Playmates went full force into the mini figures and playsets market with their Strike Force assortment. They had so many of these a year later they had to put them on clearance at most locations. Kay Bee toys was the best place to find these. The idea of including bridge pieces wasn't really new to the Galaxy Series Trek figures from 2009.Īt least eight more 9 inch figures where released in the early months of the warp Factor series featuring such characters as Odo, Bashir, Janeway, and Chakotay. Looking back on them now it seems these Galactic Gear accessories were the precursors to the bridge pieces included with the new movie figures. I really wished we'd gotten more of these 6 inch figures with such cool accessories. Sisko came with a kick ass replica of his command chair from the bridge of the Defiant. This wave eliminated the stupid action features focusing instead on better sculpting and in packaging the figures with some really awesome display pieces in the shape of the characters' respective control consoles. I didn't particularly like these 6 inch offerings until the third wave focusing on characters from Deep Space Nine was released. These figures all had a specific action feature. These three figures did not include the Academy Test Simulation CD-Rom that had been issued with the original assortment.Ī line of 6 inch figures focusing on characters from the Next Generation also showed up at retail early on during the Warp Factor Series run. Playmates also finished up their earlier line of Starfleet Academy figures by releasing figures of Cadet Data, Cadet Crusher, and Cadet Troi completing the assortment of TNG characters in this subset that had originally hit shelves more than 2 years earlier. Subsequent waves included such figures long requested by fans as Ilya from The Motion Picture, Leeta from DS9 and Spock, Kirk, & Edith Keeler from the fan favorite episode "The City on the Edge of Forever". This was a pretty big contest with some major sponsors for a toy line that had already been on the market for over five years. Other companies like Dairy Queen and Pioneer also jumped on the bandwagon offering their own prizes and promotions. ![]() Paramount even offered multiple prizes themselves including a trip to Hollywood, a piece of the Deep Space Nine set, and an official Starfleet Uniform crafted by the studio's wardrobe department. The first wave of figures, which focused on the Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" launched with a major promotional push featuring the Triple Tribble Game sweepstakes which was supported by some of Star Trek's major licensees of the time including Interplay, Marvel Comics, Simon and Schuster Pocket Books, and off course Playmates. Along with these five waves of 4.5 inch figures Playmates released a wide assortment of role play toys and miniature playsets to compete with the highly popular mini figures fad of the times that had been so lucrative for such properties as Micro Machines, Mighty Maxx, and Polly Pocket. 5 more waves of figures hit shelves before Playmates officially cancelled the 4.5 inch line at mass retail stores. In Playmates mind if this was going to be the end of the line it would certainly go out with a bang. In prior years the company had started to focus more on exclusive items through specialty retailers. ![]() With declining sales and constant battling for highly coveted shelf space in the boys toys aisles, Playmates figured the glory days of Star Trek toys at brick and mortar retailers were probably growing short. This new branding for the line featured one of the widest ranging assortment of Star Trek items ever put out by Playmates. These toys where released under Playmates new Warp Factor Series banner with the Paramount Toys logo right next to Playmates'. Today I'll be taking a look at the line's last big push at retail with the final major assortment of Star Trek items from Playmates. In past articles I looked back at various different aspects of the line. We would also be very grateful for a similarly small model in 1960s Lego and an early MP3 player from 1999 or 2000.If you are a regular reader of this blog you know how much I love the Star Trek Playmates toy line from the 1990s. If you have some old Meccano in the attic and would be willing to donate a model to go on display we would love to hear from you! The case isn’t large – we need a model no more than 12 inches on any side. We have a small place in a showcase reserved for a Meccano model but nothing quite right to fill it some members of staff won’t part from theirs and my personal collection is a bit too sparse to build what we want. Here in the Science and Technology department we know how important toys are – and are hoping for a couple more. It has plastic wheels, so may be too modern.It’s been bodged together in a hurry: it doesn’t illustrate the capabilities of Meccano well.Quick quiz: what is wrong with this model? What is wrong with this model?
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