anakin rots/luke anh lightsabers, why arent they identical??

[Tan Djarka]

Are they going to stamp and form sheet metal for each saber prop? A real Graflex has lots of tiny little bits they would never replicate on their own. The minute they change anything it's a new creation, not a Graflex... /the stunt saber is/ not vastly different. The most commonly used stunt has a groove that's it.

As in my other post, just buy the replicas. Heck, go crazy and buy a bunch (how many hero sabers do you need though?). It'd still be cheaper than a custom prop house job. But I'm not saying it has to be a Graflex exactly. Just more like one than the Anakin ROTS, which is strikingly dissimilar from the Luke ANH.

And the stunt ISN'T vastly different? I'm pretty sure it had no emitter loop, no recharge ports, no copper (red) botton, no copper (glass) eye, and no activation box in addition to the grips altered for dueling and the aforementioned groove. Almost every identifying feature of the hero saber has been altered or omitted for the stunt version.

 

[lonepigeon]

As in my other post, just buy the replicas. Heck, go crazy and buy a bunch (how many hero sabers do you need though?). It'd still be cheaper than a custom prop house job. But I'm not saying it has to be a Graflex exactly. Just more like one than the Anakin ROTS, which is strikingly dissimilar from the Luke ANH.

I agree it could have been closer, but the big change was the diameter which was necessary.
At the time, I even offered to help the prop department pick up some real Graflexes. I can see now why they didn't need them. They had a full time prop department. There was no real added expense to making new sabers. Even if they used real Graflexes for hero props, they would still have to make a new master to cast stunts.

And the stunt ISN'T vastly different?

SOME versions of the stunt had details removed. The same goes for all PT sabers. There were fully detailed stunts, smoother stunts, and stunts with short blades for closer shots.

 

[p0sitr0nic]

First: Because WE care. The people that actually might buy the licensed replicas. If somebody cares, maybe it's reason enough for them to care too?

Second: How much would it have cost to aquire a Graflex replica and put grips, a calculator bubble strip, and a Covertec knob instead of a D-ring on it? Maybe $200 ($300 including labor)?

How much did it cost to facricate an entirely new saber? Thousands? Even George Lucas has a budget, and it's not like there are no other found items in the prequels.

Because Lucashfilms is beholden to us, the .01% of fandom who notices?

Seriously dude, I have friends at work who bought MR stuff, and they couldnt tell you wether it was 100% accurate, if it looked like a ROTS or a ANH saber, or if it was a hero or stunt (nor would they know the difference, or even the TERMS). It just WAS the saber to them.

Licenced replicas are for MASS distribution. Theyre not special custom made items for US.

And I personally think the ROTS Anakin/Luke is a NICE combo of the old versions, as well as being definitively THE saber that we always saw.

 

[Castor Dioscuri]

Like some others have mentioned, if you want an in-universe explanation, then it's not too hard to imagine that during those two decades in between movies, the saber may have undergone some wear and tear that necessitated some repairs...

 

[Tan Djarka]

Seriously dude... Licenced replicas are for MASS distribution. Theyre not special custom made items for US.

Two words: Limited Edition. And in the immortal words of Tommy of Scatterbrain, "Don't call me dude".

(Actually, I don't care. Does anybody else even remember Scatterbrain?)

It doesn't matter that most of the world doesn't care. You do it for the ones that do care, unless you yourself don't care. That's all I'm saying.

 

[p0sitr0nic]

Two words: Limited Edition. And in the immortal words of Tommy of Scatterbrain, "Don't call me dude".

(Actually, I don't care. Does anybody else even remember Scatterbrain?)

It doesn't matter that most of the world doesn't care. You do it for the ones that do care, unless you yourself don't care. That's all I'm saying.

And again, lucasfilm is NOT in the industry of producing or selling replica props. They DO NOT CARE about some guys who want prop replicas. They make their props available to replicators for a FEE.

Limited Edition was a bad idea by MR to begin with. If they just made the frickin things and sold em, people would keep buying em and MR would have made the money, not the guy selling it for 3x its original price on Ebay.

 

[jedi573]

If I were the property master for the last Star Wars flick, and someone gave me a Graflex and said, "This is the idea we're going for; make us props for the movie," I would have made what they ended up making.

The Graflex is a flash that was made to look like a lightsaber; the Episode III one actually is meant to look like a lightsaber to begin with. I don't see how that's a bad thing, really.

Andy

 

[Tan Djarka]

And again, lucasfilm is NOT in the industry of producing or selling replica props. They DO NOT CARE about some guys who want prop replicas. They make their props available to replicators for a FEE.

Like McDonalds isn't in the industry of producing or selling burgers? They DO NOT CARE about some guys who want burgers. They make their recipes available to small businessmen for a (franchise) FEE.

But I'm not talking about the REPLICAS. I'm talking about the hero Anakin ROTS prop, which could have, and ideally should have, looked MORE like the the Luke ANH.

Now read this carefully, because this is the point I'm making: If the prop master, makers, and whoever approves prop designs including George himself, really cared about continuity and they few people who actually do care about these sort of things, they would have made the Anakin ROTS differently. Instead, not only is it so different as not to be the same saber, it's not even based on the correct saber!

 

[Primrodo]

NO, but its based on the one they had for reference, being the ESB, which to many people...is the exact same saber as ANH. We know different, but really we are just a picky bunch.

The prop looks like a graflex, has a little bit of flair, but it still retains all the features that are needed for it. The grips, the clamp, textured band (from ESB) Bunny Ears, button, "glass" eye, The ports on the sides, The curved emitter, the ring and the peg inside.

For all intents and purposes it looks GREAT and close enough to a graflex lightsaber with keeping it inline to what Lucas wanted for a lightsaber. Most people were happy enough that it looked like teh one Obi gives later and they are good. We make up such a small percentage of fans that look at all the details, that the prop makers do not need to appease us. They have a job to do, and one was to take Luke's lightsaber and make it a custom machined prop.

 

[whiteee]

He's also pretty lenient when it comes to people recreating props and costumes as long as it isn’t done a large scale. You couldn’t get away with doing that if Disney or Viacom were involved.

Whilst searching for other information found this comment....

Now we are about a year on and how are Disney doing at shutting people down? This post isn't made with any sarcasm, just intrigue.

 

[parfaitelumiere]

I want to make a fanfilm,it's a project,and during this fanfilm,funny,I wanted to explain why there are differences.
a firend looks like obiwan,and I wanted to make a scene with him,who has problem on his saber,and we solve it,using some parts I bring.
Then,we talk about the "child's" saber,and "yes I have the part to modify it for his use in the future.",and a rots looking like graflex,will become a ANH graflex.
Of course I want to make some close up on saber technology,this is the most exciting part in this project.
This is the main reason why I work on my reveal obi saber.

 

[Contec]

He's also pretty lenient when it comes to people recreating props and costumes as long as it isn’t done a large scale. You couldn’t get away with doing that if Disney or Viacom were involved.

Could you guess what would happen if Disney Owned Starwars... Ha ha, like that EVER would have happen!!!

 

[mattbright]

Before I got into replica lightsabers, I was one of those folks that couldn't really tell the difference between all the movie versions. But now that I know a little, the thing that bugs me more than the color change or the buttons or the bubble strip/circuit board is the fact that the control box completely changes sides of the saber from III to IV, and then goes back from IV to V. Where's the explanation for that?

 

[SethS]

Well if you check out the handy Lightsaber family tree diagram... adding to the discussion above. The textured band on the ROTS version led people to realize that its designed was based off the "ranch saber."

http://wannawanga.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Lightsaber_Family_Tree.jpg

The ranch saber was likely one of the heroes from ESB that was refurbished for display-- mainly adding that texture tape to cover the Graflex logo.

The prop builder for ROTS had three things on his mind I think--

1. making a prop that worked for the sort of hand-held stunts needed for the PT
2. making a from-scratch version and idealizing the ranch saber to having no earthly qualities
3. imagining it as newly built instead of old

A lot of the Graflex's design was streamlined for manufacturing a new from-scratch saber-- add that all up along with the covertech belt hanging system the PT used, and you get the ROTS version.

As far as an in-universe explanation... I guess we can assume that Obi-Wan and Luke both tinkered with it to make repairs or something.