The Canterbury Armory: Episode II
There's nothing Phantom-like about this Menace; it's loud, rude & in your face!
Hi Everyone! Thanks for reading my Review! I'm going to do my best to keep it Long but Tight, if that makes any sense whatsoever.
This was a really exciting acquisition for me. It's my first Nickel-plated UltraSaber and my first hilt inspired by a character from the Star Wars Universe. In this case - the deadly Sith Assassin, Darth Maul.
This made it the first saber I've purchased that's as much (if not more) a Collector's item as it is a functional hilt. In fact, opening this one up was pretty emotional since it was my first real "Collector's Piece" and it reminded me of my Father. My Dad got me into Star Wars at an early age.
Return of the Jedi is the first movie I remember going to see in the theatre and it was some minor miracle I didn't wear out his VHS copies of the original trilogy growing up. He always collected things - guns, diecast scale classic cars, Star Trek models - but I was never into any of those things, though I know he was eager to share a hobby with his Son. When I discovered UltraSabers, I knew without a doubt Dad would love collecting these with me. We'd finally have "our" thing. Only I found them too late; Dad had passed away 4 months before after a long battle with an extremely aggressive form of Leukemia.
No doubt though he would have been as big an UltraSabers addict as I am. It would have been . . . interesting . . . with him on the Forum though. I can imagine him replying to all my comments and occasionally calling me by my real name in here, or worse yet - one of the nicknames he had for me when I was little boy.
"Damn it, Dad! It's Lord Canterbury when we're in the Forum!!!" I can smile about stuff like that now, which is nice.
OK - that's enough about me; you're here for the Lightsaber, right?
Review starting as soon as my Blademaster brings me my Menace CE . . .
"Sasha!!! Get me my Menace. Please!" "Good girl! Thanks! Yes . . . you can has a belly rub. Yes . . . we'll play Keepaway later too. Now hand me the Saber already." I - Build DetailsFor starters, let's go over the details of the Build I ordered so you know exactly what you're looking at.
Hilt: Menace CE (Nickel-plated)
Blade Color: TRI Blazing Red
Battery Configuration: Standard
Blade Length: 36"
Blade Option: Midgrade
Bottom Knurled Screw: Nickel
Middle Knurled Screw: Red
Top Knurled Screw: Red
Emitter Type: Black Underlay - No Windows
Sound: Obsidian Lite Soundboard
Switch Type: Non-Illuminated Silver AV Switch
Covertec Wheel: Default
II - Aesthetics & Physical Design Obviously, I've never seen every UltraSaber release in person, but I feel pretty confident in stating that this has to be one of their best looking releases ever.
As far as the design goes, it's extremely similar to the hilt that provided the inspiration for it, and it's an excellent interpretation.
From top to bottom, the craftsmanship & design choices are stellar.
As you can see, the hilt breaks down to 5 pieces (8 if you wanted to count the knurled screws).
The Emitter itself breaks down to 3 pieces (Underlay, Outer Sleeve & Blade Holder).
This design feature has both an upside and a downside.
Random Aside - anyone else out there remember the 1980s TV show Friday The 13th: The Series? Incredibly, despite the name, it had nothing to do with Jason Voorhees, but a group of people trying to reclaim cursed antiques. They would often refer to the "upside and the downside of the curse". Not that there's anything "cursed" about this object.
Although I do think
"The Cursed" would make a great name for an original UltraSabers Dark Side design.
Anyway, on the downside - the blade holder screws are on the Underlay, which means you need to take everything off to remove or put in the Blade.
On the upside - yes, I said blade holder screws, plural. There are 3 of them and it's set very low in the Emitter which gives it a lot of blade depth and a VERY strong grip on the blade.
Like the rest of the hilt, the Emitter is extremely detailed with a lot of precision cuts. Here's the thing though; take a closer look at this Emitter:
This could
easily have gone bad and resulted in Many Sharp Edges
(TM Other Guy) which would lead to cut hands, but UltraSabers has released a product that's managed to smooth the edges enough for a comfortable (and safe!) grip while keeping the fine details looking tight.
The rest of the hilt looks great too. From the beveled inserts to the knurled screws to the greeblies located to the right of the screws - UltraSabers went all out on making this release look incredible.
I went with the Non-Illuminated switch for a couple reasons.
First - the actual prop saber doesn't have a light-up switch.
Second - I like the way the non-illuminated ones look better when they are off. You can see below, it just looks nicer without that plastic ring around it.
They did go with "restraint" in one area and it was the perfect choice - the pommel. Given the design is based on a Staff (yes, it is technically 2 separate sabers conjoined) they theoretically could have added some extra flair & original design here - but wisely went with elegant simplicity. I guess in Clone Wars he used it as a single blade - but you get my point.
III - Nickel PlatingThe most surprising thing I've discovered here on the Forum is the polarizing nature of the Nickel-plated sabers.
I would have expected these to be universally coveted, but it seems as though they are actually quite polarizing; people seem to be "All-In" or "All-Out" on them.
Near as I can tell - there are three main arguments against Nickel-plating:
1 - Fingerprints and oils from the hands are more evident on the Nicken than on the Aluminum.
I can't disagree with this, but I also don't think it's as bad as I've seen it made out to be. I do suggest wiping it down with a polish cloth more often than your Aluminum sabers, however.
2 - I don't like the way the Nickel looks.
Fair enough . . . I respect everyone's saber-individuality.
3 - The Aluminum looks more "Canon" then the Nickel-plating.
Again, I respect everyone's personal opinion on here.
OK I do have to make just one comment about this one.
What I find . . . confusing . . . about this argument is that I often notice the people making it also ordered things like Emitter Windows and/or Illuminated Switches on their lightsaber, things that are in my eyes
way less Canon than the shade of silver of the metal. I mean - those are pretty big design changes to make.
I'm not saying anyone is wrong for wanting any of those things on their lightsaber. I'm just saying when you get those things then argue Nickel is not very Canon - I'm vexed. I'm very, very vexed.
Anyway - if you haven't put it together yet - I'm 110% in the "All-In" group when it comes to the Nickel plating.
In fact - I already ordered a Graflex CE and I'm hoping that gets here in time for the new movie to come out!
This is one of those things that's really hard to put into words, but I really feel like the Nickel-plating takes everything to the next level and just somehow makes it feel more "real".
The regular aluminum looks so bright, white & shiny in comparison - straight from the factory. The darker complexion of the Nickel almost gives it a "clean weathered" look.
Now, when I say "weathered", nothing like when
Drahcir gets his hands on your saber.
It just somehow . . . looks like a lightsaber that's been around for a while and is
REAL.
Coming up in the next section, you'll see a pic of the Menace CE next to the Sentinel I got as a Grab Bag in the same order so you'll see the difference between the two complexions.
So let's head to . . .
IV - Size & WeightThis is a surprisingly small saber! In fact, at 10.375" long, it's only slightly larger than an Initiate. It is close to an inch longer (11.25") if you get either a recharge port or an Emerald Driver.
But it makes sense - at that size, you should be able to comfortably make a staff with 32" blades out of it.
It's also pretty light - weighing in at 472 grams (16.65 oz.).
Compare that to the extremely light Sentinel stunt saber I got as a Grab Bag which weighs in at 451 grams (15.91 oz.).
Lastly, here's a pic of the Menace & the Sentinel side by side for an overall size comparison:
Overall, it's a very easy hilt to handle, which transitions us to . . .
V - GripI published these pics in my previous review; just a couple quick snapshots to give you an idea how big my hands are to give you a better sense of size in the pics of me gripping the saber.
OK . . . now let's grab the Menace CE . . .
Oops. Wait, I don't want you guys to be freaked out by the battle-damage to my robotic hand. Let me put a glove on first . . .
OK - much better!
Here's a 2-handed Grip in front of our festive 1980s White Christmas Tree; note that for this grip - I removed the Covertec wheel from the hilt which on the Menace is up near the Emitter on the rear of the saber.
And here is the single handed grip:
I think this saber does well with either grip, although I prefer it as a 1-hander personally.
VI - Blade ElectronicsI ordered the Tri-Cree Blazing Red and I'm going to say right off the bat - I'm disappointed with it. BUT - I would order it again, only not in Red.
I suspect Red, of the 5 colors it's offered in, makes the least improvement to the blade brightness largely due to it's unique wavelength properties and how the eye perceives them.
And I should have seen that one coming. Check out this picture:
I have this ambient lighting set up on the fireplace mantle of our Family Room; it's a reel of RGB LEDs.
When I have it set to White - it lights up the room.
When I have it set to Blue - it lights up the room.
When I have it set to Green - it lights up room.
When I have it set to Red - the room is pitch black with a red glow around the fireplace.
(The Lady Canterbury told me never to use Red again in there, because it makes the room like "The entrance to Hell".)
It's actually the color at the very end of the visible spectrum to the human eye, so in some ways - it's the "hardest to see". (The next color would be "infrared" - which we can't see, of course). Red light just always looks "dark" in a room to our eyes. I believe this may have something to do with the way Red Light stimulates the L-Cones in the eye, Science, Science and stuff. Probably too complicated for me to completely understand.
Notably, Pure Red Light is used in Darkrooms because that color has no effect on the photo-sensitive papers, again suggesting different properties than the other colors.
All that to basically say - I probably should have expected Red to not have that big of an improvement, but I would definitely try the Tri setup again in the other colors.
Based on wavelengths and current brightness of the single diodes - this is how I suspect the brightness improvements would rank:
5 - Red
4 - Green (already very bright)
3 - Blue
2 - Silver
1 - Orange (single diode relatively dim; should be helped by 3)
Here's a pic of the Menace itself lit up along with a pic of the Menace next to the Stunt Sentinel I got as a Grab Bag in Blazing Red; it's kind of tough to tell the difference.
Also - here's a pic of the new circular blade plug. It looks really cool - but - it does let more light though than the standard blade plug, which you can probably tell by the size of the lens flare.
VII - Obsidian LiteOK - on to the main event here, the newest feature released by UltraSabers - Obsidian Lite!
In short - I give this one an A+.
The sound quality to my ears is on par with v4. The interesting thing - I may be wrong about this, and you'll hear it a little bit in a video later on, but I think this may be a new version of the Obsidian font. It has a bit more of a guttural tone to it and the clashes seem a bit crisper (at least to my ears).
It's also much smaller than the vv3/v4 cards; check out this pic:
Now - I don't have any v2 Sabers, but I wonder if it's possible to use some cram-fu and get one of these guys in there.
Lastly, there this cool little feature: a micro toggle switch to the right of the AV switch that lets you instantly turn the sound on & off while in use!
Wait! That's not an option!
How did that get on there?!?!
Oh. Right . . .
VIII - Custom Speaker SwitchSo. Yeah. I just had to do this
I imagine that JediXIX is reading this right now,
dressed like Hugh Hefner, and
beaming from ear to ear with pride.
It was pretty simple. The doo-dad that was in there popped out rather easily, and installing the switch is explained in the link above to Jedi's post.
It
does get in the way a little bit, but I love it. I might eventually try to replace it with something a little more low profile, but I think it actually looks like it's part of the design when you see it in person in the context of the whole saber.
IX - ConclusionLet's run through it bullet-point style . . .
- The Menace CE is a must have hilt for any Star Wars fan
- The craftsmanship on this hilt is impeccable
- I'm definitely still interested in the Tri-Cree setup, but I can't recommend it for Red
- Definitley recommend getting the Obsidian Lite sound for those on a budget - but long term you'll need rechargeable batteries to make the investment worth it (or you'll spend more $ on batteries then just getting the v3 with a charger long term).
This is the real deal! Not a cheap knock-off like "Dennis"!
X - Your Turn!Just to make this thread a more complete, full spectrum source of information - I thought it would be great if you could all chime in to round the info out . . .
- Do you have a Menace Staff? How does it handle?
- Do you have Obsidian Lite? Is the font a little different from Obsidian Classic - or is it just me?
- How about the Tri-Cree setup in Silver or Orange?
- Anything else you want to add!
