Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Best Of The (Scale) Klingon Bird Of Prey Toys: Eaglemoss Collections New Klingon Bird Of Prey Sculpture!


The Good: Perfect sculpting detail, Great coloring details, Neat stand, Cool magazine
The Bad: Wings do not move?
The Basics: A very cool toy, the Eaglemoss Klingon Bird-Of-Prey is the ideal small-scale sculpture of the awesome ship.


When it comes to giftgiving, my wife is always looking for incredible things for me (which she knows I will inevitably review). In the past, she has gotten me several pieces to add to my collection of AT-AT and Klingon Bird Of Prey toys and sculptures. Late last year, she found me what has become one of the new highlights of my collection, the Eaglemoss Klingon Bird Of Prey toy. This toy is sculpture-quality and well-worth picking up.

While Eaglemoss Collections has just begun their Star Trek ship line, the fact that the Klingon Bird Of Prey is one of the earliest releases and has perfect quality shows that the company truly is dedicated to doing the Star Trek line right.

Basics

The Eaglemoss Klingon Bird-Of-Prey toy is a recreation of the popular Star Trek starship cast in proper olive green plastic. The toy has the look of the actual starship as it appeared beginning in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock and in virtually all subsequent Star Trek franchises. The coloring is highlighted by an immaculate paint job which does such things as highlight the bridge section with the proper red ring. As well, the wing supports are properly silver and that is accurately represented on this toy. The side guns are olive green as well, but they include the wear marks to make the ship’s weapons look weathered and functional.

This die-cast Klingon Bird-Of-Prey is truly a masterwork of detailing. It is the perfect rendition of this ship in this scale. At 5 1/4" wide (wing gun to wing gun) by 3 1/2" long by 3" tall, the Klingon Bird-Of-Prey is intended to be a display piece more than a toy. Still, this is a wonderful casting with green plastic for the body, wings and bridge section of the starship. The thruster array and torpedo tube of the ship are highlighted red and all of the joints and panels have weather marks to make the ship look like it was traveling through a planet’s atmosphere as well as through space. The Klingon Bird-Of-Prey, like most Klingon starships is intended to look armored and strong. As a result, the ship is covered in panels that both detail the ship and make it look like it could be protected in battle by the plating. The Eaglemoss Klingon Bird-Of-Prey also captures details like the vents on the top of the wing joint. These are finer details which look precise and accurate (having seen the actual set-used model in person).

What is arguably most impressive about the sculpt of the Eaglemoss Klingon Bird-Of-Prey is the detailing of the wing guns. The guns at the tips of the wings are double-barreled disruptors and most manufacturers who replicate the Klingon Bird-Of-Prey tend to cheap out on the guns because they are more delicate by definition. In Eaglemoss's case, they have accurately cast the weapons to have both barrels on each gun! This is extraordinary detailing and it caps off the toy wonderfully for making a model-quality replica of the starship. Those who are fans of the Klingon Bird-Of-Prey will truly appreciate that Eaglemoss made the thin weapons instead of either neglecting them (making them a single, thicker barrel) or making them disproportionately large, which have been flaws in other manufacturer's Klingon Bird Of Prey toys. It does, however, make the Eaglemoss Klingon Bird-Of-Prey fragile, though the metal construction seems durable enough, especially for what is essentially a statue.

Accessories

The Klingon Bird-Of-Prey toy from Eaglemoss comes with two accessories: a display stand and a magazine. The display stand is a 3 15/16" long ovular black base. The base holds a 1 ½” tall clear plastic stand that hooks into the back of the Klingon Bird Of Prey. The stand is very cool in that it allows the ship to be held perfectly in place from the back, as opposed to putting a hole in the bottom of the ship!

The Eaglemoss Klingon Bird Of Prey comes with the customary Eaglemoss magazine. The magazine is an impressive, almost encyclopedic, collection of information on the starship. It has tons of bright, full-color pictures and accurate, thorough information on the Klingon Bird Of Prey.

Playability

The Eaglemoss Klingon Bird-Of-Prey has almost no playability. Instead, this is intended more as a display piece than a toy. If it were a toy, one would expect the wings to raise and lower. But, because this is intended to appeal more to those who like models than toys, the Eaglemoss Klingon Bird-Of-Prey is a static ship and one does not imagine children would get much play out of it before the guns broke off the wings.

Collectibility

The limited edition Eaglemoss Klingon Bird-Of-Prey is the third release in a just-begun collection of Eaglemoss Star Trek ships. While not widely released, many toy dealers still have the ability to get it in or consumers can get a subscription directly from Eaglemoss. It is most commonly found in the secondary market at specialty shops where it commands prices at the original price or a little more, but not at exceptional prices. In other words, this is a good piece for fans and investors might have to wait a while for it to appreciate.
Overview

The Eaglemoss Klingon Bird-Of-Prey starship is perfect and is so incredible that it is almost enough to encourage me to buy some of their other ships!

For other Klingon Bird Of Prey toys, please check out my reviews of:
Playmates Strike Force Klingon Bird Of Prey
Playmates Klingon Bird Of Prey
Corgi 40th Anniversary Klingon Bird Of Prey
Hot Wheels Battle Damaged Klingon Bird Of Prey

10/10

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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