Not long ago Playmates made a big announcement that they were doing Star Trek toys again. Well, the end result was pretty damn disappointing. I guess that’s my fault for setting my expectations too high and expecting a glorious return to the expansive 1990s toyline. In the end, we got a handful of Next Generation figures, a handful of Wrath of Khan figures, a couple ships, a couple roleplay toys, and I think some figures from one of those shitty Paramount+ shows. I bought some of the Classic Series stuff, but nothing really excited me enough to review it yet. But then the Communicator showed up, a year after the Phaser, and I decided to dig out that Phaser and go ahead and check these toys out.

The packaging is gloriously evocative of what Playmates was doing back in the 90’s. You get a fully enclosed box with some nice art on the front and a Try Me cut-out so you can get a sampling of the sounds. That strikes me as funny because… were these ever actually sold in any brick-and-mortar stores? If so, I’d be surprised. Target had a few of the figures, but that was all I ever saw. It’s funny to think that I have nostalgia for these box designs, as I was already a Senior in college when they were released, but what can I tell ya? I’m going to take a look at each of these pieces of standard issue Starfleet equipment and then we’ll compare them to some of the others I have in my Starfleet locker. And since these are heavy with the electronics features, I’ll include some videos running through the sounds. Let’s start with the Phaser!

While this Phaser is a bit on the chunky side, I think it still scales fairly well in my adult hand, and most of those chonks are located in the handle, which is odd since this is at least posing as a toy for kids. I think the two-tone gray and black look good, although I’m more fond of the darker gunmetal gray seen on some of the props. The silver bits feature a very nice quality matte paint, which sort of passes for steel. The profile of the weapon is pretty solid, and it isn’t until I sit it next to a more accurate reproduction that I can see the differences, so that’s a good thing. Sadly, the Type-I Phaser on top is not detachable, but I wasn’t expecting it to be since it was fixed in place on the 90’s release as well. The Dilithium Crystal Cell (that silver disk on the side) is used to turn the toy off and on or set it in the limited function Demo mode. Probably the most disappointing thing here is the plethora of screw holes scattered about the left side of the weapon. As we’ll see in a bit, it’s actually worse than the 90’s release, which is rather baffling to me. It’s a shame they couldn’t plug these up.

From the top view, the settings dial on the Type I unit is a sticker, which looks OK, but I worry about it, since the sticker fell off my 90’s Phaser a long time ago. Ah, but that was thirty years ago, and thirty years from now I’ll be long dead and gone, so no worries! The speaker holes in the screen on the Type I unit is a bit of an eyesore, and that’s a carry over from the 90’s toy as well. The thumb wheel on the Type I does not move, but the settings knob on the back of the Type II unit does, and this is what’s used to change from Stun to Kill to Overload.

Everything else on this piece looks pretty good. I’m glad that Playmates didn’t try to put a belt clip onto it, but I may wind up putting a piece of velcro on the handle to attach it to my official Starfleet issue slacks. Let’s check out the electronics!

All three settings sound great and boy is it loud! The emitter lights up blue or red depending on the setting and even the selector knob lights up when firing, although it only lights up blue. All in all, I’d say the electronics on this one are vastly improved over the 90’s one, but given the march of thirty years of technology, I’d say that was expected.

And here are some comparison shots, and while these are very similar toys, I think most of the subtle differences come down to just personal preference. The props used in the series varied a bit and I can write off the changes here to revisions Starfleet may have made to the design over the years. The electronics are definitely improved, but , if we’re going by the aesthetics alone, I have to give the nod to the older release simply because it has less exposed screws on the one side.

And here’s a quick comparison of the new Playmates Phaser with the Diamond Select version from a little while back. DST’s version is an absolutely beautiful toy and a much more faithful reproduction of Starfleet’s sidearm. It’s proportioned much better and you just can’t beat having the removable Type I unit with it’s own electronics. I also greatly prefer the blue-gray finish to the body of the Type II housing. It’s a shame these aren’t still on the market, and I’d love to see DST reissue these. OK… Let’s move on to the Communicator.

So, the first thing I noticed about the Communicator when taking it out of the box is the dull gold finish on the antenna cover, and boy did that disappoint me. It just looks incredibly cheap and wrong. Once I got past that, I found that the toy is pretty well sized with the correct texturing, and two side buttons just like the 90’s version. There is a belt clip on this one, just like the previous release, and that really doesn’t bother me at all. On the back you also get the switch that turns the toy on and off, or sets it into Demo mode. They could have done a better job concealing this, but it’s not a big deal to me.

Pressing the lower side button will activate the incoming call signal, while the upper side button will spring open the antenna cover. That’s definitely an improvement over the old one, which had to be flipped up or opened manually. I’ll be honest, that never bothered me too much because the actors used to have to flip open the prop manually on screen most of the time anyway. The interior panel of the toy looks great, with the yellow “light” just a painted dummy and the other two being actual lights. Pressing the left silver button produces a sound clip and the right button cycles through some voice clips from the show.

Like the Phaser, the audio is really loud and sounds crystal clear. My only real complaint here is the choice of clips. Most of them are taken from clips of Kirk talking to the ship on the Communicator. As a roleplay toy, I really would have preferred all the clips being the Enterprise communicating with you. You only really get that with the two Spock clips. Sadly, my older Playmates Communicator stopped working and I really don’t remember what it had to offer, so I can’t offer my preferences between the two on that front.

But aesthetically, the older one is the clear winner, thanks mostly to the use of the gold foil paint on the antenna cover. It’s weird how such a small detail could make such a big difference. I also like the hologram sticker used for the screen. It just gives the toy a bit more flash. There are some subtle changes to the size and contours, but I don’t really have a preference on either of those details.

Both of these toys retail for $24.99, which I think is pretty damn good for what you’re getting. Although, the Phaser has been out for a while, so it seems to be selling for closer to $30 these days. Both are really good toys and even decent accessories to complete your Cosplay for the next big convention. But with that having been said, they aren’t a substitute for higher end, or even middle of the road prop replicas or the old garage kits. I would rate the Phaser higher than the Communicator because the flat gold paint really does bug me a lot, but maybe that’s just me. If you’re looking for something better and don’t want to invest in a prop replica, the DST stuff is definitely the best bet, although those are getting a little pricey these days too. If you’re in the market, I’d say pick these up, because who the hell knows when we’re likely to get official releases of these again.