THE BIG LASER TAG EPISODE! Lazer Tag Photon Worlds of Wonder

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RetroBlasting looks at the era of 1980s electronic laser tag games!!! Lazer Tag, Photon, Bravestarr, Captain Power
#RetroBlasting #LazerTag #Photon

[@garthblack8330]

I found a few Lazer tag sets at a flea market and bought them on the spot. I then got a rifle and starbase. Still had a few guns and helmets from my childhood. Now my kids all play with them and enjoy it.

[@benotto44]

Extra credit points given for the Slayer shirt.

[@peek10]

I never got the old lazer tag game as a kid, so for this last Christmas the wife got me and our boys the new version from Legacy Toys. It makes for some great fun for our family. So far, they have worked great and proven to be durable.

[@derekwilliams1660]

Christmas of 1987,I got a Laser Tag set. It was awesome.

[@oldmandan3884]

We lived behind a cemetery, lazer tag was awesome.

[@MarcDwithaC]

Loved Laser tag, played that for hours with my friends in High School and then my kids played with the toys years later!

[@snapshotproductions1]

Don't forget that Photon also had laser tag figures like the Bravestarr. There was only one set released that was Bhodi Li vs. Warriarr.

[@stevenhibbert694]

remember the film big they where playing photon

[@MrGenyaAvacado]

Guy in the helmet has the chops to becoming a full fledged actor!

[@AgentoftheShadow]

I love that funny bit with Lazer Tag and how you think it's going to be vs. how it really is. I never had anyone to play the game with. I would do target practice while jumping and rolling like in the commercial. I had a feeling it wasn't going to be as cool as that. I had many of these toys back in the day. Photon figures, Bravestarr fort, Captain Power Base, etc. I only have the Lazer Tag gun and target left. I love the design. I have the late 90s version that straps on your wrist too.

[@sgzartan]

Thanks for uploading. I always preferred Photon to Laser Tag as the blaster looked like it came from Battlestar Galactica, while Laser Tag looked like it came from V. When I was 10, my mom made me give away my Photon set to my nephew, who is now 30, and still says I never gave it to him! I'm still a fan of Bravestarr and Captain Power. I can't remember how many times I would fire my Captain Power jet at the TV to have no enemies die, but somehow they always blew up my cockpit!

[@warface4881]

Sick SLAYER shirt!

[@AlexUSAF]

Laser tag matches were some of my best memories as a kid. They need to bring this back so kids can get exercise instead of couch potatoing on their cellphones via social media like Tik Tok, or playing PlayStation or Xbox version 900. In the military we had a system that was similar to the laser tag concept. That was fun too, and to get paid doing it.

[@Kingnome]

Loved the outtakes!

[@madogofwales]

Bravo on the vids, Retroblasting. Very entertaining and nostalgic stuff. I think I'll go play with my toys.

[@OGMichaelC]

I got my hands on the Photon paperback series when I was like. It wasn't half bad. Good memories

[@treyjohnson82]

The predecessor was the Star trek phasers game

[@k.h.1587]

And MILES

[@JReed7560]

a guy my mom dated once wired a mini mag-lite up to my old Lazer Tag pistol. it was so cool, when you pulled the trigger it lit up.

[@TheLordcyrus]

Yalls videos take me back. Love this stuff.

[@seanlepley1474]

Wood paneling...🤣🤣🤣🤣..my father had it on everything 😂😂

[@Equint77]

Lazer tag was a major xmas wishlist toy. I remember begging my mom endlessly to buy it but it was too expensive. In nyc we had “consumers” (the sears catalog equivalent) and id try the old “christmas story” method of leaving the ads around the house. 😂😂😂

[@willie_the_monkey_king]

i never seen this episode before, but this is my favorite. Melinda is so cool in this video.

[@trigger796]

By the mid-1980s Star Wars, Star Trek, The Last Starfighter, basically every every movie with "star" in the name...

[@SuperStation-17]

Your pal in the Brookyn jersey is a bona fide star.

[@kidchuckle]

crown molding and laser tag!!!! welcome to the Future! Thanks for bringing this out.

[@treadstone1138]

Had two Lazer Tag pistols, two rifles, one helmet two vests and the base. It was awesome!!!! Damn shame you couldn't show the rifle. Sucked that they only came in white tho.

[@nickygogol6011]

I was a Photon Boy. Who doesn’t like to be tethered to something? A superior technology.

[@Zen_walker]

Ther was also a great roleplay like manual or book for Lazer Tag

[@demonseed8812]

You've out done yourself with this video. Great stuff., thx. Photon was great. Im shocked I missed the toy tag stuff as a kid.

[@TVfanfanatic]

Photon! I remember people had their Birthday Parties at Photon. I thought it was awesome at the time, but I was only 8 or 9 yrs old. Lazer Tag was the home game all the kids in my neighborhood played, but the big deal was having a Photon Birthday Party. Between Photon and Malibu Grand Prix kids Birthday Parties in the 80's were very cool. events.

[@k.h.1587]

Fountain valley CA?

[@DevilMaster]

I just realized that the Lazer Tag commercial clip at 6:22 shows a parkour-like move that is actually forbidden in laser tag arenas. And it's not forbidden for "sportsmanship" or anything like that: it's forbidden to prevent idiots from trying it, failing, hurting themselves and getting lawsuit-happy instead of blaming their own dumb selves.

[@noahw3309]

I grew up with and still have a vhs tv with no remote and a dvd player with a remote

[@burningempire666]

And Captain Power was Amazing

[@OGMichaelC]

Captain power TV show was the best out of all of em

[@kibblewibble1]

I remember the Christmas we got laser tag... It was EPIC! The vest and holster made you feel like some sort of space cop and the gun design was awesome! Now everything has to be crappy neon flimsy garbage... Please 80's... come back!

[@artisjones7765]

I had Photon

[@jboypacman]

That would be awesome and lots of fun to watch.

[@1dbanner]

7:08 - why this channel is so great

[@stunsisacul]

Captain Power was dope.

[@killerpitdbo]

hahahaha awesome the good ol days relived

[@androidmarshmallowahh5035]

Worlds of Wonder: Teddy Ruxpin. Mattel: Barbie. Wait that's insane

[@Paulypaulypoopoo]

another grate episode marra. i remember seeing photon in the movie big and thoght it looked class.

[@13shark77]

There was place few years back, Ultra Zone! Two story build, nice lay out plans, with mist so when you show you see lazor flying across! Gear great! Fun! Took date years ago we had a blast! Score cards was nice, you can see your points, where you hit the person. If you get hit, you cannot fire for 5 secs. Game last 10 mins. Talk about workout running around in that room!

[@13shark77]

I feel, that those zones gear was a lot better then store bought gear.

[@k.h.1587]

Any arena gear blows away the toys. Zone blows away most of the other arena systems, but it all boils down to preference, and usually the one you play first, is the one you prefer. There are still ultrazones open, though my favorite, San Diego, closed during COVID-19. There are countless sites NOT called ultrazone that use the zone equipment, since they sold ultrazone back to the Australian manufacturer in the early 2000's and stopped opening new sites under that name. Lasertron has gotten pretty advanced as well, and laserforce is probably the best system out there now. I played photon as a kid in the 80s both the toys and the real thing, and a few times in 96-97 when they opened a new photon on the other side of the country, but I mainly played V4 and V5 ultrazone from 96-98 or so back in it's heyday. And had a stint of laserforce in my mid 30s in 2010-2011, where I would also get a game or 2 of infusion zone at the San Diego ultrazone on the way home from laserforce, they closed at midnight and zone was open till 2. The laserforce was farther south, and I lived about 90 miles away, but at the time worked 50 miles away so I was more than halfway there when I got off work, so that was my sat night thing for a while. $20 for 3 hrs unlimited laserforce (usually about 6 games) then the last game or 2 at late night at the zone for old times sake. RIP to both now gone. But there are still 2 ultrazones in the LA area (and others in so cal with zone gear post ultrazone era), a smaller 1.5 level laserforce (elevated towers but not high enough ceiling to make a true 2nd level like the bigger one had) in north San Diego county, and 2 other laserforce locations east and north of LA. Google laserforce website and there is a location map. Which I can no longer find on zone and lasertron sites, but if you want to try laserforce, you might have a center near you. Chances are there is still a zone near you too, the gear has looked radically different since nexus came out in the early 2010s, not sure if you are referring to old school zone or not, but most zones were 15 minute games way back

[@ALPHAOMEGA1500]

I Luv Lazer Tag Academy

[@mediawarrior5957]

There was a photon show? I knew of the lazer tag cartoon

[@Focusakker]

So, Marshal Bravestarr came through with Captain Power.

[@kidchuckle]

Crown Molding, I wouldn't have it any other way to have it filmed! It's basically any one who played it was either indoors or outside! YES! Inside in the basement with the lights out!

[@lostanarchymagazine]

i had the fully automatic starlight pro

[@scottyb9622]

Mmxw2 has been the most fun guy ever

[@histrion2]

I never owned any home equipment as a kid but hit the local Photon arena many times. The equipment was heavy and bulky, but the environment made it worth it. IIRC, the arena Photon equipment was designed so that the *attacker's gun* actually had the sensor that determined whether a shot was a hit or miss. Since the two teams had different colored lights, it provided an easy way to "penalize" you for accidentally shooting a teammate.

[@k.h.1587]

Yep, known as "reverse IR" in the lasertag industry. You can still experience it today if you play at a site that has laserforce equipment, an Australian system that started as an upgrade to Vultrek, which was a copy of photon in Australia. They are now on their 8th generation of equipment (I saw the 4th gen at a trade show in 96, but didn't get to play in an actual arena until the 6th generation around 2010). The gen 7 stuff is pretty killer, wasn't that different from gen6, but the Gen 8 is crazy advanced with a whole new look and lighting (first to not be blinking LEDs). Many sites are still on gen 7, and it is still pretty awesome.

[@k.h.1587]

In case anyone doesn't know, the photon arenas had nothing to do with the toys, other than selling the phaser sets at the concession stands. The toys in this video are replicas, home versions of the real deal that first opened in Dallas in 1984 Yet there are still many people who think the arenas used the toys, and many more who didn't even know the arena game was a thing. Photon toys just looked like the arena gear, only smaller. The real deal used the IR in reverse, were fully radio linked to a computer for scoring, and had killer features like a lock on light, and separate hit and miss sounds. You never had to wonder if it was you or someone else who hit the guy, and because it was reverse, the other guy could have got him too lol. Photon did not turn the sensors (emitters actually) off when you got disrupted, so you were always a target. The only thing protecting you was you could only be hit (or hit someone) 3 times before having to "clear" by shooting someone else or a base target. But with several people shooting at you at the same time you could lose alot of points very quickly and many people had negative scores at the end of the game. I'm sure had photon not gone under in 89, future versions may have added the feature of being able to turn the emitters off for an easier less intense game option. Try laserforce, it's what some Australians, who started by updating a likely reverse engineered copy of photon called Vultrek, (which they had been using at their site since 87, and have been evolving it since 1991 as laserforce, and are now on their 8th generation equipment ) have taken the concept, and likely being cross influenced by the game play of zone and quasar/Q-zar, have evolved over the years. It is the only system capable of emulating the game play of photon, but also has tons of crazy game modes like space Marines, highlander, vampire/zombie etc.... This system can do almost anything you can think of. Photon, Vultrek and laserforce are/were the only systems to use reverse IR.

[@jeremiahgriffith8795]

MAN, I loved capt. power, BUT I had, with my little brother a wireless 9v laser or photon gun set, they were heavy, all black, and looked very similar to real guns. The receiver was square and detached from the harness to be used as a target, with red lights. I cannot find anything about it, and well came to the “source of the 80s” Retroblasting to see if it would be featured. These guns were so heavy my lil bro never really played the “games” with me, we did end up using them for years as manhunter role play in the woods. Ahhh what were they? It was before I got my Kenner GB proton pack....

[@redstonecommander5190]

Now, in carefully, if you must choose between two evils, pick the one you’ve never tried before

[@eddiebranden1]

The first time I went to Universal Studios Hollywood(1985?), there was a Photon Arena.

[@k.h.1587]

I heard that was just a target gallery. In late 1986 the fountain valley photon opened an hour south, that was an experience

[@mrrictus]

I just want my Photon action figures back from the land of forgotten storage.

[@everythingstarwars1889]

I love the bloopers at the end!

[@DevilMaster]

It's everywhere, not just in the US. I played laser tag in a Q-Zar in Italy and they even tell you not to run during the game (of course nobody follows THAT rule anyway).

[@k.h.1587]

Most arena lasertag systems are much better than Q-zar. Q-zar is essentially unchanged for going on 30 years. Try laserforce, zone, lasertron etc

[@1980Triumph]

My Dad bought us Photon because he thought it was a superior system, looking back I believe he was correct. With Photon you had everything you needed in one set, plus the gun looked wayy better than the Laser Tag one.

[@k.h.1587]

Except for the fact that during that long firing pulse your sensor would turn off, and the red and green guns had different pitch and shot duration, the one with the longer duration shot having the advantage. The real photon was a short burst, the toy should have been as well. That and actually putting a sensor on the chest and perhaps on the back of the helmet.

[@PlasticGeek]

great episode, entertaining and informative.

[@californiacombativesclub202]

I love this

[@snapshotproductions1]

Great video as always nonetheless... Please keep them coming ;)

[@SupesMe]

Still have two working sets of Guns & Sensors :)

[@dingus215]

Fuck it. I can't take it no more. We're goin to Lazer Kingdom

[@jboypacman]

This video has got me thinking of the old Action Max system that used a light gun and VHS tapes. It would be great if you guys did some video of that in the future if you ever run across one of these.

[@MasterSun42]

You should of kept in the "What the Photon?" lol I was dying over here

[@fatman1997jan]

You would think laser tag would be exactly like a metal gear solid video game on the play station

[@sonadoras]

It's the game that moves at the speed of light.

[@ironwarmonger]

No Laser Tag Rifle? My freshman year of college a local store had the Laser tag base kits for $5, which was a lot less then the $80 when they were new just a few years before. Many of my friends got them, myself an a few other also had the Rifle. We use to fight large battles in the university hall on the weekend nights. That was until campus security got a call about running around with Automatic Weapons!!! Yes some professor called security and there were kids running around with Automatic Weapons, and that he had been in Vietnam and knew what automatic weapons look like. I had been tagged out, but the rest were held by campus security and the equipment was confiscated, but later returned. I later met one of the officers, and he told me the weapon never when into the evidence locker, they spend too much time playing with them :-)

[@dj_daem0n]

I could NEVER get a decent LAZER TAG game going when I was a kid. But whenever I visited my cousins in Fresno, we'd spend hours at the PHOTON arena fighting strangers. The place was always packed. Then i'd go home to where everyone made fun of PHOTON, yet were too lazy to actually play with their LAZER TAG stuff. Then a group of kids that I didn't know who had a ton of LAZER TAG gear, got a hold of some keys to an indoor cafeteria at an elementary school down the street from me (one of their parents worked at the school). They got caught by a cop who burst in on their game and one of the kids got shot by a real gun. Just like that, no one played LAZER TAG anymore. Next time I went to Fresno, even the PHOTON place was closed.

[@k.h.1587]

Starquest! I never got to go, didn't know about it till after the fact, and even if so, how would a 14 yr old get from Irvine to Fresno? Yes I played at the fountain valley photon from 1/87 till early 1989. Also played with photon toys. Laserforce, zone, lasertron etc .. can still offer a decent lasertag arena experience. Laserforce uses the same type of technology as photon did, but extremely updated, constantly evolving and upgrading technology as the company has been around since 1991 in Australia, and having been operating with Vultrek equipment since 1987, which was a total copy of photon, which they updated into their own system (first generation laserforce was basically 2nd generation Vultrek), and they are now on their 7th and 8th generation.

[@DevilMaster]

And a quick search on Google explains why: Entertech was a division of LJN!

[@jmp_fr]

mike looks like a lost child in the playground when they're laying into him.

[@Cavillier1970]

Hey Mike I found one you missed and its a doozy. MASK had a version too! Laser Command was a 2 vehicle set with Matt Tracker & Miles Mayhem. Hornet was a packing crate that transformed into a flying attack vehcile and Ratfang was a VENOM truck w/ limited transforming powers. Its exhausts turned into cannons. Hornet could fire the beams and Ratfang blew apart. Would've been cooler if it was more like Capt Power & Bravestarr. It was in '87 and I think the boys at Kenner came to the party a little too late.

[@williamsorrells6058]

Cavillier1970 wasn't so much the boys at Kenner coming in late, more like the mask line was dying at that point, I believe the laser command came out at the tale end of the series which was hurting bad after their season 2 went into racing instead of keeping with the original version of the show. They tried to back pedal but by that time it was to little to late the series was canceled and the toy line followed after.

[@edwardmeer95]

There were cheeper sets. I know. I had one.

[@pastorjerrykliner3162]

I remember when there was a Photon arena set up in my town... I spent most of the summer there. We played Gauntlet in between games. What a great summer!

[@TheMattwolf]

I remember being fairly surprised by the quality of both the acting and storylines in the Captain Power videos.

[@cybertronnation9247]

Mattel was obviously braver than Kenner and Hasbro to dive in on the Laser Tag Craze but clearly Kenner and Hasbro didn't see the need in making toys that could interact with a TV. Probably good for them as they didn't have to deal with the backlash with cops and parents.

[@dreadnok320]

Photon holy shit. I had that IT SUCKED !!! I also had laser tag. I bought a huge set at a tag sale as a kid. It had Massive guns as well as the smaller more common gun type gun

[@GhostGL]

I've still got my Lazer Tag gun and sensor, and have the Bravestar gun.

[@cliffyk3380]

Awww lazertag the Pokemon go of the 80's, well except for the summer then it was Supersoaker season.

[@zero-kk7rp]

SLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@zackfredrick4980]

& btw ..... I would luv for u or Melinda to do a Super Soaker review. I had a 300 as a kid. Great times.

[@amphetaminelabs]

Lol. As the only kid that had Photon, this made me laugh.

[@IrishKyokushin]

I had them too. The Red and the Green set.

[@WreckerR]

I had the green one...

[@pferreira1983]

6:33 Melinda looking very masculine there...

[@nealwhaley63]

I remember Lazer Tag, but I didn’t know anyone who actually had it. I figured it was expensive, so that would’ve meant a no from my parents.

[@waynejones5241]

put tape over the speaker on laser tag

[@FattyMcFox]

I had the rifle. I loved that thing, even after it broke i used it till it fell to pieces. I always loved the leek design of both pistol and rifle. If i ever feel into a sci-fi laser paradise those would be the weapons.

[@noahw3309]

9:21 better days.

[@manueladelacruz5577]

well it was the 80's then it was very expensive for that technology now i have upgraded my set louder sound and rechargeable battery pack

[@Buffyfan04]

Hi, Very well done video. After watching the video. I'd thought pass along some of my knowledge of the company. I noticed your comment about the flimsy battery cover, and thinking maybe the cheapness may have been due to Worlds of Wonder's financial trouble. I know due to my interest in the company that WOW eventually declared bankruptcy in the early 90's. I personally believe that they may have been attempting to restructure their finances. Making all the animated plush toys at an expensive price point didn't help things get better in the long run.

[@PaulXMann]

My entire Boy Scout troop ponied-up to outfit ourselves with WoW Laser Tag units... and I disagree with most of your points entirely! The low-noise pistol was perfect, the chest sensor beeping was only loud enough for the wearer to hear (and gave you an eyes-off indication of your health), and the scanning red dot gave you *just enough* of a visual hint of your target when playing at a distance--which we did, at night, in the woods! I eventually leveled-up to the long-range rifle, which I promptly outfitted with a side-mounted, model rocket launcher (that was a mistake). TL;DR -- Lazer Tag was an excellent system, and I have a lot of GREAT memories playing with my friends!

[@k.h.1587]

Did you melt your rifle? Or yourself?

[@markplott4820]

America had Laser Tag but Japan had Zillion Anime and TOYS (SEGA) and Survivor Shot .

[@GeekFilter]

Remotes were new and exciting in 1955...what alternate 1980s did you grow up in?!

[@k.h.1587]

No shit lol. But early remotes were ultrasonic, not infrared, and they were called "clickers". They could not transmit enough data to have things like a number pad, they simply could turn the TV on and off, channel up or down one at a time and maybe volume control. In the 80s though, only expensive tvs came with remotes, by the later 80s and 90s they were more common.

[@Th3Pr0digalS0n]

Our vcr was a top loader, the remote had to be plugged into the back. It had a 20 ft cord.

[@WhateverHappenedToFun]

2:20 That's great! A Slayer t-shirt... I wish I had an aunt like Melinda when I was a child....

[@kszirovecz]

There was an arcade that built a large arena for Photon play for up to 10 on 10 team combat near where I grew up. They had some updated, better gear that must have been commercially available. I forgot how much it cost to play for the night or you could get a full month membership and come back as often as you wanted. Some friends I worked with introduced me to it when we were 17 and we got the monthly membership and played 3-4 nights a week in some cases. If you were there on week nights after 7:00, the kids were gone and it was teenager on teenager. The gear even linked to an online scoring system so you gave them a codename as you walked into the arena before the battle and it tracked your points so at the end of the battle you could see who on each side had the highest scores. My friends and I got really good. We slaughtered teams of little kids and had epic battles against other regulars. If it was a slow night, like in the winter and not people waiting for the next battle, they'd let the two teams go for double-time or longer with less members so we'd have 30 minute 6 on 6 battles, especially if they recognized you as regulars. Those were tough, especially if you knew the arena and knew hiding spots and choke points. I brought it up with some people I work with now and I work with some other people who played at the same time and had similar stories so we laughed because we probably fought each other 30 years ago. I wish that place was still there to take our nieces and nephews to. They'd probably think it's dorky but back then, before airsoft and paintball, it was great.

[@lgoamity]

Was it a "Laser Quest" Arena? Good Times.

[@kszirovecz]

lgoamity - I don’t remember the name but it was in Lynwood, Illinois or Harvey, Illinois.

[@kszirovecz]

Timothy Ward - that’s not the one I went to. Rockford’s farther away. This place was right over the border from Indiana.

[@k.h.1587]

@@kszirovecz there was a photon in Harvey Illinois that remained open until 1995, the last of the original generation photon's. Maybe that was it. If it had an observation deck with phaser stations it was photon (and photon was the only system with helmets in the US). Otherwise it could have been a 2nd generation non reverse IR vest type system like Q-zar, ultrazone, laserquest, lasertron, veqtor etc ... My guess it was the Harvey photon. By the way, the photon in this video was the licenced home game version of the real thing, so what you considered upgraded was actually invented 2 years earlier in 1984. But it was a commercial grade computer and radio linked system. The toys were just basic forward IR downsized replicas aimed at kids. The vast majority of the population knew the toys from the commercials but had no idea it was based on the awesome arena game. Photon was merchandised to death as toys, merch, books, tv show etc but the real deal was hardly advertised, and most of us found out about it from word of mouth. In fact, 11 yr old me who had, or wanted and was soon to get the home version, while on the way home from the airport in either the last few days of Dec 86 or first few of Jan 87, passed by the newly opened photon (the back of the building was right up against the 405 freeway, fountain valley CA), thought it must have been the toy company headquarters or something (had a huge lit up photon sign). Then a friend asked me if I had been to photon yet, and corrected me that it was a hardcore version of the toys, and on 1/11/87 I spent my 12th birthday there. By the time I was 14 it was gone. I didn't get to play again until just shy of my 22nd birthday when the Laurel MD photon was opened in late 1996. I had been playing laserstorm, Q-zar, lasertrek and ultrazone (among a few others) since discovering in 1995 that arena lasertag was a thing again when a laserstorm appeared in a local family fun type place. It was tiny, it was cheesy, the arena was divided so teams just sniped back and forth, but it was red vs green, it worked, had scorecards with actual scores , had bases to attack and defend, and I wound up playing hundreds of games until I found out that there were more serious larger arenas 70-90 miles away, so I tried Q-zar and ultrazone, and got hooked on ultrazone for a while and did some leagues, driving 80 miles each way to play 2-3 times a week, when the laserstorm was only 4 miles away. Mind you, I thought it was almost as good as photon. Lasertag took a few steps backwards in scale and scope as most systems didn't even have realtime radio linked scoring, let alone the lock on light and separate hit and miss sounds like photon. There was another system, lasertrek, that was originally going to be the next version of Q-zar, that had real time scoring, but the tiny arenas kept me mainly playing at the San Diego zone, which had an awesome arena, one of my favorites behind photon. Unfortunately that zone with a likely conservative leaning owner, shut down during covid, as did every shred remaining of photon, the Laurel site, as well as the Louisville, baton rouge and new Orleans lasertag places that were operating in old photon arenas. I hadn't played any of it since about 2011 except for one fluke game of laserforce in 2021.

[@josemontano9210]

Hey I loved the Photon TV show.

[@russellj.s.257]

Jose montano other than Voltron and Godzilla Photon was another inspiration for Power Rangers

[@jonasgreylindley2002]

Russell Summerton I’m pretty sure the biggest inspiration for Power Rangers was Super Sentai... You know... The show it was based on...

[@Clarkthek]

Well that's 1.

[@k.h.1587]

@@russellj.s.257 actually power rangers was created by the same Japanese guy who did the photon show. So influenced might not be the right word

[@skylx0812]

Ever notice that the symbol on the Lazer Tag helmet and vest looks a little like the Weyland-Yutani logo?

[@FreedomCompatriots]

Were the Photon and Lazer Tag systems inadvertently cross compatible? That's one thing I always wondered about these toy systems. I always figured infrared was infrared was infrared. However its probably not that simple!

[@k.h.1587]

Nope, they weren't.

[@WyldstaarStudios]

Back in the 90's I worked at a Toys R Us, and saw a Photon set at the returns counter. When I asked what such an old toy was doing there, the returns girl informed me that somebody had tried to return it earlier in the day. When she told the customer that she couldn't provide a refund on a ten year-old toy, the customer had just walked off and left it. Now it's mine! It may be crappy, but at least it was free. No mention of the Photon gaming arenas? My friends and I drove an hour to Garland, TX to play there once. If you think the home sets were clunky, the heavy-duty models they had were insane. The entire rig weighed about 40 lbs, sized only for adults, and was also completely interconnected. It was a bit much for 14 year-old kid to fight in. I did get a nifty ID card out of it, though.

[@Clarkthek]

Those rigs weren't the best thing for adults either. I can still see my buddy in full gear running down the entrance ramp at top speed all the while struggling to keep the helmet from falling over his eyes. That of course explains why he didn't notice the sharp left turn at the bottom. I swear it was like watching Wiley Coyote slam into the side of a mountain. I was proud of myself for not laughing even when he landed spread eagle on his back but when all the children started running over his prone body as he tried unsuccessfully to get up... well come on I'm only human.

[@markshadows3667]

I went to that one a few times! I was struggling to wear them as a scrawny little kid

[@TheGonzoArt]

Thank you Michael and Melinda! Hearing that sensor made me four years old again :)