Scofflaw YouTuber and opportunistic hardware hacker Troopertrent has made his own gravity-defying spaceball. To be precise, he made a floating replica of the Jedi Training Remote from Star Wars, the one that fires laser bolts for Luke to intercept when first aboard the Millennium Falcon.
The model, as you can see in the screen-grab above*, is an almost perfect replica of the remote, although a little smaller, and a little less hostile. How is it done? Magnets. Troopertrent took one of those tacky floating-ball executive toys in which a globe is suspended, dangling free in a magnetic field. Taking care not to add too much weight, he grafted on various plastic nodules and nubbins, gave the thing a lick of paint and re-floated it.
As the esteemed tech writer and beloved internet personality Andy Ihnatko put it when he posted this on Twitter, "OK, somebody at Lucasfilm Licensing is DEFinitely getting fired for not thinking of this 1st," adding a heartfelt "wantwantwant", something with which I can only agree. So c'mon, Lucasfilm: you let the amazing Tauntaun sleeping bag come to life. Now do it with this amazing floating ball.
Real hovering Star Wars Jedi Lightsaber training remote [YouTube]
*I added the screen-grab as the video contains both Star Wars footage and a Beastie Boys track, and therefore may be pulled any minute.
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