Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- 1968 Aladdin Lunchbox

Item Name: Star Trek Lunchbox
Manufacturer: Aladdin Industries

The Rundown: Back when I was in elementary school, status symbols weren't things like cars or clothes... it was your lunchbox. Lunchboxes said a lot about what kind of kid you were. Since they all cost about the same amount of money regardless of what was plastered on the box, the choice of which one you carried was based almost completely around your personal bias. If you had a He-Man, G.I.Joe, or MASK box, you were (as Charlie Sheen would say) "winning". Whereas if your mom plopped your PB&J sammich into, say, a Go-Bots box? Well, it was a sure bet you weren't going to be eating at the cool kids table.



So when did this long-lasting affection for stylized lunch housings begin? Glad you asked. Back in the 1950's, the Aladdin Corporation came up with the ingenious idea of licensing popular characters and applying their images onto lunchboxes. Aladdin's first product, the Hopalong Cassidy box- was met with HUGE success, sending their lunchbox sales from 50,000 to 600,000 units in a year! More licensed product quickly followed, including a box released in 1968 based on a little science fiction show you might be familiar with...



Even though the Star Trek lunchbox was released towards the tail end of Trek's initial televised run, the box was still a large success, reportedly selling in excess of 250,000 units! Priced at $3.49 and done in the traditional dome styling, the lunchbox features artwork plastered on each side of it's surface.



Very much like the Gold Key comics of the time, the images created for the box aren't all that faithful to the show, but offer a fun-filled, action-packed take on our beloved characters. Just look at that side panel above for example. Kirk and Spock running off to blast some aliens. Pretty standard, right? Well...



What the heck kind of gun is Kirk using here?!? An antique naval pistol? A boomstick? Who knows, but I'm sure he won't get an trouble from those dirty Klingons with that piece in his hand.



By far, my favorite piece of art from the lunchbox is the large image of the Enterprise soaring through the sky on the box's front. It really is an amazing piece of vintage style Trek art. I'm really curious what happened to the original art for this box. Is it in some filing cabinet somewhere... or perhaps it's in the homes of the box artists (Bob Burton & Elmer Lehnhardt)? Regardless of the medium it was used for, stuff like this should really be on display somewhere. I'd pay a few bucks just to take a look at the originals.



Like all your standard Aladdin lunchboxes, the Star Trek box includes a dedicated thermos (you know- for keeping your drinks cold or your soups warm). The Trek thermos features the same style of art from the box, only this time it's one large scene encircling the entire bottle. There's the image above, with Kirk & a green-shirted Spock doing some skeet-shooting...



...pink-shirt guy making a call on his phone, whilst a low-orbiting Enterprise soars overhead...



...and lastly, a male and a female crewmember doing some fun stargazing. Not really sure why the male crewmember felt the need to bring a phaser rifle along with him, but better safe than sorry I guess. I like to think that these 2 are Chekov and Yeoman Landon from "The Apple". Just like in that episode, Chekov is using the opportunity of an important and potentially dangerous mission on a planet's surface to make some kissy time with the lovely yeoman. You go Chekov.



The 1968 Aladdin lunchbox is one of the cornerstones of a vintage Trek memorabilia collection. With so few licensed products created during the show's initial run, this lunchbox stands out, mostly due to it's outstanding quality. At the original retail price, a ton of these made their way into the hands of young Trekkies... but finding one in good shape nowadays is a tough (and expensive) task. If you decide to go after one, be prepared to shell out anywhere from $200-$500 on average for a mint example. With such a steep price, I can only recommend this one to the most hardcore of vintage collectors...

Big Announcement- "A Piece Of The Action"Star Trek Collectibles Panel At The Nashville Official Star Trek Convention!

I've been talking with Creation Entertainment for about a week now on this, and it's been killing me not to say anything about it... But now that it's up on their site, I can spill the beans!



At the Creation Entertainment Official Star Trek Convention taking place in Nashville, TN from July 29-31, I will be hosting a discussion panel on Classic Star Trek Collectibles! The presentation will cover the history of collectibles produced on the classic show, focusing on the main merchandise available throughout Trek's 45 year life. While the focus will mainly be on the toys, we'll also take a look at the comics, trading cards, and some other popular items that were available to Star Trek fans during each decade. The panel will also offer a peek at some of the unproduced items that never made it out to the public! And if you get involved in the Q & A portion of the discussion, you'll have a chance to take home some sweet Trek collectible prizes!

So if you are planning on coming out to the show, PLEASE come by the panel and check it out! It's tentatively scheduled for Saturday, but that may change as we get closer to the convention dates. I'd really love to meet some readers from the site and talk Trek with ya. Hope to see you there!

Playmates Spotlight- Captain James Kirk (9" Figure- As Seen In the Episode "City On The Edge Of Forever")

Figure Name: Captain James Kirk ("City On The Edge Of Forever")
Manufacturer: Playmates Toys



Playmates released this Kirk back in 1997 in their "Warp Factor" style packaging. COTE Kirk was a Kaybee Toys exclusive, with roughly 7500 figures produced. Sorry, no boxed pic this time, but here's his bio from the back at least-



The Rundown: Before we get into this one, I just wanted to give a shout-out to my friend Mike Beckett for designing the new banner for the site! Using the logo he designed and a picture my wife took of Nanjin's custom 12" figures, he created that awesome image you see above. Mike has been a close friend for years, and has hooked me up with some great (and free!) design work for various projects of mine. He's in the midst of starting up his own clothing company- Confront Clothing. Their site isn't quite active yet, but be sure to shoot over there and bookmark it for when product does become available.

With all that said... let's take a look at Kirk!



We've talked about Playmates 9" line a few times now, but for those who may have just recently discovered the site, here's a basic view of the line- The figures all feature the same 2 semi-decently articulated bodies (a male and a female) adorned with individualized cloth outfits that give each figure it's unique appearance. Each character routinely had 1 standard head sculpt reused throughout the line for each of it's releases. The line offered a HUGE range of attired looks for the main crew (due to the inexpensive nature of production) and stands as one of the most expansive collections of Classic Star Trek figures ever made.



Since the line was notorious for doing the main crew members repeatedly in different outfits, it's somewhat of a no-brainer that "City On The Edge Of Forever" was represented here. COTE offered a very unique take on Kirk and Spock, so I'm sure Playmates had it high on their list of possible variations for exclusive offerings. Both Kirk and Spock (and later Edith Keeler) made it into production as Kaybee Toys exclusives, with a retail price of $34.95 each. While that may seem outrageously high for 1997, you have to remember that it was a different time... when Trek was at the height of collectible popularity.



Kirk's head sculpt is the same that we've looked at on previous 9" spotlights. I'm a big fan of it when it's painted well, which it is here. I really feel they nailed Shatner's likeness, especially given the fact that this is rotocast (a material typically hard to get sculpts right with).



At first glance, Kirk's outfit looks really great. The jacket and pants have an almost corduroy feel to them, and the shirt's flannel pattern is very nicely represented (something lacking on the 4.5" version). The clothes even seem to fit just a little oddly, just like they were intended to on the show. If you never opened the jacket, this would be a pretty fantastic COTE Kirk...



Sadly, I did open the jacket. What you find under there is just...weird. Instead of a full shirt, Kirk has this odd dickie thing on. Sure, I know that Playmates was doing these on the cheap, so a full shirt was probably too much to hope for. But this? This makes Kirk look like an exotic dancer. Do yourself a favor and never open that jacket up.



Accessories: Besides the lack of a full shirt, the only other gripe I have is with the accessories. Kirk includes a phaser, a communicator, and a tricorder (plus a stand which isn't pictured). You could make the argument that the tricorder makes some sense, but the other 2 are just cheap additions that seem very out of place. I would have much rather seen some ordinary stuff thrown in, like a bag of groceries or a bowl of soup. Ah, what can you do...



The Playmates 9" line is definitely an acquired taste. There's a bit of cost-cutting across the line (like Kirk's Chippendales outfit here), but it really does offer a ton of character looks to choose from. The COTE offerings are well worth grabbing if you decide to get into it, despite a couple of shortcomings. You can usually snag them at original retail cost or slightly below, and at that price the Kirk is probably worth adding to your collection. Anything more than that and you're paying too much for what you get...

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Tiberius Cologne

Item Name" "Tiberius" Cologne
Manufacturer: Genki Wear



Genki Wear debuted this cologne back in 2009.



The Rundown: This is a review I've been debating for quite awhile. I kept going back and forth on how I'd tackle this one. How does one review a smell? Since liking or not liking a smell is a matter of personal taste, I can't exactly say "hey, yeah you'll love the way it smells" since I have no idea what smells you love to smell. You see my dilemma, right? Then I figured I would just review the packaging and design, give a brief statement on my opinion of the product, and call it a day. But that would be way too short and sweet to make this worthy of a spotlight. Then it hit me... I'll tackle this one as a product battle! I would put Tiberius in the fragrance fight of his life against the manliest man smell I'd ever encountered. A true test of testosterone. An odorous encounter the likes of which had never been seen before...

So all the lady readers out there- Be prepared to catch the vapors. For this is the battle of Tiberius versus... Mandom.



Choosing an opponent capable of battling the manliness inherent in a cologne called "Tiberius" was no easy feat. Preferred Stock? Nope. Drakkar Noir? I don't even know what that means. Old Spice? Too old. No, the only plausible adversary was Mandom. Created back in the 70's by the Tancho corporation, Mandom is a Japanese import after shave lotion. The product takes it's name from the combination of "human" and "freedom". Mandom's tagline? "All the world loves a lover. All the world loves mandom." Yeah, if that doesn't sound like a worthy opponent for Jame T. Cologne, I don't know what is. Let's get it on!



Let's start with the look of the product. Mandom features the "Mandom" logo, the tagline for the product, and a weird drawing of a dude's face.



Tiberius knocks it out of the park by showcasing the name "Tiberius" (in classic federation font) emblazoned across the Terran Empire symbol!

Round 1- Tiberius!



For our next matchup, let's take a look at the advertising. I can't seem to find much in the way of ads for Tiberius. Pictured above is the back of the box, detailing the cologne and the man it's based on. Most of the print ads I've seen use some kind of variation on this text. Mandom, however, had a string of television ads back in the 70's... featuring none other than Charles Freaking Bronson. Take a look-



Wow. He turned into a Native American gun-slinger for part of that. And he splashed that Mandom on like he was showering in it! This one wasn't even close.

Round 2- Mandom!



Round three: Method of application. I had thought this third round would be an easy pick, what with Tiberius featuring the easily-applied spray nozzle versus the boring splash-on method... but that commercial just changed all that. While I love the convenience of the spritz, watching Bronson liberally douse the stuff all over him reaks of awesome. I'm gonna have to call this one a tie.

Round 3- Draw!



For the final bout, it would only be appropriate to compare each product's distinct fragrance. I hadn't expected much out of Tiberius, thinking it was just a novelty cologne. But it actually does have a pleasant smell! It reminds me of wood being chopped- entirely appropriate, given Kirk's wood-chopping scene in "Generations". Mandom? Mandom kinda smells like my Grandpa. And while my Grandpappy was a heckuva guy and I'd be proud to smell like him... I gotta give this one to Tiberius. Who wouldn't want to smell like Kirk!?!

Round 4- Tiberius!

So our winner is Tiberius! Congrats to our man Kirk for being smelly. In all seriousness, the cologne is pretty cool. It's a little pricey at $30 for a 100 ml bottle, but it's quirkiness and surprisingly pleasant odor make it an especially ideal gift for the male Trekkie in your life. While I don't know if I'd recommend splashing this one on before a date, I could definitely see this as something my kids would get me for father's day, or as a birthday surprise from a brother or sister. That's it's niche, and for that- the product is perfect.

Tiberius (and various other Trek-inspired fragrances that I have yet to try) is available now at Genkiwear.com for $29.99. Set phasers on sensual and order some now!

Game Spotlight- Star Trek Scrabble Game

Item Name: Star Trek Scrabble
Manufacturer: Fundex



Fundex released this Star Trek version of the classic Scrabble game to stores back in 2009.

The Rundown: The release of the new Star Trek film in 2009 ushered in a plethora of classic Trek related merchandise... including a wide range of TOS-themed games. Now that my oldest son is approaching his 9th birthday and can better understand the rules involved, we've been having a lot more game nights at my house. Last night, we cracked open our copy of Star Trek Scrabble for the first time. How did it turn out? Glad you asked...



In case you were raised by Thasians and have no prior knowledge of the Scrabble game, here's a brief synopsis: Players are each given seven random letter tiles (which are cast in black plastic in this Trek version) to work with at the start of the game. Each letter has a specific point value marked at the bottom of it's tile.



Players arrange their tiles on the included tile racks (the Trek version includes 2 gray and 2 black). The objective of the game is to use your tiles to spell out words... the longer the word, the more points you get.



Words are arranged on the game board, each one building upon the other. The Star Trek version of Scrabble follows this standard method of play, but with a couple of "Trek-centric" extras thrown in.



Just like in regular Scrabble, random squares on the board add bonuses to your word score. One difference here is the change from a "triple word score" into the much cooler "tribble word score". Very clever.



The board itself showcases a bunch of Star Trek mainstays. There's the crew of the Enterprise pictured in the middle, and 4 different ferocious foes featured on each each corner. If you manage to spell out the names of any character featured on the board, you get an automatic 20 point bonus added to your score. Nice! One odd thing here though- Since you only have seven letters to work with, Fundex shortened "Andorian" to just "Andoria". I'm a little baffled by that. Why bother including the Andorian if you wanted it to be something that has a maximum of 7 letters in it's name? Why not stick a Gorn on there, or maybe a Mugato or something?



A look inside the instruction book reveals that bonus points for Trek words aren't limited to the just the characters pictured on the board. The book includes a long list of Trek-inspired words which also offer bonus points too. Sadly, none of us were able to spell out any of the words when playing last night. I failed miserably... but I took comfort in the fact that had I been able to spell out "PONFARR", I woulda got 10 more points.



One last thing I want to mention before I wrap this up- The game also includes these 4 thick Scrabble score card things. I have no idea what they are meant to do, and they don't seem to be mentioned in the instructions. If you happen to know what they are supposed to do, please let me know! Otherwise, I will assume they are meant to be coasters.



Do I recommend this one? Sure, why not. Scrabble is fun. Star Trek is nifty. If you are a fan of both things, how could you not like a Star Trek Scrabble game? That would be like being a fan of peanut butter and chocolate, but hating Reese's peanut butter cups... and that's just foolish. I guess the only thing that might hold you back is the price. A standard Scrabble game runs about $20, while the Trek version will cost you around $30. But if you are buying Scrabble anyway, I'd say go ahead and plunk down the extra $10 for this one. The sheer coolness of the board is worth that...

Mego Spotlight- Klingon Cruiser (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

Item Name: Klingon Cruiser
Manufacturer: Mego Toys Corp.



Mego released this ship to stores back in good ol' 1980. Take a closer look at that box art:



...and here's a look at the back of the box...



...and finally, a quick look at the snippet from the side...



Got all that? Good. Let's continue.



The Rundown: I have a few toy "holy grails" that I have been on the lookout for since I started my Trek collection. The wacky late 60's Remco stuff, prototypes of unproduced items, original Leaf trading cards... rare stuff that hardly ever shows up for sale. Pretty high on my list of wants have always been the 3 ships Mego made for their "Motion Picture" line: The Enterprise, the Vulcan Shuttle, and the Klingon Cruiser. Well, last week I finally crossed one of those off my list. Behold... The Mego TMP Klingon Cruiser!



Released toward the tail end of their "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" line, the Mego TMP ships were a departure from the company's norm. Mego usually stuck to action figures, playsets, and vehicles scaled to figures. Since it would have been impossible to do ships in scale with the figure line, Mego opted to replicate them as small-scale models. They chose the 3 most visible ships from the film to reproduce, which would of course include the Klingon Cruiser seen in the film's opening sequence.



Mego was pretty much the king of producing nice toys at a cheap price. The Mego TMP ships are a great example of their thrifty production methods. Each ship is molded entirely in one color (a greenish-blue in the case of the Klingon Cruiser), with all the color detailing supplied by an included decal sheet (which mine is unfortunately missing). They're basically pre-assembled model kits that you just put stickers on. No bells and whistles here... just enough to get the job done.



Now that's not to say that the ship is light on details. Quite the contrary actually! While the cruiser can't stand up to today's replicas, it's pretty impressive by late 70's standards. Each of the ship's main structures feature a pretty decent amount of sculpted detailing. From the "cooling unit"...



...to the bridge area....



...and all the way to the "propulsion units", this ship has a lot going for it!



Given the time period, that's pretty darned good. The ship isn't all that big either, coming in at only 8" from the tip of the bridge to the end of the propulsion units. Take a look at it next to some other Klingon ships to see what I mean-



The Hallmark and Johnny Lighning ships are both fairly small, so you can see that the Mego stuff isn't large by any means. While the 2 smaller guys have a lot more dteial going on, you have to remember that those are produced by today's manufacturing standards, with a keen eye towards authenticity. Mego's Klingon Cruiser was produced 30 years ago. For kids. By that token, it's great.



Included with each TMP ship is a "landing base". I believe the mold is the same for all three, with each one cast in the same color of plastic used on their respective ship. Even though it was probably a cheap addition for Mego to make, it's a very nice add-in for kids that wanted to display their ships when they weren't playing with them. Kids like me. Weird kids.



Okay, so I think I've made the point pretty clear that this was a nice toy for it's time and would have been a great item to pick up back then... but what about now? That's a really tough one, since the TMP ships are INCREDIBLY rare. At the point when these were shipping, the TMP figure line was winding down and stores were moving on to the next hot thing, leaving theses ships with only a VERY limited release here in the US. While all 3 did see a wider release overseas, it's still very uncommon to find them up for sale nowadays. When they do pop up, you can typically expect to pay anywhere from $200-$400 for each ship (depending on it's condition). Ouch. Yeah, at that price I can't recommend this guy to anyone but the most hardcore of Trek collectors. While the ship is cool and the nostalgia factor is there, you can buy much better version for a fraction of the price. Only a crazy person would plunk down the money for these Mego TMP versions...

So yeah... if you have a Vulcan Shuttle or an Enterprise for sale, let me know. Because I'm an idiot.