Awesome Star Wars

After creating a magnetic version of Thor’s hammer, YouTuber Sufficiently Advanced made his own energy weapon. His take on the lightsaber uses a steady stream of methanol and acetone to create a fiery blade. In other words, it’s a blowtorch with a lightsaber hilt.

Practical effects wizard Joey Shanks shows us how to replicate the lightsaber effect seen in the first Star Wars movie not using digital trickery, but the same 3M Scotchlite reflection effect that Lucas and his team used back in 1977. The spinning blade trick was brilliant.

Bad Lip Reading jumps on the Star Wars bandwagon with not one, but three videos, one each for A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, turned into nonsense with the help of Bill Hader, Jack Black and Maya Rudolph. At least Han still shot first.

In tribute to the release of The Force Awakens, pop artist Red Hong Yi created a series of sculptures which look like disjointed, almost random objects, but when illuminated at just the right angle, they cast shadows of iconic images from the Star Wars universe.

We have two really big days to look forward to this month: Christmas, and The Force Awakens release day. To celebrate, Nerdist pitted the Kylo Ren and his crossblade lightsaber against Santa Claus and his candy cane light blade. Oh, and the baritone narrator? It’s Tay Zonday.

Jimmy Fallon enlisted the help of The Roots and the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens to each sing a part of John Williams’ Main Theme from Star Wars. And yes, Mark Hamill is nowhere to be found yet again.

Shawn “Obi-Shawn” Crosby visits children’s hospitals with fellow Star Wars cosplayers to cheer up patients. He bought a used Nissan 350Z and modified it using found items to give it a Star Wars theme. The flight sim joystick shifter is wicked. More on Hack A Day.

Jay Leno’s Garage talked to Hot Wheels’ designer and builder about the fully functioning life-size replica of the Darth Vader toy car. It’s amazing how Leno got through such a lengthy interview while barely knowing anything about Star Wars. Test drive at 17:13.

Saturday Night Live pokes fun at how many toys are marketed to kids but are actually bought by grown up toy collectors. Sorry kid, but Taran Killam’s married life is no joke. And bonus points for casting Andy Samberg Jr.

The Verge recounts every time the big fuzzball opened his mouth and roared in the Star Wars saga so far, as he paved the way for such later masters of vocal discourse as Hodor and Groot.

Star Wars: Battlefront is already a pretty game, but YouTuber jackfrags shows us a whole new world. He’s using the popular graphics tweaking tool SweetFX and what’s surely an insanely powerful PC. Available in 4K. User-made SweetFX presets here.

Player Piano presents a medley of three Star Wars tracks on wonderfully-themed pianos and stages. Sonya Belousova’s flamboyant, quantized and off-tempo style can be disconcerting, but overall it’s a well-done performance. Buy the sheet music here.

Dustin McLean of DIY Prop Shop shows us how we can make our own Star Wars’ Rebel pilot’s helmet without having to spend an arm and a leg. Sure, you could buy one that’s already made up, but where’s the fun in that?

While we might question the masks The Bottle Boys are wearing in their Star Wars music video, there’s no doubt about their musical talents, as they play a pitch-perfect remake of Cantina Band, originally played by Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes on Mos Eisley.

Musician Feanor X turns in an impressive performance of seven pieces from John Williams’ score from the Star Wars saga. While The Light of the Force features a great solo, there’s nothing more appropriate than a metal version of The Imperial March.

The Film Theorists points out potential clues that support a popular guess regarding Luke Skywalker’s allegiance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Did the hero of the original trilogy succumb to the dark side of the Force?

While they were waiting to kick off work on a new season of MST3K, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo needed jobs. Naturally, they auditioned for parts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Here’s some of their audition footage.

For their latest face-swapped music video, David Unger Music created a hilarious homage to everyone’s favorite Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, and set it to their track Tired of Waiting, which is how we all feel about The Force Awakens. Bend-3PO ftw!

Gizmodo and artist Scott Park tried to enumerate the vehicles from the original Star Wars trilogy according to their size. They made a couple of mistakes, but it’s still a good list. Scott sells prints of this compilation and more cool works on Society6.

Eclectic Method cut up numerous clips from the first six films of the Star Wars saga to retell the most pertinent plot points from the series, and to refresh our memories before The Force Awakens drops in a couple of weeks. And no, it doesn’t make the prequels any better.

The answer, of course, is no. But just so we can see what it’s like to think like an insane person, YouTuber Vincent H. Valentine made this video about Redditor Lumpawarroo’s infamous, tongue-in-cheek investigative report on the reviled Star Wars character.

While it’s not an exact facsimile of The Empire Strikes Back’s AT-AT, this flat-packed wooden creature is still pretty cool, and it’s got room and cutouts to keep cables organized, and can even hold your business cards in its head.

We already know what Darth Vader does in his spare time, and now we get a glimpse of some Imperial stormtroopers as they unwind from a long day on the Death Star. Seems like they’re far more skilled at riding longboards than they are with their blaster rifles.