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Author Topic: Detailed review of Kylo Ren's Force FX Lightsaber  (Read 16869 times)

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Offline vader445

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Detailed review of Kylo Ren's Force FX Lightsaber
« on: September 18, 2015, 08:57:20 PM »
I haven't seen anyone review this saber in the level of detail like the old MR sabers were done.

Originally I wasn't a fan of Kylo's Lightsaber. But it grew on me. It's not my favorite but I like the fact that it breaks the norm and is something new.
 
I wasn't gaga over the Fx when I first saw it. I did say it was a pass for me. The more I saw it the more I wanted it. it became to the point that I drove all over a good portion of NE Ohio to find one. I eventually found one in the Macedonia Target which is 1hr and 15 mins away from me.

The Box
 
It's huge! It looks bigger in person then it does in photos and was designed to match the new Black Series toy line Hasbro released. I have 2 older Vader boxes next to it for comparision.



The Hilt

The biggest complaint on this saber is the hilt size. We cannot say for sure if it's oversized or on point until we have clear shots of the hero. It's about the same diameter as the Luke 2004 and Vader 2003 hilts so I would have to guess that it is oversized. BUT it's no where near as bad as people make it out to be as it looks fatter in the photos. I'm quite use to the size of the older FXs. They don't bother me so tho size of this saber isn't a down side. I can grip it just fine.

The hilt is composed of the typical plastic chasity that holds the guts, a metal tube and the hilt itself on the out side. That may be why it's oversized. The hilt itself separates into 3 main sections thus needing the middle tube to hold it together. In my opinion that makes this saber high quality and stable in construction. That's an A+ from Hasbro.

The paint app has been critsized too. Honestly with Kylos hilt being heavily weathered and Hasbro needing to maintain consistency with production paint is needed. Paint can only go so far before it looks fake. I think they done well with it.

The wire is real! Another A++++ from Hasbro. MR made the wires on the ESB Vader out of Resin. The finish on them was weak.

Now photos of the hilt.





The saber takes 3 AA batteries. I'm glad they got rid of the horrible AAA battery pack with slip cover. I hated that. But the inner pomel detail is attached to the battery pack. I quite like that.



The Blade

The string LED is about the same brightness as previous sabers. I'm happy with that because the 2011 Luke ANH lacked in brightness some. All 3 blades flicker, a feature never done on the Force FX. Hasbro is doing a good job at wining me over with this saber.

Here it is next to the 2007 fixed bladed Vader. It looks quite nice.



The Sound

Along with the hilt size the sound level has been critizied too. Honestly it's really only the idle hum that is quieter. The rest seems pretty loud to me. I do love the fact that Hasbro actually made the sound specific to this saber. It's directly taken from the film. They could have been lazy and cheapened the sound. I'm glad they continue to make new sabers sound specific. The days of the MR sith and jedi recycled sounds are long gone. I'm pleased witg the sound level and sound font.

Another brand new feature on this saber is the swing sounds that corresponds with the speed you're swinging the saber. There are low swings for slow swings and high pitched swings for faster swings. Simply amazing.

Overall I give this saber a 9/10. Why a 9 and not a 10? It's because the side blades have a noticeable seem on both the clear tube and white blade defuser. The pin that holds them in is visible too.

But overall I love this saber. I feel Hasbro went above and beyond with it. They could have been lazy and gave us some cheap plastic hilt with generic sound. But we got a 3 piece metal hilt with specific sound, flickering blades and swing speed correspondence.

I though the fx line was dead. We haven't had new sabers since 2011. I assume with Disney acquiring the rights Hasbro stopped producing the Signature series line. The Black series is the first FX release since then. It shows that Hasbro cares about the FX line. They really took their time with this and provided 2 brand spanking new features never seen on previous Force FXs.

Here is one last photo with it next to the Vader. Kylo's size isn't too far off.

Lightsaber collection:
2005 V1 MR Darth Vader Force FX with tri Cree LED
LDM MKVI-V2 #18
2004 ESB Luke Force FX(dead battery pack but saber works)

Offline Josh12730

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Re: Detailed review of Kylo Ren's Force FX Lightsaber
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2015, 09:43:59 AM »
Nice review. I was pretty impressed with mine too. I do feel like it could be a little louder but it doesn't bother me and it's probably only by comparison to my other sabers. But it's unique and they did a sweet job for sure. Thanks for the detailed review

 

retrousse