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.

Mego Spotlight- Mission To Gamma VI Playset

Item Name: Mission To Gamma VI
Manufacturer: Mego Toys Corp.



Mego released this playset to stores way back in 1975.



The Rundown: Toy playsets based on Classic Star Trek are few and far between. The closest Art Asylum/ DST ever came to doing them were the command chair releases. Though they did a fantastic TNG bridge playset, Playmates plans for a bridge playset based on TOS never came to fruition (though they did manage to put out a couple with the Star Trek 2009 line). After all these years, Mego still reigns supreme when it comes to Classic Trek playsets. There is the bridge from the 3.75" "Motion Picture" line, and for the 8" line there's a bridge playset, a telescreen console.... and the Mission To Gamma VI set we are looking at today!



The "Mission To Gamma VI" playset (heretofore referred to as MTG7) is a beast of a playset, clocking in at around 18" tall. The front side of the playset is basically a large idol that should look a little familiar to TOS fans-



MTG7 draws both it's name and basic appearance from the classic series episode "The Apple". If you'll recall, that episode takes place on the planet "Gamma Trianguli VI", which Mego shortened to just Gamma VI. Vaal's countenance has been altered a bit, but you can definitely see the resemblance in the playset. That's pretty much where the similarities end and the artistic license begins.



To amp up the play value, Mego added a few bells and whistle to ol' Vaal. To Vaal's lower left is spherical opening with a green speckled glove attached. This is the first of many perils awaiting the crew on their mission...



A child slips their hand through the hole in the back of the playset and suddenly the glove shifts from innocent hand-warmer into a dreaded cave creature waiting to grasp a hapless red shirt! I have no idea if this is the first time this feature was incorporated into a playset, but it's certainly not the last. Oh, and no, I didn't risk trying to cram my whole hand into the glove. The material feels pretty fragile and probably wouldn't stand the strain, so I don't recommend it.



To the idol's right is a pretty little flower. Why don't you stop to give it a whiff Kirk?



Ah-ha! Got ya! Err... wait, maybe I didn't get you. Apparently I'm missing something here. Literally. The plant is supposed to close up on a careless victim once they trod upon it, but I'm not having any luck here. I'd say I'm missing some kind of cord or band or something that is supposed to run through the leaves, but with so little information on this playest out there, I can't be sure. I do know one thing though- The plant leaves are INCREDIBLY easy to break off, so watch out for that if you ever run across one of these.



Vaal's next trap is located directly beneath his face. A small throne sits atop an innocent blue platform. "Obviously... no danger... here", says our brave captain...



"Sppppooooooooccccccckkkkkkkk!!!!!!!" But it's too late! Kirk has had a nice trip, he'll see you in the fall. The trap door is operated by a rather tricky little mechanism in the back of the playset. You've got to have some pretty strong hands to pop it free of it's catches. Broken latches are probably another issue one should keep a close eye out for.



Kirk's trip through the trap door leads us to the back of the playset. While the front facade of the playset is almost all plastic, the back portion is made entirely of cardboard. 3 pieces of cardboard are included, which (when assembled) resemble a large brown cave. The cardboard structure is attached to the base of the plastic portion by means of these small green clips:



Yeah, good luck not losing those. Anywho...



The back side of the playset doesn't offer as much fun as the front. Let's let Kirk escape his cave imprisonment (through one of three convenient openings at the bottom) and head up top...



...where he finds pretty much the same environment. More cave. "But... what's this... little area here"? Well Kirk, I'm glad you asked!



That area is where one would insert their hand to control the idol's mouth of course! Not really sure what good it does, other than for some sweet puppetry action. Oh! Before I forget, let's head back out front and take a closer look at the idol's face.



To replicate Vaal's gleaming stare, Mego used glow-in-the-dark material for his eyes. Though I couldn't capture it on film, the effect still works on mine, 35 years after it was made!



So that's about it for the playset itself... but what a mission to an alien world be without an alien encounter? Mego included 4 little aliens with this set...and boy do I mean LITTLE.



These diminutive little guys, while creepy-looking, don't seem to pose much threat to our beloved starship crew... nor do they bare any resemblance to the natives featured in "The Apple". Just who are these guys? Well, let's take a look at the original commercial and see if that explains it-



Lilliputians!?! Like the guys from "Gulliver's Travels"? Yeah, okay. That makes sense.



Still, the Lilliputians are kinda cool. They each have little post things in their hands and peg holes in their heels allowing them to either post into the playset front, or...



...peg together into an alien conga line! See, these guys aren't threatening at all. They just love to dance!



The MTG7 set is easily one of the rarest items in the Mego Star Trek line. It's almost impossible to find complete with all pieces. Even if it's all there, it's somewhat flimsy construction almost guarantees that you'll have wear issues on a loose sample. Taking all that into account though, it's still one AWESOME toy. It has a ton of fun features and it can work with pretty much any scale of Trek figures. I seriously would have never left the house if I would have had this as a kid. It's just too bad it's so pricey nowadays...

Playmates Spotlight- Bele (9" Figure)

Figure Name: Bele
Manufacturer: Playmates Toys



Bele was released as part of the "Warp Factor"-style 9" figure series.



The Rundown: Cherons are easily one of the more iconic aliens of classic Trek, though they only made 1 appearance in the series. I think their status owes more to their unique look and Frank Gorshin's lively portrayal than it does to the episode itself... but I digress. There have only been basically 2 Cheron figures produced over the years; the original Mego figure (and it's reissue) spotlighted HERE, and this 9" Bele figure we are looking at today. A Bele figure was planned for the 4.5" line, but sadly never saw release. Which leaves this 9" guy as the only true Bele action figure ever released. Let's check him out...



Bele features the same male body used across Playmates 9" line. It's not what you'd call "super-articulated" by any means, but there are enough joints here to pull off a few good poses. The most glaring problem with these bodies is the lack of ankle and wrist swivels. Those articulation points make a world of difference for more natural posing.



The Cheron uniform is pretty simplistic in the show, consisting of basically a gray jumpsuit with very few extra details. Not that it was a hard task, but Playmates did a fine job of reproducing that here. There's a nice bit of trim around the waist & wrists, and the collar has a nice "sparkled" look.



The best thing about this figure is the work on the head. Bele's head sculpt is one of the best in the 9" line. The likeness to Gorshin is solid even by today's standards, and the paint work is really clean and nice (even featuring a nice reddish line right at the edge of the eyelids). I've never used the stuff before, but I'm tempted to pick up some Hydroshrink to try and get this head down to 4.5" size for a custom... it's that good. It's nice to see that even though most of Bele was easily cobbled together, Playmates went the extra mile on the head to really make this figure shine.



Accessories: Bele didn't really have much in the way of accessories in the episode (even his ship was "invisible"), so Playmates did the best they could with what they had to work with. In one scene, Bele sits down for a drink with Kirk & Spock... so Playmates included a bunch of bottles of liquor and a couple of glasses so you could recreate this in 9" form. I'm sure that 9" Scotty is pleased to see these done in his scale. Nothing better than promoting alcoholism in those young Trek fans.

Here's his box bio for ya-





If you're buying 9" Trek figures, Bele is definitely one to take a look at. Though a bit on the plain side, the figure is very well done and features a fantastic likeness. Though I wish Bele had made it into the regular Playmates line (or even better... as an Art Asylum figure), I have no real complaints on this one. If we only ever get one true Bele figure, I'm glad that it's at least a good one...

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Coca-Cola Drinking Glass Set

Item Name: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Drinking Glasses
Manufacturer: The Coca-Cola Company



The Rundown: So there's been a lot of talk recently about safety issues with the paint used on promotional drinking glasses. It all started with a recall of the Shrek glasses at McDonald's due to dangerously high levels of cadmium in the paint. That recall lead to the testing of various other glasses as well, including some from way back before 2000. That got me thinking about Star Trek glasses...



There have been various sets of promotional Trek drinking glasses over the years, some focusing on the crew in their original series looks and some focusing on the movie looks (like the Star Trek III set spotlighted HERE). I'll bet every one of them is just loaded with lead or cadmium. Drinking can be fun... or dangerous.



The set we are looking at today was made by Coca-Cola as a promotion for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". This set is a bit odd for a couple of reasons. First, there are only 3 glasses. Each of the other "major" glass set promotions featured four. Second, they don't seem to have a clear distributor. While most of the glasses were filtered through various fast-food outlets, it seems that maybe these never found a restaurant to call home. (Well, at least that's what I've been told! Please chime in if you have any other info!)



Each of the glasses follows the same format- An image up front (like Ilia and Decker up there)...



... and a bit of information on the back.



The choices made for the front are "okay". Of course, the Enterprise is a no-brainer, but I'm not sure why Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are all crammed onto one glass together. Sure, I like having an Ilia/ Decker glass... but I would have much rather seen Kirk and Spock together on one glass, and maybe McCoy/ Scott on a fourth. I guess beggars can't be choosers.



The set is pretty nice overall, but not nearly as cool as some of the other Trek glasses available over the years. The price fluctuates on this one, with the glasses ranging from $10- $25 each. I can't say they are a "must-have" by any means at, but if you dig TMP like me, they are pretty cool to have.

By the way... I've drank out of these glasses plenty over the years, and there's nothing wrong with me. Government worry-warts.