Playmates has announced that they will not be making any new Star Trek Toys in 2000. They have not decided if they will pursue the license in 2001, or if they will sell it to another company.
The final Target figures have shipped, and gone to clearance. The third Nine Inch Wave was out in time for Christmas: Data and Geordi as Holmes and Watson. They join the previous Target Exclusive Nine Inch offerings of Seven of Nine (brown suit) and Kirk in Environmental Suit (both out in February); and Nurse Chapel and Picard in Captain's Jacket (both available earlier this summer). The nine inchers warm the shelves with some five inch Target Exclusives: Picard, Worf, Data, Riker and Troi in movie uniforms and one non-shelf warmer: Seven of Nine in silver outfit. The Troi and Rikerwere sitting in Target's stockrooms for quite a while as they sold off old figures so you might not have seen them yet.
The very last Target Exclusives were to be the 4.5 inch pairing of Crusher in movie uniform and Seven of Nine in Cobalt outfit, due in November or December 1999. These figures are not going to be available at Target. They are now confirmed as European and Australian exclusives, so give up the search on Target's toy shelves.
The 12 Inch Fan Club Exclusive of Kirk as a Romulan was made available...but almost immediately sold out with a release of only 3,500. I heard that they had found some more stock, so you might still be in luck.
The Fourth and Final Wave of 12 Inchers shipped in November, 1999: Uhura, Pike, Q in Judges robes and Capt. Sisko. The First Wave consisted of Spock, Janeway, Andorian Ambassador Shras and Geordi from Insurrection. The Second Wave included: Seven of Nine, Mugatu, Dr. McCoy and Chekov. The Third Wave was: Gorn, Scottie, Sulu and Troi! At $25.00 they are a bargain compared to the $27.99 for the Target 9 Inch Exclusives and $39.99 for the Kay-Bee 9 Inch Exclusives (mutter mutter).
Toyfare affered two 5 Inch Exclusives which I believe have sold out. Kirk
from "A Piece of the Action" was in the July 1999 issue and Seven of Nine
in purple outfit was availabel in the February 2000 issue, which came out
in December.
In case you haven't seen them, Kay-Bee has received their third "Mirror
Mirror" Assortment with Sulu and Marlena. They showed up in early
May. Edith Keeler and Trelane are also available at Kaybee as well
as the final Kay-Bee 9 Inch exclusive which shipped in November: Kirk and
Spock from "Amok Time". They have also added a one time only pair of
Twelve Inch Exclusives: Kirk and Spock from Star Trek II which finally
shipped in February 2000.
First a summary of the 5 inchers: Picard and Worf in movie uniforms (Target 2/99); Data in movie uniform and Seven of Nine in silver outfit (Target 4/99); Capt Kirk from "A Piece of the Action" (Toyfare Exclusive 5/99); Twin Pack Borg Drone and Locutus (Target 5/99); Riker and Troi in Movie Uniforms (Target 8/99); Transporter Series Nurse Chapel and Yeoman Janice Rand (Target 8/99 -- this will be the last of the transporter series); Crusher in movie uniform and Seven of Nine in cobalt outfit (11/99); and Seven of Nine in purplish outfit (Toyfare Exclusive 12/99);
The nine inch lineup, which is also mostly store exclusives, has a few new concepts such as the Alien Combat Series. The Nine Inchers for 1999 are: Capt. Kirk in Environmental Suit and Seven of Nine in Brown Outfit (Target 2/99); Marlena and Sulu from "Mirror Mirror" (Kay-Bee 4/99) limited to 6,000 each; Nurse Chapel and Capt Picard in jacket (Target 5/99); Edith Keeler and Trelane (Kay-Bee 9/99); Data as Sherlock Holmes and Geordi as Watson (Target 9/99); Alien Combat Series (asst. 65390) Borg Drone and Klingon Warrior (10/99); and Capt Kirk and Mr. Spock from "Amok Time" (Kay-Bee 11/99).
Finally, most of Playmates General Release will be in 12 Inch. There's been some changes, so to the best of my knowledge here's the new plan. The twelve inch lineup: Assortment #65500 Geordi LaForge in movie uniform, Captain Janeway, Andorian Ambassador Shras and Mr. Spock (3/99); Capt. Kirk as Romulan (Fan Club Exclusive no date-originally March); Assortment #65510 Chekov, McCoy, Mugato and Seven of Nine in silver Outfit (6/99); Assortment #65520 Gorn, Scottie, Sulu and Troi (8/99); Assortment #65530: Uhura, Captain Pike and Captain Sisko (which were previously fan club exclusives), and Q in Judges Robes (11/99); and a Target Exclusive Lineup yet to be determined. Just added! A December 12 Inch Kay-Bee Exclusive of Kirk and Spock from "Wrath of Khahn".
Movie
figures have come and gone for Star Trek IX, Insurrection. Wave 1 started
shipping in early December 1998 just a week before the movie was released
and Wave 2 shipped just in time for Christmas...well at least a day or two
before... There were NO small figures planned, but movie uniform
figures were made as Target exclusives in 1999.. Playmates will be doing
8 Nine Inch Figures, 4 Twelve Inch Figures, a Type II Phaser and an
Enterprise E. In Wave One the Nine Inch figures are: Captain Picard,
Troi, Data and LaForge. Wave Two has: Riker (w/o beard), Worf, Ad'har
Ru'afo (Picard's arch-enemy) and Anij (Picard's girlfriend). Now I can
use my Riker and Troi to re-enact that bathtub scene... No plans for a
Bev Crusher. In Twelve Inch: Picard, Riker, Worf and Data. All four are
excellent likenesses, but at 25.00 plus, they are kinda expensive.
1998 had only two 4 1/2 inch waves of
five figures each. In March, assortment 65140 shipped 5 figures:
Andorian (65120), Kira as The Intendent (65124) (I told you they
wouldn't make Sisko from Crossover as a stand alone) --limited to between
8,000-10,000, Trelane (65122), Keiko O'Brien (65121) and Kang (65123).
The only other shipment in 1998 was September's Warp Factor 5 with:
Borg Queen (w/removable Torso!), Kirk
and Spock
from "City on the Edge of
Forever" and Seven
of Nine (borgified). Bele the Cheron was originally
announced in this line, but has been cancelled. There are no---REPEAT
NO---shortpacks in this four figure shipment, unless you count one
less Spock, but he is still plentiful.
Two other 5 inch waves in a new "Transporter Effect" series shipped in
1998, retailing for around $12.00. They came with stands that have lights
and sounds! The originally slated May release was pushed back to
late June with Kirk, Spock, Scott, McCoy and Uhura from the classic crew.
In November Picard, Riker, Worf, Data and LaForge followed. Target
offered two sets of exclusives in December 1998. First there was
the remaining two members of the original crew in the transporter effects
series: Chekov and Sulu. This series has been surprisingly popular, and
pretty much disappeared from the shelves in a hurry, even with a little
more expensive price point of around 12 dollars. Target also had two nine
inch figure exclusives, as a companion to the Kirk in space suit
from "Tholian Web", they will have the Nine Inch Space Suit
versions of Spock and Chekov. Unfortunately, they retailed at $27.99.
Speaking
of nine inch, it seems that Playmates emphasized the larger figures
in 1998. The first of the 1998 Nine Inch shipped in February in
assortment #65280: Kirk in Casual Attire, Jem Hadar
Soldier and Gul Dukat. I picked up my Gul Dukat and if there's a
better 9 inch figure, I can't think of what it is. His likeness is
exact and the uniform is even better! The June assortment 65320 shipped
with with Seven of Nine, Dax and Sisko from T&T. Dax is a limited at one
per box, so some people have had trouble finding her, but most have been
satisfied. October brought us: a Talosian, Garak and Bele. I was looking
forward to the Garak, but he is the worst figure I've ever seen Playmates
make, so I passed, but had to buy the Talosian and Bele. The first wave
of 1998 Kay-Bee 9 Inch Exclusives shipped starting in August. Although
they were still only limited to 7,200: Kirk and Spock from "Mirror Mirror"
could be relatively easily found. In late November or early December
1998, Kay-Bee got their second exclusives of the year with Nine Inch Uhura
and McCoy from "Mirror Mirror".
There are 4 Two-Packs available in
1998: Dixon Hill and Guinan; and Kirk and Balok and his Puppet from
"The Corbomite Manuever", which shipped in early August; in November Worf
and Data from "Fist Full of Datas" and Kim (with disfigured face) and
"Scorpion" Alien, that's Species 8472 to us geeks, showed up. They are
all new figures or a repaint except the Worf and Capt. Kirk.
A new product for 1997 was Playmates 6 inch Combat
Action Series. These five figures showed up in stores around
Christmas: Captain Picard (w/Fencing Action and Firing Phaser Rifle),
Commander Riker (w/Phaser Draw Action and Firing Phaser Rifle), Borg
(w/Firing Arm and Mechanical Grab Action), Worf (w/Ba'tleth combat action)
and Q (w/Fencing Action and Firing Musket).
In July of 1998, Assortment 65250 shipped with: Jem' Hadar, Cardassian, Sisko, Dax and O'Brien (Worf has been dropped). They come with bridge consoles and Sisko in the Captain's chair! Dax is the hardest to find at only two per box. These figures are still sitting on shelves at Toy R Us.
1998 was the year of mail away
exclusives. Ensign Picard from Tapestry, Geordi from "Identity Crisis"
and Spock in Space Suit from "Tholian Web" are all 1998 Toyfare
exclusives, available through their magazine. The Toyfare with Picard's
offer expired in July, and the Toyfare Geordi from "Identity Crisis"
expired September 18th! Spock was available in November's issue
and has also expired. Spock shows up in an actual package,
whereas the others only came in mailer boxes.
Drumroll please...here's my top 12
figures from 1997 (since there was only about 12 made in 1998 and
1999 this list will have to do):
How about some
of those figures that maybe shouldn't have been made in 1997:
Do you remember what all shipped in
1997?The 9 Inch Figures for 1997 were: Lt. Sulu, Ensign Chekov, Q in
Judges Robes, Bald Captain Sisko in Dress Uniform, Dax, Kira, Odo, Tuvok
and Chakotay, Bashir, Captain Janeway and Tom Paris. Picard and Riker
in 1st season uniforms were Spencer's exclusives and Kirk and Spock
from "City on the Edge of Forever" were Kay-Bee exclusives.
Late 1997 saw the 12 Inch Masterpiece Captains Series hit the shelf.
These high quality pieces retail for around 60 bucks and are rumored to
be limited to 10,000. Captain Picard (stock #65041) and Captain Kirk
(stock #65042) were available in late 1997. The remaining 2
figures that had been announced: Captain Sisko (stock #65043) and Captain
Pike (stock #65045) will not see the light of the retail shelf and will
only be available through mail order distributors...ie Diamond. Janeway
was also originally slated for 1998, but may never be made.
The three limited edition (1,701)
30th anniversary figures are Picard from
"Tapestry", Yar from "Yesterday's Enterprise" and Barclay
from "Projections". There were 1,701 of both the Yar and Picard
figures, but there was a Barclay in about every other case with a total
release of 3,000. Playmates tried to make up for their mistake by
re-releasing them in a 3 pack. The 1701s 3 pack
shipped in March of 1998 priced at $24.99 with a confirmed run of 20,000.
1997 saw Playmates release 3 more LEs with a run of 10,000 each: Dr Beverly Crusher from "Generations", Dr. McCoy in Dress Uniform and O'Brien from "Trials and Tribble-ations". These limiteds caused a negative reaction among collectors and Playmates has agreed not to do anymore...we'll see. Each of these can be readily found for 50 bucks a piece. 1998 saw the edition of Kira as Intendent as a limited that will probably reach 50 bucks soon.
Some of the other hard to get figures are: Red Data from "Redemption" (only 5,000 out there), Thomas Riker (in the STNG Packaging-for only 10,000) and Geordi with Removable Visor (first series). Data and Tom Riker can set you back about 200 dollars each, and Geordi a mere 40. From the Generations series Scotty and Chekov are very rare, climbing into the neighborhood of 30-40 dollars each. Esoqq and Ensign Ro (in the 7th season packaging) are also hard to come by with Esoqq demanding 75 dollars and Ro almost 35. Vina as Orion Animal Woman is still hot. She disappeared off the shelves, but there was no short packing, she was just popular, and now she can cost you 20 bucks. Playmates made only 10,000 each of Scotty and Sulu from the epiosode "Where no Man has Gone Before" that were only available through Spencers at the Huntsville Alabama location on September 7-8, 1996 coinciding with the Star Trek convention. They originally sold for 15 bucks a piece, but now expect to pay over $100.00 for the set.
Kay-Bee Toys has had 3 sets of 9 Inch Kirk and Spock figures with different outfits. First, in 1996, it was from the episode "Piece of the Action". In 1997, costumes from "City on the Edge of Forever" were used and now in 1998, it is Kirk and Spock from "Mirror Mirror". The sets are all highly collectible, with not more that 7,200 of any of the figures produced.
April 28, 2000.
