Ertl Figure Spotlight- Captain Kirk

Item Name: Captain Kirk
Manufacturer: Ertl Toys



Captain Kirk was released carded as part of Ertl's Star Trek III The Search For Spock line. I've said it before, but it's still true- the card art rules.



The Rundown: And so we come to the final entry in Ertl's Star Trek III line, the good captain himself- James T. Kirk. In case you don't remember the other Ertl spotlights, you can check them out here. Kirk doesn't break any new ground compared to the last three reviews, so don't get your hopes up...



The head sculpts in Ertl's line are a bit of a step backwards from the fine job that Mego did with their TMP line. They did capture Kirk's hair "poof" pretty nicely, but the face itself doesn't really capture Shatner all that well. Kinda looks like Will Ferrel to me. Shatner's always been a tough likeness to nail though so I'll cut Ertl some slack on this one.



The biggest selling point for this line is it's o-ring construction. The figures do have a wider range of movement than their Mego TMP predecessors, and they "fit" into other early 80's lines a little better. Unfortunately, the quality of materials used isn't as nice and the figures break a bit easier.



What I wouldn't give to have a bicep swivel on these! Without that articulation point, it's almost impossible to pose them with their accessories in a way that looks normal. You're always stuck with them kinda staring at their accessory in disbelief.



I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I do like the paint detailing Ertl put into the TWOK-style uniform. The gold is clean, and the white highlights are pretty straight and even. I still don't know why they chose to use these uniforms for the figures, since they barely wear these in TSFS, but who cares... the TWOK uniforms rule.



Accessories: Kirk includes a communicator. That's it. Why Kirk comes with a communicator instead of a phaser really puzzles me, especially since they included one with Spock. Oh, and it's huge too. Way too big.



So there ya go... Ertl's Star Trek III line. Sure, they made some odd choices (like using the TWOK uniforms and including Scotty instead of McCoy), but overall the line is pretty cool and a nice little supplement to the Mego 3.75" stuff. Plus, with a little head-switching and some paint, you can make the "Trek trinity" in this scale and style relatively easily! Have 'em beat up your G.I.Joes!