With so much attention being focused on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it’s definitely a very good time to be a fan of the franchise as a whole. Having become a science fiction fan through the first film at the tender age of seven and being whisked into that worldwide phenomenon that it was and is, my love of the work has brought me into contact with a wide range of people and it took me to the anime world where, during the 80’s, science fiction shows ruled.
Having looked at some Star Wars merchandise recently for review, I was contacted by the folks at UltraSabers if I wanted to take a look at their new Renegade edition lightsaber. Having been very interested in seeing how this is going to work in the film, the idea of getting my hands on something early to scope out was definitely right up my alley.
So we received the Renegade edition base model for the custom saber, where it doesn’t have the sound but is otherwise fully functional. Let’s take a quick look.
The first thing to realize here is that this is a heavy aluminum piece of custom work. And I mean heavy. The thing has heft and it definitely makes you feel like it has its value just from that alone. It handles well and definitely works smoothly while play-acting at combat motions and the like. The product is definitely the kind that makes you just take it all in with its size and scale and appreciate the simple coolness of it all because it doesn’t have an ounce of cheap feeling to it. Especially since you can customize it so easily with different colors, which hugely personalizes it all the more. We got the red one since it’s riffing the whole Kylo Ren thing and that definitely works.
When this bad boy came out of the box, I was definitely excited to get it all put together and see how it all feels in your hand. UltraSabers definitely packaged the thing securely and safely so absolutely nothing could happen to it during transit. It came with just one sheet of paper talking about where things get put for the tubes with a visual and that’s it. This is the only area of frustration I had with the product though because once you slide the tubes in, there’s no instructions on how to secure it. As we mention in the video above, there are screws at the base of each section for the light tubes and it requires a 5/16ths screwdriver to get it secure. And you want to turn it just enough so that it’s firm without going too far. Unfortunately, the only way to find this out was to dig through their forums a bit before I came across a video that had them talking about it. And even then it took a bit of replay to figure out which screwdriver size I needed.
But once done, oh boy.
I had it all put together before my middle school daughter came home off the bus, so I was waiting. I walked down the driveway ready to walk her home as part of an honor guard.
She walked the other way as soon as she saw me.
Everyone else was curious though and you could see a hell of a lot of interest from people driving by that wanted to see it. It stands out in a big way because of its length and the brightness of the color. It’s pretty impressive even in daylight, which isn’t always possible.
So when my significant other came home, I got ready to do the same honor guard thing. That got some cool responses, and from those driving by again since it was dark out, but the request was made for no nightly honor guard escorts.
Bah.
This thing is damn impressive. I’ve always looked at lightsabers over the years because I grew up with that original big black bulky handle plastic piece with the giant red plastic tube that stuck out of it. And I spent days and days playing with friends outside as a Jedi or Darth Vader and all sorts of other things. This kind of stuff was completely my childhood that opened up my imagination to so much and made me want to explore more in storytelling and film.
This product really does just blow everything else away that I’ve seen over the years. It’s incredibly detailed and cut, it handles well and it’s just fantastic to work with. It does leave me curious how the sound options work though as I imagine that just takes it to a whole other level. And if you cosplay as anything Star Wars that uses a lightsaber? Not only does something like this make you look all the more impressive, you feel all the more impressive because of how authentic it feels.
This is definitely the grown-ups toys and it’s the kind of stuff that I know is made and dreamed up by folks that had the same or similar experiences to me years ago, culminating in a reality.
This is that kind of custom piece you really do treat yourself to.
