Cheesy Ray Gun Rip-Offs and Copies

One of the fascinating and maddening things about collecting toy ray guns is that they are frequently copied. Sometimes these copies are licensed by the original maker. Often they are not, and the reproductions are bizarre, strangely made versions of the original. In recent years, this practice of "borrowing" toy ray gun designs has been especially evident in the ray guns made in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. This exhibition features one of the most interesting of these "borrowings." If you know of any outrageous copies of toy ray guns please let me know, and I will present them here.

Atomic Ray Pistol by TN

Made by TN in Hong Kong and sold as part of a "Cosmonaut Set," the ray gun pictured above is an unlicensed version of the Atomic Pistol made in the UK by Tudor Rose (see immediately below). Notable differences in the original and the copy include a less elaborately molded window in the rear of the TN version as well as the strangely reversed rear scope on the copy. In addition, the illustration in the upper left corner of the TN card has been appropriated from another gun made in the UK, the Space Ranger Cap Repeater gun made by Lone Star (see bottom image). .