...well sort of :P What, you didn't think I had forgotten about posting something regarding this saber did you?! Now that I have your attention, first off if you don't know of this saber at all, let me direct your attention to here:
http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=34260.0 Pretty much everything you need to know is somewhere in that thread :D
Now get yourselves comfortable, have some snacks and a beverage or two ready...here we go!
Around the time of completion for this saber, there was sort of a deadline we were trying to meet so I would receive the saber in time to go away on holiday. That meant as soon as it was completed, it was shipped off to me to JUST make it here in time. It turned out perfectly. Alan and Deanna like to hold the sabers at the Vault once they are completed for a couple of days for testing of the CF and just basically making sure everything is tweaked perfectly and running okay. Due to the rush, they didn't really get a chance to do this. I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to CF settings and whatnot, so back to the Vault it went for some fine tuning so to speak. Also I was after a bit of an "upgrade" with a certain something, which I'll get to soon. That was also completed during this time, and I couldn't have been happier with the results.
I figure that pictures speak louder than words here, and I really don't know what else I can say about this saber that hasn't been said already. It's truly a work of art of the highest standard, and we are both honoured to have it on display at home behind glass. This saber is very special to us, and the story behind will be remembered forever :) I honestly just sit and stare at it for long periods of time, and I can't help but be drawn to it many times throughout the day as it sits there in all it's glory on Sanjuro's amazing custom stand. Just on the subject of the stand quickly, it still amazes me that I contacted Sanjuro to make this stand a few months before the saber was finished...both Sanjuro and Vader's Vault had no idea what the other item they were building would look like, yet they both fit the theme perfectly for each other and literally look like they were made alongside each other. The colours match beautifully on both, and they mould perfectly together, creating the ultimate LOTR display piece.
...see look, I can't help myself :D I promised pictures, and I just can't help but describe how awesome this is. I'll just warn you all, I have kind of gone over the top with pics...I hope you all don't mind and enjoy them as much as I do :) So here we go, strap yourself in because this is going to be quite the journey into Middle Earth as I bring to you:
Vader's Vault Presents: Arod Megil - A custom LOTR-inspired lightsaber
Crystal Focus Version 5.10
10w OSPP RGBA with FoC
2W Speaker
Handcut brass overlays with hand engraved Elvish script
Brass Ring with engraved script
Custom Ring poem, translated to Sindarin
Patterned purple leather over countoured rear grip
Modified purple recessed AV switch
Custom brass aux button with inset faceted Mystic Topaz and back lit with green tactile switch
Detailed crystal chamber with gold leaf and vinework
Custom Sanjuro full custom stand
Sound Fonts:
Lord of the Rings by Alex Gordon
TOR Jedi Font C by Nightstorm
Shoto by Madcow
Shatterpoint by Madcow
Bespin II by Madcow
Novastar by Novastar
iSaber - Lord of the Rings full soundtrack (of course :D)
I am really not great at all with taking photos, but for this I have been practicing a fair bit and I'm actually really happy with the results. It helps to have a great camera, and I have possibly the best digital camera on the market, so the only way to improve on it would be to get an SLR camera with a crazy lens, which starts getting really expensive. I hope you all like the pics too!
I'm going to have to reveal the surprise first, as you will see it in most of the pictures anyway. I had VV make me up a custom blade plug with an amethyst to match the one in the crystal chamber. I think it matches perfectly, and I couldn't be happier with the result. In fact, I was blown away when I received the saber back :)
Saber ignited:
FoC engaged:
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010705.jpg http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010706.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010733.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010734.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010760.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010759.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010762.jpgNext up, I bring to you the hilt in all it's glory!
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010751.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010752.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010753.jpgAfter watching the reveal video about 1000 times on the day VV posted it, and seeing the pictures posted in the thread, the first thing that surprised me when I opened the shipping package for the first time was just how much shinier this was in person. It was a lot "brighter" so to speak, with the gold ring and brass overlays really standing out. I've tried my best to show this in some pictures, but it is still even greater when it's sitting in front of you. What was even more surprising though was the purple leather grip, the pictures really don't do it justice and the detailing on it and the texture is of the highest quality. So next up we'll go to some close-ups of this, as I try to bring a little more detail to your computer screen:
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010743.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010742.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010732.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010715.jpgThe grip is moulded as such that it fits around your fingers perfectly, giving a great feeling and secure grip of the saber. Quite the work of art indeed.
The pommel is nicely machined for a smooth finish, with a grooved section that matches that of the emitter at the other end of the saber. If you look at the saber as a whole, the two ends match nicely, and manage to create a flow in the design of the whole display piece. The end cap has a custom Vader's Vault pommel insert, with speaker holes for the 2w speaker to pump some bass out 8)
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010741.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010740.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010716.jpgI requested that this saber have a purple AV switch. I didn't realize at the time that these weren't a standard thing that sabers have. So VV created a custom one themselves, and now I can't imagine it to work with anything else there instead! Another perfect feature with this saber. This acts as the activation button for the saber's main power. The aux button is a Mystic Topaz, which is also backlit with a green lighted tactile switch, which lights up when the saber is on. This little gem is beautiful, and a feature that is sort of overlooked with this saber, due to the fact that it's really quite hard to see in a photo. In person though, it shines really nicely when light hits it (which it does, but I'll get to that soon). So, it's hard to capture on photo, but I've given it a go here:
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010757.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010744.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010717.jpgNow Vader's Vault like to keep their custom builds and ideas locked in a Vault, not letting the public aware of any happenings so once they do reveal their new masterpieces to the world, it's an overload of awesomeness and excitement all in one. This was the case here for me too with this build. I put my ideas to them, giving them the main ideas and of course the backstory to go with it. Beyond that though, aside from excited PM's from Deanna saying how awesome this is going to be throughout the build :D I really had no idea what to expect. One of the biggest surprises was that there was engraving on this saber. They had gone and acquired some new equipment, an engraving machine. Deanna then created an awesome poem based off the original one ring poem in Lord of the Rings. She then set out to do the grueling task of translating it from English to Sindarin. After a lot of practicing, Alan engraved the poem onto the saber, across the brass overlay and also into the gold ring just above the grip section. It turned out perfectly, and I would have said he had been doing this for years! There is also some nice patterned engraving below this, overlaying the purple leather grip. Picture time!
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010745.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010718.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010747.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010714.jpgNow...onto the part you have all been waiting for :D Ladies and gentlemen...THE CRYSTAL CHAMBER!!! :o :o :o So to have a saber that is solely designed for display purposes, to me it makes sense to have a completely exposed crystal chamber. Boy am I happy that Vader's Vault had the same way of thinking here! They went with a wide open chamber, similar to that of Starkiller's saber. They didn't stop there though. Inside the crystal chamber, you have a beautiful large amethyst crystal that has support rods around it, also similar to Starkiller's saber. Not only that though, there is gold leaf and vine work spiraling it. This truly has to be seen to be belived. The detail is just insane. Towards the end of the chamber, we have engraved acrylic discs, that actually sequence through a pattern. This brings us to another upgrade when it returned to the Vault!!! We now have the latest firmware for the Crystal Focus version 5 loaded onto the SD card, which means the crystal now pulses in idle mode! This was another case of VV reading my mind, as it was exactly what I was after, and by the time I had asked for it, Alan had already played around with the settings to load this feature up. Once you pull the kill key now, the crystal is set to pulse slowly, lighting up and then dimming the crystal LED for an unlimited amount of time (well, until the battery dies). This is now a feature that I use while the saber is on display at night (usually on the weekend when I can sit and enjoy it). I have found that having the saber in idle mode does not drain the battery at all, and I can leave it pulsing until I go to bed. When the saber is turned on now, you have the discs flowing through a pattern, bringing a blaze of energy to the saber. The next feature that was set up by VV (man, I'm glad they configured my SD card...I have no clue what I'm doing :P), is that when you cycle through the fonts, once you get to iSaber the crystal actually glows green instead of purple. Cool feature that distinguishes it between the other fonts. Onto the pictures:
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010731.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010707.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010708.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010709.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010731.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010763.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010766.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010770.jpgSanjuro's full custom stand - wow! The first time I saw this was the reveal video. I actually only received this in person a few weeks back, as VV were holding onto it for me until the upgrades were completed. So when I first saw this in person...mind=blown! Another thing that looks so much more amazing in person. Sanjuro's stands are just too awesome, you'll know what I mean if you have one yourself. This one fits the theme perfectly as I mentioned earlier, and is laser cut perfectly for each layer to fit into the next. Just perfect.
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010756.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010755.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010754.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010702.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010722.jpghttp://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h322/Stormtrooper27/Arod%20Megil/P1010767.jpg