diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/actor/ActorCreationTest.java b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/actor/ActorCreationTest.java
index 82bcb7d422..05040afb0e 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/actor/ActorCreationTest.java
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/actor/ActorCreationTest.java
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ public class ActorCreationTest {
       });
       assert false;
     } catch(IllegalArgumentException e) {
-      assertEquals("cannot use non-static local Creator to create actors; make it static or top-level", e.getMessage());
+      assertEquals("cannot use non-static local Creator to create actors; make it static (e.g. local to a static method) or top-level", e.getMessage());
     }
   }
   
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/actor/JavaAPI.java b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/actor/JavaAPI.java
index d834dea1ca..640c16cf01 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/actor/JavaAPI.java
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/actor/JavaAPI.java
@@ -48,14 +48,18 @@ public class JavaAPI {
     ActorRef ref = system.actorOf(Props.create(JavaAPITestActor.class));
     assertNotNull(ref);
   }
-
-  @Test
-  public void mustBeAbleToCreateActorRefFromFactory() {
-    ActorRef ref = system.actorOf(Props.empty().withCreator(new Creator<Actor>() {
+  
+  public static Props mkProps() {
+    return Props.create(new Creator<Actor>() {
       public Actor create() {
         return new JavaAPITestActor();
       }
-    }));
+    });
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void mustBeAbleToCreateActorRefFromFactory() {
+    ActorRef ref = system.actorOf(mkProps());
     assertNotNull(ref);
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SupervisorHierarchySpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SupervisorHierarchySpec.scala
index 56a58ebe04..6c483969b0 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SupervisorHierarchySpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SupervisorHierarchySpec.scala
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ object SupervisorHierarchySpec {
           val propsTemplate = Props.empty.withDispatcher("hierarchy")
           (1 to kids).map { (id) ⇒
             val kidSize = if (rest > 0) { rest -= 1; sizes + 1 } else sizes
-            val props = propsTemplate.withCreator(new Hierarchy(kidSize, breadth, listener, myLevel + 1, random))
+            val props = Props(new Hierarchy(kidSize, breadth, listener, myLevel + 1, random)).withDeploy(propsTemplate.deploy)
             (context.watch(context.actorOf(props, id.toString)).path, kidSize)
           }(collection.breakOut)
         } else Map()
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/serialization/SerializeSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/serialization/SerializeSpec.scala
index 065585b3b4..2e01b5702c 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/serialization/SerializeSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/serialization/SerializeSpec.scala
@@ -272,11 +272,6 @@ class VerifySerializabilitySpec extends AkkaSpec(SerializationTests.verifySerial
     val b = system.actorOf(Props(new FooActor))
     system stop b
 
-    val c = system.actorOf(Props.empty.withCreator(new UntypedActorFactory {
-      def create() = new FooUntypedActor
-    }))
-    system stop c
-
     intercept[IllegalArgumentException] {
       val d = system.actorOf(Props(new NonSerializableActor(system)))
     }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
index e3a4838b4c..7c1a96c1d3 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ private[akka] object ActorCell {
 
   final val emptyActorRefSet: Set[ActorRef] = immutable.HashSet.empty
 
-  final val terminatedProps: Props = Props(() ⇒ throw new IllegalActorStateException("This Actor has been terminated"))
+  final val terminatedProps: Props = Props((throw new IllegalActorStateException("This Actor has been terminated")): Actor)
 
   final val undefinedUid = 0
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala
index f73e141d9f..b7ccd00849 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ object Props {
   /**
    * The default Props instance, uses the settings from the Props object starting with default*.
    */
-  final val default = new Props()
+  final val default = Props(defaultDeploy, classOf[CreatorFunctionConsumer], List(defaultCreator))
 
   /**
    * INTERNAL API
@@ -87,36 +87,6 @@ object Props {
   private def mkProps(classOfActor: Class[_], ctor: () ⇒ Actor): Props =
     Props(classOf[TypedCreatorFunctionConsumer], classOfActor, ctor)
 
-  /**
-   * Returns a Props that has default values except for "creator" which will be a function that creates an instance
-   * using the supplied thunk.
-   */
-  @deprecated("give class and arguments instead", "2.2")
-  def apply(creator: Creator[_ <: Actor]): Props = default.withCreator(creator.create)
-
-  /**
-   * The deprecated legacy constructor.
-   */
-  @deprecated("use Props.withDispatcher and friends", "2.2")
-  def apply(
-    creator: () ⇒ Actor = Props.defaultCreator,
-    dispatcher: String = Deploy.NoDispatcherGiven,
-    routerConfig: RouterConfig = Props.defaultRoutedProps,
-    deploy: Deploy = Props.defaultDeploy): Props = {
-
-    val d1 = if (dispatcher != Deploy.NoDispatcherGiven) deploy.copy(dispatcher = dispatcher) else deploy
-    val d2 = if (routerConfig != Props.defaultRoutedProps) d1.copy(routerConfig = routerConfig) else d1
-    val p = Props(classOf[CreatorFunctionConsumer], creator)
-    if (d2 != Props.defaultDeploy) p.withDeploy(d2) else p
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * The deprecated legacy extractor.
-   */
-  @deprecated("use three-argument version", "2.2")
-  def unapply(p: Props)(dummy: Int = 0): Option[(() ⇒ Actor, String, RouterConfig, Deploy)] =
-    Some((p.creator, p.dispatcher, p.routerConfig, p.deploy))
-
   /**
    * Scala API: create a Props given a class and its constructor arguments.
    */
@@ -133,7 +103,7 @@ object Props {
    */
   def create[T <: Actor](creator: Creator[T]): Props = {
     if ((creator.getClass.getEnclosingClass ne null) && (creator.getClass.getModifiers & Modifier.STATIC) == 0)
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException("cannot use non-static local Creator to create actors; make it static or top-level")
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("cannot use non-static local Creator to create actors; make it static (e.g. local to a static method) or top-level")
     val ac = classOf[Actor]
     val actorClass = Reflect.findMarker(creator.getClass, classOf[Creator[_]]) match {
       case t: ParameterizedType ⇒
@@ -199,37 +169,6 @@ final case class Props(deploy: Deploy, clazz: Class[_], args: immutable.Seq[Any]
   // validate producer constructor signature; throws IllegalArgumentException if invalid
   producer
 
-  /**
-   * No-args constructor that sets all the default values.
-   *
-   * @deprecated use `Props.create(clazz, args ...)` instead
-   */
-  @deprecated("use Props.create()", "2.2")
-  def this() = this(Props.defaultDeploy, classOf[CreatorFunctionConsumer], List(Props.defaultCreator))
-
-  /**
-   * Java API: create Props from an [[UntypedActorFactory]]
-   *
-   * @deprecated use `Props.create(clazz, args ...)` instead; this method has been
-   *             deprecated because it encourages creating Props which contain
-   *             non-serializable inner classes, making them also
-   *             non-serializable
-   */
-  @deprecated("use Props.create()", "2.2")
-  def this(factory: UntypedActorFactory) = this(Props.defaultDeploy, classOf[UntypedActorFactoryConsumer], List(factory))
-
-  /**
-   * Java API: create Props from a given [[java.lang.Class]]
-   *
-   * @deprecated use Props.create(clazz) instead; deprecated since it duplicates
-   *             another API
-   */
-  @deprecated("use Props.create()", "2.2")
-  def this(actorClass: Class[_ <: Actor]) = this(Props.defaultDeploy, actorClass, List.empty)
-
-  @deprecated("There is no use-case for this method anymore", "2.2")
-  def creator: () ⇒ Actor = newActor
-
   /**
    * Convenience method for extracting the dispatcher information from the
    * contained [[Deploy]] instance.
@@ -254,36 +193,6 @@ final case class Props(deploy: Deploy, clazz: Class[_], args: immutable.Seq[Any]
    */
   def routerConfig: RouterConfig = deploy.routerConfig
 
-  /**
-   * Scala API: Returns a new Props with the specified creator set.
-   *
-   * The creator must not return the same instance multiple times.
-   */
-  @deprecated("use Props(...).withDeploy(other.deploy)", "2.2")
-  def withCreator(c: ⇒ Actor): Props = copy(clazz = classOf[CreatorFunctionConsumer], args = (() ⇒ c) :: Nil)
-
-  /**
-   * Java API: Returns a new Props with the specified creator set.
-   *
-   * The creator must not return the same instance multiple times.
-   *
-   * @deprecated use `Props.create(clazz, args ...)` instead; this method has been
-   *             deprecated because it encourages creating Props which contain
-   *             non-serializable inner classes, making them also
-   *             non-serializable
-   */
-  @deprecated("use Props.create(clazz, args ...).withDeploy(other.deploy) instead", "2.2")
-  def withCreator(c: Creator[Actor]): Props = copy(clazz = classOf[CreatorConsumer], args = classOf[Actor] :: c :: Nil)
-
-  /**
-   * Returns a new Props with the specified creator set.
-   *
-   * @deprecated use Props.create(clazz) instead; deprecated since it duplicates
-   *             another API
-   */
-  @deprecated("use Props.create(clazz, args).withDeploy(other.deploy)", "2.2")
-  def withCreator(c: Class[_ <: Actor]): Props = copy(clazz = c, args = Nil)
-
   /**
    * Returns a new Props with the specified dispatcher set.
    */
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala
index ce1c7dbc5a..1f36a4dfce 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ trait TypedActorFactory {
     val proxyVar = new AtomVar[R] //Chicken'n'egg-resolver
     val c = props.creator //Cache this to avoid closing over the Props
     val i = props.interfaces //Cache this to avoid closing over the Props
-    val ap = props.actorProps.withCreator(new TypedActor.TypedActor[R, T](proxyVar, c(), i))
+    val ap = Props(new TypedActor.TypedActor[R, T](proxyVar, c(), i)).withDeploy(props.actorProps.deploy)
     typedActor.createActorRefProxy(props, proxyVar, actorFactory.actorOf(ap))
   }
 
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ trait TypedActorFactory {
     val proxyVar = new AtomVar[R] //Chicken'n'egg-resolver
     val c = props.creator //Cache this to avoid closing over the Props
     val i = props.interfaces //Cache this to avoid closing over the Props
-    val ap = props.actorProps.withCreator(new akka.actor.TypedActor.TypedActor[R, T](proxyVar, c(), i))
+    val ap = Props(new akka.actor.TypedActor.TypedActor[R, T](proxyVar, c(), i)).withDeploy(props.actorProps.deploy)
     typedActor.createActorRefProxy(props, proxyVar, actorFactory.actorOf(ap, name))
   }
 
@@ -619,7 +619,7 @@ case class TypedProps[T <: AnyRef] protected[TypedProps] (
   def actorProps(): Props =
     if (dispatcher == Props.default.dispatcher)
       Props.default.withDeploy(deploy)
-    else Props(dispatcher = dispatcher).withDeploy(deploy)
+    else Props.default.withDispatcher(dispatcher).withDeploy(deploy)
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/dungeon/Dispatch.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/dungeon/Dispatch.scala
index 2d1604de65..6ab3ec4879 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/dungeon/Dispatch.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/dungeon/Dispatch.scala
@@ -58,8 +58,11 @@ private[akka] trait Dispatch { this: ActorCell ⇒
       case _: ProducesMessageQueue[_] if system.mailboxes.hasRequiredType(actorClass) ⇒
         val req = system.mailboxes.getRequiredType(actorClass)
         if (req isInstance mbox.messageQueue) Create(None)
-        else Create(Some(ActorInitializationException(self,
-          s"Actor [$self] requires mailbox type [$req] got [${mbox.messageQueue.getClass.getName}]")))
+        else {
+          val gotType = if (mbox.messageQueue == null) "null" else mbox.messageQueue.getClass.getName
+          Create(Some(ActorInitializationException(self,
+            s"Actor [$self] requires mailbox type [$req] got [$gotType]")))
+        }
       case _ ⇒ Create(None)
     }
 
diff --git a/akka-docs/rst/java/code/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTest.java b/akka-docs/rst/java/code/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTest.java
index 1f478ee009..bc5f8d9e7b 100644
--- a/akka-docs/rst/java/code/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTest.java
+++ b/akka-docs/rst/java/code/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTest.java
@@ -11,14 +11,17 @@ import static akka.pattern.Patterns.pipe;
 import static akka.pattern.Patterns.gracefulStop;
 //#import-gracefulStop
 
+
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import akka.testkit.AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource;
+
 import org.junit.ClassRule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
+
 //#import-gracefulStop
 import scala.concurrent.Await;
 //#import-ask
@@ -119,43 +122,6 @@ public class UntypedActorDocTest {
   }
   //#parametric-creator
 
-  @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
-  @Test
-  public void createPropsDeprecated() {
-    //#creating-props-deprecated
-    // DEPRECATED: encourages to close over enclosing class
-    final Props props1 = new Props(new UntypedActorFactory() {
-      private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
-      @Override
-      public UntypedActor create() throws Exception {
-        return new MyUntypedActor();
-      }
-    });
-
-    // DEPRECATED: encourages to close over enclosing class
-    final Props props2 = new Props().withCreator(new UntypedActorFactory() {
-      private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
-      @Override
-      public UntypedActor create() throws Exception {
-        return new MyUntypedActor();
-      }
-    });
-
-    // these are DEPRECATED due to duplicate functionality with Props.create()
-    final Props props3 = new Props(MyUntypedActor.class);
-    final Props props4 = new Props().withCreator(MyUntypedActor.class);
-    //#creating-props-deprecated
-    new JavaTestKit(system) {
-      {
-        for (Props props : new Props[] { props1, props2, props3, props4 }) {
-          final ActorRef a = system.actorOf(props);
-          a.tell("hello", getRef());
-          expectMsgEquals("hello");
-        }
-      }
-    };
-  }
-
   @Test
   public void systemActorOf() {
     //#system-actorOf
@@ -538,8 +504,15 @@ public class UntypedActorDocTest {
      * @return a Props for creating this actor, which can then be further configured
      *         (e.g. calling `.withDispatcher()` on it)
      */
-    public static Props props(int magicNumber) {
-      return Props.create(DemoActor.class, magicNumber);
+    public static Props props(final int magicNumber) {
+      return Props.create(new Creator<DemoActor>() {
+        private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+
+        @Override
+        public DemoActor create() throws Exception {
+          return new DemoActor(magicNumber);
+        }
+      });
     }
     
     final int magicNumber;
diff --git a/akka-docs/rst/java/untyped-actors.rst b/akka-docs/rst/java/untyped-actors.rst
index 6b978b8fca..4a28a1f3e6 100644
--- a/akka-docs/rst/java/untyped-actors.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/rst/java/untyped-actors.rst
@@ -65,52 +65,22 @@ example of a parametric factory could be:
 
 .. includecode:: code/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTest.java#parametric-creator
 
-Deprecated Variants
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+.. note::
 
-Up to Akka 2.1 there were also the following possibilities (which are retained
-for a migration period):
-
-.. includecode:: code/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTest.java#import-untypedActor
-.. includecode:: code/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTest.java#creating-props-deprecated
-
-The last two are deprecated because their functionality is available in full
-through :meth:`Props.create()`.
-
-The first two are deprecated because the resulting :class:`UntypedActorFactory`
-is typically a local class which means that it implicitly carries a reference
-to the enclosing class. This can easily make the resulting :class:`Props`
-non-serializable, e.g. when the enclosing class is an :class:`Actor`. Akka
-advocates location transparency, meaning that an application written with
-actors should just work when it is deployed over multiple network nodes, and
-non-serializable actor factories would break this principle. In case indirect
-actor creation is needed—for example when using dependency injection—there is
-the possibility to use an :class:`IndirectActorProducer` as described below.
-
-There were two use-cases for these methods: passing constructor arguments to
-the actor—which is solved by the newly introduced :meth:`Props.create()` method
-above—and creating actors “on the spot” as anonymous classes. The latter should
-be solved by making these actors named inner classes instead (if they are not
-``static`` then the enclosing instance’s ``this`` reference needs to be passed
-as the first argument).
-
-.. warning::
-
-  Declaring one actor within another is very dangerous and breaks actor
-  encapsulation unless the nested actor is a static inner class. Never pass an
-  actor’s ``this`` reference into :class:`Props`!
+  In order for mailbox requirements—like using a deque-based mailbox for actors
+  using the stash—to be picked up, the actor type needs to be known before
+  creating it, which is what the :class:`Creator` type argument allows.
+  Therefore make sure to use the specific type for your actors wherever
+  possible.
 
 Recommended Practices
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
 It is a good idea to provide static factory methods on the
 :class:`UntypedActor` which help keeping the creation of suitable
-:class:`Props` as close to the actor definition as possible, thus containing
-the gap in type-safety introduced by reflective instantiation within a single
-class instead of spreading it out across a whole code-base. This helps
-especially when refactoring the actor’s constructor signature at a later point,
-where compiler checks will allow this modification to be done with greater
-confidence than without.
+:class:`Props` as close to the actor definition as possible. This also allows
+usage of the :class:`Creator`-based methods which statically verify that the
+used constructor actually exists instead relying only on a runtime check.
 
 .. includecode:: code/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTest.java#props-factory
 
diff --git a/akka-docs/rst/project/migration-guide-2.2.x-2.3.x.rst b/akka-docs/rst/project/migration-guide-2.2.x-2.3.x.rst
index 6419e27675..611310bcc6 100644
--- a/akka-docs/rst/project/migration-guide-2.2.x-2.3.x.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/rst/project/migration-guide-2.2.x-2.3.x.rst
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@ The following, previously deprecated, features have been removed:
  * `event-handlers renamed to loggers <http://doc.akka.io/docs/akka/2.2.3/project/migration-guide-2.1.x-2.2.x.html#event-handlers_renamed_to_loggers>`_ 
  * `API changes to FSM and TestFSMRef <http://doc.akka.io/docs/akka/2.2.3/project/migration-guide-2.1.x-2.2.x.html#API_changes_to_FSM_and_TestFSMRef>`_
  * DefaultScheduler superseded by LightArrayRevolverScheduler
+ * all previously deprecated construction and deconstruction methods for Props
  
 publishCurrentClusterState is Deprecated
 ========================================
diff --git a/akka-docs/rst/scala/actors.rst b/akka-docs/rst/scala/actors.rst
index ba6159fa65..882180c07f 100644
--- a/akka-docs/rst/scala/actors.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/rst/scala/actors.rst
@@ -71,43 +71,37 @@ dispatcher to use, see more below). Here are some examples of how to create a
 
 .. includecode:: code/docs/actor/ActorDocSpec.scala#creating-props
 
-The last line shows how to pass constructor arguments to the :class:`Actor`
-being created. The presence of a matching constructor is verified during
-construction of the :class:`Props` object, resulting in an
+The second variant shows how to pass constructor arguments to the
+:class:`Actor` being created, but it should only be used outside of actors as
+explained below.
+
+The last line shows a possibility to pass constructor arguments regardless of
+the context it is being used in. The presence of a matching constructor is
+verified during construction of the :class:`Props` object, resulting in an
 :class:`IllegalArgumentEception` if no or multiple matching constructors are
 found.
 
-Deprecated Variants
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
-Up to Akka 2.1 there were also the following possibilities (which are retained
-for a migration period):
+Dangerous Variants
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
 .. includecode:: code/docs/actor/ActorDocSpec.scala#creating-props-deprecated
 
-The first one is deprecated because the case class structure changed between
-Akka 2.1 and 2.2.
-
-The two variants in the middle are deprecated because :class:`Props` are
-primarily concerned with actor creation and thus the “creator” part should be
-explicitly set when creating an instance. In case you want to deploy one actor
-in the same was as another, simply use
-``Props(...).withDeploy(otherProps.deploy)``.
-
-The last one is not technically deprecated, but it is not recommended because
-it encourages to close over the enclosing scope, resulting in non-serializable
+This method is not recommended to be used within another actor because it
+encourages to close over the enclosing scope, resulting in non-serializable
 :class:`Props` and possibly race conditions (breaking the actor encapsulation).
 We will provide a macro-based solution in a future release which allows similar
 syntax without the headaches, at which point this variant will be properly
-deprecated.
+deprecated. On the other hand using this variant in a :class:`Props` factory in
+the actor’s companion object as documented under “Recommended Practices” below
+is completely fine.
 
 There were two use-cases for these methods: passing constructor arguments to
 the actor—which is solved by the newly introduced
-:meth:`Props.apply(clazz, args)` method above—and creating actors “on the spot”
-as anonymous classes. The latter should be solved by making these actors named
-inner classes instead (if they are not declared within a top-level ``object``
-then the enclosing instance’s ``this`` reference needs to be passed as the
-first argument).
+:meth:`Props.apply(clazz, args)` method above or the recommended practice
+below—and creating actors “on the spot” as anonymous classes. The latter should
+be solved by making these actors named classes instead (if they are not
+declared within a top-level ``object`` then the enclosing instance’s ``this``
+reference needs to be passed as the first argument).
 
 .. warning::
 
@@ -119,12 +113,10 @@ Recommended Practices
 
 It is a good idea to provide factory methods on the companion object of each
 :class:`Actor` which help keeping the creation of suitable :class:`Props` as
-close to the actor definition as possible, thus containing the gap in
-type-safety introduced by reflective instantiation within a single class
-instead of spreading it out across a whole code-base. This helps especially
-when refactoring the actor’s constructor signature at a later point, where
-compiler checks will allow this modification to be done with greater confidence
-than without.
+close to the actor definition as possible. This also avoids the pitfalls
+associated with using the ``Props.apply(...)`` method which takes a by-name
+argument, since within a companion object the given code block will not retain
+a reference to its enclosing scope:
 
 .. includecode:: code/docs/actor/ActorDocSpec.scala#props-factory
 
diff --git a/akka-docs/rst/scala/code/docs/actor/ActorDocSpec.scala b/akka-docs/rst/scala/code/docs/actor/ActorDocSpec.scala
index 4f5d86ef52..286f171e2e 100644
--- a/akka-docs/rst/scala/code/docs/actor/ActorDocSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-docs/rst/scala/code/docs/actor/ActorDocSpec.scala
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class DemoActorWrapper extends Actor {
      * @return a Props for creating this actor, which can then be further configured
      *         (e.g. calling `.withDispatcher()` on it)
      */
-    def props(magicNumber: Int): Props = Props(classOf[DemoActor], magicNumber)
+    def props(magicNumber: Int): Props = Props(new DemoActor(magicNumber))
   }
 
   class DemoActor(magicNumber: Int) extends Actor {
@@ -68,9 +68,16 @@ class DemoActorWrapper extends Actor {
     }
   }
 
-  // ...
-
-  context.actorOf(DemoActor.props(42), "demo")
+  class SomeOtherActor extends Actor {
+    // Props(new DemoActor(42)) would not be safe
+    context.actorOf(DemoActor.props(42), "demo")
+    // ...
+    //#props-factory
+    def receive = {
+      case msg =>
+    }
+    //#props-factory
+  }
   //#props-factory
 
   def receive = Actor.emptyBehavior
@@ -239,22 +246,13 @@ class ActorDocSpec extends AkkaSpec(Map("akka.loglevel" -> "INFO")) {
     import akka.actor.Props
 
     val props1 = Props[MyActor]
+    val props2 = Props(new ActorWithArgs("arg")) // careful, see below
     val props3 = Props(classOf[ActorWithArgs], "arg")
     //#creating-props
 
     //#creating-props-deprecated
-    // DEPRECATED: old case class signature
-    val props4 = Props(
-      creator = { () => new MyActor },
-      dispatcher = "my-dispatcher")
-
-    // DEPRECATED due to duplicate functionality with Props.apply()
-    val props5 = props1.withCreator(new MyActor)
-
-    // DEPRECATED due to duplicate functionality with Props.apply()
-    val props6 = props1.withCreator(classOf[MyActor])
-
-    // NOT RECOMMENDED: encourages to close over enclosing class
+    // NOT RECOMMENDED within another actor:
+    // encourages to close over enclosing class
     val props7 = Props(new MyActor)
     //#creating-props-deprecated
   }
@@ -305,7 +303,10 @@ class ActorDocSpec extends AkkaSpec(Map("akka.loglevel" -> "INFO")) {
         "helloBean")
       //#creating-indirectly
     }
-    val actorRef = a.actorRef
+    val actorRef = {
+      import scala.language.reflectiveCalls
+      a.actorRef
+    }
 
     val message = 42
     implicit val self = testActor
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/serialization/DaemonMsgCreateSerializerSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/serialization/DaemonMsgCreateSerializerSpec.scala
index ff82ae948b..7beb77b239 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/serialization/DaemonMsgCreateSerializerSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/serialization/DaemonMsgCreateSerializerSpec.scala
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class DaemonMsgCreateSerializerSpec extends AkkaSpec {
     "serialize and de-serialize DaemonMsgCreate with function creator" in {
       verifySerialization {
         DaemonMsgCreate(
-          props = Props.empty.withCreator(new MyActor),
+          props = Props(new MyActor),
           deploy = Deploy(),
           path = "foo",
           supervisor = supervisor)
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/CallingThreadDispatcher.scala b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/CallingThreadDispatcher.scala
index 78607fcf16..ebbb663c26 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/CallingThreadDispatcher.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/CallingThreadDispatcher.scala
@@ -320,6 +320,12 @@ class CallingThreadMailbox(_receiver: akka.actor.Cell, val mailboxType: MailboxT
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * This is only a marker to be put in the messageQueue’s stead to make error
+   * messages pertaining to violated mailbox type requirements less cryptic.
+   */
+  override val messageQueue: MessageQueue = q.get
+
   override def enqueue(receiver: ActorRef, msg: Envelope): Unit = q.get.enqueue(receiver, msg)
   override def dequeue(): Envelope = throw new UnsupportedOperationException("CallingThreadMailbox cannot dequeue normally")
   override def hasMessages: Boolean = q.get.hasMessages
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRef.scala b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRef.scala
index 627d09d9a8..dee7437dcb 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRef.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestActorRef.scala
@@ -127,9 +127,9 @@ object TestActorRef {
     "$" + akka.util.Helpers.base64(l)
   }
 
-  def apply[T <: Actor](factory: ⇒ T)(implicit system: ActorSystem): TestActorRef[T] = apply[T](Props.empty.withCreator(factory), randomName)
+  def apply[T <: Actor: ClassTag](factory: ⇒ T)(implicit system: ActorSystem): TestActorRef[T] = apply[T](Props(factory), randomName)
 
-  def apply[T <: Actor](factory: ⇒ T, name: String)(implicit system: ActorSystem): TestActorRef[T] = apply[T](Props.empty.withCreator(factory), name)
+  def apply[T <: Actor: ClassTag](factory: ⇒ T, name: String)(implicit system: ActorSystem): TestActorRef[T] = apply[T](Props(factory), name)
 
   def apply[T <: Actor](props: Props)(implicit system: ActorSystem): TestActorRef[T] = apply[T](props, randomName)
 
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestFSMRef.scala b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestFSMRef.scala
index ee795ff302..2bda99c5e9 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestFSMRef.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/TestFSMRef.scala
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import akka.dispatch.DispatcherPrerequisites
 import scala.concurrent.duration.FiniteDuration
 import akka.dispatch.MessageDispatcher
 import akka.dispatch.MailboxType
+import scala.reflect.ClassTag
 
 /**
  * This is a specialised form of the TestActorRef with support for querying and
@@ -89,13 +90,13 @@ class TestFSMRef[S, D, T <: Actor](
 
 object TestFSMRef {
 
-  def apply[S, D, T <: Actor](factory: ⇒ T)(implicit ev: T <:< FSM[S, D], system: ActorSystem): TestFSMRef[S, D, T] = {
+  def apply[S, D, T <: Actor: ClassTag](factory: ⇒ T)(implicit ev: T <:< FSM[S, D], system: ActorSystem): TestFSMRef[S, D, T] = {
     val impl = system.asInstanceOf[ActorSystemImpl] //TODO ticket #1559
-    new TestFSMRef(impl, Props(creator = () ⇒ factory), impl.guardian.asInstanceOf[InternalActorRef], TestActorRef.randomName)
+    new TestFSMRef(impl, Props(factory), impl.guardian.asInstanceOf[InternalActorRef], TestActorRef.randomName)
   }
 
-  def apply[S, D, T <: Actor](factory: ⇒ T, name: String)(implicit ev: T <:< FSM[S, D], system: ActorSystem): TestFSMRef[S, D, T] = {
+  def apply[S, D, T <: Actor: ClassTag](factory: ⇒ T, name: String)(implicit ev: T <:< FSM[S, D], system: ActorSystem): TestFSMRef[S, D, T] = {
     val impl = system.asInstanceOf[ActorSystemImpl] //TODO ticket #1559
-    new TestFSMRef(impl, Props(creator = () ⇒ factory), impl.guardian.asInstanceOf[InternalActorRef], name)
+    new TestFSMRef(impl, Props(factory), impl.guardian.asInstanceOf[InternalActorRef], name)
   }
 }