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Author Topic: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!  (Read 38124 times)

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Offline Andy Anonymous

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Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« on: June 13, 2007, 01:32:46 PM »
We come to it at last: the release of one of the most hotly anticipated Force FX lightsabers ever, and the one that has perhaps more than any other been shrouded in mystery since its announcement: the Luke Skywalker Episode IV: A New Hope lightsaber. This was the very first lightsaber introduced to moviegoers exactly thirty years ago...the original.

Aside from a few typically nondescript promo pics on MR's website, little information has been given about this saber, and what little bits we've had have often conflicted with one another. How fat is the hilt? Is it a retooled ESB or a retooled Anakin, or a totally new hilt? What batteries does it take?

The Luke ANH -- potentially Master Replicas' final Force FX saber -- has finally arrived, and all of your questions are about to be answered.


IN THE BOX


Sliding the slender box out of its cardboard packaging, we find a design similar to recent sabers like the Obi-Wan ROTS and Yoda. No surprises here. The box is just as slim as those for the Anakin ROTS and other recent sabers.


OUT OF THE BOX


Upon opening the box and removing the Luke ANH from its customary styrofoam coccoon, many of our lingering questions about the saber are answered at last.

The hilt features a very handsome brushed aluminum finish which is quite different from the chromed finish of the Anakin ROTS, and more accurately gives the appearance of a vintage Graflex. It is very lightweight: about on par with the Anakin ROTS.


FIT AND FINISH


The Luke ANH immediately feels more elegant and refined than the Anakin ROTS, featuring most all of the fine details and nuances of a Graflex hilt that were missing from the Anakin. As I mentioned, the Luke ANH hilt features a brushed aluminum finish, which doesn't show fingerprints nearly as badly as the Anakin: a major plus. There are some parts of the hilt that are chromed; namely, the emitter ring, the "rabbit ear", and the activation box.

The clamp, which looked almost a completely different color in MR's stock photos, has a slightly duller finish than the body, but is just different enough to provide a little contrast, and looks very nice. It features the well known Graflex accent lines around the clamp (though not the GRAFLEX branding itself, of course):



Here are some more images showing off this saber's detail (including the "glass" lens and red "button"), and its brushed metal finish:









You'll note a few things from the picture above. First, the saber does feature the gap between the emitter ring and the hilt, so when the blade is activated, it shines through: a detail many of us missed on the Anakin ROTS. You'll also notice that some black plastic has still been added inside the emitter to make the blade sturdier, so the Luke ANH is not quite as Graflex-accurate as the Luke ESB was. In fact, the emitter ring and the rabbit ear are not actually one piece on this saber, as you can see below:



Overall, I love the detail on this saber compared with the Anakin ROTS, which felt very fake-Graflex to me when I first got it.


HILT SIZE

This is the big one we've all been wondering: is this saber actually a retooled Luke ESB saber, making it fatter than more recent sabers? I am here to tell you this IS NOT the case. The Luke ANH has the same girth as the Anakin ROTS. I only had my other two sabers to compare it to -- the Vader ESB and the Maul -- but in the following image you can clearly see their relative size:



The Luke ANH is the same width as the Vader ESB, and only slightly wider than the Maul. The three sabers are lined up at the pommel in that image, so you can also see the length of the Luke ANH's hilt compared with the other two.


BATTERIES



Master Replicas 2007 baby! As you can see, the battery cover actually screws in flush with the end of the hilt. The only way to unscrew it is by grabbing the D-ring and twisting.



Let the issue be put to rest here and now: The Luke ANH takes 3 AA batteries...not AAA, as MR's site continues to suggest.


POWER ON!

The Luke ANH saber is activated by sliding the LED bubble strip toward the emitter, just like the Vader sabers.

Light
Upon activation, you are greeted with a very bright blue blade. It's the same blue as the Obi-Wan ROTS, and not cyan, as I had been hoping. However, this is easy to forgive when a blade looks this good. It's just as bright and evenly lit as the Obi-Wan, and is a big improvement over the Anakin ROTS in this regard. The dark spot in the middle is visible, but the rest of the blade is very even, and the only way to see splotches is to stare at the blade and look for them.

In semi-bright room light:


In a darkened hallway:


Emitter detail:


Sound and Motion
Upon activation you are greeted with Old Faithful: the same tried-and-true MR Jedi sound package. The speaker and sound quality is about as good/bad as you've come to expect from all of MR's sabers. Some may be disappointed by the recycling, once again, of the same old Jedi sounds, but I'm sure most of us expected no different.

However, it must be said that I am IN LOVE with this saber's motion detection, particularly its clash sensor. Unlike every other FX saber I've owned, the Luke ANH's clash sounds can be set off almost every time with merely a light tap of the blade on an outstretched palm. Yet it's also not oversensitive: I have never set the clash off unless I wanted to. Swing sounds also go off very fluidly. This saber's motion sensing is about as good as you can hope to get with a Force FX.


CONCLUSION

As an owner of the Anakin ROTS, I was somewhat disappointed with several aspects of it: the blade was splotchy, the details (or lack thereof) weren't appealing, there were several plastic pieces from which paint rubbed off easily, and the chrome finish was hard to keep clean. The Luke ANH addresses all of those issues, and improves on the Anakin in every way. Even now I keep looking over to stare at it, it's so beautiful -- finally we get an FX saber with Graflex detailing and without the fat body of the ESB! Also, the light and sound quality are about as good as any of MR's best sabers.

In short, MR has a winner on their hands here. If you've been on the fence about this saber, pick it up! You won't regret it, and as one of Master Replicas' final FX sabers (perhaps THE final one if they don't get the Dooku and/or Obi TPM released), it represents the very best of what they have to offer.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2007, 01:48:51 PM by Andy Anonymous »




Offline BIGGS DARKLIGHTER

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2007, 01:34:54 PM »
Sweet!

Offline DarthArn

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2007, 01:38:26 PM »
VERY COOL! I might just snatch this one up.

NICE REVIEW!

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Offline Andy Anonymous

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2007, 01:40:36 PM »
Fixed the images so they aren't so jaggy.




Offline Jedi Farmboy

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2007, 01:43:05 PM »
Picture perfect review Andy! And my what brilliant pics at that.

Seems like a good alternative to the more expensive graflex and still looks great.

Excellent review Andy worth the wait :D
"...the galaxy was littered with the body parts of those
who had underestimated the strength of Luke Skywalker."

- Darth Caedus, 41 ABY

Offline trexy

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2007, 01:47:07 PM »
Great review Andy!
The saber looks great!



 

Offline levelnext

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2007, 01:47:40 PM »
Excellent,. thanks Andy!


Not bad... it could have benefited from AAs instead of AAAs though.

?? what you mean master Yoda?
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Offline Andy Anonymous

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2007, 01:55:42 PM »
From the Pictures it looks like the Bump around the Red button and the glass eye are plastic surrounds like
the Anakin and not actually part of the metal case it's self.
Could you confirm this...

The bump around the glass eye and red button are metal, but the housing for both (the milled part) appears to be plastic. Here are the parts that are plastic, so far as I can tell:

T-grips
LED bubble strip
red button
"glass" lens
milled parts surrounding button and lens
blade holder (the black plastic around the emitter and visible through the two slots above the glass eye)

« Last Edit: June 13, 2007, 01:57:16 PM by Andy Anonymous »




Offline Yoda

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2007, 01:58:59 PM »
From the Pictures it looks like the Bump around the Red button and the glass eye are plastic surrounds like
the Anakin and not actually part of the metal case it's self.
Could you confirm this...

The bump around the glass eye and red button are metal. Here are the parts that are plastic, so far as I can tell:

T-grips
LED bubble strip
red button
"glass" lens
blade holder (the black plastic around the emitter and visible through the two slots above the glass eye)



Nice to know they seem like metal but I was more getting at they are not part of the outer shell but an insert.
(a separate part basically)
That thick line around them tells me they are placed in side a hole just as the Anakin buttons are installed but
obviously shaped for this hilt. ;)


Offline Andy Anonymous

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2007, 02:02:38 PM »
Ah yes, they are most definitely an insert. The bumps (which are metal) are different pieces from the milled housings (which are plastic) for the button and eye, too.





Offline Goffa

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2007, 02:13:00 PM »
Nice review dude, I can't wait until my Luke ANH FX arrives.

Offline Yoda

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2007, 02:15:01 PM »
Thank you Andy 8)

I'm glad they at least used metal for the bump it's self.
I'd suspect the Clamp being in 2 pieces is for ease of installation while assembling since it
looks to assemble the way an Anakin would. ;)

This keep it in the price range they are going for... to have the shells actually formed like
a Graflex would have made this not very cost effective so I can see why they did what they did.

« Last Edit: June 13, 2007, 08:32:49 PM by Yoda »


Offline Jedi Farmboy

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2007, 02:17:08 PM »
Im confused lol. Doesnt the review say it does take AA's?
"...the galaxy was littered with the body parts of those
who had underestimated the strength of Luke Skywalker."

- Darth Caedus, 41 ABY

Offline Vosk

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2007, 02:19:31 PM »
Nice review man.

I'm curious is it practically the same size as the Anakin ROTS hilt?

Edit: It appears I have missed that part of your review lmao.  I'm glad to know that it's the same size as the Anakin ROTS hilt.  We were all hoping it would be.

Offline Yukiel

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Re: Andy's Luke ANH Force FX Review, with pics!
« Reply #14 on: June 13, 2007, 02:20:01 PM »
i'm so buying a converted Luke when it gets out.

That, or Graflex. I dunno.
Both seem awesome.

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