Friday, August 14, 2009

Playmates Spotlight- Captain James Kirk
("Where No Man Has Gone Before")



Figure Name: Captain James Kirk (From "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
Manufacturer: Playmates Toys



WNMHGB Kirk was released by Playmates as a pack-in figure with the fantastic Galileo Shuttlecraft.



The Rundown: Playmates made one 'action-figure-scaled' vehicle in their Classic Star Trek series: The Galileo Shuttlecraft! Unlike their other figure-scaled ships, the Galileo included an exclusive figure- Captain James T. Kirk based on his appearance from the second Star Trek pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before".



The first 2 Trek pilots featured the ribbed-collar style uniform seen here. Playmates only did a few figures in this style; Capt. Pike and Spock from "The Cage", and Scotty, Sulu, and this Kirk from "Where No Man Has Gone Before". I'm a big fan of these uniforms, and I'll take them whenever I can get them (even if it means some parts reuse).



So the sculpt is nice...but the detailing leaves a bit to be desired. Playmates totally left out the gold rank bands on the sleeves! I know this is just a pack-in figure, but c'mon! It makes Kirk look like a lowly ensign!



The head sculpt is the same we see on all the Kirks. Again, Playmates painted some worry lines on the forehead. They are a bit too pronounced for my liking, especially since this figure depicts Kirk at the earliest time we see him. Still, I'm a fan of the sculpt and I think it's a very decent Shatner likeness.



Accessories: I guess you could say the 'Laser' Cannon could be considered Kirk's accessory. It has a spring-activated missile, but once you plug it in you can just ignore that feature. It really doesn't fit here since it appeared in "The Cage" and was never associated with WNMHGB Kirk or the Shuttlecraft Galileo...but it is pretty cool to get one. Too bad we never got a "Number One" figure to stick it with.

So overall, a nice figure, but has a couple of flaws. You're probably not buying this for the Kirk anyway though- The shuttlecraft is what it's all about! More on that tomorrow...

5 comments:

  1. This is the only Playmates Kirk I don't have (yet; I've lost a couple of eBay auctions, but mark my words, I WILL have him!). As always, nice spotlight.

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  2. I love this figure. I wish AA/DST would do one to go with The Cage Spock...sort of...

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  3. AA/ DST actaully made 2, but they've both been gone for awhile now. They made him with a captain's chair and as a single carded Fan Expo exclusive. The Fan Expo version has a 'way-too-bright' yellow shirt and is pretty rare, so the chair version is definitely the one to get.

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  4. I got this one on eBay a couple of months ago, but unfortunately the laser cannon was missing. Too bad.

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  5. Hello, can the laser cannon be stored inside the shuttle? By plugging it in, not just chucking it in there, im thinking of bidding on a loose one on Ebay but can't see the cannon in the pics. Thanks

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