Bashing in Minds » toys

At last! New Star Trek toys to bash

cabridges — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:40:29 +0000

Courtesy Playmates Toys

New Star Trek movie? New Star Trek toys. It's a fact of life, a universal constant, a law of brightly-colored, polypropylene nature.

"Thou shalt exalt every franchise movie, yea, unto the seventh generation, with a full line of toys, dishware, tie-in novels, comics, and commemorative plates, all of them limited-edition-collectible-first-run-mint artifacts to be treasured from a distance behind velvet ropes and saved for future generations to also not touch."

That's the way it's been for toys from Star Trek, Star Wars, and superheroes of all stripes for years now. Ever since some enterprising geek sold his pristine childhood memory for more than the one with chew marks and its head missing, new toys have been carefully removed from the peghooks at Walmart and Toys-R-Us and lovingly transported to their new and permanent home in a storage locker while the new owner enjoys the smug satisfaction of knowing it's there, somewhere.

I've never been a good collector. I open my stuff. I sort of always thought that was the point. When I was a kid if someone told me my toys were collectible I'd have thought they meant finding all the pieces again. Back in the 70s I asked for and received the original line of Star Trek dolls from Mego ($2.87 each, any two for $5.50), complete with vinyl-and-cardboard Bridge set ($12.97, with working transporter!). And I can guarantee that the crew of the Enterprise never had a more harrowing mission than the ones they experienced daily in my backyard.

They fought. They were buried. They were miraculously saved, when I remembered. They swam. They swung. They flew, often into really hard objects (or surprisingly breakable ones). At least once every other day or so I had to haul out the ladder and make the nerve-wracking trip up to the roof to rescue a hapless landing party member who had landed a bit farther away than I intended. My Star Trek dolls totally whupped my friend David's squadron of G.I. Joes, which, I'm sorry to say, suffered terrible, lighter-fluid-induced losses.

My other Star Trek toys faired similarly. My plastic tricorder lasted about a month. My "Phaser Gun" — an unwieldy phaser-shaped flashlight the size of a hair dryer that projected shadows of the Enterprise, a Klingon ship, and, oddly, a traditional flying saucer — was far too large to tuck into my belt so it suffered a great deal of knocking around before ultimately being dismantled and rewired into a torture device for superhero dolls to narrowly escape from, sometimes. My communicator… I don't know what happened to it. I suspect arson.

Years later while visiting, I climbed up on my mom's roof to get something down for her and found my 20-year-old Spock doll. Shirtless, chest bleached a kind-of-cool pearly white, he seemed to be reproaching me for my actions. "It is illogical to mistreat your possessions in this manner," he seemed to say. "Weren't you aware you could have gotten $90 for me on eBay?"

Thing is, it's that very rambunctious activity that made the toys valuable in the first place. A virgin Kirk, in his box, is worth what its worth precisely because kids like me had been busy recreating Viking funerals in the Halifax River with ours. Tearing and trashing and bashing, we unknowingly created a market.

It was in the 80s, early 90s that action-figure collecting really took off. "People started paying a lot more attention to the condition of their packaging," said Gareb Shamus, publisher of Toy Wishes Magazine. "Which is why nearly all of the most valuable toys are from before then – people used to take them out and play with them, so there are far fewer in-package copies in existence."

You're welcome.

And even though every single character — and variation of a character — in the universes of Star Trek, Star Wars, DC Comics, Marvel Comics and more have received their own action figure, it ain't over yet. "Many smaller companies have emerged over the last decade and at the same time you've seen the major companies having a renewed focus on collectors," Shamus said. "We're going into a very exciting period of time where Mattel will be launching a new WWE line and Hasbro will have a big year with hits like Transformers, GI Joe, Star Wars and Wolverine (along with the entire Marvel franchise)."

Which brings us to the new Star Trek toys coming from Playmates Toys in advance of the new J.J. Abrams-directed film opening May 8. But, get this: the manufacturers actually want kids to play with them. They're priced to sell, not to collect, and are durable enough for some serious boldly-going. Action figures in a variety of sizes. Phasers, tricorders and communicators, $15 a pop, ready for your abuse. Bridge set with vinyl placemat deck, $25 bucks. The idea seems to be that Star Trek fans are getting a bit on in years, and it might be a good idea to appeal to the next generation, as it were.

Will it work? "This will definitely catch on with kids," Shamus said. "As kids are introduced to the Star Trek franchise for the first time, they'll want to immerse themselves in the action, which means ripping open the Bridge and putting Kirk in charge of the Enterprise."

I'm so there. And I look forward to personally increasing the value of every one of your collectible, untouched, mint-in-the-box versions.

You're welcome.

Eerily accurate custom Mal doll on eBay

cabridges — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:20:06 +0000

Much as I love the official stuff, there's no denying that some of the best Serenity merchandise comes from the fans (one reason why QMx keeps hiring them). A perfect example is this custom sculpted 12" Mal figure.

It started life with a Sideshow body — I'm guessing not a Buffy one — and includes "a real suede Brown coat, leather boots, belt, and holster, and Mal’s unique sidearm." And frankly it looks better than any of the official Mals yet, although I do have an affectionate preference for my Firefly Barbie Mal.

I don't know anything at all about this seller, so bid with the usual eBay caution. But damn.

Serenity PVC set from Dark Horse on sale now

cabridges — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 23:01:07 +0000

Guess what's out…

The Serenity PVC Set from Dark Horse Deluxe, featuring River, Mal, and Jayne, is out on the shelves now. And you know what? They look pretty good.

Gentle Giant Studios did the sculpts and I think they're better than the action figures or the statues, which is pretty good for an $18 set. The detail and shading on the clothes and weapons is excellent, the poses are perfect, and instead of the weird blue/black bases in the promo pictures they come on little Serenity logo discs.

River is in her Buffy pose adn she manages to look tiny and vulnerable while still being extremely bad ass. She's 3 1/2" tall, complete with Reaver sword and axe, and while I couldn't quite capture it with my crappy camera her profile looks dead on.

Our captain is in a relaxed-but-ready gunfighter slouch that just screams "Mal." You know, looking at this 4" figure, that he's about to infuriate someone. The color effects on his clothing are amazing and the gun is good, even if the grip is about twice as long as it should be. Best of all, it has his eyebrows, his nose, and most definitely his smirk.

My only real complaint is that Jayne isn't carrying Vera. I think it would have helped if they had chosen a less generic facial expression for him — maybe a happy sneer? — but he looks menacing and calm and seems to be in some sort of combat-ready spin. He's also armed out the wazoo with a knife, two guns, and a rifle.

The box includes a nicely designed background that could serve as a little panorama display. And I think I sold three of them today…

While I have one on order from TFAW.com I also stopped by Acme Comics in Longwood — my son needed gaming dice, I'm so proud to see the next geeky generation coming along — and I couldn't help buying a set while I was there anyway. While I was looking around I overheard two women talking about possible upcoming Serenity comics. I butted in and told them about the next series, showed them the PVC set, told them where the rest were, and when I left they were exclaiming over the ornaments. I can't help it, I was born to pimp. The lady at the counter told me they had ordered 30 of the variant ornaments and they were almost sold out, and this makes me happy.

The PVC sets are available at TFAW.com and from your local comic store, and for the price you really can't go wrong. And I want these to sell very, very well because I want to see the other 6 crewmembers, so hop to it.

Doll-sized Big… um, Small Damn Weapons

cabridges — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:53:44 +0000

I've mentioned Stevo's Toys (formerly The Toy Smith) here before, but he's been adding more stuff. If you're making your own set of Firefly dolls or if you just want Ken and Barbie to have some protection against those shady Bratz girls, you definitely need to stop by.

Stevo designs sci-fi and movie-inspired weapons and accessories in 1:6 scale, perfect for 12" figures. First up, Mal's gun.

It's got the familiar outline and, being made of pewter, it's got some heft. Way better than G.I. Joe's plastic stuff. It's sold separately or as a set with the custom holster rig.

We wouldn't want Zoe going around unarmed, so her modified Winchester Carbine is ready to go. Again, it's available separately or with her very distinctive holster rig with that unique leather coloring.

So far, Jayne's just got a knife. But it's a really nice one, complete with tooled leather sheath. I can only hope that Vera is on her way…

As someone who has been working on a set of Firefly Barbies for some time — or rather, watching in amazement as my wife creates them — I have to say these are easily the finest replica weapons I've seen. We had to make do with close-enough versions from other toy dealers, but I'm thinking we'll be upgrading.

Stevo also had a wide range of other items including Dirty Harry's .357 magnum, pirate gear, a wide range of classic and modern weaponry, even a selection of felt hats. Check it out!

New Serenity PVC figures from Dark Horse

cabridges — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 23:38:37 +0000

New stuff from Dark Horse! New PVC figures of Mal, River and Jayne are now available for preorder from Things From Another World at 20% off the retail price.

The master sculptors at Gentle Giant Studios have taken full-size 3-D digital scans of the main actors from Joss Wheden's blockbuster film Serenity and created a fabulous, realistically detailed PVC set of the favorite three crew members. This process has allowed us to achieve an unprecedented level of accurate detail, both in terms of the distinctive likenesses and the accessories and costumes. Since you can't get these actors to come visit you at home and sit on your bookshelf or computer, this is probably the next best thing!

More licensed stuff! I'm pleased. I must have some more shelf space around here somewhere…

Jayne is 4" tall, Mal is 3.9" tall, and River is 3.45" tall. Shipping May 16, 2007 (I hope).

Dr. Laura now in easy, microwavable size

cabridges — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 12:34:31 +0000

How many times have you said to yourself, "Boy, I wish I could pick up Dr. Laura Schlessinger and throw her into an open flame"?

Well now you can, with this 11" Dr. Laura action doll! Dressed in a smart yellow pantsuit and equipped with 23 different phrases such as "proud mother of an American soldier," "Now, go do the right thing," "Argue with me, it makes me testy," and more. Not all the phrases are listed, but I assume "Do what I say, not what I did," "If you're gay or a lesbian, it's a biological error," and "What do you mean my TV show was cancelled?" are in there as well.

Display her proudly on your child's nightstand to ward off premarital sex and gay vibes! Send her to that deadbeat brother of yours to express your shame by proxy! Dress her up in tacky lingerie and hook her up with the Bratz boys! Dr. Laura does it all!

I anticipate massive sales of this figure, both from Dr. Laura fans who want to support her and Dr. Laura detractors who will find it far superior to the handmade voodoo dolls they've been using up till now.

No more Serenity action figures, apparently

cabridges — Wed, 17 May 2006 17:49:06 +0000

OK, I wasn't really expecting any. But it's still depressing hearing it said out loud. From the New Ask Diamond QnA post:

"I was just in the DST online Store and I noticed that the Serenity figures are all sold out except for the Jayne prototype. Does this improve the chances for a second series?

"Nope, it just means we sold some of the stock we had."

Sigh.

Firefly cloth dolls

cabridges — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 22:25:48 +0000

Want a soft, squeezable hero to call your own? You gotta check out Custom Rag Dolls by Lily. She's working on creating dolls that resemble "certain characters from a certain show that's not on anymore," and they look great.

There's the Mercenary (pictured), complete with cunning hat and boots, there's the Mechanic in her jumpsuit, and the Psychic in a pinafore, boots, and oversized sweater. There are gorgeously designed and make great gifts for Browncoat friends such as, well, you.

Play dress up with Summer

cabridges — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 12:12:11 +0000

Stardoll.com (formerly Paper Doll Heaven) has added Summer Glau for your sartorial pleasure. Dress her up in any number of different clothing combinations, change the color of her hair, eyeshadow, and lips, and save your creations to share with friends.

OK, she's in a very unRiver pose, there are no Riveresque outfits, and her hair appears brushed. But other that that… So where's the rest of the crew? Where's Morena and her filmy outfits, or Gina and her leathers? For that matter, where's Adam with his t-shirts and guns, or Nathan with his one pair of pants, brown coat, and pretty floral bonnet? You've got some catching up to do, Stardoll!

One sixth scale BDH weapons

cabridges — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 00:05:05 +0000

My wife has spent a scary amount of time creating her Firefly Barbies, making a lot of the materials by hand when she couldn't find a substitute. So it's always interesting when someone else does the work for her…

The Toy Smith, maker of small scale weapon reproductions, has begun making weapons and holster rigs based on the Firefly versions, perfect for your own doll creations. For sale now is Zoe's carbine and rig, and Mal's holster (the gun's on the way). We had already bought his 47 Colt Walker revolver to serve as Mal's piece, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.