Shorty Assassin Phaser Mk.1 by TFP (WIP Collage)

The propmaking staff at Triple-Fiction Productions often have a lot to do, so it is my general policy as a collaborator and "idea man" to always give them at least one and a half to two months to work out and construct any project for me.  It was especially tough with this particular one because instead of just dealing with one project, I had Casey's team working on at least four: two "Enterprise-B" Communicator variants and two "Shorty" Assassin Phaser Carbines, each of which would ultimately wind up being distinct from the other.  Furthermore, these weren't items that they already knew how to build but new developments; it may have seemed simple toying with some line art and resizing a picture on my computer screen, but when it came to transforming that altered image into reality, TFP had to literally develop a new prop from the ground up.

As a result, there are quite a few differences between the "Shorty" Assassin Phaser Carbine and my full-scale ST:VI Assassin Phaser Rifle (Prototype).  Among other things, the Carbine is actually a good bit heavier.  The Muzzle Brake was shortened, made more angular, and re-shaped, but it has also become thicker, bulkier, and a good bit more massive.  It was definitely intriguing to think that this prop, which is only about 70-75% the length of the original and is consequently easier to maneuver around in tight quarters, has significantly more weight and puts more strain on my arm when I try to wield it one-handed.  I'm not necessarily saying that this is entirely a bad thing, of course; this is actually a bit more realistic.  The longer, full-scale prop is quite light, and the heavier "Shorty" has a weight that feels more appropriate for what a metal weapon with beam-generating hardware would be expected to feel like.

Unlike the full-scale prop, the "Shorty" does not have a rubbery emitter tip attached to the the Muzzle Brake.  Although the emitter tip helped mark off the "business end" of the larger prop whenever I would pose with it in photos, it was also fragile.  When I first got the full-scale prop, the two-piece emitter tip had already snapped in half.  The outermost portion had come off - I think that whatever this thing was made from didn't take very well to the adhesive that TFP was using.  I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion, a 48-hour waterproof fabric glue I previously bought to work on my TWOK Landing Party Vest, to reattach the tip and it's survived so far, but I decided not to incorporate the feature onto the "Shorty" carbine.  I also told TFP not to include it on any future full-scale rifles as well, because the feature is not accurate to the original rejected Assassin Phaser Rifle prop, which didn't have a tip to the emitter.

Besides the lack of an emitter tip, the details of the Muzzle Brake - even its overall shape - have been significantly altered.  A decal representing the stamped "ID Plate" of the canonical ST:V/VI Assault Phaser pistol was added to the bottom to replace the felt pad that the full-scale prop had, and all of the shapes were made smaller, simpler, more sharply angled and bulkier.  The long ovoid portion toward the front of the Muzzle Brake of the full-scale prop was shortened into a very small, ribbed "clip"-like section and positioned further toward the front of the attachment, while the details toward the rear of the original prop's muzzle brake were compressed and redesigned into three main sections, the middle one of which had a long horizontal groove running through it.  The raised "tab" on the top of the full-scale rifle's Muzzle Brake was then angled downward and extended to form a "ridge" and the angled portion on the bottom was compressed and shortened.  It can be seen that this wasn't just a re-proportioning: Casey and the TFP staff desgined a totally new Muzzle Brake altogether.

The "indicator light" on the back of the Pistol section was enlarged, made more angled, but otherwise kept in more-or-less the same spot.  A new belt clip reminiscent of the one used on my M2287-A1 "Copperhead Special" Assault Phaser pistol variant was added to the top of the rear of the pistol assembly and secured with two screws, an improvement that stabilized the clip and made sure it wouldn't spin around and around when I had the prop worn on my belt.  The overall shape of the pistol assembly has been made straighter and better-defined than the version used on the full-scale Assassin Phaser Rifle prop, and decals were used to represent the glowing red "vents" on the weapon's prefire chamber instead of ovoid felt pads.  The "Copperhead" paint scheme was very slightly altered by having the trigger and the "slide" portion take on a darker shade of Charcoal Grey while the raised sections of the handle were paitned flat black, further "differentiating" the frame of the pistol from the slide as well as from the base on the prop, which retained its rich, glittery, warm Metallic Copper tone.  The "trigger" shape is different; it is still in two sections as it was on the full-scale Assassin Phaser Rifle, but the two sections are straight and close to the same size, whereas on the full-scale prop, the innermost section was significantly larger and actually curled around the outermost section.

Meanwhile, the "barrel" of the "pistol" (actually a part of the Muzzle Brake) was now attached more securely using a screw instead of just adhesive and the control scheme of the pistol assembly was also altered from the specifications of the original version.  The original Assassin Phaser Rifle actually had a small flaw: it was missing the setting indicator switch on the left side of the weapon.  This detail was added back onto the "Shorty" Carbine, and the shape of the "magazine (power cell) drop" was changed from a rotating switch to a triangular thumb button.  I would imagine that on if the prop had been a real weapon, instead of rotating down 90 degrees, you'd hit the switch with your thumb and it would simply move straight up or down, causing the "magazine" (power cell) to drop out of the weapon handle.  Furthermore, the telescopic gunsight or "scope" was moved further back along the pistol assembly so that it is no longer directly on top of the handle.  This ultimately proved to be a flaw in its design, because the scope is now too close to my face in relation to the stock by just a few inches, making it extremely difficult to pull off shooting poses.  This problem was relegated in the 2nd "Shorty" Carbine by moving the scope back to its original position directly above the handle and lowering the level of the buttstock to give the weapon better proportions.  Although the scope of the "Shorty" Carbine lacks the ridged details and the round felt circles on the sides of the full-scale rifle, its overall shape is more compact and significantly more show-accurate than that of my larger prototype prop.  The clear plastic portion on the rear (where my eye would "look" into it) is also much smaller and only has one and a half holes instead of several.

Finally, the stock of the weapon has been significantly re-proportioned.  As I mentioned earlier, the level of the stock has been raised compared to that of both the original, full-scale ST:VI Assassin Phaser Rifle and the 2nd "Shorty" Assassin Phaser Carbine.  This allows for a much sleeker appearance and is, technically speaking, more accurate to the way the original Assassin Phaser Rifle had been designed, but because of the way this prop has been shortened, and combined with the misplacement of the stock so far to the back of the pistol assembly, I can't use the stock as an actual shoulder stock very easily and it's also very difficult to get into a comfortable "shooting pose" with the scope up to my eye, although I've figured out how to do it to a certain fashion during camera tests with the prop.  The shape of the stock itself has been altered.  Whereas the original had a straight "clip" section that attached to the pistol assembly by screw, extended through angle and then straightened back out to lead to a thin copper-colored "rail," this version has a much shorter version.  It's an angled piece that still attaches to the pistol assembly, but it ends abruptly before the stock angles down and drops.  A felt pad has been added to the bottom to provide cushioning for my hand, and another felt "ring" surrounds the start of the angled section that drops down toward the end of the stock assembly; this angled portion is now the thin copper-tone "sliding rail" part of the stock.

The rear tip of the stock has a similar overall shape and color to that of the original, but it's longer (almost twice as long, in fact) and has an angled section where the copper sliding rail recedes into it compared to the straight version on the original ST:VI Assassin Phaser Rifle.  Finally, the shoulder brace of the "Shorty" prop is longer toward the top and shorter toward the bottom, a decision that was probably made to give the prop a more show-accurate shape but, ultimately, may not have been a good thing for poseability because it causes the top of the brace to stick into my cheek when I try to pose with the prop.  Again, I expect all of these proportioning issues to be at least somewhat ameliorated with the changes that have been made to the second "Shorty" Assassin Phaser Carbine (the black-and-grey variant) that will be going to one of my friends soon.  In addition, the pistol assembly, at the time of construction, only had one "prefire vent" decal on each side of the prefire chamber; however, I received several decal sheets with the prop.  After I just got it, I added one decal to each side to give it 2 vents on the left and right sides of the prefire chamber, and after further discussion with Casey about the prop's appearance, I eventually added two more at a downward tilt in front of the existing two resulting in four decals on each side and four on the top of the prefire chamber.  This is more in keeping with the original ST:V/VI Assault Phaser pistol props, which also had 4 vents on each side and 4 up top.

Although it will likely be about a year before this prop is finally used in its intended purpose (as a miniature Assassin Phaser that is safer for conventions and large events), and although my friend is going to take his into action before I can follow up with mine, I still have a lot of fun holding the prop and, overall, consider it a fairly successful experiment.  I don't even think of it as a variant or "substitute" any longer; the M2287 "Shorty" Assassin Phaser Carbine has, instead, seemed to come into its own as an original prop design and a member of the ST:V/VI Assault Phaser family.