Playmates Spotlight- First Officer Spock (Classic Star Trek Collector Set)

Figure Name: First Officer Spock
Manufacturer: Playmates Toys



Spock was released as part of the excellent Playmates Classic Crew set. He was also released in a "Tholian Web" 2-pack with an Interphase Kirk (which I still need to take a picture of).



The Rundown: The last figure from the Classic Crew Set to get the spotlight treatment- Mr. Spock! If you're displaying a classic crew, this is the most 'vanilla' of the Spocks available, even though he has one slight issue...



On the plus side, the body sculpt is good and does a fine job capturing the tall slender Mr. Spock. It's pretty poseable and can manage a decent amount of logical poses.



I'm a big fan of the Playmates Classic Spock head sculpt. They did a fine job recreating Nimoy's distinct features. Ah, but there's my gripe in that picture up there! See it?...



...the dreaded Vulcan salute hand! This figures were made before the days were interchangeable hands were commonplace, so Playmates decision to make Spock permanently doing the "LL&P" is a bummer. The pose really limits your display choices.



Accessories: Spock includes his display stand (not pictured), a phaser, and a communicator. Too bad he can only hold 1 accessory at a time...

Box bio:





Despite the hand issue, Spock is still a really nice figure from an insanely sweet box set. The Classic Crew Collector Set is really one of the gems of the Playmates line, and I can't recommend it enough. You can get it for a fairly cheap amount nowadays and it's the perfect place to start a Playmates collection. It also makes a great set for younger fans getting into the classic show (both my boys have their own sets, and they are their "go to" Trek figures of choice).

AA/ DST Spotlight- Captain Pike And Command Chair

Figure Name: Captain Pike (and Command Chair)
Manufacturer: Diamond Select Toys



DST released this Pike and chair set as a New Force Comics exclusive.



The Rundown: For the most part, DST's TOS "Command Chair" releases focus on just Kirk, but thankfully this release mixed that up a little. DST hasn't given us much in the way of "Cage" inspired figures, with only this Pike and a cheap-o Spock as the only 2 releases (and there's also AA's Vina as an Orion Animal Woman to throw in there). At least this Pike is really nice...



Let's take a look at Pike first. The figure doesn't have an overabundance of new parts, just the shirt and the head. The shirt sits kinda high on the neck, sometimes making him look like a turtle retreating into it's shell, but it looks good if you can get it situated right.



The head sculpt is really nice, with a really great paint job. They did a really good job of capturing Jeffrey Hunter's eye color.



Pike includes the command chair as seen in "The Cage". He looks pretty good sitting in it, but it does accentuate the shirt problem I mentioned earlier.



The chair is basically the same as in all of the other releases. This time it's a bit more blue and the panels are a little different. There's also the scanner/ viewer thing on the side (just like the "Where No Man Has Gone Before" version)...



The scanner is nice, but is VERY easily broken off. Great care should be taken around it!

Accessories: Nothing other than the chair. I REALLY wish DST would invest in a Pike-era laser gun for the figures. Pike needs a weapon!

Box bio:





Pike really is a solid release, even with the little nitpicks. The chair is cool, Pike is awesome, and I'm a sucker for any "Cage" stuff. New Force is sold out of him now, so your only chance at getting him is the secondary market. If I were a betting man, I'd say Pike is a prime contender for the Toys R Us Reissue treatment. I doubt DST would take the time to make the laser gun for him though...

Mego Spotlight- Neptunian

Figure Name: Neptunian
Manufacturer: Mego Toys Corp.



The Neptunian was released on Mego's Star Trek "Aliens" series cardback. (No carded pic). Oh, and he has yet to be re-released by DST.



The Rundown: The Neptunian has the distinction of being the only Star Trek 8" alien that bears no resemblance to any classic Star Trek species. Mego totally made this guy up. You know what though? I don't even care because this guy is so quirky cool!



Nepy basically looks like a cross between Green Goblin and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Oh, and he has weird underarm wing things (which get a weird green-to-yellow fade over time). Talk about a crazy design...



The head sculpt is REALLY detailed and looks very "alien". Mego really did a fine job on this, especially for being a totally fabricated concept. He actually looks like he could pass for a "real" Star Trek alien!



The 'Tun's ensemble is completed with a nice pair of plastic flipper hand and a pair of flipper boots. They look great and really add to his overall alien appearance.

Accessories: None, unless you count the gloves and boots. Which I don't.



I really love this figure. It's one of my favs from the Mego line. I don't know why Mego chose to make up the character, but I'm glad they did. It's almost like he's a blank slate that you can totally makeup your own background for. He could be part of an evil race out to destroy the Enterprise...a visiting ambassador on the way to Babel....or he could just like jumping out of the water and scaring girls in bikinis...

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Official Star Trek Catalog #1

During Star Trek's original run, one of the main ways fans had of picking up items based on the show was through the Official Star Trek Catalogs. These small, fold-out black and white catalogs were sent out from Star Trek Enterprises (a company Gene Roddenberry formed to sell merchandise based on Trek, later called Lincoln Enterprises). Fans would receive new catalogs through the company's mailing list. Let's take a look at what could be bought from the very first catalog:



The first section of the fold-out features the mailer portion, the introductory page, and one small page on merchandise. Fans could order a membership to "Star Trek Interstellar" (the official star trek fan club!!!) for only $3.50! I've got most of this kit, and it will get the spotlight treatment in the coming weeks. Also on this page- a set of Star Trek portraits for only $2!



This page doesn't feature any merchandise, but is instead a "call to arms" to get Star Trek saved from cancellation! The page details a plan of action to get Star Trek renewed past the 1969 season...which as we all know failed unfortunately. Oh, and just for fun, here's a separate letter sent out to save Trek (except this time with an organized march)-



Pretty neat! Anyways, back to the catalog...



The next section highlights include stationary, biographies, and various other published material (all of which will get spotlighted separately in the future). One of the coolest things in this section is the Flight Deck Certificate, available in either regular format for 50 cents or as a deluxe version for $1! Here's the deluxe version:



I went ahead and photoshopped out the original owners name and stardate so you could make it your very own!



In this section, one could purchase insignias, stickers, and perhaps the coolest thing the company offered- film clip frames from the actual 35mm film that ran through the cameras that filmed Star Trek! Roddenberry and crew actually took the original dailies and cut them into little pieces and made them available to fans. I have a ton of these myself and there are some really cool things in these shots (especially the behind the scenes stuff). Once I figure out a good way to get some of these converted into jpeg format, I'll post some of the cooler shots here.







The next few pages list all of the scripts available. Each script was only $5.50, or if you were a "collector & super-fan" you could do a subscription program for them all by season.



And lastly, the order form page.

I sadly wasn't even born when this was around. It must have been a crazy time when this was basically the only game in town for Star Trek paraphernalia...

Playmates Spotlight- Dr. McCoy (Classic Star Trek Collector Set)

Figure Name: Dr. McCoy
Manufacturer: Playmates Toys



McCoy was released as part of Playmates' Classic Star Trek Collector Set.



The Rundown: McCoy is one of the better figures from this awesome set. There's not much to nitpick on Bones here...



The body sculpt is really nice with good proportions. No stubby legs like Scotty, and a nice thin chest mold that really fits Kelley's build.



The Playmates McCoy head sculpt is pretty good, though maybe just a bit thick at the neck. The face is pretty dead-on though, capturing all the great details of McCoy's slightly older face.



One of the nice things about McCoy is that he can actually hold both accessories well, as opposed to some of the other figures in the set like Kirk and Spock. They both fit really well and you can get some good action poses out of McCoy with them in his hands.



Accessories: McCoy includes a sciences display stand (not pictured), a phaser, and a communicator.

Box bio-

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

Playmates Spotlight- Chief Engineer Scott (Classic Star Trek Collector Set)

Figure Name: Chief Engineer Scott
Manufacturer: Playmates Toys



Mr. Scott was released as part of the Playmates Classic Crew Collector Set.



The Rundown: Another figure from the insanely sweet Playmates TOS Bridge Crew Set- Scotty! Mr. Scott is probably the figure with the most problems out of the bunch. It's not a bad figure, but there's definitely some hinky stuff going on.



Let's start with the good: The head sculpt is quite good and looks very much like Doohan. There's even some worry lines painted on the forehead that I feel work really well for Scotty.



The body is where things get a little weird. The upper torso looks fine on it's own, but the legs throw everything off. For some reason the legs are really short and stubby and it makes the upper torso (and especially the arms) look inordinately long. The proportions throw the look of the figure off a bit. It's a shame because other than the wonky legs on Scott, I don't have any real problems with any other figure in the set.



Accessories: Just like the other figures in the set, Scott includes a display base representing his division (not pictured), a phaser, and a tricorder.

His box bio-





I don't want to seem like I'm hating on this figure too much. I really do like it, despite the legs. I've heard some folks switch out Scott's lower legs with Chekov's, making Scott taller and Chekov a little shorter. I may try this myself to give Scott a better look...

-James