Hasbro Ultimate FX Lightsaber Review

[Timmythekid]

Just checked out TRU Canada and while they have them, yeah, go to hell, Hasbro. Why are the canadian prices 30% higher than in the States? Then add on the HST and you end up with, what, $56?! With the USD lower than the CAD there's NO justification for the descrepency, and they aint getting my fifty bucks (particularly as these are being marketed as kids replicas in the $30 range).

 

[Psab keel]

Here's a link to my own video review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Q9O3DyF7A&feature=channel_video_title

 

[StevenRogers84]

Pics of the ones that I am talking about. The box is quite heavy and the they stated they have metal handles. They look pretty nice for the price.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Pics of the ones that I am talking about. The box is quite heavy and the they stated they have metal handles. They look pretty nice for the price.

Yes, right, My remark still applies:

No, the $120 ones are the standard (adult) FX lightsabers. My TRU (and most) have been carrying the line for a few years now. They too are also made by Hasbro. When MR turned over the license, efx did the regular prop replicas and Hasbro took over the FX line. The Ultimate FX (kids/$35) Luke ROTJ will hit store shelves in October according to Hasbo's SDCC presentation.

I also believe like my TRU, these are the older ones and not the new removable blade version. As mentioned above, the removable blade FX run $10-$20 higher than non-removable blade type.

Also as mentioned, if you are interested in either the removable or non-removable, I recommend redfordfilms.com . Their prices are lower than most places and they also qualify for free shipping.

 

[StevenRogers84]

Yes, right, My remark still applies:


I also believe like my TRU, these are the older ones and not the new removable blade version. As mentioned above, the removable blade FX run $10-$20 higher than non-removable blade type.

Also as mentioned, if you are interested in either the removable or non-removable, I recommend redfordfilms.com . Their prices are lower than most places and they also qualify for free shipping.

Oh thanks for the info. I am not interested in any lightsabers to say I probably won't ever buy one. I was just letting people know that toys r us had these. Thats the reason I even took the pics. They are cool.

 

[Tan Djarka]

When MR was still doing them, it semed like the FX sabers were everywhere (Borders, TRU, Spencer Gifts, Suncoast/FYE, etc) and more was available than just the Anakin or Vader. It seems either Hasbro is being extremely conservative in distributing them, or online retailers are hoarding the supplies to the point where few of them reach regular stores.

I wonder if anyone's broken one of the Ultimates open yet or worked up a custom design. I'm tempted, but I may wait and see what's available in the next wave.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

these seem like they would be great base sabers for a star killer suit from the force unleashed two

I did not play that game. I know he uses two but are they shorter. I think these would make great customized weapons used as fighting (escrima) sticks.

 

[Tan Djarka]

Well, I pulled a few screws and took a peek in the Anakin. I couldn't fully disassemble it as the emitter end is a single piece that apears to be glued on, rather than screwed. Looks simple enough inside.

The odd thing was under the activation strip was TWO buttons. I'm guessing the blade and the sound card are two completely separate circuits.

Looks like a custom design is doable, once I decide what that'll be.

A note regarding the length of the blade: Clearly it's not "regulation length", but given that you'd think they would've scaled back the hilt a little to match. There seems to be a little unused space inside, and a length of 10" or a little less might've looked better on top of being more "kid friendly". That's what I'm thinking anyway.

 

[Tan Djarka]

Here's... my own video review...

I finally got a chance to take a look at this. Interesting. The one point your made regarding the "line" on the blade: I don't believe it's where the "halves are glued together", but the parting line from the mold. Unlike the polycarbonate tubes on the Signature FX sabers, which are made from an extrusion process (?), these are pulled from a mold. Probably something like the process for creating polystyrene pop bottles. While it is durable to a point, that's probably where the blade tube will fail under stress (the line is also more pronounced at the tip than the length of the blade).

I've been whacking the blade on things, though not overdoing it. So far the tube and LEDs are intact.

 

[shenphong]

Came back down to my hometown over the weekend and saw the neighbor kids playing with these on the front lawn. Almost 2 weeks of constant whacking and powering up and down and they are running strong. I'm pretty impressed by these now and really wish I had them around as a kid. The only complaints I had were that their parents were getting annoyed by the constant sound effects and the fact there boys were hitting everything in sight, dogs, trees, furniture, adults...all in all, a win in my book!

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

I either had that or something similar. I never had the inflatable one. I got mine at a toy store that used to exist called Toy Chest. It was the white tube with a matching cap on the end. The main part of the hilt was silver metal and the emitter was black cone shaped plastic. I had a red lens and then later I somehow got a green lens. I used to slide the tube out and drilled holes at the bottom and added a wire ring so I could clip it to a utility belt.

Later when ESB came out, Kenner had one similar but it did not use batteries, the blade tube and hilt was hollow and when you moved it, the air would travel through and make a whirring sound. I got yellow because for some reason Kenner represented Luke's saber in almost all the toys as a yellow blade... go figure. Once again, the hilts looked nothing like any movie seen lightsaber prop.

I still have both these at my parents house.

I went to visit my parents last week and took a picture of my old lightsaber toys I spoke of above:

 

[Tan Djarka]

I went to visit my parents last week and took a picture of my old lightsaber toys I spoke of above

Cool. I remember seeing those Kenner sabers in the toy store at the mall, and even then I thought they were kinda crappy. I mean, MY lightsaber actually lit up! It didn't help that there was probably only three left in the display, and the idiot kids playing with them had already bent up the blades!

The other looks like the same basic concept as the one I had, only a different implementation. At least yours was black and silver and not bright orange.

 

[Flagwaver]

So, my wife is currently doing a custom Jedi and was wondering how easy it would be to tear one of these apart and install the guts into a PVC-built hilt?

 

[Jm419]

Cheap enough that I wouldn't worry too much about messing it up.

 

[tkRyno]

Nice, I might look into tearing it apart into a custom hilt too, thanks for the review!!

 

[Timmythekid]

Has anyone made any progess modding these? I picked up both in Portland at TRU for under $25 each, and was wondering if it might be possible to convert them to removable blades (Hasbro has recently said they probably won't do this line as removeable, even though they'd like, as the price point would jump unnacceptably) like I've read the MR versions could be.

 

[Tan Djarka]

Has anyone made any progess modding these? I picked up both in Portland at TRU for under $25 each, and was wondering if it might be possible to convert them to removable blades...

Where there's a will, there's a way. While these are hard wired, rather than sporting a DIN plug like some of the later FX/Signature sabers, I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to make the conversion. I haven't looked lately, but all I've seen from the custom saber contingent is scavenging the electronics but no mention of removing the blade.

 

[Millenniumf]

Hey guys, if you want to disassemble your lightsaber and actually be able to reassemble it when you're done, I'm making a step-by-step guide for both the Anakin and Darth Vader sabers. Stay tuned . . .

 

[Millenniumf]

Okay, I finished it.

Here is my guide for disassembling the Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader Ultimate FX Lightsabers:


Anakin's Lightsaber:

Step 1: Take off the battery cover and remove the batteries.

Step 2: Pry the red button off of the dial behind the "fork". This is difficult, and you may just have to leave it on. This will probably damage the dial if you do this (but that's fixable with body putty and silver spray paint). Taking it off enables you to access the screw on the front end, but if you leave it on you can simply pull the saber apart, ripping the screw free. It'll still hold the dial on the saber body if you do this, so it's up to you.

Step 3: Unscrew all of the screws.

Step 4: Pull the dial out and pull the emitter off.

Step 5: Slide the emitter shroud off the body.

Step 6: Pull the halves apart. There are a couple of pins that they glued in the activator box, but those come apart easily.

When you reassemble this saber, you have to be extra careful with the wires. They're not very strong and if you get them caught between any of the alignment pegs in the body it will cut them in half. This is especially true of the wires going to the speaker. When this happened to me, I desoldered the remainder of the wires and soldered in some ribbon cable. It keeps the wires together, and it's got enough memory to stay in place when I close up the body.


Darth Vader's Lightsaber:

Step 1: Take off the battery cover and remove the batteries.

Step 2: Take out the screw on the emitter shroud and slide it off the blade.

Step 3: Remove all the screws.

Step 4: Pull the halves apart.

This one has no glue on it, so it comes apart very easily, and the wiring layout is superior to the Anakin saber, so you should be able to get this one back together much more easily.

 

[Adammickey]

i ordered the luke version off amazon yesterday