TOPIC: Reborn Weathered 12W Indigo Champion

Alright, even though having received it more than a month ago together with my Gladius, unfortunately this one had gone through a bit of a rough patch during transport me thinks.
With a bend claw and a soundboard/kill key that wasn't functioning, I contacted Customer Service and well; they delivered





First off, I mailed the Reborn back to the States (I live in Norway, even though I'm Dutch ) on suggestion of Melissa at Customer Service - a shout-out to her btw, seeing as she's been really helpful and supportive during the entire process, answering any and all questions I had and even going above and beyond to make the experience a positive one
After about a week the hilt arrived at SaberForge Repairs, after which it took less than a week for them to fix the issue and send it back to; talk about quick service!
I got it in the mail last Monday (had a busy week at work and a weekend full of visitors which prevented me from sharing), so all in all it didn't take more than 3 weeks for it to be send back, repaired and send back to me here in Norway once more; here I had already told myself I probably wouldn't be seeing it until Xmas, seeing as Melissa told me standard repairs take from 2-4 weeks.
So just a big 'Yeehaa!' for an awesome experience thanks to both CS and Repairs at SaberForge.

So yeah, now that I've had it in my possession for about a week - and despite distractions I still managed to find time to play with it and take photos - I figured it was time for a review

Where to start with this gorgeous hilt? Saying it's elegant is an understatement
I just love the design of the Reborn; not only did it first attract my attention back when I first saw it on Etsy - back when I was drooling over the Gladius, all of the sudden this one pops up and I had to make the hard choice of deciding which saber would be my first... Why not both my inner Yoda said and thus we are here - but the fact that it's 'Revan's lightsaber' really sold me on it.
I love Knights of the Old Republic, have probably played through it multiple times, going for different gender, background soldier/scoundrel/scout, light/dark side choices, etc. etc. and just the idea of Revan always struck home with me, about a Jedi who had fallen for good reasons and would eventually be redeemed.

The look and feel of the Reborn is magnificent; the aesthetics are pleasing beyond believe and just holding it is amazing.
Whilst the Gladius is both a one-handed and two-handed saber, the Reborn really feels like a one-handed saber and by the Force does it feel comfortable; I imagine the Bespin Duel where Vader has his saber in a firm, tight one-handed grip and nonchalantly parries anything Luke throws at him - who needs to hold with both hands - That's how the Reborn comes across for me personally
I can just see Revan swing this with grace and finesse and defeating any foes that come against him - suited for a fallen Jedi/Sith who is powerful and thus a seasoned and capable fighter who can fight with just one hand in a sophisticated manner without losing strength, technique or speed.

When it comes to the weathered look I am very pleased, although I do have to remark that compared to the stock photo that is on Etsy and on the SaberForge site, this V2 weathering does seem different.
Whereas the stock photos show a more overall grey look, my Reborn has several black accents.
I personally love this, as I think just V2 would've been a bit too boring, but I didn't feel this saber would look 'right' in it's dual tone - so to have this sort of mash-up of the black claws and other jet-raven accents together with the V2 is a welcome and delightful surprise.
I also like how this weathering looks more fit for a fallen Jedi/Sith who has kept his saber in competent order to only the degree of necessity; as in, it functions well enough for combat, but no extra care was taken to make it beautiful or anything.
It feels as if it's clanged on the ground, hit metal surfaces, had encounters with the oil from slashed up droids and just has this dark edge to it that makes it perfect.

The length of the saber is impressive to say the least - it's not that much larger than the Gladius when side by side, but because of the claws and the slender design, it feels a lot bigger than it actually is.
Yet still, as I mentioned in my review of the Gladius, it keeps that SaberForge refined style of not being a heavy brick, but a dignified and exquisite light weapon that is gracefully handled in combat.
The claws and the blade plug are fantastic to look at and really give this hilt it's special allure, as it makes it stand out from other sabers in a heartbeat.
Also, when activated, the light really blazes beautifully through the openings on the blade plug and with the shadows of the claws looming over the light, it makes for an ethereal sight that hypnotizes.

On that note; I went for a 12W Indigo on the saber, as I wanted to keep close to the official Canon (or Legends now officially then?) of Revan, with the Fallen having Blood Orange and this one Purple.
Even though I have yet to acquire the Fallen, I will do so with that colour
Besides I felt it would make for a great contrast with a dark hilt and vibrant coloured blade... That and my wife asked me that if we were going to have them in our living room, maybe they could match our Lime and Purple couch from Ikea (we just call it the Joker couch )
Although I still want to have purple on one of my future sabers, I felt that purple for this one might be too bright and even though it can be seen as a mix of dark and light (red with blue), I felt that just purple wasn't hinting enough at the nature of Revan; be it as a Fallen Jedi, Sith Lord or Redeemed Gray Jedi, I always felt he needed that ominous and sinister edge and I felt that with indigo I would get this result.

When I first put in my 37 inch blade (same as with the Gladius, I really feel this is the right size for me as a man of 1,85 metres... or 6 feet 1 as you would say ) I was a tad surprised; maybe because of the surrounding light or maybe because I took out my Gladius as well to show both side by side - I don't know what exactly - but I did feel as if I had a more dark blue blade instead of dark purple.
Luckily it seems that it was mostly a case of having no time to fully inspect and absorb the colour - as said, busy week with lots of work and many visitors here at home, so almost no time to play with said lightsaber - as today I've been having some fun with it and I can definitely say it's a dark purple.
Of course in real life indigo is a colour/fabric that is a darker blue and in between blue and purple, but when I ordered this colour to go with the Reborn, I mostly went with what the SaberParts showed.

Even though I have to admit that at times - depending on what light surrounds the saber when activated - it can still seem blue; on camera for instance there is a small blue hue at the outer edges and on film it seems to fluctuate with every second on how purple or blue-ish it becomes.
Still, even with that all said, 90% of the times I feel it does hit that perfect dark purple spot and that's when I'm convinced I did make the right choice for this saber - it really fits with the overall darker and menacing vibe the Reborn gives off (as one of my friends back in Holland remarked, who is a major LOTR nut, the design almost reminded him of Saruman's staff )

The SaberCore Crimson soundfont was a nice change compared to the Viridian, although I have to admit that at times it feels as if it's not as clear as the other.
I understand that the Crimson is supposed to be a dark side soundfont and thus has a more low and threatening hum, but at times it feels as if it's being drowned out by the Gladius (and no worries, I put both on High volume level).
Still, when it comes to the font on it's own, it's wonderful to hear and the auxiliary button triggering the saber lock-up/lightning is fantastic.

The only other thing I did have to remark was the fact that one of the claws (didn't remember if this one was the one that replaced the bend claw, see image below) is a bit loose at the end, but my wife has already said she would find some glue to make sure it would get stuck.
Not that holding it is creating the danger of snapping the claw off or anything, but you do feel it going a bit up and down as you squeeze the hilt or twirl it.
I figure most any glue will do or is there any recommendation on how to proceed?



So yeah, final verdict is that this is an amazing hilt, definitely my favourite of the 2 I own so far and definitely a gateway to more future hilts - not only for the majestic design on both this as well as the Gladius, but also the experience so far with SaberForge has been nothing but excellent.
More photos will be coming in the posts after this one

Glad everything worked out in the end. Geez how poorly was it handled during shipping to bend the claw like that but not snap it?

I do remember SF saying in the past that the claws/spines are supposed to have a bit of give in the area where your hand sits as a sort of stress relief.

Jaden Korr wrote: Yeah, the strangest part was how the Gladius arrived in the same 'toblerone' but had no scratches, dents or damage whatsoever - very bizarre.
The only thing I could think of was that Norwegian customs took out the Reborn for inspection (the box was a bit mangled) and didn't bother to put it safely back in, resulting in the bend claw and non-functioning sound (LED was working perfectly though). Still weird seeing as when I unpacked it, both Reborn and Gladius were fully wrapped in the bubblewrap that SF supplies, so I don't know... Right now I'm just happy SF CS helped me out this thoroughly with getting it fixed and shipped back even faster than I anticipated and even going the extra mile for 'refunding' me of sorts for the inconvenience (a gift certificate to cover shipping back to the States).
I do have to say it's only that end of the claw that I feel needs to be glued - the other two are firmly in place on both ends, but as you say, in the middle there is the slightest hint of some in-between space between claw and body, which indeed gives it that 'stress-relief' sort of feel when you grab the hilt and squeeze it.
That seems to function fine, but just the end of this third claw at times feels like something could get caught in between more easily, so I figure it's better to keep it firmly attached while still keeping the middle part slightly open,

But like said, even with that small observation, the hilt feels ergonomically pleasing while holding it; as many other reviews have remarked before (think I first heard Shameem say it in one of his YouTube vids) when you see the design you feel that it could be a awkward way of holding it, but it's a really nice one-handed saber that just sits right

Congratulations, we love our Reborn! Yours is wonderful!

I am quite surprised by that bent point because it quite a strong point, looking at mine. Nevertheless, it is back in fine shape!