How I got it
On December 1st I found a thread on this site that MR had the Luke ESB in stock! I ordered one later that night. I come home from school and found a long box on the bench by the door. I removed the saber from the outer box. I got the new style box so it matches my other boxes. I had some trouble getting the 3 tabs on the box out of the holes without ripping the box. I opened it to find the amazing hilt I had only seen pictures of. I happily removed it from the plastic bag and went to get my batteries. I did find it slightly difficult to open the battery compartment on this saber but it has loosened up some since then. I put the batteries in and screwed the endcap back in. I picked it up to move it to a dark room to try it but it turned on when I picked it up. I was surprised by how quiet the sounds were but the blade was the brightest I have ever seen on an fx!
The blade
The Luke ESB blade is extremely bright and consistant. I love that sky blue color. I will never duel with this blade because I like it way too much to chance damaging it. There is a dark spot on the blade but it is only noticeable if you look for it. The power up/down effects are well timed with the sounds. The blade is solid and not loose at all. It is like a flashlight at the end of this blade because the foam does not cover the LEDs at the top like the Anakin ROTS. In my opinion this blade is the brightest blade on all of the sabers.
The hilt
The hilt on the Luke ESB is extremely high quality and movie-accurate except that it is a bit oversized. This saber feels very nice in my hands. It is a bit heavy even with the lighter e2 lithiums in it but I don't mind that if it means higher hilt quality. The on/off switch is not that much of a problem to me. I turn it on by accident alot but I have never turned it off by accident like the Anakin ROTS. I also love that you can see the blade through the shroud between the hinges. This is the best hilt out of all my sabers. Other than the on/off switch I think that this hilt is perfect.
The sounds
This is what I would change about the saber if I could change 1 thing. The sounds are quiet compared to the Luke ROTJ and the Anakin ROTS. It just gets drowned out by my other sabers. Other than it being quiet it is very nice. I like the sounds on this saber as long as I don't have any other ones turned on. It is good at responding to your swings. It has the same sounds as the Mace ROTS except quieter. (I don't own the Mace my brother does)
I highly recommend that if don't know weather to buy it or not I recommend that you do. you can try it and if you don't like it box it up and sell it next year to make some money. Although I can't see why anyone would not love this saber. I give it a 9.5 out of 10 overall with the only thing not perfect being the sound volume.
the saber off
the saber on with lights on
the saber on with no lights
the hilt
the holes in the shroud
the endcap
the switchbox
the video
http://rapidshare.de/files/9138335/lukeesb.avi.htmlHope you enjoyed my reviews