if Jar Jar Binks was not in it.

Hot take: Imma shove a lightsaber hilt up your arse if you ever say such a thing again. My eyes have never been so molested by such a foolish statement. And the sheer rage this fills me with makes Vader looks like a 5 year old locking himself in his room.

But for real I disagree. Aside from the Gungan plotline I really don´t think Jar Jar contributed anything to the movie. He was just the worst way to do comedic relief imo. Did not do much to actually contribute to the movie while just not really being funny.

The reason i say it is because imo, Jar Jar is the only character that really has a consistent display of emotion in those movies. Every other character for the most bar a scene or two is dull as fuck.

As much as i dislike jar jar as a character, at least he tries with emotion even if it is being a fucking mong

[The Huskar Social Union]

I mean take that underwater scene with the giant monster fish of doom

Obi-Wan: *Silent blank stare with the tiniest bit of confusion at times*
Qui-Gon: "Calm yourself" *Silent stare* "aLwAyS a BiGgEr FiSh"
Jar Jar: "AHHH IM GONA FUCKING DIE, I SEE DEMONS, OH SHIT I SEE DEMONS"

[Andsed]

Hot take: Imma shove a lightsaber hilt up your arse if you ever say such a thing again. My eyes have never been so molested by such a foolish statement. And the sheer rage this fills me with makes Vader looks like a 5 year old locking himself in his room.

But for real I disagree. Aside from the Gungan plotline I really don´t think Jar Jar contributed anything to the movie. He was just the worst way to do comedic relief imo. Did not do much to actually contribute to the movie while just not really being funny.

The reason i say it is because imo, Jar Jar is the only character that really has a consistent display of emotion in those movies. Every other character for the most bar a scene or two is dull as fuck.

As much as i dislike jar jar as a character, at least he tries with emotion even if it is being a fucking mong

Fair enough. Ahmed Best did do a good job in his acting even if I dislike the character.

[Ism]

Hot take: Phantom Menace would be a worse movie if Jar Jar Binks was not in it.

I would agree, though for different reasons than you it seems.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Hot take: Phantom Menace would be a worse movie if Jar Jar Binks was not in it.

I would agree, though for different reasons than you it seems.

Reveal unto me your reasons my son.

[Ism]

I would agree, though for different reasons than you it seems.

Reveal unto me your reasons my son.

I just don't hate Jar Jar. I don't really like him, I think he's too loud and he's onscreen too much, but I don't have any real vitriol for the character, and I find a few of his bits funny. He is useful to the narrative, helping our heroes to find and recruit the Gungans too.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Reveal unto me your reasons my son.

I just don't hate Jar Jar. I don't really like him, I think he's too loud and he's onscreen too much, but I don't have any real vitriol for the character, and I find a few of his bits funny. He is useful to the narrative, helping our heroes to find and recruit the Gungans too.

I accept your reasons.

[Fedel]

God. Me attempting to be nice has gotten me more shit than any of my actual criticisms.

I don't actually think the Death Star flaw is a huge issue...

...How the hell is that flinging shit at you?

Because this exact same misunderstanding already occurred but people such as yourself are still jumping down my throat about it.

[The Galactic Liberal Democracy]

Holy shit guys, what if the CIS is based on the Commonwealth of Independent States?

First off, the CIS has a very similar theme to the Confederacy. The blue with white and yellow markings may not be reminiscent enough, but the lines on the flag looks distinctly like Separatist designs. This alone may be enough to ignore, but there's more.

Let's look at the acronyms. A commonwealth is a group of states that have joined together for a common purpose. I interestingly enough, this is also the definition of another word for allied states: a confederacy. Obviously, the independent part is the same. But now we get to the last letter. In Star Wars, systems are partially autonomous political entities determined by location and political factors. They act exactly like states in a confederacy or commonwealth. And obviously they have seceded from the Republic. What Republic did the CIS secede from? That's right, the USSR.

If political and thematic proof isn't enough, look at the background of the prequels. The Republic is being killed from the inside and people are getting angry and at increasingly weak leadership. The Separatists are fighting for independence due to laws keeping the growing hand of corporatism in check in a corrupt government. A lot of Star Wars seems to be about historical counterparts, so it's not unlikely that the series contains an allusion to the modern global situation.

What do you think? Is it plausible that parts of the prequels allude to the real CIS or is it a coincidence?

[Saiwania]

Hot take: Phantom Menace would be a worse movie if Jar Jar Binks was not in it.

The Phantom Menace is a bad movie overall (regardless of the version) from what I remember. If I recall correctly, this has already been done. Back in the old but not so old days, someone basically took the full movie and edited out every single scene that had Jar Jar Binks in it and uploaded it online. Called The Phantom Edit.

[Alvecia]

The reason i say it is because imo, Jar Jar is the only character that really has a consistent display of emotion in those movies. Every other character for the most bar a scene or two is dull as fuck.

As much as i dislike jar jar as a character, at least he tries with emotion even if it is being a fucking mong

Fair enough. Ahmed Best did do a good job in his acting even if I dislike the character.

Doesn't he host like a Star Wars themed Crystal Maze-esque show now or something?

[Andsed]

Fair enough. Ahmed Best did do a good job in his acting even if I dislike the character.

Doesn't he host like a Star Wars themed Crystal Maze-esque show now or something?

Yeah. It is called Jedi Temple Challenge. It is apparently some web based game show for kids where Ahmed is playing the role of a Jedi master and the kids competing are Padawans. I personally have not watched it or have much interest in it, but it is nice to know he is doing better these days. The amount of hate he got was just disgusting.


Also am I the only one who finds it slightly disappointing that instead of a Vader animated series were getting one around the Bad Batch? Like I am not totally opposed to it I just think not doing one around Vader is a missed opportunity.

[Ascoobis]

Concerning the Final Order fleet debate that's been raging the last couple of pages, I'd like to suggest an alternative. My first post in this thread in centuries, so here we go...

I agree that it is world-breaking to suggest that the Sith Cultists built a 10,000 ship fleet. However, the Wookiepedia Page on the Battle of Exogol states that there were 1,080 Xyston-Class Star Destroyers. Here's my idea: What if these weren't newly built ships, but merely retrofitted Imperial Is and II Star Destroyers? After all, at its height, the Galactic Empire officially had 25,000 Imperial Star Destroyers. There are two likely ways this could have happened:

1) It would be totally in-character that as part of the vengeful "Operation: Cinder" for Palpatine to screw over the Empire even more by stripping its fleet strength and sending it off into the Unknown Regions. It'd help explain the combination of the factors that led to the rapid Empire collapse we saw in canon, they were overstretched(Occupying a hostile galaxy), breaking up into warlord factions(Some such as Gallius Rex openly sabotaging and dismantling the Empire), and beyond that their ranks were diminished by sending out 1,000 badly needed ship out to the middle of nowhere.

2) The presence of a significant number of Imperial I-Class Star Destroyers, rather than the most recent Imperial IIs that were being constructed since about 5BBY, suggests that ships have slowly been built "off the record" or written off and accumulating at Exogol since the earlier days of the Empire as the seemingly last phase of the contingency plan started by "Operation: Cinder". 1,080 is 4.3% of the Imperial Fleet at its height, so a long-term project of ordering excess ships and slowly deploying the extra ships to Exogol straight from the shipyards doesn't sound entirely impossible.

The idea of conversions sounds better and simpler than newly built ships, but still raises the question of "how"? I'm afraid that's a failure of whoever was in charge of Worldbuilding and the shortsightedness of JJ Abrams. My best interpretation of this poorly thought out idea is that they received assistance from former Imperial companies(Headed by closeted Imperial loyalists or Sith Cultists). After all, the New Republic that's corrupt, decentralized, and incompetent enough to allow Sienar(As Sienar-Jaemus Systems/Fleet Systems), Kuat(As Kaut-Entralla Engineering/Drive Yards), BlasTech, and the rest of the old Imperial Military-Industrial Complex to still technically exist unscathed would miss out if they cranked out an order for 1,000 Kyber Superlasers, not that big of a production run, for some "nebulous customer" (like the First or Final Orders) and shipped them to the Unknown Regions. Palpatine probably paid handsomely for all sorts of military gear, money is no object to a determined Emperor.

[Andsed]

Concerning the Final Order fleet debate that's been raging the last couple of pages, I'd like to suggest an alternative. My first post in this thread in centuries, so here we go...

I agree that it is world-breaking to suggest that the Sith Cultists built a 10,000 ship fleet. However, the Wookiepedia Page on the Battle of Exogol states that there were 1,080 Xyston-Class Star Destroyers. Here's my idea: What if these weren't newly built ships, but merely retrofitted Imperial Is and II Star Destroyers? After all, at its height, the Galactic Empire officially had 25,000 Imperial Star Destroyers. There are two likely ways this could have happened:

1) It would be totally in-character that as part of the vengeful "Operation: Cinder" for Palpatine to screw over the Empire even more by stripping its fleet strength and sending it off into the Unknown Regions. It'd help explain the combination of the factors that led to the rapid Empire collapse we saw in canon, they were overstretched(Occupying a hostile galaxy), breaking up into warlord factions(Some such as Gallius Rex openly sabotaging and dismantling the Empire), and beyond that their ranks were diminished by sending out 1,000 badly needed ship out to the middle of nowhere.

2) The presence of a significant number of Imperial I-Class Star Destroyers, rather than the most recent Imperial IIs that were being constructed since about 5BBY, suggests that ships have slowly been built "off the record" or written off and accumulating at Exogol since the earlier days of the Empire as the seemingly last phase of the contingency plan started by "Operation: Cinder". 1,080 is 4.3% of the Imperial Fleet at its height, so a long-term project of ordering excess ships and slowly deploying the extra ships to Exogol straight from the shipyards doesn't sound entirely impossible.

The idea of conversions sounds better and simpler than newly built ships, but still raises the question of "how"? I'm afraid that's a failure of whoever was in charge of Worldbuilding and the shortsightedness of JJ Abrams. My best interpretation of this poorly thought out idea is that they received assistance from former Imperial companies(Headed by closeted Imperial loyalists or Sith Cultists). After all, the New Republic that's corrupt, decentralized, and incompetent enough to allow Sienar(As Sienar-Jaemus Systems/Fleet Systems), Kuat(As Kaut-Entralla Engineering/Drive Yards), BlasTech, and the rest of the old Imperial Military-Industrial Complex to still technically exist unscathed would miss out if they cranked out an order for 1,000 Kyber Superlasers, not that big of a production run, for some "nebulous customer" (like the First or Final Orders) and shipped them to the Unknown Regions. Palpatine probably paid handsomely for all sorts of military gear, money is no object to a determined Emperor.

So rechecking I may have been wrong on the 10,000 bit. But those new star destroyer were not converted old ones. The Xystons are totally new ships that are even bigger than an ISD. Palpatine somehow managed to build hundreds of Star Destroyers on a single planet is a couple decades. It is still quite world breaking and absurd.

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

Concerning the Final Order fleet debate that's been raging the last couple of pages, I'd like to suggest an alternative. My first post in this thread in centuries, so here we go...

I agree that it is world-breaking to suggest that the Sith Cultists built a 10,000 ship fleet. However, the Wookiepedia Page on the Battle of Exogol states that there were 1,080 Xyston-Class Star Destroyers. Here's my idea: What if these weren't newly built ships, but merely retrofitted Imperial Is and II Star Destroyers? After all, at its height, the Galactic Empire officially had 25,000 Imperial Star Destroyers. There are two likely ways this could have happened:

1) It would be totally in-character that as part of the vengeful "Operation: Cinder" for Palpatine to screw over the Empire even more by stripping its fleet strength and sending it off into the Unknown Regions. It'd help explain the combination of the factors that led to the rapid Empire collapse we saw in canon, they were overstretched(Occupying a hostile galaxy), breaking up into warlord factions(Some such as Gallius Rex openly sabotaging and dismantling the Empire), and beyond that their ranks were diminished by sending out 1,000 badly needed ship out to the middle of nowhere.

2) The presence of a significant number of Imperial I-Class Star Destroyers, rather than the most recent Imperial IIs that were being constructed since about 5BBY, suggests that ships have slowly been built "off the record" or written off and accumulating at Exogol since the earlier days of the Empire as the seemingly last phase of the contingency plan started by "Operation: Cinder". 1,080 is 4.3% of the Imperial Fleet at its height, so a long-term project of ordering excess ships and slowly deploying the extra ships to Exogol straight from the shipyards doesn't sound entirely impossible.

The idea of conversions sounds better and simpler than newly built ships, but still raises the question of "how"? I'm afraid that's a failure of whoever was in charge of Worldbuilding and the shortsightedness of JJ Abrams. My best interpretation of this poorly thought out idea is that they received assistance from former Imperial companies(Headed by closeted Imperial loyalists or Sith Cultists). After all, the New Republic that's corrupt, decentralized, and incompetent enough to allow Sienar(As Sienar-Jaemus Systems/Fleet Systems), Kuat(As Kaut-Entralla Engineering/Drive Yards), BlasTech, and the rest of the old Imperial Military-Industrial Complex to still technically exist unscathed would miss out if they cranked out an order for 1,000 Kyber Superlasers, not that big of a production run, for some "nebulous customer" (like the First or Final Orders) and shipped them to the Unknown Regions. Palpatine probably paid handsomely for all sorts of military gear, money is no object to a determined Emperor.

That sounds like a reasonable position. Still stand by my points but this is cool too. Not to say that andsed points where un reasonable, but that is a new perspective I didn't think of. I like it.

Concerning the Final Order fleet debate that's been raging the last couple of pages, I'd like to suggest an alternative. My first post in this thread in centuries, so here we go...

I agree that it is world-breaking to suggest that the Sith Cultists built a 10,000 ship fleet. However, the Wookiepedia Page on the Battle of Exogol states that there were 1,080 Xyston-Class Star Destroyers. Here's my idea: What if these weren't newly built ships, but merely retrofitted Imperial Is and II Star Destroyers? After all, at its height, the Galactic Empire officially had 25,000 Imperial Star Destroyers. There are two likely ways this could have happened:

1) It would be totally in-character that as part of the vengeful "Operation: Cinder" for Palpatine to screw over the Empire even more by stripping its fleet strength and sending it off into the Unknown Regions. It'd help explain the combination of the factors that led to the rapid Empire collapse we saw in canon, they were overstretched(Occupying a hostile galaxy), breaking up into warlord factions(Some such as Gallius Rex openly sabotaging and dismantling the Empire), and beyond that their ranks were diminished by sending out 1,000 badly needed ship out to the middle of nowhere.

2) The presence of a significant number of Imperial I-Class Star Destroyers, rather than the most recent Imperial IIs that were being constructed since about 5BBY, suggests that ships have slowly been built "off the record" or written off and accumulating at Exogol since the earlier days of the Empire as the seemingly last phase of the contingency plan started by "Operation: Cinder". 1,080 is 4.3% of the Imperial Fleet at its height, so a long-term project of ordering excess ships and slowly deploying the extra ships to Exogol straight from the shipyards doesn't sound entirely impossible.

The idea of conversions sounds better and simpler than newly built ships, but still raises the question of "how"? I'm afraid that's a failure of whoever was in charge of Worldbuilding and the shortsightedness of JJ Abrams. My best interpretation of this poorly thought out idea is that they received assistance from former Imperial companies(Headed by closeted Imperial loyalists or Sith Cultists). After all, the New Republic that's corrupt, decentralized, and incompetent enough to allow Sienar(As Sienar-Jaemus Systems/Fleet Systems), Kuat(As Kaut-Entralla Engineering/Drive Yards), BlasTech, and the rest of the old Imperial Military-Industrial Complex to still technically exist unscathed would miss out if they cranked out an order for 1,000 Kyber Superlasers, not that big of a production run, for some "nebulous customer" (like the First or Final Orders) and shipped them to the Unknown Regions. Palpatine probably paid handsomely for all sorts of military gear, money is no object to a determined Emperor.

So rechecking I may have been wrong on the 10,000 bit. But those new star destroyer were not converted old ones. The Xystons are totally new ships that are even bigger than an ISD. Palpatine somehow managed to build hundreds of Star Destroyers on a single planet is a couple decades. It is still quite world breaking and absurd.

I still don't think it's world breaking. 1080 ships in 30 years assuming advanced quick construction methods where used is reasonable.

Plus can we talk about how it was revealed? Just like everything else in Palpatinens introduction it was fantastic.

[Andsed]

Concerning the Final Order fleet debate that's been raging the last couple of pages, I'd like to suggest an alternative. My first post in this thread in centuries, so here we go...

I agree that it is world-breaking to suggest that the Sith Cultists built a 10,000 ship fleet. However, the Wookiepedia Page on the Battle of Exogol states that there were 1,080 Xyston-Class Star Destroyers. Here's my idea: What if these weren't newly built ships, but merely retrofitted Imperial Is and II Star Destroyers? After all, at its height, the Galactic Empire officially had 25,000 Imperial Star Destroyers. There are two likely ways this could have happened:

1) It would be totally in-character that as part of the vengeful "Operation: Cinder" for Palpatine to screw over the Empire even more by stripping its fleet strength and sending it off into the Unknown Regions. It'd help explain the combination of the factors that led to the rapid Empire collapse we saw in canon, they were overstretched(Occupying a hostile galaxy), breaking up into warlord factions(Some such as Gallius Rex openly sabotaging and dismantling the Empire), and beyond that their ranks were diminished by sending out 1,000 badly needed ship out to the middle of nowhere.

2) The presence of a significant number of Imperial I-Class Star Destroyers, rather than the most recent Imperial IIs that were being constructed since about 5BBY, suggests that ships have slowly been built "off the record" or written off and accumulating at Exogol since the earlier days of the Empire as the seemingly last phase of the contingency plan started by "Operation: Cinder". 1,080 is 4.3% of the Imperial Fleet at its height, so a long-term project of ordering excess ships and slowly deploying the extra ships to Exogol straight from the shipyards doesn't sound entirely impossible.

The idea of conversions sounds better and simpler than newly built ships, but still raises the question of "how"? I'm afraid that's a failure of whoever was in charge of Worldbuilding and the shortsightedness of JJ Abrams. My best interpretation of this poorly thought out idea is that they received assistance from former Imperial companies(Headed by closeted Imperial loyalists or Sith Cultists). After all, the New Republic that's corrupt, decentralized, and incompetent enough to allow Sienar(As Sienar-Jaemus Systems/Fleet Systems), Kuat(As Kaut-Entralla Engineering/Drive Yards), BlasTech, and the rest of the old Imperial Military-Industrial Complex to still technically exist unscathed would miss out if they cranked out an order for 1,000 Kyber Superlasers, not that big of a production run, for some "nebulous customer" (like the First or Final Orders) and shipped them to the Unknown Regions. Palpatine probably paid handsomely for all sorts of military gear, money is no object to a determined Emperor.

That sounds like a reasonable position. Still stand by my points but this is cool too. Not to say that andsed points where un reasonable, but that is a new perspective I didn't think of. I like it.

So rechecking I may have been wrong on the 10,000 bit. But those new star destroyer were not converted old ones. The Xystons are totally new ships that are even bigger than an ISD. Palpatine somehow managed to build hundreds of Star Destroyers on a single planet is a couple decades. It is still quite world breaking and absurd.

I still don't think it's world breaking. 1080 ships in 30 years assuming advanced quick construction methods where used is reasonable.

Plus can we talk about how it was revealed? Just like everything else in Palpatinens introduction it was fantastic.

You are displaying a grave misunderstanding how ships are built in Star Wars. They cannot just be built anywhere. Just like how one cannot make a tank or naval vessel without a factory. You need production centers like shipyards to do so en mass. No exceptions. And it takes time. In the decade or so it was around the Empire (with most of the Galaxy) made around 25,000 ISD´s. The mere idea that this tiny cult with not even 1 percent of the resasources of the Empire could build 1/25th of that numbers of ships bigger and more powerful than an ISD is absurd. No shipyard or anything of the sort are shown on Exegol. So Palpatine building over 1,000 Star Xyston Destroyers(which, again are entirely new vessels bigger than an ISD) is simply not possible. It is not only world breaking but also lazy writing. Just giving Palpatine a big fleet because he needs to be a big threat now and we clearly need more fucking planet destroyers. But no we need 1,000 planet destroyers because fuck it. It is not like that is so fucking over the top it is going to make half the audience groan and roll their fucking eyes.

The fleet is not only world breaking but is absurd and it´s mere goddamn presence makes the movie impossible to be taken with any kind of seriousness. It is like a child claiming to have 10 trillion billion soldiers. Silly, over the top and makes no goddamm sense.

[Fedel]

I was reading articles about TLJ recently and as I was reading them I realized they seemed eerily similar.

Following this feeling, I compared the articles side by side, it turns out, outside of a few altered words in their articles, they both used the exact same "evidence" in support of their commentaries. The statistical likelihood of this occurring is so low it might as well not be possible. That leaves two options, one of them copied off the other or they were sent these "tweets" by somebody and asked to write an article on them. I'd be interested on hearing what you guys think about this tbh.

The articles in question:

https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/sta ... y-defense/
https://comicbook.com/movies/news/twitt ... to-defend/

[Valrifell]

I was reading articles about TLJ recently and as I was reading them I realized they seemed eerily similar.

Following this feeling, I compared the articles side by side, it turns out, outside of a few altered words in their articles, they both used the exact same "evidence" in support of their commentaries. The statistical likelihood of this occurring is so low it might as well not be possible. That leaves two options, one of them copied off the other or they were sent these "tweets" by somebody and asked to write an article on them. I'd be interested on hearing what you guys think about this tbh.

The articles in question:

https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/sta ... y-defense/
https://comicbook.com/movies/news/twitt ... to-defend/

I'd be willing to bet that those sites are apart of the same media conglomerate that shares articles between their sister sites. It's not that uncommon of a practice.

[Fedel]

I was reading articles about TLJ recently and as I was reading them I realized they seemed eerily similar.

Following this feeling, I compared the articles side by side, it turns out, outside of a few altered words in their articles, they both used the exact same "evidence" in support of their commentaries. The statistical likelihood of this occurring is so low it might as well not be possible. That leaves two options, one of them copied off the other or they were sent these "tweets" by somebody and asked to write an article on them. I'd be interested on hearing what you guys think about this tbh.

The articles in question:

https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/sta ... y-defense/
https://comicbook.com/movies/news/twitt ... to-defend/

I'd be willing to bet that those sites are apart of the same media conglomerate that shares articles between their sister sites. It's not that uncommon of a practice.

Will have to check. Imo, that's a very shady business practice. Especially when they portray themselves as having come up with it by themselves.