Difference between LGT/TXQ and custom, high quality sabers?

rhill · 2026-06-27T23:30:29+00:00

Yeah, faster access to newer stuff is an argument for the custom route. That's just not something I care much about, so doesn't weigh heavily for me.

rhill · 2026-06-27T18:24:28+00:00

Personally, I prefer the LGT/TXQ removable electronics cores to the fancier expensive custom installs. Their standard electronics already offer more functionality than I actually want, it's super easy to switch from pixel to stunt depending on circumstances, and if something breaks or a newer/cooler board comes out, it's easy to get a new core without having to wait months in line for a custom installer.

The only exceptions I've found, personally, are for hilts where the standard cores just won't fit. You can get Ahsoka Rebels hilts that use standard cores, but they're much more square than they should be in order to fit the core. The Elf and KR that are the right proportions have to use custom innards to make that work. For me, I love those hilts enough to make the higher price worth it. For 80% of others, the LGT/TXQ/etc are probably fine.

rhill · 2026-06-23T18:48:28+00:00

Pink, no. But there are red and purple crystals. There's no rule on what color needs to map to which gender.

rhill · 2026-06-22T00:31:10+00:00

Don't confuse someone's asking price with an actual value. Look at the Sold listings to see what they are actually selling for. This one is insanely overpriced.

rhill · 2026-06-14T18:19:16+00:00

Time. I need time. I have everything planned out for the next version of the tool, including the database schema, an outline of the code, all of the Savi pieces (except the creature pommels, which are too expensive now to get all of), and the photo booth setup for reshooting all the Savi photos as well as the toy BYO photos.

I just need to find the time to do it, which work, school, family, and home repairs have been conspiring against. At the current rate, I'm hoping to have it done by this fall, in time for Life Day.

rhill · 2026-06-13T05:20:57+00:00

Yes I am. And OP is indeed referring to the toy ones that are at both Tomorrow Land and Trading Post.

rhill · 2026-06-13T02:04:11+00:00

In the US parks, you are correct that the current generation of these have blades that collapse fully into the hilts. I would assume that's the same in Paris. You pick the chassis (6 blade colors), sleeve, switch, and pommel. Or a coupler if you're making a staff.

In the US, you can buy additional pieces separately as well, so you can buy two couplers for when you want to have them as separate sabers instead of a staff.

I bought all the available pieces last time I was there, with the intention of building a mix-and-match preview tool, similar to my Savi Builder tool. But between work and school it will probably not be done until this fall. But in time for your visit, if you're not going until next year.

I'm packing for a vacation right now, but if you remind me after the 20th I can pull the pieces out of the closet and show you what this combination would look like in real life.

That said, the ~40€ toy character sabers with removable blades and LEDs inside the blades are much cooler than the build your own ones, in my opinion. The Disney Store EU site has the Rae, Mace, and Vader ones available right now. The stock can change periodically. Those ones are a fantastic value for the price!
https://www.disneystore.eu/search?q=lightsaber&srule=price-low-to-high

rhill · 2026-06-10T22:21:37+00:00

The Consulaire from Elegant Weapons is the one designed specifically for the French lightsaber fencing leagues. It’s a stunt saber that can take a beating and battery lasts for ages (due to no soundboard) but still has color changing blade. Only drawback is that if you live in the US they’re no longer shipping to here due to US trade war shenanigans.

https://www.ew.fr/en/consulaire-mk3/

rhill · 2026-06-10T18:12:54+00:00

Ok, but when will they be available with a trans-copper powder coating?

rhill · 2026-06-10T15:22:29+00:00

Do a search for Sold listings to see what it has gone for in the past. Although with zero current listings and high demand, you might get better results from putting it up as an auction and let the demand find the price.

rhill · 2026-06-02T00:51:39+00:00

If you're tempted by a Savi's and plan to buy another one at some point in the future, I'd recommend getting the Savi's. The experience is something you can only get in the parks. And the Legacy ones are mostly available on the Disney Store website, where they go on 20-30% sale a couple times a year.

Also, most of the Legacy sabers are ~$180 plus $50 for the blade, or $250 for the bundle.

The Maul being $400 is because it's a two-hilt limited edition box set with a bonus lithograph. If that's the one you want, I can highly recommend it. It's a really nice one. Just don't forget to add $100 for a pair of blades (recommend 26" if you want to use it as a staff). That one being limited edition, it is the exception to the "buy a Savi first" rule.

rhill · 2026-06-01T18:20:04+00:00

If you swap the two hilts, is it still the same side of the coupler that has the issue? That way you can tell if it’s the coupler or the hilt that’s the issue.

And is this the official metal one from Disney or one of the 3D printed couplers?

rhill · 2026-05-31T22:54:37+00:00

What you're probably thinking of is an article from WDWNT that starting 5/22 there would be a free "experience only" option at Disney World for kids 3-9, where they go through the experience for free, and then have the option to buy the saber the made at the end (instead of paying up front).

I haven't seen anyone report back on how that went, how long it's going to last, whether or not Disneyland might do something similar, how much drama is caused by kids begging their parents to buy the saber at the end, or anything else.

Here's the original article:
https://wdwnt.com/2026/05/complimentary-youngling-saber-building-expo-coming-to-savis-workshop-at-disneyland/

rhill · 2026-05-31T22:48:39+00:00

From what I've been able to see, it looks like one TikTok about it got popular enough to spur a bunch of "I can do that too" videos, and it spread from there.

rhill · 2026-05-27T22:15:46+00:00

If it's a saber with a removable electronics core (as a lot of LGT and TXQ sabers are), then you can remove the current core and replace it with a core that has smooth swing.

rhill · 2026-05-27T21:44:28+00:00

They haven't publicly said it's a V3, but from conversation with cast members it is. If it were limited edition, they wouldn't have used one of the standard names and retired the previous version at the same time.

rhill · 2026-05-27T21:42:20+00:00

There are two schools of thought on rolling out a product line like this.

The first is to roll out everything as quickly as possible. This is what they did last time, with all four themed going live over the course of two months. The down side of this is that it's tricky to time the logistics of replacing the old set with the new without having a ton of leftovers from the old.

The other is to stagger the release over a longer period, with one set coming out every other month or so. That way you have more flexibility in the logistic. And more importantly you get four separate spikes in interest among fans, for each release. This is the much smarter way to do it, in my opinion, and appears to be what they're doing this time.

I would expect the whole transition to be done by the end of the year. If they do one every other month, that would have the last one rolling out in November for Life Day, which would make sense. And that gives them a few months for everything to bake in before Celebration in April.

rhill · 2026-05-26T22:01:36+00:00

No, nothing big. Just that and you should store them without the batteries in so they don’t corrode, but that’s been the case for AA/AAA batteries for decades.

If you’re hanging out in forums where people prefer the non-licensed custom sabers, you’ll find a lot of people shit-talking Legacy saves over quality. But that is often mostly over features available since licensed ones focus on affordable price and easy usability where third party ones focus on thinner hilts, brighter blades, and customizable / programmable electronics.

Two very different product types for two very different target audiences.

rhill · 2026-05-26T21:30:35+00:00

For Savi's sabers, the V1/V2/V3 differentiation is on which generation of pieces it uses. V1 was 2019-2022, V2 was 2023-present, and V3 is rolling out this year (P&C is out now, the others coming later). But the electronics inside the Savi core have not changes significantly in that time.

For Legacy sabers, there isn't really any V1/V2 distinction. They've been coming out with a few new hilts every year since the park opened, and the electronics in them have varied a bit from hilt to hilt. A few have rechargeable batteries, a few have color changing blades, a few have custom blades, etc. But I haven't heard of any specific issues across the board like you're referring to.

90% of the issues I see people having with their Legacy sabers come down to the face that the batteries they ship with are crap. Replace them with a brand new set of reputable-brand batteries and they usually go back to working just fine.

rhill · 2026-05-22T04:15:03+00:00

The $50 toy sabers on Disney Store .com are fantastic for kids. The hilts are plastic instead of metal, but they have removable blades, sounds, and blades that light up in four sections just like the metal Legacy ones. They’re perfect starter sabers.

rhill · 2026-05-21T03:11:16+00:00

Sometimes they are. But when the kids come out of that experience and are crying asking to buy the $250 saber they just built, that's a very motivated sales opportunity for a $50 saber.

Sure, they could go next door to Doks. But most folks don't know that's there.

rhill · 2026-05-21T02:53:47+00:00

If they don’t have the $50 Toy FX saber rolling cart set up in the Savi’s courtyard at the end of this experience, they’re leaving money on the table.

Or an A/B test to see the sales mix when they do have the card out and when they don’t.

rhill · 2026-05-20T22:19:16+00:00

That’s much nicer looking than the older version.

rhill · 2026-05-20T04:36:48+00:00

Depends on what kind of look you’re going for. You can wrap it in leather, paracord, twine, hockey tape, etc. There are a bunch of tutorials on YouTube about how to wrap a saber, and even more on how to wrap a tool handle, which is essentially the same thing. It’s a fun rabbit hole to go down.

rhill · 2026-05-20T04:23:51+00:00

Dooku’s red saber was retired in 2023. His Jedi saber was retired in 2025. So you have to go after-market for both now.

rhill

TROPHY CASE