Set Phasers to Stun

I've been wanting to get one of these for a little while now and if I was writing a review I would recommend getting one of these toys if you were into Star Trek. This is the Classic Phaser from Art Asylum. These guys are known for outstanding detail in their toys and it shows with this one. For example, every switch and button works on this thing, it's great, you can even set the phaser to overload like in the series and it will make the sound F/X and light up. This will come in handy if you want to sabotage an enemy vessel by setting it to overload and then tossing it into an exhaust port. I really would not suggest throwing this around, being made of plastic it might get damaged and it probably would not be good for the electronics.
What really makes this toy over the top is that it separates from the type two phaser into the much smaller type one phaser just like the show. Plus like the show the base of the type two will not function without the type one in place. Another great feature is that you can set the beam intensity and scroll through several different phaser settings each with a different sound F/X. Man what I would have given to have had one of these when I was a kid.

Before this little jewel there was a type two phaser made by Playmates Toys in the 90's. This phaser could not separate and only made a couple of sounds, but it was still a solid little toy that looked authentic enough. I have one of these as well and maybe in a future post I'll put up a little side by side shot.

Going even further back to when I was just a little "Trekkie" the only way to get a phaser that was close to the show was to build it yourself with one of the AMT Star Trek Explorer Set model kits that were out at the time. These could be found pretty much until the early 70's, I myself went through several of these kits as each of my previous ones would get damaged in some off planet adventure. One time a group of my buddies and myself decided it would be a great idea to go as Star Trek characters for Halloween. A buddy of mine called Bo Bo went as Kirk and another friend went as Spock (ears and all) and I was my favorite red shirt Scotty. We all went out and picked up the model kit, built our equipment, Moms were recruited for costumes, and we were off. The cool thing about these costumes were that you could go down to your local dime store and purchase an official Trek shirt in any one of the three colors, so it was just pants and boots that were needed after that.

Years later I found my shirt still in good order packed away and my son went as a red shirt for Halloween that year. True to form he had to have a phaser and communicator to go with it, but the models were no longer around and Playmates had not released their toys for the Classic series yet. So it was off to the garage to make some props from scratch. I cobbled a rough phaser and communicator together, slapped some paint on it and we were off to trick or treat. Maybe a Halloween Costume Party is in order this year, I doubt the shirt still fits me though. Well with that thought I'm off to drive my wife crazy and chase the bassets around the place. Beam me up Scotty!

Inflates

Here's a blast from the past. A catalog page from a little company called Play By Play full of Batman Goodness. These are actually product that I have worked on either laying out the graphics, coming up with the product pattern, or generating the concept artwork. The inflates were especially fun because I had to come up with shapes that could be translated into inflatable toys.

As you can see the Batmobile from the Batman the Animated Series didn't quite turn out like the one in the show. I was told this was as close as the vendor could get to the actual drawing. I think given the time and knowledge of inflate construction I could have got this one closer. Never the less I'm still happy with the results of most of the items. The Batman cowl was my all time favorite. I based it on an old Ideal toy from way back in the day, I believe the early sixties. I originally made this so my son could have a cool Batman mask to show off to his buddies. Most of the time I had my son in mind when I was designing new stuff, always a good inspiration. The cowl went through two prototype stages before we started producing them. The first prototype was constructed of white vinyl and could fit an adult sized head, I loved it and would wear it around the office doing my "I'm Batman" impersonation. I was outvoted and it was sized down for a child's average head size. Like kids are going to play with these things, huh. The Bat-a-rang and Grappling Hook were no brainers, I mean you have to have these to go along with the rest of the costume, right?


Besides inflates I was in charge of all things basketball for most of my time at Play By Play. The red and blue Batman basketball was actually the first time that a gradient was used on a basketball. Play By Play was at the top of it's game during this time and we made numerous advances in basketball artwork science. It was always great having product managers that would push the vendors to try and figure out how to make our designs work. The art department was very fortunate that we could try a few out of the box ideas and include them in the line. Not a big deal now, but for the time, we introduced glow in the dark basketballs, photos printed on basketballs, gradients, and designs that crossed the center lines, just to name a few. All these are common place now. Oh well, it wasn't rocket science, just art.

Spartans!

This past weekend we celebrated my birthday and while I don't usually single out one gift as being my favorite, because I appreciate all the gifts given to me, this one stands out. This is a graphic novel given to me by my son. He knows I'm a fan of Frank Miller's illustration and stories, plus he was there when I went on and on about the movie. The cool thing about this is that this is the first gift from him that he picked out and payed for himself, and if I say so myself he did a bang up job, not only is it a cool little book but a first edition at that! Wow, I'm getting older and he's growing up. You make me proud boy.

BTAS

One of my favorite cartoons of all time is Batman The Animated Series (BTAS for short). This cartoon had really great stylized artwork that has been compared, in style, to the old Max Fleiser Superman cartoon of the 30's. Bruce Timm was the madman behind this cartoon, as well as the newer Justice League Unlimited Series. If you're into Batman animation, then you probably know more than I would about Bruce and team and the great imagery that they have produced over the years.

What I bring to you today is a page from the BTAS style guide. If you have read past posts you would know that I'm sucker for these style guides and that the guides themselves are used by Licensees to produce everything from toys to household goodies. This page would be used to check your color usage and scale of the characters in relationship to each other. I happen to have the whole guide for this cartoon and I consider it among one of my favorite guides. This actual guide was used as reference for plush and inflatable development back in the late 90's. I had worked on a few BTAS products for a small amusement toy company around that time, and when the license was up they were going to through out the old guides and offered them to me instead. I will be bringing you some of those items that I had developed for the amusement industry in future posts so stay tuned.

PEZ Strikes Back!

The Stormtrooper of the week is from the Star Wars PEZ collection. He's your standard issue Imperial Stormtrooper with a twist, instead of having a blaster he's full of PEZ candy! These have been a round for a few years now, they would have been great having growing up. I do remember that Topps had a Stormtrooper Head full of candy. I would throw my paper route and stop mid way through at a little gas station that had sodas and candy and buy the latest sugary treats. I think they had Darth Vader, C3-P0, Chewbacca, and the Stormtrooper. Full of either sweet tart like candy or gum pellets. I used to think they were pretty cool and remember trying to get the whole set. If I'm not mistaken I think at about the time Empire Strikes Back hit theaters they even added a Boba Fett. Maybe I can find one of these to post (or at least a photo of one). I don't think I'll eat any candy from it though, probably wouldn't be a good idea.

If you like PEZ though, These little Imperial Troops will keep them organized and ready for any tasty mission.