Hello, saberforum! I have not really posted on these boards for...quite a while. Almost a year, in fact.
So anyway, I have a saber to review. Why is it a long overdue review, you ask? Why, because this is the review for my Christmas present....from LAST year. (AKA the best present ever).
So, without further ado, I present the Bellicose:
Consular Green (with QDs; I later ordered a BR MLS unit)
Green accent button
Black blade holder
Obsidian Sound
Li-Ion with charger
Green illuminated AV switch
Mid Grade Blade
Short grooves pommel
First ImpressionsMy brain exploded.
Second ImpressionsThis really is a gorgeous saber, and a very iconic looking one. The black anodizing is enough to add details, but not so much that it becomes a "dark" saber. The slanted emitter looks really nice, as well; and the short groove pommel adds a bit of texture to it. The accent button is nice, but I would recommend a metallic one instead of a solid color--yes, it looks nice, but you just don't really notice it when the saber is turned on. It gets drowned out by the brightness of the blade and the AV switch (witch is absolutely amazing).
The HiltThe hilt, as I already said, looks great. The AV switch is an awesome accent (even though it isn't something you really see in the movies). I've heard people say that it looks like a power indicator; for me, that isn't the case, but that might just be because I know what it is. My friend, on the other hand, spent thirty seconds trying to use the accent button to turn the saber on when I showed it to him, so there's that....
The grooves are both good-looking and comfortable; they don't cut into your hand or anything. They make the saber nice and grippy, as well. The accent button doesn't get in the way of my hand at all when I'm holding the saber or fighting with it, and neither does the AV switch. The one thing that does get a tad annoying, though, is the emitter; it's hard to tell, but the emitter section is raised a tiny bit, and it really does cut into your hand. It's easy to work around, though, and after a bit you don't even notice it.
Another small qualm with the hilt: the accent button popped off a few times, and, with the last one, the screw that held it in got lost. Luckily, it was an easy fix--I just glued it back in place (although I'm sure I could get the screw replaced, if need be; I just don't feel that that's necessary).
The BladeThe blade is excellent. I got a mid grade blade; I like ultraedge, but I honestly think that a standard mid grade looks better for most sabers. It is certainly durable, as well. The blade holder looks really nice, but for a while I didn't realize that the blade can actually come out of the holder--you just have to use a hex wrench (a different size hex wrench than the one for the blade retention screw, incidentally) and loosen the screws on the blade holder a bit, and the blade pops out. The retention screw on the outside holds the hole gizmo in.
Honestly, I dislike the blade holder contraption. I'm sure there's a reason for it, but a simple retention screw like the one on my Dominixes works better--not only is it flush with the hilt, but it's easier to remove the blade. And holding a plastic blade in with a screw is a lot easier than holding a plastic blade in with two screws attached to a metal tube which is then held in with a metal screw; and, incidentally, that metal screw really scuffs up the black anodizing on the blade holder, which in turn scuffs up the screw. The screw on my saber actually got really out of whack at one point; US fixed it, no charge, no problem, of course, but that's not something that I should have to worry about for something with a price tag like this. And yes, you never really see the little screw marks on the blade holder unless you take it out of the saber, but I still don't like it.
As for the color of the blade: brilliant. It's exactly what you would expect--a very pure green. Not lime green or sea green; just green green, like Qui-Gon's blade. I also got a Blazing Red MLS to swap in and out, and it looks great as well. Again, exactly the Sithy color you'd expect. (Although in retrospect, a red blade with a green AV switch might not have been the best idea. It looks like a Christmas saber XD.)
The PracticalityBy that, of course, I don't mean actual practicality, aside from its use as a flashlight. I mean dueling practicality.
Yes.
Great size, great weight, perfect balance; it's a great saber for any style. I would say more, but that's really all there is: it's excellent.
The SoundThe sound is amazing, but the system is not. Obsidian sound really is all it's cracked up to be--loud, customizable, precise, and durable. I really do love the soundboard, and it really is worth the price. The Obsidian launcher, however...no. Just no. It's not very relevant now, with the thankfully easy to install and use v3 launcher, but downloading, installing, and launching the program was frustrating to the extreme, especially as I really didn't know where to start. I figured I would look here, and that worked out fine; but even then, even following the video tutorial and reading the READ ME pdf in the download, I still had problems with this, and it still took several hours. And again, for a product of this price, there really shouldn't be problems like that; if I hadn't been a member on this forum and hadn't browsed it in the past, I would have taken a long while finding the launcher and downloading it. A long, long while. Even just a slip of paper in the packaging saying "Go to
www.xxxxxxxxx/com/xxxx" would have helped.
But honestly? I don't even care about all that. Because once I finally got it working...wow.
This thing is glorious. I haven't even scratched the surface of the options, but the sheer amount of customisability and soundfounts available absolutely dwarfs any other soundboard. You can adjust all sorts of paramaters, including volume, and mix and match from all sorts of fonts. It really is a great piece of tech.
A Few Other Thoughts1) This is my favorite saber, period. End of sentence.
2) But...somehow, with the ordering and the fixing and the editing and what not, I feel like US needs to get its act together a bit more. They are really nice people, and, as has been stated many, many times, they have great customer service. But some of the problems that were fixed shouldn't have been problems in the first place. They're little things, but for any product of this price, these little things shouldn't even be there. Buttons shouldn't pop off, blade holders shouldn't be dysfunctional, and soundboard software should be more user friendly. The pages on the site should be up to date, they should have a uniform format, and there shouldn't be weird grammatical errors all over the place (although that last bit might be more a problem with me obsessing than anything else). US has certainly come a long way, and they have addressed some of these things, but there's still room for improvement.
3) But the products that they make are awesome enough that I'm still on their side, and I will (and have) continue to order from them.
ClosingBuy this saber.
That is all.
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Pics hopefully coming soon!
