Tinplate6 Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 About 15 years or so ago, I happened to be on the internet, browsing with my new iMac Blueberry terminal, at a blazing 333MHZ! :lol: Anyway, I stumbled across the Toy Ray Gun website, and was immediately thunderstruck by the seemingly endless variety and colorful designs of these toy space guns. I eventually struck up an online friendship with Gene Metcalf, and began collecting. At the time, he had a section on the site called "ray gun talk", much like what we now call Alphadrome. After researching the many photos of guns produced over the years, I decided that I would photoshop my own concept of the perfect ray gun. So, I cobbled together the picture you now know as my avatar...the Neutron Ray. Over the years, I had forgotten about the post I had made then. Several months ago, I was scouring the ether, searching for photos of ray guns :unsure: , and I spotted one that looked very familiar...too familiar :huh: , it was my fantasy space pistol, and it was being used by a blog site called "The Freeman". The image was being used to illustrate a proposed crowd control weapon "The Pain Ray"...not very complimentary, I must say -_- . As time went on, I was again on eBay, searching for guns, and came across a piece of art made by a fellow named Verbek, who created works from glass powders and beads, which when heated under high temperatures would fuse into a "glass painting". The topic of this Sci-Fi masterpiece again looked familiar...yup, my gun :rolleyes: . I bid on the piece and won it, but when I mentioned that he had perhaps borrowed this from my original concept, he denied it. Dunno, it looks a bit too close to be coincidence. :blink: Three days ago, I was looking for something to use as wallpaper for my desktop, and came across this great painting done by an artist named Adam Simpson. The work "Ray Guns-2009" shows several examples of well-known toy guns realized in various colors, a really cool illustration. However, upon examining the work closer, I noticed one gun, that was never put into production...I'm sure you already guessed which one. After retrieving the wallpaper, I was just about to log off, when I spied another familiar form, a watercolor sketch by an artist named Jez Whitworth . Hmmm...? :mellow: yup, so, I guess I should feel honored that all these folks liked my gun well enough to use it as their muse, as for me, well I'm just a-mused. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyman Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 It cracks me up that they think it's a real toy ray gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrogonza Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 very interesting story ! will be nice to tell all these guys the real story, , Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve's Bots and Rays Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Quite the story Brady. Not quite the Six Degrees of 'Neutron Ray' ...but close! It'd be nice to have a real one of those. -Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimK Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 It cracks me up that they think it's a real toy ray gun. It is a real toy ray gun Andy. I have seen one up close and personal. :P JimK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyman Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 It is a real toy ray gun Andy. I have seen one up close and personal. :P JimK True that. Maybe I should have said a real "production" toy ray gun. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinplate6 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 Indeed gentlemen, through the generosity of a fellow Alphadromer, I have obtained the only example of the prototype known to exist! :blink: Here is a picture of the cool retro box art. The gun itself is beautiful and came in a fitted box. The piece has some heft to it, and would definitely deter any alien regardless of which galaxy it came from! ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyman Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 This just got me thinking...as many robots, saucers and ray guns I have out there, I can't believe I haven't seen any on ebay or any of my photos taken for other purposes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinplate6 Posted August 4, 2017 Author Share Posted August 4, 2017 Well, now I know I'm a famous artist...my ray gun design has finally appeared on a nationally televised TV show! I was watching Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman; season 6; episode 5 - Are Aliens Inside us?. Halfway through the show, an animated segment appeared with a very familiar element incorporated into the scene. Now, it's not the entire gun, but it's more than enough to identify it as my artwork. You decide... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 That's cool Brady; I certainly would have recognized your work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinplate6 Posted August 4, 2017 Author Share Posted August 4, 2017 Thanks Bill. I thought the original article I wrote for Gene Metcalf was lost to history, but I found it on the internet... http://www.toyraygun.com/brady.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinplate6 Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 Man, those royalty checks sure do take a long time to arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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