Shon Whitney saw “Star Wars: A New Hope” 13 times in theaters when it came out in 1977.

Nearly 40 years later, he and two other American Fork men are transforming their love into custom lightsabers.

Whitney said the company, Kyberlight, is looking to make affordable and highly customizable lightsabers for fans like themselves.

”(The support) has really been amazing,” Whitney said. “One of the key things we wanted to was make great lightsabers for an affordable price … so all ‘Star Wars’ fans could own one.”

What makes Kyberlights special, he said, is the ability to customize each light saber rather than have to buy multiple light sabers.

The hilt comes with a variety of sleeves and pieces to easily transform from the light side to the dark side. The lightsaber’s LED technology also allows users to change between 20 different colors.

”We wanted to be the Legos of ‘Star Wars,'” Whitney said. “We wanted full customization.”

Whitney’s love of all things “Star Wars” started when he was 11 and saw the first movie in theater. The connection to the world it created was immediate, he said.

”It just really caught my imagination,” he said. “The effects, the story, all of it was just amazing.”

This love is one he passed on to his children, who were part of the inspiration for Kyberlight. He and his children had built their own lightsabers before deciding to buy a very expensive custom lightsaber. Jeff Johnson grew up having lightsaber battles with his brother and passed this love of “Star Wars” on to his sons.

Johnson said his sons have been incredibly excited for him and for the project.

”That might be the best thing,” he said. “I’ve got four very excited boys that can’t believe their dad makes lightsabers for a living.”

Eventually, Whitney partnered with some people he worked with, Jeff Johnson and Blake Heringer, to make a better custom lightsaber.

Kyberlight looks to deviate from other custom lightsaber makers by creating something that can actually be played with, Johnson said. All the lightsabers are backed with a lifetime guarantee.

”There’s a lot of great custom sabers that hone into the replica and storylines, which we respect,” he said. “We just want to give that and many more options, so that people can use the same custom saber and kind of make the perfect saber from one battle to the next.”

The lightsabers will be launched through Kickstarter before being available for purchase online. As of Tuesday night, the campaign had already gained more than $270,000 from 662 backers across the world.

Both Whitney and Johnson agreed the response far exceeded the $50,000 goal and the team’s expectations.

”We knew we had a quality product — from the design to the durability — and we felt like we were answering the questions and concerns people had with the market,” Johnson said. “We just assumed it would take time to establish ourselves.”

This is just the start for Kyberlight though, Johnson said. There will be more customization options rolling out over time.

”We want you to live your dreams,” he said.