THE STORY
Soon after I recieved my ROTJ Luke FX saber, I felt the need to cross to the Dark Side. Once I found out that the Vader ANH saber had the power-up/down light effects I knew I had to have it added to my collection. So at the time Master Replicas had started their Holiday promotion period and you could purchase the Vader ANH or the Luke ROTJ without the stand for $99.00 with FREE shipping. Now was the time. I jumped on it and was able to use a $25 MR coupon code to get the final total down to
$74.00!! What a deal, I'm glad I got it when I did. It was a very early Christmas present to myself.
THE SABER OUT OF THE BOX
The FX saber itself is VERY well done. The components used for construction are durable and heavy-duty. Nothing flimsy about this beautiful lightsaber.
The Battery Holder is the same as in the Luke ROTJ and is easily accessed by unscrewing the encap on the lightsaber. All you have to do is snap in the 6 AA batteries, replace the holder and you are ready to go.
The 2003 Master Replicas and Lucasfilm Ltd. copyright stamping on the encap.
The On/Off switch is the "round" button located in the recessed area of the gloss black assembly. To activate, just push the button up towards the blade. I like the placement of this switch because there is absolutely no way for you to accidentily turn it off or on.
The details on the lightsaber closely resemble the original prop. The Control Box with the 6-bubble strip on top and the "bent-nail" detail added on the side of the box.
All the original flashgun details were duplicated to scale with the Force FX lightsaber. The letter designations next to the faux ports came initially with anodized paint in the recessed area, but after some handling this paint tends to come off.
Further detail points include the attention that was paid to the emitter shroud housing. Two holes drilled completely through the housing to follow the original detail of the flashgun. Just a little detail you might not ever notice.
THE SABER IGNITED
In Normal Room Light
In Low Room Light
There is no Full Darkness photo due to the fact that my camera will not photograph the TRUE color of the Red blade as many cameras will show it to be orange. But let me say, it is VERY RED!
WORKING REVIEW
The saber takes some getting use to holding it your hand. The Control Box has a strange offset that makes it a bit odd to handle. Doing twirls and spins is possible but cumbersome. But hey, Vader never needed to do any saber twilrling! As I said earlier the On/Off switch is not easily turned on/off by accident. Once turned on the saber instantly ignites with a beautiful "snap-hiss" sound. The Idle hum is more of a "buzz" sound which exactly how it was in the film. There is absolutely no stutter to the sound loop played for the hum. The motion sensor works well with the 3 "slash" sounds. With the ANH vader the "slash" sound FX do tend to overlap occasionally which is common to these sabers. The clash sound is easily activated by gently tapping the center area of the blade where the shock sensor is located. As with most of the DV sabers the power down effect is slower than the others. The sound effect begins a full second before the light effect will "retract".
THE COMPARISON
As you can see the Force FX is about the closest of any of the FX sabers to come to the actual LE/SE prop replicas. Here it is shown against my Vader ANH SE. The dimensions are very close with the FX being only marginally larger in circumference.
A fine job of duplicating the faux look of the ports on the FX saber considering the room needed for the blade and electronics. As you can see, the "letter" detail is much smaller on the SE than on the FX saber.
Small differences in the Emitter housing details such as the extra room given for the button on the FX to slide up. Also the silver knobs on the housing had different finishes. The SE's finish was more of a matte silver and the FX had a bit more shine to it.
A detail which about floored me in the housing was the fact that the FX saber retained the "coiled spring" look inside the emitter. Kudos to MR for that small sweet detail.
The 6-bubble strip on the FX has much larger bubbles than the SE. Also a difference in the shape of the piece used to cover the "bent-nail" coming out of the side of the Control Box.
Another nice detail that retains the look of the original replica is the use of a specific speaker grill to match the design seen on the SE.
THE BOX
For those that would like a detailed look at the box the ANH Vader FX came in. Due to incorrect storage of the box it suffered minor water damage to one end of it.
Left-hand Front and Top of box
Right-hand Front and Top of box
Left-hand Back of box
Center Back of box
Right-hand Back of box
FINAL THOUGHTS
The ANH Vader is the 2nd favorite FX that I own(1st going to the Luke TESB). This was my 1st saber to have the realistic lighting effect and I couldn't get enough of it. For those that don't have a Vader saber yet, you must pick one up. Release the inner-sith that we all have.