The Megarite was released as part of the rare second series of 3&3/4" Mego Star Trek The Motion Picture figures. (Sorry, no carded pic for you...)
The Rundown: Ah, the Megarite... It took me quite awhile to find this one. Megarites are almost always found without their keen trench coats, which is a big no-no for me. After years of searching though, I finally found a coated one I thought was nice enough to join his fellow 3.75" TMP brethren in the wall case. Let's give him a look and see what all the fuss is about!
Like all the Mego 'Motion Picture' aliens, the Megarite shows a surprising amount of screen accuracy for the scale and time period in which these were made. Check out this picture of a Megarite from the TMP lobby book:
Now check out the detail on the figure's outfit! Back...
...and front-
Sure, they had to take some liberties on replicating the outfit's accoutrements, but all of the costume's detailing is here. The neck charm, the arm squares, even the wrinkles in the hands... Mego worked them all onto the figure itself, finishing off the look with a cloth coat accessory. The coat even features a hooded area that is actually bunched in at the collar. Excellent work here! Just be careful with that cloak, as the material is extremely delicate and easily frays.
The detailing isn't limited to the body either; Mr. Megarite's head is brimming with sculpted greatness as well! Each of the lips are individually sculpted and painted, there's ridges running up the brow & down the back of his head, and there's even some very fine wrinkles all around the eye sockets. This kind of work at this scale wasn't commonplace back in the late 70's. Mego was truly ahead of it's time.
Oh... and since the Megarite is one of the "blink-and-you'll-miss-him" alien species from TMP, I figured you might enjoy reading a little more about them! Here's the snippet from the aforementioned "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" lobby book-
Aww... they seem really nice. I'd hang out with a Megarite if he landed in my backyard for sure. But wait... Check out the Megarite card from the Topps movie set-
"The Face Of Terror"!?! Nevermind. All ugly aliens must be mean aliens. Lesson learned. Thanks Topps!
The Megarite is yet another of the Mego 3&3/4 aliens that I just can't say enough good things about. He's a great release, especially when judged against the other comparable figures on the market at the time (I'm looking at you Walrusman). The only thing that stinks is the price. Finding a nice complete Megarite with his cape intact will typically set you back anywhere from $75-$100. That's a lot to invest, but if you're serious about the line, he is one of the best of the run.
Hallmark released this piece as part of their 2008 keepsake assortment. Here's the back of the box if you'd like to give it a read-
The Rundown- About a year ago, I spotlighted the 2009 Starfleet Phaser Ornament from Hallmark, which I pegged as a companion piece to the 2008 communicator ornament. Well, looking back, I realized that I'd never even done a spotlight on the communicator... so here it is!
Based on the classic series communicator, the ornament features a solid black body with a gold flip-open lid/ antenna. While they did a pretty decent job of replicating the look, Hallmark had to take a few liberties with this to make it fit into the ornament category.
The ornament is quite a bit smaller than the standard communicator, as evidenced by the comparison with the DST version up there. It's also a little squatter, like the communicator has had a few too many cups of egg nog...
Just like the prop, the antenna area flips open to reveal a moire, 3 small lights, and 2 small buttons...
Sure, if you judge this as a prop replica, it's not very accurate... But as an ornament, it's pretty darn good. The lights are nice and bright, the speaker area has a clean brass paint app, and the buttons are easy to press. There's even a cool "flicker" sticker to replicate the spinning moire effect (something I hadn't even noticed until I did this spotlight).
And since this is one of Hallmark's "Magic" ornaments, the communicator has some awesome light and sound effects loaded into it. You activate the features by flipping her open and then using the 2 small buttons to cycle through the light/ sound features. Check it out:
The sound is astonishingly loud and clear for an ornament, even rivaling the DST communicator. Overall, it's just about a perfect ornament...except one small gripe-
The ornament's hook is actually on the antenna, meaning you have to have it in the open position whilst hanging on your tree. Not a huge deal, but it makes playing the "opening" effect a little difficult.
Easily one of my favorite Trek Hallmark ornaments. While not as accurately sized as the 2009 phaser, it's sound effects and overall coolness make up for it's diminutive stature. The communicator originally retailed for $18.50, but can be found on ebay for less than that nowadays. So what are you waiting for... you've only got like 28 days until Christmas!
Item Name: Star Trek Playing Cards Manufacturer: Waddingtons
Wadingtons released these Trek-themed playing cards in 2010 at a retail price of $4.99.
The Rundown: Remember my review of the Vandor Gifts Star Trek Playing Card Giftset from July of 2009? Well if you don't, click that link and then come back here. I'll wait.
Finished? Okay good. I wasn't really pleased with that set, as it was simply a standard deck of cards with Kirk and Spock pictures slapped onto the card backs. I had been hoping for set that featured things like Kirk on the King card, Spock on the Jack, Uhura on the Queen, etc... but alas Vandor cheaped out and it seemed my dreams of a card deck worthy of the Trek name would never come true. All hope was lost...until I saw the solicitation for a new Star Trek playing card set in Previews magazine. So I took the gamble once again... Did it pay off? Well, sort of-
The picture that Previews magazine used to solicit the deck featured the front of the card box, with the classic Enterprise firing it's phasers above the Star Trek logo. I naturally assumed that meant the cards would all be TOS-centric. Wrong. Sliding the deck out of the box reveals the card back, which features not only TOS mainstays Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, but also characters from the other 4 television series as well. I could hear the "waaah-wah" sound effect of defeat playing in my head.
Waddingtons divided the 5 series into the different playing card suits. Diamonds for TOS, spades for TNG, hearts for Enterprise, and clubs being split between DS9 and Voyager. I was a bit disappointed to see this set as being "all-inclusive", but I do like the fact that each and every card features a different picture.
Since I'm a TOS fan first and foremost, my focus is mainly on all the diamond cards. It's like Waddingtons read my mind on these, with Kirk as king, Uhura as queen, etc. There's even a Nurse Chapel (!), a Tribbles card (Double !!), and a couple of adversaries thrown in (though why they chose the Mugato over the Gorn is beyond me). Another nice treat is having the various ships from each show featured on each suit's Ace card. Very cool. I do have one complaint though...
Q on the Joker card. This may not be the most popular thing to say amongst my fellow Trek fans... but I've never been much of a Q fan. I know he has his place in Trek lore, and he's a mainstay villain across multiple series, but I could never get into him that much. I understand why he was chosen for the Joker card... I just wish he wasn't on BOTH Joker cards. Would it have been too much to ask to have Trelane on at least one of them?
Still, even with the inclusion of the other shows, this deck is VASTLY superior to the Vandor set. The design on the cards is cool, the pictures are great, and the price is just right at $4.99. So whether you want to play a game of poker with Data, or a hand of Fizzbin with Captain Kirk, this is definitely the deck to buy!
UPDATE- I had a bunch of folks ask me for pics of the other, "non-TOS" cards in the set... so here ya go!
Manufacturer: Art Asylum Item Name: Star Trek Minimates Series 1 (3")
Art Asylum released this series of Star Trek Minimates way back in 2002. They were available in these nifty hard plastic tubes (I seem to have misplaced my Mugatu)...
... or on standard cardbacks. The "Trouble With Tribbles" Kirk was only available in the carded packaging. And it looks like I've managed to lose my carded McCoy as well.
The Rundown: Man, it's hard to believe Minimates are almost a decade old now! I guess time really does fly. Today we are taking a look at the granddaddy wave of Star Trek Minimates: The original series 1 3" figures from 2002! I really don't have a lot to say on these guys individually, so I figured I'd group all the 3" guys into one post to make this worthwhile. But first- a little more info on these "less-mini" minimates...
The original Minimates from Art Asylum were based on a slightly larger scale, with figures clocking in at 3" instead of the now standard 2". While the larger size made sense for individual figure releases, the block figure concept doesn't really work when the figures are this big. The simplified detailing just looks better on the slightly smaller 2" scale.
Take a look at the difference in the McCoy likenesses here. Part of the reason the smaller McCoy looks so much better in his 2" version is due to improvements in Art Asylum's work over the years, but I feel part of it is due to the scale as well. Those simple features look a little ridiculous blown up like that, but might be just fine shrunk down to 2" scale.
It's not just the faces on these that look a little primitive either. As evidenced by the "casual" Kirk comparison above, the costume detailing is almost non-existent on these early minimates. It's weird to see how much is crammed into the little guys, while these larger guys look almost unfinished. And it's like that pretty much across the entire wave. Let's take a look at each of 'em!
Kirk is featured in his standard "gold" shirt, which is a no-brainer for the first release of the good captain. Kirk's likeness is just about on par with his 2" counterpart, but that's mostly because the smaller version is one of the least accurate of that scale. The fact that his delta shield isn't even painted gold (it just uses the yellow of his shirt with a stenciled outline) is a big no-no though. Kirk comes equipped with his trusty hand phaser... Oh, and before I forget, each of the 3" minimates came with an odd Art Asylum puzzle piece thing. It wasn't really a base, since there weren't any peg holes or anything; They were just weird, useless plastic puzzle pieces... So I threw them in a box somewhere and forgot about them (thus why it isn't pictured).
Next we have Dr. McCoy. The blue of the shirt used with both Dr. McCoy and Spock is a little on the dark side for my tastes. Other than that, Bones isn't too bad, though his likeness is a bit easier to capture due to the "character" in De Kelley's face. McCoy comes equipped with a tricorder.
Spock rounds out the 3 crew releases. The likeness here is pretty weak when compared to the others, with an over-reliance on Spock's distinctive eyebrows to help sell this as Spock. Mister Spock does feature something unique amongst these releases though: an interchangeable hand! It seems like every AA Spock, no matter the scale, has to come with a "Live Long and Prosper" hand. It must be in Spock's contract or something. He also comes equipped with the tricorder, just like McCoy. Let's take a minute to look at those accessories a little closer:
Again, we see how the detailing improved when the decision was made to shrink down the minimates. These original 3" scale accessories lack even the most basic detailing when compared to their smaller brethren.
To combat our three intrepid heroes, Art Asylum included a trio of dastardly villains in this initial wave. Khan here has no accessories and comes in a very odd outfit choice (as opposed to the solid red later released in the 2" line). I will say this about the larger Khan though; I actually think the face looks much more like Ricardo than it does on the smaller one. He is probably the only one of the bunch that I can say that about.
The Gorn is another obvious choice for an initial villain in any Trek line. I was pretty pleased with him when he first came out, but comparison with the 2" version brings out his shortcomings more than any of the others. The square blocks on the tunic, the painted-on attire, the weird yellow squares on the knees... It's like comparing the graphics on an Atari 2600 with those on a Sega Genesis. Hey, sweet analogy James! Oh... and the Gorn comes with a spike and a translator, but I dropped the translator before I took the picture. So use your imagination.
Finishing out the wave is the Mugatu! This one has the distinction of being the only 3" Trek minimate to not get a 2" counterpart... which is a really shame because he's probably the coolest release of the batch! What he lacks in accessories (he has none), he makes up for in cool sculpted parts. Check out those sweet back spikes!
So that's all of them... oh wait! There's this one too-
While not part of the initial wave, I'm grouping the "Trouble with Tribbles" Kirk in with this post too. TWT Kirk was a separate exclusive release through Figures.com. He's built on the 3" body, just like the initial wave, and comes equipped with the same silver hand phaser. He also includes a bunch of fuzzy "tribbles" (basically just little colored puff balls on a string). While there's nothing very memorable about this release, I do think his cocky grin is pretty well done.
And that's it for the 3" minimates. A second wave was planned that included the rest of the core crew, plus a "mirror" Kirk and a klingon... but it got the axe when the larger format was retired. With only this small grouping of figures released, there really isn't a need for most folks to pick these up. If you are interested in getting into the Trek minimate line, you're better off going with the 2" guys. The line is much more expansive, and the product is just plain better.
Okay, so I know it has nothing to do with Star Trek... but I am pretty excited about this and wanted to share it with you guys. About 6 years ago, Jason "Toyotter" Geyer (from Action Figure Insider) and I teamed up on a story that revealed all of Kenner's unproduced figures and characters from the Super Powers line. It really was a blast bringing these hidden gems to light for the fans of the line. I had a ton of fun working on it with Jason, and I'd always wanted to do something else with him...
Well that "something else" is now here! Take a trip over to Action Figure Insider and check out our latest discovery: Artwork for the unproduced figures from Mattel's Secret Wars line! It's a really neat peek at what was in store for this classic 80's line... and it features never-before-seen art from a pretty famous comic artist. In fact, it's the very first professional superhero art from the man that revolutionized DC Comics animation... So head on over, check it out, and enjoy!
Diamond Select released the Classic Geological Tricorder as a boxed Entertainment Earth Exclusive.
The Rundown: Remember that old saying "third time's a charm"? Well, we're about to see just how true that is... because today we're taking a look at DST's Geological Tricorder! This is the third tricorder release from Diamond Select, following the Classic Medical and Classic Science versions. How's this Geological version stack up? Well, not to spoil the review too much... but pretty darn well!
The basic body and construction is the same as the previous 2 tricorder releases. Accurately sized, with opening panels just like the screen-used props. There's a strap attached that's sufficiently long enough to fit a Trekkie of the adult variety.
Just like the previous 2 releases, the top portion of the tricorder features a screen readout, 3 buttons, 3 lights, and a small speaker area. Each version of the tricorder has a different image displayed on the viewscreen, with this new Geological release containing my favorite of the bunch. The colors used here are bright and vibrant, causing the screen to immediately grab your attention when opened. The speaker area has also got a fresh paint job this time around, opting for a nice gold finish that helps it "pop" a bit more. Lastly, the center light on this version is now red (as opposed to the yellow light of the previous 2 releases).
Moving down to the second panel, we get to see the biggest difference in this release. Instead of the spinning moire and "tape discs" of the first 2 versions, the geological tricorder has a large lighted area with what appears to be a small cylindrical sensor off to the side. You may be scratching your head at this point and thinking "man... I sure don't remember a tricorder looking like that... I really wish he'd tell me what this was based on". Well, wish no more!
In the third season episode "That Which Survives", senior geologist D'Amato beams down with the landing party carrying his trusty tricorder. Without spoiling too much for those who haven't seen it (shame on you), D'Amato at one point... umm... no longer has need for his tricorder, so it is set on "automatic distress" and left on a rock outcropping to warn of impending danger. We get a very clear shot of D'Amato's tricorder, appearing quite different from the standard version. Thus, the "Geological Tricorder" was born! Got it? Then let's get back to the review...
DST did an insanely nice job of recreating the look and function of the second panel area. While the little cylinder thing was supposed to be removable with motion effects, cost-cutting caused it to be permanently affixed (grumble). Thankfully, the lighted area makes up for that drawback by being simply awesome. The lights blink in sequence with the sound features (more on this later), and the effect itself is much cooler (and quieter) in my opinion than the spinning moire of the previous 2 versions.
The third panel opens to reveal the same battery compartment/ storage area of the science and medical releases. And just like the other 2, the door has a nice feature that allows it to be fully opened, or stopped midway depending on your display preference.
As stated earlier, unlike the other versions this release doesn't include a removable scanning device to place in the storage area. The geological release instead includes 2 small vials that can be inserted into a plastic clip attached to the door.
The 2 vials are removable from the tricorder and contain "ore samples". Hmmmm...
Is it just me, or do the ore samples look suspiciously like "Pop Rocks"? Must... resist... urge to eat them. Maybe it would be safe to just try one or two... As long as I didn't follow them up with a Pepsi, I should be fine, right? Let's see...
Yeah. They aren't Pop Rocks. Let's just put those right back in there...
After my disappointment in not having a clip installed for the scanners on the medical/ science versions, I was really pleased to see the inclusion of the "vial stand". It holds the vials snugly so that they aren't rattling around inside the tricorder.
So now that we've covered the basic construction differences, let's move on to what really sets this release apart: The electronic features! The three buttons up there activate the features- Press the button closest to the tricorder "wall" and you start the "monitoring" mode, while the middle button activates the "scanning" mode. Each of those features will continue until the same button is pressed again to deactivate it. The button closest to the viewscreen plays the "computer voice" phrases. Check it out!
As opposed to the inclusion of the Spock/ McCoy voice effect on the first 2 versions, the computer voice works incredibly well here. Let's face it, having your tricorder talk like McCoy, while a fun novelty, doesn't make much sense. Talking like the enterprise computer though? Yeah, I like that. A lot.
Maybe it's partly that "new car smell", but this geological version is currently my fav of the three tricorders. The lighted second panel rocks, and the computer voice is ridiculously cool. While the loss of the removable scanner is a bummer, the medical version stunk anyways and I'm glad DST put that money towards making the tricorder itself as cool as possible. Oh, and the little ore samples are a really neat touch. All around, a fantastic release. Even if you own one or both of the others, this one is definitely worth picking up for all the different features included.
This guy is available now for $44.99 as an exclusive though Entertainment Earth... but that doesn't mean you have to buy it there. Rick over at New Force Comics has it as well... and he even has damaged box versions for a little cheaper at only $34.99!
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