The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Since we were talking about the much-loved Micro Machine miniatures in another thread, it got me thinking about the Johnny Lighting series, another one that was really good, but had a few rather odd choices as to which ship got made as miniatures.

You had most of the hero ships: 1701 (TOS and refit), 1701-A, 1701-D, NX-01, and Voyager. (No DS9, no Defiant, no runabout, no Delta Flyer, and no 1701-E, though :confused:)

You also had many of the usual suspects: Reliant, Galileo, Klingon battle cruiser, Romulan BoP, and a Borg Cube.

Funnily enough, there were quite a few familiars they left out: No other Klingon or Romulans (other than a "Romulan battle cruiser" repaint). No Excelsior. No Grissom. No Nebulas (Nebulae?). No "B" or "C". Nothing from "Voyager" or "Enterprise" except the hero ships. Nothing AT ALL from DS9, except one minor ship I'll talk about shortly:

Instead, obviously to save $ by using the same molds, we got a whole whack of repaints and variants of ships they already did. Pretty much all of the above got reissued as some type of "battle damaged" version. Unless it's the Constellation, I don't really care for battle damaged stuff. Same goes for all these "cloaked" versions that were made with transparent plastic. They did the future-"D" from "All Good Things...", which I suppose was probably a new mold, but I never saw one up close.

They also came out with some other ships from the same classes. That I'm actually okay with. The one and only ship from DS9 was the 10-second Majestic, so they could re-use the Reliant molds. They made a Yamato, an ISS NX-01, and a Constitution-class Excalibur and Defiant. (I still really want that last one!)

Not sure why they'd go with the Yamato (Not that I mind. I actually have one). It's just just that if they wanted a Galaxy-class besides the big "D", it wasn't on screen too long compared to the Odyssey or the Challenger. As for the Majestic, if you're gonna reuse Reliant molds, why not something more memorable, like dispensing with the roll bar and making a Lantree, Brattain, Bozeman, or Saratoga? If they were making other ships of the same class, I wouldn't have minded a Columbia, Avenger, Bellerephon, or some more Constitutions.

Besides the above, were there any you think they missed out on making? (A Jem'Hadar fighter would've been nice, if you ask me.)

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Totally agree. I love my johnny lightnings but i gave up after the 2nd round of repaints. So i have all the molds, but the fake battle damage stuff and the plastic phasers were lame and that was the end of it for me. I do still want the self destruct version of the 1701 but its usually pretty pricey

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Yeah, there's something about the "battle damaged" versions of existing ships, or the same ships in a slightly different shades, or the "cloaked" version that just screams "we're too cheap to design new molds, so here's some more of something you already have". (Same goes for those silly bronze-colored versions of the Micro Machines. I hated those!)

Interestingly, I really don't feel that way with different ships of the same class. I was happy to pick up a Mirror Universe NX-01 and a Yamato, and I still want that Constitution-class Defiant. (Hard to find a cheap on eBay though).

Pity they didn't give us as many different ships as the Micro Machines set did.

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

I'd like a Voyager (without the landing gear). I hear it's to scale with AMTs DS9 kit.

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

I have one. Tragically, a nacelle broke off! :wah:

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

I ended up having a Voyager, Reliant, NX-01 and a battle damaged Refit. I loved them, They had some great moulds and paint jobs. Although the glue they used was awful. My Refit has broken free of the saucer, the Reliants roll bar has come free, and the NX-01 has a loose nacelle.

I believe the reason they never released any of the smaller less known ships is because, it was about 10 years after the golden age of trek. It was going to be risky for Johnny Lightning (lets not forget they're part of the Polar Lights/Round 2 group) to make any less known ships.

One other problem I noted with my Voyager is it needs a repaint, as the paint is flaking off everywhere, also the nacelles drop down 45 degrees and will need a drop of glue to keep them in the middle.

The cloaked ships never did well. They still had tons of the cloaked D7s and BOPs at my local modelzone for years. I mean, who wants what's basically an unfinished clear kit?

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Apart from the 1-nacelled Voyager, the others I have (Yamato, Reliant, ISS NX-01, and "battle damage" NX-01) all seem okay, especially since they spend most of their time piled in a box with micro machines.

Granted, but DS9, 1701-E, the Defiant-class Defiant, Klingon BoP, Romulan Warbird, and Excelsior are hardly lesser known ships.

Well, if people get the impression you cut corners making something, they're less inclined to buy it. :rolleyes:

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Still got all mine !!!!

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/...C79D1192BF.jpg

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Here's another pic I've done a tribute to the enterprise family !!!

The enterprises pictured are JL or Furuta

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/...C85C63AF07.jpg

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Can I assume that TOS-Constitution in the first pic is the Defiant? #envy


What are the big ships in the second pic?

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

In the 1st pic the conny class is the Excalibur !!! Did they do the defiant ???

The 2nd pic consists of art asylum collectibles I've been a big fan of art asylum the three ships are the enterprise. Far right USS enterprise hd version middle one is the refit enterprise from TWOK and far left is the uss enterprise from the pilot episode the cage a lot of differences with this enterprise larger bridge dome and nav deflector and spikes on the bussard collectors . This one is my favourite !!!!

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

They sure did! I check ebay regularly, cause I really want one. I don't see anything under $50 that's avaible to Canada at the moment, however. :thumbdown:

Interesting. Do they have any other ships?

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Not sure where you're located, but here is one seller that has more than 10 available, and the price seems reasonable. I mean, shipping is a rip-off, but it always will be.

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Memory Alpha suggests a few more ships, including a Constellation, were in the works, when the toy line got cancelled.

Re: The "Johnny Lightning" ship series
 

Galoob, Furuta and F-Toys all released the Defiant, Corgi planned to; strange that Johnny Lightning didn't.