Disney Imagineer wants his amazing retractable lightsaber to become a toy
by Sean Hollister from The Verge - All Posts on (#6R78W)
(C) Disney (C) & TM Lucasfilm Three years ago, Disney revealed the most convincing replica of a Star Wars lightsaber ever devised - one whose glowing blade fully and automatically retracts inside the handle due to a cleverly patented device.
Now, its lead inventor, Lanny Smoot, says he's hoping that lightsaber might turn into a product you can actually buy - and it sounds like plans could already be in motion, unless Smoot was misinformed.
At Disney's D23 fan expo last month, a fan asked that question with a camera rolling, as documented by YouTuber Finding The Force. Smoot replied:
I think the company would like to do that. And I think Josh D'Amaro, our number two guy, our head of Disney Parks, said it at a public - I hope - meeting of toy vendors to say, hey,...