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Mikko Kuusirati




Location: Finland
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PostPosted: Sat 09 Jun, 2007 2:52 am    Post subject: Dr. Grordbort's Infallible Aether Oscillators!         Reply with quote

You know what I love? I mean, besides swords?

Rayguns!

Marvellous, beautiful, solid steel steampunk rayguns made in limited editions by the Weta Workshop, the guys responsible, among other things, for all those lovable spiders, scorpions, leeches and other creepy crawlies in Peter Jackson's King Kong. Obviously inspired by such classic designs as the Hubley Manufacturing Company's legendary Atomic Disintegrator (well, it is legendary among people interested in toy rayguns), these are real works of art in their own right, as well as enchanting embodiments of and loving tributes to a wonderful vintage aesthetic. My inner child is going all hoppity-skip! (While my inner adult grimaces at the price tags...)

Don't miss the Archive of Phosphorescent Etchings or the Testimonials by "Notable Gits and Buffoons"!

They're not swords, granted, but I just can't help imagining myself with Albion's Lady Vivamus in one hand and a Manmelter 3600ZX in the other, and grinning like a loon. Big Grin

"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum
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Jean Thibodeau




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PostPosted: Sat 09 Jun, 2007 3:35 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Ah, RAYGUNS Eek! Cool My 1950's early childhood passions are all coming back to me. Wink

Maybe way way off topic but then the aesthetics involved remind me of the sculptural nature of firearms. Many of the very earliest semi-auto pistols have that " steam-engine " or heavy duty " SOLID " machined feel to them.

Well, George Lucas used the Mauser broomhandle pistol, the MG42 and the Sterling submachine gun for the Starwars movies as the base for the "rayguns " used by the characters. Minimally in space gun " drag " ( cheesy gismos to change their look a bit ).

Anyway, just giving Mikko's Topic a little support in case it seemed TOO off topic. Wink Cool

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Mikko Kuusirati




Location: Finland
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PostPosted: Sat 09 Jun, 2007 4:50 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Yeah, a lot of early repeaters have that steampunk-esque quality to them, like the Volcanic lever-action pistol, or the LeMat shotgun-revolver... no wonder, either - after all, they were invented and produced in the historical era that inspired steampunk and much of early sci-fi. Of course, weird new-fangled firearms are still used as sciffy props in movies (like the slightly modified Calico M950 in I Come in Peace), so that's really nothing unique. Happy

But really, for the dashing interplanetary swashbuckler a raygun's the way to go. With one of those babies at your side complementing your saber or Martian longsword (also essential, natch!) you're fully equipped to face anything, anywhere, from Barsoom to Mongo and beyond. Big Grin

"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum
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Jean Thibodeau




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PostPosted: Sat 09 Jun, 2007 6:05 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Yup, a good raygun, a personal forcefield emitter and maybe my own personal starship ...... Wink Laughing Out Loud

The communicator I have already and it's called a cell phone: One out of 4 is better than nothing.

Really love those rayguns you linked to. Cool

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Chad Arnow
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PostPosted: Sat 09 Jun, 2007 7:33 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

This is way off-topic, guys.
Happy

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Mikko Kuusirati




Location: Finland
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Reading list: 13 books

Posts: 1,084

PostPosted: Sat 09 Jun, 2007 11:57 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Chad Arnow wrote:
This is way off-topic, guys.

Yes, I know... My apologies if it's too far off.

The thing is, to me there's sort of an inherent connection between swords and, well, not to put too fine a point on it, rayguns. Not only are they currently in the same approximate category practicality-wise, but I learnt to love them at the same time and the same places. Glory Road, E. R. Burroughs's planetary fantasies, 2000AD, Metal Hurlant and a bunch of other eurocomics, all that classic '50s, '60s, '70s sci-fi and sci-fantasy. John Carter, Flash Gordon, Luther Arkwright and all their ilk. Not to mention He-Man and the Masters of the Universe...

Basically, swords and rayguns are two faces of the same coin, to me. It's just a difference of genre (fantasy vs. sci-fi) or timeframe (history vs. future).

Naturally, there's the difference that history is rather more conducive to scholarly research...

But I'm sorry if this is too irrelevant, even in the off-topic forum, as it may be - I'll plead temporary involuntary lapse of judgement, being totally thrilled about these things. Happy

"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum
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Sean Belair
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PostPosted: Sat 09 Jun, 2007 5:40 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

that is so cool in so many ways. thanks for the link Laughing Out Loud
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Jean Thibodeau




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PostPosted: Sat 09 Jun, 2007 9:05 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Chad: Yup, I had the feeling the subject was way TOO off topic but I couldn't resist giving Mikko a little moral support here as the subject of " raygun " had a big influence on my love of the real stuff when I was a kid. ( well still a kid maybe Blush Laughing Out Loud )
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Mikko Kuusirati




Location: Finland
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PostPosted: Sun 10 Jun, 2007 1:09 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Jean Thibodeau wrote:
Chad: Yup, I had the feeling the subject was way TOO off topic but I couldn't resist giving Mikko a little moral support here as the subject of " raygun " had a big influence on my love of the real stuff when I was a kid. ( well still a kid maybe Blush Laughing Out Loud )

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." (C. S. Lewis)

And thanks for the moral support. Happy

"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum
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Ed Toton




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PostPosted: Sun 10 Jun, 2007 4:52 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Personally, I think fictional weapons should be fine as an "off-topic" topic... heh. Happy

I saw a posting about these rayguns somewhere else recently. I love the antique rusty finish they've put on these. I've never been a huge steampunk aficionado specifically, but these look quite nice.

I have somewhat gotten myself addicted to lightsabers though, on the other hand. Happy

-Ed T. Toton III
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Michal Plezia
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PostPosted: Sun 10 Jun, 2007 5:15 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Great stuff...I'll never have enough money to buy all cool items..and it is the best thing in life!There is always something to desire..to think of:) Nothing worse can happen to a man than having too much money to spend. Wink

And I agree with C.S. Lewis . Cool

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it that is the only truth.
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Chad Arnow
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PostPosted: Sun 10 Jun, 2007 7:05 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Ed Toton wrote:
Personally, I think fictional weapons should be fine as an "off-topic" topic... heh. Happy



The description of this forum is "Discussions of general history and other miscellaneous topics relating to arms and armour that do not specifically fit our other forums." Even the OT stuff is supposed to be related to historic arms & armour. Happy Our off-topic forum is not the free-for-all seen on other sites.

I'm obviously not bothered by this thread enough to take it down, and I think the craftmanship of these "weapons' is pretty fantastic. However, we're not going to publish Spotlight: The 26th Century Raygun anytime soon.... Happy

Happy

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Mikko Kuusirati




Location: Finland
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PostPosted: Sun 10 Jun, 2007 7:25 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Chad Arnow wrote:
I'm obviously not bothered by this thread enough to take it down, and I think the craftmanship of these "weapons' is pretty fantastic.

Thank you. And, may I say, a particularily apt choice of words - "fantastic" is exactly what they are, in every sense of the word...

I would love to know just how they do the finish, especially the finer detail, but am somewhat pessimistically certain the answer involves painstaking handiwork rather than an easy, cheap and brilliant-in-its-simplicity corrosive treatment. Happy

Quote:
However, we're not going to publish Spotlight: The 26th Century Raygun anytime soon.... Happy

Oh, well. I'll check again in five hundred years. Big Grin

"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum
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