DIY Your Own Tri-Blade ‘Force Awakens’ Light Saber

Yahoo Makers
Updated
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(Wicked Lasers)

The next Star Wars movie doesn’t come out until next December, but a company called Wicked Lasers will help you DIY your own sinister “crossguard lightsaber” seen in the teaser trailer.

“In tribute to our customers and fans, the 3D-printing file for this Crossguard design is available to the public for download and printing on their 3D printer, should you feel the calling,” the company says on its website. They sensibly add, “May the Force be with you.”

You will need the Force and more if you choose do build one. It uses a $300 Spyder III Inferno laser, which the company bills as the “world’s most powerful handheld red laser.” Once you build the custom enclosure, a mirror will split the beam to create the crossguard effect.

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(Wicked Lasers)

Is it a good idea to create a toy with three real, high-intensity red laser beams shining out? Clearly not. (Gizmodo rightly calls it the “best worst idea” for Star Wars fans.)

And of course a real laser won’t actually create a thick blade of pure plasma that extends a few feet and stops.  But it will make the folks who buy an officially licensed toy jealous, and it’ll put the rebel scum in their place at the next Comic-Con.

An unknown villain wields the weapon while staggering through a wintery forest at the end of short teaser clip. It has one long laser blade, like the lightsabers used by Luke, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Darth Vader. But then two small blades sputter out of the hilt, presumably to protect your hand from getting chopped off.

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(Crossguard lightsaber in the teaser trailer. (The CGI, not DIY version.) Credit: Disney)

Like just about everything in the Star Wars universe (hello Ewoks, nice to see you as always, Jar-Jar), the lightsaber’s peculiar design is polarizing fans and prompting heated debate. (It’s as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in snarky message boards.)  Does a Sith lord really need a cross guard? Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and Darth Maul got by pretty well (for a while at least) without one.

We’ll presumably find out in about 12 months when “The Force Awakens” hit theaters.

That gives you plenty of time to work on building your own BB-8 ball droid.