The Prodigal Son
I have to admit, I struggled to figure out what angle to take in tackling this review. This saber is so iconic, so striking in its recognizable visage which brings up so much nostalgia. I am going to try to go about this as unbiased as possible. I know there are so many who found Saberforge via their quest for this hilt. So, let's get the nostalgia out of the way since it is a valid factor for this hilt.
PROS
- IT'S LUKE's GREEN LIGHTSABER MADE WELL....HOLLY COW. Nostalgia city!
- It is a beautiful display piece on its own right! Just look at it!
- No creaks, rattles, wobbles, or loose parts (wow, well made).
CONS
- The grip size
- The way the activation box button is executed
- Nostalgia (but I thought you said that was a good thing...let me get to that).
- Appearance - Nostalgia and Expectations -
So this is THE saber. The one I wanted as a kid (Luke's 1st Graphlex did not surpass this hilt for me until the original trilogy was re-released in the theaters and I was in college). It LOOKS as beautiful as I would have hoped. What color did I get? 12W+ Green, of course! I know, I know. How original of me.
All I have had for years is my FX Luke Skywalker ROTJ saber. Now look at THIS!
Amazing, right?! Look at that copper neck. Oh, YES! And that black section at the bottom of the grenade section is small as hoped for on mine.
With nostalgia comes expectations. Expectations that everything will be perfect. Perfect grip, perfect size, perfect everything. However, with the design of this hilt looking so close to the movies as it does, some of those aforementioned "perfects" cannot be achieved here. I do not fault Saberforge for this. The design from the source material is to blame I believe. However, this saber is meant to homage that famous saber in ROTJ, and it does that OH SO WELL!
Also, on the upside of Expectations, I had heard tales of loose necks, wobbly blades, rattling parts, switches that fall off, control box rails coming off, and the like. I can tell you, despite all of those issues being very valid for those who have experienced them, NONE of those issues are present here. And that leads me to quality.
- Quality -
I think I blew the punchline for the quality review above. Saberforge did a great job putting this saber together. It feels tough and solid. No shimmies, rattles, shakes, or quakes. It's all solid Saberforge goodness here. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect given some of the issues I have heard, but my copy is solid.
- Grip in Hand -
I need to preface this with saying two things....1) The Prodigal Son evokes my childhood favorite saber and 2) I purchased the Redeemer hilt PRIOR to this thinking "I'll do my own install and if I mess it up, it won't matter as much".
So when I gripped this hilt, I was VERY surprised how much smaller it felt than I expected. When I say "smaller", I meant lengthwise. I couldn't put my finger on how until I started snapping pictures. I'm learning this with you as I write this.
Yeah, the Redeemer is longer...quite a bit longer.
What does this mean? Well, this means when gripping the grenade section on the Prodigal Son, the control box hits the palm of my hand, but when gripping the Redeemer, it hits the bottom of my hand barely. This ultimately means I find the Redeemer much more enjoyable to grip and hold. The grooves that run vertically and horizontally down the grenade section of the Redeemer and Exhalted are less comfortable than the horizontal only grooves of the Prodigal Son. However the missing real estate in the grenade section is definitely a greater of the 2 evils and a hinderance to the experience for me. I will post some pictures of this in the next section since I am out of pictures slots for this post.
So this was a huge surprise for me. The childhood saber I always wanted was not as enjoyable to hold as my first DIY saber.
- Performance -
So I won't rehash the control box and reduction in real estate compared to the Redeemer. The Tri-Ring stays nice and stationary while swinging the saber around.
I want to cover the activation switch. When I first pushed it, it seemed "hit or miss". Sometimes I could get the saber to fire up, and other times I could not. I took the card out and immediately noticed they installed a Latching AV switch.
I thought this was in error and sent CS an e-mail. They got back to me quickly and kindly explained to me that this design is intentional since the latching switches are raised and momentary switches are flat. I raised an eyebrow at this, but accepted it as Saberforge has always been kind to me. My DIY Redeemer has a momentary raised switch in it, so I know it CAN be done because I did it. But this does not mean Saberforge does it. Pressing the control card on the Prodigal Son feels "mushy", "spongey", and "uncertain" if you don't press it the right way. Pushing the control card on my Redeemer feels "springy" and "precise". I did, however, learn that the stop under the control card causes this. Sliding the card up a few centimeters past where the stop under the card hits the side of the switch allows you to reach that much more certain and precise feeling.
I felt this needed to be mentioned because the use of the latching switch was a complete surprise to me to me...and probably will be to others as well. It's not awful, mind you. You should need to know how to adjust the card and get used to the feel. It's almost as if I need to slide the card up and push down to get it to fire up and down reliably.
In the next section, I'll review blade color and brightness, and show so pictures of grip along with my final thoughts....