Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Custom Playmates Kor The Klingon (From "Errand Of Mercy")

Figure Name: Kor The Klingon
Made by customizer Matthew Hackley



The Rundown: One of the biggest bummers of the original Playmates line is the lack of classic series villains. We got a few (Harry Mudd, the Gorn Captain, Trelane...), but there are so many great classic protagonists that a measly 4 or 5 figures just doesn't cut it. So when Matt and I set out to 'complete' the Playmates Classic Star Trek line, a huge portion of my to-do list for him focused on villains.



...and if there's one set of villains that a good Trek line needs, it's Klingons! Playmates only produced one classic-style 4.5" Klingon: Koltoh. While Koloth is great, and I'm glad to have him, he wouldn't have been my first choice. My top pick would go to this fella here... the original Klingon baddie- Kor!



Since the TOS Klingons all wear basically the same outfit, it's a pretty sure bet that Playmates would have probably reused the Koloth body for any other Klingons that might have been made. Matt did the same thing here, but he repainted it to better match the onscreen appearance.



The outfit did require one major change- The addition of Kor's baldric! Matt made it as a separate, removable piece, which I bet Playmates would have also done so that they could easily reuse Koloth's body.



Obviously, Kor required a new head sculpt for the Koloth body. Kor's unigue features are captured here, from his crazy beard to the little wispy tufts of hair near his ears.



Man, if we had just got another year or so out of the original Playmates line. Koloth came out towards the tail end of the line, so there wasn't enough time to really use that body to it's full potential. I bet we would have seen Kor here, and probably at least Kang as well if sales had kept it afloat just a bit longer. Guess we'll never know... but oh what might have been...



-James

AA/ DST Spotlight- Gladiator Kirk & Kor Star Trek Minimates

Figure Names: Gladiator Kirk & Kor
Manufacturer: Diamond Select Toys



DST released this 2 pack as part of it's third wave of Star Trek Minimates.



The Rundown: Diamond Select again offers a pairing of 1 essential character and 1 non-essential character (or variation of a character) with this pack. This time out, I'd say Kor would be your essential character and Gladiator Kirk is your non-essential variant. Sure, the pairing doesn't make much sense, but DST could have stuck packing peanuts in with Kor and I would have probably still bought it. Kor rules.



Kor is one of my favorites from the Trek minimate line. Like all minimates, he's very nicely articulated and can pull of a ton of poses. The detail on him is very nice as well, especially the baldric which is a separate sculpted piece. That makes customizing the body into extra Klingons very easy...



The minimate-style likeness is good here, capturing the facial hair and sneer very well. Even if you pop the head off of the body, you'd still be able to pick this out as a classic Klingon face.



Kirk isn't quite as nice as Kor. I'm a fan of "Bread And Circuses", so getting him in this attire is nice, but it's so plain that there's not much going on here. Kor easily outshines him in this pack.



The head features the "determined" Kirk expression. He's gotta play it cool while he watches Spock and McCoy fight for their lives in the arena.



Accessories: Kirk comes with a phaser & a communicator, and Kor comes with a Klingon disruptor. The disruptor is awesome!



This pack ranks pretty high on the Trek minimate list for me. Kor is absolutely awesome and is one of the best of the line. The pack is also great fodder for customizing. If you buy 2 extra, you can make more Klingons AND have the extra gladiator bodies to make Spock and Bones in this attire. That's a lot of bang for your customizing buck!

-James

AA/ DST Spotlight- Klingon Warrior Kor

Figure Name: Klingon Warrior Kor
Manufacturer: Art Asylum Toys



Kor was released carded as part of the third wave of Art Asylum's Classic Star Trek figures.



The Rundown: Man, the 3rd wave of Classic Trek figures sure did rock. We got a battle ravaged Kirk, an awesome Vina as an Orion, the insanely great Gorn, and this Kor! I'm really glad AA chose Kor as the Classic Trek Klingon to get the figure treatment; he's easily my favorite of the Classic Klingons.



The sculpt is some of AA's finest work in the line. It may not have all the articulation of the crew figures, but it makes up for this in the sculpting department. The sculpt is a fantastic representation of the classic Klingon uniform.



I'm a huge fan of working holsters on figures, so I was very pleasantly surprised to see one on Kor. The Klingon disruptor fits in their snugly and doesn't fall out. Its a great little feature that adds to the look of the figure. Oh, and as a little side note- see that buckle on Kang's belt? Well, I recently visited the Star Trek Exhibition in Detroit where one of the Klingon uniforms from TOS was on display. I spent a lot of time staring at that uniform, and that belt buckle appeared to be just a bit of bubble wrap painted gold (which had turned green with age). Man, those guys working on the original series saw something in everything, didn't they?



There is one slight oddity on the figure. For some reason, the shirt is made of the same rubbery substance used on many of the other figures. What's strange is that Kor doesn't have any kind of mid-torso joint so having the rubbery shirt is pretty pointless. It does look really good though, and you can't even tell it's rubber until you touch it.



The head sculpt is just fantastic. AA did amazing work on this one. There's no doubt that this is Kor. All the details are there, from the scowl on his face to the points of his eyebrows.



Accessories: Kor comes with a Klingon disruptor and dagger. His baldric is also removable, so I threw it in with the accessories.



Kor is a great example of just how good a job AA did with this license. Really makes me wish they could have kept doing these on their own without Diamond Select handling distribution. Oh well...at least DST is finally getting around to using the great Klingon 'buck' body that Kor has for another Classic Klingon- the upcoming Toys R Us Exclusive Kang. I just hope they eventually get out a Koloth too...