I always saw the First Order as an ISIS type group that is able to take up arms and take over a small part of the world/galaxy through fanaticism. Obviously, they don’t have the ressources to take over the whole galaxy, but they are a worry since they have weapons and followers and can grow.

The Resistance is more like a special/black ops group that do a lot of the dirtier work that an official army would not do.

Back to my ISIS comparison, I guess the Starkiller Base is akin to ISIS developing a nuclear bomb and blowing up Washington. My one problem with TFA is the fact that they have a HUGE planet sized planet killer. I would have liked to have seen something smaller and more crude. I don’t think it even has to blow up the planets into pieces, maybe it just kills all carbon life forms, like a gas or the Genesis device from ST.

Who knows, I don’t know. I just feel the StarKiller is the main drag of TFA, a movie I love otherwise. It’s a silly overused Macguffin.