Star Trek at 60

 Now I know what you're thinking: why does someone who runs a blog that focuses on Star Wars action figures, and Star Wars topics in general, doing a post about Star Trek?! Well, I'll tell you why: without Star Trek, there would be no Star Wars. Without Star Wars, there would be no Star Trek movies, or series (TNG, DS9, Voyager or Enterprise). I still love Star Trek to this day. But like Star Wars...the newest Star Trek isn't great. Some of Strange New Worlds I like, but I would have liked it more if the crew from The Cage was heavily featured instead. And if in a 8-10 episode season they had less filler episodes, or make the filler the B plot to episodes. Picard S3 I enjoyed, the 1st 2 seasons, not so much. And the 2009 movie? Read on, I'll talk about it later. And I'll talk about the toyline that I've recently decided to get back into after moving cost me my old collection: 1990's Playmates Star Trek figures! But before I get into that, the only photo (credit: Instagram) of the 2 Legends of Sci-Fi & Fantasy meeting each other: 

PLAYMATES ORIGINAL SERIES STAR TREK FIGURES 

Photo source is Figure Question. While the 1st releases of Star Trek figures were from TNG, I want to go in series order. The boxed set was the ONLY way to get these figures. There were stands, plus a Type II phaser and flipped open communicator. The figures had 12 POA (swivel head, waist and hips, swivel shoulders, swivel forearms, hinge elbows and knees). Decent for the time. The sculpts didn't exactly hold up well with Trek fans at the time, at least those who wrote to Wizard magazine and the Star Trek comics. But they resemble the actors and actress in a way. I consider these the perfect animated series action figures, and to this day I am upset that a Ensign M'Ress, Lt Arex, among others never got a Playmates OS figure. Yeoman Rand and Nurse Chapel would come on separate cards, as would a casual shirt Kirk. But beside the OS uniforms worn by Sisko, Dax, Bashir and O'Brian (O'Brian in the red shirt is the rarest, and most expensive figure, ranging from $80-$150), there aren't a lot of OS figures, although there are versions of Pike from The Cage, Kirk and Spock from the 2nd pilot, with Sulu and Scotty from the 2nd pilot were exclusives. 

Playmates figures we should have gotten from the OS: 

1. Kor. He's the 1st Klingon we meet. Plus he was played by John Colicos (Baltar on the OG BSG). 

2. Gary Mitchell. Kirk's best friend at the 2nd pilot, and former classmate. He needed the glowing eyes along with: 

3. Dr Dehner. She was the original Hot Lips in MASH, and also needed to have glowing eyes to help Kirk defeat Mitchell at the end of the 2nd pilot. Plus she'd fit in well with the figures of Kirk and Spock from the 2nd pilot.

4. Dr M'benga. He appeared in a couple episodes. 

5. Lt Kyle. Same reason. Needs a yellow shirt variant, since he wore that once. 

6. Uhura in gold dress. Uhura wore gold twice, and there's no female OS figure in a gold outfit.

7. Commodore Decker. Watch The Doomsday Machine. 

8. Captain Tracey. The villain from The Omega Glory.

9. Khan. It's unfortunate we didn't get Khan as he appeared in the OS. The movie version isn't a bad figure. 

Movie Masters

We did get Khan, Kruge and Martia in this subline. Plus the 1st ever Saavik (from ST 2). But choosing the outfits from The Motion Picture for the Enterprise crew was a mistake, IMO. The demand for their appearances in ST 2-6 would have been the better choice. 

PLAYMATES STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION FIGURES

Now this was how you debut a toy line! These were the first figures released by Playmates (photo credit actionfugurechecklists), and not only did we get 10 figures, we got the important characters, and a couple world building figures. The Romulan and Gowron figures were good enough to cycle in with my OS figures for various adventures. The accessories are plentiful, and make sense for the individual figures. Plus they all came with stands for easy shelf display, or if you wanted to keep them on card, the packaging was nice, and looked good. But these figures launched the adult collectable phase for the toy industry. Kids liked the packaging and that these figures could take a beating and still work. Collectors wanted to get certain production numbers, it was fun for them. Personally, I didn't care about that, I just wanted new TNG figures because my Galoob ST:TNG figures were badly dated and missing Troi, Crusher and various aliens. 

Now the figured themselves had the same 12 POA as the OS figured. A tricorder pouch was added to male figures, and we not only got the crew, but the aliens as well. Ferengi, Klingons, Romulans, Borg, and Q. We got the 1st ever Wesley Crusher, Dr Crusher and even Dr Pulaski! But that doesn't meant that there aren't nitpicks. Riker has torn clothing, Worf and Data can't really hold their phasers. Picard got his casual uniform, and when they went back to make the outfits from the first 2 seasons, Picard still kept his casual outfit lower body. But for the time, they were fun. And they were my favorite figures to acquire back then. And I found out about one particular figure that I never saw, and only recently found out about. Had I known, I would have continued collecting this line. I got him and a "Lt" Wesley Crusher (Wes has 2 pips, I'll take a picture of them later for a later Lagniappe Section): 

Photo source eBay. I like the fact that Picard comes with a mug for his Earl Grey! But yeah, this is the Picard figure I wanted. And I'm glad I didn't have to do a head swap with Captian Q. Maybe I'll use Captain Q for a Captain Riker. Maybe. But I have recently gotten back to this line thanks to a store that sells older toys, my next track downs are Enterprise uniforms of Dax, Bashir and O'Brian from DS9, the Enterprise uniform Sisko is one I'd like to get as well, but I haven't looked into that one just yet. 

Movie Lines

Generations went the 5 POA route for some reason and as Randy from the BanthaSkull comments section says: 5 POA IS NOT OKAY!! But the only Genrarions figure I wold get would be Soran. Malcolm McDowell is a cool actor, Kirk unaliving aside. The jerk (Soran, not MM!) The First Contact wave changed the scale to 6 inch figures. There was better sculpts and some details, but the line was waning at that time. Had Playmates gone the Sixer route I would have added other figures, but it wasn't worth building a new line for me financially back then. I'd like to get the 4.5 inch First Contact figures, but they were retail exclusives to Target and go for a LOT of money. 

WHY DID THE PLAYMATES LINE END IN THE LATE 1990'S 

The end always comes for toylines. Playmates Star Trek was no different. But I have one that is definitely the reason, plus a couple other guesses. 

1. Diminished articulation. The later figures followed the 5 POA route. But, the head sculpts were better. Keiko O'Brian and Intendent Kira had great head sculpts. So did Trelane. But they were 5 POA. You basically had statues in action poses. Good for displays, but kids checked out. 

2. Different scales. There were the standard 4.5 inch figures. Then you had 9 inch MEGO style figures (cloth outfits), same with the 12 inch. Then for First Contact you went to 6 inch, it just got to be too much. 

3. The 1701 debacle. For reference: 

Photo credit eBay. Playmates got the idea to do a very limited set of only 1,701. They chose Barclay in the Generations/DS9 uniforms, Tapestry Picard in his 5 POA glory, and Yesterday's Enterprise Tasha Yar. There was the mad rush from collectors to get them, and then...madness. Collectors grumbled. Loudly. Then Playmates put Tapestry Picard and Barclay on single cards. Collectors got angrier. Playmates produced more than 1,701 boxes. Collectors got the angriest. What was a good idea on paper, wasn't a good idea in practice. You could once get this set for almost 4 figures on eBay once. Now, it's actually affordable, depending on the seller. I'm tempted to go in on it, since Yar is in the S3 outfit, and I do have her in the S1 outfit. 

4. Star Wars POTF2. While the 1701 debacle put the first nail in the coffin, this was the final nail. The return of Star Wars toys moved collectors away from Star Trek with better sculpting, and adapting to fit collector demands. Kids preferred Vader and Luke over Picard and Q. More adventures for kids, reclaiming missed childhood opportunities for collectors. The success of Star Wars toys ended the Playmates run. And for those keeping score, the 1st 2 points are simple guesses, the 3rd is a reasonable guess while the 4th is what's actually true. 

2009 PLAYMATES 3.75 INCH FIGURES

This was Playmates first foray back into Star Trek, and the 2009 movie is one I still enjoy, the follow ups not so much. This is my photo, and Chekov and McCoy are customs as they weren't offered in Enterprise uniforms. Plus I have the Leonard Nimoy Spock, aka Spock Prime. I didn't photograph Nero, but I have several of him. Among others. While the figures don't come close to the quality of the Star Wars Legacy Collection figures from that same era, they did come with some added features, other than accessories: playset builds. Figures come with a bridge station, or a piece of the Transporter Room. There was a bridge and Transporter playset. But, the quality was cheap. The playsets came with vinyl mats, and the bridge ended up looking real bulky. The line had a proposed wave 2 that would have had Ayel (Nero's 2nd in command), Sarek, Enterprise uniformed Chekov and McCoy, Kirk in black shirt, and the creature that attacks Kirk on Delta Vega. But while cheap, this line was custom friendly. It was easy to use some paint, and often time glue to add new heads. See how many Star Wars figures I used below:

From left to right: custom Klingon, custom Romulan, custom Helen Noel, custom Lt, and custom Yeoman. For the Klingon I used a Scorry head, since it was already huge and out of scale, plus it was cheaper to get extra Scotty's once the line hit clearance, along with arms and legs from Nero, plus Spock's torso. I had at the time a great darker skin tone mix that I used on a Jango Fett figure to make a custom Lando, so I used that and a mix of gloss and flat black paint for the hair, eyebrows and goatee. The Romulan is a repaint of either Cadet McCoy or Cadet Chekov. Helen Noel is a repaint of Uhura, as is the Yeoman. The Lt is a new head on the Sulu buck. And for those keeping score, the 2002 Arena Battle Padme head is on Helen, Leia painted blonde is the Yeoman and Luke Skywalker is on the Lt. The Pike figure made great custom fodder is you painted the hair different colors, same with McCoy. If only they hadn't gone cheap with this line...

I didn't cover DS9 or Voyager because I had largely checked out of Trek collecting. But, if you want to collect Star Trek figures, your standards may fit with Nacelle Toys 7 inch offerings (they aren't bad figures, good sculpts, articulation, excellent accessories) but your wallet will go to Playmates. I've spent less than $200 reacquiring what I lost, the most money I spent was $55 for the OS boxed set. Most figures go for $10-$25 on eBay. If you buy loose, you get a cheaper price. I want the Nacelle Toys figures, but my wallet wants the older Playmates ones. Wallet wins. Every time. And before I sign off, be sure to watch a Star Trek episode, or movie or movies. Aside from Generations the movies are decent. Captain Lucas orders you to! 

  

Thanks for reading! A special thanks to Chris and Nomad at BanthaSkull for allowing me to post this in the comments section. Please share this link on your social media accounts so I can get more readers! 

Star Wars related post again in 2 weeks! LLAP!