Is it possible to make Trek Toys Kids would want?

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by Tribble puncher, May 23, 2013.

  1. Tribble puncher

    Tribble puncher Captain Captain

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    I was looking at some of the Toys from the 2009 movie online and was thinking about how I would have gone about making that line had I been in charge:

    1. only made 3.75 in figures, I would have made the entire crew in the regular uniforms, ditched the "consoles" and included a microscale ship from the movie in it's place, (Babylon 5 Figures did this.) Little Enterprises, Kelvins, Mayflowers, Narada's, so on and so forth. Kids would prob think the little ship was cool, Collectors would be snapping them up also because these would be the only micro representations of some of the more obscure ships in the movie. The only Variants besides the duty uniforms for the crew would have been Kirk and Sulu in the Spacejump suits (they would come with working parachutes)

    2. Made the creatures on the Ice Planet

    3. More bad guy Figures, Some other Romulans along with Nero, Klingon Army Builder Figs. You need more than one guy for your crew figures to fight.

    4. Made a proper bridge play-set, plenty of consoles and chairs, a plastic two tier floor (no vinyl mat), set price at 40.00 bucks. Transporter set was fine.

    5. Made a light and sound Narada, scaled it down to same size as enterprise, (it would have looked like crap probably to control costs, but kids would want a ship to battle with their enterprise.) Made a light and sound shuttle for action figs, have a opening floor with string so kids can reenact the space jump scene.

    I think the Phaser, Tricorder, and communicator would have sold better if the rest of the line hadn't tanked, I think those were okay. Even though I think this prob would have been the best way to make Trek Toys appealing to kids I'm still not sure if it would have sold well, I know playmates was going to release an additional wave that had an extra romulan and the smaller creature on the ice planet, but it was cancelled due to the first wave of stuff not selling very well. what do you guys think? if you got to make a trek toy line, and the only stipulation was you had to make it kid friendly how would you do it?
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2013
  2. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The guns would have to be cooler.
     
  3. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Have a tie-in cartoon series?
     
  4. bullethead

    bullethead Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    No, because kids these days are more into video games and won't buy enough toys to meet sales expectations and justify the costs of manufacturing them. There's literally no point making toys anymore unless they're designed to be collector's pieces.
     
  5. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Who cares about the kids, I'm the one with the money. Make them for me.
     
  6. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Trek XI's toy line-up was typical of the toy line-up for any summer blockbuster. Aside from having both 3.75 inch and 5 inch figures. They really should have just chosen one or the other.
     
  7. Shaka Zulu

    Shaka Zulu Commodore Commodore

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    And that's why (with a few exceptions) there haven't been any toy lines based on any blockbuster films (there were no toys or model kits based on Captain America: The First Avenger, for example and I would have loved to see those.) The best merch from the 2009 film, Barbie dolls of Kirk, Spock and Uhura (Ken as Kirk and Spock and Barbie as Uhura) and the plastic toy version of the Enterprise, I didn't even get.

    I would have loved to see professionally made versions of the props, but nobody stepped up to the plate in the licensing department.
     
  8. C.E. Evans

    C.E. Evans Admiral Admiral

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    Yes, there was. I bought some of them actually at my local Toys R Us when the movie was released.
    http://julianaheng.com/wp-content/images/ca_movie_w3.jpg

    But as far as the state of the toy industry, one thing to take into consideration is that the plastic used to make most toys are petroleum-based, so when the price of oil skyrockets, so do the price of the plastic, and so on. As a result, that's why the average 3.75-inch action figure these days is about ten bucks and bigger ones even more expensive. Like comic books, some toys are becoming an luxury item catering to an aging and dwindling customer base.

    But the toy industry can't survive with just the collector's market alone, which is why you're seeing the big companies like Hasbro and Mattel begin to roll out more affordable action figures in the retail market with more simplified articulation and detail.
     
  9. Shaka Zulu

    Shaka Zulu Commodore Commodore

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    Oops. What I meant to say was, there were no model kits or die-cast replicas of the Flying Wing shown in the film, or even of Red Skull's fast car. But I would have like to have also seen dolls (12 inch) of Captain America/Steve & Peggy (Ken and Barbie) from Mattel.
     
  10. Lt. Cheka Wey

    Lt. Cheka Wey Commander

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    2. You can never learn to soon how the female genitalia looks like.
     
  11. Tribble puncher

    Tribble puncher Captain Captain

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    :guffaw:
     
  12. Kelso

    Kelso Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The space jump suits are the coolest looking costumes. I'd rather have seen figures that looked like that- perhaps with parachutes attached so the kids could make them space jump off the porch. And give them a few cool looking Romulans and Klingons to fight.

    Yes. And this.
     
  13. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Kids are not dumb.

    When growing up, I was never interested in large opening playsets for figures to go inside in that it distorted the lines of the ship. I wanted good detailed, pre-painted ships that would easily fit my hand.

    Imagination did everything else.

    Now we have simply too many action figures, and the only ships of any size are the overpriced Lego contraptions.

    So I buy the better of the Halmark offerings, SFB minis, Heroclix now that Galoob isn't doing much Diamond Select.
     
  14. C.E. Evans

    C.E. Evans Admiral Admiral

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    There's still a part of me that hopes that Hasbro has a long-term plan for their Trek license and that it will include action figures, ships & vehicles, and role play toys eventually. I could see if they were currently just using Trek to promote their (until now largely ignored) Kre-O line...
     
  15. Shazam!

    Shazam! Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    ??
     
  16. C.E. Evans

    C.E. Evans Admiral Admiral

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    Look at post #9:
     
  17. Lance

    Lance Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The problem Playmates had with the 2009 toy line -- aside from the fact that they botched the sizes by splitting the base down the middle between large and small figures -- was that they seemed to be assuming that it would be a financial success and lead to a ressurgence of their mid-90s contract. What I mean is, they seemed to be assuming that they would be able to follow it up with more waves. Hence the cynical marketing ploy of not featuring Bones and Chekov in standard uniforms in the smaller figures. I contend they probably thought they'd be able to double dip with 'standard' versions in a second or third wave of releases. Yeah, that went real well for them didn't it? :lol:

    I think a future lesson should be, get the basics right first. Don't go second guessing the market. Release a series of 'standard' figures first, and then, and only if the sales warrant it, follow-up with alternative figures.
     
  18. C.E. Evans

    C.E. Evans Admiral Admiral

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    One of the biggest complaints about the Star Trek XI line by the big three retailers (Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, & Target) was having too many figures in the standard uniforms. They like more variety in the waves.

    I think if Hasbro ever gets around to making Trek action figures they'll do the same thing to keep the retailers happy, but perhaps have fewer figures in each wave and even space them out over a greater period of time.
     
  19. Lance

    Lance Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    ^ Fair point. :) I do agree that retailers obviously want more variety, but as a consumer I certainly would have prefered a complete set in regular uniforms.
     
  20. Shaka Zulu

    Shaka Zulu Commodore Commodore

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    Well, there were no model kits, which I would have loved to see, just small action figures. And as I also wished (and said) I would have liked to see a Ken doll of Captain America, with Barbie as Peggy.