The Victorious Mongoose 1902a Concealable Ray Pistol, Miniature Version from Weta is a truly micro-sized raygun, one whose full name is several times bigger than it is.
Woof! Behold — groundbreaking miniaturisation of the modern age. More easily concealable than a pin in a haystack, even the most paranoid gentry can now keep a wave weapon of immense magnitude on their very person without the fear of being outed.
Until now, the Dr. Grordbort line, with its hefty rayguns and an enormous blunderbuss, has had a decidedly masculine air to it. Finally, Weta has seen fit to give the ladies a suitable weapon to wield. The full-sized Victorious Mongoose 1902a Concealable Ray Pistol is small enough to hide in a handbag or tuck out of sight in a garter, but for maximum concealability, the mini Victorious Mongoose is definitely the best choice. Not only can you slip it into a fold of your garments, you can, if sufficiently endowed, wedge it in your cleavage for quick retrieval. The Victorious Mongoose is just so, well, cute… in a deadly sort of way, of course. Cup the pint-sized derringer in your palm, fold your fingers over it, and nobody would ever guess that you have anything held in your hand. It’s no wonder that Weta had to issue the following warning on the Victorious Mongoose’s box:
Do Not Swallow*
*It tastes terrible
Packaging:
Like all the miniature Dr. Grordbort rayguns, the Victorious Mongoose comes in a box that’s shaped like a book. The box’s heavy cardboard is printed with glossy, sepia-toned art plus a photo of the enclosed figurine, and the front of the “book” hinges at the spine, fastening shut with a magnet. The inside of the “book cover” lists the entire Dr. Grordbort’s Infallible Aether Oscillators miniature collection with full-colour pictures. Within the box, beneath a clear plastic cover, the raygun and its stand rest in a molded, flocked tray. Both pieces of metal are wrapped in so much protective foam padding that as you unpack them, some doubt will begin to surface that there is, in fact, a raygun somewhere in there.
Sculpting:
Weta has kept the design of their smallest raygun realistic to its function as a pocket pistol, so it doesn’t have any of the fins and other spiky protrusions that collectors are accustomed to seeing on a Dr. Grordbort creation. The result is a much more streamlined sculpt than usual. There’s still a lot of detail on the Victorious Mongoose, though, especially considering how minimal its surface is. Copper pipes run in shallow loops along the ridged muzzle, one joining up to a tiny pressure gauge on top of the raygun, and there are, as expected, bolts and grooves aplenty. The most elaborate detail is on the hilt, however, which is ornately carved to look like the wooden handles found on fancy Wild West shooters. An embossed vine pattern unfurls from the top of the handle, as well, extending nearly to the raygun’s midpoint.
Paint:
The Victorious Mongoose essentially uses the same colour palette as previous rayguns. Rusty-hued daubs of paint are applied to the raygun’s gunmetal grey and black body to achieve the requisite antique finish, with the copper detailing left bright and clean for contrast, and there are vivid spots of red and white on the dial of the pressure gauge. One new colour introduced is tan, which the hilt is painted with to make it look like wood. The pale brown, dirtied up with a darker wash, highlights the “wood grain” and seasoned cracks in the handle, and really makes the Victorious Mongoose stand out on the shelf next to all the other rayguns. The Mongoose may be dwarfed by its siblings, but it will get noticed!
Articulation:
The miniature Victorious Mongoose has no points of articulation since movable parts are practically impossible at this scale. Their absence doesn’t hurt the raygun’s aesthetic appeal, however.
Accessories:
A stand stamped with the raygun’s name is included, as is standard with all of the miniature rayguns. The one difference with the Victorious Mongoose is that the raygun actually attaches to the stand rather than just resting on it. There’s a pinpoint hole drilled into the bottom of the raygun’s hilt that fits over a peg on the stand’s base, a measure that keeps the extremely light model from being knocked off its display.
At about $49.00 US, the Victorious Mongoose may seem on the pricey side to anyone who’s never fawned over one of Weta’s miniature rayguns in person, but it’s worth every penny. It’s also an open edition, so there’s no need to worry about missing out on obtaining one of these little beauties.
Weta has released a second, bonus raygun for the holiday season, the limited edition Pearce 75 Atom Ray Gun, Miniature Version. The Pearce 75 is unique in that the miniature version was produced before the full-sized one, a reversal of normal procedure at Grordbort Industries. This retro classic harkens back to the days when spacemen wore goldfish bowls on their heads and everything futuristic was decorated with rings, preferably ones that glowed. Shiny!
Order directly through the Weta website.
The Victorious Mongoose 1902a Concealable Ray Pistol, the Pearce 75 Atom Ray Gun, and the Dr. Grordbort’s Infallible Aether Oscillators collection are distributed by Weta, in partnership with Dark Horse Comics. For more information, please visit the official Dr. Grordbort’s website.