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Author Topic: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC  (Read 13764 times)

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Offline drysdalk

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Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« on: March 18, 2006, 11:12:05 AM »
Well, I've added another lightsaber to my collection - this time, a 2002 Anakin Skywalker Attack Of The Clones, the first Force FX lightsaber produced by Master Replicas.  I'd been thinking about it for a while, since it was seeing this lightsaber when over at a friend's house a year or so ago that first introduced me to the FX line, and I'd always had a vague hankering for one ever since.  I'd been keeping my eye out on eBay for a while, and last week finally found a saber in what appeared to be excellent condition, with the original packaging and documentation, and at a good starting price.  In the end, I was able to get it for 67 pounds (around 117 US dollars, at time of writing), not including delivery.  Anyway, enough rambling - on with the review.

It seems best to begin by looking at the hilt.  The very first thing that you will notice about the Anakin AOTC hilt is that it is noticeably longer than that of any other FX lightsaber, with a length somewhere between a fifth and a sixth greater than the Anakin ROTS, for example.  It is also quite heavy, though this owes as much to the materials used in the construction of the hilt as it does to the first-generation internals.  Speaking of construction, this is one area where this hilt does stand out - solid metal is used throughout, with the exception of the central plastic band and the black rubber bands on the handle.  The emitter shroud is thick and sturdy, and throughout the saber all metal areas have a shiny, chrome-like finish.  There is also attention to detail throughout, with the fake LEDs at the side of the hilt and the power indicator strip all preserved, and the overall impression the hilt gives is one of accurate and faithful reproduction of the original, leaving aside its far larger dimensions.  It is also interesting to note that the various knobs and dials which are present on most lightsabers are actually capable of being twisted and rotated on the Anakin AOTC, whereas on most sabers they are immovable and only present for decoration.  Of course, these 'controls' do not actually do anything, but it is a nice touch that they can actually be manipulated nonetheless.

There are one or two peculiarities and weaker areas in the hilt design, however.  The power indicator strip feels very creaky, and has a tendency to loosen and move when the saber is being swung, if one's fingers are resting on it.  This happens, however, because the power indicator in the Anakin AOTC is in fact a moving part by design.  It is a cover that swings aside to reveal the captive screw that must be loosened to access the battery compartment - more on this later.  There is also at first glance a D-ring style belt connector on the emitter shroud, as there is in the Vader ANH - however, this is not a moving part, and is purely present for decorative purposes.  The real belt connector is of the circular style used in the Mace AOTC and Anakin ROTS, and is present at the very base of the handle.  This is odd, given the attention to detail noted earlier that allows dials and knobs that have no function to be rotated and twisted, but the one part that might actually be useful - an easy-to-use belt connector - does not actually move and so cannot be used.  Perhaps at the time MR were worried that a D-ring belt connector might snap off due to metal fatigue with repeated use, and so they settled on what they felt was a safer design.

Now, to discuss the actual behaviour of the saber.  This is a very mixed area, with some high points and some low.  On the plus side, the swinging detection of this saber is superb - I have yet to have it fail to detect a swing of the blade, unless I am moving it very quickly indeed in a series of rapid motions.  For the most part, a swing of the blade will always result in the playback of the swinging sound effect.  Notice that I say 'the swinging sound', and not 'one of the swinging sounds' - this brings us to one of the downsides.  The Anakin AOTC has only one sound effect for a blade swing.  Every single swing sounds the same, and so the experience of using this saber can quickly come to feel quite repetitive and artificial.  So whilst the motion detection is excellent, and indeed is arguably better than that of some later sabers, there is only ever one sound effect used for a blade swing, or series of swings.

Looking at collision detection next - again, I have found this to be a mixed area.  On the plus side, there are four different collision sounds.  On the down side, these sounds are always played in the same order every time, and are not chosen randomly as in other FX sabers.  Also, I have found it very difficult to set off the collision detection, with a far greater amount of force being required for the Anakin AOTC than for any of my other sabers.  This is doubly frustrating, since the one area of the saber that does use multiple sound effects is also the hardest to access.  However, at least it does have the ability.  As for the idle hum, power-up and power-down sound effects - these are of a very high quality, and whilst the idle hum is a repeating sound clip, there is no noticeable stutter or gap between the cycles, as there is in the 2003 Luke ROTJ or Mace AOTC.  The volume of the saber as a whole is also very good, and is more or less comparable with the 2003 Luke ROTJ, if not slightly louder.

There is one thing that I feel I should mention about the saber's behaviour, for the sake of completeness.  The instruction leaflet that comes with the saber states that if the saber is switched off, and then quickly switched on again, it will take eight seconds before the sound playback will begin to function.  Other reviewers on these forums have also backed this up, saying that there is a noticeable delay if their saber is powered off, then immediately powered back on, before sound begins to work.  However, in the case of my particular saber, I cannot replicate this behaviour.  No matter what I try, when I switch the saber on all sound playback is immediately available, from the idle hum and swinging sound, through to the collision sounds.  I have tried my best to duplicate this behaviour, but I cannot.  Perhaps I have some kind of later or revised edition of this saber that did not suffer from this deficiency, despite the fact the documentation enclosed claims that it should.  I mention this here however because other reviewers have stated that their sabers have done this, and so anyone considering this saber needs to be aware that there is a possibility that it might act in this way - although you may be lucky like me, although quite why I seem to be lucky I do not know.  The only delayed aspect of the operation of my saber I have found is a gap of about half a second between switching the saber on and the blade lighting and the idle hum commencing - this brief delay seems consistent under all circumstances.

Now we come to the most unique aspect of this lightsaber - the blade.  To recap, this was the very first FX saber produced by Master Replicas, and so it uses their original electroluminescent (EL) blade, rather than the later LED design.  This means that when the saber is turned on the entire blade lights at once as a single unit - a behaviour also seen in the 2003 Luke ROTJ, which used an EL blade as well.  However, when switched off, this saber exhibits a unique behaviour.  The blade gradually fades out over the space of about a second or so, from full brightness to darkness, and this fade-out occurs in synchronisation with the power-down sound effect.  It is curious to note that this feature is not seen in the 2003 Luke ROTJ, which simply turns off all at once - this could be due to a limitation in the obviously different electronics between the two lightsabers, or perhaps it was a design decision for purely cosmetic reasons.  Regardless, this fade-out makes the Anakin AOTC stand out as the only lightsaber in the entire lineup with this particular power-down behaviour.

The colour of the blade is a light, almost sky-blue colour.  It is worth pointing out that the colour of the Anakin AOTC FX is very different indeed from the Anakin ROTS, since some people seem to have been surprised to hear of this difference.  The Anakin ROTS has a deeper, cobalt/royal blue colour, whereas the Anakin AOTC is more of a cyan/sky blue.  On a personal note, I actually prefer the colour of the Anakin AOTC, and feel it is a more accurate representation of the on-screen colour of Anakin's lightsaber - I always felt that the colour of the Anakin ROTS was a bit too deep and harsh, and relied on its brightness and intensity to give a good impression rather than on the accuracy of its shading.  That said, it should be noted that the Anakin AOTC is far less bright than the Anakin ROTS - by around half, I would estimate.  This is a limitation of the EL blade, since LED blades are fundamentally brighter.  However, on the up side there is no dull spot in the middle of the Anakin AOTC blade, and there are no divisions visible between individual sections of the blade.  This is because an EL blade functions as one single unit, and does not consist of two strings of stand-alone lights joined together, as the Anakin ROTS and other LED-based sabers do.  So largely I suppose it comes down to personal preference, in terms of which of the two blades one prefers in an Anakin saber.  The AOTC is a lighter shade and is of a consistent colour and intensity throughout, but is also far less bright and does not have accurate power-up and power-down effects.

Finally, it is necessary to discuss an undeniably negative feature of the Anakin AOTC - the battery compartment.  This is of a completely different design from that in all other sabers.  Basically, the hilt consists of two parts, and it is necessary to remove the lower half of the hilt to access the internal battery compartment, which is inside the upper section.  This is done by lifting and rotating the power indicator strip, which exposes a captive Phillips-head screw.  This screw must then be loosened, and the lower section of the hilt manually unscrewed counter-clockwise until it can be removed.  This exposes the battery compartment, which it must be said in and of itself is a fairly good design, with batteries being individually housed and very securely seated.  When the batteries are installed, it is necessary to screw the lower half manually in again, until a groove that runs down the side of both sections is lined up.  When it is, the captive screw can then be tightened, and the power indicator snapped back in to place.

Now if that sounds like an ordeal, that's because it is.  In defence of this design, I suppose it can be said that this is a task that should only have to be done very rarely, and it is not so much difficult as it is merely annoying.  But still, it is definitely a deterrent to installing a fresh set of batteries.  I can well imagine that someone might put off the replacement of batteries in their lightsaber because of this design, and who knows - perhaps someone out there left their batteries in too long because of it, and later found that that they had leaked since the purchase of the saber and initial battery installation at that time, and destroyed the saber's internals as a result.  This is one area of FX saber design that has definitely improved over the years, and for that alone we should be thankful.

So, how to summarise the Anakin AOTC ?  Bearing in mind that it was the very first Master Replicas Force FX lightsaber, it is quite a remarkable achievement.  It is a prop replica that looks and functions like a real lightsaber, as far as most people are concerned.  Its hilt is over-sized and heavy without a doubt, but it does faithfully replicate the style and features of the on-screen lightsaber that Anakin uses in Attack Of The Clones.  The blade is a light sky-blue colour, and is quite close to the on-screen appearance of Anakin's blade - though that is largely a matter of personal opinion and preference, admittedly.  The behaviour of the lightsaber is mostly accurate, and it must be remembered that this was the very first product of its type - merely having a motion-sensitive, accurate swinging sound effect at all was probably impressive enough for most buyers in 2002, and few would have complained about the fact that there was only one such sound.  And lastly, if you look at the saber from the point of view of a collectable replica that was intended to spend most of its time on display (even if it hasn't quite worked out that way in practice, shall we say), the battery compartment design is also forgivable.

Given all that, how would I rate this saber, then ?  I would say that it is still a worthwhile purchase - at the right price, of course.  Technologically, it has long since been surpassed by more or less every other Force FX lightsaber subsequently produced, but it is still perfectly good for the purpose it was designed for.  The blade is of a unique colour, and behaves like no other in the series due to its fade-out power-down effect.  Its hilt has some unique features, specifically its high-quality metal construction and finish, and the fact that its faux 'controls' can be rotated.  So it is by no means a bad or poor saber - it only looks this way when its performance is compared to the very latest products in the series.  In short, if you have the opportunity to pick it up at a good price, by all means do so.  It is still a very enjoyable lightsaber to own and wield, and gives an insight into just how much the design and technology of the Force FX lightsaber has improved in four years - and just how much that Master Replicas got right first time.



Full size: http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/drysdalk/ANAKIN-AOTC-1.jpg


Full size: http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/drysdalk/ANAKIN-AOTC-2.jpg
« Last Edit: June 23, 2006, 05:02:38 PM by drysdalk »
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My lightsaber collection:
2003 Vader ANH
2005 Mace AOTC
2005 Anakin ROTS
2003 Luke ROTJ
2002 Anakin AOTC
2006 Obi-Wan ROTS

Offline Bandit-Jedi

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2006, 11:46:28 AM »
Wow, great review. Your hands must hurt from all the typing.  Heck, I was starting to cramp up just from the reading.
Some interesting things that you noted about the saber.   The motion sounds as you say you only have one.  My FFX has the 4 motion sounds to it. 2 Buzzes(one quick, one long) 2 Arc Wave-"vruum-vruum(one short, one long).  So I'm wondering why yours might only be playing one?
How would you classify this saber now?  Seeing all the differences, would you lump it with the 2003 Luke as a Gen1 or do you think as I do that the Anakin AOTC and ONLY the Anakin AOTC is a Gen1?

May The Force FX Be With You!


Offline drysdalk

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2006, 07:30:30 PM »
Hi;

That is very interesting - I checked out my saber again, and it definitely only ever plays one single swinging sound effect, specifically the type of sound you'd expect for a pretty standard single swing.  There is no kind of double-swing sound, and no matter what direction I swing the saber in, or at what speed, or in what combination of the two, I only ever hear the same, single sound.

I happened to be round this evening at the house of the friend who had the Anakin AOTC that I first saw a year or so ago, and his saber is exactly the same - it only plays one swinging sound, it has four clash sounds, and it too does not exhibit the delayed sound playback after a rapid power off/power on, even though the instruction leaflet for his saber is identical to mine, and says that there should by rights be an eight-second delay.

As I say, this is very interesting, since it could imply that there is in fact another revision of the Anakin AOTC that has eliminated the start-up delay for the sound processor, but which in doing so has reduced the repertoire of the saber to one single swinging sound.  Indeed, perhaps this was the fix for the problem - to lower the resource requirements for the sound processor, so it can boot more or less instantaneously.  Sadly, I cannot say for sure precisely where and when each of our sabers were originally purchased, since they both came from eBay, and before that we of course have no way of knowing.  I did check out the join between the upper and lower sections of the hilt, and the rubber seal that you mention your fixed saber has is present in both cases, so they are certainly newer than the very original version of the saber.

Another possibile explanation for this difference in behaviour could be some kind of regional difference in the electronics used in the original FX saber.  I am in the UK, and the source for both of the sabers in question was ebay.co.uk, so it could be that there is a difference between the USA and EMEA versions of the saber electronics, although this does admittedly seem an unlikely explanation.

The final explanation could be that both my saber and my friends' saber are malfunctioning, and in precisely the same way...however, given their completely identical behaviour, and otherwise apparently normal functioning, I doubt that this is the case.

Still, regardless of the cause, this is certainly a noteworthy discovery, since either there is another revision of the Anakin AOTC FX that has only one swinging sound and no sound processor startup delay, or these sabers are prone to malfunction in precisely the same way, with a side-effect of that malfunction being the elimination of the eight-second delay.  I suppose only someone from MR would be able to give a definitive answer on this, though I would be very interested in hearing in this thread from other Anakin AOTC owners in various parts of the world about their own experiences.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2006, 07:48:23 PM by drysdalk »
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My lightsaber collection:
2003 Vader ANH
2005 Mace AOTC
2005 Anakin ROTS
2003 Luke ROTJ
2002 Anakin AOTC
2006 Obi-Wan ROTS

Offline Dark Skywalker

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2006, 07:49:24 PM »
You must really like typing. ;) :D Just kidding



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Offline ani104

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2006, 08:30:55 PM »
I like typing too .................NOT

Anyway, nice review ;)
« Last Edit: May 05, 2006, 03:40:18 PM by Ben Kenobi »

Offline todd4566

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2006, 03:38:27 PM »
I've had my AOTC Anakin since it debuted, and my FX also has four swing sounds.  In fact, the swing sounds are basically the same the as the ROTS Anakin, but with less volume. :D  Surprising your Anakin doesn't have the 8 second delay bug (it's not techincally a bug, more of a "software load time"), but there appears to have been a revised release of this saber that address the flaw. 
My collection:
2002 Anakin AOTC
2003 Vader ANH  **Sold**
2004 Luke ESB  **Sold**
2005 Anakin ROTS **Sold**
2005 Vader ESB **Sold**
2005 Luke ROTJ **Sold**
2006 Maul TPM
Custom 5w Luxeon (Green/Royal Blue)
2006 Obi-Wan ROTS  **Sold**
2007 Yoda
2007 Luke ANH
2008 Obi-Wan TPM
2010 Anakin ROTS (Removeable Blade)

Offline Shadowlynx

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2006, 08:08:43 PM »
Wow that was great review, It feels like the FX sabers have been around for about 100 years hearing your review and others. I never knew that the Anakin AOTC had 4 motion sensors that's just wicked but you have to start from the scratch in order to make something big.

Offline drysdalk

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2006, 04:45:32 PM »
Hi;

I've updated the review with two photographs, one in darkness and the other in low room light.
---
My lightsaber collection:
2003 Vader ANH
2005 Mace AOTC
2005 Anakin ROTS
2003 Luke ROTJ
2002 Anakin AOTC
2006 Obi-Wan ROTS

Offline DarthArn

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2006, 06:41:08 PM »
look cool.Nice review. :)



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Offline Knuckle01

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #9 on: June 24, 2006, 05:02:05 AM »
i think this saber is almost a duplicate of the vader.....kinda funny huh
The Force will be with you....always.

Offline djforce

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #10 on: June 24, 2006, 10:39:03 AM »
Good review, now give yourself to the darkside!

Offline drysdalk

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2006, 03:15:33 PM »
Hi;

That is certainly true, yes - the resemblance between the hilts of the Anakin AOTC and the Vader ANH is striking.  Indeed, from a distance the only obvious difference is the emitter shroud, which is textured black plastic on the Vader and smooth metal on the Anakin.  The black band in the middle is the same, and the rubber grips only run part-way up to it from the base of the hilt.  Up close you can see other differences to be sure, but they are certainly the two most similiar hilts by far.

---
My lightsaber collection:
2003 Vader ANH
2005 Mace AOTC
2005 Anakin ROTS
2003 Luke ROTJ
2002 Anakin AOTC
2006 Obi-Wan ROTS

Offline Lord Throughlou

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #12 on: December 04, 2006, 08:17:29 AM »
these are almost impossible to find lol

Offline WEDGE ANTILLES

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #13 on: December 04, 2006, 08:54:47 AM »
drysdalk what is the model number on your saber? there are 2 different revision of the anakin AOTC: "SW201" and SW201P"

you and Todd4566 probably have different model numbers
"The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story.
Once Vader dies, he doesn't come back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned, and Luke doesn't get married..."
- George Lucas

Offline Kyp Durron

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Re: Review: 2002 Anakin AOTC
« Reply #14 on: December 10, 2006, 05:10:18 AM »
I just won an Anakin AOTC for $66 not including shipping from Ebay and from the owner's description, is in excellent condition with only the covertech belt clip missing.

I will email him and see if his has the 4 motion swings, the rubber o-ring, and if there is a sound delay when turning it right back on.

*Edit*

This is the email that I sent him :

Quote
Hi!

I have a few very important questions reguarding this saber in order to determine what version this saber is. As you may be aware, there were several updated verisions made to address some of the issues that the first run of these had.

Does this saber have 4 swing sounds when swung, or only one?

Does this saber have a rubber o-ring when you take the hilt apart to change batteries?

And finally, is there a delay in the sound play back when the saber is switched off and right back on again? Some of the older ones had an 8 second delay because there was a boot-up delay in the sound software when powering it off and right back on again.

I am a moderator at FX-Sabers.com and I was asking so I would know what verison I am getting.

Thanks!!


-Joclad
« Last Edit: December 10, 2006, 05:36:48 AM by JOCLAD DANVA »

2010...I certainly hope it's better than 2009 was! ::)
10/10/10~Well, so far with my Father's passing away, I'd say that this year was actually worse than 2009, even the fact that I now have a full time job (For now) isn't anywhere near enough to make up for that...so...maybe 2011 will be better? I'm not holding my breath... ::)

 

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