Out of all of the iconic ships in the Star Wars franchise, none hold a light up to the Millennium Falcon. The ship has just a long and storied history as well as enough personality to be considered a character in its own right. Many of the most memorable moments in Star Wars either involve the Falcon or happen right inside it. From the first time we see stars blend into streaks to the destruction of both Death Stars—the Millennium Falcon is a major part of what makes Star Wars so great.

That being said the Millennium Falcon, like many other aspects of the Star Wars universe, does not always make sense. There are plenty of facts about the ship that vary from the ridiculous to the downright absurd aspects of the ship that make absolutely no sense. This is due to the huge amount of stuff the Millennium Falcon has appeared in and while some of the ridiculousness comes out of the, now non-canonical, Legends material—a good portion of what does not make sense about this ship comes out of canonical content like the main movies or other official content.

Throughout this list, I will be breaking down each of the weird aspects of the Falcon—including the wacky parts of her layout all the way to the weird ways in which the ship seems to almost command destiny. Like seriously, how this ship is simultaneously constantly breaking down but also the greatest ship in the galaxy is a wonder.

25 A Not-So-Common Freighter

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According to Wookieepedia, a major source for Star Wars information, the ship that became the Millennium Falcon is a mass produced ship that was popular throughout the galaxy for being a cheap but also effective transport ship. What this essentially means is that the YT-1300 series of ships—the designation of the ships made like the Falcon—should be plentiful throughout the Star Wars universe. Obviously this is not, as there are very few instances in which this is the case, and the Millennium Falcon remains a rare ship.

24 Why Use A Freighter?

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For all the fighting and fancy flying the Falcon tends to do, it is a bit strange that Han Solo choose a freighter for his career of smuggling. Now many would say that the freighter would be a good choice because, as a smuggler, you would have to be moving a lot of stuff around—but we will be debunking that next. For the evading aspects of Han Solo's career, it would seem to make a lot more sense for him to be using a more agile craft designed for combat and/or getting away from ships like the TIE Fighters.

23 No Cargo Hold

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Perhaps the strangest of all these facts is that the Falcon was created to be a freighter ship, aids Han Solo in his career as a smuggler, and yet features no visible cargo hold. Of course there are those hidden compartments featured in many of the ship's adventures, but they're only so big.

If the Falcon were to transport anything significantly large, there would be no suitable cargo space.

Even if there were a cargo hold, the hatch by which you enter the ship is not really all that big when it comes to the cargo containers we use on earth.

22 No Labels

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There is an absolute mess of switches in the cockpit of the fastest ship in the galaxy. Each likely has its own function and several are needed to even fire up the ship. With all of the complex and numerous modifications that have been added to the Falcon, it would stand to reason that each of those switches is important in its own right. This makes it incredibly strange that there does not seem to be any system by which these buttons and switches are labeled. What if Chewie tries to turn on the A/C and accidentally switches off the artificial gravity?

21 Burgers In Space

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The original concept art for the Millennium Falcon looked a lot more like the opening ship from A New Hope, the Tantive IV. This was changed in order to distinguish the ship as original due to the model looking too similar to another ship from a popular movie.

The team making the original Star Wars then redesigned the ship entirely in a day.

It is said that the look for the Falcon we have today was inspired by a burger with a bite taken out of it and an olive on a toothpick laying beside it.

20 Lost In Space

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Han Solo may be the Millennium Falcon's most prominent owner, but is by no means the only owner the ship has seen. In fact the ship belonged to Lando Calrissian before it came into the hands of Solo. How this came about is pretty interesting and just a little bit strange. As has been related in a couple of different Star Wars stories, Lando lost the ship in a game of sabacc to Han. Lando would likely go on to regret making the decision to put such a speedy ship up to a bet.

19 A Long History

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Speaking of all of the previous owners of the Falcon—there have been many, and each has made the ship their own in their own ways. From freight yards to space battles the ship has had a lot of modifications made to it and it's a wonder that not only are they all compatible with one another but that the ship does not break down more than it already does. Take the ships computer for example, it's comprised of three droid brains! Imagine having that many voices in your head and you're sure to see how crazy this ship is.

18 Tumbling Dice

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A major source of symbolism and retconned-in history for recent installments in the Star Wars cinematic universe have been the pair of gold dice that sit within the Falcon. While only having been featured once in the original trilogy, newer movies have put a bit more focus on the trinket.

Audiences are expected to believe that since A New Hope these dice have not moved.

Even during the long time the ship sat on Jakku apparently no one saw these gold dice and thought they could sell them or even thought they were noteworthy enough to pick up for themselves.

17 So Much Dirt, So Little Time

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After seeing how clean and pristine the Falcon is under the care of Lando Calrissian in Solo, it's a wonder to then see how the ship looks in the hands of Han later on in the timeline. The ship is downright filthy with Solo as captain, and somehow got that way in a matter of just a few years. The gap between Solo and A New Hope is not that long and yet somehow Han manages to not maintain even the slightest bit of cleanliness during that time.

16 No Control In The Cockpit?

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Due to the ship being originally made as a freighter, not a fighter, all of the guns were added on to the ship. While this could explain needing a gunner to operate the cannons, it's a bit odd that at no point the gun controls were automated or even just moved up to the cockpit instead of being left in a different part of the ship. This makes even less sense due to the fact that in most of the movies the Falcon does not have a large crew, making the management of these cannons difficult.

15 Old Reliable

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The Millennium Falcon is established as an older ship, but what fans may not realize is just how old she really is.

In fact, the Falcon is 90 years old at the time of the start of the Cold War.

The Cold War being the political landscape the galaxy is in following the rebel victory over the Empire—making the ship older than many of the characters we see in the original trilogy. What truly makes this absurd is that not only has the ship remained functional during this time, but has also managed to continue to outpace much other spacecraft.

14 Remarkable Garbage

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The Falcon participated in the destruction of two Death Stars and would have seen a lot of action in the fight against the Empire and while one would think that this would make the ship pretty famous and recognizable it still sat on Jakku for quite some time before returning to Han Solo. Surely there are war memorabilia collectors in the Star Wars universe that would have loved to have added this ship to their collection or that at least some one would know the iconic ship but apparently it takes a lot more to gain fame in the Star Wars universe.

13 Just How Much Power?

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In Solo (spoiler warning) we finally get to see the Kessel Run first hand and during this sequence the Falcon is shown being able to resist a gravity well under the regular power of its engines, and escape it with an extra boost. Going back to the original trilogy, however, the same ship not many years in the future is shown being pulled in by the Empire's tractor beam. This would either mean that the Empire has incredible tractor beam technology or the Falcon's engines somehow degrade between Solo and A New Hope.

12 What's Up With That Radar Dish?

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Radar dishes are not a very common thing to see on ships in the Star Wars universe, and are generally few and far between. In the Falcon's case, the dish is used for locating and targeting enemy ships. This begs the question as to why we rarely see any other military crafting sporting radar dishes, as this function is pretty essential to combat. While we do not see a full explanation in the movies, it can be speculated that the Millennium Falcon would need to beef up its radar tech because it was not originally designed for combat.

11 Chewie's Dejarik Table

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One of the iconic moments from the very first Star Wars movie is R2-D2 beating Chewbacca on the games table in the Millennium Falcon. One interesting thing is that the game being played is called dejarik, and another is that the table was actually put in on Chewie's request and is his own personal table.

What makes this fact absurd is that Chewie is almost never shown winning a round, and the running joke is that he is a sore loser.

What's especially weird is that Chewie keeps the table around despite losing frequently.

10 The Layout Makes Absolutely No Sense

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The logic behind the Millennium Falcon's construction makes some sense, in theory. The ship is laid out in concentric circles, which is meant to allow for a modular layout that can be expanded upon and changed. However, most attempts to use the movies to make a coherent blueprint of the ship have either failed or produced a layout that makes little sense. From a lack of amenities, to the ship only really having one bunk, the ship itself is a bit of a strange mess.

9 A Lack Of Protection

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In Solo, we get to see a closer look into the Millennium Falcon before Han and all of the changes that would eventually happen. One such thing that was revealed was that the ship had exhaust covers that would drop down when the ship was parked, and could also be used as protection during a firefight. What happened to this shielding is not revealed during the film, but it's obvious that something did happen to it at one point or another. One would think that the ship would be at a pretty significant risk without replacing the missing covers.

8 In A Galaxy Far Far Away

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The Millennium Falcon has appeared in nearly everything Star Wars, but there are also examples of the ship appearing outside of the Star Wars universe.

One such example of this is the ship appearing during a space battle in Star Trek: First Contact.

While trying to explain this in-universe could be pretty difficult, the explanation as to why the ship appears in the movie is pretty simple. This reason is that John Knoll, who did work on the Star Wars special editions, worked on effects for the movie and inserted the newly created digital Falcon into the movie as a nod to fans.

7 Beefy Yet Speedy

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The maneuverability of the Falcon is undeniable and the ship is often on par or greater in terms of dexterity when compared to the other ships it comes up against in battle. All things considered it does not really make sense for a beefy freighter to be able to keep up with the maneuverability of ships that were designed with that purpose in mind. Taking the TIE fighters, for example, they are obviously smaller and more suited to quicker manoeuvres than the Falcon, and yet somehow this ship maintains this skill while being several times bigger than the ships that regularly chase it.

6 Cock-Eyed Cockpit

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One thing about the Falcon that is weird when given thought is the fact that the cockpit hangs off to the side of the ship.

Not only does this look a little off, but the functionality of it would be difficult to get around as well.

While the next entry in this list will tackle as to why the cockpit is the way it is, you do have to think that its positioning would inhibit flying the ship in some cases.