Item Name: Kirk, Spock, & Scotty Plush Dolls
Manufacturer: Toy Factory
The Rundown: Okay, I'll admit it. I bought plush. But it's Star Trek plush, so I can justify it to myself. So there. Anyways... As part of the big Trek merchandising brought on by the new movie, Toy Factory was able to obtain licensing to produce plush Star Trek items based on Classic Star Trek. Toy Factory is the company that supplies most of the product for those grabber claw machines you see everywhere. The machine's owner orders product from the Toy Factory catalog to fill their machine with.
I have never actually seen this in a vending machine, but a friend of mine fills those machines and was able to pick up these three guys for me-
There's Scotty, with a very concerned look on his face. Probably worried about "his poor bearings"...
Spock, pointy ears and all! He's flashing the Vulcan gang symbol.
And Kirk with his trademark lady-killing smile. I love that the Kirk almost seems a little on the chubby side- I guess this was based off of Season 3 Kirk.
The plush all seem inspired by the 'Go Animate' look of the characters and are available in 2 sizes it seems (10" or the 15" ones that I have). There's also a giant Vulcan hand doing the "Live Long and Prosper" thing, but I haven't got that one yet. The quality on them is really nice- much better than I expected for vending machine fodder.
I really dig these guys! They look great sitting on the couch in my Trek room. My boys freaked out over them as well, so I'd recommend them for the younger fans too. The swing tag on each reads that there are "more beaming down soon" so I hope sales on these warranted more (it's really wrong that there's not a McCoy to complete the big three). If you do decided to pick them up, be sure to check your local grabber machines first as they may be hiding in there. Otherwise, they can be picked up on ebay for a pretty reasonable price.
-James
We wanted to get the three shirt colors out first, it was the only way I would have got a Scotty, McCoy will hopefully be set up next with a few aliens. They are based on the QUOGS artwork, but mixed with a body style we call "buddy". I actually have a couple other designs that did not make it to sample stage, but I pushed and pushed for them, honestly.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked them and what a great write up.
Wow, cool! I had no idea you worked for Toy Factory! I had only checked out your Electorama blog, but I hadn't seen the other that showed your Toy Factory work! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great prodcut and the kind words on the blog!
Yep, I'm "the" art department at Toy Factory. I can honestly say the day I did the concepts for the Star Trek product was the best day I have ever had at a job.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as trade show season is over I plan on attacking the Star Trek line for an update. So we should have some new stuff for next year. I'll try to keep you posted.
BTW we are pretty much Classic Fans here, but I think we might do a few Next Gen in this style, we're still discussing it.
ReplyDeleteWell, you can be sure that you'll have a buyer here for pretty much anything classic style you guys produce ;)
ReplyDeleteIf you get a chance, would you mind shooting me an e-mail? apieceoftheaction@live.com I tried to find your e-mail on your pages, but I had no luck...
Those are great. I've got to keep an eye out for them now.
ReplyDelete