Hey everybody.
You may remember a few days ago me posting in a thread that I had finally snagged a ROTS Mace on ebay. Well, I bought the item on thursday, and it arrived this morning. The postman looked a bit like ??? when he looked at me because of the box size ;D
So I signed for my saber and immediately reached for my scissors, since the packing box was covered in masking tape, which is probarbly just as well to protect these expensive elegant weapons ;)
I snipped through the tape, eager as to whether or not the seller lied about ROTS or AOTC saber. I know it's not positive to think they lied but I paid a lot of money and I really wanted to be sure ;) As I saw the saber box, I immediately knew It was ROTS and not AOTC, since the purple on the box cover is a deeper shade, as you will see in my pics below. The box was in used shape, but it didn't bother me so much. Then I opened the actual box up to see the beautiful weapon of Jedi Master Windu. I went up to my room to get my AOTC Mace down, because I was eager to see the differences. When I switched the AOTC saber on, there was the awful drowned out idle hum, with an even worse looping. Then I reached for the switch of my new ROTS, and to my suprise, it already had batteries in! ;D
The result was amazing. The purple was much much deeper, and not blue as I had seen so many times before in pictures and videos of the ROTS model. I switched both on side by side, and the difference, although not as great as people think, was still a sight to behold. As for the sound, I would say it is the greatest improvement on the newer saber. The purple of my AOTC did not bother me so much, because it still looked great in total darkness, but the sound on the other hand is something I could not ignore. The ROTS though, has a sound unique to itself (in my estimation) although you can still hear a definitive "loop" in the recording, it is much louder and "crisp" (to quote some of the very good reviewers on this site). While it by no means competes with the middle sabers (in relation to sound, I class sabers such as the Yoda and Anakin as the middle, since they are loud but not as loud as Luke ROTJ for example), it is a noticable improvement and can now compete with others in the sound department.
Pictures.
The Hilt:
While the hilt is not in mint condition, as I would have hoped, it is in better condition than my AOTC Mace and the gold paint wear is minimal.
AOTC is on the bottom, ROTS is on the stand.
While there are VERY FEW differences between the two hilts, there is
definately a major difference in the shades of gold used. The ROTS I found to be a much lighter gold colouring than the AOTC, although my pics don't show it clearly since my AOTC's gold is wearing away.
AOTC:
ROTS:
The only other noticable difference I see being the belt clip screws, which for one reason or another appear to be slightly different (ROTS seems larger and shinier than AOTC)
AOTC:
ROTS:
The rubber looks to be exactly the same.
AOTC:
ROTS:
The blades:
Broad Daylight:
Honestly, these ARE BOTH LIT UP! :-\
At night:
(The AOTC is on the right, ROTS on the left)
95% Darkness (the only other light in the room is coming from my computer screen):
It is not shown so clearly on the pics, but you can just about make out the AOTC on the right emits a pinkish colour, as opposed to the glow I would describe as "lilac" shown by the ROTS.
The boxes:
As you can see, there is more than just the description at the back of the box to look out for when you want to know which movie your Mace is from. The ROTS box is at the top, and the picture of the blade is clearly of a darker purple, compared to the pink of the AOTC box on the bottom. I must say though, that the difference between blades on the boxes is exaggurated, since you would think from just looking at the boxes that the AOTC is a burning pink and therefore must be lightyears away from the burning purple of the ROTS box picture. Misleading, they are ;)
This should be especially useful for anybody hunting for a Mace on ebay- sellers often get the movie wrong or just assume it is ROTS, but take a close look at the pictures on the auctions. My advice is that if the box is not clearly shown, do not buy. If you see someone trying to sell a Mace as ROTS but the box in the pic has the "pink" blade picture, they are probarbly lying.
My AOTC is the re-release with the "Red" blade box VS the "purple" blade box of the ROTS:
Descriptions:
ROTS:
AOTC
So there we have it. My very first review and an important one at that ;) While they are essentially the same sabers in hilt, I defy anybody who tells me that these are the same saber and that it doesn't matter which one I buy. There ARE differences, no matter how small (such as the gold colouring or the belt clip) or how large (such as the humongous improvement in sound on the ROTS), I have just proved that
they are there. While the differences may not be enough to warrant anybody hunting down two so they have both, they are definately enough to make you think carefully about which Mace you are getting when you commit to buying it.
Thanks for reading, and may the force be with you all.
-Tony