That's awesome! There used to be a site hosted by New Force Comics which had loads of background on the Playmates line, including prototypes and unproduced products. You're doing a great job capturing some of that.
Playmates Toys
- Thread starter captainjellico
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That's awesome! There used to be a site hosted by New Force Comics which had loads of background on the Playmates line, including prototypes and unproduced products. You're doing a great job capturing some of that.
There is so much to unpack in this site. I can't wait
Thanks guys :-) I've been helped along the way by a number of fans who have been generous enough to add to my collection with hi-res scans of Playmates catalogues and the like.
Ive even had the chance to email (briefly) with Ron McPherson who was responsible for some of the artwork on Playmates packaging (ships, accessories, etc)
http://upcloseandplastic.blogspot.com/2014/07/star-trek-playmates-artwork-by-ron.html
I used to love - and still miss - the New Force Comics reference guide, I wonder what happened to it?
Ive even had the chance to email (briefly) with Ron McPherson who was responsible for some of the artwork on Playmates packaging (ships, accessories, etc)
http://upcloseandplastic.blogspot.com/2014/07/star-trek-playmates-artwork-by-ron.html
I used to love - and still miss - the New Force Comics reference guide, I wonder what happened to it?
Man, I bought so much stuff from NewForce back in the day. The shelves in my “fruit room” are still stuffed to the gills with Playmates stuff.
Wow, I just went through the whole blog and couldn't stop - great stuff!
The Galor looks very detailed, too bad they didn't release it
And the type III TNG/DS9 rifle! I do have the I and II, and the tricorder, but damn I wanted that rifle as well... and they wanted to make a Romulan disruptor too? Was there any difference between the FC and INS phasers?The runabout is probably the oddest of the ships. Were the windows misplaced because of some concept art having them up there and nothing on the front? I know the E from FC is wrong because that was an earlier design (canonized in a NEM shield display, though), but I actually like that design.
What was the assimilated ESB used for? And the team with the FC rifles in the First City on Qo'noS?
THAT is just insane:
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It's 'cause some nimrod decided to make it with an opening front for the figures and moving the windows to where the figures heads would be. I've been bummed out ever since it came out, it would have been such a cool vehicle toy if it weren't for that.
The proper placement of the window on the shuttlecraft was still in the right place for the figure. The scale of the Runabout didn't allow for that.
Edit: http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog...ates-star-trek-deep-space-nine-wave-2-part-1/
Edit: http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog...ates-star-trek-deep-space-nine-wave-2-part-1/
So pleased to hear that others were just as upset about the front of the runabout as I was. Its an amazing toy, but that forward hatch just irks me!
As for the artwork - some of it was for product that was never used. For example: one of the shots of the Defiant was done for an invitation to some function at Paramount. That shot of the team with the rifles on Kronos looks kinda Strike Force-ey, right? No idea what that could be for!
And yeah, not hard to see why "skinless data" never made it to toy shelves! I can only imagine opening THAT terrifying monster on Xmas day!
As for the artwork - some of it was for product that was never used. For example: one of the shots of the Defiant was done for an invitation to some function at Paramount. That shot of the team with the rifles on Kronos looks kinda Strike Force-ey, right? No idea what that could be for!
And yeah, not hard to see why "skinless data" never made it to toy shelves! I can only imagine opening THAT terrifying monster on Xmas day!
Skinless Data was definitely a part of the original 6" First Contact lineup - there's photo evidence:
http://upcloseandplastic.blogspot.com/2014/03/star-trek-first-contact-1996.html
Much like the confusion with the unused Generations uniform, the assumption has always been that the figure was based off of concept art given to Playmates prior to completion of the actual film.
As many others before me have stated - a 6" Borg Queen (an essential character in the film) is conspicuous by her absence.
http://upcloseandplastic.blogspot.com/2014/03/star-trek-first-contact-1996.html
Much like the confusion with the unused Generations uniform, the assumption has always been that the figure was based off of concept art given to Playmates prior to completion of the actual film.
As many others before me have stated - a 6" Borg Queen (an essential character in the film) is conspicuous by her absence.
Playmates pretty much lost me with the decision to go with a 6" scale for "First Contact," as well as a very small number of DS9 characters in that scale. They still had the stylized plasticky look of the 4.5" figures, but you couldn't put them together for play, setting up dioramas, etc. with the dozens of figures that were available in the 4.5" scale.
Edit: I just looked back through the thread and realized I said basically the same thing months ago.
Kor
Edit: I just looked back through the thread and realized I said basically the same thing months ago.
Kor
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Though I enjoyed the First Contact line when it was released, in retrospect it was a missed opportunity. I mean, I get that Playmates was reticent to release yet another set of figures featuring the same characters (especially when the Generations line was still warming pegs), but they could have done some re-sculpts.
The larger scale seemed to add nothing. Sure some of the facial sculpts are nice (Picard, Worf, Lily), but others seem rushed and cartoonish (Beverly being the worst example). Phaser rifle aside, none of the accessories seemed improved - just sized up versions of the 4.5 inch figure versions.
Add to that, the Voyager style "re-used" bodies that gave the wave a feeling of sameness, and this line looks a little mediocre and dated at the time. Especially considering that McFarlane's Movie Maniacs were just round the corner.
The larger scale seemed to add nothing. Sure some of the facial sculpts are nice (Picard, Worf, Lily), but others seem rushed and cartoonish (Beverly being the worst example). Phaser rifle aside, none of the accessories seemed improved - just sized up versions of the 4.5 inch figure versions.
Add to that, the Voyager style "re-used" bodies that gave the wave a feeling of sameness, and this line looks a little mediocre and dated at the time. Especially considering that McFarlane's Movie Maniacs were just round the corner.
I don't like the scale of 6 inch for Star Trek. It didn't seem to add much. Art Asylum and Diamond Select did better in that scale than Playmates.
Going through that blog makes me hope that someday someone will use 3d printing for good and bring those concepts to life.
Going through that blog makes me hope that someday someone will use 3d printing for good and bring those concepts to life.
The detail on the drone is pretty good though, and might not have been so great on a smaller onePlaymates pretty much lost me with the decision to go with a 6" scale for "First Contact," as well as a very small number of DS9 characters in that scale. They still had the stylized plasticky look of the 4.5" figures, but you couldn't put them together for play, setting up dioramas, etc. with the dozens of figures that were available in the 4.5" scale.
Edit: I just looked back through the thread and realized I said basically the same thing months ago.
Kor
Fair play NCC-73515, the Borg Drone was pretty fantastic. Good enough even to be used by the production at the time.
Yup. If you look closely, its just the same First Contact drone chopped up repeatedly. I remember seeing that as a kid and knew it was the action figure immediately!
Dan Curry:
"We didn't have the budget or the time to create full-scale body chunks, because of the cost and time it would take to do that. So, I asked our licensing department for a bunch of Borg toy action figures [....] And kudos to the person who sculpted those toys, because the detail – especially the facial detail – was so good that I was able to take the toy action figures, cut them up with a Dremel cutting tool, and then I stacked them up with hot glue and shot them at home against a little blue screen cove."
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Scorpion_(episode)#Effects
Dan Curry:
"We didn't have the budget or the time to create full-scale body chunks, because of the cost and time it would take to do that. So, I asked our licensing department for a bunch of Borg toy action figures [....] And kudos to the person who sculpted those toys, because the detail – especially the facial detail – was so good that I was able to take the toy action figures, cut them up with a Dremel cutting tool, and then I stacked them up with hot glue and shot them at home against a little blue screen cove."
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Scorpion_(episode)#Effects
