Ewoks defeat the empire with sticks and rocks
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shareNo they didn't, in fact they had to retreat as they were being overrun, before Chewy got a hold of an AT-ST.
Or do you have a different cut of the film?
How were they being injured by rocks and sticks with their armor on? They must have died from having their feelings hurt. If the armor can't repel blaster fire, or even rocks and sticks, what purpose does it serve, exactly? Oh, and they can't hit the broad side of a barn with their blasters either.
shareSince Stormtrooper (Star Wars) armour is PLASTIC, basically, then yes, it's good for BUGGER ALL. To be honest, I think it's one of Lucas's most inane moments to have the main soldiers of the Empire run around in white plastic coveralls.
I'm willing to believe that Stormtrooper armor is crap, because the Emperor wasn't about to pay for beskar steel armor for his gigantic galactic army, or anything that costs money. Good armor costs more than enslaved soldiers, after all.
shareOK, but we never see a single storm trooper pierced with an arrow or spear.
shareNot to mention that were in the Ewoks' home which gave them the advantage anyway.
However they WERE getting destroyed before Chewy got an AT-ST.
Not that this excuses the Ewoks' being so inexplicably effective, but maces were used on chainmail to bypass the need to penetrate the armour at all. You don't need to burst the links if you just turn the guy inside it into pulp. If you hit a stormtrooper enough times with a huge club, it doesn't matter that he's wearing armour, those repeated impacts will break his bones and turn him into paste.
If you imagine the Ewoks are crazy-strong for their size, most of the problems with Jedi's final fight go away. It makes sense why, even with armour, the troopers would cringe while being pummelled. It also makes sense how they can carry Chewbacca on those sticks...
Even being strong for your size wouldn't make arrows fly any faster. The velocity at which the rocks and spears are being thrown or slung doesn't seem particularly unusual. Maybe the rocks dropped from the hang-gliders might do a bit more damage if they were higher up (but they aren't) and if the rocks were larger (but they aren't if I recall correctly). The super strength of the Ewoks may exist on paper but isn't really presented effectively in the film. The little people actors inside the costumes don' really convey this. So doesn't really fly for me. We don't even see an dents in the armor or an pentation by arrows that would indicate massive internal injuries. Of course, showing that would have made this family film a lot more violent, so maybe that's why it wasn't emphasized visually. Hasn't stopped me from enjoying the film. You do have to suspend your disbelief a bit though. The effective guerilla tactics and knowledge of the terrain is a good argument, however. The logs and boulders would certainly do some damage. We are shown the Ewoks attacking the storm troopers with arrows to draw them into the forest, where the Ewoks could use those tactics more effectively. So it has some believability to it, and the Ewoks were shown having some problems later on in the battle despite this until Chewie showed up. I wouldn't be too hard on it.
shareDenser rocks?
Look, I won't pretend this is a good thing. To be clear, the movie should make any such strength clear and it absolutely doesn't. It's clear (to me) that Lucas wanted adorable, sale-able teddy bears in the movie and thought it would be cute and funny to have them walloping the stormtroopers. My theory is a stop-gap, and yeah, it's not perfect.
I'm 100% suspending disbelief, and it's a flaw in the movie. I shouldn't have to do work for the movie. (Different than movies making me think or not spoon-feeding me everything).
You're right to point out stuff like the logs, boulders, guerrilla tactics, etc.
I basically forgive it because the OT is mostly awesome with a few flaws in ROTJ that don't bring it down for me.