Unpopular Opinion #3: The "Crossguard" Lightsaber is awesome

People hate this for some reason.

When the first teaser trailer debuted for the Force Awakens, two camps quickly formed around the perhaps inappropriately dubbed "crossguard" lightsaber.  Many people saw it as an impractical weapon because the "crossguard" could assumedly be sliced through by an enemies lightsaber, and because the risk of slicing yourself would naturally be higher than with a standard lightsaber

Before you go judging the "new" lightsaber from the Star Wars VII teaser, read this:

The first iteration of the "crossguard" saber

The "crossguard lightsaber" is nothing new, although it is incredibly rare. Those that have dubbed it the "lightsaber claymore" aren't far off in describing it's function. These have existed in Star Wars Expanded Universe, and are not some new gimmick. They are typically wielded with both hands, however the lightweight nature of lightsabers enable the wielder to add variety to their fighting style.

The crossguard blades allow for both offensive and defensive surprise maneuvers. Critics of the blade say that the guard blades are useless because the hilt portion of the guard can be sliced by an opponent's lightsaber. That would only be true if the crossguard blade was NOT made of any one of many lightsaber-resistant alloys, including, but not exhaustively enumerated, phrik alloy, cortosis, and Mandalorian Iron. You can safely bet your money that this Sith constructed the crossguard with one of those alloys.

As far as the USEFULNESS of the crossguard is concerned, it's use expands just beyond protecting the wielder's hands. The blades could also be used for surprise, and incredibly lethal guard strikes. Sith are widely known to employ more exotic light weapons because of the nature of surprise. The standard lightsaber is typically understood to be the best, most versatile option, but an inexperienced opponent would be easily bested by a double blade, shoto, shoto guard, pike, light whip, or dual phase lightsaber simply because they are unfamiliar with the weapon. The same can be said of the crossguard saber, and this foreignness falls right in line with Sith proclivity.

The wavy, or unstable blade is always bad news

Analyzing one step further, the blade itself is more interesting to me than the hilt. If you pay attention to the blade, you can see that it has a wavy, almost fiery effect. That, and the sound it makes when activated, indicate that the lightsaber was assembled using an imperfect synthetic red crystal. This particular variant of the synthetic crystal emits an "unstable" blade, which allows a stronger blade, but surrenders mobility and flexibility that compact or compressed imperfect blades offer.

... Not sure why I made this...

In summary: This Sith is a brawler, a dark-side Aragorn. His style will employ savage two-handed strikes, an aggressive style that will require to keep his opponents on the retreat. While this particular lightsaber is indisputably inferior to other alternatives, this one will provide an immense element of surprise for our antagonists who will have to face him.

May the Force be with them.