"A Collector's Trek #6" Is Now Up At StarTrek.com!

Sorry for the lack of posts folks... Between family, my job, and work on my 2 He-Man fan sites (MOTUCFigures.com & MOTUMovie.com), I just haven't had a lot of free time to devote to APOTA. And, truth be told, I experienced a bit of burnout after this past Trek-heavy summer (doing the Creation panel, working on the Star Trek Vault book, the StarTrek.com blog, etc). I need a break so that I can recharge my batteries and put forth the same quality of posts that you guys have come to expect.

But there is some good news! My sixth blog entry is now up over at Star Trek's official site! In this installment, we look at some of oddball item's released for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". Check it out if you get a chance- A Collector's Trek 6: Wacky Motion Picture Merchandise

"A Collector's Trek #5" Is Now Up At StarTrek.com!

My fifth blog entry is now up over at Star Trek's official site! In this installment, we celebrate Star Trek's 45th birthday by looking back at some of the merchandise available from a company that has been there pretty much every step of the way- Lincoln Enterprises. Check it out if you get a chance- A Collector's Trek 5: Lincoln Enterprises Merchandise

Sneak Preview- Hollywood Collectible Group 1/6th Scale Mr. Spock Statue!

So remember last week when I spotlighted the AWESOME 1/6th Scale Captain Kirk Statue from the Hollywood Collectibles Group? Well, last night I got an e-mail about it from none other than the piece's sculptor, Jim Maddox! Jim thanked me for the kind review and very graciously sent over these sneak preview pictures of the upcoming Mr. Spock statue... which looks AMAZING! Spock is done in the same 1/6th scale that both the Kirk and the soon-to-be-released Gorn statues are sculpted in, but Spock ups the ante a bit by including- are you ready for this- his SCIENCE STATION! Wowzers! Take a gander at these early first looks, and be sure to check back at the site soon for an exclusive interview with Jim (a lifelong Trekkie) about his work on all the HCG Star Trek releases.













A HUGE thanks once again to Jim Maddox for hooking me up with these shots!

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Hollywood Collectibles Group 1/6th Scale Captain Kirk Statue

Item Name: 1/6th Scale Captain Kirk Statue
Manufacturer: Hollywood Collectibles Group



HCG released this Kirk statue in mid-2011 for a suggested retail price of $199.95. Here's the back of the box if you'd like to read it-



Got all that? Good.



The Rundown: As I mentioned WAY back in the Sideshow Collectibles Premium Format Kirk spotlight, I am always on the lookout for nice, higher-end Trek memorabilia to add some "oomph" to my displays. So when the Hollywood Collectibles Group announced that they would be making 1/6th scale statues based on Star Trek, I got pretty excited. Their first release, Captain Kirk in his command chair, arrived at my local comic shop this morning. Is he worth the high price tag? Let's find out...



When I first saw pics of this piece online, I was a little nervous about ordering it. The pictures made it seem pretty decent, but I have never bought an HCG item before and I know that final product can sometimes differ drastically from a company's solicitation photography. In the case of Kirk, I'm happy to say that the final product exceeds my initial expectations.



Let's start with the size- This guy is BIG! Kirk is made at a roughly 1/6th scale, making the statue about 10" tall (since Kirk is in a sitting position). I don't have a scale handy, but the statue has quite a bit of weight as well. The overall size and heft really sets this apart as a true centerpiece for display. One small point I should point out here- Kirk is permanently affixed to his seat, so if you hoped to use the chair for your 12" figures (like I did), you're out of luck.



If there was one area that worried me above all others, it was how Kirk's head would turn out. Shatner is one tough likeness to nail, and the initial HCG pictures didn't exactly fill me with confidence. The final product turned out much better than I thought it was going to. It's still not a perfect Kirk sculpt, but it's definitely better than a lot of the other product out there.



The statue really shines when it comes to detailing. Things like Kirk's delta shield and rank braids aren't just painted on; They are sculpted onto the shirt and then cleanly painted over. But the chair is where things get really cool...



HCG recreated the instrumentation at Kirk's fingertips in incredible detail. They even included the labeling system used in "Court Martial"! See-



Go ahead and jettison that pod Kirk. Finney's a jerk. Nobody will miss him.



Any toy collector can tell you: A bad paint job can ruin a good sculpt. That's not the case with this piece, as the paint work here is solid throughout. I didn't notice any stray lines on mine, and both the skin and shirt have nice paint washes that help the sculpted detailing really pop. Oh, and the boots...



...feature a slightly glossier sheen than the pants, helping then contrast against each other. I know this is a pricey piece, but I have seen other statues in this same range that didn't feature anywhere near this quality of paint work. Kudos HCG!



Printed on the bottom of each statue's base is the usual copyright info and the statue's individual number. HCG made 600 regular Kirks like the one I am reviewing, and 150 exclusive Kirks available through their site. The exclusive version is basically the same as the regular edition, but also includes a "captain's log" and data cards. While I really wanted those extra pieces, I went with my comic shop as it saved me a few bucks in the long run.



I'm pretty darned happy with this statue. While there have been Trek statues in the past, I really don't think they've ever hit the high quality that this one shows. Statues aren't everyone's cup of tea though, and the high cost will probably dissuade most casual Trek fans from picking this one up. BUT... if you are in the market for a nice, high-end centerpiece for your collection, you may want to check this one out. The statue is available through the Hollywood Collectibles site, but you can find the regular edition cheaper if you shop around a bit. And if the Kirk statue isn't to your liking, HCG has an AWESOME-looking Gorn statue slated for release by year's end. If the quality of the Kirk is any indicator, that Gorn is gonna be one crazy cool statue... Now I just gotta figure out where I'm gonna put these...

Reading Room Spotlight- "Star Trek- The Children Of Kings" By David Stern

So I am still in the midst of settling down after the Nashville trip. Between prepping the presentation, packing our bags, getting things ready at work, and writing that last article for StarTrek.com, I have been one busy little Trek fan. Things are back to being fairly normal now though, so I should be back on a regular spotlight schedule by week's end. I did pick up a few goodies at the show that I want to post up soon (including a couple of new autographs I need to scan for TrekAutographs.com), but with a limited amount of time today, I'm going to have to spotlight something I have pictures readily available of... which limits me to this book spotlight. So, without further ado-



"The Children Of Kings", as you might expect from the cover, is a Trek-tale set during Christopher Pike's tenure as the Enterprise captain. The story revolves around the mysterious destruction of Starbase 18. All signs point to a Klingon plot, but the presence of Orions in the sector throws all previous theories out the window... and leads Captain Pike and his crew into a battle between the two warring races.

Where to begin... Let's start with what the story gets right. I highly enjoyed the Spock/ Number One dynamic. It was interesting to see these two characters working together to solve one of the main mysteries of the plot. Dr. Boyce is also handled very well, with an inordinately large amount of the book devoted to his personal back story. And as a sucker for Orions, I was happy to see their race featured prominently in the novel.

Unfortunately, I have quite a few gripes with this one. I know it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, but when I bought this one I expected to read a story that highlighted the virtually unexplored Pike/ Spock relationship. As the story unfolds though, Pike becomes more of a guest character, disappearing for almost the entire book. With Pike gone for such an extended time and Dr. Boyce really filling the majority of the novel, I left the book feeling almost cheated by that cover. The problems don't end with the missing Pike though. Both the Klingons and the Orions feel like they are being written to fit later shows (like "Enterprise") as opposed to playing them as TOS versions. In fact, as I read the book, I found myself thinking that this story was meant for a different continuity... which is proven correct in the author's note at the end. David Stern states in the afterword that the 2009 film freed him of the need to write specifically to one vision of humanity's future and that "The Children Of Kings" was written as a prequel to the 2009 film. Well... that would have been nice to know going into this one. That would have helped explain why the author did things like choosing names and locales (like "Petri" and "Argelius") that have seemingly no relation to the established TOS versions. But with a cover featuring Jeffrey Hunter and Leonard Nimoy as their respective characters, it is hard to think of this as a 2009 prequel. Even more maddening though is to try and look back at this through that new perspective... since the Enterprise was a brand new ship in the 2009 film. My head hurts...

It is really tough for me to put aside my disappointment and confusion about this novel enough to recommend it. While the character of Boyce is handled well, and it is nice to learn more about him, I just don't find his story compelling enough to warrant devoting basically the entire novel to. Add in the confusing canon game and you've got one novel that you are probably better off leaving on the shelf... unless of course you prefer Enterprise as your chosen back story. If that's the case, you might like this take on Pike and company. For everyone else though, "The Children Of Kings" is sadly skippable.

Thanks Nashville!

Despite a few technical difficulties, my Star Trek Collectibles Panel for the Creation Entertainment Official Star Trek Convention here in Nashville seemed to be a success! Thanks to everyone that attended... And my apologies if you didn't walk away with a freebie! Once again, I can't say enough good things about the kind folks that contributed extra items to the stack of giveaway goodies I passed out at the show: Marian Cordry with CBS, Zach Oat from Diamond Select Toys, and my buddy Chunky B from Eclectorama! You guys rock!

"A Collector's Trek #4" Is Now Up At StarTrek.com!

My fourth blog entry is now up over at Star Trek's official site! In this installment, we complete our 3-part journey into the world of Remco/ AHI toys by looking at some of their 1970's releases. Check it out if you get a chance- A Collector's Trek 4: Remco Toys Of The 1970's

Playmates Spotlight- Original Spock (Star Trek 2009 6" Figure)

Figure Name: Original Spock
Manufacturer: Playmates Toys



This Spock was released carded as part of the Playmates Star Trek 2009 6" figure line.



The Rundown: Well, I've held off on doing this for almost 2 years now, but I really feel that my time has come. I just gotta face the music... take it like a man... rip that band-aid off with one quick pull. That's right folks- It's time to start spotlighting the Playmates 2009 Star Trek line.



Why have I waited so long to do this you ask? For starters, I've always wanted this blog to really stick to items related to the original series and the first seven feature films. The 2009 film is a little tricky. While part of me wants to separate it into its own segment of Trekdom, the other part of me wants to acknowledge it as a part of the classic canon... especially with the inclusion of Nimoy's Spock. I needed to let this inner argument gestate for a bit before I really opened the door to the '09-inspired merch. The second reason is a bit easier to explain... For me, the Playmates 2009 toys just didn't seem all that great. With a different scale and style than the previous Playmates Trek offerings, I wanted to give myself some time to get to know these guys before committing my opinions on them to the blog.

But like I said... That time has come! And what better place to start than with the guy that ties it all together- The Original Spock! Let's take a gander at him!



Playmates released 3 differently scaled lines of figures for the Star Trek 2009 movie: A 3.75" line called the "Galaxy Collection", a 6" line dubbed the "Warp Collection, and the 12" "Command Collection". I compromised with myself and went with the 6" version of Spock for this first foray into spotlighting the line.



We'll start at the top of the figure and work our way down. The head sculpts of the 2009 Playmates product are WILDLY hit-or-miss, with some featuring decent likenesses and others... not so much. Spock here is one of the better efforts, with a head that bares a pretty solid likeness to the elder incarnation of everyone's favorite Vulcan.



As we move down, it becomes obvious that these aren't your daddy's Playmates Star Trek figures. While the old line sometimes had issues with properly scaling the heads to the bodies, the '09 line does a nice job of balancing proportions. The upper body articulation is nice as well, with a large range of movement in the arms and a hidden torso joint supplying a large range of posing options.



Here's where things start to fall apart unfortunately. In order to hide the torso joint, many of the 6" figures feature rubbery coverings over a buck upper body. The material used here seems more durable than the stuff used on the Art Asylum figures, but it also feels REALLY gummy on this Spock due to its thickness. The body sculpt itself is pretty "soft" overall as well, giving the figure a somewhat cheap appearance when compared with other contemporary figures made in the 6" scale.



My biggest gripe on the figure though has to be the hip joints. While the arms feature a wide range of movement, the hip articulation is relegated to a simple T-joint... meaning he can sit down and that's about it. I could almost forgive this if the legs were at least posed a bit further apart, but they aren't. Spock is perpetually stuck with his legs fairly close to each other, severely limiting his poseability. Even the V-joint hips of the 90's figures worked better than this... and I hated those V-joints.



Accessories: Spock includes an interchangeable hand and a black figure stand. While I understand that Spock didn't really use any weapons in the film, I still feel Playmates cheaped out here. Why not stick a vial of "red matter" in with him? That would have been pretty cool.



While the '09 Playmates line as a whole isn't all that great, this Spock at least has a few good things going for him. The head sculpt is strong, the articulation is at least half-decent... and it's Leonard Nimoy's Spock! If you are thinking of trying this line out (especially at the current closeout prices nationwide), Original Spock might be a good place to start. Using him, you can decide if you have need for the many, or need for the few... or just the one. See what I did there? Yeah, that was a TWOK reference. Kudos to me!

Hallmark Ornament Spotlight- 2011 Romulan Bird-Of-Prey

Item Name: Romulan Bird-Of-Prey Keepsake Ornament
Manufacturer: Hallmark



Hallmark released this ornament as part of their 2011 keepsake assortment. Here's the back of the box if you care to read it-



The Rundown: As the old saying goes- Third time's a charm! After the mediocre showings of the first two 2011 Hallmark ornaments, I'm happy to tell you that I saved the best for last. This year's ship entry, the Romulan Bird-Of-Prey, definitely rules the roost amongst his 2011 brethren... but that isn't really saying much, is it? Let's take look at her and see if she is actually worth plunking down the money for.



The first thing you may notice when getting your BOP out of the box is how "smooth" it is. The ship lacks the intricately sculpted lines and details seen on some of Hallmark's recent ship offerings, like 2009's Klingon Battle Cruiser and 2010's "JJ-Prise". There's a reason for that though: The TOS Romulan Bird-Of-Prey isn't supposed to have hyper-detailing! Duh. Take a look at this picture of the shooting model-



Now look at the ornament-



Not only did Hallmark maintain the integrity of the shooting model by not adding silly things like unnecessary gridlines, but they also did an incredible job of recreating what small details were visible on the original prop. Compare the number of "portholes" and their placement between the two pictures. Go ahead. I'll wait for ya. Done? Yeah, they match pretty darn well, don't they? Good job Hallmark!



Of course, the most integral element to a good Bird-Of-Prey replica is the fowl decoration located on the underside. I have zero complaints with Hallmark's rendition here. The paint lines are nice and tight, with no mismatch between the pattern and the coloring. I also have to give them kudos for incorporating the battery cover into the tail feather portion of the image. Pretty sneaky sis!



Speaking of the batteries- The Romulan Bird-Of-Prey is part of the "Magic" series of ornaments... meaning you're going to get some kind of electronic feature built in. Press the button located on her top side, and this happens:




Pretty sweet, eh? Not sure how well it translated in the video, but the nacelle lights are SUPER bright. Some folks may have issue with the color chosen for the effect, but I personally dig the blue. It looks really sharp. Oh.. and I actually had no idea that the front part lit up until it started blinking. Excellent work all around!



At $32.95, the Romulan Bird-Of-Prey is the most expensive of this year's Hallmark Trek offerings. Thankfully, it also happens to be the best of the bunch. If money isn't really a factor, but you only have room on the tree for one 2011 Trek ornament, make it this one. It really is quite cool, and it would look great hanging near the original Enterprise (if you have that golden oldie). With the high price, you may be tempted to wait out the inevitable post-season clearance, but I have a feeling this one will be the first one to "disappear". After all, it is a Romulan Bird-Of Prey... Ya get it? "Disappear"? Because it can cloak! Ha!

Hallmark Ornament Spotlight- 2011 Spock (Star Trek Legends Series)

Item Name: Spock Star Trek Legends Ornament
Manufacturer: Hallmark



Hallmark released this ornament as part of their 2011 keepsake assortment. For your reading enjoyment, here's the back of the box-



The Rundown: Remember back in 1999 when you went to see "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace"? You went in with these huge expectations, thinking the movie would be the greatest thing since the Ewoks battled on Endor. Turns out it wasn't. Turns it out it kinda sucked. Fast forward three years... Your standing in line for "Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones", absolutely sure that the mistakes of the first prequel will be erased with this outing and you'll look back and laugh at the early antics of Mr. Binks. Yeah... that one ended up stinking too, didn't it? Well, that's pretty much how these 2011 Star Trek ornaments are turning out as well. Yesterday, we looked at the "Mirror, Mirror" ornament, which was kinda poopy. Today we turn our attention to this year's Spock ornament... which unfortunately isn't that great either.



Spock is the second release in Hallmark's "Star Trek Legends" series (following last year's Captain Kirk). The "Legends" series is basically Hallmark's way of getting another run out of the original series mainstays, with a different character ornament slated for release each year. Like I said in the Kirk spotlight- I am all for "do-overs" on the TOS guys... but only if they do them better than the first time around. Judging by these first two "Legends", it doesn't seem like that is going to be the case with this series.



That's not to say that Spock is a downgrade from the Kirk ornament. Spock is definitely superior to that frankly abysmal release... but he's still not that good. At first glance, he seems prefectly fine; A standard Spock holding his tricorder. But get a little closer...



...and things start to get a little funky. And not a good kind of funky. The bad kind. What is going on with that face? Is he smiling? Is this supposed to be from "This Side Of Paradise" or something? Maybe Hallmark anticipated that your tree was going to be filled with those weird muppet-spore-plant things so they went ahead and sculpted him all happy-like. Either that or it's just not a very good sculpt. I'm going with the spore idea.



The rest of the body is a contradiction in accuracy. For example: The tricorder features a really odd smooshed-down sculpt, but then small details on the uniform like the rank braids and delta shield are done incredibly well. It's kinda like eating a worm and finding an apple inside.



And since I mentioned it on Kirk, I feel it's necessary to bring it up here too- It's very difficult to get Spock standing without support. I had about 15 unusable pictures of Spock falling over when this shoot was done. He's not nearly as unstable as Kirk, but he definitely isn't meant for displaying on a shelf. Yeah, I know he's just an ornament... But I do like to display mine on the off-season, so his wonky feet frustrate me.



If you were waiting for me to lift this review back up with some hidden bit of awesomeness lurking within this release, you're going to be disappointed. Scroll down. Yep. This is the last paragraph. The only truly good thing I have to say about this guy is that he's fairly cheap. At only $14.95, Spock is the most affordable of this year's ornaments. My experience over the weekend showed me that the low price is definitely going to help this one for awhile, as my Spock was the last one in the store. It's just a bummer that he isn't a little nicer for that price. As it stands now, you'd be better off buying Hallmark's old Spock ornament... which is exactly the same thing I said about the Kirk release. Kinda funny that product released over 15 years ago is making modern day releases look useless in comparison. It seems as if the "Legends" line is turning out to be the ultimate "Captain Dunsel" of Star Trek ornaments...

Tomorrow's adventure:



Don't worry... We're ending strong with this one, as it is easily the cream of the crop this year. ;)