How Star Wars walked away from the world’s first self-retracting lightsaber toy

It would have been a Star Wars product — but Hasbro whiffed.

By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

Hasbro turned down the holy grail of lightsaber toys, and it won’t say why.

The Star Wars toymaker spent two years secretly working on a kids lightsaber that can automatically extend and retract its blade — the very first of its kind. Hasbro acquired all rights to the idea from a previously unknown Israeli inventor and patented it around the world.

But instead of finishing the product, Hasbro

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