[Just a quick note, folks. Due to a scheduling snafu, today’s feature turned up briefly on Monday before I woke up saw it had posted, spit coffee all over my cat, and quickly took it down. If you happened by and read it before I took it down then I’m afraid there’s nothing new for you today. Although, I have since did some proof editing and added a couple new pictures, so you can consider this the Special Edition complete with blinking Ewoks and Greedo shooting first.]

As promised a week ago, I’m back with more Enterprise goodness recovered from the dark reaches of the Toy Crawlspace. This time we’re mixing it up by taking a look at one of the aliens in the line. I happened to find the Nausicaan Captain in one of those totes so I’m going to open him up and check him out. I seem to recall not caring a lot about this figure back when I was collecting these guys and I’m pretty sure I got him along with some others. Either way, I don’t seem to have been interested in him enough to bother opening him and he eventually found his way up into the dreaded Crawlspace.

The packaging is similar to what we saw with Malcolm Reed. It’s a massive bubble set on an equally beefy card.  You get a panel lined deco on the inserts to replicate the ship’s hull; only this time it’s colored brown instead of grey to distinguish it as part of this “Away Team” series. I was never big on them using that term in conjunction with Enterprise. It was adopted during The Next Generation and never used in Classic Trek so it feels rather out of place in a show that was supposed to pre-date both. I should point out, I also was never fond of the writers using aliens that were introduced in Next Gen. It always seemed to me like those should have been races we first encountered after expanding beyond the territorial confines of the Classic Trek era. I’m sure there have been ret-conned explanations, so whatever. Despite all my issues with the series, I still tend to enjoy Enterprise a lot. Let’s bust open the Nausicaan and see what he’s all about.

I gotta be honest, I do not remember the episode with the Nausicaans, so I’m not judging this figure based on its screen accuracy. That having been said he really is a spectacular design and sculpt. His outfit has a somewhat primitive vibe that looks like it would have been at home in the Classic series. The tunic is rubbery plastic and layered onto the figure’s buck and features a very nice sculpted, texture. This is precisely the kind of detail that makes me love AA’s work so much. The outfit isn’t flashy or even all that interesting, but the design is elevated by AA’s craftsmanship and attention to detail. In other words: This Nausicaan was made with love.

The Nausicaan design went through some changes over the years and I wasn’t a big fan of this race’s revised look. These guys were a lot scarier and more alien looking early on and later became more humanoid and more in line with the generic Trek “alien of the week” formula. Regardless, the head sculpt is still a superb piece of work. The ridges and creases in his face are all really sharp and well defined, as are the horns and tusks. You don’t tend to see a portrait sculpted this well in mass market figures these days, proving that the inmates at the Art Asylum certainly were pros. The only nitpick I have here is the gloss paint used on the hair. I think it should have been matte. Another nice touch are the bone ridges in his knuckles. You do not want to get punched by one of these guys.

While the sculpting represents AA’s usual peerless efforts, the Nausicaan Captain got cheated in a few other areas. The Enterprise line didn’t usually skimp on the accessories, but all this guy comes with is his Plasma Pistol. He also got shorted on articulation. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, hinged at the knees, and there are swivels hidden under the soft rubber of his boots. He can also swivel at the waist and his neck is ball jointed. He’s certainly poseable, but the standard swivels in the biceps and thighs are conspicuously missing.

Yeah, so I wasn’t really chomping at the bit to own a Nausicaan in this series. I don’t think they really belonged in Enterprise, I’m pretty sure they only appeared once, and I can’t even remember their episode off the top of my head. Nonetheless, as is often the case with Art Asylum’s work, this execution here overpowers the lacklustre subject matter. Sure the articulation could have been better, but this is still a great looking figure and a nice addition to my Enterprise shelf. Besides, there were only a handful of alien figures released in this line, so I guess beggers can’t be choosers. If you enjoy the Nausicaans feel free to check out the Playmates version of him, which I featured about a year ago HERE and holy crap, I seem to have been pretty ripped when I wrote that!