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Fake Light Sabers Making Real Cash

Posted by michael on from the enlarge-your-schwartz-now dept.

jdedman4 writes "The fanfare over Episode II brings with it absurdist prequel theories as well as this article from the Houston Chronicle detailing one fan-enterpreneur's success. In eight years, Forney, Texas resident Jeff Parks has made himself a millionaire by making customized light sabers for collectors. "My goal is to be the best light saber designer in the world," quips Parks."

10 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. How is he surviving? by Tim_F · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Doesn't he have to be a licensed Star Wars toy distributor?

  2. indestructible by !splut · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've come across his site before, and left drooling slightly. Those are freggin nice suckers, and I must say that I'm extremely impressed with his abilities.

    I would even the steep price tag more or less justifiable, considering the impress-your-friends factor. People spend more on PDAs. But... well, what good is a replica light saber if you can't saber duel with yer buddies? The specs mention that the plasma lamp is encased in a virtually indestructible polycarbonate (actually, it reads "polycarbonite," which is either a typo or a clever pun) housing.

    Well, polycarbonate is the same stuff they use to make high quality scratch resistant "virtually indestructible" eyeglass lenses. Quite a few of which I have personally destructed. So, I wonder how well the "blades" stand up to thwackin'.

    -ks

    --
    The angel in the oatmeal.
  3. British lightsabers by Mulletproof · · Score: 4, Interesting

    An interesting note on lightsabers; They are actually flash handles from 1940s press cameras. What bearing that has on copywrites, I'm not sure, but I think it'd be hard to licence a garage sale part for your movie, personally. Maybe this guy's calling them "lite sabers". Of course, you see dozens of toy replicas made in Mexico in any toy store... "Galactic Laser Swords inc." If you can get away with that level of duplication, then it can't be too hard for this guy. More power to him. Now he just needs to make a working one ^__^ "Batteries not included"

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
  4. And now he'll be even richer.. by doublem · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Mmmm. Star Wars Products that don't line the pockets of George Lucas. Mmmmm

    And now his sales will tipple. Anyone else remember what happened after thinkgeek.com was slashdotted? I wonder when we'll have the parksabers.com box as an option. What will the icon be when he comes out with a new model???

    --
    "Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
  5. UserFriendly by fidget42 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That sight made User Fiendly's Link of the Day last week. Was Slashdot scooped by a comic strip? ;)

    --
    The dogcow says "Moof!"
  6. Making REAL light sabers by Proc6 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I realize the light saber of Star Wars is impossible for what we know now, but does anyone have anything to say or any URL's about possible light saber like weapons that actually work? What would it take? Come on geeks, if you can mod a case enough to make a dual athlon not overheat in 3 seconds, surely you can figure out a way to make a big thick laser beam capable of cutting through a car.

    --

    I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!

    1. Re:Making REAL light sabers by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Interesting
      The best theory I've heard yet on how you would make a lightsaber-like weapon is that you would have some kind of containment bottle containing a highly compressed plasma, which would be squirted out the top and held by some kind of magnetic bottle. Possibly the power needed to maintain the 'bottle' would be supplied by the release of the plasma. This theory can be used to explain away two aspects of lightsabers and lightsaber-like weapons:

      1. The sound that they make when they pass through the air. Plasma discharge.
      2. The fact that they will block each other when they collide. Like forces repel; two bottles with the same polarity will push each other away. If it were some kind of alternating field, well, I dunno. I don't have the physics for it.

      Another possible hack would be a focused laser. This seems more like what the lucas lightsaber does; remember it's based on a laser and has some kind of crystal which is (ostensibly) pumped by a normal laser. There's also a beam splitter. It is possible that you could aim and tune several lasers in such a way that they would seem to terminate at a fixed point.

      As for the "point" a poster makes about not being able to see a laser unless there is dust in the air; This is not true. High-powered enough lasers actually cause reactions in the gas molecules which comprise air to throw off visible light, and god knows what else. Thus an EXTREMELY high-powered laser could quite conceivably be visible.

      The plasma-type sabers are most common in Anime; They actually curve when swung fast enough, and seem to sputter and elongate, indicating that the bottle has an open end, but the plasma normally expires as it reaches the end of the bottle. Swinging it quickly causes the plasma to be slung from the bottle, but ostensibly at the cost of concentration.

      Now, aren't you sorry you asked?

      Incidentally, the reason we don't have them now is primarily because of a lack of power sources which are dense enough. You can't get enough power for that kind of reaction into any battery a human can carry. You might be able to pull something off with chemical lasers, which are probably responsible for the death of the gyrojet project; As many of you know the gyrojet pistol was invented some time ago at JPL, and produced a working weapon, but it's really no good except as a low-recoil weapon for space use. Lasers are great in space because of the lack of air to absorb the energy, and chemical lasers can put out pretty intense amounts of energy. That's just my paranoid guess, though.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Making REAL light sabers by BlueGecko · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It wouldn't be that hard to make if you were able to (and allowed) to make a small nuclear reactor. But of course, nuclear=bad, so that will never happen.

      Nevertheless, you can read about how a lightsabre could work, ranging from plausible to implausible theories, as well as an introduction to kendo (the sword techniques the Jedi use) at this site: http://www.synicon.com.au/sw/ls/sabres.htm#index.

  7. How to add your own (virtual) light saber by snowtigger · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My university is running a research project on "tracking 3D textured object in the presence of aspect changes". Using a computer, a camera and holding a box in your hand, you can animate a light saber.

    Here is information about the project and this is an image of the laser sabre in action.

    Here is a movie (37Mb) showing it in action.

    Now, all you have to do is to buy the handle from parksabers.com to get the real feeling ;o)

  8. Graflex and Light Sabres by leighklotz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I run a photography website (actually, one of the first photography websites), Graflex.org.

    Lucas used a Graflex flashgun to make the light sabre prop, and as a result photographers and camera collectors have seen prices rise absurdly, now to hundreds of dollars for old flashbulb equipment that used to be available for $5-$15.

    And furthermore, some of the folks who buy them are belligerent and abusive. I guess if they think you can become a millionaire, I understand now.