For a Star Wars fan, the dream of owning a real lightsaber can never die. Although, the properties of the sci-fi plasma blade have always made it an impossibility when subjected to the laws of physics. Or so we thought.
Of course, diehard enthusiasts or collectors resort to using toy replicas. Some of them only have the hilt, while many also feature a blade made of plastic or glass that lights up. Alas, the experience hardly goes out of its way to suspend our disbelief. As such, a lot of fans have taken the matter into their own hands, many of whom create extraordinary models that get closer and closer to feeling and looking like the real thing with every iteration.
But it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that none of them have come as far as James Hobson has on his YouTube channel, the Hacksmith. In a new video, the backyard engineer, who’s risen to prominence over the last couple of years for his work on perfecting geek craft, creates the first real plasma lightsaber that’s also retractable, just like the ones we see in Star Wars.
Of course, and again going back to what we stated earlier, the laws of our reality are much different to what we see in the world of Star Wars. For one thing, the Jedi don’t have to carry a tank on their back to power their lightsabers. Rather, they use “kyber crystals” as a source of infinite power. Additionally, while that galaxy far, far away confirms that lightsabers are plasma blades, the intense laser lights in the real world plasma wouldn’t exactly clash with each other to simulate a sword fight. Although, the 4000° blade can cut through anything, so there’s that.
Maybe in the near future, we may even get closer to building a lightsaber just like the ones we see in Star Wars, but for now, this one will have to do.