NOT a new Member Introduction - Praetorian Blasters

[postmortem01]

Hello. I was asked to make an introduction and explain my/our background. I personally have worked in the film industry for over 35 years. From Independence Day to Pirates of the C to Transformers to Dark Knight to Iron Man to Avengers, etc. I've been a 501st member since 2003 or 2005. I created the original rubber blasters for the 501st as Sci-fire.com and then later Hyper-Firm. I gave that company over to someone else to continue so I could spend more time with my wife and son. In 2017, I created Praetorian Blasters designed to do less quantity but higher quality.

In 2021, I was hired by Lucasfilm/Disney to be the Property/Droid Illustrator and oversee all prop and droid manufacturing for the series "Obi-Wan". I was then re-hired to "Mandalorian S3", "Ahsoka" and more recently in 2024 "Mando and Grogu". I've also worked on "Boba Fett" and "Skeleton Crew" to lesser degrees. Many of my blasters from Praetorian were used on these productions simply because I'd already done the work to create masters, etc. 

I've been making rubber blasters and armor for over 20 years (I'm old). Now that we're done with Mando for the time being, I've returned to our shop in Louisiana and we are working on several shows at once and continuing the blasters for the 501st members. 

 

 

[postmortem01]

This is funny. I forgot about this. For some reason, almost nobody posts in posts that I start. No one asked questions or comments. I draw in lurkers only. LOL..

[jsilvius[Staff]]

Welcome John!

I've been watching your Social for a while. I was unaware that you were working with Disney/LFL. 

That's awesome!

I look forward to seeing more of your work and definitely interested in a blaster (or 2).

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Awesome! Welcome. 

[postmortem01]

Thank you. Yeah. Facebook had us locked out of the page due to restricted items. We kept telling them that it's cosplay but I think someone was flagging us. Etsy was a similar problem. There's a guy on Facebook that I know who recast us, unfortunately. That's a bummer. I showed him how to make blasters, asked him to make sure he makes his own masters and then he ended up recasting us. 

 

[NoVATie[Admin]]

Welcome

[Sly11[Admin]]

Welcome John, great to see you are still around.

I remember the days of Hyperfirm rubber blasters being very popular, and hope you can bring them back to their hey days.

[BAZINGA[TK]]

I wish I could have a rubber E-11.  Pretty much impossible to get it in Canada and can't order it in from another country without it getting taken away at customs.

 

Bart

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Hello and welcome aboard, we have not had a rubber blaster manufacturer for some years, they were all the rage at one time. For me I have both a pipe build and a Hasbro/Doopy Doo's blaster, albeit the later is not as accurate it is a lot lighter to carry. 

 

Looking forward to any other photos you could share, of course non under NDA. A great thread on adding images by a fee image host here 

 

[postmortem01]

I mean... I can't really share any behind the scene photos or anything like that. Unfortunately...not that i have them. That would violate my NDA for sure. I wish I could.

Edited July 4, 2025 by postmortem01

[Sly11[Admin]]

8 hours ago, postmortem01 said:

I mean... I can't really share any behind the scene photos or anything like that. Unfortunately...not that i have them. That would violate my NDA for sure. I wish I could.

Rest assured John, there is no pressure whatsoever to share anything BTS or, for that matter, anything you are not comfortable sharing.

We totally understand and respect the NDA situations, and would never wish to jeopardise future employment or the good relationships we have with those who are able to work in the industry.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

As someone that had seen som BTS images from Brendan Wayne I wish we could see more BUT i

understand what falls under NDA's, I was only asking if there was anything non NDA that could be shared, if not too bad.

[Doggydoc[Staff]]

Welcome John.  or should I say welcome back?  

[postmortem01]

Thank you. Yeah, it's not that I don't want to share them, it's that we just are not able to do so. Most of my stuff is boring anyway. It's just prop stuff reference pictures and concept art

[postmortem01]

Someone asked me why I stopped trooping. I didn't really. I got and help the locals out here in Louisiana with their events. I just don't get into armor anymore. I injured my back in 2009 while trooping Comic Con because a fellow 501st member thought it would be funny to tackle me. One year later, I was able to stand up straight again. I've never been able to do too much since then. 

It's a shame. I still have my Sandtrooper armor and a Jango in the works. I'm going to see if I can go an event or two if only even for a short time. I've been making rubber blasters for 501st since 2003 back when nobody would buy them because they thought they were soft like nerf. I had my armor in 2003 but I applied for my 501st id a few years later.

 

Long ago, I used to have an old website called sci-fire.com where I created a blaster type called hyperfirm.

Edited July 9, 2025 by postmortem01