Toy Bender

As I’ve probably said before, I’ve got a project going while I’m unemployed. It’s a non-fiction book that I’m hoping a publisher will pick up which basically involves me writing about geek things. Because of this project, I’ve watched a lot of Star Trek in the last few months, so I’m still riding high on Trek fever. While doing research, I ran across some cool Star Trek ads for the old Trek Playmates line that I thought I’d share here. First up is a money shot of the Enterprise D:

Playmates sure knew how to make a sweet Enterprise. Hot damn, I curse myself now for not getting one of these back in the day.

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You know, I don’t mean to turn this into an all Star Trek blog up in here, but hot damn Dragon toys has got some great 16/th scale toys coming out based on characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation that are friggen awesome. I also feel justified in that Star Trek is a little cool again, so it’s okay to talk about it. Shewww. The last thing I need is jocks beating me up again.

First up is Captain Jean-Luc Picard:

Make is so, indeed. I think if I got this Captain Picard I’d carry him around the house and hang out with him My Buddy style.

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Playmates released images and details on their new Star Trek figures and I’ve got to admit, amazingly some of them don’t look like total crap!

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This is a post in two parts. The first part can be found on Poe Ghostal’s awesome blog “Poe Ghostal’s Points of Articulation” and it details the amazing toy aisle in the Northwoods of Wisconsin that contains toys that are now at least a decade old. This post is the one where you can win your very own piece of insane toy history!

That’s right, I’m giving away a Playmates Star Trek:The Next Generation Dr. Beverly Crusher figure that had been sitting on a store peg hook for a grand total of sixteen years. Now she’s not exactly mint, I mean she’s been in a store for longer than most Twilight fans have been alive, but this is a rare opportunity to own your very own piece of toy history. How many other people can say they owned a vintage Next Gen figure that was bought brand new at retail in 2009? Nobody else, that’s who!

All you have to do to get your hands on this figure is to leave a comment below letting me know who your favorite Star Trek character is and why. The winner will be randomly selected. Be sure to leave your real email address so I can contact you to let you know that you’re the winner kid. Otherwise someone else will be selected. Thems the breaks!

So now get to it, kids. Who is your favorite Star Trek character? Mine is T’Pol. I’ll give you one guess why.

Today’s Star Trek themed toy commercial is from the rather successful Playmates Star Trek run. This time it’s from the Next Generation line of figures:

The computer voice is annoying, but if this commercial does one thing well it’s make the figures look friggen awesome. I never cared for the Playmates Star Trek figures at the time. I guess I was turned off by their unrealistic proportions. Now after watching this commercial, I kind of wish I would have at least gotten that bridge set and a few of the core bridge crew. Curse my metal hide!

I love the little thing at the end with Patrick Stewart asking us to come and see the Christmas Carol with him. If he was in my town asking me personally to attend his showing, I’d be a damned bloody fool if I didn’t go.

I fall in and out of geek franchises all the time and for a few reasons my liking of Star Trek has been reignited a bit. Sure the upcoming J.J. Abrams film might have a bit to do with it, but I can thank unemployment that allowed me to watch lots of Next Generation on TV again. There’s also a writing project I’m working on that has me writing about the show, and then there’s the fact that I’m the biggest geek ever and I picked up a Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual at Half Price Books the other day. Don’t look at me, I’m so hideously nerdy I might offend your sensibilities.

Anyway, this new found love of Star Trek had me thinking I should see what was out there for Star Trek toy ads. I found a few good ones so I’ll be posting them in the upcoming weeks in honor of the upcoming Abrams Star Trek flick.

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I was checking out Raving Toy Maniac and I saw some pictures of Star Trek figures I hadn’t for some reason seen yet. First let’s watch some crazy extreme Star Trek action before we look at the crap:

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There’s been a lot of buzz about the upcoming lines of Star Trek toys, hell USA Today had a story on them. Freaking USA Today! Unfortunatly not all of the buzz is good. In fact, the stuff from Playmates has been getting slammed for looking not so hot:

It was feared that Playmates wouldn’t have the experience to put out a product of the kind of caliber seen in other toy companies that are used to making toys for collectors with high standards. So far those fears look to be correct. The Terminator Salvation figures revealed by the company looked decent, but weren’t up to the current toy standards collectors expect and get from many other toy companies.

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Have you gotten in your contest entry for the Toys For Tots contest? Why the hell not? You better get on that, Mister or you’re going to miss the chance to win sweet toys and help a child in need. And speaking of sweet toys, not only did 80sTees.com, Brian’s Toys, and Big Bad Toy Store donate to the contest, but Sideshow Toys did as well. Let’s check out their stuff!

Sideshow is known for having high end merchandise. They truly make “collectibles” and not “toys”. Okay, they totally make toys, but you can’t find them at the local Toys R Us or Wal-Mart. Their G.I. Joe line is particularly interesting to me and here’s the full reveal of their Cobra Soldier:

Hot Pants! Good God Y’all!

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Playmates announced this week that they acquired the toy rights to the upcoming Star Trek film due out in May of 2009. This shouldn’t be all that big of a surprise considering Playmates had the licenses for years before Star Trek pretty much ran out of steam with the general public.

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I want to just put it out there that sometimes I have odd tastes in things that I think are funny, therefore this video is both funny and extremely entertaining to me. Since I don’t have much else going on this Sunday and I thought I’d share it if you are in the same boat:

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I don’t normally care much about Star Trek toys, but I sure do like to keep track of the greatest villain in the entire Star Trek franchise, Mr. Khan Noonien Singh. Diamond Select Toys will have an exclusive Khan from Star Trek the Original Series in the cool retro Mego-style line.

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Star Trek doesn’t get enough loving on this site. That’s partially because it kind of sucks and is not at all as cool as Star Wars, but it still has it’s place. I decided to share this Star Trek ad for mainly one reason:

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I’m not the world’s biggest Star Trek fan, but I gotta give it props where props are due and when it comes to excellence in kick assery, nobody does it better better than Patric Stewart as Captain Picard. Sure I likes me some Kirk, but I’m a Stewart man all the way. The upcoming Star Trek 20th Anniversary Picard & Command Chair from Diamond Select is sculpted by Art Asylum and is nearly a perfect replication of The Picard.

You can almost hear this plastic Picard saying, “Make it so.” This figure has 16 fantastic points of articulation. Better yet, Picard comes with his mighty Captain’s chair. If you’re a Star Trek fan chomping at the bit to get this figure (and really who could blame you), expect him to be released sometime in August.

Toy, toy collecting, action figure, Diamond Select, Arty Asylum, Star Trek, Captain Picard, Star Trek The Next Generation

Diamond Select announced an upcoming series of Wrath of Khan figures. The first wave consists of Captain James T. Kirk, the incredibly evil Khan, and a limited edition Captain Terrel who was played by the late Paul Winfield. Do I smell a Damnation Alley mod for Mister Winfield’s figure? The world would be a much better place with one than it is now.

One can argue that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the greatest of all the Star Trek films, and perhaps the only one to reach a climatic cinematic orgasm of perfection. There is nothing sweeter than the powerful man-chest of Ricardo Montalban*, except for maybe the sweet mullet of Ricardo Montalban and his Chippendales dancer thugs. There are just so many things to love about this film: The ear slugs, the great character interactions, the Moby Dick stuff, Spock’s death scene, and of course:

KHAAAN!!! is seriously the “What would Jesus do?” for nerds. That moment of pure and utter hatred is the crowning achievement of the Star Trek franchise. The whole thing should have just ended with the film, because you can’t top this stuff.

I’m not a huge Star Trek fan by any means so consequently I have almost no use for Star Trek toys, but an effigy of Khan Noonien Singh is almost a requirement for any red blooded, toy collecting, sci-fi nerd.

Toys, toy collecting, action figure, Wrath of Khan, Star Trek, Diamond Select

*The director of Star Trek II has gone on record saying that chest is real. The lack of any hair on it? Well, that might be some heavy grooming work.