A History of Star Trek Toys

Welcome back, my friends. This is Mike the Birdman

Dodd, and this is This Week in Geeks Future Imperfect,

brought to you by GamerGrub .com, but also our

good friends over at Starfleet, which you can

find over at www .sfi .org, the world's largest

Star Trek fan club. But I'm not alone on this

intrepid voyage through the stars. I am joined

with the co -creator, the GeekCast Radio Network.

Steve Megatron Phillips and guys we are back

here on future imperfect and this week we are

talking about the Star Trek toys that's right

going all the way from the Megos and everything

in between and even touching on some of the cooler

stuff like some of the prop replicas which have

been offered over the years and uh well as we

like to start off every show we got some news

we did receive quite a number of entries into

our Klingon contest that's right we are giving

away a copy of Klingon Monopoly they only made

1700 one of these things and we want to give

one to you along with a copy of the latest Star

Trek The Next Generation Blu -ray. Now this contest

is open to residents of North America only, simply

because shipping outside of this country is,

well, a bitch, and the DVD is region one anyway.

So for you to enter this contest, I want you

to send your best Klingon war cry, we're going

to extend this for one more episode, because

I want more entries, because we've got a bunch

of really cool ones. So send that to Feedback.

at thisweekendgeek .net Subject Line Klingon

Contest with your best one paragraph, no more,

Klingon -inspired war cry. I will do my best

to get someone to read it in Klingon, and then

we will play that on the show. So in this episode,

like I said, we're going to talk about the Star

Trek toys. We're going to have a lot of fun doing

that simply because me and Steve are both toy

collectors. He does Transformers. I do... everything

else and I'm looking forward to talking about

this because I actually collected a fair number

of these when I was a kid kicking myself in the

nuts that I didn't keep a lot of these toys,

but luckily the memory is good and the internet

is a wonderful tool for research. But speaking

of research, we actually have to hit one of our

new elements in the show. As you heard last time,

we checked up on the LCARS computer network and

see what we could pull from the Starfleet databases.

We're going to do the same again, and then next

time we're going to bring up another segment

called From the Replicator and you'll hear that

beginning next show. But for now, let's check

the LCARS. our computer core and see what comes

up. This computer terminal provides full access

to the LCARS computer net. It can be operated

both by voice and keypad commands. Initiating

update. Hello and welcome again to another edition

of LCARS. I'm Steve Megatron Phillips and today

I'll be talking about some very cool items. More

specifically, I'll be talking about the awesome

Star Trek play sets. Not to dismiss the toys

by other lines, I'm primarily going to be focusing

on the Playmates line. There were eight primary

sets in the early to late Playmates line that

allowed the 4 .5 -inch figures to be used. The

most notable was the USS Enterprise D bridge.

That was by far my favorite of all of these play

sets. It featured fall apart pieces, slide out

station chairs, and not last but not least, sound

effects. The view screen was epically cool when

lit up, and you could see phaser fire up on it,

and it just, the details on this thing were epically

cool. The sounds included were for the view screen,

phasers, tractor beam, photon torpedoes, hailing

frequencies, the computer, the warp drive, and

the most epic of them all, red alert. This particular

play set allowed for up to six figures. Ops,

Con, Command, and F stations. Tactical standing,

of course. With working technical console. I

just, I love the detail in that. That the whole

bridge was... It was one of the coolest things

to have for a kid into Star Trek and wanting

to have a play set. I could not recommend anything

better. I wish I still had it. I'm only going

to cover two more areas in this edition of Alcarz,

which also pertained to the Enterprise -D. In

addition to having the bridge as a child, I also

had the transporter room, which was also really

cool. It featured beaming sounds with a light

that rendered the figures invisible with a half

-silvered mirror and use of light. It could easily

fit several figures on the pad and a technician

running the console. Finally, I'd like to bring

up a toy that, unfortunately, I didn't get to

release. of this, but it should have been out

in the original TNG line, I feel, anyhow, but

it came out for the first TNG film, so, you know,

better late than never for the Enterprise -D

it is. This playset being engineering. Although

I did not have it, I, like I said before, I think

this is fairly cool. It featured several consoles

and a view into the actual warp core, which,

You wouldn't want to see the warp core. I mean,

that could have been such a cool tactic to play

with, you know, earlier on with the bridge and

everything else. In any case, this set featured

a full -down engineering console, several sound

bites, including a power -up, an emergency warning,

warp core breach sounds, and a pulsating warp

core, which also could be seen with the white

-up core. So, with that, I think that this draws

this edition of Elcrestral Close. So with that,

I send it back to the show. Please confirm deactivation

request deactivation complete now disconnected

from this terminal Welcome back to a future imperfect

another great review done by me and the yellow

car system Yeah, we're gonna get into some awesome

talk on the the the greatness of the Star Trek

toys today. Absolutely now I've been collecting

the Star Trek toys I Started with the playmates

series and I didn't even know there was a series

previous to this Which is the mega figures, but

we'll talk about those as the show goes on um

My first one was a Borg drone. I think it was

the Shuttlecraft, the Enterprise D, and then

the next Christmas I got the Romulan Warbird

and the Klingon Attack Cruiser. and definitely

some awesome ones in there yeah i mean i was

a big fan of playmates now playmates is a name

you probably recognize from the toy world simply

because they've had so many great franchises

past the turtles yeah that's the one they're

probably their most famous for but it's weird

that they actually did get the license back For

Star Trek in 2009 when the latest series Came

out and I actually have a good chunk of that

series kicking around my office. I actually have

the Enterprise bridge sitting behind me and Part

of those figures. They also got collectible pieces

of the bridge which you could collect and build

I think it was the transporter room or something.

Maybe it's the transfer room. I have I'm not

sure I think it was the transporter room that

they had pieces of that you could build yeah,

which I I like how companies do that because

Marvel Legends was very successful doing that

with the buildable figures. I've got the buildable

apocalypse and the sentinel, but it means you

have to buy everything. But hey, that's not so

bad. And Trek did this a while back too because

they had movie figures that were slightly higher

detail than the typical Playmates figures and

they allowed you to build Veger. at one point.

Really? I was totally unaware of this. Yes, you

had to buy all of these specific figures. They

had the motion picture Kirk Spock and then they

had, for instance, you'd buy like Khan and you'd

buy a couple other figures and you'd get the

rest of Vager. Now let's go back through some

of the histories of these toys. Now going all

the way back to the original series, they had

Basically GI Joe's of these toys and they were

from the mega series mega They were I guess the

best way it would be call them. It's kind of

like if dolls were cool for boys would be the

most Accurate way I can describe them anyway,

and Well, they were I think they were notable

because they had real cloth uniforms and I'd

say the lightnesses were okay but they had the

posibility of early Barbie dolls probably a little

bit better than because they did have actual

joints and their hands could move unlike Barbie

who I think had a straight arm for quite some

time you know she can move her arm up and down

but not bend at the wrist I just realized I know

a little too much about this. But I know Mega

mostly from Toyfair's magazine where they had

Mega Theater and they put the toys in compromising

positions like the Hulk fighting Spider -Man

and hilarity usually ensued. Now the Mega stuff

I never have actually got into but while I was

doing kind of research for the show they have

done quite a cool job on doing these because

in the original series there was Captain Kirk,

Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, and the Klingon.

And the Klingon I actually want to bring to attention

simply because it's incredibly well detailed

for the toys of the era. I mean even the GI Joes

I don't think looked this good and it'd be funny.

that the Klingon toy would eventually be kit

-bashed into the Gorn, which the Gorn, if you

remember from Star Trek, was the creature Kirk

fought on the planet and shot out his heart with

diamonds. Famous episode, we've all seen it parodied

at some point. And it was neat though just because

Meggo built the Gorn from kitbash parts, the

Klingon body being most of that. Which is kind

of, you know, also had a Klingon uniform. Which

it's funny, I think the Klingon is one of the

easier to find Megos figures of the era, but

it seems like most of these figures go between

anywhere between 100 and 150 bucks, depending

whether you want a loose sample or one in the

box. But I know Steve, you want to talk about

play sets and Megos pretty much the precedent

for this yeah I know that they had like the the

transporter room the bridge they had specific

sets for different scenarios I'm sorry to say

I don't know too much about the the mega sets

I do know what I have seen as far as the toy

fair magazines and a couple of things as the

internet was young There was one play set and

I just found out about this while I was doing

research for the show and it was called mission

to gamma four and It very much reminds me of

an early Castle gray skull sort of meets snake

mountain and what I mean is it's a huge play

set I mean this thing is I guess about two feet

tall if not taller Comes with these little mini

alien figures and the eyes light up on this creature

Evidently, it's pretty hard to find, too. Some

of the other play sets you would find were the

classic transporter room, and this is notable

because you could put your mego figures inside

of it, and you could spin them so they would

disappear in this transporter effect. In just

reality, you were hiding them in the other side

of the box, but you would see the transporter

effect, which was kind of cool. Which evidently

there was a version of the transporter room which

would be later used for a Doctor Who toy based

on the TARDIS. Which I think is kinda neat there.

But the one thing that Meggo did right, and this

is pretty much set, I'd say the mold in terms

of what the toys could do and functionality was

built into it, was the bridge playset. And the

bridge playset is important to note because it's

also a carrying case. And the only other example

I can find of anything like this, at least to

my memory, is the Star Wars Death Star set, which

was also a carrying case. There was also the

Darth Vader head for the Return of the Jedi back

in 1983, and there was also one that was developed

later. For power of the force and then there

was the one that would give that was that you

could buy at San Diego Comic -Con And I think

that ran like a hundred dollars. I think that

was last year of the year before last I believe

they also had a Millennium Falcon that could

oh, yeah Oh Lucky bugger yes, but yeah, it's

weird though in the fact that this playset by

mego they made entirely too many So, finding

a mint copy of this, even in the box, is relatively

easy. I almost tempered the track one down myself.

I'd like to get this. It's a nice looking display

piece. I mean, it has the bridge console, you

got Kirk's chair, you got a computer console

behind him. I mean, it's not accurate to the

show at all, but it does look kind of cool though.

There's even like a transporter room off to the

side. If you see in the movie Trekkies, there's

one point where... Denise Richards enters one

of the fan's rooms and you see it behind him

and she starts fiddling with the dolls which

kind of evolves into some of the other Trek toys

of the era and this is the kind of stuff that

I'm interested in. There's this thing that I

love and it's a piece of Spock's equipment and

it's the Tricorder. And the tricorder was important

to note because it's one of the is one of the

really cool roleplay toys that existed from that

era and the neat thing about it was it was actually

a working tape recorder and it actually had 30

minutes of What's the episode called? The Menagerie

on it. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, and it also had

the other side of the tape was like space sounds

and other weird shit, but it's actually a functioning

tape recorder. Finding copies of this now is

a little bit hard, but there was also a version

that was based upon the 1960s Batman, which would

come out pretty much using the same tech in the

same mold. Now, supposedly... It's unknown if

they're actually produced, and this would have

come out in around 1977. Now, there's a pretty

cool ad that the... mega group I'd had, and I

don't know whether this was meant to be an internal

ad or whether this was featured in the back of

comic books, but there's one where it's called

America's Favorite Back to School Outfit, and

you see this kid, he's got the tricorder, he's

got another scanning device on his wrist, he's

got the communicator in his left hand, and the

phaser in the right. And I think that's pretty

cool, the fact that they did have roleplay toys

like this. Now, looking at the phaser, I'm pretty

sure a friend of mine when I was a kid, my friend

Wayne, the guy that got me in the Star Trek when

I was a kid, actually had this and I think we

actually screwed around with this. And what it

was, it was kind of like the precursor to laser

tag as the website describes this thing. And

it's neat just because the original Star Trek

phasers looked, I always thought they looked

kind of stupid. Because they're just they're

basically guns. But then again when you look

at TNG, it's a brawn mix master So I guess I

really can't complain too much about that and

then they also had communicators which are basically

walkie talkies and They even did ones based upon

the Star Trek motion picture, which were the

risk communicators Honestly, Dick Tracy had a

smaller risk communicator than Star Trek and

that just seems wrong to me. But then again I

guess they're supposed to be communicating from

the Earth to the planet, so I suppose I can let

a little bit of miniaturization fly on by. So

moving into the motion picture era of toys. Some

of these, there were a lot of 12 -inch figures.

And looking at them, the one that weirs me out

the most. Now, Steve, have you seen the Mr. Spock

one? The Lego figures? Yeah. No, I have not.

He looks like he's dressed in drag. Spock has

very pronounced lipstick, and there's no other

way to describe it, too. And it's weird. If you

are familiar with DC's Wonder Girl, there's a

character, and she has this very unique outfit,

and they recycle it -ish. into the Star Trek

Lila figure, and I can't remember what race she

is, but evidently their race is big on sex and

pleasure and I don't know. See, it sounds a lot

more interesting in the Star Trek role -playing

game than she ever was in the motion picture.

Which is arguably one of the worst in the series.

If you want a full review, go check out thatguywiththeglasses

.com and check out the Nostalgia Critics review

of that. Terrible looking. But two notable figures

from the line. is they have a fantastic new Klingon.

And this is the first time we saw the reintroduced

Klingons, because in the motion picture we see

Veedger kick the crap out of a Klingon bird of

prey. But you see them in the full battle armor,

and they've got the ridges and crap in their

face, and they look like Klingons. They also

have another one. They produced a 12 -inch version

of Decker, who looks like he's wearing Starfleet

pajamas. and there's another one there's a 12

inch octurian and he looks like his face is melting

it's really kind of weird now it's strange and

then finally we're getting into where you get

to see a lot of toy companies do a lot of copycat

stuff now star wars had introduced the three

and a quarter inch figures for when they did

their stuff in the early bird of 1977 so when

mego said hey we need something to compete with

this so they shrunk the star trek toys down to

the three quarter inch and i'd say they're excuse

me comparable in quality to the star trek to

the star wars figures because they have an overly

pronounced legs like they can bend their arms

or they can move their arms up and down they

can move their legs up and down their heads,

presumably, side to side. And they just look

like Star Wars figures, for lack of a better

term. They also have their version of shelf warmers

back in the day. Evidently, the Lila figure is

one of the most common ones, and evidently she

was on store shelves up until the mid -80s. So

I've heard. Now, the longest I've ever seen a

toy sit on a shelf was about five years. Which,

yeah, blows my mind, the toy sat there on one

peg for five years. But I've never seen these

toys for sale. But then again, when you think

about Star Trek, the motion picture came out

in 1981. I was born in 81. So, or was motion

picture 80? No, I don't think it was 80. Okay,

either way. I just never saw these things at

retail. There's also exclusives to JCPenney,

which you can pick up, and continuing on with

their tradition of doing the bridges. They also

had a new Star Trek The Motion Picture bridge

come out. It's less impressive than the Mega

version, I think, but the 3 quarter inch figures

can can actually fit in it. Now, there was rumors

that there's a Vulcan shuttle which can attach

to the bridge, and there was rumors that it even

came out here in Canada, but according to this

website, no samples have ever quite shown up.

The carding for a lot of these figures, very

reminiscent of Star Wars carding, sit on the

little... backings and they just have a big picture

of the Enterprise, Star Trek, and the pictures

of the characters who would be featured on them,

and they just had the little plastic bubble for

where the figure was. I've never seen these in

the wild, like I said. I don't even think I've

actually ever seen one with my own eyes, period.

I didn't even know there was a three quarter

inch line. Now, there were also model ships based

upon the Enterprise, and this was definitely

released at Grand Toys in Canada. And Grand Toys,

don't let the name fool you, because it was an

office supply store. Which is, or maybe it was

called Grand Intoy. I don't know. Regardless,

that's the version I remember. But they did have

a pretty kick -ass version of the Enterprise

A. They had a Klingon bird of prey. I think that's

it. It looks goofy. There was also the Vulcan

shuttle they had too and it's kind of neat to

be able to look back on these. So now that I've

covered a lot of the 80s stuff, I only want to

hit one more thing for hopefully Steve will talk

because I feel like I've been talking here for

20 minutes. One of the things that happens in

toys and more specifically with mega stuff and

anything almost three quarter inch, inevitably

there are knockoffs. And there's one knockoff

I would love to find, and it comes from Lincoln

International. His name is Mr. Rock. And he is

basically Spock. Nice. With a Barbie pink phone

and a flare gun. and he even has stuff on his

little tunic that looks like the Starfleet insignia,

one looks like the Rime of the Empire, it looks

ridiculous. And it's weird though, it seems like

Mexico was a place to find these toys too, because

they got a lot of the old parts for the Planet

of the Apes and Forgotten Superhero toys, they

just started kit -bashing stuff. Evidently, they're

pretty weird looking. I mean, I'm looking right

now at a Kirk dressed in a Planet of the Apes

uniform. Wow. Yeah, that's a little strange.

And I've seen some pretty weird crap out there

too. I mean, this is one great toy thing. I love

Chinese knockoff toys for this very reason. Super

Hero Power Team. This is a toy. playset you can

buy here in Canada for $10 in Chinatown in Toronto.

It contains Donatello from the Ninja Turtles,

the Red Power Ranger, Buzz Lightyear, Woody,

and a dinosaur. No attempt to hide what these

characters are from, but Superhero Power Team

will come and save your ass for $9 .99. I'm putting

my money on the friggin dinosaur. Um, I just

think that's weird. So moving on Star Trek toys

would go a little bit quiet Between the movie

years which Arguably that's typical of any franchise.

Yeah, I mean it would have been weird though

I mean, I I would love to know like I honestly

don't know at least in the research I did for

preparing for this show. I never saw anything

on Wrath of Khan, and I never saw anything for

Search or Spock, so if I'm wrong guys, feedback

at thisweekengeek .net call me something in Klingon

and I'm pretty sure I'll be very sorry and be

begging for your forgiveness to please keep listening

to our show. But I never saw anything for those

movies. I mean I would love to get a battle damage

reliant or something like that if it exists in

the three quarter inch scale. But I remember

when Playmates got the rights to do the Star

Trek The Next Generation toys, and I know Steve,

you can probably talk about these a little bit

more. So take it away! Yeah, actually, I... Yes,

actually. Oh, and going back to a quick note

about the motion picture, it came out in 79.

Damn it! The rest of the time came out in 82.

I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry. I just looked at

my shelf. I have the films. But um, yes, I love

the films. I love the show too. Just can't afford

it That's what Netflix is for but um, yes as

for the the the playmates line which launched

in fall of 92 and It started out with the Star

Trek the next generation figures and It's weird.

They'd launched a show so late or sorry. I want

a toy silly considering the show it was five

years in yeah, that's pretty intense and they'd

have a lot of material to draw from. And the

Playmates line picks some really odd characters

to do. I remember there's, I don't know the name

of the episode, but it's the episode where Picard

gets stranded on the planet with the guy who

speaks in metaphors. And he's like, when the

walls fell, you know what I'm talking about,

right? That guy. I believe so. Yeah. He got an

action figure for whatever reason. And then Warf's

Klingon girlfriend. Kaylar. Kaylar, yeah. She

got an action figure. And I just don't know why.

Well, to be fair, she was in a couple episodes,

so I can kind of see that to some extent. But

you had, like, for instance, the the Geordi that

turned into the energy being you had, you had,

for instance, the the two time travelers that

the card talked to from the future. Yeah. I mean,

there were a lot of goofy characters that, honestly,

when I owned them, I really didn't care. I just

always found it kind of weird that they'd pick

such obscure characters, but if I've learned

anything about Star Trek fandom, as I'm rediscovering

my inner Trekker Trekkie, pretty sure I'm pissing

somebody off by saying that, it's the fact that

we will buy anything. We love to collect crap.

And the Star Trek The Next Generation line had

so many variations in it. I remember, while watching

Trekkies actually, the character, or not the

character, that kid whose name escapes me. uh,

Kyle, I think his name was, uh, said, well, they

only made 3000 of this. And I remember looking

at the bottom of the, of their feet and they'd

have a little production number on some of them.

Um, but I also remember the pose ability on these

things being halfway between being really good

because they had not quite ball joints, but these

weird peg -like joints. So their arms could actually

move, but their hands are always bent and they

could hold a phasers. And I always remember the

phasers looking really stupid because it had

the energy beam. Yeah, they were pretty stupid

well in it I think it was just the the type one

early seasons phasers that were like that I don't

know I can't remember for sure because I don't

have any of the figures left anymore But I think

that that's how they were but No, no now that

I think about it all of them were like that.

Yeah, and they're always solid colors You'd always

have like a purple tricorder or a red tricorder.

Yeah, I was found that kind of weird I mean they

I mean and then some of them came with dilithium

crystals all different colors Yeah, I always

found that really kind of strange though, and

I remember every time I had a Geordi Guaranteed

I'd lose his visor Just I never had that problem.

Oh, well see They were glued on But it's me.

I like to mess with things. You wanted to see

his blind eyes. I did want to see that. I want

Mr. Reading Rainbow to be accurate. So I would

play with that. But there are also different

versions that had the different uniforms throughout

the years, which I always thought was kind of

nice. They did evolve the uniform from the spandex

to the ones you'd see through seasons, I think

three through seven. Yeah, and then you had some

occasional different ones like they're dressed

uniforms or Picard's One where it's divided in

the middle and you see the gray undershirt So,

I mean I had all of those Like all of the different

variations including, you know when they when

they became Romulans temporarily for unification

I also remember they had versions of data where

his wrist would open up and you'd see his machine

underlayings. It was in his back, too. I don't

remember that one. I think I may have that one.

It's probably in storage right now. But one of

the things that I remember specifically from

the Playmates line, I wasn't so much into the

figures. Like I said, I did have a shit ton of

them, but I was into the ships. And I remember

when my parents bought me the Enterprise D, and

my friend Liam this year for my birthday gave

me all the original ships that he could find.

He got me the Enterprise D, which is in remarkable

shape, a Romulan warbird, the Klingon attack

cruiser, and I got this from a guy this past

summer. I got the shuttlecraft again, and I got

Wesley Crusher. A .K .A. Space Nerd. And I put

Wil Wheaton piloting my shuttlecraft. He sits

next to the turtle van, the sentinel, and the

limited edition statue from Infamous 2. But still,

it's pretty cool. Just the fact that this thing

could roll, it could make sounds. That's the

thing I loved about ships. They made sounds and

they lit up. And I remember just sitting in my

basement playing with these things back in 92.

I must have been in grade 7 or 8. I didn't care.

I was a nerd. And I'd sit there and fire my photon

torpedoes. But I always thought the photon torpedo

sound was actually the phasers. And the phasers

sound was the photon torpedoes. Because I assumed

the big pew was like the photon torpedo streaking

towards something like a missile. So I was clearly

stupid. There's no space in sound or sound in

space? Yeah, exactly. retarded and watched too

much Robotech when I was a kid. But yeah, so

I used to get that mixed up. And then I'd go

on later to find out they made the Klingon Bird

of Prey, like the really cool looking one. For

generations. Yeah. They also made the Borg Cube.

I've never seen this thing with my eyes, like

in real life. And I would love to find one. I

don't want to pay eBay prices, though, to be

fair. No. But I Go ahead see oh no, I was gonna

say as far as like the ship line is concerned.

I I Love those things. I had the classic Enterprise.

I had the Enterprise D. I had the the fighter

Klingon Starship I had all the shuttle crafts

that run about the classic 1701 shuttlecraft

the Enterprise D shuttlecraft I mean those things

were just awesome. I love those And I had the

Enterprise E, I believe, too, from the Playmates

line, which was actually one of the worst ships

I had of their line. Really? Why? Just because

the detail on it was horrible compared to what

Art Asylum comes out with later. I mean, it's

the Enterprise D. I did not feel gypped on that.

And including the Enterprise D that was from

All Good Things where it transformed. Oh, yeah.

I loved that ship. That was that was one of my

favorites to to play with but I Just I was never

fully satisfied with the enterprise II. I just

felt it was too blocky So you're telling me that

they had the end That they had the one that transformed

was it the one with the three? Warp missiles

get the fuck out. Really? Yes, I That one was

cool it transformed to the three nacelles, and

it was it was smaller scale not electronic But

it was cool as hell you can pull out all the

gear from the the all good things and make it

that ship That's so cool. I really wish I had

that the the phaser cannon on the underside always

had a hard time staying on like it's it would

fold out of this saucer, but I mean it would

have a hard time clipping on to the Just above

the deflector dish Oh man still that's cool as

hell. I love that toy but I mean I can honestly

see where you you love the ships that that definitely

was one of my main favorites of that line. I

mean two of the ships I've always wanted to own

and I've seriously considered looking into buying

them when I come into some money later on this

year is there was a Defiant which I think looks

incredible. I've always wanted the Runabout that

you talked about. Now that I have a respect for

DS9 We'll talk about that in a different show

why I didn't like DS9 for a number of years,

clearly because I'm stupid. But there's also

this one, this would be my crown jewel, if I

can find it, Voyager. But evidently Voyager was

produced in such low numbers that the prices

on eBay and through collector sites and even

through conventions is insane. Like you're going

to pay well over 150 bucks. Well, part of the

problem was, around the time Voyager was on,

I believe it started in 97. I could be wrong,

but I believe it started in 97. Playmates only

had the Star Trek line until 99, before they

lost it. And I guess that's why, just because

they didn't have the line for that long. So I

guess, you know, interest was starting to wade

in the show. I mean... I want to say Voyager

may have started as early as 95. Yeah, I think

it was 95. Yep. Figures arrived in 95 for Voyager,

and DS9, I believe, started in 93. Yeah, because

it was still running concurrent with Enterprise

or with... Oh, no, my bad. 94 is when it started.

Yeah, because they were still running with The

Next Generation because there was a couple crossover

episodes with where they went to DS9. Well, not

even just that. There's one version where Data

had to team up with Dr. Bashir to solve a problem.

I think that was in season six. So I think DS9

was 92, actually. I think DS9 started in debuted

in 94 okay because but i just remember reading

about that so i don't know like i said not 100

because simply i haven't seen star trek the next

generation in years i also i've not finished

um i actually i haven't seen the entire run of

season six i've seen you know it's weird i've

only ever seen i've seen seasons one two three

and then seven Which is yes, so the series started

in 93 So yeah, I guess it would make sense for

them to cross our because season 7 was 90 94

for TNG it's getting away from me. Let's reel

back in um So you would get toys during the movie

years? and I think they were all of a little

higher quality they're also a little bit bigger

because the playmates toys I'd say they're kind

of in scale with the three -quarter inch figures

probably just just a little bit bigger and there

were ships for them too. I know there was a Borg

Sphere, there was the Enterprise E as we talked

about, there was the Phoenix which was the warp

capable ship, and I can't think of anything else

that was really memorable about that line other

than all the uniforms changed and any toys that

came after that that weren't Voyager were in

the new updated things. There was I mean there's

I'm pretty sure I've seen um like other toy like

I'm pretty sure I've seen like an Esri Dax figure,

I'm pretty sure. But let me just check that to

be sure, because I know the Playmates line. Yeah,

because they were doing stuff as late as 98 with

this. Yeah, and as far as the film franchise,

the Generations figures were in perfect scale,

the four and a half inch line. uh of all the

other playmates figures it's first contact that

debuted the larger sized figures i remember a

number of 12 inch figures from this line i remember

seeing them in stores but i don't remember any

anybody buying them which is kind of unfortunate

um kind of think of what else just to mention

about this um yeah because there was a there

was that's right the figures were five inch then

there was the uh nine inch and then there was

the 12 inch figures for uh for those lines um

moving on there was also they did a line of stuff

for enterprise which sadly i really can't even

talk about because i've never i've never seen

them i've never had them i've only seen pictures

online however i will say though that the ship

does look pretty cool the Enterprise NX -01.

They also had a couple of role -play accessories,

which was the phase pistol and the communicator.

Now, I actually, I did forget to talk about one

thing, and with the Playmates line, extensive

role -playing stuff. Oh, yes. I own everything.

Yep. The only one I didn't have was the medical

tricorder. I had the medical tricorder. I had,

I had all the original series stuff. I still

have my communicator to this day. It's broken,

but I have it I had all the the movie Toys as

they came out the TNG I had all of them up to

a point so I had the communicator badge, the

type 1 phaser, the type 2 phaser, tricorder.

I had mostly all TNG stuff. That was sort of

my specialty. I actually have my type 2 phaser

sitting on a desk around here. And that, I guess,

I would actually credit the Star Trek Roleplay

accessories with getting to be... for getting

me into my love of prop replicas, which we're

actually going to talk about on the show. I actually

have a guest we're going to talk to in probably

about a week or two about Star Trek prop replicas

because he actually makes them and has made them

for several Star Trek fan films. I've just always

been a big fan. I would have loved to have gotten

a phaser rifle toy. I don't think one has ever

been produced. I know you can buy a prop replica

if you got about $1 ,200. Totally worth it, by

the way. But looking at the Enterprise stuff,

I just never saw it on shelves at least where

I lived here in Canada. I've only ever seen it

offered through like Diamond Select through like

comic book stores basically. And I think after

Star Trek, the movies had kind of petered out.

Before Nemesis, I didn't see very many toys for

pretty much anything really. I mean, I remember

the first contact stuff. I remember nothing.

for insurrection, not one toy on one shelf. Well,

the movie sucks anyway. Oh, yeah. It's just a

notch above Final Frontier. Yeah. I mean, at

least when God wants a starship, it's at least

entertaining somewhat. But yeah, it's just I

don't remember anything. But evidently, they're

dressed in real cloth clothing, which I guess

goes back to the mega or the mega stuff. Still,

who gives a crap? The stuff for Nemesis, 2002.

I vaguely remember seeing these on shelves, but

not a whole lot, because I remember there was

just... I just don't remember it. But I don't

know, I mean, I think the next big push for stuff

came with the Playmates 2009 stuff. Now, there

was stuff from Art Asylum. in there, which is

more high -end type stuff that you might find.

There was also a series based upon assimilated

species, and I remember my friend Steve Saylor

had a Hirogen from Voyager as a Borg. And these

things were like nine inches. I think I think

they're they're either done by art asylum or

McFarland I'm pretty sure it was art asylum.

They were very very very stylized, but they looked

pretty friggin cool actually But yeah, um One

of the other people I kind of want to talk about,

just very briefly, because it's not so much a

toy, but they did get the license to it. There

was a company called Master Replicas, and they

had the license from Lucasfilm to do the FX line

of lightsabers, but they also produced a number

of Star Trek things. I remember they did a phaser,

they did the tricorder, and they're one of the

cooler companies out there that could do really

neat things with lightsabers. I remember, I think

they even had a... A studio scale enterprise

and there's one available right now. I can't

remember the name of the company, but if you

want us an enterprise that lights up Hope you

got $5 ,000 Because it sits in your house. They'll

even customize a battle damage for you, which

is pretty impressive But that's more but that's

more high -end prop replica and collectors. We'll

talk about that in a future show But lastly talking

about the playmate stuff 2009 They were smaller

than the other toys, and I wouldn't call them

inferior quality, but their accessories were

so small, and I felt they would get lost really,

really, really easy. In fact, I can't remember

the amount of phasers that I've lost getting

these toys out, but they did come in several

different scales. The one that I remember, there

was one, I think these were the 9 -inch figures,

or maybe they were 7 -inch, I don't know. They

had this weird rubber for their tunics. And I

just remember because the Starfleet uniforms

in the 2009 movies look textured differently.

They look like scale, I guess would be the only

way to really describe it. When you touch these

figures, they have the same scaling to it. It's

really, really weird. But they produced ships

there. They had more roleplay accessories. And

the roleplay accessories talked. I remember the

communicator. would was Zachary Quinto's saying

Spock to Enterprise get me out of here and then

there was Kirk going I'm falling without a shoot

rescue me and and it would light up there's also

the new phaser which which is really cool because

it has a button which spins it from stun to kill

Oh, yeah. It's really cool. Actually, I really

I actually got that sitting on my shelf right

now. I thought that was one of the cooler additions

that the J .J. Abrams universe did is redo the

phasers to that. I just think that's I thought

it looked stupid at first and seeing it in action

again. OK, that's fucking cool. Other than that,

I never took my bridge place out of the box.

It's still sitting, like I said, behind me. But

I always just felt the figures weren't to scale

properly. I don't know, there's just something

about the small Star Trek scale I didn't like.

The bigger figures I was okay with and I had

a good chunk of them. I think I had Nero, Old

Spock, Kirk and McCoy for those lines. And I

think they only really covered the base characters.

I don't know whether they gave a figure to the

Orion Girl or Captain Pike or any of that. No,

they didn't. I think they gave Pike a figure.

Yeah, but I don't remember anybody weird, you

know what I mean? Like that weird background

character sort of thing. No, they didn't have

anybody other than the Core 7, Pike, and Nero.

Which I would say this line, at least from what

I saw where I lived up here in Canada, I think

the line sold very, very, very poorly. Cause

these things sat on shelves for months upon months

until they were eventually clearanced at a dollar

a figure. Yeah, that pretty much happened around

me as well. Which it's really sad because like

I said, these toys are legitimately cool. Star

Trek has some really cool toys and it's really

unfortunate just to see how maybe they tend to

go away. after a while, which I don't know why

that is. I mean, I guess the collectors now just

have a different mentality, or maybe the kids

of today just don't necessarily get Trek, and

that could be part of the problem too, is they

don't know what to do with them. any kids playing

Star Trek, but I always see them playing Star

Wars. This was an argument I had with a friend

of mine, Justin Ecock, who works with me in the

radio industry. He works for a different station

than me. He works for News Talk 1010 in Toronto.

They brought me on this show, the Jim Graham

show, a couple of months ago. We were talking

Star Wars for Star Trek when Bill Shatner went

on the rant against Carrie Fisher. I was representing

Think I sure I think I was representing Star

Trek. Yeah, I think I was representing Star Trek

and He said to me what what what are kids gonna

play and Unfortunately, they're gonna play Star

Wars because there's the clone war series that's

out there and Star Trek has always been to me

a series for adults Well that and Star Wars has

been jammed down kids throats since 99 Yeah,

it's just been non -stop since then. I mean,

I don't remember Star Trek ever having a breakfast

cereal No, and I don't remember them re -releasing

original movies just to sell more toys Yeah,

I mean It sucks though that kids today will not

have necessarily the same respect for Star Trek

though with JJ Abrams new movie comes the new

possibility of new toys well in in Talking about

the movie just real quick not to go off on a

tangent as far as the the interest in it My own

wife will watch the Abrams movie, but will not

watch anything other than that Star Trek related

because She feels like it bores her see that's

exactly the same argument. I've had with my wife

She doesn't mind the new Star Trek movie, but

she won't watch it again, but she saw it But

won't watch anything original. I'm like you might

enjoy first contact first contacts the best movie

of the original lot I think of the of the TNG

lot of the original Con but yet con and undiscovered

country. I believe are the the best of the other

ones Yeah, but to me like my personal favorite

is first contact because I'm a Borg slut, but

That's a different conversation for a different

day. But yeah, so we've covered as many of the

toys of We Can Remember. We'd love to hear your

memories of some of these toys. If you've got

toys that we've missed, if you want to correct

us without being insulting, we have a voicemail

line. Call us at 817 -717 -7202. It's the voicemail

line we use for This Week in Geek and The Game

Heroes. So don't be surprised if you hear my

voice, but I don't say Future Imperfect. Just

trust me on it. I'd love to hear if you have

toys that we haven't talked about or anything

really weird. If you got a cool bootleg or if

you've made your own. Or send pictures and comments

about your collections. Yeah, I mean, we'd love

to hear from you. So feedback at thisweekengeek

.net. Send us pictures. Tell us stories. We want

to hear about it. And like I said, guys, we still

have our Klingon contest going on till February

19th. We want to hear what your Klingon -inspired

war cry is, open to residents of North America

only. I will send you a copy of Klingon Monopoly

and the Star Trek The Next Generation Blu -rays.

Like I said, let us know. So hopefully you guys

have enjoyed our second episode of Future Imperfect.

I think we missed a few things here and there,

but me and Steve, we're rediscovering our inner

trick again. So bear with us. We're not... able

to say hey that guy didn't do that in episode

419 of the second season or whatever you know

what i mean we're not there yet but we want to

be we want to be the uber nerd we want to be

the star trek guy who knows everything and with

your guys help we will so anyway guys your future

imperfect we have been steve megatron phillips

i've been mike the birdman dodd saying Live long

and prosper, we'll catch you guys again next

time. Right here on ThisWeekendGeek .net brought

to you by Starfleet, the largest Star Trek fan

club found at SFI .org.