By Iain Delaney: Men in Black (1997) is an action-comedy-sci-fi movie based on the Malibu Comics series of the same name. It starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as agents ’K’ and ’J’ as Men in Black working for an extra-governmental secret agency tasked with tracking and sometimes dispatching alien life forms on Earth. They also had to keep the aliens a secret from the civilian populace. As Agent K put it:

“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.”

When someone sees something strange or suspicious, the MiB agents would wipe their memory using a small device called a neuralyzer. The neuralyzer is a small pen-shaped device that can erase the memory of the subject for a specific amount of time. 

The agents would first put on their neuralyzer-proof sunglasses, then take out the neuralyzer, press the pocket clip to extend it, adjust the time using three dials, and press the firing button to discharge a bright flash of light that somehow wipes the target’s memory.

Factory Entertainment’s Neuralyzer is a faithful recreation of the movie prop, based on access to, and scans of, the original. It comes in a big, mostly black, cardboard box that is much larger than it should be given the size of the prop. Inside the box is a large amount of styrofoam holding a plexiglass display box. Inside the plexiglass is even more styrofoam and inside that is the actual replica. When unpacked, the neuralyzer sits on the base of the display case while the plexiglass box sits on top. It makes a very nice display piece.

The neuralyzer is also a functional prop replica. You press the pocket clip and the working component pops out. You have to twist the top part and pull it out to access the battery compartment. For some strange reason, the replica uses one ’N’ battery. I guess the body wasn’t long enough for a normal ’AA’ or ’AAA’ battery, but it seems a strange choice.

With the battery inserted and the neuralyzer closed again, you are ready to neutralize! Press the clip and the top springs open, with flashing lights and sounds captured from the movie. Press the “MAF” button and the front fires a bright white LED blast accompanied by more sound effects. It’s very impressive and accurate to the films.

This version of the neuralyzer is no longer available. However, Factory Entertainment has two new versions: a version from the first film and a version from Men in Black II. Confusingly, the first movie version has an added LED display, while the Men in Black II version looks more like the old version in this review.

For serious Men in Black fans, and serious MiB cosplayers, the neuralyzer prop replica is highly recommended, if you can stomach the price of $839 US.

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Iain Delaney was born in the UK but moved to Canada at an early age. The UK heritage explains his fascination with British TV SciFi, including Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, UFO, and, of course, Dr. Who. After fumbling through high school, he fumbled through university, emerging with a degree in physics. With no desire to pursue graduate studies he discovered that a bachelor’s degree had little to no job prospects, so he took up a career in computer programming. In his off time he reads, watches TV and movies, collects toys, and makes attempts at writing. To that end he has a small number of articles published in role-playing game magazines and won two honorable mentions in the Writers of the Future contest. He is working on an urban fantasy YA trilogy and entertains delusions of selling it to movies or TV.