Hi folks, I'm new to the forums....but i've been into FX sabers since summertime and i already have 3 of em... The latest one being a Luke ROTJ Saber.... i got it last Thursday and wrote a quick review for it somewhere else and i thought i'd share my thoughts with you guys.... ;D
MASTER REPLICAS FX LIGHTSABER LUKE SKYWALKER: RETUREN OF THE JEDI (Borders Exclusive Re-Release) REVIEWBox: Standard MR FX LightSaber Box. Has the picture of the Saber with a solid green looking blade that the real thing doesn't look close to. I guess it's hard to capture the look of a real Lightsaber in picture. Not. The picture really makes the saber look like a toy than anything else.
Also, goes to show how sloppy MR is at releasing their products. There's a misprint on the box showing which film this Saber is from. The box says "Lightsaber from Star Wars: Returen of the Jedi" How retarded is that??!! :-x All they had to do was copy the original release which had the correct spelling of the title. If this passed QC at MR, then I wondered if the saber had any problems. I'll get to that.
Stand: This is the regular MR FX Stand that comes standard with all their Sabers. At least i think so. I don't know for sure about the earlier releases. It's basically a pretty solid plastic base with the Star Wars logo imprinted on it. There are 2 plastic pieces that come with it to attach into the stand. 1 piece has a larger semi-circle to hold the hilt, and the other one has a smaller semi-circle to hold the blade. I've heard rumors that these stands over time cause the blades to warp. I've never seen any evidence of this, but i could be wrong. I like these stands just fine.
They also have wall mounting holes in the back which are great for displaying. See my collection??? tee hee hee..... :-D
Hilt of Saber: This is the part of the saber that bothers me the most. This is why i debated so hard about getting this saber because of the gigantic oversized hilt needed in order to accomodate the electronics. It's the most noticebly larger hilt compared to the original than all the other FX sabers. Sure the very 1st Anakin Ep II FX was huge, but at least it was proportional to the original. Here's a pic that from FX-Sabers.com that compares and LE Luke with an FX Luke (articles review)
I think at least they could have matched the striped metal/black part better. I understand the black and copper neck pieces had to be enlarged, but it looks really ugly to me the way it turned out. :-( The lower part of the hilt matches the LE just fine. I'm happy with that much.
If you're wondering, the hilt is made of metal and plastic parts. It has a very solid alluminum finish and feel. The only plastic parts are the black switch, and the red and green arrows on the side of the switch tower. Holding the lightsaber feels pretty good. There isn't much on the hilt to hinder you, so its ideal for dueling. That's the 1 positive about it, that i feel more comfortable swinging this saber around compared to my other ones. :) Here's some more pics of the Hilt.
Blade: These FX saber blades are made of a polycarbonate tube that has 64 LED's lined from top to bottom. This allows for the power up, power down effect. The LED's in this blade are Green, obviously. However, one downside i've noticed about the LED blades is that there are some dark spots in the blade, almost like rings. You can't see it in a picture, but if u look closely at the blade, you'll see blotches in all of the FX LED Lightsabers. But the Green in this blade by far has the most noticeble dark spots.
It only bothers me when i look at the blade for over 3 seconds. I get over it when i start swinging it around at nite. :-D
The new LED blade in this re-release is a huge improvement over the original Luke released. The LED's are brighter and greener than the original. The only positive of the EL blades is that they are more solid and dont have those dark spots. Here's a comparison pic of an original blade (not mine) and the newer blade.
Original
Re-Release
Nice huh??? :-D I was worried before i got the saber that i wouldn't be happy with the green color. It's better than i expected, but it still doesn't reach the coolness of the green blade seen in the actual movie. I feel the same way about my red Vader saber. Only my blue Anakin looks movie good.
I did find some issues with my blade though as soon as i took it out of the box. The blade feels a bit loose when i shake it bit. The connection from the blade into the hilt does not feel as sturdy as my other sabers. I was a little miffed when i 1st held it as it felt more fragile than my other sabers already. :-x It still rattles a bit, so i'm scared to hit it against something to make the crash sound. Here's a pic of how it attaches to the hilt.
Sound: This by far has to be the most dissapointing part of the saber. The electronics of this saber uses 6 AA batteries compared to the newer 3 Batt versions of the Anaking and Vader. However the sound is twice as quiet as the 3 batt versions. How da heck did that happen???!! :? I guess they recorded sounds from the original movie where the lightsaber's idle hum sounds like static from a tv when you try to move a wire antenna around. The motion sounds are almost non-existent and kind of blend into the idle hum. Gar!!! The motion sensors don't work as well on the saber too. What a big dissapointment for a chance for MR to fix these problems with this newer release. Here's the bottom of the hilt where the speaker is.
When i first powered up for the 1st time, i was kinda like "where's the volume control?" yea.... oh well... Here's a pic of the battery compartment and how the bottom unscrews from the hilt.
BUT!!! There is a redeeming feature on this saber that is found on only a few sabers. 4 DIFFERENT CLASH SOUNDS!!! :smack: this feature has 4 sounds that play randomly when u hit the blade against something. 1 of them sounds like a blaster deflection so that's pretty cool. I'm really happy they added this to the sound. :-D
Overall: Compared to my 2 other FX Lightsabers, this is my least favorite. Luke's hilt has never impressed me much. The last Jedi seems to have the dullest looking saber at of them all. However, its a welcomed addition to my collection as it adds a bit of color. :lol: I'm glad i got it at the price i did and not have to pay an arm and leg for what some people are asking. I'd be really upset if i payed over MSRP on this thing which is at $120. My Anakin and Vader were cheaper than this saber and i'd reccomend both of those over this one any day. Here's a last pic of the saber in just normal day light.
Hope the review was helpful to someone out there. :-D
Welcome to the boards and thanks for the review. Please try and watch the language in your posts. Thanks, Plo Koon