AA/ DST Spotlight- Lieutenant Sulu As Seen In"Where No Man Has Gone Before"

Figure Name: Lieutenant Sulu ("Where No Man Has Gone Before")
Manufacturer: Diamond Select Toys



WNMHGB Sulu here was released bagged as a mailaway exclusive tied into the release of Star Trek Season 1 on Blu-ray.



...and there's the nifty box he shipped in!



The Rundown: Sorry it took me awhile to get this one up. I try to make sure I have 2 of any Trek figure I review before I bust it out of it's packaging for pictures. Since this required buying 2 Blu-ray sets, I had to call upon a friend of mine to hook me up with his unwanted figure. DST took their time sending out his and he just got it this past week... so my Sulu was finally able to be freed from his plastic and cardboard prison. Watch those mailboxes if you're still awaiting yours! Now... onto the spotlight!



As stated earlier, the only way to get this Sulu was by purchasing Star Trek Season 1 on Blu-ray and mailing in the enclosed coupon. I was a bit miffed when I first heard about this, since I didn't even own a Blu-ray player at the time. What was I gonna do with a season set I couldn't even play? So that necessitated purchasing a Blu-ray player, which was actually a blessing in disguise since I now know the joys of Blu-ray... but I digress.



The figure itself as all made from pre-existing parts. The body is the same used on the WNMHGB Kirk that was included with the Captain's chair. I was a bit surprised by that since the Toys R Us Exclusive "Cage" Spock had just recently been released and I expected this Sulu to use that same body with a simple head switch. Kudos to DST for taking the time do a new run on the Pilot Kirk body and shirt, which fits Sulu much better than the Pike body reused on "Cage" Spock. (Did you follow all that? I don't know if I even did...)



Of course, since the shirt originally belonged to Kirk, the insignia on the delta is incorrect for Sulu. It should actually be the sciences symbol, which in WNMHGB looks like what we would come to know as the engineering division symbol in the series. (It's starting to feel like you need a road map for this entry)



The head is the same Sulu we've seen on all the TOS-era AA/ DST releases. It's a good, solid head sculpt that does a fine job capturing a youthful George Takei.



Since this is your standard AA/ DST Trek body, you get a good amount of articulation without compromising the figure's sculpt. The joints were all tight on my figure, and I was able to get him into a bunch of poses without him taking a nosedive.



Accessories: Sulu includes a phaser and a communicator. Again, DST cheaped out here by including accessories that don't actually appear in the episode. Yeah, I know Sulu doesn't use a phaser or a communicator anyways... but I would have much rather them throw in the phaser rifle than these pieces.



I'm pretty sure the promotion is expired by now, so your only hope of snagging this guy now is probably the secondary market. I've seen him routinely sell between $20 and $40. While that may seem steep, when you consider the cost of having to buy the Blu-ray set to get the coupon it isn't that bad. The only thing that keeps me from fully endorsing that price is not having the security that we'll ever get more of the crew in these uniforms. DST was supposed to released a WNMHGB Kirk/ Spock 2 pack, but like so many of their other releases, I'd say the chances that we actually get that are slim. A WNMHGB Scotty probably doesn't stand a chance at release either. Sure, you can do a little customizing to round out the crew, but then you're dropping even more money into this look. You'd have to be crazy to do that.

-James