Collectible of the Week: Star Trek Super Phaser II Target Game (Mego; 1976)

"The Phaser Gun is light sensitive and operates best when used indoors in subdued light.  The gun will not function properly in bright sunlight."

Manufactured "exclusively for Mego Corp." by "Megotronics" in 1976 is this glorious Star Trek Super Phaser II Target Game. 

The product came complete with "a super phaser II gun with sonic buzzer device" and a "target reflector badge" in the shape of a Klingon D-7 battle cruiser.

To work this toy, you would simply "Aim. Press the trigger" and a watch as a "powerful beam of light shoots out!" 

The idea was to "Hit the target reflector badge on your friend" and "activate the sonic buzzer device." 

So this is like an early (prehistoric?) version of Photon, or laser tag, I suppose you could say.

This Mego phaser game ran on two double A batteries and one 9 volt transistor type battery, and was ideal for landing party combat if you owned two: one for you and one for a Klingon friend.  Recommended for children over three years old, the Super Phaser II Target Game featured some lovely box art, as you can see.  A red shirt (behind Kirk and Spock) is blasting an armed denizen of the planet Cheron ("Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.")   That's not exactly politically correct, since the people of Cheron are technically extinct in Trek lore, but that's okay.  Look at his face.  He clearly was up to no good.

As you can also likely recognize from the photos, my Super Phaser II Target Game is looking a little bit the worse for wear in 2011.  I've had this particular toy since I was six years old, so I count it as a personal victory that the box and toy have held up as well as they have. 

I still take the phaser out occasionally (it is stored in the original Styrofoam packaging), to show my son, Joel.  As of yet, he hasn't shown that much interest in it, perhaps because it doesn't look as authentic as the Playmate Star Trek phasers in my office, which he does enjoy.  Actually, the Klingon disrupter is his favorite.

I must admit, the box of the Super Phaser II Target Game is one of my most-loved features on this particular toy these days.  On one side, the box reveals all the "8 inch fully poseable" Star Trek action figures available back in the disco decade. 

On the other side, there's a tally of Mego's fantastic and much-sought after electronic and toy items, including the "Command Communications Console," "communicators," "Mission to Gamma VI," "Tricorder," "Tribble" "U.S.S. Enterprise" Action Playset and last but not least, an early arcade-styled console called "The Phaser Battle Game."

I've got the communicators, action playset, Tribble and Mission to Gamma VI, but I still hunger after the Tricorder, Console, and especially the Battle Game. 

One of these days, perhaps...