The Good: Generally good sculpt and coloring.
The Bad: Unfortunately less articulated, Balance issues
The Basics: The usually slinky and sexy Intendant Kira is released as a Playmates action figure looking like she is squatting for a bathroom emergency, but is still pretty cool.
As Playmates Toys looked like it was losing the Star Trek toy license, they put out some real weird figures, but they also threw collectors a few real bones. In one of the last collections, the Warp Factor Series 4, the figures were all of supporting characters and the shortpacked one was Intendant Kira. Highly sought after, this figure fared better for those collecting than for those taking the figure out for display as she was remarkably inflexible (which is totally out of character!) and problematically unbalanced (which is more in keeping with the character upon which the toy is based).
Of all the supporting characters of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Intendant Kira is arguably one of the most intriguing, making for a natural action figure. The Intendant Kira figures is the Bajoran administrator as she appeared on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Crossover" (reviewed here!). And while the idea for a Intendant Kira figure is not an inherently bad one, Playmates released the figure hastily with less articulation than earlier Star Trek franchise figures. Playmates had improved their ability to produce wicked sculpts and even improved the paint process with Intendant Kira, but the figure is still far less than it could be because of the lack of articulation.
Basics
The Star Trek Warp Factor Series of action figures contained only five figures in the Series 4 Assortment and it was an unfocused collection that featured supporting and background characters from Star Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In fact, only the real fans who truly loved the Star Trek franchise were likely to even recognize Intendant Kira the Bajoran, Keiko O'Brien, Kang or Trelane and the Andorian. I suspect most random toybuyers saw the blue guy in the pink feather boa and used this as an argument to never watch Star Trek! Still, Intendant Kira is a pretty popular Bajoran, at least with those who follow Bajorans and Bajoran collectibles.
The Intendant Kira figure is the sexy Bajoran leader as she appeared in "Crossover" and other Mirror Universe episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She is is the typical Bajoran, save her costume which clearly makes her one of the Mirror Universe characters, especially with her tiara. This is Intendant Kira with a silver tiara and a tight bodysuit. The action figure is made entirely of plastic, but with a good sense of texture to sell the concept of the outfit.
Standing four and one-quarter inches tall, when she stands, this is a decent likeness of Intendant Kira immortalized in plastic. The character is molded in a battle-ready semi-squat with her hands molded almost entirely open so she cannot actually hold her accessories. There is a decent level of uniform detailing and the paint job includes such relevant details as the Alliance medal square in her chest. Intendant Kira's face is molded in a determined and neutral expression which lacks much in the way of detail. Her lips are appropriately pink, but underpainted on mine (the paint job on mine is just in the middle, so it looks like she's spitting out a pink Charlie Chaplin mustache or is a geisha). The figure includes such important details as the distinctive Bajoran nose ridges which are painted on and the textured hair.
The paint job is mediocre at best. The skin tones are monolithic white and lack any shading or subtlety. There is no shading to the cheeks and her nails are not painted. The uniform is appropriately colored and the figure looks good in that respect.
Accessories
Intendant Kira comes with only four accessories and they are just good enough to leave this figure with a light "recommend." The accessories included are: A Bajoran Disruptor pistol, Bajoran rifle, a desktop monitor and an action base shaped like a Bajoran Symbol. That Intendant Kira comes with weapons makes a great deal of sense, as she is one of the more violent recurring characters on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The Action base is just enough to support Intendant Kira and is a Bajoran symbol appropriately colored in solid gold plastic. The corner of the arc on the base has a peg which fits into the hole in either of Intendant Kira's feet!
The Bajoran disruptor pistol is the exact same one that had been used with Bajoran figures since the Kira action figure. This is a 7/8" little gun that has decent surface detailing, but no coloring detail. It has the appropriate closed grip. Unfortunately, it does not actually fit into either of Intendant Kira's hands.
The Bajoran disruptor rifle is slightly longer and has two grips, but the figure cannot hold it with two hands because of the way the arms are molded facing outward (as if taunting other figures to shoot her). The surface detailing on this is pretty good.
The desktop monitor is a strangely generic accessory unique to this figure. It does not fit into either of Intendant Kira's hands, but she may balance the two inch long plastic box awkwardly on her arms! All three accessories outside the base are cast in a silver gray plastic that is utterly lacking in realistic coloring details, but looks better than most Playmates accessories.
Playability
Intendant Kira came at the end of the line, as Playmates abandoned trying to keep customers happy and churned out some figures that were just lame (almost literally). Molded in a very limited pose, this might not be a bad sculpt of Intendant Kira, but it is very low on the playable aspects. While Intendant Kira stands up while flatfooted with a bit of work or clumsily on her action base (she tips over even when on her base), she barely moves when there. Intendant Kira is endowed with only six points of articulation, all of which are simple swivel joints. She may be twisted at the groin socket, shoulders, neck, and waist. As a result, the neck turns left to right, for example, but the head cannot nod. Similarly, the shoulders are not ball and socket joints and only rotate and the Intendant Kira figure does not feature the usual bicep joints to mitigate this limitation.
Collectibility
Playmates under produced the final waves of Star Trek figures, including the Warp Factor Series 4 set. Intendant Kira was drastically shortpacked, making her a great investment piece, though now the prices seem to have taken a dive on her. When originally released, her value skyrocketed to $50 or more and now has come down. Still, it is almost impossible to find her for any less than twice her original release price. This is THE Warp Series 4 figure to find!
Playmates, even as they were overproducing other figures, tried to make the Star Trek figures collectible. The Intendant Kira figures have an individual number on the bottom of her right foot. In the attempt to make them appear limited, they had numbers stamped on them and Intendant Kira is comparatively quite limited with though there are at least 1400 of this figure released (my Intendant Kira is #001301!).
Overview
Intendant Kira might be a decent sculpt, but she barely stands up. If it weren't for the fact that she was so rare, it would be impossible to recommend her. Fortunately, she looks good and she is a decent investment, though die-hard fans have to hope that Diamond Select will release a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Mirror universe set that includes an even better Intendant Kira in the future.
For other Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Major Kira
Jake Sisko
Elim Garak
5.5/10
For other toy reviews, please check out my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the toy reviews I have written!
© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |
No comments:
Post a Comment