One Of The Worst: The Doctor Katherine Pulaski Star Trek Action Figure Fails! (My 100th Star Trek Action Figure Review!

The Good: Good conceptual accessories, Fair articulation
The Bad: Terrible sculpt, Accessory coloring, Low playability and collectibility
The Basics: Doctor Katherine Pulaski is, sadly, one of the worst Star Trek action figures Playmates ever produced, making a poor rendition of the character.


In the history of Playmates Toys's possession of the Star Trek license, there were some pretty lousy action figures. Most of the worst figures were cheap reuses of other figures' bodies with a different head plugged onto the body. Arguably, one of the worst of the line was their Doctor Katherine Pulaski action figure. A cheap reuse of a basic female body from Playmates Star Trek line, the Dr. Pulaski figure does not look like Diana Muldaur as Dr. Pulaski. And the basic body of the Doctor Pulaski figure does not even feature the character in her most-worn costume, making for a terrible figure in a crappy rendition of it.

Basics

The Star Trek 1996 Collection of action figures was a mix of Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine action figures and contained eighteen figures when it was done. It focused on alternate versions of the main cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation and supplemented the characters with memorable guest stars and aliens. This series seemed to recycle parts more and it was the series which was buoyed off the popularity of the "Tapestry" Picard action figure (reviewed here!), which was highly limited at the time. This series also contained the Doctor Katherine Pulaski figure which was a much better idea than it was execution. This is Dr. Pulaski as she appeared in the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation (reviewed here!), though there were exceptionally few times she appeared in the basic Medical Officer's uniform instead of her alternate outfit with a very different cut.

Standing four and one-half inches tall, this is a poor likeness of Doctor Katherine Pulaski immortalized in plastic, from the head-sculpt to the costuming details. The character is molded with her fingers curved, but not closed, so Pulaski is able to hold most of her accessories. Pulaski's face is molded with a somewhat ridiculous smile on her face. The lips are very dark red and the light flesh tones of Pulaski lack any subtlety or shading. The figure includes Pulaski's curly hair, molded into the plastic, which makes her appear like she is wearing a helmet as opposed to having a good head of hair. The face and hair lack any sense of realistic toning. Her eyes are appropriately blue, but the pupils are white instead of black!

The paint job is mediocre. The skin tones are monolithic light tan and lack any shading or subtlety and the costume's color is not quite the right shade of blue as the uniforms from Star Trek: The Next Generation. This action figure does not look at all like Diana Muldaur as Dr. Pulaski, which makes it pretty much worthless to the fans who would actually want a Dr. Pulaski action figure.

Accessories

Doctor Katherine Pulaski comes with five accessories, plus a trading card unique to this line of figures. The accessories include a medical scanner, Starfleet monitor, medical tricorder, and medical case as well as an action base shaped like a Federation Communicator badge. The Action base is just enough to support Dr. Pulaski and is a StarFleet delta shield with a little black sticker that reads "Pulaski" to help keep it straight from the other figures. The center of the base has a peg which fits into the hole in either of the doctor's feet!

The StarFleet Monitor is an odd accessory for this action figure. While Doctor Katherine Pulaski was frequently seen using one, this is usually seen on desks around the Enterprise, not in character's hands. With the right arm movements, Pulaski may hold her desk monitor - which looks very much like the ones on the show and has a sticker to represent what is on the screen - in both hands, but she looks strange doing it.

The Medical case is essentially a big flat purse with a plastic strap which may be slung over Doctor Katherine Pulaski's shoulder. While it has the basic shape of a medical case, it is utterly lacking in the surface details and markings of a StarFleet medical kit. It is a monotonal purple plastic which is not at all what the prop looks like.

The Medical Tricorder is a similarly light-on-details accessory. The 3/4" box looks like the scanning device used by Doctor Katherine Pulaski and it fits in either of her hands, though it may be held better in Pulaski's left hand. This has the surface details of a tricorder, up to and including that the scanning wand is molded into the top of the device, but it does not do anything.

Finally, there is the Medical Scanner. Like the tricorder, it fits into either of Doctor Katherine Pulaski's hands. However, there are no surface details and it is cast in the purple plastic without coloring details, like the black grip or silver-gray proper coloring.

Unfortunately, all of these accessories are molded in a dark purple plastic that is utterly lacking in realistic coloring detail. Given that one of the accessories cannot even be held, Doctor Katherine Pulaski is over-accessorized and with the lame coloring of the accessories, it is tough to get excited about the pieces intended to accent the character.

This action figure was released when Playmates was trying to synergize with trading card collectors and the figure comes with a trading card with a gold stripe. The card features a decent upper body shot of Pulaski and the back tells the story of her experiences in the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The card is very nice!

Playability

Doctor Katherine Pulaski continued the general quality of Star Trek toys from Playmates in its joints. Molded in an action pose, this is not a badly articulated version of Pulaski. Doctor Katherine Pulaski is endowed with twelve points of articulation: knees, groin socket, biceps, elbows, shoulders, neck, and waist. All of the joints, save the elbows and knees, are simple swivel joints. 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. Still, Playmates dealt with this limitation by having a swivel joint in the bicep, that allows everything below to turn and offers real decent poseability!

Moreover, for use with actual play, Pulaski may bend or extend at the elbows, which offers a greater amount of movement potential making her one of the more realistic Star Trek action figures to play with (for those who actually play with these toys!).

Collectibility

Playmates mass produced the first few waves of Star Trek: The Next Generation figures, but by the time it got to this wave, some figures were seriously limited, including Pulaski. Found carded still in the $10 range, this is one of the worst investment figures Playmates created, given that it can be found dirt cheap even now. There is some added value in that Star Trek trading card collectors hunt for the figure for the trading card! There was only one release of the Pulaski figure and none of the other action figure companies bothered trying to make a rendition of the character.

That said, at least Playmates attempted to make the figures collectible. Each figure has an individual number on the bottom of her left foot. In the attempt to make them appear limited, they had numbers stamped on them, though one has to seriously wonder how limited something should be considered when there are at least 27,000 figures out there (my Pulaski is #026819!).

Overview

An interesting idea for an action figure, Doctor Katherine Pulaski is a poor rendition and not worth picking up.

For other Star Trek figures from the 1996 line, please check out my reviews of:
Captain Jean-Luc Picard As Galen In "Gambit"
Elim Garak
Grand Nagus Zek
Commander Worf
Benjamin Sisko As Seen In “Crossover”
Jadzia Dax As Seen in “Blood Oath”
Jem'Hadar Soldier
Odo From “Necessary Evil”
The Hunter Of The Tosk

1.5/10

For other Star Trek figures by Playmates Toys, be sure to visit my Playmates Star Trek Figure Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Slap Some Silver On It And Call It New: The Supernova Series Locutus Of Borg Figure Is A Cheap Repaint!

The Good: Great sculpt, Good balance, Good accessories, Neat trading card
The Bad: Utterly ridiculous repaint for the character, Nothing truly unique to the figure
The Basics: The 1995 Supernova Series Locutus Of Borg action figure is an unfortunate repaint of one of the best action figures Playmates Toys ever produced!


When I was in high school and college, I was an uber-collector of Star Trek: The Next Generation toys and trading cards. I had everything released from Playmates Toys and all of the trading cards as Fleer/SkyBox was producing them. I was a proud geek. But, as college went on and I was paying for the experience, I slowly became more and more discriminating in my buying. I stopped collecting the Star Trek franchise comic books and I started truly looking at all of the plastic crap that I knew I would have to move (yet again) when college ended. I was one of the people who gave up on Playmates Toys when they released their “Tapestry” Picard (reviewed here!), despite the fact that the young woman I was dating at the time managed to snag one for each of us in her diligent pursuit of the figure. One of the first figures I liquidated from my collection when I stopped collecting was the Supernova Series Locutus Of Borg action figure.

I am a big fan of Locutus Of Borg and I thought Playmates Toys did an amazing job with their 1993 rendition of the character (reviewed here!). Unfortunately, the Supernova Series Locutus Of Borg figure is the same figure . . . but with silver-colored armor highlights on the chest and crotch, with a new trading card, put on a more dynamic looking card backing. In other words, the Supernova Series Locutus Of Borg is a cheap repaint of the original figure and the insult to the injury is that the repaint makes no rational sense (Locutus was never seen in silver armor!).

Basics

The Star Trek: The Next Generation 1995 Collection of action figures contained seven figures – three which were completely new, two which were simply recarded figures from a prior release and the two Supernova Series repaints. As a result, the Supernova Series Locutus did not exactly fly off the shelves . . . but it was never the pegwarmer that Noonien Soong was!

The Supernova Series Locutus of Borg figure is the Captain of the Enterprise after he was abducted and "altered" by the Borg in "The Best Of Both Worlds" (reviewed here!). Locutus is the Borg-armored, pigment drained Captain Picard after he was assimilated. The figure works because the face is clearly Patrick Stewart as Locutus with all of the Borg-added technology to his face and body. What doesn’t work for the figure is the bright silver plastic on the chest and groin that makes the figure look less like Locutus than the plain black original release!

Standing four and five-eighths inches tall, this is an incredibly well-sculpted likeness of Locutus immortalized in plastic. The character is molded with his fingers curled to hold accessories (which the figure does not truly have) and the ideal combination of hands that comes with Locutus has both hands armored with the appropriate extensions, as viewers saw in the second part of "The Best Of Both Worlds." There is an impressive level of costume detailing, which is impressive because the armor for Locutus is fairly intricate. The hands especially have wonderful molded details like tubes and mechanical ports that look functional. Even the back of Locutus features ports on the shoulder pads that were barely visible in the episodes!

The paint job is the only distinctive aspect of the Supernova Series Locutus and it is what brings down the figure. Sure, Playmates managed to get the drained skin tones of Picard as Locutus perfectly rendered. But the silver armor . . . the silver armor makes the figure look less like Locutus as he appeared in “The Best Of Both Worlds” and more like some concept “Disco Locutus!”

Accessories

Locutus of Borg is a Borg and as a result, he does not truly need accessories. Still, Playmates equipped th Supernova Series Locutus with two additional tubes, two hands, the action base, plus a trading card. That Locutus comes with very few accessories makes perfect sense as the Borg do not use external tools and Locutus was never seen holding any equipment. The Action base is just enough to support the Supernova Series Locutus and is a Borg symbol made of red and black plastic that is ample for support. Near the top of the "eye" in the symbol is a peg which fits into the hole in either of Locutus's feet!

The tubes are just that: two 1 1/2" rubber tubes that may be inserted into holes in the back of Locutus. They take a little work to wiggle in but they enhance the look of Locutus as an assimilated Borg.

As for the hands, the Borg equip their drones with tools that are built into special arm units. As such, Locutus comes with two replacement hands, one for the left and one for the right hand. The replacement left hand is a mechanically-enhanced glove which looks armored and like it could crush a man's windpipe! The right arm is the attachment that viewers saw added to Picard in the episode! The mysterious scanning device that extends Locutus's reach pops into a socket where the right hand had been!

The hands for the Supernova Series Locutus easily pop on and off offering easy swapping of appendages without any real challenges. At the same time, the arms do not slip off so easily that they cannot be played with without the figure falling apart. Playmates finally found the right balance and the hands swap out with enough ease to eliminate the playability problems that plagued the standard Borg figures!

The 1995 line of Playmates action figures also comes with a very cool SkyBox trading card unique to the action figures. The Locutus card features a bust shot Locutus with a warp field background that is quite striking. The back of the card has all sorts of vital information on Locutus and the figure is highly sought by card collectors who collected the cards and disposed of the figures.

Playability

The Supernova Series Locutus was an obvious cashgrab from Playmates, but it was generally well-made. Molded in an neutral, menacing pose that makes him look like a stalwart of the Borg invasion, this is a wonderful sculpt of Locutus. The Supernova Series Locutus is endowed with fourteen points of articulation: knees, groin socket, biceps, elbows, shoulders, neck, wrists and waist. All of the joints, save the elbows and knees, are simple swivel joints. 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. Still, Playmates dealt with this limitation by having a swivel joint in the bicep, that allows everything below to turn and offers real decent posability!

Moreover, for use with actual play, Locutus may bend or extend at the elbows, which offers a greater amount of movement potential making him one of the more realistic Star Trek action figures to play with (for those who actually play with these toys!). The Supernova Series Locutus is actually able to look like he lumbers along inhibited by the additional tubes and that works perfectly for the character the figure embodies.

On his base, the Supernova Series Locutus is quite stable, making him a great figure for display as well as play.

Collectibility

Playmates mass produced the first few waves of Star Trek: The Next Generation figures and the Supernova Series Locutus was released as Playmates was getting a bit strapped for cash for its Star Trek license. As a result, the Supernova Series Locutus of Borg figure peaked in value quick and then bottomed out fast. It is one of the least-expensive later Star Trek The Next Generation figures to be found on the secondary market and can usually be found for well under $10 now.

Even so, Playmates tried to make the figures collectible. Each figure has an individual number on the bottom of his right foot. In the attempt to make them appear limited, they had numbers stamped on them, though one has to seriously wonder how limited something should be considered when there are at least 25,000 of the figure out there.

Overview

The Supernova Series Locutus figure is well-made, but an obvious attempt to make money as opposed to make a vital and realistic action figure toy. It is not worth the attention of collectors, despite its production value.

For other Star Trek: The Next Generation toys and figures, please check out my reviews of:
Captain Picard As Galen From “Gambit, Parts 1 & 2”
Galoob Commander Will Riker
Star Trek: Generations Micromachines Set

5.5/10

For other toy reviews, please check out my Toy Review Index Page on the subject for a comprehensive listing.

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The One, The Only: Diamond Select General Martok Figure Was Worth The Wait!

The Good: Amazing sculpt, Decent balance, Great articulation, Cool accessories.
The Bad: Vastly over-accessorized, Accessory/grip issues.
The Basics: Diamond Select made Martok, the one-eyed Klingon General from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine into a very limited figure that has so much going for it, it is tough to complain about!


There are very few toys that keep my interest for years, so much so that they become something I do consistent price checks on whenever I am doing online shopping or attending conventions. Three years ago in Las Vegas was the last time I had easy access to the Diamond Select General Martok action figure and, frankly, for the $50 - $80 dealers were demanding for the figure at that time, it was out of my price range. The convention was not one of my better ones, so I had to go home without it (it was a pretty shit-tastic trip come to think of it!). But, since then, my wife and I have considered the Martok figure whenever doing online shopping and we have watched the price of the figure fluctuate over the last three years from an on-line high of $50 to $19.99 (its low point from one seller for one day was $9.99, but we missed the boat on that one!). When the price bottomed out, my wife had just gotten her tax refund and recently for an anniversary, Martok was presented to me as a much-anticipated, but frankly safe (she knew how much I wanted it) gift.

Part of the reason Martok is such a find is that there is only one figure of Martok; it was produced by Diamond Select in 2008 and was one per case. It is a tough figure to track down . . . despite the mixed popularity of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine collectibles with adult collectors. Having finally obtained my Martok and broken it out of its packaging, the verdict is simple: it was worth the wait, but it was not a perfect action figure. In addition to being overaccessorized, there are a number of accessories (some of the better ones for Martok, actually) that do not even fit in his grip! That robs it of perfection, though it is pretty damn cool.

Basics

General Martok is an obcure but popular recurring character exclusive to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine franchise who had not been made into an action figure until Diamond Select took a risk making him (which was far less of a risk considering how many conventions J.G. Hertzler, who played Martok appeared at each year!). Not at all a generic Klingon (though the body, I suppose could be interchangeable with the Gowron figure), Martok is distinctly Martok from the face and the emblem on the sash he wears. This is a General, not Chancellor, Martok figure as he does not come with robes. The action figure of Martok stands 7 7/8” tall and features the Klingon general in standard Klingon armor. His boots each have their appropriate metal spike and the detailing on the costume is exceptional. In addition to soft-plastic sash and gun holster, the Martok figure features exceptional detailing on the necklace the character wears. It looks braided with copper rings spaced judiciously around it. The facial sculpt for General Martok is exceptional with details like the scar over the left eye and the forehead ridges molded with exceptional detailing.

The coloring details rival the sculpt; the General Martok figure looks lifelike in the skin tones and the armor is not monotonal in its coloring. There is a faint amount of coloring depth to the nose and forehead ridges on Martok, as well as to the scar. The hair has realistic depth and shading and that is an exceptional level of detail. Even Martok’s one good eye is detailed with an appropriate brown that looks awesome.

Accessories

The figuresof General Martok comes with a whopping nine accessories! Martok comes with a Klingon disruptor rifle, d’k’tang dagger, Bat’leth sword, two bottles of blood wine, a cup for the blood wine, a Klingon disruptor and two alternate hands (in fists) for Martok. That this figure comes with weapons makes a great deal of sense, as much of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was a war story and Martok is a Klingon warrior.

The extra hands are exclusively for Martok and feature the Klingon general’s fists in spiked gloves. They simply pop in and out of the figure’s forearms and they look fine on the figure. However, using Martok’s fists means that he cannot hold any other accessories, making it something of a wash to use them.

Martok is well-outfitted with the Klingon Disruptor. At 1 1/2” long, with meticulous detailing to the sculpt, the Klingon Disruptor fits the quality of the rest of the Martok figure. Martok can easily hold the Klingon Disruptor in his right hand in a grip that looks like it was made for the black, silver and rust-colored plastic gun. The Klingon Disruptor also fits perfectly into the holster on Martok’s right hip and looks great there.

Another option for Martok to look weaponized is the larger Klingon Disruptor Rifle. At 2 1/2” long, the Klingon Disruptor Rifle may be held in a two-handed grip, but it looks just a little smaller than it ought to for that. Even so, the coloring is immaculate and this weapon suits the Martok figure well.

Of course, those who love Martok are bound to want to see what Martok looks like holding his Bat’leth sword. The Bat’leth sword is just over five inches long and features the usual curved blade of a Bat’leth. Clean and silvery, the Bat’leth looks functional and Diamond Select took care to mold the leather grips and color them appropriately so Martok looks amazing holding the weapon in a one or two-handed grip!

Unfortunately, Martok cannot possibly hold the cup for the blood wine in either of his hands (or any of his hands, as the case may be). The wide cup looks just like the one in the show: like coiled lead with a thin, wide mouth. It is well-cast for this figure, but one wishes they included hands that looked good holding it! I would almost have less of a problem with interchangeable hands that had the accessories molded into them as opposed to perfectly accurate accessories that either cannot be held or look doofy when they are!

The two 1 7/15” blood wine bottles are molded to look just like the ones on the show, but neither has a label to make it match the rest of the detailing. Moreover, given that it is monotonal silver plastic, the bloodwine bottle looks silly in the figure’s hand, especially compared to the level of quality of the figure. That said, Martok may hold the bottle reasonably well in either of his hands.

Finally, Martok comes with one of the d’k’tang daggers his character used on the show. The black and silver three-bladed knife is surprisingly intricate. It is cast with the side blades out and is 1 3/8” long. While there is no way to attach it to Martok’s belt, the knife looks great in his left hand, even if it looks a little small there.

Playability

General Martok embodies a high standard for Diamond Select Star Trek figures in terms of playability. He has eighteen points of articulation: ankles, knees, groin socket, biceps, elbows, forearms, wrists, shoulders, neck, and waist. Martok’s hair is molded in such a way that makes his head articulation pointless. His head cannot actually move. His waist articulation is also a little limited. His shoulders are more impressive, though. As ball and socket joints (like real shoulders!), they are able to strike a number of poses that might otherwise be impossible, including Klingon head butting!

Moreover, for use with actual play, Martok has great movement potential. His balance is excellent and, because of the added articulation in the ankles and knees, he may be posed in outlandish poses and still remain standing!

Collectibility

Diamond Select had a comparatively limited production run on the General Martok figure. Still, his price has peaked out and is now on the decline. Is it likely to rebound? In the long run, I’d bet on yes; there is only one Martok figure and as more people discover and rediscover Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, this figure is bound to be coveted more than it was in its original release.

Overview

Even though it was the only figure produced of Martok, Diamond Select did a pretty awesome job of making the figure at a level of quality where it is worth the effort and expense of hunting him down.

This toy is based upon Martok as he appeared throughout almost all of his episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (reviewed here!)

For other Klingon figure toys, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Diamond Select Gowron And Worf Two-Pack
Galoob Worf figure
Art Asylum Klingon Borg

9/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Beardless Riker! Galoob’s Least Loserish Common Figure: Commander Riker!

The Good: General sculpt (it’s obvious who it is), Can be found dirt cheap!
The Bad: Overproduced, Unbalanced, Lousy accessory, Terrible coloring and detailing.
The Basics: The only beardless Riker figure to date is the Star Trek: The Next Generation Commander Will Riker action figure from Galoob!


Despite the popularity of Star Trek The Next Generation, there are some characters from the show that are surprisingly under-represented in the merchandising. Despite all of the various Commander Riker action figures that have been produced, there is (to date) only one figure of Riker without his trademark beard. While Riker shaved his beard in Star Trek: Insurrection, the 12” dolls from the movie cheated; only one had the barefaced Riker. Playmates even cheated when it recycled the figures, making the Riker In Second Season Uniform (reviewed here!) figure so they could reuse the bearded Riker head. As a result, it’s only Galoob that offers a first season, beardless, Will Riker action figure.

One of the four most common Galoob Star Trek: The Next Generation figures was Commander Will Riker. Commander Riker was popular, but the figure was released after promo images from the second season were leaked and viewers were already liking the bearded Riker quite a bit! As a result, the Riker figure was a universal pegwarmer, often remaining on clearance racks even after the Picard figure from Galoob (reviewed here!) was bought up!

Basics

The Star Trek: The Next Generation 1988 Collection of action figures contained six figures (though two were quite rare and another four were later released) and it focused on the essential characters and villains of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Enormously overproduced even then, Commander Will Riker was one of four figures that was so common by 1989, most toy stores were trying (unsuccessfully) to blow their stock out in the dollar bins. Will Riker suffered additionally because Riker had a beard for most of the time the figure was stuck in the discount bins, so he didn’t look much like the action figure when people went to buy it!

The Commander Will Riker figure is the Command officer as he appeared in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation (reviewed here!). Will Riker is wearing the maroon command uniform which should have the piping on shoulders unique to the first two seasons, but is missing from the figure.

Standing three and a half inches tall, this is a poor likeness of Commander Will Riker immortalized in plastic. The character is molded in a generic standing position that makes him look like he is in a coffin. He is molded with a phaser in his left hand, so he is ready for combat, so long as it is straight in front of him! This Will Riker figure has a terrible level of detailing, with the head being disproportionately small compared with the rest of his body. As well, the uniform detailing is poor with accents like the piping on the pants and shoulders not being painted on. To add further insult to collectors, some of the painting is sloppy like the communicator pin, which is not clearly defined by the coloring, only the molding! Will Riker's face is a generic, neutral expression that contains no emotions. His eyes look dead and are little more than black dots on the white fields of the eyeballs. Will Riker’s skin is also monotonally colored, so there is no depth or shading realism to the figure’s features. He is obviously the Commander, but the molding and paint details are so minimal. He lacks color for his lips, too.

Accessories

Commander Will Riker comes with only one accessory, considering that the phaser is molded into his one hand. That accessory is a tricorder and it comes with a strap that was never used on the actual tricorders on Star Trek The Next Generation. Instead, this looks like a generic phone from the late 1980s hanging on a plastic loop. The accessory is light on molding details, looking nothing like a tricorder, and is absent any coloring details. As such, it is just a slightly gray plastic piece that hangs from the figure’s shoulder.

Playability

Commander Will Riker is terrible as a toy, for several reasons outside just its sculpt. First, Will Riker has terrible balance, light articulation and the molded phaser limits the play options as one whole hand is unavailable for posing or holding items (if there had been more accessories), unless one wants to have Will Riker shooting someone. This was pretty lousy as one of the few playsets Galoob produced was a shuttlecraft and it is hard to imagine Will Riker effectively navigating that craft if he only had one hand available to do it with! Commander Will Riker is endowed with five points of articulation: groin socket, shoulders, and neck. All of the joints are simple swivel joints. 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.

Will Riker, unfortunately, is topheavy with his broad chest and as a result is poorly balanced. This Will Riker tips over and I’ve not found a way to get him to stand unless one has him leaning back from the waist, so it looks like he is doing a groin thrust! This is a terribly balanced toy and the inability to stand is the final nail in the coffin for this figure.

Collectibility

Galoob mass produced the four figures from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and made the others exceptionally rare. Will Riker was one of the four ultra-common figures and this Will Riker is beyond worthless. Found loose for less than a dollar these days, this Will Riker can often be found for less than $3.00 Mint on card! Galoob flooded the market with these figures and they are almost impossible to use as investment pieces.

Overview

Even though Galoob might have the only little, all-plastic, beardless Commander Riker figure, it is not worth hunting down.

For other Commander Riker figures, please check out my reviews of:
1992 Playmates Commander Will Riker
Commander Will Riker As A Malcorian
Thomas Riker

2/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Undermining Itself With Age: The Chief O’Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform Figure Is Not Playmates’s Finest!

The Good: Good sculpt, Good coloring, Decent variety of accessories.
The Bad: Accessory coloring, Very overproduced, Very bland facial expression, Lacks skin depth and shading, Poor balance, Inability to hold some accessories.
The Basics: The Chief O’Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform was an initially fair figure that has since degraded some.


When it comes to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine action figures, I was initially incredibly biased toward them: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was my favorite series in the Star Trek franchise and when Playmates Toys started the figure line, I was very excited. Unfortunately, when the second line of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures was announced by Playmates, I was preemptively disappointed (with just cause). Most of the figures in the line were not original; they were reworks of previously-released Star Trek: Deep Space Nine action figures and few of those recycled figures were of interest to me. One of the few I did get enthusiastic for was the Chief O’Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform. The reason I got excited for that figure was that Playmates had released the StarFleet Officers Collectors Set and I was augmenting the display piece with figures in their Dress Uniforms that were not included in the Collectors Set.

Chief O'Brien, for those who were not tuned in to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (reviewed here!), was the Chief Of Operations and the only enlisted regular of space station Deep Space Nine. And while every other Star Trek series has had a miracle worker chief engineer, O'Brien was the Chief Of Operations on Deep Space Nine and the Chief Engineer on the U.S.S. Defiant. This was a big step up for him as he was a transporter chief on the U.S.S. Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform figure features O'Brien as he appeared in special episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, most notably “Data’s Day” (released here!) and “Rejoined” (reviewed here!).

Basics

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1995 Collection of action figures contained twelve figures and it was largely made up of guest characters and obscure variants of the command crew of Deep Space Nine. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform is the human officer, looking just as he did when he was forced to dress up for important events. O'Brien appears in his second release figure (there were two O’Briens in the second line) as an pretty generic gold-uniformed StarFleet officer in Dress Uniform. He is attired in his gold and black StarFleet Dress uniform. This was one of the most common action figures in the assortment and it remains fairly easy to find even now. Still, card collectors helped keep this from being a complete pegwarmer as it features a SkyBox pog exclusive to the action figure, which made it hunted by trading card collectors as well.

The Chief O'Brien figure is the human StarFleet officer as he appeared in the infrequent episodes where O’Brien wore the Dress Uniform, with the yellow uniform and with a head of curly hair. Chief O'Brien is attired in his mustard yellow (for Engineering division) Dress Uniform. The outfit is colored appropriately, including the single open gold/black rank pip on the collar, though there is no physical distinction between the body of this O’Brien and the Data and Geordi in Dress Uniform figures (save the pips).

Standing four and thirteen-sixteenths inches tall, this is a decent likeness of Chief O'Brien immortalized in plastic. The character is molded with his hands ready to hold most of his accessories in a half-closed position. His legs have a fairly straight-legged stance, so this figure stands up and looks like he is ready to be displayed, as opposed to an action pose which made some of the earlier Star Trek figures more problematic for posing in displays. Chief O'Brien has poor balance off his stand, though on the stand, it strangely remains just stable enough to stand. There is a decent level of uniform detailing, including the communicator pin on the chest being both molded into the figure and then painted on. The sculpted details include such finer details as fingernails, but not knuckles.

Chief O'Brien's face is molded in a bland, neutral expression that includes an characteristically furrowed brow. The hair is tough to capture for an O'Brien figure as O'Brien had curly hair, but Playmates made a fair go at it with a wavy, textured look to the molded hair. At least it doesn't look like O'Brien is wearing a helmet.

The paint job is fair at best, especially for the face. The skin tones are monotonal white with no shading or subtlety. The figure's lips are unpainted. As well, O'Brien's eyes are black with white pupils, which is disturbing. On the body of the figure, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures seem to have been rushed to market as there is nothing truly unique with this figure. As well, the bottoms of the pants lack the piping detail the actual uniform had.

As the figure has aged an issue has surfaced; the O’Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform was made of two different types of plastic. As a result, the torso and chest piece of the figure has remained mustard yellow, while the softer arms of the figure have a yellow that has discolored to olive green. That is a problem for fans and collectors.

Accessories

Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform comes with six accessories, including the base, some of which are unique to this figure. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform comes with a StarFleet Type 1 phaser, a StarFleet carrying case, Pattern Enhancer, Cello and boy and the base. The Action base is a StarFleet delta shield symbol with the name "O'BRIEN" stuck on it with a cheap, black sticker. The center of the base has a peg which fits into the hole in either of Chief O'Brien's feet! When Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform stands flatfooted on the stand, he is stable for balance and has a decent, neutral display appearance. The base is not enough to support O'Brien in more outlandish poses, though the figure’s lack of flexibility and articulation to the legs does not allow him to be placed in more than one pose for all intents and purposes.

The StarFleet phaser was a reworked Type I phaser accessory. This version was a 2 3/16" long prop which features the handheld beam weapon with a bright pink phaser beam emitting from it. The phaser has good molded details, down to the different buttons and a display screen, but is light on the coloring details. In addition to not having a black grip, the phaser does not have detailing on the buttons or power indicator, so it is homogeneously silver to the beam, then monotonally pink. O'Brien's hands are molded so he may carry the weapon in either hand, though it is such a clumsy grip that it ends up being wielded more like a sword than a phaser weapon.

The StarFleet carrying case is a tube that may be slung nicely over the shoulder of the O’Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform figure. The tube was 1” long and 1/2” in diameter. It had a thin strap that makes the overall carrying case 2” tall. This is a monotonal red/maroon accessory with a white StarFleet logo silk screened onto it. Outside its coloring, it fits the figure perfectly.

The pattern enhancer is based on the prop used in episodes like “Power Play” (reviewed here!). It is a 2 1/2" tall pole that ends in four feet. It looks much like a model of the Seattle Space Needle with feet. This is a bulkier and less tall version of the actual prop, though it is recognizable for what it is.

The cello and bow are a wonderful accessory for this particular figure; O’Brien played his cello while wearing the Dress Uniform in “Data’s Day.” The bow is a 1 7/8” long stick with a gap in it. The rounded grip fits in O’Brien’s left hand, but the figure lacks the articulation necessary to make it look like O’Brien is actually playing the cello. The cello is a 2 3/4” oversized violin (it lacks the stick at the bottom that cellos have to keep them off the ground). The body of the cello is textured to look like wood, but the accessory is cast entirely in an unrealistic red/maroon plastic.

This is the unfortunate aspect of all four of Chief O'Brien's accessories; they are molded in an unrealistic maroon/red plastic which looks unlike what any of the props looked like on the show. Clearly Playmates went through some effort to sculpt the accessories realistically, but the coloring minimizes the sense of realism and clashes with the coloring of the figure. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform is over-accessorized and with the lame coloring of the accessories, it is a bit of a drawback for the overall figure.

Even so, Playmates included a pog trading card unique to the figure from SkyBox which attracted trading card collectors to this figure in addition to toy collectors. The trading card has a shot of O’Brien’s head over the wormhole. The back has a simple checklist of the figures that came with pogs.

Playability

Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform continued a generally high level quality from Playmates and he was quite good at the time, pleasing collectors and fans alike. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform is appropriately stiff, but has decent poseability. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform is endowed with eleven points of articulation (though the articulation at the groin socket is minimal – only about ten degrees each way of range of motion): knees, groin socket, biceps, elbows, shoulders, and neck. All of the joints, save the elbows and knees, are simple swivel joints. As a result, the neck turns left to right, but the head cannot nod. Similarly, the shoulders are not ball and socket joints and only rotate. Still, Playmates dealt with this limitation by having a swivel joint in the bicep, that allows everything below to turn and offers real decent poseability!

Moreover, for use with actual play, Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform may bend or extend at the elbows, which offers a greater amount of movement potential making him one of the more realistic Star Trek action figures to play with (for those who actually play with these toys!). On his base, Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform is exceptionally stable, though the legs do not move enough to offer real posing variety. Off the stand, the figure falls over exceptionally easily.

Collectibility

Playmates overproduced the second wave of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures and Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform was a slow seller of the assortment. Despite appearing on two Star Trek series, Chief O'Brien was still a pegwarmer. As a result, he has not appreciated at all in value since his initial release almost twenty years ago.

That said, at least Playmates tried to make the figures collectible. Each figure has an individual number on the bottom of his right foot. In the attempt to make them appear limited, they had numbers stamped on them, though one has to seriously wonder how limited something should be considered when there are at least 56000 figures out there (my Chief O'Brien is #055495!).

Overview

The Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Dress Uniform figure was an unfortunately problematic figure in terms of grip and accessory coloring, but it has aged poorly with the arms discoloring, lowering its overall value in the long run.

For other figures from this same series of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures, please check out my reviews of:
Commander Benjamin Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform
Chief Miles Edward O’Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform
Lieutenant Thomas Riker
Doctor Julian Bashir In StarFleet Duty Uniform
Jake Sisko
Rom and Nog
The Tosk
Q
Vedek Bareil

4/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing.

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Another Hideous Starter Figure: The Galoob Captain Picard Action Figure Falls Over!

The Good: General sculpt (it’s obvious who it is), Can be found dirt cheap!
The Bad: Overproduced, Unbalanced, Lousy accessories, Terrible coloring and detailing, Virtually everything.
The Basics: The early Star Trek: The Next Generation Captain Jean-Luc Picard action figure might well be one of the worst action figures ever produced!


In the rush to make money off of Star Trek The Next Generation back when it first aired, Paramount Pictures was generous with the licensees. As one of the few early investors in the show’s merchandising, Galoobe easily won the bid to produce the first line of Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures. Unfortunately, most of them were utter crap.

One of the four most common Galoob Star Trek: The Next Generation figures was Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Captain Picard was not an instantly popular character on the show and his figure was such a slow seller that it was easily found in the Clearance bin of major toy stores for years after its release (and into the Playmates Toys run of Star Trek figures)! Even now, one of the worst action figures ever produced for a genre television show, the Galoob Captain Picard figure is an utter dud without nostalgic or collectible value.

Basics

The Star Trek: The Next Generation 1988 Collection of action figures contained six figures (though two were quite rare and another four were later released) and it focused on the essential characters and villains of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Enormously overproduced even then, Captain Jean-Luc Picard was one of four figures that was so common by 1989, most toy stores were trying (unsuccessfully) to blow their stock out in the dollar bins. Jean-Luc Picard suffered additionally because Picard was undermined as a character pretty consistently until the third season, when Patrick Stewart’s character was given more to do off the Enterprise.

The Captain Jean-Luc Picard figure is the Command officer as he appeared in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation (reviewed here!). Jean-Luc Picard is wearing the maroon command uniform with the piping on shoulders unique to the first two seasons.

Standing three and a half inches tall, this is a poor likeness of Captain Jean-Luc Picard immortalized in plastic. The character is molded in a generic standing position that makes him look like he is in a coffin. He is molded with a phaser in his left hand, so he is ready for combat, so long as it is straight in front of him! This Jean-Luc Picard figure has a terrible level of detailing, with the head being disproportionately small compared with the rest of his body. As well, the uniform detailing is poor with accents like the piping on the pants and shoulders not being painted on. To add further insult to collectors, some of the painting is sloppy like the communicator pin, which is not clearly defined by the coloring, only the molding! Jean-Luc Picard's face is a generic, neutral expression that contains no emotions. His eyes look dead and are little more than black dots on the white fields of the eyeballs. Jean-Luc Picard’s skin is also monotonally colored, so there is no depth or shading realism to the figure’s features. He is obviously the Captain, but the molding and paint details are so minimal. Even the band of hair on the back of his head is so erratically painted on that it looks unreal!

Accessories

Captain Jean-Luc Picard comes with only one accessory, considering that the phaser is molded into his one hand. That accessory is a tricorder and it comes with a strap that was never used on the actual tricorders on Star Trek The Next Generation. Instead, this looks like a generic phone from the late 1980s hanging on a plastic loop. The accessory is light on molding details, looking nothing like a tricorder, and is absent any coloring details. As such, it is just a slightly gray plastic piece that hangs from the figure’s shoulder.

Playability

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is terrible as a toy, for several reasons outside just its sculpt. First, Jean-Luc Picard has terrible balance, light articulation and the molded phaser limits the play options as one whole hand is unavailable for posing or holding items (if there had been more accessories), unless one wants to have Jean-Luc Picard shooting someone. This was pretty lousy as one of the few playsets Galoob produced was a shuttlecraft and it is hard to imagine Jean-Luc Picard effectively navigating that craft if he only had one hand available to do it with! Captain Jean-Luc Picard is endowed with five points of articulation: groin socket, shoulders, and neck. All of the joints are simple swivel joints. 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.

Jean-Luc Picard, unfortunately, is topheavy with his broad chest and as a result is poorly balanced. This Jean-Luc Picard tips over and I’ve not found a way to get him to stand unless one has him leaning back from the waist, so it looks like he is doing a groin thrust! This is a terribly balanced toy and the inability to stand is the final nail in the coffin for this figure.

Collectibility

Galoob mass produced the four figures from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and made the others exceptionally rare. Jean-Luc Picard was one of the four ultra-common figures and this Jean-Luc Picard is beyond worthless. Found loose for less than a dollar these days, this Jean-Luc Picard can often be found for less than $3.00 Mint on card! Galoob flooded the market with these figures and they are almost impossible to use as investment pieces.

Overview

The Captain Jean-Luc Picard Star Trek: The Next Generation figure from Galoob is one of the worst figures from a bad line of early Star Trek: The Next Generation toys.

For other Captain Picard figures, please check out my reviews of:
1992 Playmates Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard In StarFleet Duty Uniform
Playmates Locutus Of Borg
Picard As A Romulan
”Tapestry” Picard
Picard As Galen

1/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Two Cool Accessories Does Not Adequately Sell The Commander Benjamin Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform Figure!

The Good: Good sculpt, Good coloring, Decent variety of accessories.
The Bad: Accessory coloring, Very overproduced, Very bland facial expression, Lacks skin depth and shading, No significant leg articulation
The Basics: The Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform is a decent display piece, but not a great action figure.


Sometimes, I find myself wondering just what the heck toy companies are thinking when I see the results of their work. In the case of the Playmates Toys Star Trek: Deep Space Nine toy line, there were some times when the manufacturer made some inexplicable choices. The Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform figure, for example, had knees that were articulated, but a groin socket joint that was not articulated. As a result, at best the figure could look vaguely like it was running (though Sisko would not be likely to run while in the dress uniform.

Commander Sisko, for those who were not tuned in to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (reviewed here!), was the Commander and then the Captain of space station Deep Space Nine. He wore the Dress Uniform on occasions like meeting the Wadi in “Move Along Home” (reviewed here!). He very infrequently wore the Dress Uniform as the Commander and later as the Captain.

Basics

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1995 Collection of action figures contained twelve figures and it was largely made up of guest characters and obscure variants of the command crew of Deep Space Nine. Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform is the human officer, looking just as he did when he was forced to dress up for important events. Sisko appears in his second release figure (there were two Siskos in the second line) as an pretty generic red-uniformed StarFleet officer in Dress Uniform. He is attired in his maroon and black StarFleet Dress uniform. This was one of the most common action figures in the assortment and it remains fairly easy to find even now. Still, card collectors helped keep this from being a complete pegwarmer as it features a SkyBox pog exclusive to the action figure, which made it hunted by trading card collectors as well.

The Commander Sisko figure is the human StarFleet officer as he appeared in the infrequent episodes where Sisko wore the Dress Uniform, with the maroon uniform and with hair on his head. Commander Sisko is attired in his dark red (for Command division) Dress Uniform. The outfit is colored appropriately, including the single open gold/black rank pip on the collar, though there is no physical distinction between the body of this Sisko and the Riker in Dress Uniform figure (from the Officers Collectors Set).

Standing four and three quarters inches tall, this is a decent likeness of Commander Sisko immortalized in plastic. The character is molded with his hands ready to hold most of his accessories in a half-closed position. His legs have a fairly straight-legged stance, so this figure stands up and looks like he is ready to be displayed, as opposed to an action pose which made some of the earlier Star Trek figures more problematic for posing in displays. Commander Sisko has good balance both on and off his stand, probably because he has so little leg articulation. There is a decent level of uniform detailing, including the communicator pin on the chest being both molded into the figure and then painted on. The sculpted details include such finer details as fingernails, but not knuckles.

Commander Sisko's face is molded in a bland, neutral expression that makes Sisko looks bored and kind of dull. This is apparently identical to other Sisko figures created in the first two lines as it has hair that is molded on, close-cropped. Sisko looks more like he is wearing a helmet than that he has hair.

The paint job is fair at best, especially for the face. The skin tones are monotonal brown with no shading or subtlety. The figure's lips are barely painted and they are an unrealistic shade of pink. As well, Sisko's eyes are black with white pupils, which is disturbing. On the body of the figure, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures seem to have been rushed to market as there is nothing truly unique with this figure. As a result the bottoms of the pants lack the piping detail the actual uniform had.

Accessories

Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform comes with five accessories, including the base, one of which is unique to this figure. Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform comes with a StarFleet carrying case, DS9 monitor, 3-D Chess board, Saltah’na Clock and the base. The Action base is a StarFleet delta shield symbol with the name "SISKO" stuck on it with a cheap, black sticker. The center of the base has a peg which fits into the hole in either of Commander Sisko's feet! When Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform stands flatfooted on the stand, he is stable for balance and has a decent, neutral display appearance.

The StarFleet carrying case is a tube that may be slung nicely over the shoulder of the Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform figure. The tube was 1” long and 1/2” in diameter. It had a thin strap that makes the overall carrying case 2” tall. This is a monotonal navy blue accessory with a white StarFleet logo silk screened onto it. Outside its coloring, it fits the figure perfectly.

The DS9 Monitor is a 15/16” wide by 1 1/8” deep by 3/4” tall laptop computer accessory. These were seen on desks around Deep Space Nine and the screen on Sisko’s is a sticker that has an outline of Deep Space Nine on it. The monitor looks silly in Sisko’s hands.

The 3-D Chess Board is also intended for a nonexistent desktop. It’s a 1 13/16” tall chess board with four levels and a Knight piece on the top level. The board is monotonal blue, which is not at all realistic for the prop replica.

Unique to this figure is the Saltah’na Clock. The Saltah’na Clock was featured exclusively in the episode “Dramatis Personae” (reviewed here!). Commander Sisko built the Saltah’na Clock in that episode while under the influence of alien forces. The 1 3/16” long and wide by 1” tall three-plated clock looks exactly like the alien clock Sisko assembled, save that it is navy blue.

That is the unfortunate aspect of all four of Commander Sisko's accessories; they are molded in an unrealistic navy blue plastic which looks unlike what any of the props looked like on the show. Clearly Playmates went through some effort to sculpt the accessories realistically, but the coloring minimizes the sense of realism and clashes with the coloring of the figure. Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform is over-accessorized and with the lame coloring of the accessories, it is a bit of a drawback for the overall figure.

Even so, Playmates included a pog trading card unique to the figure from SkyBox which attracted trading card collectors to this figure in addition to toy collectors. The trading card has a shot of Sisko’s head over the wormhole. The back has a simple checklist of the figures that came with pogs.

Playability

Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform continued a generally high level quality from Playmates and he was quite good at the time, pleasing collectors and fans alike. Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform is appropriately stiff and has poor overall poseability. Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform is endowed with nine points of articulation: knees, biceps, elbows, shoulders, and neck. All of the joints, save the elbows and knees, are simple swivel joints. As a result, the neck turns left to right, but the head cannot nod. Similarly, the shoulders are not ball and socket joints and only rotate. Still, Playmates dealt with this limitation by having a swivel joint in the bicep, that allows everything below to turn and offers real decent poseability!

Moreover, for use with actual play, Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform may bend or extend at the elbows, which offers a greater amount of movement potential making him one of the more realistic Star Trek action figures to play with (for those who actually play with these toys!). On his base, Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform is exceptionally stable, though the legs do not move enough to offer real posing variety. Off the stand, the figure falls over exceptionally easily.

Collectibility

Playmates overproduced the second wave of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures and Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform was a slow seller of the assortment. Commander Sisko had two different renditions in the second assortment and the Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform was still a pegwarmer. As a result, he has not appreciated at all in value since his initial release almost twenty years ago.

That said, at least Playmates tried to make the figures collectible. Each figure has an individual number on the bottom of his right foot. In the attempt to make them appear limited, they had numbers stamped on them, though one has to seriously wonder how limited something should be considered when there are at least 41000 figures out there (my Commander Sisko is #040463!).

Overview

The Commander Sisko In StarFleet Dress Uniform figure was not terribly flexible, but even though the accessories were poorly colored, they fit the figure surprisingly well (in terms of content, if not playability). This figure gets a very weak “recommend” from me as it is a bland toy.

For other figures from this same series of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures, please check out my reviews of:
Chief Miles Edward O’Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform
Lieutenant Thomas Riker
Doctor Julian Bashir In StarFleet Duty Uniform
Jake Sisko
Rom and Nog
The Tosk
Q
Vedek Bareil

5.5/10

For other Star Trek toy reviews, please visit my Star Trek Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing.

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Recognizable O’Brien From Playmates, Chief O’Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform Is Mostly Recycled!

The Good: Good sculpt, Good coloring, Decent variety of accessories, Balance, Good uniform choice!
The Bad: Accessory coloring, Very overproduced, Very bland facial expression, Lacks skin depth and shading
The Basics: Playmates largely recycled parts to make a Star Trek: The Next Generation version of Chief O’Brien for their second Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Chief O'Brien figure (the O’Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform)..


Playmates Toys, while it was the primary producer of Star Trek action figures, was never a company to miss an opportunity to make money or recycle an idea. One of the figures that was announced but not released was a version of Chief O’Brien from Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the second series of Playmates’s Star Trek: Deep Space Nine action figures, the Star Trek: The Next Generation version of O’Brien made its appearance as the Chief O’Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform action figure. The Chief O’Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform figure was largely recycled. In fact, the accessories are all identical to the ones from the first O’Brien figure Playmates released (reviewed here!).

Chief O'Brien, for those who were not tuned in to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (reviewed here!), was the Chief Of Operations and the only enlisted regular of space station Deep Space Nine. And while every other Star Trek series has had a miracle worker chief engineer, O'Brien was the Chief Of Operations on Deep Space Nine and the Chief Engineer on the U.S.S. Defiant. This was a big step up for him as he was a transporter chief on the U.S.S. Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform figure features O'Brien as he appeared in hit entire run of Star Trek: The Next Generation when he was the transporter Chief. Outside the scene in which he leaves the Enterprise (finally), O’Brien never actually appeared in this uniform on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Basics

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1995 Collection of action figures contained twelve figures and it was largely made up of guest characters and obscure variants of the command crew of Deep Space Nine. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform is the human officer, looking just as he did when he was the transporter chief. O'Brien appears in his second action figure as an pretty generic gold-uniformed StarFleet officer. He is attired in his gold and black StarFleet uniform. This was one of the most common action figures in the assortment and it remains fairly easy to find even now. Still, card collectors helped keep this from being a complete pegwarmer as it features a SkyBox pog exclusive to the action figure, which made it hunted by trading card collectors as well.

The Chief O'Brien figure is the human StarFleet officer as he appeared in seasons two through six of Star Trek: The Next Generation, with the yellow uniform and with a head of curly hair. Chief O'Brien is attired in his mustard yellow (for Engineering division) jumpsuit. The outfit is colored appropriately, including the single gold rank pip on the collar, though because the figure is a recycled body of a Next Generation figure, the figure has three pips molded onto it!

Standing four and eleven-sixteenths inches tall, this is a decent likeness of Chief O'Brien immortalized in plastic. The character is molded with his hands ready to hold most of his accessories in a half-closed position. His legs have a spread-legged stance, so this figure stands up and looks like he is ready to be displayed or run, as opposed to an action pose which made some of the earlier Star Trek figures more problematic for posing in displays. Chief O'Brien has good balance on or off his stand (though the stand certainly helps). There is a decent level of uniform detailing, including the communicator pin on the chest being both molded into the figure and then painted on. The sculpted details include such finer details as fingernails and knuckles.

Chief O'Brien's face is molded in a bland, neutral expression that includes an uncharacteristically unfurrowed brow. The hair is tough to capture for an O'Brien figure as O'Brien had curly hair, but Playmates made a fair go at it with a wavy, textured look to the molded hair. At least it doesn't look like O'Brien is wearing a helmet.

The paint job is fair at best, especially for the face. The skin tones are monotonal white with no shading or subtlety. The figure's lips are unpainted. As well, O'Brien's eyes are black with white pupils, which is disturbing. On the body of the figure, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures seem to have been rushed to market as there is nothing truly unique with this figure. As well, the bottoms of the pants lack the piping detail the actual uniform had.

Accessories

Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform comes with five accessories, including the base, all of which had noticeably been recycled from the first Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figure. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform comes with a StarFleet phaser, an engineering kit, laser drill and portable fire extinguisher and the base. The Action base is a StarFleet delta shield symbol with the name "O'BRIEN" stuck on it with a cheap, black sticker. The center of the base has a peg which fits into the hole in either of Chief O'Brien's feet! When Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform stands flatfooted on the stand, he is stable for balance and has a decent, neutral display appearance. The base is also enough to support O'Brien in more outlandish poses, which is nice.

The StarFleet phaser is the same Type II phaser accessory that came with many of the Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures. It is a 2 1/2" long prop which features the dustbuster-shaped beam weapon with a bright pink phaser beam emitting from it. The phaser has good molded details, down to the different buttons and a display screen, but is light on the coloring details. In addition to not having a black grip, the phaser does not have detailing on the buttons or power indicator, so it is homogeneously silver to the beam, then monotonally pink. O'Brien's hands are molded so he may carry the weapon in either hand.

The portable fire extinguisher is a 7/8" long cylinder attached to a handle which fits into either of O'Brien's hands. The purple plastic device looks like a pretty traditional fire extinguisher and given all of the problems on Deep Space Nine, it is unsurprising that O'Brien comes with just such a device. As one might expect from a toy of a fire extinguisher, this has minimal molded details and no painted details.

The Engineering kit is an inch long by 3/4" tall case which looks like a ribbed briefcase. There is nothing that sets this apart as a StarFleet engineering kit. This case does not open and it only fits in O'Brien's right hand.

The laser drill looks like a hypospray with a slightly more defined nozzle. It, too, fits only in O'Brien's right hand and it compels the consumer to use their imagination as it does not do anything or have any laserbeam attachments emanating from it. It is pretty well detailed in the molded details, but it is a poor accessory for the coloring as it is a monotonal purple plastic.

This is the unfortunate aspect of all three of Chief O'Brien's accessories; they are molded in an unrealistic bright green plastic which looks unlike what any of the props looked like on the show. Clearly Playmates went through some effort to sculpt the accessories realistically, but the coloring minimizes the sense of realism and clashes with the coloring of the figure. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform is over-accessorized and with the lame coloring of the accessories, it is a bit of a drawback for the overall figure.

Even so, Playmates included a pog trading card unique to the figure from SkyBox which attracted trading card collectors to this figure in addition to toy collectors. The trading card has a shot of O’Brien’s head over the wormhole. The back has a simple checklist of the figures that came with pogs.

Playability

Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform continued a generally high level quality from Playmates and he was quite good at the time, pleasing collectors and fans alike. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform is appropriately stiff, but has decent poseability. Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform is endowed with twelve points of articulation: knees, groin socket, biceps, elbows, shoulders, neck, and waist. All of the joints, save the elbows and knees, are simple swivel joints. As a result, the neck turns left to right, but the head cannot nod. Similarly, the shoulders are not ball and socket joints and only rotate. Still, Playmates dealt with this limitation by having a swivel joint in the bicep, that allows everything below to turn and offers real decent poseability!

Moreover, for use with actual play, Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform may bend or extend at the elbows, which offers a greater amount of movement potential making him one of the more realistic Star Trek action figures to play with (for those who actually play with these toys!). On his base, Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform is exceptionally stable, even in the most ridiculous poses. He actually looks very dignified and ready-to-work in his neutral display pose.

Collectibility

Playmates overproduced the second wave of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures and Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform was a slow seller of the assortment. Despite appearing on two Star Trek series, Chief O'Brien was still a pegwarmer. As a result, he has not appreciated at all in value since his initial release over fifteen years ago.

That said, at least Playmates tried to make the figures collectible. Each figure has an individual number on the bottom of his left foot. In the attempt to make them appear limited, they had numbers stamped on them, though one has to seriously wonder how limited something should be considered when there are at least 19000 figures out there (my Chief O'Brien is #018689!).

Overview

The Chief O'Brien In StarFleet Duty Uniform figure is an average figure and serious collectors will want to pick up the Diamond Select 6” version instead.

For other figures from this same series of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine figures, please check out my reviews of:
Lieutenant Thomas Riker
Doctor Julian Bashir In StarFleet Duty Uniform
Jake Sisko
Rom and Nog
The Tosk
Q
Vedek Bareil

5/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page for an organized listing.

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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