- Not to be confused with Plasma Caster.
The Plasma Cannon.
The Plasma Cannon, also known as the Plasma Handgun[1] or the Plasma Burner,[citation needed] is a modified, hand-held, "Uzi-style"[2] version of a Plasma Caster.
History
During Wolf's hunt at Gunnison, Colorado, one of the Plasma Casters that he was using to clean up the Xenomorph infestation was damaged when he was attacked from above in the gun store where Dallas, Ricky, and the others were taking refuge. After a brief scuffle, and after blasting a Xenomorph out through the front window, the humans escaped while Wolf made adjustments to his Plasma Caster, and fashioned both of them into an extremely powerful (but slow to use) pistol-like weapon. This piece was seen to be able to fire singular powerful bolts of heated plasma shrapnel at high velocities, at the cost of having to recharge for a few moments after every shot. Its design seems to be fairly simple. The main body of one Plasma Caster set as the body for the pistol, and a handle fashioned likely from the mounting device of the other Plasma Caster.
In the hands of a hunter, it is a dangerous and effective tool for close, mid-range, and possibly even long-range combat, in the hands of a human (Dallas) it became a tool for survival, and aided substantially in their escape. It is unknown as to whether or not other Yautja have used Plasma Cannons, because it also seems that Wolf was the pioneer of the concept. Seemingly, since Wolf created such an advanced and devastating weapon in such a short amount of time, surely it is only another testament to his ultimate hunting skills as an Enforcer of the Yautja species. At the end of the film when the helicopter that Kelly piloted away from Gunnison crashes, the Plasma Cannon was confiscated by military soldiers, and it's entirely possible that the humans used this technology to advance their own over the hundreds of years leading up to the events in the Alien series.
Merchandise
Sideshow replica
In 2008, Sideshow Collectibles, partnered with Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. (who created the prop for the film), released "an exact 1:1 reproduction" of the Plasma Cannon props used in the film as a limited edition of 500 with a suggested retail price of $249.99. Each piece was hand-cast in polystone, hand-finished, and hand-painted to "exacting standards" then individually hand-numbered. The replica features a light-up display feature and includes a display stand that can be placed on a desktop or mounted on a wall.
Behind the Scenes
The master patterns for the Plasma Cannon props used in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem were made completely by Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. model maker Tim Arp.[3][4] While working on it, he found himself wishing he could have his own.[4]
The hero props were made from "ultra" lightweight fiberglass. They also had a sliding foregrip feature and the power charge display lit up in sequence. The mechanism to "fire" the heroes was engineered by Bob Mano in the mechanical department. To work it, the rear grip would pivot, and when the foregrip was pulled back to "cock" the weapon, it would activate the charging display. A press of the trigger would then release the spring-loaded grip and the display would turn off.[4]
Originally, the power charge indicator was going to be on the side of the prop and simply comprised of bar segments, which were sculpted into the prop (and remained on the final versions). However, the film's directors, Colin Strause and Greg Strause, wanted to use the Predator glyphs that had been created for the film, which were being applied to the Predator armor and cases by the sculptors. The sculptors had considered the glyph sheet that they had received from production to be the equivalent of an alphabet sheet, and were creating words and phrases on the pieces that they were working on. Arp was originally going to make the display say something, but Alec Gillis wanted him to try to match the glyphs as closely as possible to what was shown in an animatic for a scene near the end, where Dallas is using the Plasma Cannon. Although he had originally planned to make the glyphs say "OK POW!", what "D48thRonin" ended up with corresponded on the glyph sheet to "AJFRW". He did, however, put his family name — "ARP" — and "ADI" (an acronym for Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc.) along the back of the grip.[4]
Appearances
Non-canon
References
- ↑ Prepare for War: The Making of AVP R
- ↑ Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem Premium Trading Cards - 78. The World Isn't Ready
- ↑ 'Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem: Inside the Monster Shop', p. 124 (2007), Design Studio Press.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Sideshow AVP-R Predator plasma cannon". Retrieved on Feburary 23, 2015.