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There are at least 3 new questions related to Easter Eggs for The Force Awakens.

What are the things that “The Force Awakens” borrowed/parallel from “A New Hope?”

What are the parallels between The Force Awakens and previous Lucas films (excluding Episode IV)

The Force Awakens Easter Eggs?

And they're getting wildly different treatment, with the most-upvoted actually being broader than the one closed for being "too broad".

What's our policy on requesting limited lists on Easter Eggs in media?

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    Why are you calling the first 2 "Easter Eggs"? Easter eggs are things deliberately hidden by creators. My 2 questions are about things that aren't "hidden", they are merely re-used (intentionally or not). Admittedly, some of them MAY classify as real Easter eggs, but most likley aren't
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 3:11
  • @DVK Because I'd call those Easter Eggs, for lack of a term, except for your "unintentional" part, which I think simply makes the question both too broad and opinion-based.
    – user31178
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 3:14
  • archetypes aren't too broad. SW is basically BUILT on archetyps (e.g. masked black clothed villain). It wasn't an Easter Egg, no matter what you personally choose to call it. But it also wasn't a random subjective similarity
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 3:16
  • @DVK Both movies start with an opening crawl on a starry background. They both have characters that don't initially believe "stories" about the force. They both have one notable black character. They both have characters with the rank of General. They both have planets with ancient stone structures, and trees, and water. They both have more than one planet. They both have land speeders. The both have C-3PO with a limb a different color than his torso/majority. They both have orange jumpsuits for X-Wing. They both have bulking, alien beast of burden. I'm even reaching yet, and could go on & on.
    – user31178
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 3:28
  • "orange jumpsuits" are clearly not in the spirit of EITHER of those questions. They aren't "the same item" (presumably?), nor are they the same meaningful plot element - they are merely continuity being preserved between sequels. Ditto "General" -merely continuity. Now, if they had a weird unexpected civilian being promoted to General....
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 3:33
  • @DVK That's just opinion though, and my point. I don't see why a new militant group, 30 years later, would necessarily use the same style of jumpsuits, including color, when even the X-Wings themselves have new color schemes. Even the white vest is the same scheme (horizontal detailing).
    – user31178
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 3:38
  • my point isn't that the suits are the same, but that that sameness isn't (at least, absent someone from creative team acknowledging that) meaningful to a reasonable person. Whereas black mask, or a desert planet, is meaningful to a reasonable person when they see it in both films, and they are important to both.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 5:18
  • @DVK I think the costume design was as much as a throwback to ANH as Kylo's mask having a moving front piece before removal, or it being black like Vader's. I'm being honest. It was clear design decision... But if it has to match your interpretation of importance, it's pretty opinion-based. Nevertheless, much more highly received than other comparable questions. My point wasn't to tear down your question, but to show that the other 2 need a little more lovin'.
    – user31178
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 5:25
  • it's slightly opinion based but not much. Most things have reasonably obvious importance - not all, but Villain Mask is unquestionably important; and flight suit design doesn't seem to have any meaning and most people wouldn't be able to tell you what the EXACT design is without having freshly seen the film.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 5:30

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In General

I'm of the opinion that Easter Egg questions are like any other kind of questions: some of them are good, some of them are not.

As a general rule, Easter Egg questions fall under "Behind-the-scenes" information, something that is firmly on-topic. Normal rules for broadness, listiness, and opinion-based questions still apply, as they always should.

Of course the general topic of Easter Eggs rather lends itself to "Validate my fan theory" questions, which must be considered carefully

In Specific

I'm personally not fussed about any of those questions. I get very nervous whenever the solution to a list question is "make a CW post and let everyone add in their pet examples." That smacks rather strongly of TVTropes' There's No Such Thing as Notability1 rule, which to my mind is the opposite of what SE aims to do.

Specifically regarding broadness, though.

General site consensus is that finite, well-scoped list questions are okay. Obviously The Force Awakens is finite. So in one sense, any question about things The Force Awakens uses for inspiration will also be finite, just because there's a limit to the number of things that can be influenced.

The issue, at least for me, comes from the other end of the question. Looking at the examples:

  1. A New Hope also finite, and fairly well-scoped. It's a single movie. Moving on

  2. Star Wars movies, but not A New Hope. Still finite; only five movies (six if you count The Clone Wars movie). Scope is getting a little harder to justify, but it's still a finite list

  3. So, I VTC'd this question. The reason I did so is because, at the time, the OP hadn't placed any limits on what the Easter Eggs were referring to, effectively asking for "all references to any other piece of media, ever." That's not merely the Star Wars franchise; that's all human creative output.

    Your edit, by the way, made it rather better by imposing some kind of reasonable limit (namely, intent of the production crew). Now that it only requires knowledge of all JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan interviews, I have VTRO'd

1 TVTropes link (duh). It's dangerous to go alone.

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  • You know, I misread the OP's edit about "Not Limited to Star Wars", thinking he meant Star Wars, AKA A New Hope. I didn't think it meant Easter Eggs from "any reference source" whatsoever! Thanks for pointing that out.
    – user31178
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 2:13
  • Only two hours lost due to TV-Tropes, I'm getting better at this!
    – Möoz
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 4:22
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    @Mooz Whoops, forgot to include the disclaimer; sorry for the inconvenience!
    – Jason Baker
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 4:30
  • @CreationEdge I have changed my questions requirements to only allow Easter Eggs from the previous Star Wars movies. I'm hoping that this will allow the post to be reopened as I feel it would be very beneficial to the site to have this information.
    – Programmer
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 14:32

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