If you are interested in this iconic saber design or have a liking to the Darth Vader character, look no further than this US lightsaber. The Chosen One is a legit cannon inspired hilt.
I was fortunate(and very grateful!) to have won the 2015 summer raffle emerald prize, and this was one of my prize selections. I opted for the Emerald RGBW, obsidian V4 sound, and a black finish non-illuminated AV switch.
This will be a pic heavy review as there is so much to cover with such a detailed lightsaber design. This isn't a review of the emerald driver or the V4 sound card but of the Chosen One itself.
My favorite part of this lightsaber is the emitter. A major standout with this hilt is how the blade appears to originate from "within" the emitter, with no contact to the upper edge of it. In my mind this gives the most realistic appearance of a real blade ignition. Just stunning! The emitter is all metal as you'd expect; painted a matte black to give it that plastic look to emulate the movie prop.
The red blade in all it's Sith glory!
From the slant in the emitter, to the box style backing and the "bar" that mates with the bottom of the emitter...there is a lot going on and a lot to like! The two silver screw in the bar(as I'll call it)are different from each other and also have different textured edges. The top silver screw holds the emitter in place with the bar coming up to prevent any rotation left or right. But believe me, the emitter ain't moving. Then the first hex screw serves as blade retention. The second silver screw and bottom hex screw secure the bar to the hilt body.
In general I'm not a fan of windows, so I opted for the blade holder with lines(no windows). With the machined holes in the body, to the blade holder with it's silver cut lines...the detail of the Chosen One continues nicely into the main section of the hilt. ALL the screws under the emitter help to secure the blade holder in place. But thankfully just releasing the main blade retention hex screw allows easy blade change out.
I have always admired the activation box design from the OT and having it on this hilt is icing on the cake. Very stylish and oh so classic. I decided on a silver box to balance the black/silver on the hilt(personal preference) and took the opportunity to try the new black switch US now offers. I really like it, it matches well with the theme as a whole IMO and is just another detailed step you can take to customize the Chosen One your own way.
The lever on the activation box is a little blocky in appearance but a nice feature. The screw holding it can be loosened to change the angle of it or you can remove it all together; which is what I'd do for extended duelling(I'll get into that in a bit). For the most part I leave it on. And the sleeve wrapped around the body is awesome, smooth and stylish!
The grips at the bottom are made of plastic and do a good job to emulate the wiper grips used on the original. They are a hard plastic but have smooth edges all around so in general provide a comfortable hand hold. This is obviously the widest part of the body, and if you have smaller hands this might be a bit of a challenge to grip over extended use.
The pommel is indeed a nice design. I've heard from others that the Chosen One/Graflex are a bit louder than usual. I don't know what it is exactly that makes it like that, but I would agree that this is a LOUD lightsaber.
At first I had trouble admitting to myself...that the Chosen One has it's challenges when it comes to heavy duelling. And of course this has to do with how much detail has gone into making this hilt stand out the way that it does. With specified hand placement you can sure spin this bad boy and play around with it and enjoy some light duelling. But unless you wear padded gloves or are ok with constantly re-adjusting your hand grip I would not recommend getting the Chosen One with the intent to use it for HEAVY duelling. Other wise, in all honesty you potentially risk hurting your hands under hard contact. I took a few shots as an example of where I found it most comfortable to spin the Chosen One and where I hold it for LIGHT duelling.
You can use a two handed grip, but with such specific hand placement it makes for really tight ergonomics.
In all I am so happy to have the Chosen One! I would absolutely recommend this hilt, beautiful design, quality craftsmanship and classic SW heritage. It has really held up to what I expected it to be. Thank you US!
