Big news-- Herocomm has changed their position on the authenticity of the phaser.
See here on their phaser page. Given this new development and Herocomm's track record and reputation, I accept their opinion that the phaser is very likely a fifth hero from the show.
To coin a phrase…fascinating. HeroComm switching sides on this certainly makes my own needle waver, but I’m not quite yet ready to budge it. People make mistakes, and everyone has a price, after all. Experts can be wrong, and to take them at their word simply because of reputation or industry connections would be foolish. It would be in bad form as a card-carrying RPF member to simply take on faith the notion that, “the unnamed experts have examined it, and it’s totally real”. I say this not to denigrate anyone or their expertise—I’m saying that it would be foolish to accept such a statement on its face without examining and testing all available data and theories.
The inherent problem here is that we have very little data to analyze. Just the available facts (the inventory list, the four screencapped heroes, the similar construction techniques and shell moldings of both the surviving heroes and midgrades, etc.).
Given HeroComm’s excellent track record, I’m giving serious pause here, though. There may well be data here that is not publicly available, which is why healthy buckets of skepticism are still necessary. And my playful rewriting of the HA email is still funny, dagnabbit. I regret nothing. We’ve mostly been treading water and making jokes because there hasn’t BEEN much new data to work with.
Let’s take a step back, here. The discovery of another surviving hero phaser is a find of major historical significance. A Holy Grail prop. And, over the years, people have been scammed for hundreds of thousands of dollars for both crude and clever fakes. To say nothing of all the TREK forgeries sold at auction, just look at those Graflex lightsabers from people DIRECTLY TIED TO THE PRODUCTION OF STAR WARS like Gary Kurtz and Roger Christian. There are ample reference materials out there to allow con artists to craft a convincing forgery with all of the working hero parts and functions. Therefore, even the most convincing prop to come out of the woodwork should be treated with the harshest criticism and questions.
As has been noted by several people here, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. This is the sort of discovery we want to be SURE about, both for the sake of potential buyers and for the sake of all us hobbyists out there who worship these props.
Is it POSSIBLE that more than four heroes were built? Sure. Is it POSSIBLE that one such hero is a direct copy of the Jein, but used different construction techniques for the rails and such? Sure. None of that should really be in dispute. Of course it’s all possible. But, in the absense of new data, all we can do is ask whether or not that is LIKELY, based on the available data. Without any inside access to the auction piece or vintage production documents, that’s all we can do. Question, speculate, and demand that the burden of proof be met by the other side.
Up until now, my gut instinct, in conjunction with said available data, has been to call this thing out as a fake, in the interest of healthy skepticism. However, if HeroComm and other, unnamed experts vouch for it, then that raises even more questions. There may well be data and/or documents which we simply are not privy to. I would HOPE that such data does become available, though. Because, if it doesn’t, there will probably always be lingering doubts over this piece.
Given the actual facts we have to work with, and the long list of questions and discrepancies which have been raised, I’m still not convinced. But I’m certainly open to new data, and hope that it comes out. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
