For my birthday, I met up with some friends for Dim Sum at the China Pearl in Woburn. Normally I am a little grouchy on my birthday, but my mood quickly lifted when I saw my present: a Master Replicas ForceFX Star Wars Lightsaber.

I’d come across Master Replicas before, when I was ogling their delectable Star Trek Classic Communicator (sadly, it isn’t on their site anymore). The company specializes in making high quality movie prop replicas. From their website:

“Master Replicas are a bunch of lunatics who watch too many movies, work too hard, have no lives, but make cool stuff that helps collector’s dreams come true. Word.”

The handle is made of metal, beautifully weighted and detailed. There are some plastic elements, but they’re not in places where you’d be offended. There are no cheesy decals except for the labels that tell you where the on switch is. Overall it’s a little light, but it is a real object.

The blade is a single piece of clear plastic with an inner luminescent coating. It’s quite nice; the thickness of the plastic gives it that “iPod” look if you know what I mean. As you power it up, the blade doesn’t just light-up…the blue glow illuminates from the bottom to the top. Sweet!!! When I powered it up held high overhead, the entire place quieted down. Little kids turned green with envy, and the manager came out to tell us that light sabers were not permitted out in the dining area. He admitted though that it was super cool.

The saber has all the sounds you expect: powerup and hum. For interactive effects, a sensor detects when you swing the saber, which plays the louder humming noise. There’s another sensor that detects when the blade strikes something, so you get that clashing hit effect. Simply awesome.

The saber is powered by 3 AA batteries. Even the battery module is a work of art. The AA batteries are fitted into the notches on the side of the cylinder, and then the entire cylinder is placed back in the handle. It feels like you’re really putting in a power cell! The position of the cell is at the very end of the handle, which I think contributes to the saber’s excellent balance.

The battery cap on the end is beautifully detailed…check out the lettering! A metal ring unscrews, which allows the entire battery module to slide out.

This is simply the coolest Star Wars toy ever. Perfect for the geekus supremus in your life!

It’s sitting on my desk right now in the display stand, power switch up and ready for emergency activation. The display stand is nice; the bottom has rubber feet, and there are also holes in the back of it to allow wall mounting with screws!

I shot some grainy video with my digital camera so you can see and hear the power-up effect. You’ll need Flash8 player installed.

For real drama, check out this saber duel using the toys! It’s good to know that Master Replicas tests these things out for real! QuickTime required.

P.S. HOLY CRAP CHECK OUT THIS ALIENS MOTION TRACKER!!!