Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Captain Kirk & Mr. Spock "Soft Poseable Figures" (By Knickerbocker)

Item Name: Captain Kirk & Mr. Spock Soft Poseable Figures
Manufacturer: Knickerbocker



Kirk & Spock were released (separately) as part of the merchandising blitz of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"... way back in '79!



The Rundown: After posting the spotlight on the 12.5" Spock figure the other day, I got some feedback from folks expressing some disappointment in the Mego TMP head sculpts. Some people said that they didn't think the Mego heads were nearly as nice as the heads found on the Knickerbocker plush Kirk & Spock. So I decided to dig out my cuddly Kirk and semi-squishy Spock for today's spotlight and let you guys judge for yourselves which company pulled off the better likenesses!



Before we take a closer look at those heads, let's talk a little bit about these guys. If anyone needed proof that a lot of companies were banking on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" to bring in the same sort of merchandising dollars that "Star Wars" had in 1977, then look no further than the Knickerbocker plush dolls. Seriously... did Knickerbocker even have a clue what TMP was going to be like when they decided to make these? Don't get me wrong- I LOVE the original motion picture... but I know that it isn't a movie most little kids are going to enjoy. Especially not enough to make the parents rush out and buy stuffed versions of the crew for them to snuggle at night.



Oh... excuse me... I keep calling these plushes, but the packaging clearly states that these are "soft poseable figures", not stuffed animals or something. My bad. Well let's just see how poseable these are-



Okay. So the heads turn. What else ya got?



Velcro hands, eh? Very nice. I have no doubt that the amount of poses you can pull off just skyrocketed...



Doesn't Kirk look commanding there now? And what of Mr. Spock- Do his velcro palms allow him to strike an inquisitive stance?



Fascinatingly adorable.



In all seriousness, to call these "poseable" is quite a stretch. In order for me to consider a plush toy poseable, the body should have inner wiring or something that allows the figure to be posed in certain positions without any support. These don't have that. Don't try getting all fancy on me Knickerbocker... these are plushes.



That's not to say they are bad plushes by any means though. In fact, they are actually quite good. Knickerbocker did a very fine job of translating all the details of the TMP uniforms into a plush body. They even remembered the rank braids! And of course there's those head sculpts that prompted this spotlight in the first place...



Let's start with Spock. While I do think this is a pretty decent Nimoy likeness (especially given the fact that it is sitting on top of a stuffed body), I think it looks a little young. Nimoy had some character to his face by the time TMP rolled around. Take a look at this shot from the box for reference-



See what I mean? I think this Knickerbocker head makes for a great "young" Spock, but I really feel Mego's sculptors did a better job of capturing the age of the characters. It's even a bit more evident on Kirk...



Again, pretty great job on the likeness... but a bit on the young side. I'd even go so far as to say this could be one of the stronger TOS-era Kirk heads around. Almost makes me wish the bodies featured the classic uniforms and not the TMP versions...



So there ya go. As far as TMP likenesses go, I do prefer the Mego versions... but I still think Knickerbocker did a pretty great job on these guys. Should you bother getting them? Well, there isn't much you can do with the heads other than leaving them on these bodies, so if you're buying them simply for that then I'd say no. But if you want some true oddities AND you're a fan of merchandise based on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", then why not? They routinely sell for only around $10-$20 each so you won't be breaking the bank if you go after them. Don't let society's stigma against stuffed characters hold you back my friends. Take a ride on the plush side...

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- More Star Trek Plush From Toy Factory!

Item Name: Star Trek Plush Characters
Manufacturer: Toy Factory



The Rundown: A little over a year ago, I did a spotlight on a really cool trio of Star Trek plush characters from Toy Factory (you can check it out HERE if you don't recall it). The versions featured there were the 15" variety. I mentioned that there was also a set of 10" characters and a "vulcan salute" hand available, but at the time I didn't have them... But now thanks to a kind reader of my blog, I am the lucky owner of a full set of the smaller plushes as well! With the release of a new character in the 10" plush scale (which we'll get to later), I thought now would be the perfect time to look at the line in it's entirety...



The look on all of these is a mixture between the 2009 Star Trek "QUOGS" style and a design that Toy Factory calls the "buddy" style. As I stated before, this set is a bit smaller than the previously reviewed batch. The details are pretty much the same as their larger cousins, but the smaller size makes them a little easier to display. Just like the 15" set, three classic characters were produced:



There's the dashing Captain Kirk, with his "devil-may-care" smile and a pair of fists ready to clobber a Klingon...



Mr. Spock looking appropriately logical while flashing his "live long and prosper" hand salute...



...and finally Scotty with a concerned look on his face. I had wondered previously why Toy Factory chose Scotty over the more obvious choice of McCoy. Little did I know that my pal Chunky B from over at the insanely awesome Eclectorama blog was the design mastermind behind these! He explained to me after reading my post that they wanted to get the three shirt colors out first, as that was the only way they would be able to produce a Scotty. McCoy is a hopeful for future Trek offerings, but I'm not sure if Toy Factory is going to move forward on this line or not.



As a supplement to the crew, Toy Factory released this interesting "LL&P" plush glove. It looks like a standard plush item, but you can actually put your hand inside this one and wear it! It kinda reminds of one of those giant foam fingers you can buy at sports events. The 10" version pictured up there is great for kid-sized hands, while the 15" one is perfect for adults. To make it easier to spot me at conventions, I promise to wear it at the next Creation Trek show I make it out to. If you see me, be sure to stop me and give me a plush high-five.



The last Toy Factory Trek item produced (well, so far...) is this really cool Khan plush. Khan is a departure from the other guys in that he is based off of his movie look instead of his appearance in "Space Seed". And while the other plush items were available mostly through those grabber machines, Khan was only available through a promotion with IDW comics. To celebrate the release of "Khan- Ruling In Hell" issue 1 (which I am actually in!), IDW and Toy Factory teamed up to make this guy. In what is easily the coolest retailer incentive program EVER, retailers got 1 free Khan plush for every 25 copies of issue 1 ordered. Stores could also order up to an extra 5 Khan plushes once they hit the qualifying 25 copy minimum. Khan actually shipped a little later than issue 1 did, just arriving at shops last Wednesday.



Khan is probably my favorite of the bunch. I mean, how cool is it to have a cute little plush of freaking Khan!?! Chunky B did an insane job on this guy too, cramming every detail he could from his movie costuming. You can really see the passion that he has for Star Trek in this finished product. Kudos my friend on a job well done!

I love all of these guys. I highly recommend picking up a set of these, especially if you have kids (as both my sons LOVE them). If you are going after a Khan, try your local comic shop as they just might have him in stock this week. For the others, hit up eBay. You can kind both the 10" and 15" versions pretty cheap, though you may want to just stick with the 10" guys as they'll fit better with Khan. I can only hope that Toy Factory goes back and gives us a few more Trek pieces to accompany them...



...and in case you were wondering- Yes, that is his real chest.

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Kirk, Spock, & Scotty Toy Factory Plush Characters

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