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In the world of fictional weapons, the lightsaber stands among the most iconic and recognizable of all time. Even if you’re not a Star Wars fan, chances are you’ve picked up a stick or a wrapping paper tube and waved it around, making the vroom crish vroom sounds as we swing it through the air. Which is about as close as most of us will ever get to holding a real lightsaber, though fans attending New York Comic Con 2025 can get their hands on the next best thing by visiting the Vader’s Vault booth on the show floor.

Located at Booth # 3273 at NYCC 2025, Vader’s Vault has been crafting custom lightsabers for nearly 20 years and has earned a reputation for creating lightsabers that are as close to the real thing as you can get without traveling to a galaxy far, far away. Despite their success, they remain a family-focused small business with a simple motto – “Quality without compromise”.

Originals and Innovators

I sat down to talk with Alan and Deanna from Vader’s Vault a few weeks before we were all set to make our way to New York Comic Con. The conversation covered everything from the business’s origins to how they’ve always been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to replica lightsabers. Many of the changes in lightsaber technology (what a phrase to get to use) came from Vader’s Vault’s quest to create the best replica they possibly could.

“We were the ones who commercialized most of what you see,” Deanna tells Popverse. “Vader’s Vault, along with a small group of like minded peers, is responsible for developing most of the technology that exists in lightsabers today.” 

They were the first people to offer a purple lightsaber that didn’t sacrifice brightness for the unique color; not because they found LEDs that could create purple lights, but because they took the time to figure out the technology needed to “mix purple,” as they called it. Today achieving multiple colors is made easier due to advances in the soundboard technology and even bluetooth apps.

Other innovations, such as incorporating the NeoPixel technology into the lightsaber blade and standardizing the connection system, have come from the Vader’s Vault shop. “Along with our friends at Evolution Arms and Slothfurnace we all worked hard to develop a system that would be standardized for the entire industry, even our competition” says Alan. “We cornered the market for a long time because, honestly, our competition didn’t have the electronic wherewithal to be able to do that,” Deanna explains. “They weren’t doing it themselves. They were sellers, not electronics people… We were doing R&D. We were building these things.” 

“That is three-quarters of the fun, [asking] how can we improve this? How can we make this better? What can we do next?” Deanna says. And they’re still trying to push the hobby forward. “We still do R&D, and that’s why we make no money because R&D is expensive.”

“We’re fans building for fans,” Alan tells us. “Because we’re building for ourselves. We’re not doing it for the money.”

Real fans, for fans and pros

That is a lot of work to put into a product that, by their own admission, has very small profit margins. Both Alan and Deanna left jobs that provided more financial stability – Deanna was in real estate and Alan was in sales – to make lightsabers because they are passionate about Star Wars and its impact on their childhood and early lives. “It lets us recreate that feeling that Star Wars gave us and share it with others like us”  says Alan, and because it lets them spend more time with their seven kids, several of whom have helped in the business.

"One of our eldest sons was pretty pivotal for us,” Alan says. “One of our daughters is our lead electronics person, so she does all the soldering and module making.” 

One of their younger sons helps at their booths and runs a side business focused on D&D, making this very much a family experience. 

And that passion has helped get the attention of people at Lucasfilm. 

“Lucasfilm uses [our connector design] now,” Deanna explains. “Everything I want to say from [The Rise of Skywalker] forward, they film with NeoPixel now.”

“We got a call a couple of years ago,” Deanna adds. “’Your saber’s in the back of Dave Filoni’s car!’” 

Other fans who have a Vader’s Vault lightsaber include Ray Park, Adam Savage and Sam Witwer, who has a custom Starkiller lightsaber from The Force Unleashed that Vader's Vault was commissioned to make.

Quality without compromise

A big focus of Vader’s Vault is on quality control, making sure that every saber works as intended and is durable enough to be taken anywhere. That includes a trip around the convention floor, or even used in actual duels. They were founding sponsors of both Saber Legion and The Saber Guild. Their sabers are built for combat.  

“We’ve gone out of our way to engineer things in such a way that it’s very difficult [to break our sabers]. Under normal use, you will not break one of our sabers, even going with pretty spirited duelling,” Deanna explains.

The reason for that focus relates to the idea that they never really know where their lightsabers will end up. “Our mantra is quality without compromise,” Deanna says. “From the very beginning, we always knew our sabers could be anywhere, and owned by anyone. One might even end up on the desk of George Lucas. You just never know.” 

When they build a custom lightsaber, the message is very clear. 

“We need to build every single saber like it's gonna be on George Lucas’ desk. And to my [Quality Control] person, do not let it go out the door if we wouldn’t be proud to see that on George Lucas’ desk.”

Vader’s Vault at NYCC

For Vader’s Vault, the biggest show of the year is New York Comic Con, where fans can get their hands on their own unique lightsabers. Not only does Vader’s Vault do lightsabers from the Star Wars universe, but they also do a collection of one-off crossover sabers inspired by other fandoms. While they wouldn’t tell me exactly which ones would be at NYCC this year, they did give me a few hints.

Starting on Thursday at NYCC, fans might see lightsabers inspired by The Lord of the Rings, Fallout, Arcane and other media, though the one that has me most intrigued is their stained glass series of lightsabers, a unique artistic technique found on some of their very special customs. Past pieces have even evoked the images of Disney princesses. Exactly which ones will be at the show is a strict secret until their official unveiling on the show floor.

And if you do happen to buy one at the show, you can be assured that you can take it on the plane home. “The TSA, thanks to Disney, has a whole giant page on lightsabers specifically,” Alan told me. “They literally do not care anymore.” So long as you put the hilt, with its lithium-ion battery, in your carry-on, they will wave you straight through security. Which is good to know for those of us who are planning to go to New York Comic Con this year.

Vader’s Vault didn’t invent the replica lightsabers, but many of the innovations that fans have seen in the hobby have come from their workshop in Georgia. They’ve pushed the envelope on technology, incorporating more complicated LEDs, higher quality batteries, and more sophisticated soundboards without sacrificing the subtle weight and feel of holding a lightsaber in your hand. It is an elegant weapon for a more civilized age, after all, and the Vader’s Vault philosophy of "quality without compromise" ensures that it always will be.

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