The Washingrton Post
By Johnson Lai and Tassanee Vejpongsa | AP
TAIPEI, Taiwan — This is not your father’s lightsaber, Luke. This is not the
In this Dec. 14, 2015, photo, 32-year-old Tsai Jung-chou, also known as “Makoto Tsai”, poses with his handcrafted replicas of the Star Wars lightsaber at his home workshop in New Taipei City, Taiwan. A former optical engineer, Tsai now designs and fabricates his own versions of the iconic sci-fi weapon which he sells for up to $400 per model. (Wally Santana/Associated Press)
weapon of a Jedi Knight, but the handcrafted replica of a Taiwanese man who disliked the official “Star Wars” products, started making his own blades and now sells them for up to $400 each.
It’s a booming business for Tsai Jung-chou, enough for him to quit his optical engineering job three years ago and make models of the iconic sci-fi weapon full-time. He says his mailbox is flooded with orders from fans around the world.
The 32-year-old says his model, a metal hilt attached to a glowing polycarbonate tube, is the brightest and strongest on the market, strong enough to use in gentle duels. He even offers to replace or fix those that break in mock combat.
And while it won’t cut metal, his lightsaber certainly sounds like the real thing when it’s turned on, with a motion-sensor soundboard that generates the humming and buzzing heard in the movies. [FULL STORY]
