Mini Victorious Mongoose 1902a Easily Misplaceable Ray Pistol
This tiny weapon may not be able to obliterate 4 pounds of budgerigars, but it will totally vaporise just one! Ideally suited for picking off pests from the comfort of your bunk-bed whilst out in the field, it will happily take care of the largest cockroaches, carnivorous lunar scarabs or the infamous Venusian Death Hamster (actually a totally harmless little critter with no ears, driven almost to extinction due to a typographic error – ironically, they make fine earmuffs though). It will also blind, cripple or de-man any miscreant, cutpurse or customs official who gets on your wick! Unlike its big brother, this little tool really is concealable up your jacksey, although I recommend attaching a length of string for rapid and less-embarrassing extraction – try explaining that one to Matron if it gets “misplaced†internally.
As an owner of the full size Mongoose, I can say that the mini is a wonderful reproduction, despite its minuscule size. The metal finish has a lovely metallic speckled look, with subtly applied rust, the copper pipes look great, and have the variation in thickness and angles of the full size, and the pipe to the gauge and the trigger have a more brassy look. The brass ends of the “spark gap†leading from the singularity generator at the top even have a tiny bit of green copper corrosion; on my mini they are quite well aligned, less distorted than on some other Mini Mongooses (Mongeese?) I have seen, and on mine the brass end of the barrel is straight as well. For the scale the gauge and handle are very well painted as well, and even the engravings of “Victorious Mongooseâ€, the atom logo and the curly floral decoration are apparent even at this scale. The stand seems more of a metallic gun metal colour than some others and is subtly corroded as well, and the “Victorious Mongoose†wording on the side of the stand is clearly legible. The box is similar in design to the other minis, with good schematic drawings of the gun and humorous comments on the back.
Any complaints? The “1902a†is not really legible, the lovely dimples around the rivets are not there, and few of the small screws and protuberances (such as on the back of the gauge) are not painted in brass as they are on the full size, but these are really minor quibbles! Despite its tiny size, it is one of the best mini rayguns, and well worth getting.
Thoughtfully, it even has a suitable health and safety warning on the box for the hard-of-thinking: “Do not swallow – it tastes terribleâ€.