I don't post very often, especially in recent years, and ESPECIALLY in Star Wars forums. Despite that fact, my love for Star Wars is what got me into this hobby so many years ago (believe it or not, I had never seen any of the movies before the release of the special editions in theaters). I felt like sharing some pictures of my lightsaber collection as it stands today, along the with my personal story of how it got to where it is. There aren't many people in my life who share this interest with me, so you guys get to appreciate it, ha.
I got big into collecting lightsabers in the Master Replicas days... early 2000's-ish. I was a just out of high school, mostly broke young man, but whenever I had the extra money to put aside, I'd grab whatever saber I could afford. I also became a big collector of Lord of the Rings props/swords, which didn't help keep my bank account from being empty.
In 2007 my first child was born, and for obvious reasons, collecting slowed down big time. By then, I had what I would estimate as 4/5 of the lightsabers Master Replicas had produced. In 2011 I decided to return to college.
This began a very difficult stage of my life. Because of many reasons I will not go into here, my personal life was in ruin. It was a bad time - I'll leave it at that. Among many other problems, money became very tight. And part of the attempt to make ends meet meant selling my entire collection. Most of the sabers went for somewhere between $200-$400, just to make a payment on whatever bill was due next. Same for the LOTR swords.
I graduated in 2013, and was able to get an okay job that I had been a paid intern for as I was a student. The pay wasn't great, but it was a step up.
Then 2014 rolled around, which is what I consider the worst year of my life to date. Personal relationships were in bad shape. My father died from cancer, which he had had for a few years, but his health rapidly declined in a very short period before he was gone (me, my wife, and daughter all still lived at my childhood home with my parents). A month later, I was laid off from my job.
I took this "nothing to lose" opportunity as a chance to try starting my own business. I did just that, and it was quite successful. Over the next couple of years, I paid off an incredible amount of debt, and here and there would treat myself to a lightsaber or sword when a good deal popped up.
By late 2018, my finances and credit were in good enough shape to qualify for a home loan. I bought my first house, and my wife started her own business as well, which was wildly successful. I have a home office/prop room, which allows most of our home to look normal to outsiders (although we haven't had many of those since we'll lived here).
Over the past 2 years or so, I have powered through rebuilding the saber collection I once had. Funny now how the unlicensed stuff is the best out there for the most part. I've replaced every lightsaber I had sold, and obtained some I never had. I custom designed the stands for the Detolf cases (although it looks like I mis-measured something for the Luke ANH saber, which I'll have to adjust by hand sometime).
For whoever took the time to read, thanks. I know I'm just some random dude on the internet to most, but maybe someone will get some inspiration from my story. If nothing else, it's been therapeutic to write about. Things get better. Silly as it sounds, these lightsabers remind me of that every time I look at them.
TLDR: I have lots of lightsabers, Here's some pictures.
I got big into collecting lightsabers in the Master Replicas days... early 2000's-ish. I was a just out of high school, mostly broke young man, but whenever I had the extra money to put aside, I'd grab whatever saber I could afford. I also became a big collector of Lord of the Rings props/swords, which didn't help keep my bank account from being empty.
In 2007 my first child was born, and for obvious reasons, collecting slowed down big time. By then, I had what I would estimate as 4/5 of the lightsabers Master Replicas had produced. In 2011 I decided to return to college.
This began a very difficult stage of my life. Because of many reasons I will not go into here, my personal life was in ruin. It was a bad time - I'll leave it at that. Among many other problems, money became very tight. And part of the attempt to make ends meet meant selling my entire collection. Most of the sabers went for somewhere between $200-$400, just to make a payment on whatever bill was due next. Same for the LOTR swords.
I graduated in 2013, and was able to get an okay job that I had been a paid intern for as I was a student. The pay wasn't great, but it was a step up.
Then 2014 rolled around, which is what I consider the worst year of my life to date. Personal relationships were in bad shape. My father died from cancer, which he had had for a few years, but his health rapidly declined in a very short period before he was gone (me, my wife, and daughter all still lived at my childhood home with my parents). A month later, I was laid off from my job.
I took this "nothing to lose" opportunity as a chance to try starting my own business. I did just that, and it was quite successful. Over the next couple of years, I paid off an incredible amount of debt, and here and there would treat myself to a lightsaber or sword when a good deal popped up.
By late 2018, my finances and credit were in good enough shape to qualify for a home loan. I bought my first house, and my wife started her own business as well, which was wildly successful. I have a home office/prop room, which allows most of our home to look normal to outsiders (although we haven't had many of those since we'll lived here).
Over the past 2 years or so, I have powered through rebuilding the saber collection I once had. Funny now how the unlicensed stuff is the best out there for the most part. I've replaced every lightsaber I had sold, and obtained some I never had. I custom designed the stands for the Detolf cases (although it looks like I mis-measured something for the Luke ANH saber, which I'll have to adjust by hand sometime).
For whoever took the time to read, thanks. I know I'm just some random dude on the internet to most, but maybe someone will get some inspiration from my story. If nothing else, it's been therapeutic to write about. Things get better. Silly as it sounds, these lightsabers remind me of that every time I look at them.
TLDR: I have lots of lightsabers, Here's some pictures.
