My visit to the Evil Empire
I think I should make a tag just for posts with my awesome Photoshop/MSPaint work...
Anyway, I live in the Northwest, so I've never had the Phantom experience before. In Oregon Fred Meyer carries Phantom safe n sane during the 4th season and you see some Phantom products in stands in Washington, but that is all I've seen.
As a result, I've been largely outside the Phantom debates that pop up on PyroU every once in a while. I've seen a few Phantom cakes before, but never bought any or been in a store, so I didn't have much to say. As the dominant national retailer for 1.4G fireworks, Phantom is an easy and popular whipping boy among the more serious and knowledgeable pyros (aka the ones that tend to be active on PyroU). I'll add my thoughts on Phantom at the end of the post, but now on to the story...
Last week I flew to Pennsylvania for a trip that included driving to Michigan. Remembering that Phantom has stores all over that part of the country, I checked my driving route and found they had a store located in Ohio right along my planned route. I knew what their pricing was like, all the complaints about them, etc, but my pyro curiosity was too strong, I had to stop to check it out and get a few things.
Along the way there were billboards for Phantom and some I found particularly amusing. Most were just typical billboards, but it seems one in each direction had a legal disclaimer at the bottom explaining the various state laws. Actually trying to read the small print on a big sign would result in crashing on the freeway, so I found it rather amusing. Sort of like the horrible side effects rushed through in ads for pharmaceuticals.
Arriving at the store, I was surprised at how large it was. I'm sure all that space comes in handy during the busy season, but I don't see how it is cost effective to keep so many large stores open year-round when probably 90% of their business is during a one month period. I'm glad they can sell year-round of course, it just surprises me... Upon entering the store, I encountered an Ohio state law I had forgotten about. In a creative loophole, you can buy fireworks in Ohio as long as you give them your ID and other info and sign a form promising to take the fireworks out of the state (where they become somebody else's problem) within 48 hours for residents and 72 hours if you are from out of state like me. Obliviously this is a "wink and smile" sort of deal for most customers, but luckily for Ohio state law, I actually was on my way out of the state.
Anyway, I live in the Northwest, so I've never had the Phantom experience before. In Oregon Fred Meyer carries Phantom safe n sane during the 4th season and you see some Phantom products in stands in Washington, but that is all I've seen.
As a result, I've been largely outside the Phantom debates that pop up on PyroU every once in a while. I've seen a few Phantom cakes before, but never bought any or been in a store, so I didn't have much to say. As the dominant national retailer for 1.4G fireworks, Phantom is an easy and popular whipping boy among the more serious and knowledgeable pyros (aka the ones that tend to be active on PyroU). I'll add my thoughts on Phantom at the end of the post, but now on to the story...
Last week I flew to Pennsylvania for a trip that included driving to Michigan. Remembering that Phantom has stores all over that part of the country, I checked my driving route and found they had a store located in Ohio right along my planned route. I knew what their pricing was like, all the complaints about them, etc, but my pyro curiosity was too strong, I had to stop to check it out and get a few things.
Arriving at the store, I was surprised at how large it was. I'm sure all that space comes in handy during the busy season, but I don't see how it is cost effective to keep so many large stores open year-round when probably 90% of their business is during a one month period. I'm glad they can sell year-round of course, it just surprises me... Upon entering the store, I encountered an Ohio state law I had forgotten about. In a creative loophole, you can buy fireworks in Ohio as long as you give them your ID and other info and sign a form promising to take the fireworks out of the state (where they become somebody else's problem) within 48 hours for residents and 72 hours if you are from out of state like me. Obliviously this is a "wink and smile" sort of deal for most customers, but luckily for Ohio state law, I actually was on my way out of the state.
(Click to the full size picture of the form to read it, and the receipt if you want to ruin the surprise of what I got!)
There was one other customer briefly, but most of the time I was the only one in the store, along with a couple employees. I assumed I wasn't supposed to take pictures, so I had to be discrete, and as a result didn't get great shots inside the store. Things were organized as you might expect, with aisles for firecrackers and rockets, fountains, shells, cakes, as so on. I've heard some people say stores they have visited have minimized their 200g section of cakes to emphasize the showier 500g cakes, but I did not find that to be the case here. 200g had a full side of a long aisle and 500g had maybe two aisles, but they were equally prominent.
There was one other customer briefly, but most of the time I was the only one in the store, along with a couple employees. I assumed I wasn't supposed to take pictures, so I had to be discrete, and as a result didn't get great shots inside the store. Things were organized as you might expect, with aisles for firecrackers and rockets, fountains, shells, cakes, as so on. I've heard some people say stores they have visited have minimized their 200g section of cakes to emphasize the showier 500g cakes, but I did not find that to be the case here. 200g had a full side of a long aisle and 500g had maybe two aisles, but they were equally prominent.
Right - Some 500g and the aisle for reloadables. The cakes followed the standard "bigger box = more expensive" model, but that isn't unique to Phantom.
Far left - Some NOABs, single shot tubes, and those shitty big tube things with crappy 200g cakes inside.
Left - The 200g aisle, with all the commonly recognized cakes.
I wanted to buy some fireworks, but I wasn't looking to waste too much money buying retail, regardless of who that retailer was, so I stuck to the 200g aisle for actual purchases. They don't seem to be as overpriced as the 500g cakes, the best of which are often rewraps anyway. I've always heard their 200g cakes were their strong point and they are less frequently rewrapped, so that is where I looked. One of the few Phantom cakes I've seen in person was Molotov Cocktail and it was great, but I've heard it is weaker now and it was $30 anyway (before sales gimmicks). I decided to stick to $20 and under. I was told I could mix and match for "buy one get one for 99 cents" so I got Blue Ringed Willows and Firey Falcons in the $20 price category and Red White and Boom and Emerald City in the $14 category. I also got a package of 10' of fuse.
My total was $42.55, or about ten bucks a cake. In retail terms this isn't really out of line. It is certainly more than I would normally spend, but I've seen similar (and higher) prices at many other retail locations. I wasn't about to pay $50 or more for a 500g cake, but even that is standard pricing in many parts of the country.
Once out of state and with darkness fallen, I fused the Blue Ringed Willows and Fiery Falcons to fire at the same time. I didn't really have a good place to use them, so I only planned on shooting those two cakes and not worrying about the others. The Phantom fuse was the skinny visco on cake leaders and while it didn't have a very thick coating, it seemed decent enough.
In a nice open area I set the two cakes and it took forever to get the fuse to light with the wind blowing out my lighter. As a result, my camera turned off, so I had to turn it back on and missed the first part of the cakes, but here is what I got...
While certainly not bad, I was a little disappointed in these cakes. I had heard they were among the better ones, and I expected more. I was a little further away than really necessary in the video, but the breaks didn't seem as big or hard as I was expecting. The colors were pretty good, but I can think of plenty of better cakes I could find for a lower price.
I didn't get a chance to shoot Emerald City or Red White and Boom (too bad, I wanted to see them) and because I was flying back west, I gave them to a friend so they didn't go to waste.
Overall my little (and excessively documented, both by me and Ohio law) trip to Phantom was just kind of average. From reading the experiences of others and from the Phantom website I more or less knew what to expect from them. The "buy one get one for 99 cents" thing is stupid marketing bullshit, but it works on the average consumer. [What ever happened to "get one free"? I guess they found another way to make a buck.] The prices were high but not abnormal for retail. The quality of the stuff I shot was decent, like everyone else they have good stuff and bad stuff.
I'm still not a big partisan in the debate over the "Phantom Menace" (sorry, I don't even like Star Wars that much, but it was too easy). I find the marketing gimmicks annoying and the prices high, but it works for the average fireworks buyer who goes once a year. My preference for honesty is offended by them censoring fireworks reviews on their website, but again it makes business sense (I just wish Bob Weaver hadn't sold out a bit to them. Yes, I trust his positive reviews, but they won't let him give anything a negative review, so what's the point?). They also seem to be watering down some of their best cakes, giving serious pyros even less reason to consider them. On the other hand, Phantom is a big player in the retail fireworks industry, and as such, it is in their interest to keep consumer fireworks legal and push to expand legal fireworks. They are one of the only companies with the money to do this, so they are a great ally (unlike TNT) for pyros, even if we don't like buying from them. They are a useful place for the average person to get interested in fireworks and help the industry overall, even if it sometimes means squishing the independent retailers, which admittedly sucks, but happens in any industry. This thread on PyroU is a good general summary of the debate. So basically, I won't be buying from Phantom and if somebody has a lot of money to spend I'll point them in a better direction, but I won't get too worked up about it because I recognize their role in the fireworks world.
I didn't get a chance to shoot Emerald City or Red White and Boom (too bad, I wanted to see them) and because I was flying back west, I gave them to a friend so they didn't go to waste.
Overall my little (and excessively documented, both by me and Ohio law) trip to Phantom was just kind of average. From reading the experiences of others and from the Phantom website I more or less knew what to expect from them. The "buy one get one for 99 cents" thing is stupid marketing bullshit, but it works on the average consumer. [What ever happened to "get one free"? I guess they found another way to make a buck.] The prices were high but not abnormal for retail. The quality of the stuff I shot was decent, like everyone else they have good stuff and bad stuff.
I'm still not a big partisan in the debate over the "Phantom Menace" (sorry, I don't even like Star Wars that much, but it was too easy). I find the marketing gimmicks annoying and the prices high, but it works for the average fireworks buyer who goes once a year. My preference for honesty is offended by them censoring fireworks reviews on their website, but again it makes business sense (I just wish Bob Weaver hadn't sold out a bit to them. Yes, I trust his positive reviews, but they won't let him give anything a negative review, so what's the point?). They also seem to be watering down some of their best cakes, giving serious pyros even less reason to consider them. On the other hand, Phantom is a big player in the retail fireworks industry, and as such, it is in their interest to keep consumer fireworks legal and push to expand legal fireworks. They are one of the only companies with the money to do this, so they are a great ally (unlike TNT) for pyros, even if we don't like buying from them. They are a useful place for the average person to get interested in fireworks and help the industry overall, even if it sometimes means squishing the independent retailers, which admittedly sucks, but happens in any industry. This thread on PyroU is a good general summary of the debate. So basically, I won't be buying from Phantom and if somebody has a lot of money to spend I'll point them in a better direction, but I won't get too worked up about it because I recognize their role in the fireworks world.
