Over the weekend, Saberforge owner, Phil Isherwood posted some very interesting photos on Facebook depicting upcoming additions to the company’s Adaptive Saber Parts (ASP) line. These coming parts add such things as curved hilt bodies and crystal chambers to ASP. They also bring additional canon and non-canon designs, like elements from Plo Koon’s lightsaber, bits to replicate Kyle Katarn’s saber from the Jedi Knight games, as well as from Jedi Academy. Really, it’s a fantastic lineup of new parts.
As great as the new parts look, there’s reason to temper the excitement somewhat. First, Phil has previously stated that ASP hasn’t been as profitable as the company had hoped and that they would likely scale back development of the line. This is obviously a departure from that strategy, but the inconsistency leaves me wondering whether the new parts will be available in any sort of real numbers. Anyone who has shopped at Saberforge recently knows fully well just how long things are taking to ship. Some parts from the current ASP selection have been sold out for months and even ready-made empty sabers, like the Bane Mk II, Heretic, and Ka’Tano I ordered back in November, are seriously behind (as in I still haven’t received them).
According to chatter inside custom saber Facebook groups, much of this delay has to do with recent layoffs at Saberforge. Over the past year or so, the Oregon-based saber company has split from well-known saber reviewers and builders like Daniel Lane, Jordan Moll, Shameem Moshrefzadeh, but the cuts also seem to have affected regular staff as well. It’s difficult to say what the reasoning behind the moves might have been, as custom sabers are as popular as ever.
Enough of the gossip, though. Check out the below photos of the new parts. See anything you absolutely have to build?
All images property of Saberforge