


This meant that it was up to each company to come up with the better marketing strategy and hopefully their product would win the hearts of the consumers. Let’s compare both below in a number of categories to see which one sucked less:
Product Name:
Lazer Tag got right to the point. The game was tag with lasers. Period. There was no confusion there. What the fuck was “Photon”? Most people that weren’t science geeks (which is damn near everybody) had to look up the word and even then that didn’t explain anything. Which is funny because when most people asked what ‘Photon” was, the answer was usually “laser tag”. Ouch! There was no Google bar or internet so no one knew that Photon even existed before they saw that box in the toy store where I lived (Boston). They caught an "L" on that one.
Lazer Tag: 1 Photon: 0
Equipment and accessories:
Photon came in a package where everything was tied together. The chest sensor could be attached to the helmet and the gun could be held separate (but still needed to be charged). Photon helmets came in bright red or neon/dayglo green. When you wore the outfit together, you looked like a complete and utter dickhead. The gun looked too plastic and overall the Photon gear was aesthetically lacking.






Lazer Tag: 2 Photon: 0
Marketing Campaign/Advertisements:
Lazer Tag was marketed as “the sport of the 21st century’ and “the game that moved at the speed of light” while Photon instead stuck to being called the “The ultimate game” and “the game of the future”.
Worlds Of Wonder took a futuristic approach when marketing Lazer Tag. They made commercials that depicted a future where there’d be Lazer Tag tournaments to settle all of the world's disputes, even to see who gets to keep the Statue Of Liberty for the next 100 years.
Another set of commercials showed a world in which Lazer Tag was the ultimate sport (and it looked a lot like Rollerball!). In addition, Lazer Tag advertised in comic books which comic style full page ads offering young ass long sleeve tee that said “Team USA” on them.

Photon’s commercials were pretty lame in comparison, merely stating that Photon was “better” than Lazer Tag. Like if that ever mattered! Another issue was that Lazer Tag's packaging looked all cool, futuristic and space age. The design, logos and fonts all looked professional while all of the Photon gear and logos looked like it was designed by some dude with a mullet and no future (it turns out it was).
Lazer Tag: 3 Photon: 0
Overall Playability:
Photon was a game system that was developed by one man and was originally based out of Dallas, TX where the first Photon center was created. Lazer Tag was merely based on different principles of the laser tag phenomenon. Photon was all one complete unit where you could score hits on the helmet, chest or gun and each item recorded the hits.

Lazer Tag: 3 Photon: 1
Spinoff Shows:
Lazer Tag was optioned into a cartoon made by Ruby-Spears called “Lazer Tag Academy” in 1986 that had a horrible premise. Needless to say it sucked pretty badly and there’s a reason few people remember it.
That high level of suckage paled in comparison to the even shittier “Photon” TV show that aired on syndicated television back in 1986. This live action show was made in the mold of Japan’s “Dynaman”, the inspiration for “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers”.
While the show was made in conjunction with Japan, the production value was terrible. I used to laugh at it more than 20 years ago and it’s only gotten worse with the passage of time. It’s so bad that I’m docking Photon a point for this cheesy bullshit (but Lazer Tag isn’t getting a point, either).
Lazer Tag: 3 Photon: 0
Merchandising:
Lazer Tag had three novels made for it and some lunchboxes and other items made for the cartoon and that was it (Thank God).



Final Verdict: It goes without saying that Lazer Tag sucked less than Photon. The question remains, why didn’t either Lazer Tag or Photon blow up? I’ll answer that one! Photon ended up failing and it’s distributor Entertech got into hot water because it’s ultra realistic line of automatic water guns led to a few inner city kids getting shot by police and several criminals used them in robberies. Some thieves were killed either when it was discovered that their guns were fakes or shot because store owners or police thought their weapons were real.


It made their stock dip so low that they ended up selling off all of their toys and merchandise for bargain basement prices (Teddy Ruxpins, ActionMaxes and Lazer Tag sets were now all dirt cheap).


One.
10 comments:
Thanks for the jog down memory lane,
Fellow Old-Head,
Wade Word
I never heard of Photon until just right now.
The only people with Lazer Tag on our block were the spoiled brothers up the street.
Lazer Tag = Duck Hunt
Ha! I had the Photo Warrior Challenge toys as a kid so I guess I was partial to Photon.
Only rich kids had Lazer Tag. The rest of us had Photon, or the cheap knockoff brands.
Let's cut the crap here and talk about some fucking CAPTAIN POWER.
@ Mike Dikk:
I guess you missed when I did this joint last year. Check out the final entry of the blog:
http://poisonousparagraphs.blogspot.com/2007/05/old-school-toy-cartoon-comics-aka.html
One.
lazer tag was the shit!
yesssssssss
Hi Nice Blog .Setting the backlight to “always on” will significantly reduce your Ipod batteries life. Only use the backlight when necessary.
hilarioussss! I am from PA and I had the red photon helmet and get up. I was the only one with Photon, and was stuck shooting the sensor for target practice while the richer kids played laser tag... I loved Photon, and always will!!! P.S. Great records on the side. ( i also realize you posted this story 4 years ago....)
PEACE!!!
tim
We still have 2photon guns that work and my grandchildren enjoy them every time they're here!
Thank you for this...oh the memories...
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