Customer Reviews

Star Wars Ultimate Lightsaber

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

O.K., I'll admit George Lucas has pretty much been swayed by the power of the green to the point where he'll stamp the name "Star Wars" on anything that requires a check or money order or major credit card for the masses to sample. But still, every now and then, once in a great while, the licensing lackeys at Lucasfilm manage to greenlight something that IS not only unique, but genuinely fun and would make both an awesome plaything and a pretty cool display piece. In recent years, it's Hasbro that's been responsible for a few of the very best "Star Wars" toys ever made, due largely to the role-playing nature they provide - the Interactive R2-D2 and the Darth Vader Voice Changer.
Still, Artoo came with too hefty a price tag for everyone to get their hands on him, and for all its tricks the Voice Changer still requires one to throw some menace into their own pipes in order for the effect to really work. The third time, however, may at last be the charm.
The Ultimate Lightsaber, as it's dubbed, affords one the opportunity to live out something that only Jedi Knights can do in the fictional "Star Wars" universe: construct their own weapon as a final rite of passage into the Jedi Order. The price tag is more than substantiated by the number of parts available in this kit, few as they are when you consider how many prominent characters in the "Star Wars" saga wield lightsabers (and how many of those same lightsabers have already been produced as role-play toys by Hasbro). The lack of more parts seems to have limited the Hasbro designers to derive most of the components from the same five or six characters, to be sure, but with a little imagination the combinations can still be impressive in appearance.
Another tradeoff exists in the main 'core' component upon which the others are added; no doubt to keep the item affordable, the electronics are only geared for one end - meaning double-bladed lightsabers are out of the question - and the straight hilt is sure to disappoint those "Star Wars" enthusiasts who missed out on Count Dooku's lightsaber the first time around (the handle of Dooku's weapon is curved for tighter crossparry moves). In other words, the chance to craft two of the most unusual lightsabers to yet be seen in the "Star Wars" saga was dismissed.
But to your child (or the child in everyone likely to play with this thing - admit it), none of this is going to matter. Apart from the basic battery and light-bulb replacement procedures most parents should be able to handle, the assembly of the weapon can be relatively quick, easy, and make for a sweet finished product that can be enjoyed for hours and hours. And even then, if one should feel the need to upgrade the device, there's still a raft of components available. The color filters are expectedly not as potent as the regular colored blades of other toy lightsabers (the red blade, of course, renders them useless), but in the dark they can be "most impressive", to quote a certain Dark Lord of the Sith.
The 'crystals' - the little plastic chunky thingies - do offer a variety of sounds; one mechanized, one menacing, and one that sounds more like the classic lightsabers we all are familiar with. And just like Hasbro's other electronic lightsabers, the finished product makes crashing sounds on impact. The blade is about as rigid as those of the other lightsabers, and with a bit of a thrust to the wrist one can get the blade to stick firmly into position, thereby avoiding the constant collapse of the telescoping blade that can bring heartache to young ones and ear-splitting wailing to the ears of their parents. This is something that your child should probably practice, as the lightsabers are intended as much for adults (i.e. fans) as well as kids; ditto for pushing the blade back in - with a bit of extra effort these catalysts for tears and refunds can be averted.
The instructions for assembly may require a bit of going-over for parent and child, but it shouldn't require too many more readings beyond that (never hurts to save those instructions, though). Give'em a week or two, and at their leisure your child should be able to replace parts with the ease and speed of a Jedi Master.
All in all, like all great toys, the Ultimate Lightsaber requires some patience early on, but ultimately can provide hours of enjoyment as a result, and even give one a particular level of pride in building their own momento of endless adventure in that galaxy far, far away...

i'm a sixteen year old high school student, and i love star wars. i was darth vader for halloween, complete with thirty dollar voice changer helmet. i thought that thing was the epitemy of star wars merchandise cool. but, no. then i discovered this. wow.

this thing is awesome. i dunno about thousands of combinations, but there's enough in this kit to keep you happy for a while. as for the double-ended saber not lighting up on both ends, that's alright. only two sith have ever routinely wielded a double-ended blade, it's that difficlut to fight with. so, it wouldn't be very canon for you to have one, anyway. same with the purple blade. the crystals that emit a purple blade are super rare, it makes sense in a way for it not to be included.

anyway, i was pretty satisfied with this product. it's a little over-hyped, but worth the money, i think. oh, a tip? build it with a friend, it'll be more fun.

and i almost forgot. the thing i didn't like? cell batteries. what's that all about? cells are expensive, man. other sabers- scratch that, most all other electronic toys period- use AAs. but that's it's only downfall.

like i said, worth the money. and okay for kids, i fought pretty hard with mine, they're pretty hardy.

I bought this a few days after it was released online, here at Amazon, and I was quite pleased.
Pros:
Excellent custom capabilites. If you are a Star Wars encylopedia as I am, you will notice ways to construct sabers with similarites to famous ones, ie, Plo Koon, Luminara, and other more obscure jedi. The red blade is beyond awesome. This is by far the coolest looking saber blade I have seen. The interchangable sounds are great too (try the blue crystal!). And the ability with which to duel is great. I own several other lightsabers, and this one is the most dent and scratch resistant. And that dual-blade feature is nice, if a bit asymmetrical.

Cons:
The clear saber is not as illuminating as I would like. The green filter with mine did not create a green at all but a yellow, which actually is pretty cool if you like the Knights of the Old Republic Game, I actually had to use blue and green to get that richer, luke skywalker green. And it can only be used effectively in a darker room. in the light, it's nearly hopeless. The blue filter is weak, and I was disappointed that you couldn't make purple from red and blue, as the red filter is so dominating in the color department. So, I'd recommend either buying some filters from a print shop, getting a more poweful bulb to install, or just throwing your morals to the wind and becoming a sith.
...It's more fun anyway.

On the whole, this is a great buy for the money, as you will get a LOT of use out of this, especially just building and re building. (Think, "It can still be better") There are a few disappointments, but, for the cost of building a unique lightsaber, it is sufferable.

To sum up, buy it! Buy it now!
(It's great to duel your friends and pull out a custom saber on the fly. Very unnerving.)

My children love lightsabers, so when I saw this I had to grab one.

It's OK. I'm a little downplussed, because it does not live up to the hype on the box as far as customizing and whatnot. This was a problem, since my son's favorite jedi is Mace Windu, and this was a selling point, with the potential for a purple lightsaber. There is NO WAY you can do a Mace Windu lightsaber with the lenses provided however. The red lens is just too powerful, even if you throw all three lenses in.

However, with some scissors, the clear plastic packaging, and some colored sharpies, I made lenses that provide the purple effect.

I wouldn't mind an addon "kit" for this to become available in the future with more parts to customise it, and more filters. I'm sure the whizzes at the toy company can come up with a better purple than I did. Maybe replacement flashlight bulbs which are brighter based on LED tech would be nice. I know they're out there, just they're taking their sweet time getting over here.

In any case, it's a good saber. Tough, nifty, good sounds, and the "lego" aspect of it is wonderful. Warning though, if your kid is like my kid, they will soon discover that by removing any crystal from the chamber, the saber can emit all sounds at whim, making it cooler, and rendering the crystals useless. Hahaha. So if you don't want your little wannabe Jedi to spiral off into anarchy, make sure you stress the importance of keeping that thing in there. (Nah)

The double bladed aspect of this thing is a total letdown due to the fact that only one blade lights up. Sure, that's stupid to nitpick about that, but it's a big deal when you see it in action. My kid won't even play with it like that, and he's been begging for a double bladed lightsaber since Phantom Menace.

Still, it's nice that it's there as an option. All I can say is that if this wasn't based on a flashlight, and used LEDs instead, it could have been grand, and just as cheap, and even pulled off the double blade action.

Overall? Good toy. I nitpicked it a lot, but it hasn't stayed in the same spot for more than a few hours since I bought it, and we've had to hunt for parts, so it's been loved, so that means the money was worth it.

Remember, when kids play with these things, tell them no heads, no hard hits, and if there are tears the game stops and get an adult. (If one isn't supervising the play anyway, which should be the case!)

:)

As the mom of a six year old boy who is obsessed with Star Wars, this is the best light saber out there. We just got it today from TRU and I thought we were just paying $35 for a fancy flashlight. Boy, was I wrong. The resulting lightsabers have the humming noise and clash sounds when hit. The three crystals enable three different sounding sabers. You can even fashion a Darth Maul saber but only one side will light up. It isn't sturdy enough for bashing about but is still cool nonetheless. Take it from me. Stock up for Christmas before the stores/online stores run out and you have to resort to ebay. As for product specifics for the true enthusiast, check the reviews below.

I bought this for my son for his 10th birthday. He has been a Star Wars fan since he could talk and begged for this exact set for his birthday. He was so excited when he unwrapped it, but I was a little afraid that it would just be another over-hyped cheap toy. I was wrong. He has made so many different lightsabers that he never gets bored. He loves that he can change colors and sounds and spends hours building new combinations. I recommend this for any true Star Wars fan.

This is a verry cool toy i like to just change it all around an i think i filaly found a style i really like. getting the battry to connect is hard but once you get it on right it works fine, sometimes the connection is not verry good and the sound is not verry loud but then you take it off and put it back on (it takes me 6-10 tryes to get it on correct)it works great! the colors are red blue and green you put them in the clear blade and the lenses are kina weird collor but i will tell you the secret

Green = yellow pretty cool

Blue = episode IV blue

Red = pink if used in light otherwise use the red blade

GREEN + BLUE = Green

sorry Mace fans no purple (unless you somehow figure out some way i never tryed or go to[...] and you can get a purple lightsaber TOY WIZ IS THE ONLY PLACE THAT HAS THEM i think

And by the way use the red blade for playing in the day, otherwise, use the other colors for night or in dark rooms they have a problem showing up in bright light.


The crystals push buttons on the inside of the lightsaber to change the sound and guess what NO tools for this toy

I would buy this again!

This toy is great. It is very durable, except the light which died out on me 2 times but it is working now. When you get this
toy you are in for a big suprise, the box is big, but most of all, the parts are will be larger then expected. Their is also a clever trick whith the 3 crystals but I will leave that up to you to find out.

I have been fairly disapointed with the durability of Star Wars Lightsabers for a long time. You stike blade on blade to hard and they will be garunteed to bend. Since then I have enjoyed these purely from a collectors stance. There are a couple of things that are noteworthy though

1) it IS possible to use two of the three filters at once. Red and Green produce a orange-red color, and the blue green makes a nice teal. This alleviates many complaints about blade color in my mind. One can also find other filters at a Photography store for around $5 a pop.

2) The customizability is Superb. While the product says thousands of combinations (Mathmatically true) to get really good looking Lightsabers out of one kit, it is more like a couple of dozen which is still plenty.

3) the adapter ring means it is possible to create dual balded sabers. While Cool, there is an insufficent amount of parts to make it look right. I planned on getting a second kit for my girlfriend eventually so that way things can be symmetrical.

4) The Solid Red Blade just plain looks better over the clear blade. I know that means the only color you can see is red, but the tone itself is richer. I have been un able however to transfer some of the solid blades over to this kit.

If I have one complaint it is this, there are not enough parts avalible. If I had my way I would include two more emitters, a purple filter, one more "Grip" and two of each of the small rings. this would allow for more versatility, and uniformity in saber design. Maybe Hasbro will sell "add-on" kits in the future...

If you like star wars toys, like me, you would notice Hasbro has been cutting corners with the Clone wars and Revenge of the sith toys. With this lightsaber that is hardly the case, personally I think this is the best Lightsaber yet. It includes a bunch of parts, filters, and (fake) crystals. It includes a bunch of parts for look, two blades, three filters, 3 (fake) crystals, one light bulb, one adapter for a second blade, and an instruction booklet. The blades do not retract fully into the handle, and the filters do not work all that well, but are good in the dark The green one is yellow, the blue one is a light blue, and the red is orange!! for a green/teal you can mix the green and blue ones. The (fake) crystals produce different sounds, and are red, blue and green. The instructions include insperational drawings for Anakin, Darth maul, Luke, Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan sabers. The double bladed sabers do not light up on one end, but make sounds on both ends. This kit requires two 'C' batteries. a good site for insperational pictures is www.thelightsaber.com/history