I Love It When Cassian’s Blaster Does the Thing

There is a lot to love in Andor. It is a dense show, a big show, one that is filled with fascinatingly layered characters worth diving deep into, twisting plotlines that hold a mirror up to our world and the galaxy far, far away alike. It’s a show that, in spite of a certain reputation in contrast to other Star Wars stories, is filled with little nods to the franchise’s history old and new. But right now, at least in our moment of interest, it’s a show where Cassian Andor’s blaster pistol goes vuh-weeeeee. Just like Andor more broadly, there’s also a lot to love about Cassian’s blaster pistol. It’s a MW-20 Bryar pistol, itself one of those aforementioned little nods: the design is heavily inspired by the legendary K-16 Bryar pistol wielded by Kyle Katarn in the Star Wars video game series Dark Forces, a character with intriguing parallels to Cassian even beyond the latter in part subsuming the role of the former in modern continuity. It’s a good-looking gun design even beyond that l ... Read full article.