30's and 40's
There are few cultures in the world where fire arms are as important as they are in the United States. Not only do more people own and use guns in America, they actually believe in them. Guns are popularly believed to represent freedom, individuality, and even the ability to maintain the peace. They are associated with the development of national history, destiny and character. In addition, Americans link guns with exploration, and it is for these reasons that when we imagine ourselves in outer space, we imagine a gun in our hand.
The archetypical American exploration was the exploration of the American West, a colonialist enterprise which attempted to justify expansionist politics as the "march of civilization" a march which many in the United States have too often believed it was their right and destiny to undertake.
Building on the mythic idea of the conquest of the American West, early views of American space exploration were conceived in terms of the exploration of a "frontier" and even Manifest Destiny. Space explorers were thought of as intergalactic cowboys whose job was to bring order and justice, and to subdue the forces of chaos and alien darkness so that "civilization" might prevail. To do this they needed to carry intergalactic "peacemakers." But unlike the pearl-handled western six-shooters used by Tom Mix and Roy Rogers, which were modeled on real, historical sidearms, the ray guns 
used by Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon were based only on fantasy and wish fulfillment. After all, battling despots such as "Ming the Merciless" or thwarting alien threats from the"Mongol" invaders was a struggle for the "forces of good" a struggle Americans have historically believed it is their destiny to champion.
So while ray guns may have little to do with the reality of space exploration, they have a lot to do with the expression and exploration of the American self. From the time of their invention, toy space guns have not only helped American imagine and express themselves, they have helped create popular support for the American space program, the great adventure of the twentieth century which has been more responsible than any other enterprise for the conception and assertion of modern American identity
Meet the "Masterblaster"
Hello! My name is Gene Metcalf. I began construction of this website on August 18, 1997, and I have been working on the site continually since then. I am doing this because I collect toy ray guns, and I am fascinated by their cultural significance. When I am not scurrying around to flea markets or toy shows looking for elusive Hubley Disintegrators, or fiddling with this website, I teach, lecture, and write about American material culture and the arts.
I have set up this website as a place to gather, store, and share information about toy ray guns. There isn't a lot known about these toys. Only a few are pictured in books and articles, and even for those that are illustrated, the makers and dates of manufacture are sometimes unknown. Not only is little known about these toy guns themselves, but no one has ever really thought much about what they mean. For example, why have these guns, and the characters associated with them like Buck Rogers, been so popular? What larger ideas, values and social relationships do these toys symbolize and promote? How are toy space guns related to the development of the popular understanding of space and space travel?
In short, I hope this website will help those of us interested in toy ray guns to find out more about them. This site will change often because I will continually post all the photos and information I can get hold of, and I hope that you will be willing to help. Please let me know if the information you find here is accurate and complete or if you have pictures of, or information about, ray guns that you think should be added here. As time goes on, I hope to build here a large, publicly accessible, storehouse of visual and written information about toy ray guns. For n
ow, I am focusing on the toys I like the most and know the most about - the guns made in the 1930s through the mid 1960s.
Some friends have helped me setting up this site. George Newcomb, a specialist in toy guns in general and toy space guns in particular, has taught me alot about the field. Leslie Singer, the author of the book Zap: Ray Gun Classics, supported this project from the beginning. And Jim Fox web designer and ray gun collector, has helped me design and redesign this web site. Contact his firm, Red Five, for wonderful graphic web design.
Thank you for dropping by! Please let me know what you think about this site, and let me know if you have any information or pictures you would like to share! Also, please let me know if you would like to buy, sell or trade any toy ray guns!
THANK YOU to the people who have sent images which are used on this website: Richard Thomas, Charlie Smith, Brian Hayes, Ian Kill, John Eaton, Karen Del Pellegrino, Leslie Singer, Don Vigeant, Patrick Bishop, Ray Rohr, Debby and Marty Krim, Chuck Lassen, Michael Schneider , Dale Fabrigar, Dennis Merritt, Fred Boreale, and Ed Pippin.
