To Space Opera or to Not Space Opera, That is the Question.

[Condottiere]

I suspect that the faceplate is better protected.

 

[Murph]

Or E.E. Doc Smith's Lensman series where the heros use "Space Axes" to penetrate the armor of their foes when boarding. I keep blade weapons like swords purely as a ceremonial thing except for knives/daggers which are tools.

 

[Nightwind1]

Wandering a bit off topic, but SW merch is DEAD. Nobody is making merch for Ahsoka, Obi-Woke, or even Mando 3. The merch that exists for Disney SW isn't selling, except Baby Yoda. Yeah, fans know him as Grogu, but merch buyers just see "Baby Yoda." Kinda like Muppet Babies.

SW is 100% space opera. ST tried to be "Hard SF lite." Not so hard, especially when it came to the Radiation/Particle-of-the-Week trope. But no space wizards or laser swords. Oh, sorry. They have laser swords in New Star Trak. (Not a typo, I call all JJ Abrams-derived material "Star Trak," because Abrams' Bad Reboot and Kurtzman's Secret Fakeout know ST about as well as people back in the day who called it Star Trak.)