The Good: Awesome sculpt and balance, Cool accessories
The Bad: One kitschy accessory.
The Basics: Diamond Select once again makes the gold standard in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine action figures with their interpretation of Chief O'Brien!
For a time, ironically, it looked like the person who would log the most hours in the Star Trek franchise would be Miles O'Brien, played by Colm Meany. This is ironic because Meany began Star Trek: The Next Generation as an unnamed ensign in the pilot episode before slowly growing as the transporter chief into a recognizable character and ultimately getting cast for a seven year run on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. While O'Brien was the first crossover cast member, he was not the last and when Michael Dorn joined the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as Worf, Meany lost the potential for the distinction of logging the most hours in the franchise. Still, it is hard to underestimate the interest in O'Brien merchandise as he is the runner up in that weird race.
As a result, it makes perfect sense that Diamond Select, who has taken over the Star Trek toy line would make O'Brien a priority in their action figure development. While there had only been the O'Brien from "Trials And Tribble-ations" (reviewed here!) before now, now there is a traditional Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Chief Miles O'Brien action figure and it is one of the best Star Trek figures ever made.
Basics
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Series 2 (2008) Collection of action figures contained only four figures (one of which was an exclusive to Preview Magazine) and it focused on the essential characters from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine which had not been done in the first assortment. The second-teir characters Diamond Select cast included Chief O'Brien, Dr. Bashir, Kira Nerys and Martok, the Klingon General. Understated, but perfectly sculpted, Chief Miles O'Brien arrives in the Deep Space Nine assortment as a wonderfully realized action figure embodying one of the essential characters from the space station. Not widely available, the O'Brien figure remains harder to find and one suspects the entire line will be gobbled up by collectors as soon as they realize it exists!
The Chief O'Brien figure is the Engineering branch officer as he appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (reviewed here!) from the fifth season on. This is a distinct costume for O'Brien because it was the first one where he was granted his own rank insignia, a noncom (enlisted man, not an officer) insignia for his collar. As well, this O'Brien is coifed in the new gray and black costume that became the standard on Deep Space Nine because it was the uniform being used in Star Trek: First Contact. O'Brien thus has a dark uniform with the requisite mustard yellow shirt beneath to indicate he is in Engineering.
Standing seven and a quarter inches tall, this is an amazing likeness of Chief O'Brien immortalized in plastic. The character is molded in a neutral stance, which allows one to make the figure more expressive through posing, as opposed to forcing collectors to pose him in one of a few limited ways. The fingers on his right hand are half closed, to allow him to hold his accessories and the fingers on his left hand are extended more, so it looks like he might be typing on an engineering console. There is a decent level of uniform detailing, including the rank insignia which is painted on as opposed to any form of molding into the figure. As well, the communicator is molded and painted on his chest and his wrist stripes - another way to quickly denote he is in Engineering - are painted on. Still, some of the painting is sloppy; the communicator pin is chipped on mine, for example. As well, there is a slight overlap of the gray paint from the shoulder area onto the gold of the undershirt. Still, this is so minor I had to look closely to see it!
O'Brien's face is molded in a scowl and it is distinctly Colm Meany's O'Brien. Diamond Select managed to get such details as the strong jowls and puffy cheeks of O'Brien as well as his piercing eyes. O'Brien looks ticked off, but wonderful! Similarly, Diamond Select did an excellent job with the coloring details, getting O'Brien's skin tones with some depth - save on the hands - and shading. Fortunately, the figure even has O'Brien's furrowed brow, though it is a subtle molded detail as opposed to shaded in any way.
The paint job is incredible on the head as well. In addition to having great detailing to the eyes, O'Brien's hair is realistically shaded. As a result, O'Brien looks like he has a head of curly hair, as opposed to wearing a helmet! This is a nice sense of detailing and clearly Diamond Select took its time to make the best figure possible. This includes detailing on the nose which is extraordinary. In fact, the only part of O'Brien lacking much in the way of detail are O'Brien's hands, which have very subtle fingernails. The uniform is appropriately colored and the figure looks great in that respect. This includes the split cuffs at the bottom of O'Brien's pants, which was a nice touch of realism.
Accessories
Chief O'Brien comes with five accessories, making him heavily over-accessorized, but offering fans a lot of options for play or display. O'Brien comes with: A StarFleet Type II phaser, two different StarFleet PADDs, a coonskin cap and an StarFleet phaser rifle. That Chief O'Brien comes with an even split of weapons and engineering tools makes a great deal of sense, as his role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was that of Chief Of Operations aboard space station Deep Space Nine and the show was about a wartime situation. Barring a full engineering console, these might be the best accessories one could hope for from a late-series O'Brien figure!
The Type II phaser is impressively detailed, basically being a little silver plastic piece in the shape of a phaser with black highlights on the handle. The buttons are molded into the phaser, as is the display. This one-inch long choking hazard fits well into either of O'Brien's hands and while it has the requisite molded details and most of the coloring details, the emitter display is not colored as if it is lit up and able to shoot. Still, this is an extraordinarily well-detailed accessory.
The PADDs are two flat computer interface displays with different sizes. Both are appropriately silver and for their screens, there is a sticker which mimics the display panels on the Personal Access Display Devices. The bigger one has more buttons molded into it and having seen the real props, this is an impressive piece of work! The smaller one looks good, but lacks the instant recognizability of the standard PADD, which was used in many episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Then comes the coonskin cap, the accessory I was most lukewarm to when I picked the figure up. O'Brien and Bashir used to play an Alamo holodeck program and while it was alluded to many times, we never actually saw O'Brien or Bashir wear the coonskin caps they mentioned wearing. That said, the cap fits perfectly on O'Brien's head and looks like exactly what it is supposed to. The cap is plastic and is molded to look like it is made of fur and it is hard to argue with the inclusion of "concept accessories," especially when they look good and recognizable, like this does!
Playability
Chief O'Brien helps to continue an exceptional level of quality from Diamond Select Toys and he is quite possibly the ultimate O'Brien figure as he has a great sculpt, wonderful accessories and a great sense of posability. Chief Miles O'Brien is endowed with sixteen points of articulation at the ankles, knees, groin socket, biceps, elbows, shoulders, wrists, neck, and waist. Only a few of the joints, like the wrists and biceps, are simple swivel joints. The knees, elbows and ankles are all hinge joints, which offer realistic movement for the joints. Other joints, like the shoulders and neck are ball and socket joints. As a result, the neck turns left to right and can nod! Similarly, the shoulders have a full range of motion because of the style of joint! Diamond Select made an immaculately articulated figure and this is great for fans of O'Brien or Star Trek toys in general.
The Diamond Select toys do not include a base (or foot holes) for their figures, but the O'Brien figure helps them make the assertion that they are not necessary. O'Brien stands in virtually any pose unaided, so long as both feet are on a surface, preferably flatfooted. This is not difficult because of the flexible ankles and O'Brien can be posed even in a crouching running pose before the figure tips over! Loaded with accessories and standing straighter, this figure is virtually untippable!
Collectibility
Diamond Select Toys seems to be very conservative in releasing its Star Trek: Deep Space Nine action figures and as a result, O'Brien is available usually only through specialized stores like comic book shops and toy stores as opposed to the big box discount stores. The level of quality is clearly intended for a more discriminating collector, which is probably why Diamond Select is able to get $15.00 per figure. One suspects as time goes by and no one else makes more (or a better) O'Brien figures this will become highly sought after and its value will appreciate.
Just how rare the O'Brien figure is is subject to debate and it remains one of the two more common figures from this particular line of Diamond Select Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures, so it will probably not be a great investment piece anytime soon.
Overview
Even so, this Diamond Select Chief Miles O'Brien action figure has everything a fan can truly want; he is perfectly articulated, ideally sculpted and comes with a wide array of accessories. Who could ask for more?
For other Diamond Select or Art Asylum Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures, please check out my reviews of:
Chancellor Gowron & Lieutenant Commander Worf
Colonel Kira Nerys
Constable Odo
10/10
For other toy reviews, be sure to check out my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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