The Good: All right sculpt, Good accessories, Articulation
The Bad: Errors in detailing, Cannot hold all of his accessories, Dust sticks to shirt, Can't stand!
The Basics: Dr. Julian Bashir from "Trials And Tribble-ations" falls down (literally) in this rendition from Art Asylum and Diamond Select Toys.
You know how there are nutty people who suggest that different colors of M&M's have different flavors, long after the fine folks at M&M/Mars have tried to tell people everywhere that the candy shells are just colored and not flavored differently? For a while, I felt I might be the Star Trek action figure equivalent of such a person, given that I was all prepared to write a review of how the "Trials And Tribble-ations" Dr. Julian Bashir figure did not suffer from the same problems with accumulating dust as the Sisko and O'Brien figures. Unfortunately, one rub of my thumb along the rubber of his shirt and I discovered Bashir, like two of the other figures in this series, suffers from dust and dirt sticking to the figure's shirt; it just hides it better than some of the other figures.
As it (pun intended) stands, Dr. Julian Bashir would be a tough figure to create and Art Asylum and Diamond Select toys did a fair job of sculpting Bashir. Unfortunately, my Bashir is poorly assembled and cannot possibly stand up, making for a seriously below-average toy!
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. Sadly, even the common Doctor Julian Bashir is hampered by a pretty severe problem that comes up as time goes by: dust.
Basics
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Trials And Tribble-ations" Series of action figures contains a Doctor Julian Bashir figure, as he is disguised as a lieutenant. His is wearing the blue and black Star Trek uniform. Blue was for Medical and Sciences, just as it was in Star Trek: The Next Generation and beyond. Standing unevenly at seven and one-eighth inches tall, this is a fair likeness of Doctor Bashir immortalized in plastic. The uniform is well-detailed for the character and the face is a good likeness of Alexander Siddig's enduring character. While this Bashir 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 face looks a little more angular and less dark than Doctor Bashir usually does. Moreover, Dr. Bashir never had such a strong nose with such huge nostrils as this figure does!
The paint job is generally well done. The uniform is appropriately colored and the figure looks good in that respect. Strangely, the Command Delta symbol is printed on the figure's shirt, instead of the appropriate Sciences Delta symbol. This leads to the biggest problem with the Bashir figure: dust sticks to the rubbery shirt of the action figure. I recently took the figure out of storage and discovered there was ordinary dust on the action figure. Since then, I have attempted to remove the dust by carefully wiping it and then later with hot water and friction. Having ruined one figure this way, I am not messing that much with this one, but it suffers the same dust problem as the Sisko.
Accessories
Doctor Julian Bashir comes with three accessories: A Classic Type II phaser, a classic tricorder, and a pair of tribbles. That Doctor Bashir comes with a tricorder makes a lot of sense as he used one throughout "Trials And Tribble-ations" to attempt to find the tribble bomb. The tricorder may be slung over his shoulder as it includes a flexible rubber strap and it fits well into the figure's right hand as well.
The phaser is similarly impressive. Unlike the old Playmates figures, which came with solid-colored accessories, this phaser is gray and black with colored details and it fits perfectly in Bashir's right hand.
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 tribble may be rested in Bashir's left hand, which is molded as a cupped palm. A tribble fits there fine, but it needs to be balanced, which is does not do easily.
Playability
Doctor Bashir is one of the least playable or posable Star Trek action figures yet from Art Asylum and Diamond Select Toys. Doctor Julian Bashir is blessed as well by having nineteen points of articulation: ankles, knees, thighs, groin socket, biceps, elbows, wrists, shoulders, neck, abdomen 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!), Doctor Bashir is able to strike a number of poses that might otherwise be impossible and allow him to be posed in pretty advanced poses. But what sets this figure apart is the articulation in the abdomen. In addition to turning at the waist, Doctor Bashir is jointed just above the abdomen region with a joint that allows for left to right and front to back motion.
The problem with the figure I opened up, though, was the left foot. The left foot is locked in an inflexible downward pointing motion - like Bashir is tip toeing through the tulips - that prevents him from being able to stand with the foot flat. Trying to rotate this foot does not work and no matter how I have attempted to manipulate this ankle and foot, it cannot be moved to a flatfooted position.
Collectibility
Art Asylum and Diamond Select did not exactly mass produce the "Trials And Tribble-ations" figures. Indeed, most were exclusives, though the Doctor Bashir figure was the common release figure. 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 Bashir is 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, but between the facial sculpt, the misdetailed shirt, and the inability to do such a basic thing as stand, the Bashir figure is a real lemon. Discovering (the hard way) that it gets so dirty from ordinary household dust and becomes virtually impossible to clean off without ruining the detailing on the figure, only adds insult to the injury of this lousy toy.
For other figures of Julian Bashir and figures in the “Trials And Tribble-ations” line, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Playmates Dr. Julian Bashir
Diamond Select Dr. Julian Bashir
Art Asylum Jadzia Dax from “Trials And Tribble-ations”
4/10
For other toy reviews, please visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the toy reviews I have written!
© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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