Firefly

RAC: Ship’s Papers

Pay attention, Browncoats! This is important.

Remember when I leaked the Official Press Release by Quantum Mechanix and I said that while I knew what Whitefall was making, I didn’t yet have proof?

I have proof now.

And, as promised, this is at the very least as shiny as the Serenity Blueprints, and probably moreso, since this is something you can touch/hold/play with/use as a prop.

Fellow Flans, I present to you... the Official Serenity Ship Papers:

As I mentioned before, Whitefall has a reputation within the Flan community as a quality maker of props and replicas. One of his top sellers was, you guessed it, Firefly Ship’s Papers, so when I heard that he’d been hired by QMx my initial guess was that either the Ship’s Papers or the Map of Serenity Valley would be his first official product. I didn’t say anything about the papers, because they seemed too complex to make compared to a map and, quite frankly, I didn’t want to say anything for fear of jinxing it.

"But Palette," I hear you say, "how is this new product any niftier than Whitefall’s old stuff?" I’m very glad you asked me that, Voice in my Head, because here is why:

Old Stuff:

* Only 5 pages.

* Made one at a time... each packet took months to make.

* Cost between $200 - $300 when they were put on eBay.

New Stuff:

* No less than thirteen pages, plus an Alliance bribe and a designer’s certification of authenticity.

* All sheets were made under the supervision of Geoff Mandel, the graphic designer of the Serenity movie, to ensure that each piece is as authoritative and accurate as possible.

* Access to studio archives means movie source art is included, so that the entire package has the look and feel of the Serenity ’Verse.

* One of the sheets is a "Crew Roster" with signature spaces. That’s right, if by some chance you should happen to meet our Big Damn Heroes at a convention, you not only have a gao guhn place for them to put their autograph, but doing so only increases the value of your Ship’s Papers!

* Of course, there’s also the fact that since this is an official licensed product, buying this means that there will be more shinies being made by QMx for Browncoat consumption, and of course you don’t have to get on a waiting list as each unit is made.

So as you can see, it’s not so much an expansion of the original as it is a completely new and much better re-imagining.

Keeping in mind that such things are subject to change, here are the specifics as I know them:

* 13 full-color sheets, up to 8.5 x 14" in size.

* Certificates are hand-stamped with official Alliance seals, and hand-signed in both English and Chinese.

* They come in a fashion-grade leather wallet with brass snap fittings (for the cover) and a screw-down plate (to keep the papers in place).

* Limited to 1,500 pieces.

* Price: between $120 and $130. So for essentially half the price, you get twice the goods. Where in the ’Verse will you get a better deal than that?

Eris willing, my Bothan spies will be able to get me a review piece and then I’ll be able to tell you in graphic detail why this product is so incredibly awesome, you’ll want to sell a kidney for it.

But then, I suspect you’re all rabid fans anyway, so I’m preaching to the choir. Still, I promied you bowel-looseningly cool, didn’t I? And I delivered!