admin
22 December 2023
You’re huddled together in a dark, dank room deep within an abandoned colony station on the planet LV-426. You’ve come answering a distress signal, only to find yourself in the middle of a horrific alien nesting ground... and I’m not talking about a bunch of guys named Pedro taking a siesta. The only things keeping you alive are your wits, your big-ass M41A pulse rifle, and your trusty motion tracker.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave for twenty years, you have already figured out I am referring to the acclaimed action flick Aliens. Now you can spend your free time pretending to evade alien attacks with Master Replicas\' new prop replica of Pvt. Hudson’s Aliens Motion Tracker.
Right off the bat, the Master Replicas (MR) label tells you this isn’t just a mere toy. This is almost an exact copy of what was used during filming. The original prop in the movie was built out of a hodgepodge of different stuff to make a futuristic-looking piece of military hardware. MR designers were able to track down all the original items that were used to create the original tracker. Their attention to detail has produced a really terrific prop. Not only is it covered with lots of buttons and switches that move, but it also has a nifty, well-worn paint job that implies many years of service in some really tense situations. All these little touches make for a really authentic-looking motion tracker.
Of course, as I stated earlier, it’s not completely faithful to the original prop. The tracker in the movie didn’t really do much of anything. The screen didn’t display that iconic graphic of motion blips, or even make that tense tracking bleeping noise. Eighties technology couldn’t make a screen small enough to fit on the device, so all of the screen shots were actually of a much larger television screen. The prop screen was actually a German slide viewer that could only blink. Ah, movie magic at its finest. This being said, a 100% accurate motion tracker might be a little on the boring side.
Well, this is one of those rare occurrences when a slightly-less accurate prop can be much more fun. At the squeeze of the trigger, the detector screen comes to life with those all too familiar urgent pings, and runs through a few motion scenarios. It’s not perfect, but MR did an amazing job with what they had. To keep the cost down, they didn’t use an actual television screen. The whole screen is lit up and animated with the same luminescent material they used in their glowing lightsabers, and topped off with LED lights for the approaching alien blips. It isn’t completely accurate to what was seen on screen, but comes real close at a fraction of the cost.
The prop is topped off with a history of the original prop and a fabulous display case to keep dust and unwanted fingers from touching your new toy. For hours of fun, all you need to do is throw a couple AA batteries in and chase your dog all over the house. To quote the great Bill Paxton: \"I\'m ready, man, check it out. I am the ultimate badass! State of the badass art! You do not want to fuck with me.\" You can say that again, you big palooka.
artid
3170
Old Image
7_11_toybox.jpg
issue
vol 7 - issue 11 (jul 2005)
section
entertainmental