Greetings everyone! I've had my Dominix V5 for a bit now, and I thought I'd write up a short review of it to-date. So, here goes..
First, my initial impression of the saber was "Wow!" when I saw it fresh out of the box. I ordered the 'basic black' saber on purpose, I wanted it more subdued than the LE version, and the plan is to eventually have the D2, D3, D4 and D5 all in black and in the red-orange-yellow color family. To that end the first two purchases were a replacement of my very first saber, a Dominix V3 with sound in SY, and this baby in Fire Orange:
Now, I've had a long love affair with the Aeon/Dominix line. My very first saber was a Dominix V3 over six years ago now. In that time most of the sabers I've owned were either Aeons or Dominix variants, quite a few V4s as I looked for the best option combinations and, at various times, had to purge my collection for ... economic reasons.
During that time, I've always loved the way the V3 and V4s handled, especially in the dueling arena. When the new V5s came out, I was pumped. They looked amazing, and a great upgrade, except for that one thing.
The claws.
And those evil points...
Nor was I alone. When I saw folks flipping the claws I decided that might be the way to go, but there was something about the look of the saber that I didn't like. But once I finally had my own V5, after getting my hand pinched by those points I quickly padded a flat-head screwdriver and carefully pried the claw away, intent on flipping it over...
...only to have one of the pressure pins stick in the emitter instead of the claw!
Now I was stuck. I had to get the pin out of one or the other before I could flip the claw around. And try as I might, I couldn't get it out. So, I finally pressed the claws back into the emitter in their original configuration.
>pinch<
Ouch....
Hmm...
In desperation I grabbed my dremil and put the sanding barrel on. A few swipes and the very sharp edge of that claw was nicely beveled. I gave the saber a few more swings.
No pinch...
*swing* *swing* *spin*
No pinch...
NO PINCH! WOOT!
Elated that beveling the end and rounding that wicked edge off had mostly solved the issue, I put the saber aside for a bit. But I was soon swinging it around again, spinning it, sparring (lightly) with it. And I found something else: My grip changed.
I have large hands, and what I found was that I had begun using the curved area of the claws as a choke for gripping. It was quite comfortable, with a good pre-machined bevel, and it greatly enhanced the grip. Especially when I had on my heavy sparring mits.
All bonuses!
But I wanted a bit more. I wanted the hilt more subdued than the flashy LE version, but somehow the grenade grips and claws (fins?) begged for more...
So ... some color!
I again removed the claws, noting that this time the pins all came out with the claws, and set them aside for the moment. I took off the pommel as well and put a temp V4 pommel on the hilt. Then I masked off everything but the grenade grips on the hilt, as well as the core of the pommel, and headed for my painting station. Once there, I applied 2 coats of Rustoleum "black steel" satin-finish paint to the grip areas, as well as the pommel fins and claws.
Then spent a day impatiently waiting for the paint to dry.....
Finally! I unmasked everythning and re-assembled. Again, I faced the question of flipping or not flipping the claws, and again decided against it. Mainly because I was now gripping the saber routinely OVER the claws, and flipping them was no longer necessary or even beneficial.
The look was nice, with the grip areas, claws and fins a satin dark gray color against the wet-black of the anodizing. A great contrast ... but just a bit to subtle. It still needed something....
Copper...Copper highlights! Not everywhere, just in the narrow horizontal grooves of the grips and the bevels of the fins and claws. Like pinstripes... One last touch - the inner bevel around the emitter was given a copper touch as well.
Done.
Behold the slightly modified Dominix V5 "stealth".
*** On display on my work desk! LOL ***
*** showing off that emitter ***
So ... how does it rate? I give it an 8.5 out of 10. I love the look of the claws, but they do knock down the rating a bit in the handling department, particularly when comparing to a V3 or V4. But as a display, this hilt rocks it, especially in the LE configuration or touched up a bit with some subtle highlights.
And I have to say, I am a bigger fan of the orange than I thought I would be. Its a softer color than the others, without the blaring intensity of the BR, CG or GB or the awesome brilliance of AS or AB. Its much like SRD - bright and vivid but with a softer overall impact.
It may never be my "go to" dueler, but this saber rocks and while it will be display-worthy it will never become a 'shelf queen' in my collection!
One last shot....
(And a character note: For those who follow the stories in the FanFiction area, this is the saber used by Julwynn Cole, ne Hri