San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone. And with it a slew of new products from the good folks at Factory Entertainment! Sure, they had expensive starship models, impressive TNG replicas, and a little something called the First Contact Phaser Rifle that may or may not be getting made by them. But the one thing that caught my attention was my favorite Star Trek phaser of all time. The Star Trek V/VI Starfleet Assault Phaser!
To quickly sum up how I feel about this particular rendition, here is a review I did of the Master Replicas version they made back... wow. 14 years ago.
If you'd prefer to read about my thoughts on the MR rendition, here you go.While the overall build was good, there were definitely areas where corners were cut. The Type-1 Phaser was just a hollow piece of plastic with no detailing that sat cumbersomely on top of the phaser magazine (Which provided it light). But even with those shortcomings, I ended up returning the replica for one simple reason. I couldn't 'rapid fire' it. Let me explain. 'Rapid Fire' is when every time you pull the trigger it starts the sound effect, even if the current sound effect was still playing out. The way this phaser worked is that you had to wait for the firing sound to finish before you could fire it again. That was always a deal killer.
But now we have a newer rendition of the Phaser coming out by Factory Entertainment and it's being done by the same guy who worked on the Master Replicas version! In short, he also had some misgivings about the MR replica since he states that this was made before the company folded and he was given almost no budget to make a lot of it's features shine.
The phaser showcased on the floor, even though it's a 3D printed prototype, shows a lot of improvements.
But... will it feature Rapid Fire? That's the big one for me. The good news is that this seems to be very likely as all of the phasers and blasters I've owned from FE do have a rapid fire style system going on. Hopefully, this carries over to the phaser as well.
Videos of the phaser demonstration from the convention floor.
Assault Phaser @7:40
Assault Phaser @19:15
What do you think?
To quickly sum up how I feel about this particular rendition, here is a review I did of the Master Replicas version they made back... wow. 14 years ago.
If you'd prefer to read about my thoughts on the MR rendition, here you go.While the overall build was good, there were definitely areas where corners were cut. The Type-1 Phaser was just a hollow piece of plastic with no detailing that sat cumbersomely on top of the phaser magazine (Which provided it light). But even with those shortcomings, I ended up returning the replica for one simple reason. I couldn't 'rapid fire' it. Let me explain. 'Rapid Fire' is when every time you pull the trigger it starts the sound effect, even if the current sound effect was still playing out. The way this phaser worked is that you had to wait for the firing sound to finish before you could fire it again. That was always a deal killer.
But now we have a newer rendition of the Phaser coming out by Factory Entertainment and it's being done by the same guy who worked on the Master Replicas version! In short, he also had some misgivings about the MR replica since he states that this was made before the company folded and he was given almost no budget to make a lot of it's features shine.
The phaser showcased on the floor, even though it's a 3D printed prototype, shows a lot of improvements.
- 1. The Type-1 Phaser will be a fully functional piece with lights, sounds and different phaser settings. They've also added more detail such as an emitter!
- 2. The magazine mechanic has been reworked. For the MR version, the magazine had a light at the very top that was meant to shine light through the Type-1 phaser. This was very problematic since the Type-1 had to be fitted on top of the magazine while it was loaded, so whenever you took the magazine out, the Type-1 would become loose inside the phaser. For FE's phaser, the Type-1 no longer connects to the magazine and now firmly sits on a magnetized base that the magazine no longer protrudes through.
- 3. The opening front part of the phaser has been "reversed". If you watch my video, you'll note that when the tiny level is pressed, the top part of the phaser shoots out to reveal the Type-1 phaser compartment. I was always bummed out by this since it made replicating the "lock and load" mechanic as seen in Star Trek V difficult. While the mechanic is still technically there, the level now closes the phaser shut instead of sliding it open. While still not my preferred method, I have actually warmed up to this method since, well, it will look cool as heck loading in a magazine and priming the phaser with that lever.
But... will it feature Rapid Fire? That's the big one for me. The good news is that this seems to be very likely as all of the phasers and blasters I've owned from FE do have a rapid fire style system going on. Hopefully, this carries over to the phaser as well.
Videos of the phaser demonstration from the convention floor.
Assault Phaser @7:40
Assault Phaser @19:15
What do you think?
