The Good: Surprisingly good facial sculpt
The Bad: Light on coloring details, Terrible detailing on accessories, Generally low playability
The Basics: Disappointing on the coloring details and fair on the sculpt, Sisko As A Klingon is an easy figure to pass by.
Sometimes, when the ship is going down, it goes down quickly. In the case of Playmates Toys and their hold on the Star Trek action figure line, the fall was erratic. Just as the company released some of the most obscure characters, they created some of the best action figures they had done. However, even as they created a series of lines of lemons and gold, they lowered the overall articulation of the figures and the lines became less impressive than the initial endeavors of the company. Even by the Warp Factor Series 2, the figures were already falling more on the disappointing than impressive side of the line. Arguably one of the biggest failures in that set was the Sisko As A Klingon action figure.
Of all the undercover and alternate characters of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sisko As A Klingon is arguably one of the most obscure. In fact, some more casual collectors could not even recall when Sisko had been outfitted as a Klingon in the series. This disguise was only necessary for a single episode, when Sisko, O’Brien, Odo and Worf went undercover in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Apocalypse Rising “ (reviewed here!). And while the idea for a Sisko As A Klingon - or Jodmos as he went by - figure is not an inherently bad one, Playmates released the figure with less articulation than earlier Star Trek franchise figures and with a pretty lame sense of coloring and detailing for the accessories. Playmates had improved their ability to produce accurate sculpts, but the paint process for Jodmos was just terrible. Not only is the figure poorly articulated, he is poorly detailed.
Basics
The Star Trek Warp Factor Series of action figures contained only five figures in the Series 2 Assortment and it was an unfocused collection that featured supporting and background characters from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In fact, only the real fans who truly loved the Star Trek franchise were likely to even recognize Sisko As A Klingon or Leeta, the Ilia Probe, or the Swarm alien. In this assortment, Jodmos was something of a peg warmer.
The Sisko As A Klingon figure is the Federation leader as he appeared in "Apocalypse Rising" when Sisko when undercover to Ty Gokor! He looks like the typical Klingon in the obvious Klingon armor and Jodmos comes with the obvious Klingon accessories, though some were made special for this action figure. What makes this figure at all distinctive is the way the face actually does look like that of Jodmos! There is the hint of Avery Brooks in the sculpt and that is great for fans.
Standing four and seven-eighths inches tall, when he does not just tip over, this is a decent likeness of Jodmos at least on the surface. The character is molded in a strangely neutral (Klingons can always be molded battle-ready and look great!) pose with his arms coming out slightly as if he is holding something smelly at a distance. Moreover, his hands are molded almost open, making it difficult for him to hold his accessories. There is a decent level of uniform detailing, but the paint job mortgages that. So, for example, Jodmos has his house crest molded into the armor of his chest, but it is not colored appropriately, so it looks like a big Lego block sticking out of his chest! At least Sisko As A Klingon's face is molded in a determined and expression, but that too lacks coloring details. His lips, for example, are not colored and while the facial hair is molded on, it is not highlighted in any way to make it look like actual hair. Similarly, there is little in the way of actual details on the head ridges. They are molded in, but not shaded.
The paint job is awful, with no attention to detail. The skin tones are monolithic brown and lack any shading or subtlety. There is no shading to the cheeks or even coloring detail to his eyes. The uniform is well-molded, but there are no highlights. The armor is monolithic gray and the boot spikes are uncolored. Similarly, the communicator on the arm is haphazardly painted on.
Accessories
Sisko As A Klingon comes with only five accessories and they are not enough to use to recommend the figure because two of them don’t even fit in his hands! Jodmos includes: A Klingon Disruptor pistol, Bat’leth sword, Klingon mug, Polaron emitter and an action base shaped like a Klingon Symbol. That Sisko As A Klingon comes with weapons makes a great deal of sense, as he is intended to be a warrior. The Action base is just enough to support Jodmos and is a Klingon symbol appropriately colored in red and yellow plastic. The top of the arc on the base has a peg which fits into the hole in either of Sisko As A Klingon's feet!
The Klingon disruptor pistol is the exact same one that had been used with Klingon figures since the first Gowron action figure. The disruptor is a wicked-looking gun which fits in either of Jodmos's hands and has the surface, but not coloring, details of a Klingon firearm.
The Bat’leth is also a pretty typical accessory found with Klingon figures from Playmates Toys. This is the three and a half inch curved plastic sword with the grips for the hands and because of the way Jodmos is molded, he may only hold it in one hand. While the bat’leth has the surface details like the leather ties on the hand grips, it lacks the coloring details of the actual weapon.
The Klingon mug is a similarly bland accessory and because of the low poseability of Jodmos, it cannot be placed in his hands and made to look like he is prepared to drink bloodwine from it.
The Polaron Emitter is unique to the Jodmos figure and is actually a nice touch for the figure. Germane to the plot of “Apocalypse Rising,” O’Brien came up with this prototype device and the round emitter looks pretty much like it did in the show. Unfortunately, the device is essentially a ball and it does not fit in either of Jodmos’s hands.
Also ridiculous is the coloring of these four accessories. They are cast in a purple plastic which looks absolutely terrible and entirely unrealistic. The bat’leth and disruptor especially look funny in Jodmos’s grasp as they are dark purple and Playmates Toys didn’t even spring to paint the accessories in realistic colors!
Playability
Sisko As A Klingon as Playmates abandoned trying to keep customers happy and churned out some figures that were just lame (almost literally). Molded in a very unstable pose, this might not be a bad sculpt of Jodmos, but it is very low on the playable aspects. Sisko As A Klingon tips over unless balanced quite precisely in a flatfooted position and when on his base, he tends to make it tip over if one poses the weapons pointed away from himself! The Jodmos figure is endowed with twelve points of articulation, though some are barely usable. He may be twisted at the groin socket, shoulders, wrists, neck, and waist. As well, he may be bent at the elbows and knees. But things like the neck joint are overthought; the hair on the figure is stiff and the head is a joint, but it cannot turn! As well, the shoulders are not ball and socket joints and only rotate and the Sisko As A Klingon figure does not feature the usual bicep joints to mitigate this limitation.
Collectibility
Playmates under produced the final waves of Star Trek figures, including the Warp Factor Series 2 set. Sisko As A Klingon was pretty common, though and he was arguably the pegwarmer of the set. As a result, it is very easy to find the figure now discounted well below its original $6.99 issue price.
Playmates, even as they were overproducing figures, tried to make the Star Trek figures collectible. The Sisko As A Klingon figures have an individual number on the bottom of his right foot. In the attempt to make them appear limited, they had numbers stamped on them and Sisko As A Klingon is comparatively limited though there are at least 27000 of this figure released (my Sisko As A Klingon is #026023!).
Overview
Sisko As A Klingon might be a decent sculpt, but he barely stands up. As well, with the coloring of the accessories and the lack of coloring detail to Jodmos, this is an easy figure for all but the most die-hard fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to pass by!
For other figures of Benjamin Sisko, be sure to check out my reviews of:
6" Captain Benjamin Sisko
Commander Sisko
Sisko from "Crossover"
Captain Benjamin Sisko
3/10
For other toy reviews, please be sure to visit my Toy Review Index Page for a complete list of toys I have reviewed!
© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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