I feel like I should have run into discussion of this before, but I don’t recall seeing it. Apologies if asking about this in 2017 is just flogging a dead horse.

Here’s Luke being full of surprises in the Special Collection Laserdisc and Despecialized Blu-Ray:

And here’s the GOUT:

The core of Luke’s saber is much more thick and solid, and the glow around Vader’s has a sharp edge instead of a smooth fade.

Laserdisc and Blu-Ray:

Smeary GOUT:

Again, Luke’s saber is beefier, and Vader’s has a sharper glow (although with a tighter radius in this shot). You can also see that the glow on Luke’s saber has been tidied up for the Blu-Ray; it’s big and cloudy in the other two transfers, but in that one, it matches Vader’s.

What’s going on here? It doesn’t seem like whatever filtering the GOUT went through would have done this stuff on its own without seriously altering the rest of the picture.