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Handmade Steampunk Rayguns From the F/X Guys at Weta
An anonymous reader writes "Wired is presenting a gallery of artwork that inspired Weta's collectible rayguns, plus exclusive photos of the retrofurist sidearms. The article offers more than just images; each weapon has a description of where they were inspired from, as well as possible uses. 'In this illustration by Greg Broadmore, a hunter poses with his latest kill and his elegant retrofurist rifle ... "I started drawing these things just for fun," says Broadmore. "I did dozens of designs, all really stylized and Flash Gordon looking. I remember those black and white serials playing on TV as a kid and the imagery always stuck with me. Really hokey, but really scary and weird at the same time. And, of course, if you're a fan of classic rayguns you'll see the influence of the old toy rayguns. The Buck Rogers disintegrator pistol -- of course directly referenced in Han Solo's blaster in Star Wars -- is iconic, and that original raygun, along with many others, inspired me massively.'"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazy_Gun
Along with a few work colleagues I met Richard Taylor here in New Zealand a year or so back after he'd just returned from the Academy Awards in LA. He showed us a metal carry case which contained a couple of these guns and mentioned in passing that he'd carried them with him on the flight home. I had mental pictures of the ATS guy sitting behind the LAX baggage scanner going through a "it's a gun, no wait, it's not a gun..." endless loop.
Other people just have fonds memories of old, trashy sci-fi movies or the Fallout games...these cater to that crowd. Me, for example.
The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before. - Neil Gaiman
Did an entire generation of people fail to learn basic words like 'archaic' and 'anachronistic' in high school? Maybe 'mechanical' was also missing from the vocabulary list.
Well, steampunk is easier to write than "An archaic Victorian-era style mechanical device, with obviously modern/post-Victorian elements such as computers/lasers/etc"
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
I'm building a Van de Graaff generator from which I'ma try accelereating an electron beam, or bolt. It won't of course be portable, but it would be fun if I could fling plasma a meter or so away from the VDG gen. With some metal sheets I could build a rather large air-gap capacitator that I could first charge with the VDG and then tap to a coil to pull the free electrons from the VDG.
:D
Okay, maybe a bit sci-fi, but I'm having fun building the VDG regardless.
All rites reversed 2010
These specifically reference a subgenre that never concerned itself with realism.
Realism or at least practicality in sci fi has it's place, but this is not it.
But weapons exist for one reason, to make it easier to project force.
And were science-fiction movies documentaries, you'd have a point. But they're not. They're entertainment, and I'm entertained by fancy weapons, loud explosions in space, and planetary princesses whose costumes are held up solely by centrifugal force.
It was a tool used by bad writers and bad producers who didn't have content that was distinctive enough, so had to be distinctive with bling.
"Content?" "Content" is for websites. Movies are a visual medium, and the art direction and photography can be at least as important to the movie as the script, if the director says so. If you don't want the creator mucking up the plot with sounds and visuals, read a novel. Just stay away from E.R. Burroughs, and other classic authors of the genre.
I see a bunch of catering to the lowest-common-denominator intelligence
For the record, I'm smarter than you. And I say, "Bring on the Laser Beams!"
I don't agree with you. All auxilery modular options an an 'mech' with extensions make it look kooler.
l &q=mech
http://images.google.nl/images?svnum=10&um=1&hl=n
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
Sorry, but I find those toys far less impressive than these: http://www.glbarnes.com/
These are some of the most steampunk-ish actual working devices I've seen. Some are fancier than others, with the more ornate models looking like they came right out of Myst. They aren't movie or vidgame props, they are some of the most powerful and accurate (and expensive) air rifles in the world -- and all hand-made by Gary Barnes himself. Although not technically (or legally, in the USA) considered to be firearms, these air rifles have been used successfully for hunting deer, wild hogs, and in at least one case a buffalo.
Well, surely not every part on an ordinary firearm was designed with pure functionality in mind. I am thinking of the "bling" on old revolvers. Pearl handles, patterns on the side and such.
So the Bling on a ray-gun might be a little over the top in our eyes, perhaps they are nothing more than a simple bit of decoration, or (you never know) it might actually have function. No-one can tell wether they are useless twisty spiky, doo-dadly junk that are stuck to the side, or functional elements. That's fiction for you.
B.
Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
Considering you're the only one who has ever been annoyed by having a concise, unique word to describe something...
I'm thinking it's you.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
This article's been out for five hours and NOT ONE /.ER HAS USED THE WORD "PHASER".
(Well, until now.)
Are all the trekkies getting hammered and watching Boston Legal these days?
Here is somebody who builds rayguns out of scrap. Perhaps these are more to your liking. I believe one of them is a functioning pea-shotter!
http://claytonbailey.com/galleryrayguns.htm
Makezine published an nice article about these some time ago.
There's an awesome aspect in steampunk culture that is concerned with practicality as well, though...google 'steampunk keyboard' to see what I mean. IANASP, but the element of the steampunk aesthetic that really impresses me is the imagining of real-world devices with a late nineteenth century twist.
.45. ;)
I agree with parent...these don't look practical at all; any self-respecting steampunk warrior would be better off with a trusty
These rayguns are fantastic pieces of art, of a kind you rarely see. I saw them at the Weta stand at an expo in Wellington - they were only on display then, not for sale - and they really look like the business as imagined by 1950's science fiction. They seem a little used, covered in mysterious spikes and weird tubes. And it's real glass and metal, as far as I can tell, hand-welded etc. Theres a good sense of humour in the marketing too.
Pretty amazing to see so many cynics completely miss the point on Slashdot. This is one thing I thought most geeks would be right into. Humorous yet artistic rayguns!
For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Arthur C. Clarke
This is exactly why Han Solo's gun was based on
an old "broom handle" Mauser.