That DS Picard is pretty bad. EE has it listed as an "action figure" because the arms might move a little. They should just reissue the one from their TNG line a few years back which was more posable _and_ better sculpted. I also hope that Hasbro doesn't drop the ball on Into Darkness figures. If it's just going to be Kre-O and Bot Shots, I'm out.
It's great to see these hitting retail. If this is $6 at TRU, it should be practically free when they show up at Walmart. Is there any chance of getting a picture review? I'd really like to see the Enterprise from some different angles before I commit to buying one, but at $6, it's hard to go wrong.
I see potential for kitbashing already. I think I can wrangle a Federation-class out of the Enterprise and Kelvin pieces...
I like it, but yeah, it and the other two should not be labeled as "action figures". There's movement, but they're essentially statues at this point. It's not the best likeness, but I think it's on-par with their past stuff. They already have dropped the ball. Kre-O and Figher Pods are IT. If there was anything else coming from them that was Star Trek related this year, we would have heard about it during Toy Fair. It's sad...but true. Hopefully they either give the licensing back to Playmates (who I think was actually doing a pretty good job) or actually start doing something with it. I get it that they don't want to full on dive into it, but they're just barely, BARELY testing the waters here.
I wish Diamond (Art Asylum) would reissue NCC-1701-A. I know the Refit is readily available, but there are subtle differences (in addition to the -A) and it is my Favorite.
It's not dropping the ball. After playmates line of figures they could barely give away, it's not surprise retailers don't want much to do with Star Trek figures. If the kreo and fighter pods do well enough, then next movie there could be a figure line.
Yes, but consider the fact that the Playmates Trek figures were utter crap, then of course stores couldn't give them away. And even though Hasbro has been cheaping-out themselves, they'd still do a much better job with a Star Trek action figure line than Playmates ever could. Considering that the new Trek movies are action-pack oriented, it's a shame we don't get action figures. The heck with the KRE-O Trek stuff. I know many seem to like it, but they do nothing for me. Give me 3.75 and 6 inch figures over that any day of the week instead. So yeah, Habro really Has-blow'd it this time around.
Nobody wanted a Kirk with pink lipstick. That's all I could think when I first saw the '09 figures in stores.
Well, I foresee some more shelfwarming if what I've seen is the norm. Star Trek Kre-O sets have begun showing up in Canadian Wal-Marts. The Transporter Trouble set, the one with Scotty shown at Toyfair? It consists of 65 pieces, CND Wal-Marts expect you to pay 18.94$ for them. 18.94$ I'm sorry, but not even LEGO would charge that much for a mere 65 flaming pieces of plastic. The added electronics gimmic and the licensing fees aside for Star Trek merchandise I find it hard to believe that Hasbro would even DREAM of charging that much for a set, especially when sets like Optimus Prime or even the Battleship Land Defence sets, which were in the same piece range as the Trek one consisted of prices that were between 9.99$ and 12.99$ Seriously if this is the norm for prices in CND I hate to see what the prices for these sets is going to be in US, especially after we just saw that the small ships with electronic bases at TRU of all places in the US were priced at 6.99$ Seriously there has to have been some serious miscommunication between the price makers at Wal-Mart's head office if that is going to be the price for this set. I know there's a big difference between Hasbro's IP products and those they license, but come on! Definitely going to wait for a huge rollback on this if this isn't some price error. I mean, maybe the thing was supposed to be 8.94$ and someone screwed up the price tag.
I'm not saying they should jump in feet first, but they should definitely do more than brick sets and a TRU exclusive line of fighter pods. Playmates's mistake back in '09 was releasing too much all at once, and Hasbro's response is to pretty much do the exact opposite. I'm hoping that the Kre-O and Figher Pod stuff sell so well, that Hasbro not only does plenty of toys for the inevitable third nuTrek movie, but also toys for both the '09 movie and Into Darkness. Stuff like figures of Nero, Carol, Harrison, Admiral Marcus, and the main characters in different outfits from the different movies, then large versions of the Kelvin, Jellyfish, that new ship in Into Darkness, and maybe even the Narada.
Since I found the Kelvin, why the hell not! - USS Enterprise - - USS Kelvin - - Klingon Battle Cruiser - The assortment seems to be 6 to a case; 2 Enterprise, 2 Klingon, 1 Kelvin, 1 Jellyfish. I passed on the Jellyfish because, well, it's kind of a lame ship. Anyway, these models are pretty good for the most part. I question the use of the squared-off parts for the nacelles & lower hull, especially the tail ends that curve downward to a flat underside. But... they're $6 each & I can always switch out LEGO parts if I want them more accurate. The Klingon ship really couldn't be much better, though.
Thanks for the great pics! I've gotten used to the blockiness of the nacelle since the original Toyfair pics. The part that bugs me is the secondary hull of the Enterprise. I think I would have rather that they left it narrow and square and dropped the 4-wide pieces to make it rounded. That might have allowed for a little better placement of the primary deflector as well. The fact that the registries are stickers is good news. My brain won't allow me to combine Lego and Kreo, but I'll probably end up buying one each of the Enterprise and Kelvin and trying to create a unique class.
Whoever at Playmates decided to run 3 scales at once was an idiot. They should've dropped the 1:18 altogether and arguably the 1:6 too. I thought the 1:6 stuff was great and can't believe it sold so poorly but the release schedule was just baffling. Just dropping both of them would've helped the 1:12 lineup a little, but it cleaning up some of the fundamental problems would've gone alot farther. I just don't get stuff like Fighter Pods and Bot Shots either. The demographic that still craps all over Tonka GoBots for every reason under the sun is pretty quick to fall head over heels for stuff like that. It's not even trying to be anything more than a momentary distraction forgotten the instant another shiny object comes into view.
The 1:12 figures were the waste. If they'd turfed those and concentrated on the better scales (1:18 and 1:6) and spread them out into more waves. And not screwed over multi-lingual regions. Fighter pods are a way to put out battle game type toys for any license they have. The fact that they keep doing it should tell you how well it's working for them. I'm sure of retailers had been the least bit interested in Star Trek figures, Hasbro would have made some. At this point it's the only way forward.
They're easy and cheap like the mountains of vinyl garbage I'm being shoveled at every turn and I hate them just as much.
I wouldn't say any particular scale was the issue, but yeah, having three scales all being released at once did NOT help. I'm still pissed that the only McCoy to be released in his Starfleet Uniform was the 1:6 scaled version. A scale of figure I have no intentions of buying. They won't truly know if stores have any interest unless they try. They still could have started up a small line of 3-3/4" scale figures, shown them off at Toy Fair, and then if not enough stores were interested, either make them a store-exclusive thing, or maybe even just an online exclusive box-set if it came down to it. Sadly it is. I don't think they'll do any Trek product during the years between movies. Which is why I'm kinda hoping the theoretical animated nuTrek series actually get's made. The toys would be based on that rather than the movie appearances, but it'd be something. Honestly, I wouldn't be quite this disappointed with Hasbro if their press release for the licensing didn't specifically mention a line of action figures and role-play toys...
Hey, is anyone here going to the Star Trek TNG "Best of Both Worlds" event at select theaters this Thursday, April 25th?
