Just four months after it was announced to fans, Factory Entertainment’s latest Star Trek: The Next Generation prop replica has arrived — bringing back the retro 1987-era styling of the original ‘dustbuster’ Type II Starfleet hand phaser.
With its curvy one-piece design and notable blue emitter, the ‘dustbuster’ phaser was nicknamed after the popular hand vacuum of the era, a radical departure from the ‘pistol’ phaser design used in the Original Series and subsequent Shatner-led Star Trek films.
After getting some time in the spotlight during episodes such as “The Arsenal of Freedom,” “Too Short a Season,” “Datalore,” and “Time Squared,” the ‘dustbuster’ phaser was retired at the end of Next Gen‘s second season, replaced by the more familiar ‘cobrahead’ style introduced in Season 3.
Factory Entertainment’s new replica is, surprisingly, the first licensed ‘dustbuster’ phaser replica ever available to fans since it debuted on The Next Generation; not even Playmates Toys — who seemingly offered every phaser around during the 1990s — tackled this one.
We thank Factory Entertainment for sending us a sample of their ‘dustbuster’ phaser replica to check out for this review.
Like the ‘cricket’ Next Gen phaser the company released last year, Factory Entertainment describes the ‘dustbuster’ replica design is as amalgam of “the best elements from all [production-built] variants in a single blended execution” — but unlike the Factory hypospray replica from last summer, the phaser doesn’t really feel even a tad undersized.
That said, the Factory Entertainment replica is no toy: weighing in at just over one pound (466g), this ‘dustbuster’ is cased in an all-metal body and features integrated lighting and sound controls. This thing is heavy — and feels great in the hand, thanks to its well-balanced heft.
The phaser is programmed with eight ‘power level’ settings which can be toggled through using the gold ‘Beam Width’ and ‘Beam Intensity’ buttons; each power level has its own slightly different audio and lighting effect depending on if you quickly press or hold down the silver trigger. With each activation, lighting inside the front barrel flashes red thanks to the internal LED, shining through the red plastic around the outside of the barrel as well as through the tip inside the blue front emitter section.
Holding down the two gold buttons together for a short period will activate the phaser’s overload setting — the power level indicator will climb through all eight levels in sequence, and then flash red as a loud discharge audio clip plays.
The only real complaint here is about the lighting used in the power indicator, which tends to bleed together into a big green bar as the intensity is raised — the original hero props (seen in close-up in “The Arsenal of Freedom”) had clearly-defined power level indicators which could be more accurately replicated.
In addition, in a dark room, it’s easy to see some light leaks around the widest part of the phaser when the power indicator is activated — something a little bit of additional shielding inside the device could have easily prevented.
The paint scheme could also use a slight bit of refinement; the Factory Entertainment edition is nicely colored, but it’s missing the traditional Next Gen ‘sparkle’ added to many of the Starfleet props used in the show. The blue on the emitter seems unusually bright compared to episodic screencaps, and the black paint around the red barrel is also underpainted — there’s much more red showing here than the various light-up props seen on screen in the early Next Generation episodes where this phaser was used.
Finally, there’s the price: the expensive nature of this replica will continue to put the ‘dustbuster’ phaser out of reach of many collectors.
While the cost is comparable to having a very nice replica commissioned from some of the top members of the Star Trek fan builder community — and perhaps even a better value, given its all-metal body — at $549 USD, it’s still beyond a luxury to many die-hards. (Thankfully, the company offers both installment and monthly payment plans to allow collectors additional time to cover the large purchase.)
If you can afford it, we’d definitely say that Factory Entertainment’s Star Trek: The Next Generation ‘dustbuster’ phaser prop replica is a can’t-miss piece that will find a great home in any collection — a total of 1500pc were produced, so in theory these won’t be around forever.
You can learn more about the prop replica, and purchase it for immediate fulfillment, at Factory Entertainment’s website.
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This content was originally published here.
