Galoob Spotlight- Mr. Spock ("Star Trek V: The Final Frontier")

Figure Name: Mr. Spock
Manufacturer: Galoob Toys



Galoob released Mr. Spock as part of their boxed assortment of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" turds....oh, I mean "action figures".



The Rundown: Well, I couldn't put them off forever... It's time to take a look at another of the Galoob "Star Trek V" figures! Today we look at Mr. Spock. Can you feel the excitement? It's palpable.



Just like the previously spotlighted Kirk, Spock is featured in his "infiltration" attire from "Star Trek V". I'm actually a pretty big fan of these uniforms and I'd love to get actual figures of the crew in them some day. Notice how I am totally overlooking the figure that I am now reviewing? That's because these are horrible. Let's start at the top...



Check out the awesome head sculpt! Galoob did a fine job of capturing Zachary Quinto's looks here, with a fine attention to.... Wait... This is supposed to be Leonard Nimoy circa 1989!? Oh. Nevermind.

Actually, I may be giving this one a bit of a hard time. As far as this line goes, Spock's likeness isn't half bad. It's just not that good either.



The sculpting on Spock's body isn't horrendous... if this were an actual action figure that is. Since there isn't any articulation in these though, there's no excuse for this being as bad as it is. If you market a line as "limited edition collectible figures" instead of as just action figures, then they better look good. As you can tell by the pictures, these look about as good as 2 hortas kissing. Yeah, with tongues even.



The quality control is almost non-existent on these as well, from the poorly-applied cheap paint applications...



...to the ugly seams...



...and right down to the excess glue residue left on the figures' base. Horrible. The stand itself isn't that bad though. In fact, it's probably the highlight of these figures-



The front of the stand showcases the "Star Trek V" logo. Instead of just a cheap sticker or something (like you'd expect at this point), the logo is actually etched into the base. The rear of the base features a beveled line to allow you to plug in the included backdrop piece:



See how much that helps improve it? Okay, so it wasn't much... but at least you can stare at the backdrop instead of Spock now.



Accessories: Spock includes the aforementioned backdrop... and that's it. The backdrops (as I've said before) are the highlights of these figures. They'd probably look great stuck behind better figures.

Here's his bio from the box:



Lots of info on Spock there, including a bunch of stuff that has no relation to "Star Trek V". Did we really need the reminder that Spock has a "high pulse rate" and "nictating membranes that protect Vulcan eyes"?



Yeah, don't buy this. Don't buy any of the Galoob "Star Trek V" figures. Had they made these like their quirky cool TNG 3.75" figures, this line would have rocked. But they didn't... they made these vinyl pieces of crap that nobody wanted then, and nobody in their right mind would want now. Avoid like the plague.

Galoob Spotlight- Klaa ("Star Trek V: the Final Frontier")

Figure Name: Klaa
Manufacturer: Galoob Toys



Galoob released Klaa as part of their boxed assortment of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" ummm... action figures?



The Rundown: Yup, it's that time again- Time for another Galoob Star Trek V spotlight. Yay. Can't wait to talk about one of these guys again. Yawn. Have I mentioned that I hate this line? Because I do. I feel ashamed having even bought these. Anyways....Klaa!



In case you aren't familiar with these, they aren't good. They are just giant, unarticulated, rubbery figures that are permanently glued to their bases. Galoob actually tried to market these as "Limited Edition Collectible Figures". Yeah, that didn't work. The figures are poorly designed, poorly painted, poorly etc....



Okay, maybe I'm giving Klaa a bit of a hard time though. He's definitely the best of the bunch. The head features a pretty decent sculpt, although it doesn't resemble Klaa all that much. It's a pretty good representation of a Klingon sneer though and the forehead ridges are done pretty well.



The body sculpt too, though unarticulated, isn't all that bad. There's an okay amount of detailing, and the paint is actually decent. I'm still not willing to say the figure is good, but Klaa is definitely the fresh peanut in the turd that is the Galoob Star Trek V line.



Accessories: Like all the Star Trek V figures, Klaa has no accessories except a cardboard backdrop that sticks in his base. The cardboard backdrops are the highlight of the line. Yes, it's that bad.

Box bio:





Did you think it was over? No, it's not over! Look what I found while rummaging through some old stuff I'd left at my parent's house: a test shot prototype of Klaa!



You can actually get a pretty good look at the detail on the head sculpt on this test shot version. Not so bad... but still not that great.



It goes to show how much this line stinks if I totally forget that I own a prototype from it. If you are an absolute Klingon maniac that has to own everything involving the Klingons AND you can get this for like $5, then he MIGHT be worth it. Maybe. Otherwise, avoid this line like the plague.... And I still have 2 more figures from this line to go. Ugh.



I actually feel bad for anyone that made it all the way through this spotlight today. As a way of saying thanks, I'm going to give somebody a free bagged DST Tapestry Picard figure. This is the one that you could only through the Q Collective DVD mailaway offer. And before you ask- yes, I know that's a TNG figure sneaking his way onto my TOS-centric blog. No, I'm not moving onto the later Treks... I just figured I had an extra and some TNG'er might want him... Just shoot me an e-mail with your name to potacontests@live.com and put "Tapestry Picard" in the subject line. I'll take e-mails until Monday September 28th at 12:01 a.m EST and then I'll draw one name at random. I'll cover the shipping if it's in the US, if not you'll have to cover it. Thanks!

-James

Galoob Spotlight- Sybok ("Star Trek V: The Final Frontier")

Figure Name: Sybok
Manufacturer: Galoob Toys



Sybok was released boxed as part of Galoob's "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" line.



The Rundown: Ugh, I really dread doing the spotlights on the Galoob Star Trek V line. I like to try and point out the good points on every figure I put on here, but man is hard to find the good points on these. Sybok is one of the best of the bunch, but even he is a chore.



In case you don't know, the Star Trek V line isn't your standard action figure line. These overpriced turds are just overly-large, non-articulated, poorly-sculpted, roto-cast vinyl figures permanently glued to their bases. Yuck. Sybok here is probably the best sculpt of the bunch. The details on the costume are at least pretty nice.



The head sculpt too is really one of the nicest you'll find in the line. It looks sufficiently enough like Luckinbill that you can tell the figure is at least supposed to be him (unlike some of the other figures). To me, there is a major flaw in the head though:



Look how clean-cut Sybok is! They didn't even try to capture the frantic frazzled look of Sybok's hair. This Sybok looks much more proper than his film counterpart.



The figures are all mounted on these stands, which are pretty nice at least. The stand has the Star Trek V movie logo etched in it, which is kinda cool. Too bad there's a very mediocre figure stuck to the top of it.



I forgot to show this when I spotlighted Kirk, but each of the Galoob figures come with a little cardboard backdrop to stick behind them. Sadly enough, this little piece of cardboard is my favorite thing about this figure. It almost looks like a McQuarrie painting to me!

2 Galoobs down...3 to go!

-James

Galoob Spotlight- Captain James T. Kirk ("Star Trek V: The Final Frontier")

Figure Name: Captain James T. Kirk
Manufacturer: Galoob Toys



Kirk was released boxed as part of Galoob's "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" line.



The Rundown: So I was on a bit of a Star Trek high this week after getting and opening the excellent DST Voyage Home and TOS reissue 2-Packs. I needed something to bring me back to reality...the reality that not all Star Trek toys are that good. Look no further than Galoob's "Star Trek V" line; in my opinion, the worst mass market Star Trek figures ever made.



Gallob had the Trek license for a short time during the early years of TNG. They produced what I believe to be a pretty cool line with their 3&3/4" TNG figures. The figures had reasonably good likenesses, a good selection of characters, and small vehicles for the figures to pilot. Naturally, they'd handle the TFF movie line the same way right? Wrong. Why do a cool line like that when you can just do a few large, unarticulated, horribly-made, roto-cast craptastic dolls! Win!

Seriously, this Kirk is bad. There's absolutely no articulation whatsoever. In fact, look at this-



Yep, he's glued to the base. So even if he had articulation and you wanted to pose him, you can't because he's stuck to his base. The rationale here I guess was that these were marketed as 'collectible' figurines for display...but wouldn't that mean that these would need to look a little nicer than most figures? Check out that head sculpt-



Wow. Yeah, that's not very good. I'm not cutting them a break because these are roto-cast either; Mego's head were roto-cast, and those came out a decade before these and are far superior.

So maybe it's the high quality of the figure that made these become classified as 'collector's pieces'? Uh, no-



The paint used is super cheap as you can tell by the 'gold' belt buckle that now has a greenish hue. Oh, and mine had some kind of imperfection on the leg. I guess Galoob thought "Why reject an inferior product when you can just slap some paint on that spot?". Looks, um, great?

In fact the only thing good I can really say on this is that the base is kinda nice:



Yeah, in case you can't tell- I don't really like this figure, which is a shame because I actually dig Star Trek V and I would have liked some nice figures out of it. Oh well, there's always Hackley's customs. ;)

Want to read what the box has to say about Mr. Kirk?



-James