Star Wars Visions Trailer Lightsaber Umbrella And Historical Context

The first major Star Wars Visions trailer was released today, and it has a lightsaber umbrella. Not the sort of umbrella that's meant for blocking raindrops, but the sort that's meant to spin and deflect blaster bolts. At first, this sort of weapon might seem unnatural and absurd.

First – Star Wars started going wild with lightsaber action well before even George Lucas decided to expand with the double-bladed weapon for Darth Maul. We're talking lightsaber daggers, whips, and multi-blade nonsense aplenty in the expanded universe throughout the 1990's. Imagine all the ways a bladed edge has been implemented in weapons here on Earth over the past several hundred hears, and you shall see the pathways Star Wars shall take!

When it comes to the umbrella weapon we see in the trailer... you might wonder if such a thing has ever existed as a bladed weapon here in reality.

Once you dive deeper into the history of the umbrella as a weapon, you find that it most certainly HAS been used as a weapon. Take a peek at one demonstration (of many) in the video below. Not just one umbrella, but two!

You'll find it used as a club, Or an instrument with which one can catch and pull the arm or weapon of an opponent. Or a piece of hardware that can conceal a single blade – or a gun! But bladed tips – that's pretty rare.

Above you'll see the trailer for Star Wars: Visions. You'll find what you might expect to be the one example of a spinning-blade umbrella weapon in the history of video media at approximately 56 seconds.

But behold! Another sword umbrella in a movie in the trailer below! This movie SHADOW was released in the year 2019 and features a LOT of said weapons.

You might also remember the classic "Master of the Flying Guillotine" from the year 1976. There it's more of a hat situation. The hat is blades, and the hat is attached to a string. Also there is a guy that can extend his arms!

The razor-rimmed hat is more common in pop culture than the spinning blade umbrella, but both certainly have appeared in movies and TV shows in the past. Whether or not either one was ever used in actual real-life combat is up for debate.

In any case, Star Wars: Visions will be released in episodes starting on September 22, 2021. This Original Series will feature stories from seven visionary Japanese anime studios, and the stories are going to get WILD!