Hasbro Star Wars Jedi Lightsaber

Well of all the things I expected to get at Christmas this was one item I never expected to get at my age (I am nearly 35). But on Christmas morning I got my pile of pressies (5 in all) and of course I had to open the big one first. Within, for my delectation, was this little baby (actually not that little as it is over a metre in length fully extended) and all my dreams of childhood were unleashed in short order.

Ten minutes later ...
...mad scramble for batteries, it was ready for action. I pushed the activator button and became in an instant a Jedi Knight (and ten years old) as I heard that familiar hum. A few twirls and hits against a chair (imagining of course that it cut the chair in half) later and I am in heaven and seriously irritating my girlfriend (she bought it after all). So I (slightly sheepishly) put it away until her 23 year old brother came down with the one he got ... more

Well of all the things I expected to get at Christmas this was one item I never expected to get at my age (I am nearly 35). But on Christmas morning I got my pile of pressies (5 in all) and of course I had to open the big one first. Within, for my delectation, was this little baby (actually not that little as it is over a metre in length fully extended) and all my dreams of childhood were unleashed in short order.

Ten minutes later (all my other presents forgotten for the moment), after a mad scramble for batteries, it was ready for action. I pushed the activator button and became in an instant a Jedi Knight (and ten years old) as I heard that familiar hum. A few twirls and hits against a chair (imagining of course that it cut the chair in half) later and I am in heaven and seriously irritating my girlfriend (she bought it after all). So I (slightly sheepishly) put it away until her 23 year old brother came down with the one he got given by his parents.

(Six hours later)

When her brother came down at last (he is a late riser at the best of times) we had to do it! As darkness fell we went outside and had a lightsabre duel. Was it fun you may ask? H*** yeah was it fun!! We were out there for twenty minutes hitting each other with our blades and laughing our heads off.

(New Years Eve)

On quite possibly the coldest night of the year and the lightsabre addiction kicked in again! At the New Years Eve party everyone wanted to try our little babies out to see what they were like. By the end of New Years Eve and well into New Years morning the definitive phrase for the lightsabre toy came down to a four word sentence.

“Cool! I want one!”

The lightsabres currently on the market are produced by Hasbro, who have the Star Wars licence as well as numerous others including Pokemon and Action Man. If you want to check up on what products are available at:

www.hasbro.co.uk

There are currently two types available at two different prices of £19.99 and £9.99.

The £19.99 models are (as you may guess) the higher quality models. There are three in the range:

Anakin Skywalker (Blue Blade)
Count Dooku (Red Blade)
Obi Wan Kenobi (Blue Blade)

Each of these models is essentially a 1:1 scale replica of the characters weapons in the “Attack of the Clones” movie. The handles have a varying circumference and an average length of 80cm, which includes the handle and the first stage of the actual blade. When flicked out the full blade length is three feet/1 yard. The plastic of the blade is made from a rigid clear plastic that illuminates incredibly when you activate you lightsabre. These toys also feature a soundcard containing all the sounds you associate with lightsabre action. It has the hum (of course) and when the blade actually comes in contact with a solid object or another blade it crackles as well and sometimes makes the swirl noise as well. Its durability and quality as a product is excellent. After over 4 hours of battering away these toys were still in perfect condition and operating at full capacity.

Note: This lightsabre takes two LR17 batteries.

The £9.99 models are a much cheaper and quite hard to find as well your best option for finding one is by going to a specialist store such as Forbidden Planet. These models do not have the sound effect feature and are also of lesser quality all round. The blades are of a thin PVC construct that can damage easily and also is never quite straight so you do end up with a bendy lightsaber. The handle itself is still high quality however although generic in design and the blades come in four colours:

Red
Blue
Green
Violet

However if you cannot afford the more expensive model maybe they will curb your Jedi instincts until you can get the deluxe model.

Note: This model takes two AA batteries.

Overall the quality of both products is brilliant for child or the big kid (like me) they are absolutely great fun. Especially when you have someone to fight with. So go on be a devil and pick one up for the kids or for yourself because you will have a wail of a time. Now I am off to find a Sith Lord to pummel into a snotty heap so see you all later.

Mort 2003

 

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