Star Trek Figures -- Playmates, Diamond Select, Etc.

I have collected the vintage 4.5" Playmates Star Trek line since I was a teenager, and am thinking of getting into the 7" Art Asylum/ Diamond Select Star Trek line as well.

I have always liked the original 4.5" Playmates line. The sculpts are good, the prices are reasonable, and they made figures of almost everyone pre-Enterprise and pre-Nemsis. I have the entire TNG crew (in three different uniform variations), the DS9 crew, most of the Voyager figures, various random characters (Thomas Riker, Locutus, Kirk from Generations, Trials and Tribblations Sisko, O'Brien, Bashir, etc.) and recently bought the TOS crew box set for $25 on ebay.

The only complaint I have is that the line died pretty unceremoniously, and that nobody (not even Playmates new Trek line) is producing Trek figures in this scale anymore.

But, I'm thinking of branching out into the Art Asylum/ Diamond Select line. From the pictures I have seen, the sculpts look good, and the selection is pretty good as well (though DS9 and Voyager have gotten the short shriff). The prices look a bit high on some of the older stuff, though. I'm not sure about the Picard/ Locutus sculpt, though. The Ships look good (Ent 1701, D, E and NX-01 are really the oly 4 I'm interested in).

I was surprised there was no thread on this line. Anybody into it? Any suggestions for where to get started? What to avoid? Where to get the most reasonable prices? I wouldn't mind buying a large group of figures together to get myself started.

Thanks.

SnakeDoc

Might want to check out the TrekToy forums...

https://www.trektoy.com/forum/index.php?

That's pretty much all the talk about...I'm a member there as well. General consensus is that AA/DST does a good job with TOS, not so good with anything else. The TNG line is plagued with scale issues between waves, and are also out-of-scale with TOS. The Picard sculpt is awful, and the Geordi and Data figures are of a lesser quality than the rest of them.

I don't know if I'd bother getting into this line, though, it looks like it's coming to an end. They're still releasing TOS, but they shelved plans for more TNG-era figures.

From the pictures I've seen of the Picard figures, the best one appears to be the original Art Asylum Nemesis figure.

If I started buying these, it mostly for the stuff they've already released ... they have most of the TNG, TNG movie (blue uniform), TOS, TOS movie, TOS Mirror, DS9 (blue uniform) and Enterprise crew lines already released. They've also already release most of the essential versions of the Enterprise itself. No Voyager or Defiant yet, though.

I think that there will likely be a line of Trek 2009 DST figures once Playmates contract expires. I wouldn't mind seeing a Voyager line (particularly the EMH and 7 of 9), and a Mirror line of Enterprise figures, but I think those are unlikely. The focus seems to be on TOS right now because of the new movie ... but that may die down eventually, and TNG era may re-emerge. We'll see.

SnakeDoc

The original Picard sculpt from Nemesis is the best, and it was created using scans of Patrick Stewart. Why DST didn't use that head later, and instead sculpted a crappy one, I have no idea.

The TNG crew is released, as is TNG in movie uniforms, TOS, TOS movies, and TOS mirror. DS9 isn't nearly complete though. They're missing Quark, Kirk in Bajoran outfit, and Jake, just to name a few. The Enterprise crew is missing Hoshi and Phlox in their duty uniforms (though they have them in spacesuits), and DST have said they have no intention of making them. They've released the TOS Enterprise, E-A, E-D, E-E, and NX-01, with the next ship supposedly the Klingon Bird of Prey.

DST had a Borg wave announced, which had the Borg Queen and 7 of 9, but it's been cancelled due to lack of interest, along with a Gul Dukat/Sisko two-pack and a two-pack of the Klingons from Star Trek III.

I doubt DST will keep the license long enough to do any 2009 figures. I think it's much more likely that Playmates gets it and starts doing figures in the 3 3/4" scale. TOS is really what sells, I don't see that changing soon.

thecapn said:

The original Picard sculpt from Nemesis is the best, and it was created using scans of Patrick Stewart. Why DST didn't use that head later, and instead sculpted a crappy one, I have no idea.

The TNG crew is released, as is TNG in movie uniforms, TOS, TOS movies, and TOS mirror. DS9 isn't nearly complete though. They're missing Quark, Kirk in Bajoran outfit, and Jake, just to name a few. The Enterprise crew is missing Hoshi and Phlox in their duty uniforms (though they have them in spacesuits), and DST have said they have no intention of making them. They've released the TOS Enterprise, E-A, E-D, E-E, and NX-01, with the next ship supposedly the Klingon Bird of Prey.

DST had a Borg wave announced, which had the Borg Queen and 7 of 9, but it's been cancelled due to lack of interest, along with a Gul Dukat/Sisko two-pack and a two-pack of the Klingons from Star Trek III.

I doubt DST will keep the license long enough to do any 2009 figures. I think it's much more likely that Playmates gets it and starts doing figures in the 3 3/4" scale. TOS is really what sells, I don't see that changing soon.

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I'm thinking of starting with the TNG movie line (Nemesis Picard and Data, blue uniform Riker/Troi, Worf, LaForge, Crusher) and the TOS line (which I should be able to pick up at TRU [may add the Tribble Dax, Sisko, Bashir and O'Brien to that set]). Any pitfalls to avoid with either of these sets? Scale problems, resculpts, etc.? Is there a different line you would recommend to start with? Enterprise? TNG Season 7?

Any idea why the TNG Data is $60 on toyrocket when the Worf from the same series is $4.99? Good grief. Is there a particularly good online retailer to use, as far as selection and price?

My understanding is that the Playmates 2009 line didn't do too well ... so I figured the contract would lapse, and DST would get a more limited run. I have a few of the 3.75" figures, and they're OK. Spock, Sulu and McCoy look pretty good. The Kirk sculpt is inexcusably bad.

SnakeDoc

There are a few pitfalls

One is that the Tribble Bashir is really rare, and it goes for quite a bit...if you can find it. The others aren't so bad. As far as TOS, try to get your hands on an original Convention Exclusive Kirk rather than the TOS version. It's a little more pricey, but the paint is much better...also, all the TOS figures have a rubber shirt over a mid-chest joint, and for some reason all the recent DST releases of Kirk have had McCoy's rubber shirt, so it looks off. The original Kirk is much better.

The TNG line is pretty good scale-wise internally, though the style of the Nemesis Picard and Data is different from the rest. I would suggest getting Riker/Troi, Worf, Laforge, Crusher, and the DST First Contact Data, as well as a Nemesis Picard and a DST Sisko and switch the heads from Picard and Sisko. That seems to look better.

The 2009 line didn't do so well, true. But DST seems to be cancelling just about everything they announce, and Playmates has announced a second wave. It seems odd, but that's how it's playing out.

Oh, and TNG Data is rarer than Worf. Worf and Riker are the easy finds, they were from the first set and DST massively overproduced them. Strange thing is they're also the highest quality of the waves...

I have the bridge set and a ton of these figs. I just dug them out for my kids to play with and they love them. Especially the transporter room.

This is probally my favorite Picard i own from First Contact. I am hoping to pick up the AA Enterprise D from a local comic shop within the month or so.

The Enterprise D is AWESOME. And it's HUGE. You don't realize it until you see it in person. And the ol' Transporter Room still has a place of honor in my house

hey dude, check out my friend's blogspot where he regularly posts his trek stuff.
https://apieceoftheaction66.blogspot.com/2009/04/first-piece-of-action-blog.html
scroll down for archive

MANGLORD said:

hey dude, check out my friend's blogspot where he regularly posts his trek stuff.
https://apieceoftheaction66.blogspot....tion-blog.html

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Thats not the correct URL.

fixed, thanks

https://apieceoftheaction66.blogspot.com/2009/04/first-piece-of-action-blog.html

thecapn said:

The Enterprise D is AWESOME. And it's HUGE. You don't realize it until you see it in person. And the ol' Transporter Room still has a place of honor in my house

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I've been looking into getting some of the DST ships, too. I have the Playmates First Contact Enterprise E and the Playmates 2009 Enterprise. I was thinking of getting an NX-01, D and E. I like the Dreadnaught Class D from AGT, but I think I may go with the Mirror NX-01 instead.

That's odd that Tribble Bashir is the rare one. I have the original Playmates set, and I remember people driving themselves nuts looking for the red-shirt O'Brien from that series -- along with the McCoy in dress uniform, Yesterday's Enterprise Yar, Tapestry Picard, TNG Thomas Riker, Voyager Barclay and red-shirted "Redemption" Data (misnamed, should've been a "Chain of Command" Data). They had a lot of weird little rarities in the old Playmates line.

Good tips on what to look for in the old lines. I ordered the TNG Worf today for 4.99 (along with a bloody-lipped McFarlane Nolan Ryan). I'll keep my eye out, and hopefully will be able to nab most of the figures for $15 or less on ebay or something. I was planning on trying to get the TOS crew from ToysRUs. My understanding is they've re-released everyone but Chekov in 2-packs.

SnakeDoc

pixletwin said:

I have the bridge set and a ton of these figs. I just dug them out for my kids to play with and they love them. Especially the transporter room.

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I've heard that the old Playmates Bridge playset is pretty nice. Never had the opportunity to seize one.

SnakeDoc

I use to collect the Art Asylum figures but stopped when they became a little too hard to find (It all started with the Gorn wave that I completely missed out on).
Then when Diamond took over, the quality went down hill as well as the amount of articulation, and the prices started to go up as well did the number of rereleases. Although I'm more a fan of TNG, I never started collecting the Diamond releases. Most of my money went to 1:6 anyways so there wasn't enough for anything Trek related.

I still collect the ships but I'm way behind. I need to get the Ent. D and All Good Things D and the Ent. E. and the up coming HD Original series Ent. A
I own the NX01 and the first release Ent. A from The Wrath of Khan, and one of the few Playmate things I still own, their Ent. D ship.

thecapn said:

DST had a Borg wave announced, which had the Borg Queen and 7 of 9, but it's been cancelled due to lack of interest, along with a Gul Dukat/Sisko two-pack and a two-pack of the Klingons from Star Trek III.

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I was going to buy all those, but maybe I am one of the causes of the cancellation because I rarely pre-order anything.

xenofreak said:

I was going to buy all those, but maybe I am one of the causes of the cancellation because I rarely pre-order anything.

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I was going to buy those as well... After buying the Borg:Fan Collective DVD set and the entire TOS cast cartoon boxset I rediscovered Voyager and DS9 on tv. I was a huge fan of the original and STNG but as I was in university I stopped following the later shows-- but I too recently got pulled into what's out there. And clearance was great for the new movie... I also just modified my collection with a whole new display space so---

Here's some of those PLAYMATES (and earlier) stuff I had oh so long ago (although the bridge was a more recent purchase-- last year I believe--).



I bought this Kirk yesterday-- as he's the only one of the TOS that I've got I posed him with my PLAYMATES TOS.



The ENTERPRISE bridge sets are really great-- and thankfully I nabbed them all a few years back on clearance (love that word when collecting ST).



But here's my recent collecting passion (I had the Nemesis Picard and Data for awhile-- but all the others are brand new--with many more to join them)...



Figures on sale for as low as $.50?... Love that (hope the second wave still comes out-- if not I got enough extras to put together all of the crew in their right colours-- and in fact doubled for both the bridge and transporter room displays)).







Even the 6 inch line is available at clearance...



Anyway... Hopefully the Diamond stuff will keep being released.

Add-on... Go big or go home. Here's the two deliveries that are arriving this week:

#1- (by way of E-bay) COMMANDER RIKER Duty Uniform STAR TREK TNG Diamond, CONSTABLE ODO Exclusive STAR TREK DS9 Diamond, JADZIA DAX 6th Season Uniform STAR TREK DS9 Diamond, LORE Exclusive STAR TREK TNG Diamond, Q Limited Edition STAR TREK TNG Diamond, WORF Duty Uniform STAR TREK TNG Diamond, and COMMANDER RIKER Command Chair STAR TREK TNG Diamond

#2- (my local on-line retailer... along with my SSC 12" Vader...finally) DS9 Sisko, DS9 Bashir, DS9 O'Brien, DS9 Martok, DS9 Kira, STNG Nemesis Beverly Crusher, (my second) STNG Picard with command chair, and STNG Troi (relaxed purple look).

That's a good start.

DarthNeil, great collection and pics!

Here's some old ones of mine. The later DST releases I haven't had the chance to display.

I was hoping I could add some more BORG to the collective. Damn you DST!

MY TRIBUTE TO PICARD...ENGAGE!






ENERGIZE

I have nothing Star Trek. I did have some of the 12 inch Playmates figures, but I ended up selling them. I regret selling my Wrath of Khan set, and my original series Kirk and Spock....

But I've never been much into collecting Trek. I would buy Spock, Kirk, McCoy and Uhura but that's about it as far as Trek characters go.