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Author Topic: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan  (Read 18268 times)

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Offline Jm419

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The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« on: June 28, 2012, 09:00:08 PM »
In honor of my 2000th post - which is what this was originally intended to be  :D - I present the final high-end lightsaber to enter my collection as it stands today; a lightsaber which I have deemed worthy of being named The Heart of the Force.  This lightsaber is rooted heavily in the story of Darth Revan, and much of the plot of Knights of the Old Republic and its accompanying mythos are discussed here.  If you have not yet played these games, and do not wish to have the game's story revealed to you, read no further.  Just skip to the photos.   ;)

Revan is canonically referred to as male, and will be throughout this thread.

Now that the business is taken care of, let's get to the fun part.

__________________________________________________________________________

"Savior, conqueror, hero, villain. You are all things, Revan… and yet you are nothing. In the end, you belong to neither the light nor the darkness. You will forever stand alone."

-Darth Malak, former apprentice to the Dark Lord

Revan's story begins with his arrival to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.  Much of his early life remains a mystery, and while little is known of his parentage or origins, he was nevertheless accepted at an early age to begin training in the Jedi Arts.  Kreia, later Darth Traya, was his first master, and through her, Revan learned much about the ways of the Force.  After several years training with Kreia, Revan left her tutelage to study under the masters of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine.

Revan proved right from the beginning to be an insatiable learner; amongst his many masters, several noted his desire to learn as much as possible about the ways of the Force.  Zhar Lestin in particular noticed Revan's desire for knowledge, as did Vrook Lamar, who feared for the boy's safety, concerned that he was delving too far into what he called  "Sith magic."  The majority of Revan's teachers, however, dismissed his hunger for knowledge as youthful exuberance, and allowed him to learn whatever he could about the mysteries of the Force.  Soon, Revan returned to Kreia's tutelage on Coruscant, having learned what he could from the Jedi Masters on Dantooine.  Later, they would dismiss him as brash, arrogant, and headstrong, though all were quick to acknowledge his promise as a Padawan.



Revan soon met another young Jedi, then known as Alek.  Revan and Alek shared many adventures together at the Academy, and the two grew close and worked together often during their lessons.  Both on Coruscant and on Dantooine, Revan and Alek proved their potential to their masters and colleagues, proving time and time again that they were always ready to learn more.  In the years at the Academy, Revan and Alek discovered a peculiar device known as a Star Map, and began to search for others during their travels. By about 3964 BBY, the two young men had passed their Jedi trials, having earned the title of Jedi Knight.  Many saw the two friends as the most promising students in the Order, but most recognized that Revan was the stronger of the pair.

During the years he had studied with the Jedi, Revan had kept a close eye on the Mandalorians, who were beginning to show aggression toward neighboring systems on the Outer Rim.  By the late 3960s, it became clear that war was inevitable.  A Mandalorian force had clashed with a small Republic fleet in 3965, resulting in four minor battles with no clear victor.

In 3963, the Mandalorians invaded the Republic, provoking open warfare by laying claim to the urban world of Taris.  In the resulting chaos, the Mandalorians struck from Onderon's moon Dxun, which had been occupied and fortified in the previous years.  Striking quickly, in three assault corridors in three adjacent sectors, the Mandalorians quickly overran the ill-conceived Republic defense.  Taris was under siege.



Meanwhile, Revan had been quietly building a faction within the Jedi Order, composed of Jedi Knights and Padawans who refused to stand by and allow the Republic to fall.  Together with Alek, now known as Malak, Revan built a large group of Jedi, then asked the Council permission to intervene in the war.  The Council refused, even in the face of the nuclear bombardments of Serroco, Duros, Eres III, and Dagary Minor.  Revan, infuriated, led a mission to Cathar, the site of a great battle between the Mandalorian forces and the native people.  Several Jedi Masters followed, and ordered Revan to disband his followers.  

However, upon confronting the Jedi Knight, all of the Jedi present received a vision of a Mandalorian slaughter of the Cathar.  As the Mandalorians had prepared to open fire upon a group of captured freedom fighters, a single Mandalorian woman stepped forward to stand before the Cathar, in protest of the actions.  She was slaughtered, her mask falling to the sand.  Reeling from the vision, Revan knelt and retrieved the mask that was now half buried in the beach, and made a vow to destroy the Mandalorians once and for all.  Revan was going to war.

The Revanchists, Revan's followers, soon joined the Republic fleets, their ranks swelling as news spread of the Jedi involvement.  As Revan and Malak joined the fleets, the Republic stopped losing battles, and began to win them.  Revan was a tactical genius, capable of winning battles which should have been obvious defeats.  Together with Revan's planning and Malak's prowess on the battlefield, the war began to turn in favor of the Republic.  On Dxun, Republic casualties mounted, but Revan pushed on to take the world.  As the war progressed, Revan began to commit actions which began to mirror those of his enemies; he left worlds entirely undefended to attack strategic sectors, or would sacrifice a portion of his fleet to open a hole in the enemy defenses. Soon, Revan and Malak began to thirst for conflict for its own sake, and they became more and more like the warlike Mandalorians.

"Revan's strategies and tactics defeated the best of us. Even Mandalore himself was taken aback by the ferocity of his attacks, the tenacity of his defenses and the subtlety of his plans. Revan fought us to a standstill and then began pushing back. We didn't really have a chance."

-Canderous Ordo

After much of the Mandalorian ground forces had been decimated at Althir, Revan forced the Mandalorian fleet into an engagement above Malachor V.  The fleet assaulting the Mandalorians there was composed of officers and Jedi whose loyalty to Revan was in doubt.  The Republic ships engaged the Mandalorians, but suffered heavy losses.  As the battle began to turn to the Mandalorians, Revan arrived in the system.  His fleet massacred what was left of the Mandalorian battle line, and their fleet was pushed back toward Malachor.  Landing on the planet's surface, Revan personally slew Mandalore the Ultimate in hand to hand combat.  



Seeing that the Mandalorian fleet had fallen into Revan's trap, Revan's top general, known as the Jedi Exile, gave the order to use the Mass Shadow Generator, a superweapon designed to wipe out the enemy starships.  Both the Mandalorian and Republic fleets were engulfed in the attack, the capital ships of both sides depressurizing to space.  The Jedi present suffered such a blow through the Force as their enemies and allies perished that they were either killed outright or suffered complete deafness to the Force.  It was over.  The Mandalorian Wars had been won.

Upon seeing the complete devastation of their fleet and command, the remaining Mandalorian forces jumped to hyperspace.  Taking nearly a third of the combined Republic fleet with them, Revan and Malak pursued them into deep space.  For two years, nothing was heard from them, and they were believed lost, killed in some unknown tragedy.  The Republic mourned her heroes.



Then, two and a half years later, Revan and Malak returned at the head of a massive Sith fleet, composed of highly advanced vessels never before seen in the galaxy, and crewed by the men who had served under Revan in the Mandalorian Wars.  Having proclaimed himself Darth Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith, Revan, along with Malak, led an assault into the heart of the galaxy, striking important targets and bypassing heavily fortified worlds entirely.  Darth Revan, once again, showed a particular sort of brilliance as he led his new war against the Republic, leaving much of the infrastructure intact and converting Jedi rather than killing them.  Unlike the Mandalorians, who had destroyed blindly, Revan spared many worlds with little or no tactical value and took strategic worlds with a minimum of damage.  The Sith fleet was gaining momentum, and was preparing to strike into the heart of the galaxy when the Jedi hatched a desperate plot.



A small Jedi strike force immobilized the Sith fleet just outside of the Galactic Core.  Bastila Shan, renowned Jedi Padawan and skilled leader, boarded Revan's battlecruiser and fought her way to the bridge.  There, she and two other Jedi confronted Revan, preparing to end the war in a single movement.  This was not to be.  Seizing an opportunity, Darth Malak struck first, firing on the bridge of his master's ship and usurping the title of Dark Lord for himself.  Revan was badly wounded, but Bastila Shan preserved his life as best as she could and escorted him back to the Jedi. There, the amnesiac Revan was reprogrammed with a new identity loyal to the Republic.

Revan was onboard Bastila Shan's vessel, the Endar Spire, when it came under assault by Sith forces.  The ship fell toward Taris, burning, and Bastila, Revan, and a Republic war hero known as Carth Onasi escaped in two escape pods as the vessel exploded.  On Taris, Revan and Carth survived many trials and won the Taris Open Swoop Race to "win" Bastila back from the gang who had captured her.  Recognizing Revan, Bastila brought him to the Jedi Masters on Dantooine upon escaping from Taris, who retaught him in the Jedi arts.



There, the Jedi Masters gave Revan a mission; to track down the Star Maps which he and Malak had followed years before, and to discover what they had discovered.  Accepting the mission, Revan, Bastila, and Carth, along with many other companions, found four more Star Maps; on Kashyyyk, Manaan, Tatooine, and on their way to the last Star Map, their ship was captured by Malak's flagship.  Revan and his companions fought their way free, but Malak confronted Revan before he could escape.  There, Malak revealed Revan's true identity to him.  Bastila confirmed this to him before she fought Malak to a standstill, allowing Revan and Carth to escape to Korriban, the location of the last Star Map.

These Star Maps pointed towards an unknown system in the Outer Rim.  Revan went to that system, but the Ebon Hawk, Revan's transport, was damaged in the landing.  Upon further examination, the forcefield protecting the large orbiting station known as the Star Forge - the Sith factory which had enabled the Sith fleet to be built and repaired so quickly - had caused their crash.  Passing through several trials on the Unknown World, Revan made his way to the Temple that generated the forcefield, intending to shut it down.  There, Bastila Shan, now corrupted by Malak, confronted Revan.  He defeated her, and despite her efforts to convince him to fall to the darkside, he resisted.  She flew to the Star Forge in a fury, but Revan pursued her there while Carth Onasi called in the aid of a Republic Battle Fleet.



Upon his arrival, Revan fought his way virtually single-handedly through legions of battle droids, Sith Troopers, and Dark Jedi.  Once he reached the command deck of the Star Forge, he confronted Bastila Shan once more, who was using her Battle Meditation to impede the Republic advance. Revan crossed blades with Bastila and defeated her, though she was healed continuously by the power of the Star Forge itself. Revan used his legendary charisma to redeem Bastila, then admitted his love for her.  She shared the sentiment, and allowed Revan to continue on to confront Malak in single combat while she used her Battle Meditation to aid the Republic fleet.

On the Observation platform of the Star Forge, Revan confronted Darth Malak.  After a few brief words, the two old friends crossed blades.  Though Malak was healed repeatedly by the power of captive Jedi, Revan proved the stronger, freeing these Jedi wherever possible, overpowering Malak where it was not. Revan's resolve, power, and skill triumphed, and at last, Malak was killed as the Star Forge finally yielded to the Republic bombardment.  The Jedi Civil War was over.  The Republic had won.



Revan and his companions were awarded with the Cross of Glory, the Republic's highest award for valor.  Revan soon married Bastila Shan, and the two produced children together - and one of their descendants would become grandmaster of the Jedi Order herself.  But that is a tale for another time.

"The Dark Lord Revan is dead. I am a servant of the light now."

-Revan
« Last Edit: June 29, 2012, 10:49:41 AM by Jm419 »
    


Offline Jm419

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2012, 09:01:04 PM »
EDIT: Oops, broke the board.  20,000 character limit!

All right folks.  If you made it all the way through my story, you can probably tell I'm pretty passionate about the story of Revan.  I wanted to make sure this hilt was perfect, but I wanted to do it myself.  Of course, when it comes to me, one of those things is going to happen, but not both, and as you can tell, I'm pretty pleased with this saber.  Guess which one didn't happen.  :)

During the Crystal Focus v6 Release Contest, I noticed some notation that I didn't think a lot of people would recognize; translated into English from high level mathematics, it meant "transpose stone strip."  I ended up getting hung up on the math behind it, so I offered to Alex - who clearly wanted to win the contest - that we could work together.  400 PMs later, here we are.   :D  ;D  (LOL, sorry Alex.  Had to make the joke.)

Anyway, we worked together on the contest, and it turned out pretty well for both of us.  During the course of the contest, of course, we discussed the fact that there could only be one winner, but I didn't really mind - I just wanted to participate in the winning team, for once.  So, Alex, having built up a dream team, ended up winning the contest, and he offered to do my install for me.  I jumped on it, but I think Alex probably regretted the offer before he was done.   :D  I can be an irritating customer; I wouldn't want to work with me.

Alex turned out to be a really industrious worker, answering sometimes up to ten PMs per day, coming up with novel solutions to include all the features I wanted in the hilt.  This is what he came up with, and I have to say, I am really pleased.

   

 

 

The hilt itself came from a sabersmith outside the forums, who is located in South America.  I ended up contacting him after Darth Xusia (who was with me through this whole build, it seems) gave me his info.  He took a while to reply to emails, but once he started talking to me, he produced a hilt for me right away.  Which I couldn't pay for.  That was about four years ago, but I contacted him again, recently, and asked him to sell me a Revan hilt.  He produced a second hilt (the first had been sold), and sent it to me.  Couldn't ask for a nicer guy to deal with, either.  

(He never told me to not give out his info, but he never said I could, so I won't publicly.  However, if you're interested in getting something from him, shoot me a PM; I'm sure he wouldn't mind some more customers.  I just don't want to publish his info without his permission.  He has some pretty darn neat projects on the way; budget high-quality Qui-Gon, anyone?)

Anyway, I sent it off to Alex, and he did the install in like a day.  Unbelievable work ethic, he has; he just does it right - he just sat down, got to work, and nine hours later, the saber was mechanically complete.  I say mechanically because we had a few issues...

I'm not too familiar with Crystal Focus boards, as I'm sure you'll tell from the video, but from what I can tell, the 4.31's a real pain to work with.  The board's different from the 5.x, so three of the six fonts I wanted weren't available or weren't working for it.  I actually had about four people working on this for me, for no external compensation, but because they just wanted to help me get a beautiful saber.  

I have to give a big thank you to Arkhan, who machined a new LED can for me just to help me out - and what beautiful work it is.  I have to give a big thank you to Machinimax, who made me his PC beta tester on the KotOR font, then gave me the files for free for the CF, then worked tirelessly to get the files exactly right.  I have to give a big thank you to Darth Xusia, who let me use a remarkable font for free, and converted several others for use on the CF 4.x just to help out.  And of course, I have to give a big thank you to Alex, who did such a wonderful install for me for free, and put up with my incessant corrections and wavering.  

I really have to say, we have a wonderful community here.  Folks, don't ever change.

And now, on to the font selection - this was some of the most important work done by me on the saber.  (Really the only work done by me on the saber.)  I wanted a balanced, wonderful hilt, with fonts that I picked out for a reason.  I'm pleased to say that there are no compromises on this hilt; each and every font is on there because I wanted it - and in every case but one, fought for it.   :D

In order to create a perfect hilt, I wanted it in balance.  In that regard, I chose two lightside fonts, two darkside fonts, and two "gimmicky" or "neutral" fonts.  Here is the reasoning behind each one.

Lightside:
1. Machinimax KotOR - A natural fit for this hilt; in some ways, the font and this saber grew up together.  Not much to say here besides what's in the video, but really, folks, if you're on the fence about this font, get it.  It's wonderful, especially you guys getting PCs on the Rebellion run.  Talk about perfect fits.  Video II is all about this font.
2. Novastar Ep III Obi Ani - This one was a bit of a problem to get.  I wanted a nice, clean, lightside font to use on this one on the off chance I got tired of KotOR, but Obi Ani is only available for the CF 5.x.  Xusia converted it for me, spectacularly, and it turned out to provide a wonderful option for a nice, clean, good guy font.

Darkside:
1. DarthXusia Savior - As I cover in the video, this was the last font to get put on this saber, but it's so perfectly fitting, it's a wonder it wasn't first.  I was looking for another font to put on here, and Xusia happened to see one of my posts and commented, "Hey, take a look at these.  Let me know if you want any of them."  Lo and behold, there was a KotOR based font!  It's dark, menacing, and really really cool.  Video III takes an indepth look at this font.
2. Madcow Korriban - An obvious choice for a nice darkside font.  It's there to provide some resonance, and hey, Revan was on Korriban at least once.  It's a nice font, and I'm glad to have it on this saber.

Neutral:
1. Novastar EpII Age of Battle - This one is another great fit, but it's not as obvious why.  This hilt is Revan's first lightsaber; it was with him through the Mandalorian Wars, and he swapped its focusing crystal before returning to the Republic at the head of the Sith fleet.  Canonically, it gets lost in the bridge attack, but I prefer it to his later, retconned saber, and prefer to think of it as having been returned to him at the Dantooine Enclave, where you build your ingame saber.  It's been through a few wars, and what better font to provide the battlefield atmosphere?
2. Madcow Calibrate - The saber has to be opened up to have the colors swapped out, so I thought this was a great fit as well.  I fell in love with the font at its reveal, so I always knew I wanted it.  

Oh, and why's the saber called The Heart of the Force?  Well, take a look at this quote by Kreia, his first Jedi Master:

"Revan was power. It was like staring into the heart of the Force. Even then, you could see the Jedi he would slay etched on his soul."
 
-Kreia

And with that, I'll put the videos here.

Video I: Hilt Detailing and Font Overview


Video II: Machinimax's KotOR Font Review and Blue Blade Features


Video III: DarthXusia's Savior Font Review and Red Blade Features


So, there it is, folks. The Heart of the Force, my own, color changing Revan lightsaber.  Thanks for watching, and let me know what you think!
    


Offline Jm419

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2012, 09:13:10 PM »
Pictures are now fixed.  Please reload the page.   :D

Alex wishes for me to include the following video, to show my appreciation for the saber.



 :D
« Last Edit: June 28, 2012, 09:15:39 PM by Jm419 »
    


Offline LUMINARA UNDULI

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2012, 09:19:21 PM »
Wonderful review and a great job summarizing the story of Revan in his early years :D!!!  He is one of my favorite characters as well and I wasn't happy with SWTORs dealing with his character :'( (I'll leave it at that so as not to spoil it for those who haven't played).  The book of his later years which came out recently is a fantastic read as well.

On to the saber.  Congratulations! 8)  It is awesome to hear the emotion in your post.  I can tell that this is a Unicorn for you and that you will cherish it ;D.  FG did a very nice job on the hilt as well ;) and AG did a great job on the install, this is without a doubt the best job I have seen him do to date.  Congrats to all involved as well.  It is a great thing when people in the community come together and we are very fortunate to have such a great group here on FX-SABERS.   I hope that you enjoy your new saber for many years to come :). 



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Offline Machinimax

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2012, 09:33:40 PM »
First off: Revan = greatest Sith Lord of all time! In my opinion, he has one of the best stories in the entire Star Wars franchise. Love the detailed account of his story you wrote here.

"What greater weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your own cause? To use their own knowledge against them." - Bastila Shan

Secondly: I'm really glad you're enjoying the soundfont. Thank you for the kind words in your demonstration video. It really does mean a lot to me. You definitely deserve the font for being such a great beta tester and I'm glad to see that it made it in that beautiful hilt!




Welcome to saber building. You've taken your first step into a larger world!

"Don't get the idea that your [lightsaber] is a quick little project to be slapped together." - Luke Skywalker

Offline Caine

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2012, 09:50:25 PM »
Wow man, I must say this entire post is rather impressive. I really liked the way you did the story and it shows how much you love this weapon. Big congrats to you, AG for the very good install (good work, dude!) and everyone else involved in the project. Sometimes, there are those builds that just require an ensemble cast that just makes them all the more special.

Enjoy that Revan and be sure it gets some saberplay!

Offline RoHan Solo

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2012, 10:18:11 PM »
I second Caine.... impressive post. :) And an impressive weapon too, without a doubt. You've obviously put a lot of thought into this one and it shows.

Awesome hilt, just beautiful. I love the simplicity of it, the clean lines, and I actually really love the "squashed" Obi pommel.  ;D Especially the way the soundholes are done.




Offline scottjua

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2012, 10:24:41 PM »
Cool! I never knew Revan's story til now. I had my interest set aflame by that recent quiz... "what jedi are you like?" and my top answer was Revan...

Nice saber, and I'm stoked for you!

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Offline Onli-Won Kanomi

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2012, 12:10:39 AM »
Your post is an excellent biography of a great character and the well named Heart Of The Force saber is an excellent tribute to him...kudos to all who contributed to building it and the great choices of sound fonts. BRAVO!
To DREAM the IMPOSSIBLE DREAM. To FIGHT the unbeatable foe. To BEAR with unbearable sorrow. To RUN where the brave dare not go. To RIGHT the unrightable wrong. To LOVE, PURE AND CHASTE, FROM AFAR [-sigh-]. To TRY, when your arms are too weary; to REACH the unreachable Star!... This is my Quest; To follow that Star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far...

Offline ANAKIN SKYWALKER

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2012, 04:21:56 AM »
All I can say is fantastic review and I'm flattered by both your comments as the owner and everyones' as the onlookers.

For those just tuning in now, I told JM not to duel with this saber (or swing it too hard for that matter) because he wouldn't allow me to put a retention screw in.  Pressed fit might be "good enough" in the sense that you can't get the blade out by normal means, but if you duel with it, it's bound to come loose. 

The one downside is that I can't come up with a way for him to have the killkey inserted as well as the emitter closed.  With no hole for the charge port (by request) and the switch in the pommel (meaning wires will twist A LOT if you unscrew and screw it back on) the only place for me to go with the charge port was on the chassis below the heatsink retaining lip.  To put a killkey in and screw the emitter on, he'd need a short killkey and needle nosed pliers to insert it and pull it.  Not to mention if he drops it in there... he might not get it back.   :D

I really enjoyed this build.  It gave me a chance to go out of my comfort zone (which is clearly RGGB with G//G and R FoC  :D ) and really make something different.  I have a few more things on the bench and I aim to impress.   8)  And I finally got some of these awesome quick disconnects that will almost make my days of hating QDs disappear.  Almost, not completely.  (I don't think I can fit 3 of them between the bargraph and heatsink in redemption, but we'll see.)  I liked this build so much I might get one of these hilts for myself eventually and install it with my own "flare". 

Again fantastic review and my personal thanks to everyone else that was involved.  Machinimax provided the KoToR tracks btw, I just put them on the saber. 


Offline Jm419

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2012, 09:00:11 AM »
Wow, folks, I'm glad everyone likes the saber so much.  This was really a labor of love for me, and I'm humbled by the response to our team's work on this.  They really did do a great job, didn't they?

Let me respond to your kind comments here.

Wonderful review and a great job summarizing the story of Revan in his early years :D!!!  He is one of my favorite characters as well and I wasn't happy with SWTORs dealing with his character :'( (I'll leave it at that so as not to spoil it for those who haven't played).  The book of his later years which came out recently is a fantastic read as well.

On to the saber.  Congratulations! 8)  It is awesome to hear the emotion in your post.  I can tell that this is a Unicorn for you and that you will cherish it ;D.  FG did a very nice job on the hilt as well ;) and AG did a great job on the install, this is without a doubt the best job I have seen him do to date.  Congrats to all involved as well.  It is a great thing when people in the community come together and we are very fortunate to have such a great group here on FX-SABERS.   I hope that you enjoy your new saber for many years to come :). 

The story of Revan is a long one, and past the end of KotOR II, it really starts to get convoluted.  What I've written here is the pre-retconned story, as told in KotOR and KotOR II - before Bioware had to go in and mess with what was already a good thing.  This is the story of Revan as I see it, and I tend to ignore much of the comics (save for the Cathar episode, as it gives Revan a jumping off point) and the post KotOR mythos.  I haven't gotten an opportunity to read the book, but I'll give it a shot if you say it's worth the time.   :D

This really was a unicorn for me.  As some of you folks are aware, this is actually the second Revan saber I've owned; the first being a rather unfortunate mess from Machined_Fx.

   

While the Starkiller pictured above was worth saving - as a stunt - the Revan just didn't do it for me, especially after I saw Jasher's Savior saber.  If you go back and read my early review of that hilt, you'll notice I was actually pretty excited about it, too, but over time, the soft detail and the lack of a color change really bothered me.  That, perhaps more than anything else, was the reason I went for this hilt.  Sure, the detail was far superior, and sure, the hilt was probably more accurate to ingame, but unless you have the top of the line saber, that's always going to be the case in the hobby - someone offers a better option somewhere.

No, the main reason I wanted an upgrade was because that saber came in one color; red.  If any saber was worthy of color changing, it was this one, especially considering this is one of a very few in canon that changed color crystals outside of actual gameplay - so it's not the player's choice, it's defined canon that it changed colors at least once.  There were days I just wished that Machined_Fx saber was blue - no one wants to be the bad guy all the time.   :D

I just so happened to have a CF from my prior work with GG, and when this hilt finally arrived, well, it was a natural marriage between the two.

First off: Revan = greatest Sith Lord of all time! In my opinion, he has one of the best stories in the entire Star Wars franchise. Love the detailed account of his story you wrote here.

"What greater weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your own cause? To use their own knowledge against them." - Bastila Shan

Secondly: I'm really glad you're enjoying the soundfont. Thank you for the kind words in your demonstration video. It really does mean a lot to me. You definitely deserve the font for being such a great beta tester and I'm glad to see that it made it in that beautiful hilt!

That's one reason it always bothered me that Bane was established as the Sith'ari - clearly, Revan fit the bill, in the game that the concept was introduced!  I'm glad Karpyshyn included Revan's holocron in the Bane novels, but I was always a bit leery of how he changed Revan's character - it was like he hadn't done his homework.  Then I found out that the guy was the lead story artist on KotOR, so I kinda had to concede the point!

No, I think Revan's story is a great one because it teaches us that no one is too far lost to be saved.  There's always hope.  The man is an archetype unto himself; a powerful leader of the light, who saw some unnamed evil outside the galaxy, and joined the Sith to conquer the Republic in order to save it.  As Kreia said in KotOR II:

"Is that what he was? Or was he always true to himself, no matter what personality he wore? And there is something that the Council may never understand. That perhaps Revan never fell. The difference between a fall and a sacrifice is sometimes difficult, but I feel that Revan understood that difference, more than anyone knew. The galaxy would have fallen if Revan had not gone to war. Perhaps he became the dark lord out of necessity, to prevent a greater evil."

-Kreia

This, more than anything else, summed up Revan to me.  It made sense - it made him a powerful leader and a fantastic character.  He never fell in order to fall; he fell in order to save the galaxy.  Novel concept in a Sith.

And, I haven't said anything that's not true about the font.  It really is phenomenally well done.  Everything about it just works for the hilt.  The boot - which gives me shivers every time; it's like stepping onto the Unknown World - the blaster blocks, the blade effects, everything works together flawlessly to create a wonderful font for the saber.  This really is the ultimate lightside Revan font, and I mean that.   :D

Wow man, I must say this entire post is rather impressive. I really liked the way you did the story and it shows how much you love this weapon. Big congrats to you, AG for the very good install (good work, dude!) and everyone else involved in the project. Sometimes, there are those builds that just require an ensemble cast that just makes them all the more special.

Enjoy that Revan and be sure it gets some saberplay!

It may get some light play from time to time.  It's basically designed for battle, isn't it?   :D

I think the saber became greater than it could have been because of the team we had on it.  Everyone did a wonderful job to help out, and they're all such nice folks - it was a pleasure, the whole way through.  I couldn't be happier with the hilt itself, and the internals, well, you know all that.   ;)

I second Caine.... impressive post. :) And an impressive weapon too, without a doubt. You've obviously put a lot of thought into this one and it shows.

Awesome hilt, just beautiful. I love the simplicity of it, the clean lines, and I actually really love the "squashed" Obi pommel.  ;D Especially the way the soundholes are done.


The machining of the hilt is genius, I have to admit.  The man who does these isn't terribly well known in the community, but what he does is fantastic, and everyone I've spoken to agrees that his work is the highest quality.  He was another member of the dream team, and we couldn't have done it without him.

Thanks for the kind words on the post, folks.  I put some time in, and it's worth it to me to show the story of the hilt.  I've done it on all three of my high-quality hilts, but this one is really in a class of its own.  So, it deserved a good post to showcase the story of the character, and to honor the original writers who told his story ten years ago.

Cool! I never knew Revan's story til now. I had my interest set aflame by that recent quiz... "what jedi are you like?" and my top answer was Revan...

Nice saber, and I'm stoked for you!

Well, I hope I did the story justice!  Knights of the Old Republic is the best character driven RPG I've ever played, and even though the game was released in 2003, it has aged really well.  If you happen to be looking for a new game, it's definitely worth your time, even though you already know the story.  I usually play through it once a year, or so.  If you like Skyrim or Fallout, this is a great game for you.  :)

Your post is an excellent biography of a great character and the well named Heart Of The Force saber is an excellent tribute to him...kudos to all who contributed to building it and the great choices of sound fonts. BRAVO!

Well, our resident KotOR expert has spoken!  I'm glad you liked the name - I think it fits.  Thanks for your kind words, and I can only echo your compliments to the real dream team who put this hilt together.

All I can say is fantastic review and I'm flattered by both your comments as the owner and everyones' as the onlookers.

For those just tuning in now, I told JM not to duel with this saber (or swing it too hard for that matter) because he wouldn't allow me to put a retention screw in.  Pressed fit might be "good enough" in the sense that you can't get the blade out by normal means, but if you duel with it, it's bound to come loose. 

The one downside is that I can't come up with a way for him to have the killkey inserted as well as the emitter closed.  With no hole for the charge port (by request) and the switch in the pommel (meaning wires will twist A LOT if you unscrew and screw it back on) the only place for me to go with the charge port was on the chassis below the heatsink retaining lip.  To put a killkey in and screw the emitter on, he'd need a short killkey and needle nosed pliers to insert it and pull it.  Not to mention if he drops it in there... he might not get it back.   :D

I really enjoyed this build.  It gave me a chance to go out of my comfort zone (which is clearly RGGB with G//G and R FoC  :D ) and really make something different.  I have a few more things on the bench and I aim to impress.   8)  And I finally got some of these awesome quick disconnects that will almost make my days of hating QDs disappear.  Almost, not completely.  (I don't think I can fit 3 of them between the bargraph and heatsink in redemption, but we'll see.)  I liked this build so much I might get one of these hilts for myself eventually and install it with my own "flare". 

Again fantastic review and my personal thanks to everyone else that was involved.  Machinimax provided the KoToR tracks btw, I just put them on the saber. 

Alex, you did a wonderful job on this hilt.  It's one of, if not the centerpiece to my collection - easily worthy of being placed alongside my MKVI and my Graflex by Jango and LDM, respectively.  I think that you've really proven what you're capable of with this build, and folks are going to pay some very close attention to your future builds.  You can see the kind of response this got!

And, actually, I kinda like that it opens up when it's off.  Honestly, it would be an irritant on any other hilt, but once again, Revan comes in and saves the day for us.  How many times did you change your crystals in the hilt ingame?  I must've changed my hilt, oh, three times a planet, because you kept finding new crystals, and going, "Wait, now what does this one do?" 

I'm working on a display where I can track down some real world mineral crystals which look like the game art, and kinda scatter them around the hilt, like it's on the workbench in the Ebon Hawk.  That ought to be a worthy display. 
    


Offline Obi-Wan Bologna

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2012, 10:27:55 AM »
Wow, a bit surprised to see someone else who loves this game as much as I do on here. Great representation of the game saber and both paths you could take with the blue/red color. I like the workbench idea, maybe have like a fake hydrospanner as well.

Offline EXAR KUN

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #12 on: June 30, 2012, 08:03:04 AM »
I too, loved the KoTOR game and played the bejesus out of that back in 2005 (I think) when that came out.
Revan is an awesome character. JM, I think you would enjoy the recent book as Luminara suggested. IMO it is worth it just for the bad guy reveal toward the end. The way the story ends up is just totally unexpected and I think it was very original for a Star Wars story and yet very well threaded into the SW universe.

Such a cool character... and yes... I loved changing out crystals in the game. Although my favorite crystal colors came in KoTOR 2 with Silver crystals and Viridian crystals.

Dude, your saber is SO bright!! I love that flare on the bottom and the blade looks brilliant. And that isn't even your good blade!? Wow. That thing would look awesome with a VV blade.

The fonts are perfect. You all did great job fine-tuning this baby to be just as you imagined.
I've held a duplicate hilt and this is a very nice hilt indeed. Alex did a great job with the buttons as that is one thing I questioned when handling the same hilt.
Your CF, even though it's a v4, sounds very clear. Those editions of the CF were very loud also, and I can see this true for your saber as well. That is awesome.

Good luck with it. BTW, I liked your Revan synopsis so much I forwarded it to a non-forum reading friend who is the middle of the 'Revan' book so that he can get a better idea of Revan. He never played KoTOR (shame on him!) but your synopsis is a perfect 'Cliff's Notes' into the life of Revan.




Offline Jm419

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #13 on: June 30, 2012, 11:07:28 AM »
Wow, a bit surprised to see someone else who loves this game as much as I do on here. Great representation of the game saber and both paths you could take with the blue/red color. I like the workbench idea, maybe have like a fake hydrospanner as well.

Hydrospanner, huh?  That's an interesting idea... 

I too, loved the KoTOR game and played the bejesus out of that back in 2005 (I think) when that came out.
Revan is an awesome character. JM, I think you would enjoy the recent book as Luminara suggested. IMO it is worth it just for the bad guy reveal toward the end. The way the story ends up is just totally unexpected and I think it was very original for a Star Wars story and yet very well threaded into the SW universe.

Such a cool character... and yes... I loved changing out crystals in the game. Although my favorite crystal colors came in KoTOR 2 with Silver crystals and Viridian crystals.

Dude, your saber is SO bright!! I love that flare on the bottom and the blade looks brilliant. And that isn't even your good blade!? Wow. That thing would look awesome with a VV blade.

The fonts are perfect. You all did great job fine-tuning this baby to be just as you imagined.
I've held a duplicate hilt and this is a very nice hilt indeed. Alex did a great job with the buttons as that is one thing I questioned when handling the same hilt.
Your CF, even though it's a v4, sounds very clear. Those editions of the CF were very loud also, and I can see this true for your saber as well. That is awesome.

Good luck with it. BTW, I liked your Revan synopsis so much I forwarded it to a non-forum reading friend who is the middle of the 'Revan' book so that he can get a better idea of Revan. He never played KoTOR (shame on him!) but your synopsis is a perfect 'Cliff's Notes' into the life of Revan.



Well, I'm glad I'm being used as a source!  This is, of course, not all of the official Revan story, but it's what we were told in the games and nothing else, save for the Cathar episode.  I'm really not very pleased about Bioware's retconning Revan with TOR and the Sith Emperor, so I don't count them in my version of canon.  The above is what I use as my own version of the story, and it's taken a while to build up that impression - but the vast majority of the info comes straight from ingame.

I'll have to put the book on my wishlist.  It's just called "Revan," right?

I have to think about how many crystals to actually get.  Since each one is going to be a bit expensive - you know, to find the right shape and everything - I may only have three or four.  Solari, Jenurax, Sigil, and blade colors, or something like that.  I did use the cyan crystal in KotOR II, and that crystal was glitched, so your saber never shut off.  I kinda preferred it that way, so I kept the cyan crystal as the blade definer.

This thing is both bright and loud - it's almost obnoxiously loud, but that's fine by me.  Some of the apparent brightness could be due to my computer settings, or whatever, but rest assured that this one is definitely a bright saber.  The hilt, the fonts, the speaker, the LED, everything works together on this build, and I really am very happy with it.  Alex did a great job with the install.

Thanks for your comments, folks.
    


Offline Lord Dracus

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Re: The Heart of the Force - The Lightsaber of Darth Revan
« Reply #14 on: June 30, 2012, 01:01:26 PM »
 Awesome story and a truly fantastic saber JM... ;D Kotor was on of my favorite games of all time and I still play it today. :)

 

retrousse