One for the real Browncoats

Official Malcolm Reynolds Stunt Pistol
By QuantumMechanix.com
MSRP: $149.95

JOSS WHEDON'S SHORT-LIVED but much-loved TV series Firefly aired on the Fox channel in 2002 and was quickly canceled, for reasons that still mystify the show's fans. Undaunted, however, Whedon, famed creator of the incredibly popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, put his efforts into writing and producing a film that tied up the loose ends left by the orphaned series. This highly rated film was called Serenity, after the ship around which the series was centered.

As a solid replica model it is unsurpassed.


Malcolm Reynolds is the captain of this battered freighter/passenger ship. While Gene Roddenberry used the metaphor "Wagon Train to the stars" to sell Star Trek, Joss Whedon here uses the term far more literally. Firefly and Serenity are quite literally set in an outer-space version of the wild, wild west. And fans adored it.

Soon fan conventions were firing up and a new group of aficionados known as Browncoats began dressing up as their favorite heroes and heroines from the show, armed with replicas of the clothing and weapons. Up until now, people had to make do with hand-made items.

Now, thanks to Quantum Mechanix, fans can have an absolutely accurate replica of the pistol carried by Mal Reynolds, a replica molded from the original prop used by Nathan Fillion (the actor who played Mal in both the series and the film) itself.

The pistol has no moving parts but is made up of several separately cast resin pieces, each infused with metallic bronze and steel powder for a realistic metal effect. While the original prop was cast from one solid piece of resin, Quantum Mechanix has broken the pistol down into parts that are assembled into this fine prop replica.

The replica pistol comes in a simple black box, with no fancy packaging but with three sheets of paper—a Moses Brothers Firearms Certificate of Authenticity, a license to carry and, for the first 1,500 pistols sold, a 14x17-inch poster of Barlow's Guide to Small Arms, featuring a detailed diagram of the pistol and its functions.

Get a grip on your imagination

Officially known as a Moses Brothers Self-Defense Engine Frontier Model B, this pistol is highly reminiscent of weapons carried by frontier Army soldiers in the mid- to late 1800s. With its long, sleek barrel and six-shooter pistol grip, this one has been updated to portray something from a fantasy future, almost a steampunk retro-future redesign, and I applaud the designers for melding the old and the new into something so quickly recognized for what it is supposed to be.

Separating the solid model into several parts allows for a better division between pieces. You won't see any painted lines separating the silver from the bronze; they are separate pieces, so it just looks right. The handgrips are screwed in with Allen screws. The barrel cleaners are actually attached to metal rods cast into the pistol's body.

The metallic look comes from the infusion of metallic powder, but the gun is spray-painted to add weathering and aging. The pistol feels good in the hand, though a little light. Since this model is not molded from metal, it doesn't feel like a real weapon—it just doesn't have the heft.

And of course, being cast from solid pieces of resin, it has no moving parts, which is the only true pity here. But as a solid replica model it is unsurpassed.

The trigger is molded to the trigger guard (likely to ensure it won't break the resin trigger if force is applied). The hammer and safety, as well as the mode switch, are here, but of course nonmoving. The barrel is tarnished with a black, sootlike paint that adds to the impression that this is a long-used weapon. The handgrips are molded with a wood-grain finish.

Included in the simple packaging (the pistol comes in a bubble-wrapped envelope inside a simple black box with a nicely printed glossy label) is a license to carry a concealed weapon from the planet Shadow, issued in the year 2461. The permit has a space for the bearer's name. This is a rolled-up glossy card measuring 6x8 inches. The glossy certificate of authenticity measures 8x11 inches and details the quality assurance checks the weapon went through.

So while the finish may be somewhat dull, this replica is nonetheless very shiny. -(Scifi.com)