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A-Team Van and Figures. Playmobil. 2021

Growing up, I was never really a Playmobil fan. I had a couple of the figures and maybe a set of theirs, I was more of a Lego kid. But overall Playmobil were never really on my radar both as a kid or an adult.

However, a few years ago, that all changed. Playmobil started putting out various vehicles, playsets and figures based on popular classic licences. It was a bold and interesting move to be sure. Lego, for example, have delt with established licences for decades now and although they are no stranger to the more focused classic licences, it always felt like they stayed closer to the more popular and current brands: Star Wars, Marvel etc.

For a company like Playmobil, that was very much always known for kid’s toys, to venture into very specifically retro and classic brands, felt like they were taking a gamble by so clearly shifting their focus to the older, grown up collectors’ market. And considering that I am very much in that demographic, it’s a move that suits me fine.

As for the brands themselves, I believe Ghostbusters was there first real go at it (that’s a story for another time), but steadily, they’ve created some really interested pieces from the various classic licences that they’ve acquired. 

THE A-TEAM!

One such piece is the A-Team Van and accompanying figures. This is a really good example of the rather bold change in customer focus. The A-Team, for those that don’t know, was an American action/adventure TV show from the early 80s about a ragtag group of former army misfits who were on the run from a crime that they didn’t commit. Each week, while trying to lay low from the authorities, they’d help some town, or people in need from whatever low life bad guy or gang were terrorising them at the time. It was awesome, I loved it. It started Mr-T, who was massive at the time and my first real hero.

Now, as awesome as that show was, and it’s definitely achieved cult status in some areas, I would hardly call it current. In fact, aside from a reboot movie in 2010, which was awesome by the way despite not setting the box office on fire, the A-Team has been pretty dormant for the better part of 35 years. So, this particular piece from Playmobil has a very specific demographic that they’re aiming up. Again, luckily for me, I’m it!

THE TOY VAN!

So, let’s talk about the toys themselves.

The big show of this release is the van itself. The van was almost treated like a character in the show. For those that know the show, its design is pretty iconic and Playmobil have NAILED it here. Playmobil have beautifully recreated the GMC Vandura van that they used in the show, complete with the black and metallic grey colour scheme and iconic red stripe and spoiler. Everything about the outward look of this piece is 100% on point here, I cannot fault it at all. Like most of the Playmobil sets, it comes with a small amount of assembly and decal applying, but it’s nothing too difficult. It all snaps together pretty easily and the instructions are really clear and straightforward. The decals are a little bit fiddly, but that’s probably more down to me than it is the actual stickers themselves. 

One of the things that I do find odd, and this has been my experience of all of the Playmobil sets that I’ve gotten so far, is that some of the decals are already on the pieces when you take them out of the box and some of them aren’t. That always slightly confuses me. Also, I do feel sometimes that they add a few too many, and slightly pointless decals onto their pieces. For example, the white parts the lights sticking out of the front grill, are stickers. That felt a little unnecessary but maybe that’s just me. Overall, though, as stated, the assembly of the piece is pretty easy.

Once everything’s all together, you get a sense of it. The back doors open to show the internal mobile command centre of the A-Team, that also has the back passenger seats as well as a good number of little accessories that go it in (more on that in a bit). Similarly, the back section has a sliding door on the right side of the van, that opens outwards, although, this doesn’t not open very wide and I feel like this is more decorative than it is functional. I am into it, but it does have a tendency to pop off if you pull it a little too hard, however, it’s easily to reattach. These two opening entrances, however, are not the only, nor are they even the main ways into the back section of the van. 

The roof itself is removable and gives you far better access to the back section so you can easily place the figures inside. You can also get a much better look at the back section as well and see all the fantastic detail that’s gone into it. It’s really great and can even serve as a way to display it if you want to. This part, in particular, really reminds me of the A-Team van that Galoob released back in the 80s when the show was on. That version too had a similar removable roof and was also a similar size to Playmobil’s version. The Galoob version though is very, very rare and is usually very expensive when it does appear on the secondary market.  

(Photo from www.lulu-berlu.com)

Once the roof is off, you can then easily remove the front of the drivers cab to access the two seats in the front and place your figures into said seats and have them appear to be driving. Once again, a good amount of detail has gone into the sculpt of the driver’s cab, although, there looks like there are spaces for decals of the various dials behind the steering well, but there were none. A little odd when you consider what they DID make decals of. The figures fit neatly into the driver and front passenger seat and stay seated quite nicely, unlike the back section seats where they slide all over the place. The feet of which ever figure you want to drive, fit neatly under the steering wheel. Again, this is a wonderful testament to the clear mission statement of Playmobil with their recent licenced pieces, that they really care about providing incredibly detailed products that respect the brand that they are emulating. Once you have your figures where you want them, the various removable sections easily pop back into the place and once again, you have a whole looking A-Team van and it’s out of this world brilliant.

This brings me to the accessories and, really, my only real downside of the piece. I say downside, it’s more of me probably being a bit nitpicky. The accessories are cool but there are WAY TOO MANY OF THEM…for me anyway. It comes with a toolbox, but SO.MANY.TOOLS. They don’t all fit in and there’s no cool compartment in the van itself to put them in. So you just sort of throw them in there, but then they rattle around. Or you put them somewhere like an accessories box where they may get lost or whatever and it all just feels really unnecessary. It also comes with an air canister that sort of fits behind one of the seats. There also various small bits that clip to the inner wall in the back section, like various sticks of dynamite, walkie talkies etc. That’s pretty cool. By far, the most out there and probably the deepest cuts when it comes to possible easter eggs pretending to be accessories is the milk cartons. In the TV show, Mr T’s character, B.A (Bad Attitude) Baracus, was famously afraid of flying. Each week the show writers would think up more elaborate ways of the rest of the team knocking B.A out so they could get him on a plane. One such way was spinking some milk. Of course, I am only assuming that this is what these particular milk cartons are referencing but seeing as they came with their OWN decals that needed applying, I felt they were pretty important.

THE FIGURES

The set comes with four figures representing the four members of the A-Team.

B.A Baracus (Mr-T), Hannibal Smith (George Peppard), Face (Dirk Benedict) and ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock (Dwight Schultz).

The figures are clearly Playmobil in style, yet they perfectly capture the look of the characters from the show. B.A sports Mr-T’s trademark mohawk and gold jewellery, Murdock comes with a sock puppet accessory for his hand and Face and Hannibal just look perfect in their get ups. Playmobil really did a beautiful job with these figures.

VERDICT:

This is a wonderful piece, and an absolute must have for any fan of the A-Team. I was very lucky to get this as a birthday present from my wonderful wife. I absolutely love that Playmobil took the chance and made this. I have no idea how well this has sold but I have one and it’s brilliant.

Score: 9/10

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USS Enterprise. Playmates. 1994

Playmates USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Released in 1994.  

So, there I was at the MCM Comic Con in London this past May. My first Comic Con since before the pandemic and I was wandering around looking at all the wonderful stalls, booths and tables and thinking to myself that I wanted to treat myself to something cool. I wasn’t sure what the cool thing would be but then I came across a stall selling a whole range of classic toys and I saw it...

It’s like the universe knew exactly what I wanted without me even knowing and gave it to me. My wife would say that it was a great example of the ‘universe having my back’ and you know what? She would not be wrong (my wife rarely is). Before me was the Playmates USS Enterprise from the original series. A toy that I have wanted for multiple decades but never quite been able to get it. This version of the Enterprise is pretty hard to come by in the UK and when it does pop up, it’s usually pretty pricey.  Still, I had to have it and with a little negotiating with the lovely people behind the stall, I walked away with my prize. 

So, what about the toy itself?

Well...

1994 was a big year for the Star Trek Playmates line. It saw the release of numerous TNG figures, playsets and ships as well as the infamous ‘Generations’ line that accompanied the seventh Star Trek movie of the same name. It also saw the release of more figures and items related to the Original Series (TOS), including the TOS phaser and tricorder. 1994 also saw Playmates release its version of Star Trek the Original Series’ titular ship, the USS Enterprise, bringing us the famous Constitution Class starship, as designed by the great Matt Jefferies, in all of its warping glory. By this point in the line, it was clear that Playmates had started to shift its focus from Highstreet shops to the collector market and bringing the classic starship to the line was a very smart move and one that went down quite well with collectors.

The Ship.

The ship itself is fairly basic, mirroring Playmates’ earlier release of the Enterprise-D from TNG. It has four sounds, Phaser, Photon torpedo, warp drive and classic bridge interior sounds, all activated via buttons located on at the back of the saucer section. The front of the warp nacelles (known in universe as the bussard collectors) light up when the sound buttons are pushed. Unlike the Enterprise-D though, this Enterprise comes with its own stand, complete with a Starfleet delta base, that allows for better display. For light and sound functions, that’s pretty much it but that doesn’t mean it’s a boring toy, not by a long shot. Like their Enterprise-D, Playmates put a lot of work into recreating the look of original 1701. I do find the use of dark grey on some of the trimmings to be a bit odd, such as the strip where the buttons are located and the detail on the inside of the warp nacelles. Odd but not jarring. Over all, the entire thing is a pretty faithful recreation of one of science fictions most famous and iconic ships.  

The Packaging.

The box that the ship comes in is in keeping with the high standards to be expected from the line at that time. It’s got all the usual safety warnings and info that most toys of this type would have. It has the classic Star Trek logo and font as well. The front sports a cool artist rendition of the ship itself, flying through space, firing phasers with a classic Klingon D7 battlecruiser bearing down on it. There’s a hole in the middle with a “press here” sign, for testing the sounds while the toy is still on the self, a classic feature. There’s also a small example photo of the toy inside. Artwork aside, this is all pretty standard. The stand out thing for me about the box is the weird error that is on both the artwork as well as the photo of the example toy. Both sport the wrong starship registry on the nacelles. In both images, instead of the correct ‘NCC-1701’, it just says ‘1701-D’, which refers to the TNG Enterprise, not THIS Enterprise. This is an incredibly geeky thing to care about as it would probably go unnoticed to general public, especially as the error isn’t actually on the toy that you get inside. But to a big Star Trek fan, it’s quite the astonishing error, especially when you consider how much effort that Playmates put in, at the time, to make this stuff as accurate as possible. It’s not a criticism, just really bizarre.  

Assembly

Once out of the box, it’s just a case of clipping in the nacelle pylons into the secondary hull, applying the supplied decals, clipping the stand to the case and then putting the ship on the stand. It’s all very straight forward. 3 AAA batteries were original included but luckily the previous owners of my ship removed them to prevent corrosion from old leaky batteries.  

Summary

I have to say that I really love this toy. It may be simple but it’s a beautiful recreation and a perfect example of everything that was awesome about the Playmates Star Trek line from the 90s. It’s a functioning toy that not only is fun but looks like it could’ve warped off the screen from the show itself.  I’ve wanted it for a long time and when I saw it on a self, at a toy stall at comic con, I just had to have it. I got it for a really good price and it was all complete inside its box, all be it already opened and previously displayed.  

I highly recommend this toy for any Star Trek fan, especially those who collect the Star Trek Playmates line from the 90s like I do.  

Rating: 10/10

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Batman Movie Figure #1. ToyBiz. 1989

In this feature, I’ll be taking a look back at the Batman figures based on the movies they featured in. I’ll only be looking at the “standard” Batman figure that depicts the Dark Knight’s look from the film, or the one that’s closest to it.

We start at the beginning. 

ToyBiz’s venture into making figures for DC characters was very short and if you could call it memorable then most of those memories would be the bad kind, but that’s an article for a whole other day. However, for a bad toy line, it actually started out pretty promising with figures for Tim Burton’s 1989 classic, Batman.

The figure itself looks pretty damn cool.

ToyBiz decided to go with a 5-inch sized figure for their new Batman line.

A wise decision as Kenner had had great success with their widely celebrated 5-inch Super Powers line for a number of years. So with ToyBiz sticking to this size it made this figure compatible with any of the previously released Batman accessories and vehicles.

For the body sculpt, ToyBiz wanted to try and replicate the look of the film’s Batsuit as much as they could. So for the body, the sculpt uses a plated affect to give the impression of body armour, just as the Keaton batsuit did in the movie. We’ve got 10 points of articulation, which is pretty good, but we also see the exposed joint on the knees, a staple of the ToyBiz/DC line. The main feature of this figure is of course the belt. Batman’s utility belt doubles as a grabble hook. You pull it out, attach it to something and the cord mechanism in the figure pulls the figure up. Now that is DAMN COOL! 

For the cape, ToyBiz went with cloth and removeable, again clearly taken from the previous Kenner line. It works though, I’m a huge fan of cloth capes. Easy to lose though, so getting a loose version of this figure on the secondary market, complete with cape, can be a bit of a challenge. However, there a plenty of folk out there producing repro capes. The feet are flat and without peg holes in them. The figure stands pretty well on its own, but I’ll be honest, I’ve never understood why some toy companies release figures without peg holes in the feet, even if that figure doesn’t come with its own stand. Like the exposed knee joint, the lack of peg holes on the feet are also a staple of ToyBiz’s DC line and an easy way to tell if a figure is ToyBiz or Kenner.

For the head, there is where things get a little interesting. There are actually three different versions. The first is this one that I have here, dubbed “Roundhead” or “Roundhead Keaton.” It’s called this due to the, well, round head and the passable likeness to Michael Keaton. The others out there are “Big lips Keaton” and “Square Head.” The latter has no real Keaton likeness at all. I can only guess that this head was prepared in case something went wrong with regards to getting approval for Keaton’s likeness. The Joker figure from this line looks nothing like Jack Nicholson at all and there are stories that he refused to approve the likeness for the ToyBiz figure forcing them to go with a generic look.

I loved this figure as a kid. It was the first toy that I remember seeing in a catalogue and just really, really wanting. I even remember having a dream about it, that’s how badly I wanted it. When I did get the figure, it did not disappoint. It’s a solid figure and although ToyBiz’s DC line took a drastic nose drive after the release of the first wave, It’ll always have a special place in my heart. I know that the later Kenner version was in many ways the superior toy but there is just something about the ToyBiz Batman that I just love. The cool cape, the grabble hook/belt and the over all look of it just made for an outstanding Batman figure.

SCORE: 8/10

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Custom Figure: “Mail Away Sisko.” Playmates. 1995.

I’ve been making custom Star Trek Playmates figures for a little while now. Mainly because with some hot water and some part swapping, you can create some pretty cool figures. My latest is one that I’ve wanted to create for a long time, or in this case, recreate. You see normally I create figures that Playmates never actually made, but this time, I’m recreating one that they did. 

The 1995 “Mail Away Sisko”

A bit of backstory. In 1995, Nintendo released the computer game, Star Trek  Deep Space Nine: Crossroads onto the Super Nintendo. To draw people in, there was a special offer that if you bought the game, you could then mail away for the limited edition Commander Ben Sisko figure, depicting him the TNG duty uniform, a look that he sported in the pilot of DS9, Emissary. However, the game itself was not popular that from what I can tell, not many of the figures actually exist. Due to this, the figures have become extremely rare and collectable fetching a high price in the secondary market. I mean we’re talking hundreds of £/$. 

(The above image is the genuine article. Photo from TrekToy.com.)

Of course, I’m never going to pay that much money for a figure, so I decided to make my own. 

I started by buying two figures. The figure of Q in the Starfleet duty uniform and then the figure of Ben Sisko in the dress uniform. Annoying, I only started taking photos after I’d already started creating the figure. 

Creating the Custom

First thing I do, is fill a cup with boiling water and place both figures in. They need to be pretty submerged so that the water gets to all the body parts that I’ll need. 

I leave them in for between 3 and 5 mins. Then, with a towel, I remove them from the water and begin to start pulling a part the figures. Now, to make the desired figure, I need to remove the arms and heads of both.

Removing the arms was pretty straight forward. The arms are always the easiest part to remove. The arms are made of a slightly softer plastic then the rest of the body, so they usually just pop on out. The heads though, they weren’t so easy. Some figures, the heads will just pop out as well, but not these two. I had to refill the water several times to keep the heat, however, it still wasn’t enough. 

As I didn’t need to keep the body of the dress uniform figure, I had to end up cracking it open. Unlike the other figures, the dress uniforms are the base of the entire figure, crack that and all the parts just come out, including the heads. But Q’s head was still not budging. To protect the body of the Q figure, as that’s the main part that I need, I had to use pliers to pull the head off, basically ruining the Q head, but that’s ok, I don’t need it. Then all the parts I need go back into the hot water so soften up again. The Sisko arms proved a little hard to pop back into the Q body, but they went in eventually. I needed to trim the base of the Sisko head with some cutters, so that it’s easier to screw it back into the neck hole of the Q figure. After a couple of goes, it pops back in and... 

FINISHED! 

VERDICT

I think that it’s turned out pretty well. Is it perfect? No, but I’m really happy with it. There was some scuffing on the back of the neck of the uniform, but a little filling in with a Sharpy sorted that right out. I also used the let over body parts to make a Q figure in the dress uniform. And there you go, for the cost of two pretty common to find figures, I’ve got myself a really good custom of the Mail Away Sisko. It fits right in with the rest of my TNG/DS9 figures in the duty uniform and I’ve saved myself A LOT of money.

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Figure Focus #1: Dr Crusher. Playmates. European Edition.

Dr Beverly Crusher, depicted in the Star Trek Generations/DS9/Voyager jumpsuit (which she never actually wore onscreen). Two versions were released. This is the “European Edition” which is the rarer of the two. Only 1000 were produced. One of the prizes of my collection.

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Real Ghostbusters: Firehouse. Kenner. 1987

I’m just going to say it: Kenner’s Real Ghostbusters toy line is one of the greatest toy lines’ to ever hit shops. Ever. The End.

I would not be the person I am today without these toys, along with Star Trek from Playmates and Batman. Any Batman.

Let’s cast our minds back to the mid 1980’s! Ghostbusters was everywhere. We’d had the first movie at the tail end of ’84 and then the animated series in ’86. And what does a good cartoon need? A toy line! In fact, the vast majority of cartoon’s in the ‘80’s (and today if we’re being honest) were really just over the top toy adverts and really, Ghostbusters was no different. So toys were needed fast. In steps titan toymaker, Kenner. 

Kenner had an incredible track record at the time having created the DC Superpowers line and oh yeah, STAR WARS! So, to say that Kenner in the ’80’s was on a roll would be a huge understatement.

As I said, the Real Ghostbusters toy line from Kenner was massively responsible for shaping my childhood. It was a vast toy line with a massive assortment of figures and vehicles (all of which I will look at in the future), but it only had one proper play set: 

The Firehouse

To me, Kenner’s Firehouse is one of THE greatest play sets ever made. When you really look at it, it’s a pretty simple toy. It’s a building. More basic than that, it’s just a big hollow box with two whole levels, 1 balcony level and a pretty cool fireman’s pole (more on that later). 

But, to me, that hollowness is one of this play sets greatest assets. As a kid, you filled that space with your imagination. It may sound corny, but it’s absolutely true. To me, the mark of a truly good play set is the ability to use it beyond the brand that it was created for. I cannot tell you of all the different toys that this play set played headquarters to. From the great Transformers/M.A.S.K war that my brother and I would play, to a strange parallel world that my Star Trek away team would discover. Or when He-Man would come over and visit the Ghostbusters just because we could. And they never seemed out of place, because it was a building. But that does not take away from the awesomesness of this piece.

It has the two walls, front and site and then a huge cut away for easy access inside. The vast space inside could easily be taken up by the placement of the Ghostbusters’ car, ECTO-1. Now, I’ve seen this set critized in the past because Kenner didn’t make it long enough to truly house the car, but I don’t agree with that. Sure, if you try to make the car stay inside the building, it’ll either roll out the back or push through the double doors at the front, but I didn’t care as a kid and I sure as hell don’t care now. As a display piece as an adult, I kinda dig the look of Old ECTO bursting through the doors, it looks awesome. The only issue with having the car inside the Firehouse is that it doesn’t leave much room for the figures on that floor. But that’s why you have other levels! 

The upper level, which spands the entire thing, thus being a complete floor. It’s bare but has some figure pegs over the large grate in the middle of the floor (more on that in a bit). It also has the fireman’s pole attached at the top. I LOVE THIS THING. To simulate the famous pole from both the movie and the cartoon, Kenner created this system where you attach a figure onto the red platform, two figures work best for balance but it will work with one, then, on the roof, you flick the switch and that activates the pole! The platform, with figure(s) attached, begins to spin down the thread of the pole at great speed before landing at the ground floor. It’s frigging great! Yeah, ok, it is annoying to have to thread the damn thing up again each time, but I really never really cared as a kid and it never got old. Kenner created a pretty good way recreate the pole from the film/cartoon. Sure Playmobil’s version probably makes more sense, but as a kid, this was rad!

The decals that come with the set adds to it. We’ve got a picture of a scary looking old woman on the upper floor (who actually has her own figure and is totally a scary ghost!). We have some book shelves on the middle level, giving us the idea that this is where Egon and Ray would do their research, and on the bottom level, we have decals of various looking industrial type contraptions that no doubt helps the ‘Busters in their never ending battle against the paranormal! I will say, that this set also comes with a full on ECTO Containment unit that you could put the various small ghosts that come with the Ghostbusters figures. I do have it somewhere, but right now, I’m not sure where! It’s rad though.

On the outside, Kenner have done a marvellous job with the sculpt. It looks just like the Firehouse from both the cartoon and the film. Which is a real Firehouse in New York City, by the way. On the side wall, we have more decals of exposed brick, to give us that “rundown” affect. We also have the windows. So yeah, not much going on here, but pffft.

The front as I said really replicates the design of the real building really well. Then we get one of my favourite little pieces, the Ghostbusters sign! This one is actually a replacement that I was lucky enough to find in eBay for a good price. I lost my original years ago and never thought I’d find another, but I did! Wohooo!

This brings us back to the roof.

Like the upper floor, the room has this large grate that lines up perfectly with the one on the upper floor just below it. Everyone who’s ever played with Ghostbusters toys knows what this is for. That’s right. The SLIME!

Slime has always been popular with kids toys and what better toys to use slime with than frigging Ghostbusters! Kenner’s line came with many vats of slime, in many different colours of the life on the toy line. The idea here was to pour the slime through the roof grate, onto the figures waiting on the upper level, that slime would then oooooze down the upper level grate, covering whatever was on the ground floor. I had many of the vats myself and you know what? I hated them!

Seriously, I know that I am in the minority here, but I hated slime as a kid. Still do. Why in the hell would I want to cover my toys in sticky goo that I would then have to wash off later. Or worse, what if I forgot to?! It would dry into this horrible thing and still leave sticky……NO! I’m not having it! This is not something that I’ve come to as I got older, I’ve very much felt this way since I was a kid. I know other collectors are totally cool with it but honestly, keep that crap away from my toys! (picture is Slime from the 2016 Ghostbusters movie toy line)

VERDICT

So, what’s the verdict here?

Honestly, it’s still epic. I’ve owned this thing for well over 30 years and just having it set up on display in my studio, with the toys and car, brings me so much joy every day. I’m not just reminded of all the Ghostbusters fun that I had, but of all the other various toys that my brother and I used it with to play together. So many great memories, all from what is basically a hollowed out box with a Ghostbusters logo on it. Genius.

You can find the Firehouse on eBay pretty easily, but it’s expensive and the price has really gone up a lot recently. I’d imagine it has something to do with Hasbro’s Real Ghostbusters reproduction figures that have recently come out. I have a Winston, he’s awesome and still mint in box! 

I’d be surprised if Hasbro do a reproduction of the Firehouse, but if they did, it would be hugely expensive!

Toy Score: 10/10

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Star Trek Generations figures. Playmates. 1994

The story of the Playmates Star Trek Generations toy line is a fascinating one, especially for Star Trek fans and/or Toy collectors, for which I am both.

It all starts in 1994, the Next Generation TV show was coming to an end and about to make the jump to the big screen. On the merchandise front, the Playmates’ toy line was riding high with lines for both TNG and DS9. So it seemed like a no brainer that they’d make a toy line for the exciting new Next Generation movie, right?

There was just one tinsy, tiny issue...

Time.

There were only 10 days between the filming ending on the TV show and filming beginning on the movie, ready to meet the November ’94 release date.

This meant the deadline for toys was extremely tight as in most cases, toys needed to hit shops before the movies release for maximum effectiveness. So production had to start as early as possible to meet that deadline, but this brought about its own challenges, one being the new uniforms! For the movie, to help set it a part from the TV show, each Starfleet cast member was to sport the brand new “movie uniforms.” Now, due to the tight deadline and how early into the film’s production that toys needed to be made, the designs for this new costumes that Playmate were given were barely more than design drawings as no real practical costumes had yet been created! This meant brand new body sculpts needed to be made for each character sporting these new fantastic uniforms.

Now, I know some of you are probably thinking; “What new uniforms?! They didn’t wear new uniforms in that movie?!!” And you’d be absolutely right. See, after a day or so of filming, it was decided that the new uniforms just didn’t work as there wasn’t enough time to iron out any issues that new costumes bring. So they were dumped and the cast went on to wear a combination of TNG and DS9 costumes. Strangely enough there’s very little information out there on these unused uniforms, which is madness in the internet age, especially with something as massive as Star Trek. In fact, there is only one known piece of footage from the film, in the form of a deleted scene, that contains the uniforms.

CLICK TO WATCH DELETED SCENE WITH UNIFORM

But that was it, the new costumes were gone. For Playmates though, it was too late, the toys were well and truly into production and were released sporting the brand new yet ultimately unused costumes.

It’s totally mad!

The tight deadline also brought about many time saving decisions to the figures themselves. One being no new head sculpts for the TNG cast, aside from, oddly, Worf. Also, gone were the articulation in the knees, elbows and upper arms. Now, each figure has only 6 points of articulation, instead of the previous 12! The reduction in articulation certainly caused its share of problems. Getting them to sit on Playmates’ TNG bridge set was a pain. I mean, the hip articulation on the Playmates’ line wasn’t the best to begin with, but the Generations line just look like they were doing the splits! Not helpful at all and it’s probably, overall, my biggest gripe with this line.

The hands were also a problem. Like the TNG line, each figure came with an assortment of repurposed accessories. However, the new hands couldn’t really hold anything. Getting them to hold phasers was a bit of a joke, and as each male figure basically had the exact same body, bar legs, it meant fire fights were out. As a kid though, you made it work so I don’t really mark these figures down too much for the hands. The only one that had its own body was, once again, Worf. Weirdly though, no Klingon baldric. Was he going to drop it for this movie? Or is this, once again, a victim of the deadline? Who knows!

However, new body sculpts meant gone were the silly “action” poses from the previous TNG line and no ridiculous ripped costume effect on Riker! As a kid this WAS my Riker, along with Troi and Dr Crusher. I got them for Christmas ‘94 and I loved them. The Generations Riker figure is just far better than the regular one. He’s taller and doesn’t look like he’s been through the wars. I also liked as a kid having Troi in uniform, it just worked better with my other figures.

Of course there were some new additions. We got two Kirk figures (more on that later), a Scotty, a Chekov, the Duras Sisters, Dr Soran, Guinan and, oddly, a Work figure in his holodeck naval outfit. Out of these, I only own the Kirk figures, but from images, it don’t think Playmates did a bad job on the others.  

Kirk, along with Scotty and Chekov, brought us our first figures in the TOS movie uniforms from Playmates and I have to say, they did a grand job. The detail on the body sculpts for these uniforms are top notch. Unfortunately these figures suffered from the same lack of articulation as their TNG counterparts but I’m a bit more forgiving here. Oddly enough, on the box for Captain Kirk, he’s listed as Admiral (Riker was also incorrectly listed as Lieutenant Commander instead of Commander). Clearly a miscommunication issue there. The likeness for William Shatner is good enough and on par with Playmates entire line. Overall, it’s a lovely figure.

This brings me to the other Kirk figure.

Created to reflect the scene in the film that Kirk does that deep dive from the top of Earth’s atmosphere. Don’t remember that bit? Yeah, it got cut from the movie that’s why. It was meant to be the opening scene but was ultimately deemed unnecessary. I’ve included a link to the scene below.

CLICK TO WATCH DELETED SCENE

Playmates, of course, were working from earlier concepts and wouldn’t have been told, certainly not in time. Knowing of the deleted scene, this figure makes sense, as a kid in 1994 however, I was totally confused. I mean it was cool having a Space Kirk, but totally confusing and really didn’t go with the other figures at all.

VERDICT!

So, what’s the verdict for this line? Bizarre and brilliant. It had a good, solid assortment of figures for a line that was hastily put together in a short space of time. It certainly had some good play sets and other pieces but that’s a story for another time. The real thing is, it gives us a fantastic look into the production of toys based on films and how deadlines and changes can have a knock on effect. I’ve always been a big fan of “almosts” and “never was” when it comes to TV & Film and this line is a wonderful insight into the look of Star Trek that never was. Would these uniforms have been rolled out onto the upcoming Voyager series? Or even DS9? Or would it have just been limited to TNG movies? Truth is, I’m glad they were ditched. On the figures, they look cool, but from the limited images of the real ones that I have seen, they weren’t a step up from the TV show uniforms. Of course a new uniform was eventually introduced in the next Star Trek movie: First Contact and the rest was history. For the Generations figures, I like to think of them as some bizarre parallel universe TNG crew that Worf may have visited in the season 7 episode, Parallels. I love having them in my collection. The figures and the movie connect to a particularly difficult time in my childhood when I really needed them and because of that both will always have a special place in my heart.

Toy line Score: 8/10

Highlights: the TOS movie uniform Kirk, Riker and the uniforms themselves.

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Batman 1966 TV Show. Figures and Batmobile. Funko. 2017

Ok, so, full disclosure.

This will not be the last blog post about Batman or Batmobile’s. Not by a long shot. To say that I have a lot of Batman toys is like saying that we English kind of like football, so believe me, this is just the first of many.

Back in 2017, Funko, known for their vast array of vinyl Pop figures, begun releasing their line of toys based upon the iconic 1966 Batman TV show, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Anyone who has seen the documentary, Making Fun: The Story of Funko, would not be surprised by this move. Funko CEO, Brian Mariotti, has multiple life sized versions of the Adam West/Batman figure in his office! So, it’s safe to say that this version of the Bat is pretty sacred at the company and it shows.

The line is mainly made up of a variety of 3.75 inch figures depicting the various characters from the show. From the Dynamic duo themselves, to Batgirl, Catwoman and so on. The real giant notable exceptions are the Riddler and the clown price of crime himself, the Joker. Could be to do with likeness rights? I don’t know, but their absence is certainly hard to ignore. Rumour has it that they are to appear in the next wave of figures, but those rumours have been about for a couple of years now.

The figures I have here are of the Dynamic Duo themselves, Batman and Robin.

The 3.75 scale is a classic choice. It echo’s Kenner’s Star Wars line but it also really works well. These figures each have 9 points of articulation and are pretty solid. The likeness of the sculpts for both figures are pretty good too. I often give figures of this size a lot of leeway on likeness, especially if the goal of the figure is to create something a kid would play with. Let’s be honest, as kids, we don’t massively care if the figures aren’t photo realistic to the actor that plays the character, as long as we can see enough of them, we’re cool with it. These two figures come part of a set and as such don’t come with any accessories, however, if you buy Batman separately on his own, he does come with a Bat-radio. Robin, on the other hand, you cannot buy separately.

One major drawback, for me personally, are the capes. They’ve gone for moulded soft plastic and although it does have a lot of give it in, it’s never going to match up to the awesomeness of a good fabric cape. That’s just my opinion, but I’m sticking to it. Overall though, I’d say these figures are pretty darn good and a lot of fun.

Note: There is an awesome Variant Batman figure from this line that depicts Batman in the costume Adam West wore for the screen tests, it’s pretty cool and rare!

Of course, no Batman is complete without his iconic mode of transport and to many, this is the most iconic version of all.

The 1966 Batmoblie.

The Funko Batmobile comes complete with two figures, Batman and Robin. As I stated earlier, you can only get Robin as part of a set and this is that set. 

I have to say, I LOVE this Batmobile, it’s freaking amazing, but is it perfect? No, but it’s still pretty darn rad. They’ve taken some liberties with the size. The backend for example is a fair bit shorter than the actual ’66 Batmobile, but I don’t take points off for that because it’s clear that choice was made for the practicality of the toy. The detail is pretty cool too, from the steering wheel, to the Batphone inside the cockpit. It’s clear that a lot of love and care has gone into recreating this piece. It certainly feels like it balances on the line between show piece and actual practical kids too. It’s clear the goal was to great the toy that they all wished was out while the show was on air and I love that.

I do have a couple of issues with it though.

Firstly, the doors don’t open. That just sort of annoys me. I’m not a toymaker, I get that but I don’t really think it would’ve been too much of a stretch for them to make the doors open. Getting the figures into the seats with their soft plastic capes isn’t the easiest and being able to open the doors would’ve helped…a lot. Which leads me onto my second issue. Without the doors opening, this car is essentially one big piece of moulded painted plastic. It’s beautiful yes, but that’s it. It doesn’t fire anything; it doesn’t have any cool fire effect coming out of the afterburner. As a toy of the Batmobile, it’s pretty limited in what it can do. Taking that into consideration, the price feels a little bit overpriced, even for what I paid for it, which was about £30, which is a freaking steal compared to what it goes for now online. Now, of course, I get that this is a pretty rare desirable piece, which comes with an exclusive Robin figure, which then brings a higher price tag, but still, for what it is, I don’t think it justifies that price tag. To me, it’s pretty clear that’s why they linked Robin to the car.

And I’m just talking about the standard version, there are others. Go online and you’ll find the even more limited and expensive versions that come in different colours to reflect the Japanese craze with the show. Those versions though, only come with a variant Batman. No Robin.

Overall, I do love this line and I do love this Batmobile. It’s impossible to love Batman and not get excited at this toy line, even if the ’66 show isn’t your personal favourite version of the character. If the goal of this line was to honour the legacy of the ’66 TV show, then mission well and truly accomplished. Don’t take my issues with it as a sign that I don’t appreciate the work that’s gone into it. I’m glad that I have it in my collection, but I am also glad that I paid what I did for it, because I would not pay the going rate for it now. You can still get pretty much all of this line online pretty easily, bit it a various prices.

Toy line Score: 7.5/10

Highlight: The Batman and Robin figures IN the Batmobile.  

After note: It’s worth noting that because the Batmobile has been designed to carry 3.75 inch figures, it gives us the opportunity for, shall we say, crossovers.

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Captain Scarlet. Figures and SPV. Vivid Imagination. 1993.

Back in the early 90’s, Gerry Anderson TV shows got a second life. Thunderbirds, Stingray, Joe 90, they all got a new lease on life, but the stand out one for me, by far, was Captain Scarlet.

Now, to say that I liked Captain Scarlet would be an understatement. I’m still a huge fan of Captain Scarlet, so my review here maybe a little bias, but we’re all cool with that, right?

Once Anderson-mania, took hold back in the early 90s, so too did the merchandise. When it came time for Captain Scarlet in 1993, Vivid Imagination stepped in to produce toys based on the show and boy did they deliver. The produced an array of figures based on various characters from the show, all at that popular 3.75 inch size and each containing 9 points of articulation. These included two of the Angels and 2 versions of Captain Black. The figures themselves were pretty basic, for all of the male Spectrum figures, Vivid just used the same body just repainted to match the colour of the particular character. This isn’t really surprising; each character wore the same uniform so this move made a lot of sense. The heads were a slightly different story, some were harder to tell apart, but for a kid, you didn’t need vastly unique looking figures, once you saw the colours that was it. I had these figures from when I was a kid and I loved them and still do today. A couple of gripes though. 1) The figures cannot really stand on their own and they lack any holes on the feet to place figure stands, so sitting really is the only way they can support themselves. 2) The ‘Spectrum’ logos are all tiny stickers that completely come off over and time and with play. Easily lost, it’s not easy to find a loose figure online with all of these stickers still attached. They also leave that horrible sticky residue that stickers can leave. Other than that these are solid figures.

The main thing I want to look at and, for me, one of the crown jewels of Vivids Captain Scarlet line, is the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle or the SPV. I’ll say it now; I am a HUGE fan of fairly screen arcuate playsets and vehicles that can house the figures. You get me talking about a Batmobile and I can go for hours. Vivid’s SPV is just plain awesome. Now I had no idea this even existed as a kid, much to my parent’s happiness I’m sure, but as soon as I learned of it as an adult, I went out a found one. As you’ll be able to see from the photos, my SPV is not in the best of condition. The decal stickers are browning and peeling, there’s some oily gunck in the lever at the top and the rear wheels are missing, but I couldn’t care less, I love this thing and I think that goes to show the level of awesomeness in this toy. 

They pushed up the height of the design so that it could properly house the figures, that’s understandable. A completely screen accurate SPV that could hold these size figures would’ve been huge and not very cost affective. Other than that, it’s pretty darn spot on. When you push the lever at the top, you can pop open the doors on either side. You can then slot in the figures into the chairs and use the restrains to keep them in place. This can be a little tricky if, like me, you have big fingers. But as this wasn’t made for big fingers, it doesn’t lose points for that. Just as with the SPV on the show, the chairs are facing backwards. LOVE IT. But for added fun, there are two more seats located at the back. You just open the door on the roof and again, slide the figures in. This is not like the show, but I really don’t care, I get to put more of my figures in and that’s rad! There also is a spring-loaded missile launcher at the front that you can activate by pushing the button to the side of it, but mine was missing that and I’m not personally a huge fan of firing missiles on my toys, never was even as a kid. They’re too easy to lose.

If you’re a Captain Scarlet fan, I cannot recommend this toy line enough. They were made with care and were great for play as a kid and wonderful for display as an adult. You can pick up the figures in various conditions easily enough on eBay or Esty. The SPV, less so but there are some out there. I should also mention that there was an epic Angel plane made as well, but again, expense and space play a part in mine decision to get one right now, but it is on the list. Was always a fan of the Angel’s design.

Toy line Score: 9/10

Highlight: the SPV, it’s INCREDIBLE.

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Star Trek the Next Generation. Galoob. 1988.

The first toy line produced for Star Trek the Next Generation was the 3.75 action figure line by Galoob and they were released during TNG’s first season. There were two ‘Waves’ of figures. The first contained nearly all of the main cast. Omitted were Dr Crusher, Counsellor Troi and Wesley Crusher. There was a Wesley Crusher prototype created for wave 2 but never mass produced as the line was axed not long after wave 2 figures were starting to be released. Wave 2 was made up of various aliens that had appeared on the show at the time, Q, in full ‘judge’ outfit from the pilot, being one of them.

I really dig this figures a lot. The size was clearly chosen after the success of Kenner’s Star Wars line and I think they work well. Not a huge fan of the moulded into the hand phasers though but other than that, these figures were a pretty good first go. Unlike the later Playmates line, the Galoob figures went for mostly accurate anatomy and the variations in sizes helped with the realism. Worf and Riker tower over Picard and La Forge, just as the actors did in real life. 

There’s a whole thing about the multiple versions of Data that were released. Apparently there was some dissatisfaction about the paint finish and I believe there were 4 different versions created. I have the ‘pale face’ version. As shown, these figures generally came with a tricorder accessory. 

Denise Crosby’s Tasha Yar was the only female character created in the line. I’ll be honest, the sculpt of her body isn’t that great, but hey, they tried?? It’s completely ridiculous to me that they didn’t make nor did they seem to plan to make figures of Dr Crusher and Troi. It smacks of that age old “boys don’t buy female characters” crap that companies have been pushing for years. But as well all know, this is totally illogical (yup, I went there) as Star Trek isn’t just for boys. Anyway, I am glad we at least got a Yar figure despite her traumatic demise in season 1. 

A true highlight for me from this line is the Will Riker figure. For me, it’s probably the best Riker figure ever produced. As I said earlier, this line went for a more accurate anatomy but also, the likeness to actor Jonathan Frakes just works. It shows his clean shaven look, accurate for TNG season 1 and over all it’s just a solid figure. My one and only gripe with it is, unlike every other figure, the Riker figure lacks holes in the bottoms of the feet to allow for figure stands, but actually, the figure stands pretty well on its own. 

If you’re a Star Trek fan and a figure collector, I highly recommend seeking out this line. They’re not that expensive and can be found on eBay pretty easily. I’m glad that I did. 

Toy line Score: 8/10

Highlight: Will Riker figure.