Dark Apprentice(curved hilt) Red Blade Review

My first two ultrasabers were bought on ebay and this model was one of them. It was purchased as a duel-ready version of my currently owned Count Dooku Hasbro Force FX saber. First let me speak about the merits of the DA on its own. The blade is plenty bright as with all ultrasabers. I think its either ultra edge or medium, not sure. The grip feels pretty good and is thin enough that you can grip it easily, without any unnatural protrusions except for the on/off switch. Said switch is impossible to toggle accidentally, which is very good, although personally I wish the switch was placed a little further up. The weapon could surely use a guard though, maybe a flanged emitter, a Dooku style protrusion, or an Obi Wan style round guard. The handle is made of plastic, which I think feels sturdy but lacks the aesthetic appeal of metal, which I would like to see available in a future curve hilt model. The balance is forward towards the blade, almost an inch up the blade on my model. What gives??? This is a dueling blade specifically designed for the Makashi combat style, it needs to be properly balanced. The detailing on the dark apprentice is rather poor but thats alright as I was modifying mine anyhow, which went well, I painted it and applied some leather strips to the handle so it has more style, also added a guard to it. There was one other problem but I'll address that in the dueling part

Ok, now as compares to the Dooku saber:

clearly the aesthetic question goes to the Dooku saber, its shiney and nice. However, the Dooku saber has a thicker handle which makes it somewhat hard to use, especially if you have small hands. It's also much heavier than its ultrasaber counterpart, so you pay for that styling. Also, I cannot stress enough the advantage of luxeon hilt lit over LED string blade lit I had already busted 2 LEDs in the Dooku before I decided to get a devoted dueling saber. I do miss the sound effects from my dooku saber, but that's not a big deal. Also, the Dooku saber is perfectly balanced, which is odd since it isnt really meant for battle. All in all the Dooku saber cost me a few bucks more used on ebay, but it was a better value in my opinion, just not as durable as I need it to be for fighting. The Dark Apprentice seems like a step in the right direction towards a complete, elegant curved hilt dueling saber.

Finally to the part everyone is interested in: The fighting. Well, this model offers increased maneuverability, especially when used one handed. This is me with my Dark Apprentice fighting off my best friend while he's using the dual blade Jar'Kai style. I was able to parry everything he threw at me using this weapon:

As far as taking damage from all the fighting goes, there was one problem. The blade began to strobe on and off after a few good hits and would sometimes turn off entirely. This was an intense battle however as you can see from the photos, but I think I'll be making sure my battery pack is secure before my next fight (it was a problem with the batteries getting a bit loose, but was easily fixed, and might have been prevented had I bought the battery pack protector available here. But as for real battle damage? Check out Blake's Anakin Force FX lightsaber. Ton of dead LEDs on that thing: