Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Custom Playmates Montgomery Scott & Will Decker ("Star Trek: The Motion Picture")

Figure Names: Commander Montgomery Scott & Commander Will Decker
Made by customizer Matthew Hackley



The Rundown: Hey, it's a Twofer Tuesday! Except it's actually Monday. Hey, it's a Multi-spotlight Monday! Today we are looking at not one, but TWO entries from the ongoing "What if Playmates had kept the Trek license?" series of customs from Matthew Hackley! This time around, Matt helps Playmates round out the crew in their TMP uniforms with his Motion Picture era Scott and Decker customs! Let's check 'em out...



First up we have Scotty. I'm really surprised Playmates didn't do this one, especially considering they produced both Uhura and Sulu in TMP uniforms. Scotty has always been the "fourth wheel" of Classic Trek, so his absence from the Classic Movie Series is pretty glaring.



Since the crew uniforms are pretty similar between figures, this would have been an easy release by Playmates. Take a standard TMP body, slap a Scotty head on it, and you're done. Matt did this custom exactly like Playmates probably would have produced him, with the exception of adding a flat coat to lessen the glare of the plastic used by Playmates. Oh, and Matt also made sure to get the color used on the delta shield right... which is something Playmates had trouble with on these.



Next, we have Commander Will Decker... the "Charlie Brown" of Star Trek. It seems like every time Decker goes to kick that football, Kirk is there to snatch it away at the very last second. His dad dies fighting the Doomsday Machine, he gets the Enterprise taken away from him by Kirk, is appointed as science officer only to then be quickly replaced by Spock, has his girlfriend killed in front of him and then resurrected as a weird probe thingy, and at the end, winds up being turned into a glittery light effect. Oh, and only the only figures he ever got were a couple of Mego releases and a Mini-mate. Ouch.



Seriously though- What's up with Playmates never doing a Decker figure in any scale? We get Iman from Star Trek VI... but not DECKER!!? He would have been a simple release! Just like Matt's custom, all it takes is a new head on the existing TMP body. That whole bent-action-foot they used on Spock even makes a lot more sense when used on a dashing Decker figure.

I mean seriously... I can't be alone in wanting to do this on my shelf-



Am I? Hello? Anybody?..... Okay. Moving on then...



As stated, Matt's custom consists of a Playmates crew body with a new Decker head. I really like what Matt did with this one. I feel like this head captures the innocent charm of Stephen Collins quite well. I'm almost in seventh heaven just looking at it. Ha! Get it? "Seventh Heaven"? Because Stehpen Collins played the dad on that show? I kill me!



So there we go. While Playmates did a better job than just about everybody at putting out accurate versions of the crew from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", they still left a couple of voids that needed filling. Well, thanks to Matt, my voids are now filled (I felt dirty just typing that). Had Playmates kept the license just a bit longer, I think these 2 would have been front-runners for release, since they would have both been fairly cheap and easy to manufacture. For now though, a complete TMP crew in figure form is but a dream... Merrily, merrily, merrily...

AA/ DST Spotlight- Commander Decker & Ilia Probe Star Trek Minimates

Figure Names: Commander Decker & Ilia Probe
Manufacturer: Diamond Select Toys



Decker & Ilia were released as part of Diamond Select's fifth wave of Star Trek Minimates.



The Rundown: Yay! "The Motion Picture" style minimates! Unfortunately, these are the only 2 minimates inspired by TMP. I would have loved to get the whole crew...but if I could only have 2, Decker and Ilia do make the most sense.



Decker looks really good. The likeness is one of the strongest in the minimate line. It actually looks like Stephen Collins in the face, and the hair is just about perfect. DST chose the standard blue/gray uniform for Decker. The outfit is pretty detailed for a minimate, with the waist piece being a highlight.



The nice thing about Decker is that he makes a good base for making other TMP styled male crew members. You can can get decent TMP style Kirk, Spock, and Scott minimates out of him with just simple head switches.



Ah, but if you do pick up extras for customizing you're going to be stuck with a bunch of Ilias. Since DST chose the probe version, there's not going to be much you can do with her in the way of customs.



I can't fault DST for choosing this outfit over the standard uniform though. The probe version is the more iconic look of the character. DST did a fine job of capturing the look, with individual sculpts for the collar and lower shirt. The head is sharp too, replicating the vacant stare seen in the movie nicely.



Accessories: The pack only includes 1 accessory- a phaser for Decker. Since Ilia Probe didn't really have anything it makes sense, but I would have loved them to throw in maybe a tricorder or something extra for Decker.



Minimates are an acquired taste to begin with, but you have to couple that with being a TMP fan to make this one worth it. With this being the only TMP style minimates out there, you could easily skip it and never miss having it.It is one of the nicer minimate efforts though, so you may want to give it a shot if you can get it on the cheap.

-James

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Custom Playmates Commodore Matt Decker ("The Doomsday Machine")

Figure Name: Commodore Matt Decker
Made by customizer Matthew Hackley



The Rundown: The poor Decker family... Commodore Matt here loses his entire crew to a crazy space machine and then goes bonkers, tries to sacrifice the Enterprise, and ends up piloting a shuttlecraft to his death in a failed attempt at destroying said machine. Oh, and then his son Willard grows up fatherless, falls in love with a Deltan just to watch her die and then be brought back as a weird space probe, then continues his dad's martyr complex by allowing himself to be merged into a weird glowing energy pattern. Makes you wonder what happened to Mama Decker...



Anyways... Decker here is another entry in the "What if Playmates had kept the Star Tek TOS license?" line of customs from Matthew Hackley. "Doomsday Machine" is one of my favorite episodes, so getting Matt to do a figure based on the crazed Commodore was a sure-thing. I figured this would be one of the simpler customs of the batch, but Matt put a lot of effort into this one, especially the head sculpt-



I wish the pic could pic up the paint detailing a bit better, because Matt really did a fine job on Decker's face. He's got the crazed, weary eyes, the unshaven face, the worry lines in the forehead...oh, and the sculpt on the hair is very nice too, capturing Decker's disheveled look.



Since Decker wears the basic Starfleet Uniform, there wasn't much work needed on the body, other than giving him the Commodore ranking on the sleeves, and the Constellation insignia on the chest. I really like the insignia work especially.



Decker makes another fine addition to the "What If?" line. It's a figure that would have been fairly easy for Playmates to have produced, and I suspect they probably would have done him eventually based on the low cost to produce. Ah, if they'd have only kept it going for a little while longer...

Oh well- At least I've got this Hackley original! Now I can recreate my favorite "Non-Kirk" TOS fight scene: The epic Decker vs. Red Shirt battle!



Please go back and rewatch this fight when you get a chance! Focus on the red shirt's sweet hand moves.... they are awesome.

-James

Mego Figure Spotlight- Decker (3&3/4" 'The Motion Picture' Figure)

Figure Name: Decker
Manufacturer: Mego Toys Corp.

Decker was released carded as part of Mego's 3&3/4" Star Trek The Motion Picture figures. (Sorry, no carded pic)



The Rundown: Poor Decker...he really got it rough in "The Motion Picture"; it was just bad news after bad news for him. Well, this figure kinda fits right in with that.



As I've mentioned in my other Mego TMP spotlights, I think the line is pretty awesome. The aliens are fantastic, and the crew (while not quite up to par with the aliens) are allot of fun too. The place where the crew figures really shine is in the head sculpts. Unfortunatley, Decker is the one I see as the biggest failure in the bunch. The head doesn't really look anything like Stephen Collins in my opinion. That's a really bummer when all the other heads are pretty strong.



The body is the same standard fare as the other crew; there's 5 points of articulation on a pretty well detailed body. Sure, they are a bit hippy, but it's a product of the time- sculpting at this scale then wasn't what it is now. Oh, and I honestly don't remember seeing Decker in a yellow uniform in the film though...could be my failing memory or it could be based on conceptual, promotional, or deleted stuff.

So, yeah, probably my least favorite of the line...which is a shame because I really like Decker.

-James

Mego Figure Spotlight- Decker(12.5" 'The Motion Picture' Figure)

Figure Name: Decker (Commander Willard Decker)
Manufacturer: Mego Toys Corp.



Decker was released as part of Mego's boxed 12.5" line.



The Rundown: It's taken me years to get around to picking up the 12.5" TMP line...and I have no idea why I waited so long. These figures are REALLY impressive, even by today's standards. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a 12" line on the market today with this quality for under $70 a figure. Let's start with the uniform-



Look at that deatiling! Mego did one heckuva job replicating the TMP 'pajama' uniform. They actually stitched in all the stitching lines! And his little belt buckle gizmo is actually a seperate piece, not some cheesy printed on effect (as it probably would be on a mass market 12" nowadays). I'm really not sure how they were able to produce such an incredible costume for the price back then, but why the heck can't it be done now!



The body is very well articulated and can strike multiple poses without difficulty. The 12.5" body feels like an upscaled version of the standard 8" Mego body, so if you're familiar with it you've got more of the same here, just bigger. Again, superior in articulation to most mass market 12" stuff out now. The head sculpt is clean and recognizable as Stephen Collins. I'm not sure, but I'd say getting these head sculpts to turn out nice is pretty tough due to them being made out of roto-cast material. A small note on the TMP 12.5" line: almost every figure you find nowadays suffers from 'zombie head'. Something about the material used on these and many other mego figures grays over time. I'm not going to hold that against the figure though. I'm sure Mego wasn't thinking about how these figures would look 30 years down the line, they were busy making great figures at a solid price point. If your's bother you though, there's a method to fix them. I've never tried it myself, but here's a link to see how it's done- Getting the gray out!.




Accessories- Not counting the uniform, Decker comes with a TMP style phaser. The sculpt is nice, and Mego even went to the trouble of making a little decal showcasing the details on the phaser!



And in case you want to read his box bio-



And for you 'Kids In The Hall' fans... "I'm crushing your head! Crush! Crush!"



-James