Our Mission Statement

A message from the current owners of this site:
We, the second owners of HeroComm, pledge to maintain the same commitment to total accuracy and transparency in reasoning as our eminent predecessors. All their original great content is here, and in fact some pages that still had unfinished portions have since been fully wrapped up by the old crew, meaning every bit of content here is as good as it can possibly get. Notably, all ten moiré patterns have finally been identified with full confidence (including Theta's lost original), all ten bezel rings are completely mapped out, plus every last screencap showing any feature useful in identifying each of the five still-missing communicators has been isolated and assembled, so that future experts will know precisely what they're looking for. The HeroComm project is concluded and the information here is archival only. The previous gang has retired and moved on (though they are available for consultation), and we, the new guard, are here just to keep the doors open, hopefully for generations of Trek geeks to come. Going forward, the only changes of consequence that will be made to the site will be if another authentic Wah-built comm prop resurfaces, like in 2024 with the Beta hero. Come that future glad day, we'll obviously once again see what we can do. Enjoy. Signed: *The Chang Gang II*
Below is the original Mission Statement, kept for reference purposes...
HeroComm is a free and open library of all knowledge that can be gathered on The Original Series Star Trek classic communicator prop. We seek through scientific rigor to sort fact from fiction, history from hearsay, and originals from fakes. We will tell you what we conclude from all available evidence, and then show you why - often in excruciating detail. Our only two objectives are:
	1) To honor its creator Wah Ming Chang by assisting hobbyists and manufacturers in building ever-more accurate replicas ......(recognizing that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery), and... 2) To aid in locating, authenticating and preserving those actual communicator props he built.
It must be acknowledged that in regards to that second goal, the collectors' marketplace had prior to our 2006 launch been afflicted by a significant infiltration of willful forgeries. Confusion in the field was widespread. Fortunately our first decade saw the content on this site leading to the agreement now among all top experts - and even a working awareness in the interested public - as to what is assuredly genuine and what is not. Thus at this point the once-dire specter of circulating fake TOS comm props has been all but eliminated. Still, some details of those Wah comms not yet found will be withheld to provide us with a superior footing on which to offer an opinion of any future contender's validity. We will work enthusiastically towards a day when all ten originals are considered accounted for, yet proceed with the owners of those props with discretion and respect for the unique concerns associated with the possession of such rare and iconic artifacts of our modern culture. The associates and collaborators at not-for-profit HeroComm have gathered to advance these goals for the benefit of everyone. We hope to mesh serious scholarship with a lighthearted sense of fun, since, after all, our focus is just a small plastic and metal box from a TV show we watched in our youth. A final point; the creation of this website is more than the amassing of information; it's also about building enjoyable and mutually beneficial relationships. If you agree with our mission and our means, and have something to contribute, we would heartily welcome your assistance. Signed, *The (original) Chang Gang*