While Halo is a vast source for iconic weaponry, the distinctive Energy Sword is one of the most famous, and you can make its toy version even better.

An official prop sold by Mattel, this $60 (~R812) toy certainty looks the part. The people over at Adafruit, however, were not impressed with the paltry 11 LEDs it uses to achieve the energy effect, and they recently created a guide to make it better.

You can follow the video below, or their written tutorial, to see how it was upgraded with 43 NeoPixel LEDs per blade, resulting in 86 LEDs lighting up this project.



Since this is an Adafruit project, and most of the hardware used in the video is sold by the company, you may be worried about getting those components if you live outside of the US. Luckily for us over here in South Africa, Adafruit products are sold by the local company RS Components. If you do want to do this kind of mod, you don’t have to follow the video so closely with the same components, but having them doesn’t hurt.

The toy prop that forms the basis for this project is more difficult to acquire. In the video, and on Gamestop’s site, it states that it’s being sold exclusively through that US store, but we found it on Amazon too. It is more expensive on Amazon, and you’ll need to use a service such as Aramex to get it into the country, so keep that in mind before you make any purchases.

[Source – Adafruit Blog