The Good: Decent sculpt, Good detailing, Good accessories, Good collectibility and articulation
The Bad: Proportions seems a bit off (head, waist), Coloring issue with legs.
The Basics: If one must buy a "Trials And Tribble-ations figure from Art Asylum, this Jadzia Dax one is THE one to buy!
Before I get railed on for OT, the picture for this listing is for the Art Asylum and Diamond Select Jadzia Dax figure, not the Playmates version of the same figure. There IS another listing for the Playmates Dax "Trials And Tribble-ations" figure with the proper picture, so in order to finish my reviews of Star Trek figures (for now) I'm posting the Dax review here and I have filled out a bug report to get the title on this listing changed. Thank you for your understanding.
That said, the Art Asylum Star Trek: Deep Space Nine line that has focused on the characters from "Trials And Tribble-ations" has suffered pretty mightily as the time has passed and the figures have accumulated dust on their outfits, revealing a pretty strong design/material flaw in the figures. Fortunately, the Jadzia Dax figure in this line does not have the same material or the same problem, easily becoming the one figure from this set worth owning. This is not to say the figure is without flaws, but they can be lived with fairly easily, whereas some of the problems from the other figures in the line cannot. In this case, poor Jadzia is a big-headed thin-waisted, leggy figure that does not show off those gams the way Dax did in the episode.
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine action figures from the episode "Trials And Tribble-ations" (reviewed here!) initially seemed very cool. That episode put key members of space station Deep Space Nine back in time into an episode of the original Star Trek and forced Sisko, Dax, O'Brien, and Bashir to go undercover in classic Star Trek uniforms.
Basics
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Trials And Tribble-ations" Series of action figures contains a Lieutenant Jadzia Dax figure, as she is disguised as a lieutenant. She is wearing the red and black Star Trek uniform made popular by the yeomen and Uhura. Red was for Command and Engineering, but who is going to complain? She's under cover! Standing at six and one-half inches tall, with her beehive hairdo, this is a good likeness of Lieutenant Dax immortalized in plastic. The uniform is well-detailed for the character and the face is a good likeness of Terry Farrell's sexy character. While this Dax figure lacks some of the coloring detail that defines most Art Asylum figures, the coloring is good. In fact, the only real problem with the sculpt is that the legs are black; in the episode she had dark hose on but, the producers were capitalizing on her legs. Here her legs from the bottom of the skirt to the top of her boots is the same color as the boos, making for a very different look and feel to the figure. While the eyes seem unnaturally vibrant, it's hard to complain about that!
The paint job is generally well done. The uniform is appropriately colored and the figure looks good in that respect. The detailing that is most impressive is the lack of Dax's Trill spots. Because she was undercover, Dax used cover-up on the spots in one sequence and the figure is thus appropriately detailed without the spots!
Accessories
Lieutenant Jadzia Dax comes with four accessories: A Classic communicator, a classic tricorder, a classic PADD, and a pair of tribbles. That Lieutenant Dax comes with a tricorder makes a lot of sense as she used one throughout "Trials And Tribble-ations" in her attempt to find the tribble bomb. The tricorder may be slung over her shoulder as it includes a flexible rubber strap and it fits well into the figure's left hand as well.
The phaser PADD is similarly impressive. The 3/4" choking hazard is detailed so well it has the green and red LED buttons painted on. One of Dax's key scenes in the episode had her holding a PADD as part of her disguise. It's a great prop for this figure and fits well into her left hand.
Her right hand easily holds the communicator. Like the other accessories, this is in perfect proportion with the figure and makes for a wonderful prop when displaying or playing with the figure. The coloring on this is realistic for the gold grillework and one only wished it could have been hinged for the added detail.
Then there are the tribbles. The tribbles are simple fluff balls. It's pretty much what the standard is for a toy of a tribble, but it still seems pretty lame. The tribbles may be rested in Jadzia's left hand, as it is more open than the other. A tribble fits there fine, but it needs to be balanced, which is does not do easily.
Playability
Lieutenant Dax has pretty amazing articulation, like most Star Trek action figures from Art Asylum and Diamond Select Toys. Lieutenant Jadzia Dax is blessed as well by having eighteen points of articulation: ankles, knees, thighs, groin socket, biceps, elbows, wrists, shoulders, neck, and waist. The neck articulation is incredible given that the base of the neck is a ball joint, allowing for up and down posing as well as left to right movement. But the shoulders are equally impressive. As ball and socket joints (like real shoulders!), Lieutenant Dax is able to strike a number of poses that might otherwise be impossible and allow her to be posed in pretty advanced poses. The only real limitation here comes from Dax's skirt (no blue jokes, please!). The plastic there is a bit thick and inflexible, limiting how far the groin joint's articulation actually goes. Dax may look like a 1960's go-go girl, but she's not easy!
While she cannot possibly hold all of her accessories, she does have the ability to hold any two of her accessories and that is cool.
Collectibility
Art Asylum and Diamond Select did not exactly mass produce the "Trials And Tribble-ations" figures. Indeed, most were exclusives, including the Lieutenant Dax figure, which was released exclusively through the Action Figures Xpress website. They are long since sold out, though and the figures are now available only in the secondary market. Unlike previous Star Trek toy lines, there are no individual numbers on these figures, but mostly they were only available at hobby and comic book shops, so it is not like they were drastically overproduced by any means. The Jadzia Dax was still fairly well distributed and it does appear that the market was never flooded with these. As a result, it has - at the very least - retained its original value.
Overview
Art Asylum is usually one of the standard-bearers in terms of attention to detail, and despite the somewhat big head on this Dax, she is a good, but not great figure. Anyone who likes Dax will like this toy and anyone who is thinking about picking up any of the figures in the "Trials and Tribble-ations" line, this is THE one to get!
For other toys focusing on Jadzia Dax, please check out my reviews of:
6” Jadzia Dax Warp Factor Series figure
Lieutenant Dax as seen in “Blood Oath”
Art Asylum's (best!) Jadzia Dax action figure
7/10
For other figure reviews, be sure to visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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