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Author Topic: My 2 cents  (Read 6298 times)

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Offline Master Tongren

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My 2 cents
« on: April 14, 2006, 09:20:12 PM »
Just got mine from Borders and put it together today.  Borders only had the singles but they were selling 2 singles for the same price as a double.  Pretty cool.  So I get it home and immediately start the unpackaging process.  First box, cut through the seals and opened it up.  There was one half of the coolest sci-fi weapon begging me to get it out of there.  I took it out and the coupler and allen wrench.  I already knew about having to adjust the coupler to make sure both sabers line up.  No big deal at all.  I take out the battle damaged end cap with the crystal (very cool touch), added my triple a's and attached the coupler.  I then went to work on the second box.  Took off the crystal cap, added the batteries and attached it to the coupler.  First thing I noticed was it being 7 feet long was not a good idea to have it near a rotating ceiling fan.  Nothing happened, but you can imagine.   :)   

Then the moment of truth.  Turned both knobs and whooosh!!  They both fired up no problem.  The blade is definitely thicker that older gen sabers.  And the LED's are RED!!  Very nice blade work.  The handle rivals Mace's in my opinion in looks and sheer coolness.  A nice metal feel over the entire handle.  And when the coupler is added, gives it some nice weight to it too.  VERY cool handle.  Movement sensors and clash sensors seem to work nice and accurate with fast responses.  Power up and down seem timed perfectly to the lights.  I would only say 2 negatives on my review.  One are the power switches.  I'm 50-50 with these.  They are cool cause they're different from the other sabers, but at the same time you can't really pull of the one handed ignition of both blades like Maul did in the movie.  How cool would that be?  I don't have any suggestions on how they could have fixed that.  It just would have been cool to do.  Not a big flaw at all though.  The actual sound quality however is not exactly as full as I'd like it.  When fired up it does sound like it's coming from an am radio.  True the speakers are small and can only handle so much frequency, but listen to your other sabers Vader, Anakin, etc.  You'll know what I'm talking about. 

All in all those 2 negatives in no way out weigh the positives or coolness of this piece.  This is definitely one of my favorites.  I would give it a 9 1/2 out of 10 points all together.  Just for the fact that it's Darth Maul and it's FX are HUGE points in my book.  I say WAY TO GO MASTER REPLICAS!!  You knocked this one out of the park.  Now let's hope I feel the same way about the Obi-Wan I'm so looking forward to.

This was my first review and I hope I gave some insight and was somewhat helpful to some of you?  Just my 2 cents.

Offline cw

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2006, 09:04:39 AM »
When you say one handed ignition of both blades, do you mean igniting each seperately with one hand
or igniting both ends with just one hand? The reason I say this is because Maul ignites the right side and
then places his other hand on the left side and then ignites it. It does look like the ignition switches should
have been the red buttons at the base of the hilt and not the top, though.


Offline Timmy-Wan Kenobi

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2006, 09:19:37 AM »
I agree. They wouldn't have been in the way so much either, for twirling and duelling.
But we can't have everything, I guess.
MR seem to have done an excellent job on the maul, IMO.
Despite complaints about the sound, I think that the upgrades in electronics, and the increased accuracy of the hilt and durability of the blade have raised the bar somewhat with regards to customer expectation.
MR now need to match this quality with future products.

Offline BIGGS DARKLIGHTER

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2006, 05:52:20 PM »
I really like the changes MR has made as well. Although I'm still not sure if I like the power switches as they are...

Offline Darth Pantsless

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2006, 07:04:03 PM »
When you say one handed ignition of both blades, do you mean igniting each seperately with one hand
or igniting both ends with just one hand? The reason I say this is because Maul ignites the right side and
then places his other hand on the left side and then ignites it. It does look like the ignition switches should
have been the red buttons at the base of the hilt and not the top, though.

I'm pretty sure he is just holding it in his left hand and they ignite one after the other. Maybe he used the force to do this. So if you want to do it, it's simple MT, just learn about the force

Offline Master Tongren

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2006, 09:51:24 PM »
I think you're right Pantsless.  And I guess I'll just have to use the force as you say.   ;)   That was funny.

Offline cw

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2006, 06:46:00 PM »
Watch the movie again. He uses two hands. The saber stays in place where he's holding it but he switches hands
to get the other hand on the left switch. (It's acually 2 sabers with a coupler so he has to use two buttons as well).


Offline Master Tongren

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2006, 09:24:30 PM »
You're absolutely right.  Ironically I just watched it again today.  And I remembered this convo when that part came up.  Sure enough switches hands.  Good catch.

Offline Dark Skywalker

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2006, 09:13:01 AM »
Has anyone noticed that in the movies no one presses the buttons/switchs of their lightsabers to ignited them?



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Offline Timmy-Wan Kenobi

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2006, 10:18:53 AM »
You're right, I can't remember seeing any actual button pressing going on. 
I suppose it makes it a bit easier for the special fx guys if they can decide when the saber ignites, and when the saber powers up has an effect on the dynamics of the film.
Nevertheless, would have been nice to see a few close up, 'thumb on button' shots of sabers being powered up.

Offline Dark Skywalker

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2006, 11:35:17 AM »
Yeah I mean look at the close up in TPM when Obi uses tho force to get Qui-Gon's saber, you can totally tell he finger never came close to pressing the button ;) I just think it's funny



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Offline DarthRage

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2006, 11:53:46 AM »
How come he couldn't have just used the force to push the button?  Mace's finger wasn't on the button when he turned it on against Sidious.
My FX Sabers:

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Offline Dark Skywalker

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2006, 12:01:15 PM »
I'm sure thats the case, I just thought it was funny



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Offline Master Tongren

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #13 on: April 17, 2006, 08:07:12 PM »
Although I seem to remember a scene in ROTJ when you can see Luke gesture turning his off while shaking his head saying never.  Remember?  He actually makes a motion that looks like he's turning it off by a button.

Offline Dark Skywalker

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Re: My 2 cents
« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2006, 08:11:23 PM »
Yeah a few times they do but others they don't



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