While I don't think that the idea of the crossguard is dumb, in fact the extra protection and added offensive options are a great idea, there is a critical design flaw, the metal part that extends out. One of the most useful things about this feature is that if the enemy lightsaber descends down the blade the guard should catch it, but because of this nub the lightsaber would simply slice the gaurd off. That corner where the arrow points needs to be "solid" to prevent a breakthrough, but is instead a weakpoint.
Did you not read my link on Cortosis. Or do you know about Mandalorian Iron? There are substances in Star Wars that are highly resistant to even Lightsabre blades. The two I list above are just examples. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mandalorian_iron http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cortosis
In fairness it could be argued that the actual upper section of the emitters might be coated in mandalorian iron or some similar lightsaber resistant metal of some kind. If it was it might help to truly justify the crossguard across the blade and it's design. Unfortunately such metals also only exist in the Expanded Universe, so it really depends if they carry it over or not.
Except Mandalorian Iron has been in the Clone Wars animated series, which to my knowledge isn't Extended Universe but actual universe. Plus if there's one Lightsabre resistant material in Star Wars, there may be more.
Ah, that I did not know about, thank you. In that case it is certainly quite possible then. The other point I would add is that it might also be a weapon intended to be used with telekinesis such as with Darth Traya, which might help to justify some of its use. Perhaps all blades extend at once and we're just seeing the mode of when it's wielded with two hands.
I see. I hadn't really gotten into the Extended Universe, and pretty much my visualization was how in Episode 1 they were able to chop Darth Maul's hilt in half, so I assumed it could just be cut as well. If those nubs can actually catch a lightsaber, then I know longer think the design is stupidly flawed. If it can be cut, well that's another story.
