Thursday, August 19, 2010

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Custom Playmates
Mirror Universe LT. Uhura
(From "Mirror, Mirror")

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Figure Name: Mirror Universe Lt. Uhura
Made by customizer Matthew Hackley

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The Rundown: I got a long-awaited treat this past Tuesday: A box full of new customs from my friend Matthew Hackley! This batch of goodies yielded 3 new TOS customs, including this addition to the Mirror Universe crew, Lt. Uhura!

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In case you are new to the site, a little back story- About a year or so ago, I met Matt through a custom figure purchase I made on eBay. Matt had listed a couple of really neat custom Trek figures done in Playmates style that I was lucky enough to snag. We talked a bit about or mutual love of the Playmates Trek line and our disappointment that it hadn't continued. Inspiration struck, and we came up with a laundry list of figures we deemed essential to "completing" the line. Matt then began the task of customizing the "What if Playmates had kept the Star Trek license?" figure line! One of the "must-haves" was a complete Mirror crew... which brings us to Uhura!

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Trying to capture the look of the classic series females would seem a tough task to me, what with the limited amount of base bodies to choose from, but Matt makes it look easy! Utilizing what I would assume is a standard Uhura as a base, the custom captures Uhura just as if Playmates had done it.

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Since it's a minimalistic costume when it comes to color, it's the little details that make this one pop, like the Terran empire symbol on her chest...

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...the gold band encircling her upper arm...

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...and of course the standard gold sash and high-cut boots!

While we don't know if Playmates would have captured the detailing as well as Matt, they were definitely kicking up the accuracy on some of their later figures. There's a chance it would have looked quite a bit like this, but alas we shall never know.

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Accessories: Although she could have included an agonizer and a phaser, the only accessory that MUST come with a Mirror Uhura is her dagger of course. What else is she going to threaten that cad Sulu with?

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Ah, one figure closer to a Playmaters "Mirror" crew! Oh how I wish Playmates had done these... but I take great joy in the custom efforts by Mr. Hackley! Thanks Matt!

-James

3 comments:

  1. Love it! It could have used some detailing on the midriff to better capture her killer abs in the episode, but still! :) As a bona-fide Uhura freak, this one's a keeper! I wish, I wish, I wish they had revisited the Mirror universe in a followup episode to see what happened later, or to show us one of the alternate crew's adventures! How cool would it have been? To maybe have them come over to our side to take revenge?

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  2. I also wonder why nobody looked at the episode for inspiration for one of the movies, like they did "Space Seed." If EVER there was one that begged to have a sequel made, with amazing action and drama possibilities, it was that one! Can you imagine the movie made where the two crews clashed? Man... they missed a good opportunity there, and instead we got "ST 5."

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  3. This figure is amazing I can't even think about how to start modifying an Uhura like that.

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