User blog comment:PlantyThePottedPlant/Random Topic Blogging IV: You Can't Squeeze Cheer From a Cheese Blog/@comment-4121682-20131205005813



I'd been wanting to draw these for some time, and so last night, after some homework, I figured, "What the heck...I'm-a doin' it." I'd appreciate feedback on DeviantArt, if any of you could.

http://romulan64.deviantart.com/art/My-Favorite-24th-Century-Star-Trek-Phasers-417689085

The 24th Century brought on a new look to the phaser. Instead of the classic "gun" look known in the 22nd and 23rd Centuries, a remote control shape took the stage. After the clunky and awkward "Dustbuster" and "Cobra" styles, the "Boomerang" style of phaser was introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (in the chronological year 2373). It was a much smoother take on the "Cobra" style, which had a straight handle at an angle with the head - kinda clunky and awkward-looking, and not to my personal liking. The head was pretty much unchanged, but the handle was given a rounded, smooth shape.

With the new Borg threat posed to the Federation after the bloody nightmare of Wolf 359, Starfleet upped its assault weaponry, which was soon implemented aboard starships and carried by standard security teams. Made of lightweight materials, these new phaser assault rifles could be set on rotating pulse blast modulations to slow down the process of Borg drone adaptation, while also being powerful bits of equipment to wield in standard combat. This style was introduced in 1996's Star Trek: First Contact (2373), and saw use in 1998's Star Trek: Insurrection (2375) and 2002's Star Trek Nemesis (2379). Oddly enough, though, these were never shown to have seen action in the Dominion War (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, late 2373 - 2375).

When the last episode of Star Trek: Voyager ("Endgame", which took place in 2378) aired in 2001, they prepared a changed style of the standard hand phaser once again, meant to be seen in the alternate 25th-Century future (see deleted scenes). It was made into a smaller, smoother form, for what the designer described as a "more realistic" look (I don't get it either...). That same logic was used in redesigning the starship LCARS displays and other technological elements for Star Trek Nemesis, which came out a year later. In fact, this phaser design had a black nose cone in the unseen VOY segments, which was later replaced by the shown polished chrome one for Nemesis.