Box

In a Galaxy far far away a red transport van arrives at Crowdedbrain HQ and out popped an imperial delivery driver with a large parcel in his hands - which almost seemed 4ft in length - we rushed to the door ripped the parcel from his hands (using the power of the force) and opened the outer protective packaging to reveal a 'Most Impressive' box underneath.

The box itself is black with silver writing and a picture of the Lightsaber on the front, with a description of Darth Vader and a piccie of the Dark Lord itself at the back.

With expectations and excitement racing through our bodies we opened the box to reveal a beautiful crafted Lightsaber, a stand which you can place your Saber on - which incidentally can be wall mounted (no screws included though) and an instruction manual.

Note: the Lightsaber will need 3 x AA batteries (not supplied).

Build Quality

Believe us when we say this that the sheer pleasure you get seeing the Lightsaber is joined by sheer delight as you hold the blade for the first time. A hugh grin was impossible to remove from our faces.

The second thing you will notice is how long and heavy the Lightsaber is and the quality of the hilt and blade itself. Forgot your cheap plastic Sabers you may have owned in the past, this is the real deal and it’s hard to describe how good it looks.

The battery pack incorporates a motion sensor - which we will come to in a second - and with the batteries in place this makes the blade even heavier, however the battery pack looks the part as well and it makes us think of Vader himself completing his built Lightsaber for the first time and placing the power cell to the base of his blade.

The stand that the LightSaber comes with is a touch plasticy compared to the latter, but it is still sturdy to hold this work of art.

The Lightsaber is not a complete replica of the one Vader uses in the New Hope film. mainly because it has to be slightly larger to compensate for the sound effect and motion sensors incorporated in the blade, but you will find all the little touches such as the on/off switch used to ignite the Lightsaber, the belt clip and lower handgrip pieces at the base, to truley complete the look from the films.

The blade is pretty durable but the manual does not recommend duelling or hitting people with it! However we can tell you that it is strong and should not break easily unless really hit hard! (which you would not want to do anyway).

The Power of the Dark Side

Oh boy, but when you turn on the Lightsaber for the first time, the rush of excitement boils into near Orgasmic proportions. With digitally mastered effects recorded from the film, this Saber not only looks the same but also sounds the same! - Check out the podcast of this review to get a taste of the action.


PODCAST - Below is our first attempt at a podcast, it includes the review and even the sound affects of the blade.



The Lightsaber itself glows Red when turned on and as you would expect it does not look as good in bright conditions. Its really designed to be used in dark environments and that's when you really feel like a true Sith lord.

Testing of the Lightsaber went something like this, ignite and de-ignite the saber for the first 30 minutes, 20 minutes of spiralling around the room waving the Saber in the air and 20 minutes of quoting all the saying from the films and just standing around posing - awesome!

Whilst idle the Vader Blade growls, but when the blade is moved the motion sensor kicks in and makes the blade react with a couple of different noises. Hitting the blade will cause it to make that gorgeous clashing sound you hear from the films, but you will need to put a bit of effort into this (which shows off the bladed build quality).

Finally when you turn off the blade it makes the familiar sound you would expect to hear from the films. Once again it’s soooooo cool!

We have had the blade for a week now and use it every day, it sits there on the table like a box of Pringles - once you put it down you can't stop picking it up again.

You will want to hold this blade in your arms, as it feels so darn cool to hold and there is even a feeling of sheer power the moment you ignite the saber and hold it aloft time after time.

You Have Failed me for the Last Time

We have to admit there are a few niggles we have to point out, the first is the colour of the blade itself, yes it looks red in most light conditions, but we are certain it looks more orangey to our eyes in complete darkness. Though our opinion on this keeps changing daily on this very subject.

Make sure you get good quality batteries for the Lightsaber, don't bother with cheap ones as this may add to the blades loss of colour. We used a set of Duracell rechargeable batteries (designed for Digital cameras), but normal Duracells would be better. So far these have lasted a week and the blade is still going strong.

The motion sensor could be a bit more sensitive, as at times it does not kick in as frequently for our liking.

However with practice you will get the most from the blade and nothing can stop the sheer delight of using this replica Lightsaber, it’s made our Star Wars Dreams come true and with news that Master Replica - the makers of the Lightsaber - loosing the licence for constructing the blades, its best to grab one whilst you can, especially as Play.com are virtually giving them away at £40 each.

Oh yes they also do other Lightsabers as well, Lukes, Yodas and DarthMauls (though this is a lot more money). So the only danger is, once you have one, you will want them all!

Note: We already recommended the Lightsaber to a couple of colleagues the other week and they popped over just before the review went live with their recently purchased Luke and Yoda Lightsabers. It was the first time we had seen all three together and we must say each has their own special sound effects, which when brought together makes the art of owning a Replica Lightsaber even better!