The fact that it's all Kelvin makes me so happy. And 1:18 which is even better!
Playmates Toys
- Thread starter captainjellico
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Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ll be buying them, too.
It was more a comment on how the companies that produce Trek stuff seem to make odd choices. The Kelvinverse is, for all intents and purposes, dead. And while I don’t think it’s as divisive as it once was, I also don’t get the sense there’s enough nostalgia love for a whole new range of action figures to gain a lot of traction. Why not try and do something a little more relevant?
Although, maybe that was their only option to differentiate themselves in the market, since Playmates likely won’t be doing them and will be doing figures from both old and new shows.
I mean, one it would depend on the contract and license. Hiya has been doing a lot with films of late, and some video games. So this doesn't entirely surprise me.
Two, one of the biggest frustrations with the Kelvin line was that it was incomplete. While this doesn't address it, there is some figures that were teased in the initial 09 release that never made it. And that's most of these figures, actually. McCoy in service uniform, Prime Spock in Delta Vega outfit, Keenser, and Chekov in service uniform.
Three, It might be a less expensive way to gauge interest from the fan base. They've done this I think twice now with Kelvin figures.
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I agree that Kelvin is dead. From a subjective standpoint, I welcome 1/18 scale Trek figures of any kind. Missing out on the Drakoulias/polarilla figure back in the day was sad - perhaps this line sells and more figures get made.
I’m looking forward to head-swapping and making a Captain Spock (Star Trek: Ongoing “IDIC” miniseries) and Chief Engineer Chekov (STID).
It would be amazing if there were SNW figures, too. Imagine playing a Kelvin/SNW crossover!
I’m looking forward to head-swapping and making a Captain Spock (Star Trek: Ongoing “IDIC” miniseries) and Chief Engineer Chekov (STID).
It would be amazing if there were SNW figures, too. Imagine playing a Kelvin/SNW crossover!
Technically around 4", though it's a flexible scale (annoyingly) and 3.75" gets included in with it too. When I'm not mobile I'll take a picture of my Halo 4" figure and a Star Wars 3.75.
If the intended customers are people familiar with the various iterations of Trek, then relevancy isn't really an issue, IMO. This line could have been based off of TOS, and people would still go buy them. I think anyone that pursues a Trek toy license these days must know their primary customers aren't going to be newbies to the franchise. In that light, the Kelvin Timeline is just as viable as any Trek production in the last decade or so, regardless if it's dead or not.
I think it depends on the toy license granted as fireproof78 said earlier. There are precedents for different companies to have toys based on the exact same property at the same time, but at different sizes or notable differences. Right now, both Mattel and McFarlane Toys have Superman and Batman figures on the shelves as we speak--often only mere feet apart from one another in stores. Hasbro and Super 7 are both producing G.I. Joe figures, but with the latter just taking a more retro approach. With Hiya, it may be a license for 3.75-inch Trek figures--and going after the Kelvin Timeline might have been a deliberate targeting of people who were left with incomplete collections from Playmates' almost epic crash & burn back in '09.
I think merch companies are very tuned into the relevancy. See how Prodigy figures were cancelled after [EDIT: before] the show was erased? And the outcry when the company slated to produce DSC figures learned that T'Kuvma is killed off after two episodes? - Which led to the cancellation of that entire line.
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That may have more to do with the show potentially being a tax write-off. If that happens, then any merchandise from PROD becomes forbidden, IIRC.
If you're talking about McFarlane Toys, that has far less to do with DIS and more to do with the company owner, Todd McFarlane, having issues with both CBS and U.S. toy safety regulations, and deciding ultimately to say "screw it, I'm out" after producing only a couple of figures.
Playmates has a couple of banners on their main website for the TOS communicator and Ent-D - both apparently coming Fall '23.
The communicator looks virtually the same as the 90s one, but the D has a saucer separation feature!
https://playmatestoys.com/
The communicator looks virtually the same as the 90s one, but the D has a saucer separation feature!
https://playmatestoys.com/
Let's hope it lights up.
Tribbles.
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