Product Description

Showcase your passion for the dark side with this official replica of Darth Vaders lightsaber from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Ignite the glowing, bright red blade with realistic power-up and power-down light effects and four authentic lightsaber sound effects that have been digitally recorded from the movie including power-up, idle hum, clash and power-down. A durable metal hilt looks and feels like a real lightsaber, along with a sturdy, permanently attached blade. When not in your grasp, proudly show off your galactic weapon in the specially designed base.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13664 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Hasbro
• Model: 87992
• Released on: 2008-10-15
• Dimensions: 3.25" h x 45.13" w x 4.25" l, 3.40 pounds

Features

• Official replica of Darth Vader’s lightsaber from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
• Glowing, bright blue blade “ignites” with realistic power-up and power-down effects
• Features four motion sensor-controlled sound effects: power-up, idle hum, clash and power-down
• A durable metal hilt looks and feels like a real lightsaber, along with a sturdy, permanently attached blade
• When not in your grasp, proudly show off your galactic weapon in the specially designed base

From the Manufacturer
Showcase your passion for the dark side with this official replica of Darth Vader’s lightsaber from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Ignite the glowing, bright red blade with realistic power-up and power-down light effects and four authentic lightsaber sound effects that have been digitally recorded from the movie – including power-up, idle hum, clash and power-down. A durable metal hilt looks and feels like a real lightsaber, along with a sturdy, permanently attached blade. When not in your grasp, proudly show off your galactic weapon in the specially designed base.

Customer Reviews

Generally a good product, small decline in quality from earlier versions ...
I also own a 2007 Obi Wan saber and a 2003 Vader, so I will compare this saber to those two in this review:

Generally this is a fine product. The metal parts are quality made, the blade lights up nicely and looks durable, and the sound effects are generally pretty good (although you really have to whack something hard to get the clash sound ... not a recipie for success if your kids are playing with this).

I do notice a decline in quality from my 2003 Vader though. There are more plastic parts on this version than on the older one. Some parts also have less detail (for instance, the ring at the front of the saber where the blade attaches is just plain black plastic on this 2007 version, whereas it was true to the movie textured metal on the 2003).

On the positive side, the battery compartment on this saber is much better than on the 2007 Obi Wan (see my review of that piece as well). Here you simply insert 3 AA batteries into their respective slots and slide the whole assembly in ... nice ... on the Obi Wan you have to unscrew an annoying Philips screw and fiddle with a flimsy plastic cap to insert 3 AAA batteries.

I remember paying something like $149 for my 2003 Vader ... whereas this Hasbro version has been on sale for as little as $50 at Walmart lately ... at this price, it's definitely a steal and well worth it. At $100+ ... it's probably still worth it if you're a hard core Star Wars fan ... but just barely ... if I had the choice I'd rather pay $149 for the original Master Replicas version than say ... $109 for this one.

Awesome light saber
This is an awesome light saber! I have wanted one of these for almost 10 years. This was a birthday gift for me. My short background is I'm a 44 year old male, an engineer, I work for NASA, and a rock guitar musician, a fitness nut, and of course, a lover of science fiction. I have always enjoyed the whole Star Wars lore, the Force, Jedi Knights, and of course, light sabers! Darth Vader is by far my favorite character. My 5 year old daughter is also a big fan of Star Wars (she tends to like Padme and Leia and Yoda), and she has her own toy version of a light saber. My wife also thinks this is a pretty cool gadget. We have lots of good clean family fun with this light saber (if you call going head to head in a light saber battle clean fun!). I also bought this for very practical reasons, like slicing bagels (actually toasts the cut side of the bagel at the same time!), heating up a cup of coffee (just stick it in), home soldering projects, yard work (trimming hedges), making Smores for the kids (they love it), and cauterizing a deep cut (doctors are using these things in emergency rooms nowadays), and it doubles as a light and heat source if the power goes out.

This FX light saber is extremely well made, and it is certainly not a toy, per se, as this is something you will want to take care of. I like the power-up and clashing sounds and the motion sound, but my favorite is the sucking sound it makes when it powers-down - very, very cool. The hilt is very detailed and funny thing, being an engineer, is that you can tell it was made for motion pictures by piecing together some junk and spare parts - details that you would never see in the movie. It would be cool if it came with an explanation of the various buttons like controlling blade length, power alignment, etc. (only functional button is the power on-off slider). It is fairly durable for light to moderate clashes, but don't strike it too hard as I am quite sure it would break if you beat on it too hard. Consider this a "Jedi in training" light saber, as it is not as powerful as a full-blown light saber, so good thing is it won't cut a limb off if you accidentally hit somebody with it! If you don't know how to operate a light saber safely, you should definitely take the light saber safety training course, as you can seriously injure yourself or others with it. If you drink, put your light saber away, as there are strict laws against drinking and using a light saber.

I have spent many more dollars on art work that just hangs on the wall and nobody notices it. Not the case with this light saber. This is a great and functional art work, a piece of Hollywood history, and a glimpse of the future, all for $100 - a great deal, and based on the used market, seems to hold about 65% of its value over the long haul. I have it on display in my home theater and it is a great conversation piece and has a very high "gee, this is really cool" factor by anyone that picks it up. I took it to work (a bunch of engineers) and everyone loved it! OK, so you can't melt through thick titanium blast doors with it (we tried) or cut through spacecraft hulls (just dulls the blade) with it, nor can you deflect enemy laser blasts with it (this requires mastery of the Force- duh) or cut up enemy battle droids. BUT, you can have a lot of fun with it! In a darkened room, this light saber really stands out and you feel like you are in the movie.

There is also perhaps an educational component to this light saber as well, as my inquisitive daughter wants to know how a light saber works (so we talk about lasers and crystals and power sources, and how this is the ultimate weapon of a Jedi and even good vs. evil). Remember, the unique thing about a light saber is that it requires mastery of the Force to align the crystals internally - that is why each light saber is unique to each Jedi. Or, if you are a weekend Jedi, like me, then you could just spend $100 on Amazon Prime and get one right away, albeit with reduced capability, and without having to master all that Force stuff. Plus, good luck finding a Jedi Master these days if you want to be a Padawan in training before you can build your own. Besides, Jedi training is very competitive these days and also very expensive with financial aid getting harder to qualify for, given the economic situation in our country right now. I hear Yoda makes like a bazillion dollars an hour teaching private Jedi classes! Everybody is in it for the money these days...

It is ever important in life to have fun and to not take yourself too seriously. If you are into Star Wars, then purchasing this light saber fits that advice perfectly. This is frivolous fun, fun, fun at its very best. Buy it, display it, use it, and enjoy it. I'm very happy with mine. Mmmm, now where did I put my Darth Vader helmet (my next purchase for Halloween perhaps?)? Enjoy. :)

Great Lightsaber!
Great Lightsaber! It arrived just 3 days after ordering it and it was in perfect condition. Its very bright and a great look-a-like. If it could cut things, it would be real!