Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Even Fans Of Star Trek Would Have To Have Lost Their Marbles . . . Spectra Star Trek Deep Space Nine Action Marbles!


The Good: Durable, one supposes
The Bad: Low playability, collectibility or even interest.
The Basics: Just because the package says "collectable" does not mean fans will flock to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Action Marbles from Spectra, a real dud of a toy!


The Star Trek franchise has been a cash cow for Paramount Pictures, but when it came to the spin-off Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, it was clear that Paramount and its licensees had no real idea what to do with it. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was a more adult Star Trek television series in that it was darker, became much more violent and psychologically troubling and required an adult level of commitment due to its heavily-serialized storylines. Fans of the series tended to be less into the merchandise, much the way fans of The West Wing have never vocally clamored for action figures.

But when it first began, no one quite knew what Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was going to be, other than Star Trek. As a result, companies like Spectra took a chance and tried to make products that might have appealed to younger people, but not so much the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine audience. In this case, they were marbles. Yes, marbles. (Not much to review here!)

Basics

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Action Marbles set from Spectra consists of five marbles. Each marble is 5/8" in diameter and made of a very solid resin. The marbles are clear and at their center, each one has a picture embedded in it. The five marbles each feature an image of the cast shot from one of the characters from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1 (reviewed here!). The characters depicted in the marbles are: Commander Benjamin Sisko, First Officer Kira Nerys, Security Chief Odo, Chief Of Operations Miles O'Brien and Quark, the Ferengi barkeep!

The "front" (or top, it's a spheroid, so . . .) of each marble has the image of one of each of those characters with the first season publicity still on it. The "back" of the embedded disc with the image simply says Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Over the years, the marbles have not discolored or anything, so one assumes they are made of a nonreactive material. The round marbles have never chipped, discolored or otherwise denatured to lower the value of them now that they are out of their package.

Accessories

The Action Marbles come in a blister pack with all five marbles clearly visible, encased in plastic with a cardboard hanger on it. There are no accessories to this toy. All one gets are the marbles. This is not the easiest toy to get excited about.

Playability

Well, these are marbles, not action figures, so they cannot be posed and they would be quite difficult to display (at least out of the package) without some sort of stand (which is not included). These are marbles and as such, they can be rolled around and rolled back or rolled down things. These are not ideal for children with big mouths, but it is hard to call them a choking hazard as one doubts they would go much farther than the back of a kid's mouth if placed there.

So, yes, these Action Marbles have incredibly low playability. I have no idea how one usually plays with marbles, but all these things do is roll (mine have ended up in my marble jar because I've no idea what else to do with them). The novelty of Star Trek themed marbles wore off on me remarkably quickly.

Collectibility

In all of my years dealing with Star Trek merchandise, no one has ever asked me about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine marbles. These were unpopular when they were initially released and have not exactly blown the walls off of the collections of fans since. No, these were a pegwarmer and the price I find them for online sometimes amuses me. I consulted with a dealer friend of mine who informed me has has been carrying his same two packs of these around to conventions with a price of $5.00 for the five marble pack and he's never even had a nibble. He told me he has given away more than he has ever sold.

In other words, this is a terrible investment for those looking for Star Trek toys to pay the bills in one's dotage.


Overview

For all of my love of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, these five action marbles - each featuring a headshot of a popular character from the series - are utterly unworth the time, attention or money of fans or collectors.

For other, quirky, Star Trek toys, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Star Trek Talking Sulu Burger King toy
The Gorn Wacky Wobbler
Captain Kirk Mini-mates figure

1/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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