Tag Archives: the next generation

Jan 24 2013

Star Trek Starfleet Academy: Picard, Data, and Worf by Playmates

I’ve got some social obligations today, folks, which means that I can’t stay home and drink, I have to go out and drink. It’s jarring and unsettling, but people tell me that spending too much time at home drinking among crowds of fake plastic people is not good for my psyche. As a result, I was looking for something quick and dirty for today’s feature. I’m going to parse out three figures from a recent Lot of Playmates Star Trek that I recently bought on Ebay just because nobody was bidding on it and I wanted to give these guys a good home. It was basically a bag of about 20 loose figures with no accessories and a handful of stands, most of which didn’t even match the figures in the Lot. I don’t usually like to buy Playmates Trek loose because they’re so damn cheap when they’re new and carded, but then the ones we’re looking at today I would have probably never picked up any other way.

Yes, the Starfleet Academy line! Somehow Playmates thought that even after scraping the bottom of the barrel for questionable releases like Vedek Bareil (DS9) and that smug Benzite dickhead from “A Matter of Honor” (TNG) they still just weren’t making enough Star Trek figures and so they had to think outside the box and create this kind of Expanded Universe sub-line featuring our favorite Next Gen crewmembers as Academy Cadets. Jim Henson’s Trek Babies? The packages boasted “All new Starfleet Crew Members as young cadets!” C’mon, Playmates, it was hard enough to get kids to play with Star Trek figures without exposing them to this terrible idea. I’m the biggest Star Trek whore ever and even I didn’t want to buy these. Anyway, some of these figures came on a “Starfleet Academy” cardback with a CD-ROM game and the typical crappy Playmates accessories, none of which came with mine. Cadet Data was released a couple of years later (along with Cadets Troi and Crusher) as part of the generic “Warp Factor” series. I did get a single figure stand from the series, which is actually kind of cool because it’s made to look like the Academy badge complete with the Golden Gate Bridge. Too bad it’s molded in purple plastic with yellow paints. Oh, Playmates.

Let’s start out with this guy. I swear I thought this was Riker, but a little research tells me he’s actually “John” Picard. I’m not going to quibble about the likeness, but it is somewhat of a novelty to have a Picard figure with hair. He’s wearing a “Standard Starfleet Issue Flight Training Suit” which I have to reluctantly admit is kind of cool. It’s grey and has the same black shoulders and collar as the regular uniforms, which makes it a little Starfleety. There are also holes near the belt and arm, which I presume was for tubes or something.

Next up is Cadet Worf and ain’t he just adorable? I’ll actually concede that Playmates did a pretty good job sculpting his likeness as a younger Worf, even though he still has the beard. Unfortunately, Worf is wearing what Playmates calls “Starfleet Night Recon Gear” which makes this figure all kinds of stupid. What the hell kind of night recon gear involves wearing the brightest white gloves and boots I’ve ever seen? Even the bulk of the outfit is light grey and the only thing appropriately dark is the belt and cross strap. I’m guessing that Worf was the victim of a lot of hazing, with him being the only Klingon at Starfleet Academy, and some of his peers thought it would be funny to give him arctic gear and tell them it was for night recon ops. I’m also guessing that those pranksters were later found behind one of the lecture halls with their spines removed.

And last up is Cadet Data. I understand that it’s canon that Data graduated from Starfleet Academy, but I honestly can’t imagine how that worked since he was constructed to be super strong and remember every piece of information that he was exposed to. Maybe the idea was to have him spend time interacting with other cadets rather than just download every course into his neural net and get his commission. Anyway, since Data doesn’t age, he looks pretty much the same as his other figures. I might even go so far as to say this figure’s head sculpt is better than my regular Data. I have no idea what his outfit is supposed to be, but I have to say, this is my favorite figure of the three and the fact that his gear doesn’t have a Starfleet insignia anywhere on it means that I can use him as Lore or even B4. YES!

And there you have it. I doubt I’ll ever circle back to pick up complete versions of these three figures, but being the nutter that I am, I won’t discount the possibility that the other cadet figures won’t show up here at some point in time. Looking at incomplete figures really aggravates my OCD, but there are a bunch of figures in this Lot so chances are I’ll pick out another handful of them to check out next week.

Jan 17 2013

Star Trek The Next Generation: The Nausicaan by Playmates

As I mentioned yesterday, it’s going to be Star Trek for the rest of the week. I’m sorry to do this to the crazy people fine folks who don’t like Star Trek, but I’ve got a lot of work to do this week (the kind that actually pays me the monies that keeps me supplied with Jameson and toys) so I’m dipping my bucket into the Playmates Star Trek well for a trio of quick and dirty features. It also gives me a nice build up to feature one of Diamond Select’s new Star Trek ships on Saturday. So into the huge tote of carded Trek figures I go and today I came up with… The Nausicaan. Let’s dive right in and rip open a 20 year old figure, eh?

There’s that wonderful Next Gen figure packaging. The design is the same aesthetic quality as when you hit an adult website and a thousand unwanted pop ups flood your screen. Ok, the card isn’t advertising Viagra or fleshlights, and it won’t warrant a frantic call for help to The Geek Squad, but it’s still screaming a lot of stuff at you. “NEW!” “ATTENTION COLLECTORS!” “Individually numbered!” “Playmates Skybox Collector Card!” “7th Season!” “Collector Series!” “As seen in the Tapestry!” Holy crap, my brain is exploding!!!! And that’s just the front of the card. The back has headshots of some other figures available. I have boxes full of these things and there are still figures I don’t have. How is that possible? You also get an advertisement for Deep Space Nine on the Super Nintendo and Genesis, an explanation of what all those oddly colored accessories are and a blurb about the Nausicaans and the enjoyable episode, “Tapestry.”

How would I describe a Nausicaan to someone who knows nothing about them? Well, it’s basically a Predator wearing a Weird Al Yankovic wig that hangs out in space bars and hustles people at space pool. Yeah, from a design standpoint, the Nausicaans were as derivative as all hell, but they sure looked impressive on screen, especially for a show where being an alien usually meant you had pointed ears, a wrinkled forehead, or just happened to be bald and painted blue. The Nausicaans were scary dudes, with tempers to match. I mean, anyone willing to murder someone over a game of billiards is just bad ass, and they seemed to take great pleasure in picking on Starfleet cadet pussies. For more information, let’s consult Mr. Nausicaan’s collector card. Hmm… no help there. It just gives a summary of Picard’s bar encounter (Sorry, Picard, you only got stabbed in the heart, we had to sit through an episode of you talking to Wesley about it in a Shuttlecraft. Clearly we suffered more from that incident). It also lists the Nausicaan homeworld as “unknown.” Wait, what? You have a bunch of aliens hanging around a Starbase and you don’t even know where they come from? If I were to venture a guess, I’d say Nausicaa and a quick look at the entry onMemory Alpha and I see that I’m right.

It couldn’t have been easy to capture all that ugliness in a 4.5” figure, but I’ll be damned if Playmates didn’t manage to pull it off. While the face sculpt is admittedly rather soft, the likeness is certainly there and he is one hideous bastard. There’s a cool little paint wash to help bring out the sculpted bits and his hair even has the little hairbands sculpted and painted into the front. I’m usually not a fan of Playmates’ willingness to play fast and loose with proportions, but in this case the Nausicaan’s big head kind of works and his giant burly monkey arms and ham-hock fists do as well. My only big gripe here is that one of his hands is held out at a weird angle, presumably to better hold his Dom-Jot stick, but in reality it looks like he’s trying to do something obscene with it.

It’s been a while since I’ve watched “Tapestry” but the Nausicaan outfit looks like the designer just couldn’t be bothered as it’s just a brown tunic and pants with some random black lines on it, a sash running down the middle and a belt. Still, I don’t think these guys were supposed to be in the Space Service or anything, so it’s probably not a uniform. Nope, this is probably your typical Nausicaan “I’m going to go slum it at the bar tonight so I’ll just throw something on” outfit. I’m sure Playmates did their best with what they had.

The figure features the basic Next Gen articulation. The arms rotate at the shoulders; have hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs rotate at the hips and have hinged knees. The Nausicaan can swivel at the waist and his head can turn a little, but his hair tends to get in the way.

The Nausicaan comes with a cadre of accessories, all molded in blue plastic. You get the serrated knife that he used to turn Picard’s heart into shish-kabab, you get a Dom-Jot stick, you get a tankard of booze and some kind of weird thing that looks like a tea pot. He also comes with a purple figure stand. [Unfortunately, I took the photos a couple days after opening him and my alcohol addled mind couldn’t remember where I put the accessories. All I could find was his sword and stand. Take this as a lesson, kids, don’t drink and blog.]

All in all, the Nausicaan is a pretty cool figure. The wonky proportions tend to work better for aliens like him and the sculpt is certainly solid enough. Surprisingly, The Nausicaans were given the action figure treatment again in Art Asylum’s 7-inch Enterprise line, which is sitting buried in a tote somewhere. I’ll really have to dig that sonovabitch out some day.

Dec 13 2012

Star Trek: “1701 Collector Series” Boxed Set by Playmates

Yes, there are still a ton of Playmates Trek figures sitting on my receivings pile, so I thought I’d knock out the last of the boxed sets before tackling some of the single carded figures. This time, we have a curious conglomeration of three figures in one box, related only because they were previously released in ridiculously low limitations of only 1,701 pieces each. Get it? 1701?? Yes, it’s a clever little production joke, unless you were one of the collectors hoping to buy one of these figures only to discover that they were understandably impossible to find. Well, eventually Playmates submitted to reason and we got all three figures in one convenient and easy to find boxed set.

Playmates’ Star Trek packaging tends to be hit or miss, but I think this box is an overall hit. It’s a tastefully executed window box with the old movie style logo, and that logo happens to be my favorite. The front of the package displays all three figures in a tray with their gear arranged around them. Each set is individually numbered, and look, I got set #1779. How friggin ironic is that? I could never find these figures on the pegs when I wanted them, but when I buy the reissued set, I miss the original production run by only 78 pieces!!!

The back of the package shows each figure displayed with one of their accessories. If you look closely, you can see that Lt. Yar is about to shoot herself with her own phaser. Each figure has their own little file card and pictures indicating what each of their accessories are, because quite frankly, with Playmates it’s sometimes hard to tell.

Let’s start with Captain Picard as featured in the Season Six episode “Tapestries.” The story saw Picard plunged back into his own past by “Q” so that he could relive a slice of his Starfleet Academy days. This is the figure I wanted the most out of the set, not only because “Tapestries” is an excellent episode, but because I adore the movie-style Starfleet Uniform so much. It was a really easy figure for Playmates to churn out as it’s just a kitbash of Picard’s head on the Generations Kirk body. As a result, the figure is technically not screen accurate. Besides being way too chunky to be Picard, he’s depicted with the white collar from the feature films that wasn’t worn under the tunic in “Tapestries.” Personally, I’m happy for the inaccuracy, since I thought the Starfleet tunic looked ridiculous without the collar under it.

Playmates slashed way back on the articulation for the Generations line of figures, so Picard here suffers only the five basic points. You get swivel cuts in the neck, shoulders and hips. That’s it.

Picard comes with an interesting mix of blue recreational Starfleet accessories, which include a drinking glass, a three-dimensional chess board, a dom-jot stick, and a Starfleet duffel bag. I don’t usually get all pissy about Playmates’ accessories because I just assume they’ll be crap, but I was really looking forward to having a halfway decent 3D chess board for my Trek figures. Too bad this thing is all warped (no pun intended!) and useless right out of the box. Picard also comes with a generic Starfleet insignia figure stand.

Next up is Lt. Tasha Yar from the Season Three episode,“Yesterday’s Enterprise” not to be confused with the very common Season Seven single-carded release of Lt. Yar in her Season One uniform. Confused? The Season Seven series finale “All Good Things…” involved flashbacks to events during the very first episode “Encounter at Farpoint” in which Yar was still alive and wearing her Season One uniform. As the good Doctor would say, it’s all timey-wimey kind of stuff. The two figures are practically identical, with the only real differences being this one having a remolded high collar and no tan piping on the pant cuffs. She’s essentially wearing the updated Starfleet uniform design she would have worn if she hadn’t gotten herself killed by the dreaded Tar Monster of Vagra II. It’s a cool figure to have if you want to pretend that Denise Crosby never got too big for her britches and quit the show only to come crawling back later as her own half-Romulan daughter.

Lt. Yar makes out much better than Picard in the articulation department. She has a swivel cut in her neck, her arms rotate at the shoulders, have swivel cuts in the biceps and hinges in the elbows. Her legs rotate at the hips and are hinged at the knees. She can also swivel at the waist. Unfortunately, both of the bicep swivels on my Yar figure are stuck. Sometimes you need to give them a little force, but too much will twist the arms right off at the joint, and that’s what I’m afraid will happen to Yar’s arms if I use any more force.

Yar comes with a mix of new and old Starfleet gear, all cast in a blue-green plastic. You get old movie style hand phaser and tricorder, a pair of isolinear chips, and a Next Generation era hand phaser. You also get a generic figure stand.

And that brings us to Lt. Reginald Barclay as featured in his series-hopping appearance in Star Trek Voyager. The episode was entitled “Projections” and like a lot of Voyager it was a bullshit misdirection of a story that made you long for a time when Star Trek was about exploration, diplomacy, and outer space brinkmanship, as opposed to facing fabricated dilemmas brought about by computer malfunctions. There was nothing clever or entertaining about it, other than the fact that Voyager sucked so much it needed to bring in a cameo by a third-rate character like Barclay to prop it up after less than twenty episodes. What makes it even sadder is that it wasn’t even Barclay, but rather just a fake out like everything else in the episode. Yes, this is a figure based on fake Barclay.

The Barclay figure is a mixed bag. I love Dwight Schultz as much as the next guy, but this figure’s Jiffy Pop head makes it look like it’s based on Schultz playing Hector Hammond in a Starfleet Uniform. And while on paper that sounds kind of awesome, it doesn’t work so well for the figure. But Playmates Trek figures always were stylized portraits of the characters, so I’m probably being a little too hard on Reg here. My figure does, however, have a pretty unfortunate paint gash on his right shoulder. Barclay is based on Playmates’ Voyager body, which represented the pinnacle of articulation in the Trek line. That means that he has all the same articulation as Lt. Yar, and most other Next Gen figures, only with additional swivel cuts in the thighs.

Set phasers to sarcasm, “Hurray for purple Starfleet gear!” Yes, Barclay comes with an array of accessories all cast in glaringly inappropriate purple plastic. You get a computer terminal, a PADD, a medical tricorder and a phaser. You also get a figure stand based off of the Voyager style comm badge.

There’s no doubt about this set being geared toward the real collectors out there. I wouldn’t consider any of these “must own” figures for anyone other than the real completists or Trek-obsessed nut jobs like myself. But even I would never have shelled out collector prices for any of these figures back when they were actually rare. But now, thanks to the miracle of reissues, what were once individually very expensive figures set me back a mere ten bucks for all three. It’s a fine example of the fact that a lot of times figures are prohibitively expensive just because they’re rare and not because they’re anything special. “Tapestries” Picard is certainly the most interesting figure to me. He’s a cool one-off and I wish head swaps were easier on these figures as I’d like to take Playmates’ Cadet Picard’s head and put him on this body. Yar is an interesting enough curiosity, but I was perfectly content with my Season Seven/Season One version. As for Barclay… well, he’s Barclay. I didn’t already own a figure of the character, but I’d much rather have him in his regular Next Gen Starfleet uniform as opposed to his one-off fake appearance in a shitty Voyager episode. But, at least he’s another Starfleet Officer to add to my Voyager shelf. In the end, I bought this set mostly as an inexpensive curiosity, and I’ll likely keep these figures boxed, rather than integrate them with the rest of my Playmates collection.

Nov 15 2012

Star Trek The Next Generation: Lt. Geordi LaForge by Playmates

Ya know, folks, Geordi was the man! Not only did we get to see him rise in the ranks from Lt. Junior Grade peon all the way up to Chief Engineer, but he was one of the better developed characters on the show. While a lot of the 24th Century populace seemed to be a little too well rounded and confident, Geordi really came across as likable  vulnerable and human, particularly in his self-conscious awkwardness around women and the way he embraced his handicap. Plus, I always found Geordi’s friendship with Data to be comfortable and believable. Hell, Geordi even got busted using the Holodeck for what we all know we’d use the Holodeck for if we had one. How uncomfortable was that, eh? Maybe it wasn’t as bad as Barclay’s endeavors, but still pretty embarrassing. Anyway, today I’m having a few belts of Jameson Aldebaran whiskey and celebrating the character with a look at some of Geordi’s various releases in the Playmates 4 ½” line. I’ve got four of them lined up here, so let’s start with his first appearance on the show…

Season One, Lt. Junior Grade Geordi LaForge. Conveniently, this is the only figure of the bunch that I have a packaged shot of, but once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. Christ, look at all the explosions of text and excitement in this card. It’s like you just took your firewall down and visited a questionable file sharing site. Besides the gloriously colorful and animated style, the cardback just invades your senses with an inrush of information about the figure. Accessories! Skybox Collector Card! Individually numbered!! First time in this uniform!!! SKYBOX!!! Arghhh!

 

Let’s just go ahead and look at Season One and Chief Engineer LaForge together. I love the tunic-style uniforms from the later seasons, but seeing the characters in their Season One jumpsuit-pajamas really makes me feel nostalgic. Holy hell, we’re talking 25 years ago… when did The Next Generation become a subject for nostalgia? How did I get this old? Anyway, S1 LaForge is basically a repaint and slight re-sculpt of Chief Engineer LaForge. The only real change in the sculpt is his lack of the higher collar and the addition of the piping to his collar. Since it’s the same sculpt as the bulkier later season tunic, the skin-tight style of the earlier jumpsuits isn’t really conveyed well. Still, it works fine for me. Both figures come with the same stand, but different assortments of gear.

 

Next up is Geordi in his dress uniform. Yes, this is what he wears to go down to the Transporter and welcome the weekly alien dignitary on board. I voiced my dislike for these uniforms back when I featured the Starfleet Officer’s Set and I stand by that opinion. As expected, this figure is also basically just a repaint of those other figures too. Unfortunately, once I had Riker and Picard in their dress uniforms my OCD side committed me to buying all the dress uniform figures. Yes, I am my worst enemy. Either way, this figure has a nice sculpt, but unfortunately the VISOR is permanently attached to his noggin.

Dress uniform Geordi comes with a phaser, a computer console, a tricorder, and a case of his medals. The medals case is a new piece that I haven’t seen before, but it’s just a slab of plastic with a sticker on it. He also comes with a standard comm badge style figure stand.

Last up is the most pointless and ridiculous figure of the bunch. If you thought Hasbro was bad about releasing Star Wars figures based off characters that only appeared for a few seconds, well check this shit out. This figure is based off of one episode (“Identity Crisis”) where Geordi mutated into a Tarchanen alien and was seen in the last five minutes or so before being turned back by the miracle of 24th Century bullshit medicine. It truly is one of those releases that make you shake your head and wonder what sick, obsessed moron of a Trek fan would spend money on something like this? Oh wait, I did. In my defense I’m sure I got him as part of a lot of figures. At least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

The crazy thing about Tarchanen III Geordi is that he comes with one of the coolest figure stands of any Playmates Trek figure. It’s the United Federation of Planets emblem in blue and gold. Damn, I wish Playmates sold packs of these stands, I would have bought a ton of them.

And that’s my little Geordi tribute. I love Star Trek, I love Next Gen, and I love this character. I’m happy to have him well represented on my shelf, particularly if we toss in the Generations Geordi too. There are still a couple more versions of him floating around out there, but the biggest crime is that Playmates didn’t release a 4 ½” version of him as Dr. Watson. For that, you need to look to the larger scale. Considering all the Holodeck figures Playmates produced, it’s a shame that one didn’t make the cut.

Nov 6 2012

Star Trek: Starfleet Officer’s Collector Set by Playmates

As the 90’s pressed on and Playmates realized what a goldmine they had with their Star Trek license, they started cranking out some boxed sets. One of the more ambitious of those releases was this Starfleet Officer’s Collector Set. It spans three generations of Star Trek, with Classic, Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine all in one package. The set is dated ’94, so I’m thinking that we just missed out on getting some Voyager love in there too. The idea here is you get the Commanding Officer and First Officer from each of the Trek series all in one big happy box. The set includes six figures, four of which are exclusive to this set, a gaggle of accessories, and a big display base that was unique to this release.

The packaging here is quite nice. You get a big window box, with the figures all trapped under bubbles inside and hovering over the display base. The box proclaims, “Three Legendary Commanders and Their First Officers Available for the First Time Ever!” It’s not exactly true since Sisko and Kira are the exact same figures that were already released in single carded form, albeit with some different accessories. Maybe they meant to say, “For the First Time Together!” The box is totally collector friendly as you can remove all the figures, plug them into the stand and then slide the stand right back into the box. I know I’m kidding myself by trying to keep the figures displayed in the box. As much as I love it, I don’t have the room, and the figures will eventually wind up baggied and in with the rest of my Trek figures and the stand will be slid somewhere for safe keeping. Let’s check out the figures in chronological order, starting with good old Kirk and Spock.

This is the first time we’ve seen Playmates figures of Kirk and Spock in their dress uniforms. Granted, they aren’t all that different from their regular duty tunics. There’s a gold fringe running around the neck and straight down the middle and instead of their regular insignia, they have medals displayed on the left of their chests. The head sculpts seem to be the same as the regular versions of the figures that came in the Bridge Crew set. They’re pretty good, particularly Kirks as he has the little cowlick hanging down over his forehead. I also like getting a figure of Spock without one hand trapped in a Vulcan salute, although in retrospect, I think it would have been better to have the salute hand on this figure and the regular one one the regular figure. If I were any good at customizing, I’m sure I could make that happen. All in all, Playmates did a nice job with this pair.

Both Kirk and Spock come with the same two accessories: A phaser and a communicator. They’re the same accessories that came with the figures in the original Bridge Crew set.

Moving on to Picard and Riker, I’ll say that these two are my least favorites in the set, mainly because I could never stand the Next Generation dress uniforms, which looked way too much like dresses. I think they were going for something similar to the amazing uniform designs that premiered in Star Trek II but it doesn’t work. If they were shorter and had a belt, I think they’d be a lot better. It’s also worth noting that these figures share the exact same torso and legs, with just an extra rank pip added for Picard and the head sculpts are recycled from the original releases. Oh yeah, Picard has some serious monkey arms going on here. Overall, they’re ok, but they look a little dated and awkward compared to the others.

The Next Gen boys come with a computer terminal, a tricorder, a palm phaser and a regular phaser. They’re not bad as far as Playmates accessories go, but they are all straight repacks of stuff we’ve seen before. Once I get around to snipping the beams off the phasers, they’ll be good to go.

Last up are Sisko and Kira and they are the only straight repack figures in the set, which is kind of disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, I love these figures. I think they’re actually among two of Playmates’ best. On the other hand, the theme of this set has been dress uniforms, so it would have been nice to get some variants from Deep Space Nine. I’m sure Sisko has appeared in dress uniform before and for Kira they could have just given us the version of her with the longer hair from the premier episode. Hell, I would have even welcomed a Sisko figure with his regular Command tunic from the Saratoga.

 

Kira comes with a Bajoran phaser and tricorder. I’m pretty sure these are two of the same accessories that came with the original figure. Color notwithstanding I really like the phaser. Sisko comes with a computer terminal and a phaser rifle. Again, the phaser rifle is excellent, I just wish it were accurately painted.

All the figures in this set have nearly the same articulation. Kirk, Spock, Sisko and Kira are identical. The arms rotate at the shoulders, have hinged elbows, and swivel cuts at the biceps. The legs rotate at the hips and have hinged knees. The head rotates and the figures can swivel at the waist. Picard and Riker have the same minus the waist swivel, and it should also be noted that their elongated tunics hamper their hip articulation as well.

The three tiered display base is a really nice piece. Each platform is textured with a sort of metal grate pattern and each one has pegs to hold the two figures. The plates are actually big enough to comfortably fit three figures if you want to pad out your display a little more. The front has each of the series titles in raised gilded lettering. It’s a sturdy and durable piece, but it is hollow so you can even store the accessories underneath it. It’s a cool enough item that I will try to find room to display it, although most likely I will swap out the Next Gen Picard and Riker for the Generations versions and the regular Bridge versions of Kirk and Spock.

My set still has the $29.99 price tag on it from Toys R Us. At $5 a figure that seems a little steep for a set with two repacks in it. I never even saw this set back when it was first out, although by ’94 I was probably weaning myself off collecting for a while. I got mine for ten bucks from a dealer at the Toy Show and I’m pretty satisfied. The four exclusive figures are probably not essential, but definitely nice extras to have in any serious Playmates Trek collection.

Oct 16 2012

Star Trek: The Next Generation Collectors Case (and Generations Figures) by Playmates

Most of the Star Trek stuff I got at the Toy & Collectibles show came from one dealer, but today we’re looking at something that came from somebody else who just happened to have a Next Generation Collector Case with some of Playmates figures from the Generations movie. I wanted the Collector Case so I could get rid of the trays and store my baggied Next Gen figures in it. The fact that  figures came with it was just a nice bonus… Let’s start with the case…

Collector Cases! If you are a child of the 80s or 90s, chances are you remember these vinyl and cardboard relics from the greatest decades of action figures. Almost every line of figures had them, and there were even cheesy generic ones themed for your fantasy, space, or robot figures. They were simple cases, usually with a locking clasp and a carry handle and while they didn’t usually hold all that many, they were sufficient for you to tote some of your figures over to a friend’s house so your toys could kick the shit out of their toys in epic backyard battles. This Next Generation case by Playmates was released toward the end of the Collector Case era, but it’s still a perfect example of what these things were all about.

The charm of these cases is all in the artwork. Some were amazing and some were downright terrible. I think this Next Gen one falls right about in the middle. I love the giant illustration of the Enterprise on the front along with the Next Gen logo. I’m not as keen on the little window with the photo of the crew. I think if you’re going to go with the animated look, you shouldn’t mix media like that. The reverse panel is a “clean” image of the front without the photo, and I think it looks much better. The spine of the case also has individual headshots of the crew. Hey, at least they didn’t put goddamn Guinan on it! All in all, I think this is a very attractive case that captures what Playmates’ Trek line was all about.

This case was meant to stand upright and has a locking clasp on the side and a carry handle on the top. Open it up and there are were two flimsy black plastic trays inside, each one meant to hold six figures and their accessories. You could probably get more than the suggested 12 in there with the trays, but once I deep sixed the trays, I was able to get all my Next Generation era figures into it. Now I just need a second one for all my Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Classic Trek figures, since Playmates never made Collector Cases for any of those lines. Boo!

Originally, the cases didn’t come loaded with figures, but that’s sometimes one of the benefits of picking them up second hand. Mine came with eight figures, and all except one (Major Kira, who we’ll save for another day) are from the Generations movie, which is cool because I didn’t have any of these yet. The lot included Picard, Data, LaForge, Crusher, and Troi. No Worf or Riker, but I’ll surely hunt them down later. The Klingon sisters Lursa and B’Etor were in there too. The Enterprise crew seems to have most of their gear, but the Klingons only had their stands.

Before getting into the individual figures, let’s talk uniforms! Generations was an odd movie, as I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I saw a feature film re-use sets, costumes, and even actual stock footage from a TV show. The movie was originally supposed to feature all new Starfleet uniforms. In the end, they wound up using a weird mix of the regular Next Gen uniforms and the black jumpsuits used on Deep Space Nine. It was like Starfleet issued a decree that said, “Wear whatever the hell you want, we don’t care anymore!”

Nonetheless, Playmates’ Generations figures were based on the new uniform concepts, not what was used in the film, and so we got a set of figures in uniforms that have never been seen on screen and I suppose are technically not canon! Honestly, they’re very similar to the regular Next Gen uniforms with the addition of the classical naval-inspired flap on the front and a few other little tweaks and bobs. The addition of rank stripes on the sleeves is a nice nod back to older Trek and overall, I like these uniforms a lot. The uniform snafu probably worked out better for Playmates as the alternative was to just repackage the Next Gen figures on Generations cardbacks. With all new sculpts, it gave collectors an excuse to buy the characters again.

Unfortunately, Playmates decided to nix about half their standard articulation for this line. It’s as if Playmates got the memo halfway through production that the uniforms weren’t even going to be used in the movie and in blind rage they just said, “Sculpt them, kick them out the door, and to hell with articulation!” These figures each feature the basic five points (neck, shoulders, and hips) with a swivel in the waist. Gone are the bicep swivels, and hinges in the knees and elbows.

Playmates dipped into the usual bin of outlandishly colored accessories for the figures. I’m pretty sure most of what’s here is all reused from the regular Next Gen line, which in fairness is appropriate since the equipment in the movie used most of the same TV props. As usual I’ll toss in my lament about how I wish they just sculpted all the gear in grey plastic. Each figure also comes with a personalized display stand based on the new comm badge design used for the movie and for Voyager.

I don’t have a lot to say about Picard, other than he looks great. His head sculpt seems the same as the Next Gen version I have. He comes with his prized Picard Family album, a computer terminal and a tricorder. His stuff is molded in a blue, which is totally inappropriate, but not as vomit inducing as some of the other colors Playmates has used in the past. I’m guessing he originally came with a phaser too, but he’ll have to borrow one from one of my other figures. All in all, this Picard is a very cool figure.

Next up is Data. I’m very keen on this version of Data, since he doesn’t have the giant monkey arms that the regular Next Gen figure suffered. The head sculpt looks a bit tweaked too, or at least the mold came out better than my other Data. This guy came with a Tricorder, a PADD, and a Stafleet Monitor and naturally, they’re all cast in neon purple plastic. Why not! He also comes with a silver phaser, which I will be clipping the beam off of shortly.

LaForge is also looking good. The paint on this figure’s face is better than my regular LaForge, and it’s cool that his VISOR is still removable. He comes with three bright blue engineering tools and I have no idea what they are. I know the figure originally came with some more stuff, but I’m cool with what I got.

Dr. Crusher seems to use the same head sculpt as my original Next Gen Crusher, which is cool because it’s a pretty good sculpt. One thing I’m not too keen on is the difference between the male and female uniforms. The black from Crusher’s pants extend all the way up to just under her chest, and she doesn’t have the sculpted flap for her tunic, making it look like more of a jumpsuit. I’m not sure if they did this to make the uniform look more slimming for the ladies, but I’d rather they were all the same. Crusher comes with a Tricorder, a Medical Case, and a Portable Medical Computer, all cast in bright blue plastic. She’s also got a silver phaser… Yeah, I think I’ll be snagging that for Picard.

Troi has the same issue with her uniform design as Crusher does, apart from that she’s looking good. The head sculpt is so much better than the travesty used for the first Next Gen Troi release. (I have a theory that the same person who sculpted the first Troi head used to work for Toy Biz and sculpted the fright face they used for Rogue’s head in their 90’s X-Men line.) Troi comes with a Computer Terminal, a Tricorder, a Portable Computer, and a PADD, all cast in pink plastic.

And then there’s Lursa and B’Etor. The Duras sisters originally came with a shit load of Klingon weapons, but mine only came with the stands. I think the sculpts and paint on this pair are pretty darn good, although one might argue that Playmates went overboard with the Klingon cleavage, especially for what are still essentially kids toys. On the downside, the molded plastic skirts mean that these figures have even two fewer points of articulation then the rest of the line.

This whole lovely lot set me back a mere twenty bucks, which I thought was a pretty solid deal. I’ve got a pretty sizeable collection of Playmates 4 ¾” Trek figures, so the fact that I only had one out of the eight figures in this lot made it feel like it was meant to be mine. Sure, these some of the accessories are missing, but I rarely ever display these figures with their f’ugly rainbow gear anyway.

Tomorrow, we’re going to check out two of the ladies from Classic Trek… Nurse Chapel and Yeoman Rand.

Oct 15 2012

Star Trek Generations: Engineering Playset by Playmates

Much like the Tatooine Skiff, I featured yesterday, this Engineering Playset by Playmates has been on my want list for a long, long while. I’ve scouted it on Ebay a bunch of times, but a lot of the time, it’s loose and the stickers look like they were put on by a maniac, so I’ve been holding off for the right time. That time happened to be at the Toy Show last week, when I found one that was complete in the box. Granted, The Next Generation Bridge Playset is my true grail from this line, but I thought I’d start small and work up to it. Let’s take a look…

I could have sworn this playset was first released in standard Next Gen packaging, but I haven’t been able to back up that recollection. Either way, this one comes in a Generations style box. There’s some decent artwork and lots and lots of photos and text about all the features on this little set. In truth, there aren’t really that many features, but the box does its best to call out every little thing, and you get a pretty good idea about what’s inside. I really wish I had taken some shots of the set straight out of the box, but I was so excited to get it together, I didn’t take the time. Needless to say, the set comes with some assembly required, but chances are it will take longer for most people to put the stickers on then it will to throw up the walls and get this baby together. You’ll also need a set of three AA batteries to get the full lights and sounds experience. Thankfully, the entire thing can be disassembled and returned to the box for storage, which is always a plus in my book. I should note here that there are some stray paint marks here and there on the plastic, making me question Playmates’ QC on this piece, but it’s nothing too bad.

Playmates had to tinker around with the scale a little bit, so what we’re actually getting here is an interpretation of Engineering, but what’s here is very well done. The biggest issue collectors are likely to have is the small size of the Crystal Chamber, but the way it’s tucked inside the separate room it sort of creates the illusion that it’s further away. It doesn’t look all that out of scale until you put a figure right next to it, and that isn’t much of a problem as there isn’t much room for figures in the area where the Warp Core is located.

No, the bulk of the play environment is the area outside of the Crystal Chamber. You get a couple of work stations that will be readily familiar to fans of the show. It’s the area where LaForge and Data usually discover and trigger the Deus Ex Machina that allows the episode to resolve itself in the last five minutes before the credis roll. The control panels are all stickers, which perfectly replicate the LCARS displays from the show and there’s a stool so Geordi can take a load off while working. There is one panel with some actual buttons, which we’ll get to in a moment, and another flip down panel that reveals another workstation off to the side. Two doorways lead into the area with the Crystal Chamber. Sadly, there’s no actual window above the main control station like there is on the show.

As already mentioned, the interior area is pretty small, so there’s not a lot of stuff to do in there. The hatch to the Chamber does open and you can put the included Dilithium Crystal inside, which is essentially the same accessory that has been included with a number of Next Gen figures already. The Chamber looks pretty show accurate, and I really like the translucent plastic used for the power tubes.

The lights and sounds are activated by switching the on/off button under the main work station and pressing one of the two buttons on the panel. Pressing one will activate the normal rhythmic pumping of the Warp Drive and a pulsating light in the chamber. The second button will sound alarms and force the pumping to get faster, simulating an impending Warp Core breech. By inserting the included probe accessory (or the tip of a pen or any other pointy object) into the hole on the console, it will trigger the on/off button and stop the breech. It’s both cheesy and clever at the same time. The sounds on the playset are quite good. The lights aren’t bad either, but I do wish they extended out to the power transfer tubes and not just the main chamber. Nonetheless, this thing looks and sounds really cool when it’s activated.

No doubt, this piece is a very simple playset, but I absolutely love it. Sure, it would have been cool if Playmates could have worked that big Engineering console table from the show into it, or the wall that has the giant panel with the cross-section of the ship. It would have tripled the size of this set, but seeing as how Playmates designed this one to connect to the Bridge, they could have easily released another Engineering set to connect with this one. But, now I’m getting crazy and I suppose I should be happy we got this one. The dealer at the show had it marked at $25 and since one flap of the box was open, he didn’t have any problem with me opening it up and checking that it was all there. I didn’t bother haggling and just added it to my pile. Even when I’ve come close to buying it on Ebay loose, it was about the same amount with shipping, so I was pretty happy with the price. When you look at the travesty of “playsets” that Playmates did for the 2009 movie, one can’t help but look back to something as simple as this piece and yearn for the good old days.
Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at a sweet Collector Case and some Generations figures.

Aug 4 2012

Star Trek Innerspace: Klingon Bird of Prey by Playmates

I promise, this will be the last time we look at Innerspace on Star Trek Saturday for a little while. By now I’ve probably devoted more attention to these little ships then they deserve, but when I went fishing into one of my Star Trek Totes, I pulled out three of these and I wanted to open all of them, so we might as well finish up the three. This time we’re looking at the Klingon Bird of Prey. If you’re keeping score, the Shuttlecraft Goddard was a pretty cool little toy all around, the Romulan Warbird looked pretty good as a ship and was kind of iffy as a playset, so let’s see how the Bird of Prey turns out…

It’s the same packaging we’ve seen for the last two weeks. The toy comes on a simple card and bubble with one flap open so you can peek inside and see what’s going on, and the two minifigures are beside it. The back panel shows photos of all the toys little features and has some trivia about the ship’s fictional specifications as well as its appearances in the various Star Trek media.

The minifigures are Worf and Gowron and both are pretty impressive for such ridiculously tiny little guys. The paint and sculpts are good enough so you know exactly who they’re supposed to be. Gowron has a little disruptor sculpted into his hand and both figures are articulated at the hips so they can sit down or stand up.

Unfortunately, as a little toy ship, the Bird of Prey doesn’t fare so well. Its proportions are seriously askew, so the body is too big for the wings and the bridge. Obviously, Playmates had to do this to create enough space for the playset compartment, but knowing that doesn’t make the ship look any less like it could be Playskool’s “My First Bird of Prey.” It’s a real shame too, because a lot of care went into the sculpt, particularly all the panel lines on the wings and the details in the engines. If this thing was properly proportioned it would have looked really bad ass. The coloring is pretty good too, with the hull being properly screen accurate green, the wings painted in, and the engines silver. There’s a lot better paintwork on this ship than the Warbird. The Bird of Prey also has a flip down stand to keep it from toppling over. It serves its purpose, but it only adds to the toy’s aesthetic problems.

Opening up the playset compartment and the Bird of Prey does a little better. Once again, it’s tough to cram a whole bridge into this little space, but I think the Bird of Prey pulls it off better than the Romulan Warbird’s two-seater roadster configuration. The open flaps turn into crew stations and there’s a central captain’s chair and a little viewscreen that you can rotate to show different views. Yeah, it still kind of looks like the captain is driving a car, but these toys really do require a lot of imagination and forgiveness to work. There’s a sticker on the back wall to create the illusion that the bridge is bigger and there are more Klingons on it.

I’d probably rank the Bird of Prey just a little higher than the Warbird, but mainly because of the minifigures. I like to use Worf in the Shuttlecraft and the Gowron figure makes a nice standard Klingon flunky. The ship itself is goofy looking and the playset isn’t going to impress anyone. Still, for the five bucks I paid for this toy, it’s an interesting little curiosity for my Star Trek collection.

Jul 28 2012

Star Trek Innerspace: Romulan Warbird by Playmates

I had originally planned on looking at two of Playmates’ Innerspace toys today, but I had some unforeseen social commitments arise, so we’re going to have to settle with just one. I know, bummer, right? Not to worry, we can come back to the other one another day. Today’s little piece of plastic Trek tat is the Romulan Warbird with Captain Picard and Romulan Sela. Once again, it’s been a long week, and I’ve got a barstool waiting for me down at The Pub, so let’s dive right into it…

Like the Shuttlecraft Goddard, the Warbird comes on a simple card. The ship is partially open so you can peak inside to get an idea of what you’re getting, and the two minifigures are mounted off to the side. Overall, this is the same package we saw last time. It’s not terribly attractive or exciting, but it does its best to tell you as much as it can about the toy inside. The back panel shows various shots of the toy’s features and has a smattering of information about the ship, of both the fictional and broadcast variety. You also get a little punch out collector card.

Out of the package, the Warbird is a pretty solid little recreation of the Starship from the TV show. I’ve always liked the design of this ship. It was bold and different and introduced way back in the first season of the show, and yet they stuck with it right up until the end. It’s molded in green plastic, which fits the onscreen color fairly well. The panel lines are also painted in. I could have probably done without these extra paint apps, but then again, the ship might have looked rather plain without them. The only real problem with the toy’s design is that you can see the interior if you look between the wings. It’s especially obvious if you have the minifigures rattling around in there. Still, this is a little transforming playset and not intended to be a completely accurate recreation of the ship, so it earns itself a pass.

The top of the Warbird opens up to reveal what the package calls “a detailed reproduction of the Romulan Warbird bridge.” What you actually get… not so much. I’m pretty sure the Warbird wasn’t a two-seater roadster, but that’s what we get here. There are seats, and two flip up workstations with screens and compartments for the figures to stand. Now, I know I’m being overly harsh. This little toy Warbird is way too small to even try to create a realistic bridge. I think Playmates did a fairly good job, considering the limited space they had to work with. What’s here is actually pretty well detailed, both in the sculpting and with the strategic use of stickers. I’m sure a kid with some imagination could have had fun with this thing, assuming, of course, you could find a kid that actually played with Next Generation toys. The flip up cover also has a sticker that serves as the viewscreen, showing off the Enterprise. I don’t know why, but I think that particular touch is really damn cool.

The tiny minifigures consist of Commander Sela and Captain Picard. Sela was of course played by Denise Crosby who decided she was better than the show and left, only to realize that she really wasn’t and so she came back to reprise her role as Lt. Yar, until they killed her off again, leaving her no choice but to come back as a recurring character based on her own half-Romulan daughter. Holy shit! As for Picard, don’t get too excited, because it’s Picard in his Romulan disguise, a figure I really didn’t need in this scale. I would have much preferred another Romulan. Either way, the figures are pretty damn good for their tiny size and have articulated legs so that they can stand or sit.

I really don’t want to be too hard on this toy. It’s a cool little idea for what it is and if nothing else it’s a kitschy little item for my Star Trek collection. It’s not the best of what the Innerspace line offers, but it is pretty typical of a lot of the toys, which means this line is really an acquired taste. On the plus side, you can pick these up for dirt cheap. I got mine brand new in the package for four bucks. Not bad for what is nearly a 20 year old toy. Next time we’ll check out the Klingon Bird of Prey.

Jul 21 2012

Star Trek Innerspace: Shuttlecraft Goddard by Playmates

Playmates put out a shit ton of Star Trek action figures and ships and roleplay toys, but they also launched a pair of interesting little lines called Innerspace and Strike Force. These consisted of little transformable playsets with minifigures. The concept is very close to the Micro Machines Star Wars playsets in that they’re pretty simple and you can close them up and take them with you. We’ll get into the Strike Force stuff eventually, but today we’re going to take a look at one of the Innerspace toys. It’s the shuttlecraft Goddard, and it’s one of the better toys in this little series.

While there were some larger, boxed Innerspace toys, the majority of the line came carded, which should give you an idea about just how small these things are. The Goddard is partially opened so you can get a peek inside and the two tiny minifigures are mounted off to the side. The back panel of the card has some specs and background information on the shuttlecraft, consisting of both fictional details as well as its first appearance in the series. You also get a bunch of close up photos of the toy and the various features. The packaging isn’t exactly attractive, but then this is Playmates we’re talking about. It is, however, informative and there’s even a little punch out collector card.

Out of the package, the Goddard is a really nice little recreation of the shuttle designs that started becoming standard about halfway through The Next Generation. In fact, it’s pretty spot-on. How small is it? Well, it falls right between the size of a Deluxe and Scout Class Transformer. There are a few nice details in the sculpt, and the markings on the toy are a combination of paint apps and fairly well applied stickers. About the only complaint I have here is that the windows are stickers instead of paint, and the main windshield is actually two stickers placed on each side of the seam where the toy opens up. I may get inspired enough to actually paint the windows on this thing one day, as I think it would be a big improvement.

The aft of the ship opens up and the boarding ramp drops down, just like it did in the show, and you can reach in and slide out the cargo pallet, just like you could on the larger Goddard vehicle that was designed for the regular action figure line. There are a couple of pegs under the shuttle that can be used to land on and pick up the pallet for transport. Honestly, even if this were all there was to it, I would still really dig this little toy.

But as the name, Innerspace, implies, the Goddard can be split down the middle and opened up to reveal an interior play area, as well as the minifigures (assuming you put them in there). The interior of the shuttle is even a bit more accurately portrayed than the larger Playmates shuttle. There’s a pilot area with a swiveling chair in the front, with some pretty cool stickers to make up those distinctive LCARS control panels. There are similar stickers on the two halves of the shuttle that open up, including stickers showing a replicator serving up a meal and another a piping hot beverage… earl gray tea perhaps? The back portion contains the cargo pallet, which can be slid out to allow the passenger seats to fold open. The interior really is well executed for such a tiny little toy.

The minifigures consist of Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge and Commander Deanna Troi. Really? A Commander? Every time I’m reminded of her rank, I want to call bullshit. But I digress. Imagine what you think of when you hear the term “minifigure” and now shrink it down a lot more, because these things are really friggin small. And yet, overall the sculpt and the paintwork are well executed to the point where you can certainly tell who they’re supposed to be. Geordi even has a little tool molded into his hand so he can run one of those damned Level 5 Diagnostics he was always talking about. Geordi is articulated at the hips so he can stand or sit in the pilot chair. Deanna on the other hand, has zero articulation, so she can either stand behind him and nag him while he’s flying or just lay out in the back cargo area. Her paint is a little less polished than Geordi’s. In fact,  someone went a little crazy when painting her comm badge.

The reason this toy works so well for me is because it’s totally in scale with the figures. There’s really no gimmick here, it’s just a little vehicle that opens up to let you play inside it. I would have LOVED it if the larger Goddard toy had been designed more like this tiny little toy. Unfortunately, the Goddard is pretty atypical for the Innerspace line, and as we’ll see next Saturday, most of the rest of the toys feature the huge Starships that really require you to suspend your beliefs and summon up all your imagination for them to work. Next time, we’ll look at the Romulan Warbird and the Klingon Bird of Prey.