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Playmates Toys Star Trek figures and toys


sh9000

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Fat chance, guys.

Star Trek 2009 was a huge hit, making more money than any previous Trek film -- more than most of them put together, even! -- and generated two sequels of its own.  Playmates still had the toy rights back then, when Toys 'R' Us was still a retail giant and Star Trek was finally financially viable again, yet they bungled it so badly that they only got a handful of figures released before cancelling the line entirely (leaving us with both an incomplete crew and an incomplete bridge playset).  😑

Into Darkness and Beyond were ignored entirely. :unknw:

When Discovery was about to be launched, McFarlane picked up the merchandising rights, hoping Star Trek could be successful again... only to completely abandon their plans once they saw the ratings.  :unsure:

Now, with nothing but the ignominy of Prodigy to look forward to (and the bloated corpses of Picard and Discovery about to surface again), the rights get dumped back on Playmates... and does anyone in their right mind think that, in this retail environment, they'll be able to do anything with the franchise?  🤨

Not bloody likely. <_<

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7 hours ago, tekering said:

Fat chance, guys.

Star Trek 2009 was a huge hit, making more money than any previous Trek film -- more than most of them put together, even! -- and generated two sequels of its own.  Playmates still had the toy rights back then, when Toys 'R' Us was still a retail giant and Star Trek was finally financially viable again, yet they bungled it so badly that they only got a handful of figures released before cancelling the line entirely (leaving us with both an incomplete crew and an incomplete bridge playset).  😑

Into Darkness and Beyond were ignored entirely. :unknw:

When Discovery was about to be launched, McFarlane picked up the merchandising rights, hoping Star Trek could be successful again... only to completely abandon their plans once they saw the ratings.  :unsure:

Now, with nothing but the ignominy of Prodigy to look forward to (and the bloated corpses of Picard and Discovery about to surface again), the rights get dumped back on Playmates... and does anyone in their right mind think that, in this retail environment, they'll be able to do anything with the franchise?  🤨

Not bloody likely. <_<

Into Darkness and Beyond were ignored because they were crap.  McFarlane dropped the line because Discovery and everything past that are crap too.  Do the classics well and older fans will buy them.  Don't bother with new stuff, it's not made for Fans of anything, that includes 2009.

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I'd honestly be entirely down for them just reissuing the classic 90s molds again.  Their ships may not have been exceedingly accurate, but holy cow are they fantastic toys.  I picked up a pile of them at garage sale prices last year, and have them proudly displayed alongside my Diamond Select ones.

Oh for the long lost days of toys with more than one sound effect button.  Seriously.. being able to just play a specific sound when you want it is just a wonderful thing.

I wouldn't mind seeing Diamond Select pick their production back up though.. still want a proper D7/K'tinga to display, and they never did release their Enterprise-C mold.

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  • 6 months later...

I'm not going to hold my breath that the TOS 1701 will be less than $50, but it's still better than trying to pick up the Diamond Select ones, and would probably still outdo their quality control issues with the last releases they had years back.

Never cared for figures in the first place, but yeah, they're pretty bad all around.  Though.. I'm actually kind of surprised how good Khan's face came out.  Maybe sloppy painting, but he's the only one out of the bunch that I think actually looks kind of like the actor.

On a really weird note.. Data ... kind of looks like Anthony Daniels cosplaying as Data, which is just bizarre to think about. :blink: 

Edited by Chronocidal
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On 1/25/2022 at 12:51 PM, Chronocidal said:

they're pretty bad all around.

At least Playmates is reliably consistent about that, even after all these years. <_<

But let's look at how other companies have fared when revisiting earlier characters:

1808037291_fiveyears.jpg.b18a2c9bba573897d2e9565e9a448a1c.jpg

Clearly, Hasbro's early Star Wars figures were an unmitigated disaster, but they made rapid improvements.  Their "Power of the Jedi" line (while still not up to modern standards) was far superior to what they'd been producing five years earlier.

Playmates has had THIRTY YEARS to get their act together, and their new figures are barely any better than the crap that languished in the clearance bins back in the day.  Hell, Kirk's insignia pin still takes up half his goddamn chest!

Playmates-star-trek.png

Plus, their promotional photography is pathetic, making Khan look crippled and Spock (and Riker) stupidly short... :vava:

How they hell have they managed to stay in business all this time? :huh:

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Fun times as a kid having the old school figures and starships.  I still have my Star Trek toys at my house and my parent's house.  I used to love the TNG Bridge Playset and Shuttlecraft that went with the figures.  If they make a new Enterprise D toy then I'd probably buy it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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