At a late virtual press conference , Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro seemingly whipped out a retractable lightsaber . According to the great unwashed who wereactuallythere , this drama queen ended a presentation about reopening Disney Parks and upcoming attractions by lifting this lightsaber , turning it on , and aver , “ It ’s actual . ” pool cue to black .
No public pictures or telecasting of this “ real ” lightsaber exist , but eyewitness accounts say this thing is n’t a plastic tube that lights up . concord toSpectrum News 13 , it really light up up and rises forth from the hilt “ standardised to how lightsabers activate in the Star Wars picture . ” Meanwhile , Scott Towbridge , Portfolio Creative Executive for Walt Disney Imagineering , afterwards support onTwitterthat yes , it was in fact not a CGI effect but declined to partake in pictures . But how did they do it ?
It appear that most of the technical wizardry can be retrace back to a2018 patenttitled “ Sword equipment with retractable , internally crystallize vane . ” The abstract describes two “ long plastic semi - cylinders ” that are motorise to mimic the iconic retracting action at law of lightsabers . The ignition is done via a “ elastic striptease of light source . ”
Photo: Mark Ralston/AFP (Getty Images)
That might be laborious to visualise , but a much prosperous account comes from VR developer Ben Ridout onTwitter(via theVerge ) .
Did#Disneyinvent a real working#lightsaber ?
Yes they did .
It wo n’t disappear through metallic element blast doors , or cut off your mitt , but it does boast an lit steel that will extend and retract at the push of a push button .
This animation show the concept behind the tech.pic.twitter.com/e7fwP06CxF
— Ben Ridout ( @benridout)April 12 , 2021
So basically , it ’s two motorise magnetic tape step that wrap around each other , with a LED strip in the eye . To get that amply enclosed sabre feel , Disney has widened the tapeline measure - esque “ blade ” to produce a cylinder . Ridout also enunciate in the thread that the hilt view as three bobbin — two for the tape touchstone blades and one for the LED strip — along with a little motor , shelling , and other electronic constituent . And while Ridout ’s living is rather slow to better instance the mechanics , the patent state the lightsaber should be capable to extend to 24 inches in less than a second , at a diam between 0.5 - 2 inches .
Commence screaming . Every Star Wars lover has dreamed about the day when lightsabers toys / prop might more tight resemble their motion picture counterpart . There is no shortage of those moldable retractable 1 you find oneself at small fry ’s natal day party or fancy movie prop replicas . decent now , you’re able to make a custom lightsaber at the Galaxy ’s Edge musical theme park , but DIY nerds have been capable to buy kit , parts , and components from vendors likeUltraSabers , Saber Parts , andSaberForgefor ages . There are evenseveralcommunitiesof hobbyistswho actually drop good money and sentence building several impost and replica lightsabers . ( Yours truly may have lived for a clip with one such enthusiast who on a regular basis put in lightsaber components in the fridge and built their own custom lightsaber out of Home Depot parts “ just to see if they could . ” They could . )
We ’ve no idea when these might be available to corrupt but the whole dramatic reveal does heavily imply you might be able to get them in the futurity at a Galaxy ’s Edge Park . We also do n’t know how well these retractable babies will carry up for very serious lightsaber duel that many of us will perfectly “ not ” be doing in our backyards while no one is look . ( If they do n’t make noises on shock , is it really a ‘ real ’ lightsaber ? )
That state , we all know this is n’t a “ material ” lightsaber . This thing wo n’t in reality be able to chop up off the hands of enemies ( or perhaps a wayward next son ) . It will be a toy dog that fills the lacuna of a corporation that feeds off childhood nostalgia , a powerful newbie to the merchandising machine . in person , I do n’t really care , Disney can shut out up and take my money .
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