Hasbro has Star Trek toy license?

[MisterPL]

I see that Hasbro is debuting Mr. Potato Head™ versions of Kirk and Kor at this year's International Toy Fair in New York this month. While I don't give a crap about the spud I am a toy collector who loves the 3 3/4" scale and has long wished that the company that produced so many fine Star Wars figures would take a crack at Trek.

Is it possible that Mr. Potato Head is just the tip of that iceberg? I know the Star Wars license is up for renewal in a few years and there's a new Trek film on the way, not to mention a wealth of material to rediscover.

Here's the link to the news.

 

[FalTorPan]

Despite the "cool factor" of the latest Trek film, the tie-in toys seemed to be shelf-warmers. I'm surprised that any major mainstream toy manufacturer has any interest in Trek.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I see that Hasbro is debuting Mr. Potato Head™ versions of Kirk and Kor at this year's International Toy Fair in New York this month. While I don't give a crap about the spud I am a toy collector who loves the 3 3/4" scale and has long wished that the company that produced so many fine Star Wars figures would take a crack at Trek.

Same here. I've been wishing for years that someone would do a Trek toyline in the 3.75-inch scale. Alas, when we finally got one, well...

Is it possible that Mr. Potato Head is just the tip of that iceberg? I know the Star Wars license is up for renewal in a few years and there's a new Trek film on the way, not to mention a wealth of material to rediscover.

While I would squeal like a little girl if Hasbro got the master toy license for Trek, I also know it's not uncommon for toy companies to get a limited license to make a specific type of toy. In the case of Hasbro, they may simply be making Star Trek Mr. Potato Heads and that's it.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I also saw this news and got very excited... not sure what it means, could just be one-off (like how Mattel got the right to do a Ken & Barbie Trek set), rather than the master licence... then again it COULD just possibly be...

it would be a dream if Hasbro got it. Not only would we get great Trek 2012 figures, but I'd bet they would go back and do a "Future Legends"-type subline where they could revisit the older shows.

And for those of you who say they'd never do this... the new "Thundercats" toyline (based on the new TV series) is being accompanied at retail by a "Classic" line, based on the 1980s show, so you never know!

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm pretty sure DST still has the toy license for Trek covering TOS-Enterprise and the first 10 movies, and I don't think they're giving it up any time soon. Maybe Trek XII's license is up for grabs, and for all we know Hasbro hay acquire it if Playmates has no interest in it. But it is really wishful thinking if you think Hasbro is going to start doing toys based on the other Treks.

 

[C.E. Evans]

It really kind of depends on the particular license and what particular product is being made. For example, Dragon toys has the license to make 12-inch Trek figures--but only from TNG. Likewise, another company can acquire the license to make only 3.75-inch figures--from any or all incarnations of Trek--should Playmates bow out and Diamond Select opt not to pursue that scale.

 

[Saxman1]

Despite the "cool factor" of the latest Trek film, the tie-in toys seemed to be shelf-warmers. I'm surprised that any major mainstream toy manufacturer has any interest in Trek.

The Target and Toys R Us stores sold out of all the ST (2009) toys very quickly in the Chicago area, never to be reordered. Go figure. I guess it was a one - shot.

 

[Gotham Central]

Why would anyone prefer Hasbro to DST/Art Asylum? All of DST's work has been first rate. Their props and starships have been on par with some of the more expensive replicas at a fraction of the cost.

 

[Braxton]

I strongly believe Hasbro could make great use of the Star Trek toy license. They are experienced with Star Wars and I can see them being able to more easily take advantage of Star Trek. Of course, the movies need to be more 'casual' to attract more people to it which will get more people interested in the toys. One problem Trek has is there are too few people in the people that will have toys whereas Star Wars has an over abundance of characters. The only way Trek can compete like this is by using all series characters and ships.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Why would anyone prefer Hasbro to DST/Art Asylum? All of DST's work has been first rate. Their props and starships have been on par with some of the more expensive replicas at a fraction of the cost.

Hasbro pretty much rules the 3.75-inch action figure universe, plus they have the ability to sell their stuff at your local retail store (like Wal-mart and Target) at a lower-price and without the shipping & handling that comes from online/mail ordering.

 

[The Wormhole]

Why would anyone prefer Hasbro to DST/Art Asylum? All of DST's work has been first rate. Their props and starships have been on par with some of the more expensive replicas at a fraction of the cost.

Hasbro sells to a larger market than DST. That was why Playmates got the Trek XI license instead of DST, Paramount wanted to sell these toys to more than the comic book store market.

One problem Trek has is there are too few people in the people that will have toys whereas Star Wars has an over abundance of characters. The only way Trek can compete like this is by using all series characters and ships.

Star Wars doesn't really have very many characters. Most of their action figures these days are of meaningless background characters. If Hasbro did the same thing with Star Trek than, yeah, you could keep the line running for years. Mind you, you'd be buying Mr. Leslie, Lt. Ayala, Chief Argyle...

 

[Nick086]

Why would anyone prefer Hasbro to DST/Art Asylum? All of DST's work has been first rate. Their props and starships have been on par with some of the more expensive replicas at a fraction of the cost.

Hasbro sells to a larger market than DST. That was why Playmates got the Trek XI license instead of DST, Paramount wanted to sell these toys to more than the comic book store market.

One problem Trek has is there are too few people in the people that will have toys whereas Star Wars has an over abundance of characters. The only way Trek can compete like this is by using all series characters and ships.

Star Wars doesn't really have very many characters. Most of their action figures these days are of meaningless background characters. If Hasbro did the same thing with Star Trek than, yeah, you could keep the line running for years. Mind you, you'd be buying Mr. Leslie, Lt. Ayala, Chief Argyle...

I welcome it if Hasbro takes on Star Trek action figures. There are characters that weren't made that had a lot of screen time on Voyager and Deep Space. We never saw Ensign Vorik, Weyoun, and Female Founder. These characters had a lot of screen time on the TV, but were never made into action figures

 

[OmahaStar]

Despite the "cool factor" of the latest Trek film, the tie-in toys seemed to be shelf-warmers. I'm surprised that any major mainstream toy manufacturer has any interest in Trek.

The Target and Toys R Us stores sold out of all the ST (2009) toys very quickly in the Chicago area, never to be reordered. Go figure. I guess it was a one - shot.

Check your local Dollar Tree stores. Around August or September, the ones around here got in hundreds of them, both the itty bitty ones and the full size ones, and everything at the store is always a maximum of one dollar each. They were still on the shelves (well, hanging from pegs) the last time I visited one in December.

 

[Cwj]

Why would anyone prefer Hasbro to DST/Art Asylum? All of DST's work has been first rate. Their props and starships have been on par with some of the more expensive replicas at a fraction of the cost.

I agree. I own several DST phaser replicas and they are as accurate as you can get for a "toy" (interestingly, on the DST packages it says: "Adult Collectible, this is not a toy")

 

[The Wormhole]

^^Personally I'm more amused by action figures which have "ages 17 and up" on the package. Yet they're sold in Wal-Mart right next to the Transformers.

 

[C.E. Evans]

^^^
It's not like any of those action figures are R-rated though. If anything, it seems more like a case of telling people either it's a collectible, or that it has so many of those plastic twisty things in the packaging that it could present a choking hazard to really small kids.

But there is also the issue of conforming to the law, which would otherwise require the Diamond Select phaser props to have bright orange caps on the nozzles if they didn't tell straight out this was meant to be a collectible.

 

[Trek Survivor]

But it is really wishful thinking if you think Hasbro is going to start doing toys based on the other Treks.

Is it unlikely? YES

Impossible? NO

Hasbro is a business, first and foremost. If it senses an opportunity to generate profit, it will explore it.

Collector-targeted figures in line such as "Star Wars" are common (not many kids interested in boring old human Imperial officer who was seen on screen for 3 seconds) - Hasbro recognises the collector market, though knows it's the minority audience.

If Star Trek XII figures are successful, and appeal to the kids etc, I can see Hasbro testing the waters with a short "Starfleet Legends" line or somesuch, throw in the main characters - Kirk, Spock, Picard, Data... see what happens. Parts-sharing will be possible, and saving money like that helps.

Look at other brands:

Transformers caters to the collectors by a wide variety of means, releasing store exclusive or low-volume figures regularly targeted at collectors rather than kids, or even whole lines (albeit short-lived, but intentionally so) to fit in their main big movie lines e.g. "Classics", figures based on the original 1980s characters.

The new Thundercats line, based on the 2011 cartoon, is obviously primarily aimed at kids - but a very "test the waters" line of "classic" figures has also been announced. How will it do? Who knows?

But I do know that IF Hasbro get the Trek licence, and IF they plan it well enough and IF they decided to, certain figures based on previous Treks would be popular - niche, undoubtedly, but as demonstrated above, even a company as large as Habro recognises the collector market and caters accordingly.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^You're ignoring one very important fact: DST currently holds the license to make action figures based non-Abrams Trek. And unless DST gives it up, than no one else can touch that property. So even if Hasbro were to get Trek XII, it is near impossible for them to make figures for the other Treks.

 

[C.E. Evans]

It depends on the license and what particular toys they're making. Dragon toys has a license to make TNG figures in the 12-inch scale. They can do that because they're not making the exact same kind of toys that Diamond Select is. Likewise, another company like Hasbro could secure the rights to make only 3.75-inch toys from any era of Trek, if Diamond Select isn't touching that scale. The exact thing is actually happening between Hasbro and Sideshow toys with the Star Wars line--they both are making toys, but at different scales.

 

[The Wormhole]

Honestly, it doesn't make much sense to me to make 3.75 inch figures when there's already 5-6 inch figures of the same property being done. And I felt the same about Playmates offering Trek XI figures in both scales.