The Good: Great balance, Good detailing, Neat play feature on the Enterprise-D! Decent collectible value.
The Bad: Yellowing of stands, Inconsistent scale, Klingon Bird Of Prey wings are not articulated
The Basics: Galoob’s MicroMachines Star Trek Generations set focuses on the essential starships from the film Star Trek Generations and is a great set for those who like this scale of toy.
Back when I was in college, I found my own apartment a bit cramped for my collection. It was then that I moved out of the big scale of toys that Playmates Toys was making for Star Trek toys at the time and I actually got into the MicroMachines for a while. That trend did not hold for me, though I did keep several of the sets of Star Trek MicroMachines for desk fodder through the years. One of the sets I was surprised I kept was the Star Trek Generations 3-pack.
Fans of Star Trek Generations (reviewed here!) will easily recall the three ships featured in the pack. The MicroMachines Star Trek Generations Set includes the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B, a Klingon Bird Of Prey, and the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D (with removable saucer!).
Basics
The MicroMachines Star Trek Generations includes a U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B, Klingon Bird Of Prey, and U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D toy. The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B is a 3 3/16” long, 1 1/8” wide recreation of the starship seen very briefly at the beginning of Star Trek: Generations. More than simply a repainted Excelsior-Class vessel MicroMachine, the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B is the proper Make 2 model of the Excelsior Class with the altered deflector dish area. It is cast in proper white plastic (Next Generation-era ships tended to be cast in a somewhat silly blue plastic, even when they were white or gray, but for the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B, Galoob got the ship right). In fact, the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B is sculpted immaculately and colored perfectly with the aqua highlights and red and yellow detailing lines and running lights. The name of the ship is printed in exceptionally small type on the top and bottom of the saucer section and Galoob even got the insignia and running lines on the sides of the engineering hull rendered perfectly!
The detailing on the Klingon Bird Of Prey is also fairly impressive. The Star Trek: Generations version of the Klingon Bird Of Prey seems to be a recoloring of the earlier-released Klingon Bird Of Prey MicroMachine with additional accent coloring on the upper vents and side guns. The side guns also appear to be whittled down a bit finer than the initial release’s clunky guns. The Klingon Bird Of Prey is 2 ½” wide and 1 3/4" stem to stern. It is molded with all of the appropriate surface details, including the photon torpedo tube on the underside of the “head.” It is a predominately green starship with minimal accents and the green is a bit brighter than the olive green color Klingon Bird Of Preys usually are.
The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D is a 2 3/8” long by 1 3/4” wide starship that is the most detailed version of the ship to date. Like the Enterprise-B in this pack, Galoob colored this ship properly, so it is more gray than blue. More impressive, though is how they colored many of the tiny windows to give it the appearance of depth and realistic openness that the ship possessed. The paint accents include racing stripes, running lines and the blue accents for the lights on the warp nacelles.
Accessories
The MicroMachines vehicles come only with stands. The stands are identical ovaloid clear plastic stands that are 1 5/8” long, 3/4” wide and 7/8” tall. Each features a small peg which fits into the vehicles. The stands are universal and fit a standardized hole in the bottom of each ship. The stands work nicely to display each of the ships, though the clear plastic has yellowed over the last decade to look disturbingly unclear.
Playability
The MicroMachines Star Trek Generations vehicle toys have pretty limited playability, as they are entirely unposeable and are only really balanced on their stands. These vehicles have exceptionally limited play potential, largely because their subjects have limited playability. However, Galoob could have done more with them. For example, the Klingon Bird Of Prey’s wings could have been designed to be mobile (a later movie set did feature that!).
To its credit, as is perfectly appropriate for an Enterprise-D from Star Trek: Generations, the saucer module separates from the main hull of the ship! There is, however, no way to display the saucer section on a stand as it features the plug for the hole in the engineering section. Still, both components end up looking pretty cool on their own!
Collectibility
The MicroMachines Star Trek Generations set was one of the underproduced sets and the ships in it appeared on only one card and with the vehicles in a single boxed set. They have appreciated in value already to about double their initial release price and held there for years. As a result, it seems like they are only a good investment piece if one finds them dirt cheap, below their original cost.
Overview
Fans of Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek franchise starships are likely to enjoy the Enterprise-B and the play functions of the removable saucer of the Enterprise-D. I never thought I would say it, but for a change, the Klingon Bird Of Prey in this set is what robs it of perfection!
For other MicroMachines and smaller-scale Star Trek toys and collectibles, please check out:
MicroMachines Star Wars Set IV
1994 Klingon Bird Of Prey Hallmark Ornament
Playmates Toys Strike Force Maquis Fighter
8/10
For other toy reviews, please visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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