1966 Prototype Spock Doll Ideal Corp

[JediMasterToys]

Hello,

I have a 1966 prototype spock doll, and I'm trying to learn more about it. I'd like to find out how to verify its authenticity, and figure out how much it might be worth.

My mom has been an antique dealer for 30 years and a Trekkie in love with Spock for 50. Around 1986-1990 my mom was at the garage sale of Teresa Victor, who was an assistant to Leonard Nimoy in the late 60s/70s. Her house was like a museum, and my mom purchased this prototype Spock doll and its story.

She remembers it had to have been late 80's because Victor commented on Nimoy's ex-wife Sandy, who she didn't like too much, and Nimoy's divorce was in 1986.

She was hired as an assistant to Nimoy when fan mail became too much to handle because the studio insisted that all fan mail be answered, this was in 1967. She stayed with him until "the end", at least 1978.

When the Star Trek series ended in 1969, the studio wanted everyone to everyone at Paramount to vacate offices immediately on short notice to make room for Mission Impossible case members. So Nimoy and Victor stored their supplies and belongings in her (Teresa Victor's) apartment.

She was still working for him in 1978 when his office was broken into 3 times. The suspect was caught and Victor identified and recovered the stolen merchandise.

This prototype is based on a 1965 Ideal Corp James Bond 12" figure. The stamp on the back of the head shows (C) Ideal Toy Corp. CM 1965 (the top bar of the 5 is you can see).

- The original hair has been shaved off and the spock hair applied over it.
- The spock ears were molded on.
- The original eyebrows shaved off and spock eyebrows added
- Clothes made to fit
- Still has original boots

I will have a booth at Wizard World Minneapolis first weekend of may, and we may have it on display there.

 

[Melakon]

If it's marked Ideal, it might have been a proposed outfit for their Captain Action figure, which was Ideal's answer to Hasbro's G.I. Joe.

Captain Action had several costumes of licensed characters available, so you could turn him into Superman, Batman, Spider-man, Flash Gordon, and others. Perhaps Spock was a test presentation, or it might just be something custom built by a fan.

Wikipedia says Captain Action and G.I. Joe were both created and designed by the same person, Stan Weston.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

If it's marked Ideal, it might have been a proposed outfit for their Captain Action figure, which was Ideal's answer to Hasbro's G.I. Joe.

Captain Action had several costumes of licensed characters available, so you could turn him into Superman, Batman, Spider-man, Flash Gordon, and others. Perhaps Spock was a test presentation, or it might just be something custom built by a fan.

Wikipedia says Captain Action and G.I. Joe were both created and designed by the same person, Stan Weston.

The hair looks suspiciously like a bad Sculpey job laid over an original head. As far as Captain Action goes, unless I missed something in Eury's comprehensive book on the line, I do not believe there's any record of Idea trying to get and/or develop a Spock figure for CA, since the focus was on superheroes and other adventure-aligned, comic book/strip characters. Cashing in on the so-named "superhero boom" of the mid-sixties, CA targeted as many well-known characters, even if they were not necessarily a superhero (ex. The Lone Ranger, Steve Canyon, et al).

Unless someone has some previously hidden Idea information on a proposed Star Trek figure or contact with Desliu, I think this figure could be less than legitimate.

 

[bbailey861]

If it's marked Ideal, it might have been a proposed outfit for their Captain Action figure, which was Ideal's answer to Hasbro's G.I. Joe.

Captain Action had several costumes of licensed characters available, so you could turn him into Superman, Batman, Spider-man, Flash Gordon, and others. Perhaps Spock was a test presentation, or it might just be something custom built by a fan.

Wikipedia says Captain Action and G.I. Joe were both created and designed by the same person, Stan Weston.

The hair looks suspiciously like a bad Sculpey job laid over an original head. As far as Captain Action goes, unless I missed something in Eury's comprehensive book on the line, I do not believe there's any record of Idea trying to get and/or develop a Spock figure for CA, since the focus was on superheroes and other adventure-aligned, comic book/strip characters. Cashing in on the so-named "superhero boom" of the mid-sixties, CA targeted as many well-known characters, even if they were not necessarily a superhero (ex. The Lone Ranger, Steve Canyon, et al).

Unless someone has some previously hidden Idea information on a proposed Star Trek figure or contact with Desliu, I think this figure could be less than legitimate.

These were my initial thoughts as well. I'll reserve final judgement, though, until a few more people have weighed in. You never know, maybe someone was planning something and did simply take an established figure and rework it to get it looking like Spock.

 

[Maurice]

It could have been just a proof of concept by a company looking to license the character. A big tell to its authenticity could be how the tunic is put together, as in is the pattern similar to that used for other figures by that manufacturer at that period?

 

[drt]

It's not outside the realm of possibility they might have considered making Spock, since they did do other non-superhero figures such as James Bond, and Ideal was a Trek licencee in the late 60s.

However, the head doesn't seem any kind of mockup intended to secure the actor's likeness (which I'd imagine would be a new sculpt, and not kitbashed from an existing head), and there's no reason to mess around with the head at all if they were just prototyping the uniform - plus, I'm not sure why such a prototype would end up in Nimoy's hands at all (particularly since it doesn't use his likeness). All of these factors make me think this was made by a fan as a gift for Nimoy.

 

[Commishsleer]

If its a legitimate story, get verification letters from each person involved if they are still alive.

Personally I'd like to believe the story but it could have been made up for an interesting tale on a Sunday morning.

If its a real prototype though how much would it be worth? Priceless to a true fan but obviously not on the scale of a Star Wars prototype say.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Spock with a shit-eating grin.

 

[JediMasterToys]

My mom's understanding from the owner was that this was protoyping for a new line of 12" star trek dolls made by Ideal, and not part of the Captain Action line. But the whole line was canned and then we later got the Mego 8" dolls instead. This would have been similar to the Motion Picture 12" dolls. It's also possible it wasn't Ideal that did the prototyping, it might have been Mego, and just used a standard "G.I.Joe" doll as the base for the prototype.

My mom swears she originally had a book that specifically mentioned this prototype. But somewhere around 90 she sold most of her star trek book collection to someone. Now she can't remember which book it was. We picked up the obvious ones "World of star trek" and "making of star trek" again and have a few price guides but so far haven't found it.

Unfortunately Teresa passed away a few years ago. I'm hoping to find the right forums or connection to find someone involved in this prototype development or who otherwise might have had first hand knowledge of it.

 

[Commishsleer]

My mom swears she originally had a book that specifically mentioned this prototype. But somewhere around 90 she sold most of her star trek book collection to someone. Now she can't remember which book it was. We picked up the obvious ones "World of star trek" and "making of star trek" again and have a few price guides but so far haven't found it.

Interesting if your Mother remembers correctly. There can't be that many books about Star Trek before 1990 can there?
Excluding fiction of course. I lost my books in the 80s so I can't help you. But there must be a record somewhere of all Star Trek non-Fiction books published between 1976 and 1990. Unless it was a 'magazine'. I have a fiction compendium but not a non-fiction compendium. Sorry.

 

[drt]

I think the only other official choices from the 1970s would be "Star Trek Lives" or "A Star Trek Catalog"; it's been decades since I looked at either, but I seem to recall some mention of merchandise in the latter.

 

[Avro Arrow]

^ OK, just pulled my old second-hand copy of the Catalog off the shelf. You are correct, there is a merchandise section ("The Marketplace"), but it's mostly just a list of companies, their addresses, and what Star Trek products they had made, along with some pictures. One of the pictures is of some of the Mego figures, but none of them are Spock. And I can't find reference in that short chapter to anything regarding prototypes.

Ideal Toy Corporation does have an entry (drt already mentioned above that they were a licensee), but the only product listed for them is "silent film cartridge", which appears to be this.

So the Catalog is probably not the book you're looking for, either. Sorry.

 

[publiusr]

You might want to contact the folks here
http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/toy-hunter
http://www.syfy.com/hollywoodtreasure/