adywan said:

BmB said:

Apart from looking incredibly fake in the trailer, having one x-wing shot down like that complete destroys that moment of victory.

Incredibly fake? In what way does it look "Incredibly" fake? And having one X-Wing shot down doesn't change anything. The victory is still there. The Stardestroyer is disabled and the transport escapes.

The X-wing just stops dead in it's tracks and turns into an animated explosion clip. In high contrast to the way nearly every other X-wing death is portrayed in the OT. If not every single one.

Second, it changes everything, as DE touched upon, the mood is dramatically affected from an unexpected and very pleasantly surprising victory - you know they're in for it, the empire knows they're in for it, they know they're in for it... but the Ion cannon knows something else - to simply another needlessly gritty, unpleasant and unsatisfying half-victory. It goes from the most enjoyable scene to the most pointless scene of the movie just like that.