TRON Helmet Prop Replica - Lights Up!
"Yes! Yes! Yes! - Bit (TRON - 1982)
Greetings, programs! Long before James Cameron decided to make the most overly convoluted-to-make CGI cartoons ever imagined, there was the original overly convoluted-to-make TRON movie from 1982 that tried to combine very early computer-simulated imagery with live-action footage. After watching this making of TRON documentary, you learn that to make the circuitry outfits light up with an energy-like neon glow was a complete nightmare to accomplish. Today, this effect would be very simple to achieve, but back then it involved complicated back‑lit animation where the actors were filmed in black and white wearing black‑painted white suits against a black background. Each frame was then broken down into high contrast positive and negative matte layers and individual element layers like faces, body color, the whites of eyes and teeth, the circuitry glow, and more which were then all recombined into a final composite frame of film. This was then repeated over and over and over again.
Well, after all that hard work just to get the costumes to simply light up, the early CGI to look cool for the time, and trying to make the story make any sense to audiences who were all very new to computers and video games, it was considered a box office disappointment. However, it then gained a bit of a cult following on home video and kids like myself watched it over and over on crappy VHS, which also hid a lot of the not-quite-so-seamless visual effects. The Light Cycles, the digital jai alai game, the glowing world, outfits, and identity discs, the Solar Sailer ship traveling along a light beam, the imposing Recognizers, the sinister Master Control Program, and the terrifying gigantic evil Sark were all kind of awesome. Even the early electronic soundtrack had some memorable haunting themes and Dillinger's futuristic touchscreen desk at ENCOM in the real world is still one of the coolest things ever. Does it all hold up today when showing it to someone new to TRON? Hmm, not really, but if you were from a certain time in the early 80s, you probably remember it fondly and still re-watch it to this day. It was definitely way ahead of its time.
Anyways, the reason I bring this all up is because Paragon FX Group has teamed up with The Walt Disney Archives Collection to create this cool new yet quite 1982-inspired TRON Helmet Prop Replica that has circuitry that actually lights up with that same blue energy glow, except now using modern lighting technology and 4 AA batteries to power it - no pure energy water source required. This officially licensed full-scale replica was recreated using digital scans of the original prop, has a discreet touch-activated on/off switch hidden on the back, and is limited to only 300 units. TRON Light Cycle sold separately.
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