Lightsabers at Best Buy

Cosmic Superchunk

Cosmic Superchunk

Joined
Jan 28, 2001
Messages
3,709
As you all know by now Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comes out on the 19th of May and as always, the merchandising of movie paraphernalia is in full force. As a kid, I was a big Star Wars fan and had one of those telescoping plastic lightsaber toys as did a lot of kids back in the late 70's early 80's. Nowadays, you can find the same plastic telescoping toy lightsabers except they're outfitted with electronic sounds and lights. Cool for kids, but what about those adult....Okay, I'll say it. "geeks" who like all sorts of electronic gadgets, flashlights and stuff? Well, I was at Best Buy over the weekend and came home with a Force FX Lightsaber Collectible. Produced by Master Replicas, these are faithful reproductions with chrome plated aluminum bodies that look and feel like the movie props. They come with permanently attached polycarbonate blades that ignite with realistic power-up, and power-down lights effects and sound effects digitally recorded from the fims along with a display stand. Retail price at Best Buy was $119.00, but it was too cool to pass up.
Okay, now for pics:

(The yellow stickers are removable)
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The light travels up and down the blade via LED's which are encased in a durable polycarbonate shell that protects it from damage. Although resonably durable, these lightsabers aren't made for dueling so if you have any kids, you may not want them to swing away with it. Pretty cool collectible though it would be nice if the polycarbonate blades were removable like these http://www.buystarwarsstuff.com/lightsabers.shtml.
 
How's it cut?



:D, sorry, I couldn't resist. I almost bought a custom prop house Darth Vader lightsabre, but I just couldn't justify spending $2000, especially when I was 18 without a pot to pee in!
 
One thing that I don't think the first post notes is that the "hum" sound effects are wired to a motion detector, so the sound modulates as you move the saber around. It's pretty impressive, especially in a dark room. Wish we had these when I was a kid!

-Raj
 
Too cool for school, man! :eek:
I'm going to have to sell a knife now.

My girlfriend's cat is going to hate me. :D
 
Rajiva said:
One thing that I don't think the first post notes is that the "hum" sound effects are wired to a motion detector, so the sound modulates as you move the saber around. It's pretty impressive, especially in a dark room. Wish we had these when I was a kid!

-Raj
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Yes, indeed! Each lightsaber has a motion sensor which gives them that distinct sound as you move them. The Darth Vader lightsaber has slightly different sound than the Anakin Skywalker lightsaber, but they both have a Power-up, idle hum, clash, and power-down sound.

Master Replicas warns against dueling with them, but the polycarbonate casings are quite durable as my 9 year old nephew proved today. I let him hold it and activate it to get a feel for it and he bagan swinging it around and hit a ceiling light fixture which broke and came crashing down. Luckily he wasn't hurt. The saber was undamaged except for 2 small nicks on the end of the polycarbonate blade, but they're hardly even noticable. The saber stilll works like new and it's proven to be shock resistant, but it's definitely a gadget you don't want small kids to mess with. Let them play with the plastic Hasbro toys. :D

By the way (in case you collector) Best Buy also has a .45 scale replica of Darth Sidious' lightsaber.

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Pretty durable, eh? Just don't send it Darth Stamp for testing, or it will come back in somewhat less-than-collectible condition.

:D
 
tarsier said:
Pretty durable, eh? Just don't send it Darth Stamp for testing, or it will come back in somewhat less-than-collectible condition.

:D
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I guess that's why it was considered "an elegant weapon for a more civilized age." :D
 
Sonuva...I would've killed for that as a kid. $119? Damn...where's a Best Buy when you need one? Now I have to search eBay for one of these...
 
Holy Jedi Masters I must have one! I've seen these before but they were custom built and really expensive (like over $500). :D
And true they usually have removable EL tubes so you can put it on your belt when wearing your authentic Jedi robes....because we all have them, just admit it.

I'd give anything for a real lightsaber...and some force powers...and a galaxy far far away to use them in...
 
I ordered one of the master replicas sabers a while back, had it in my possession for 24 hrs. I sent it back the very next day because it felt like if you swung it the blade would snap off. The EL Blade was cool and so were the sound effects, but i like to play with my toys(yeah, i'm a star wars geek :rolleyes: ). I have considered a saber from HERE. I talked to Mr. Parks and there is a warning about dueling with his sabers, not that they will break, but for ones own safety. When questioned about the strength of his products his reply was " I've had guys go at my sabers with kendo sticks and they (the sabers) don't break.
 
ZENGHOST said:
Sonuva...I would've killed for that as a kid. $119? Damn...where's a Best Buy when you need one? Now I have to search eBay for one of these...
Click to expand...

It's comming up don't worry, it should be ready in a few years... :rolleyes:
 
Those sabers look cool as hell but I wish they were a little stronger so you could swing them around and have some real fun with them.

The store I used to work at sells them and I was screwing around with a friend and took a light swing at her and CRACK!

That was the end of that.

I don't have the discipline to not wanna swing that puppy around!
 
qborchert said:
I ordered one of the master replicas sabers a while back, had it in my possession for 24 hrs. I sent it back the very next day because it felt like if you swung it the blade would snap off. The EL Blade was cool and so were the sound effects, but i like to play with my toys(yeah, i'm a star wars geek :rolleyes: ). I have considered a saber from HERE. I talked to Mr. Parks and there is a warning about dueling with his sabers, not that they will break, but for ones own safety. When questioned about the strength of his products his reply was " I've had guys go at my sabers with kendo sticks and they (the sabers) don't break.
Click to expand...

Yeah Parks' site is cool. The stuff there is pricey, but alot of cool looking sabers. One day, Id like to get one of his kits. The Master Replica stuff are strictly collectibles, but they are fun to activate and swing around. Believe me, considering what my nephew did to mine yesterday, I don't think the blade will snap off just by swinging it.
 
RE the sturdiness - you can imagine purely by the physics and engineering of the thing, that you couldn't have much of a solid connection unless that was a "full tang" (for lack of a better term) blade. I doubt it is, because there has to be some room in the handle for the batts and electronics.

On the flip side, it does have a "clash" sound that activates when you bump it against something, so it's designed for SOME play - just not full on swinging. I think that's reasonable for a toy that has so much high tech fun crammed into it. Those blue lightsaber pics look awesome., btw.

-Raj
 
That's true. The battery pack/sound emitter is located at the back of the hilt which can be unscrewed. I was checking out the one on the Parks Sabers site and although the blades can be removed and are sturdy enough for taking repeated hits, they have no sound effects nor do the lights travel up and down the blade like the Master Replica ones. The lightsabers sold by Parks are actually EL lamps like the Indiglo watch whereas the Master Replica sabers rely on LEDs.
 
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