The Manticore

[Jare Tal’onidir]

I have to say that, almost to my surprise, the Manticore lives up to all the hype surrounding it. As we already knew from pictures, it is very aesthetically pleasing. And it being an UltraSaber, we all knew it was going to be durable. But, man, this thing handles like a dream. The length, weight, and balance to this saber are perfect. I’m on the short end of things, so I covet the shorter sabers and have enjoyed bringing my fencing background into play with sabers like the Prophecy. I honestly don’t think I can do that as much with the Manticore. But, it is short enough and light enough I can use one hand, and long enough I can switch to two which makes it feel almost more like a lightsaber for me. I’ve also been having a blast with the MHS compatibility. Most of the comments I’ve seen focused on the emitter and which hilts it would look good on. And I admit, I spent a lot of time playing with in on my Consular and Shock. But the Manticore’s body is actually great for trying different combinations on. My other hilts, I’ve found a few combos that work and some that just look odd. The Manticore is so elegantly simple that it just kind of goes with everything.  I’ll probably add some more pictures later with different colors and emitters, but here’s a few initial shots.

[Vex]

Nice saber . Is that FO or PO?

[Jare Tal’onidir]

Oh, I should have said! It's PO, but my two midgrade blades are at a friends house so the color's a bit washed out.

[Master Bluespike74]

Jare, that saber is beautiful.  Glad to see the first forum member post some pics.  I am awarding points for your great review.

[Abraxus]

Just as nice as I thought it would be!  The War Glaive emitter looks awesome on it!

[Noriko]

The Manticore is such an awesome saber. With the high profile pommel it looks even better than with the low profile pommel.

Thanks for sharing these pictures.

[Oramac]

Looks great!  The War Glaive emitter combo is just wicked!!  Very impressed.  Point.

[Liselyn]

Jare, can I please request a picture featuring a close up of the on/off switch?

Great pictures - you're right, everyone focuses on the emitter but the graceful simplicity of the hilt itself is often overlooked!

When you go two handed, where are your hands sitting on the saber?

[Solinus]

Oh, I should have said! It's PO, but my two midgrade blades are at a friends house so the color's a bit washed out.

That's EXACTLY what my Pyrestone Orange Prophecy looks like. I think you captured the color excellently!

[Oramac]

One question I forgot.  On the Manticore body with the War Glaive emitter, can you post a measurement from the top of the choke point to about mid-pommel or so?

thanks!

[Jare Tal’onidir]

@Liselyn, I'll work on getting that picture for you, but it is a standard switch, nothing special. With two hands, my right (dominate) hand can really travel. At the end of a lot of spins, I'd say snug against the emitter. The rest of the time, I keep it a bit lower, with my thumb resting right above the switch. My left hand almost always rests right above the pommel. I have accidentally actually grabbed the pommel a couple of times and that's surprisingly comfortable too.

@Oramac, With the Manticore pommel, the measurement is 10 3/4in. but in the picture I'd added the Arcon pommel and that is exactly 11in. I really like the Glaive emitter on it too. I'd gotten the emitter for my Consular, but it's probably going on the Manticore from here on.

I'm still planning on more photos of other colors and combinations, but I found out the quick disconnect on this is exactly opposite of all my other modules, so I need to find time to break out the soldering iron and fix that.

[Dark Mal]

I LOVE THIS EMITTER!!!! I would love to see it with some other sabers if anyone has any pics!!!

[Abraxus]

I posted a picture of my Archon V2 with the Manticore emitter in the original Manticore announcement thread, and also in the "Customization" thread titled (Archon V2 Versatility).  I would post a link to the threads directly, but that is harder to do on an iPad, than on my PC, so if you can't find them, just PM me.

[Luna]

Point for Jare, this is a monumental review.

[Jare Tal’onidir]

Okay, so here's pictures of the Manticore with a couple other colors. I'm going to try and tag it on here rather than make a new post.

Consular Green



Adgean Silver



And Sentinel Yellow. Which was really hard to take a picture of since it's so bright. So there's two.





I've got a whole bunch more pictures with the emitter and pommel on my other sabers, and the Manticore hilt with other emitters and pommels. But I thought I'd add them to the reference thread once they finish uploading.