The Ultimate Star Wars Gift: Decoding Lightsaber Options

We all know that the lightsaber was the weapon of the Jedi in the Star Wars universe. Lightsabers were as individual as their owners, with an individualized metal blade and a solid, colored laser light about one meter long. The lasers were also individually colored - with green, blue and purple representing the Jedi and red generally representing the Sith. Although lightsabers may have looked like lit up swords in the Star Wars movies, a lightsaber's power was much more fierce. The lightsaber could seamlessly cut or penetrate most any matter, deflect shots from other weapons and channel the energy / "force" of its user.

In the toy world, lightsabers have been big sellers for Star Wars merchandising. Kids love to yield lightsabers and have pretend duels. There are numerous lightsabers on the market to accommodate this, ranging from the mass produced to the customized:

Lightsaber Option One: Mass Produced Plastic Lightsabers: Plastic mass produced lightsabers are sold everywhere at discount stores. They do have sound and some of them now have spring mechanisms. Kids can certainly play Star Wars with them just fine. However, they are pretty generic and uninspiring. These plastic lightsabers have a hollow center covered with colored plastic and lit with a simple flashlight. There is prerecorded sound inside the plastic handle (which over time and with some dueling will start to uncoil), but sound effects are typically generic and repetitive. Plastic light sabers are available just about anywhere and will run about $10. They do the trick, but they don't really look very much like the authentic movie models, which is really what rabid mini Star Wars fans are after.