I'm back! And I got a huge parcel with four cadets in, so guess what I'm reviewing? Cadet Picard, plus an added bonus. More on that later, to the cadet's.
Back in 1996, Playmates produced a series of figures, entitled "Star Trek, Starfleet Academy", showcasing Picard, Riker, Geordi, and Worf as youngsters in Starfleet academy. They where, of course, based on Playmates vision of them younger, hence not cannon, infuriating collectors even today. If that wasn't enough, they where offered at a higher price, due to the CD ROM, and they rapidly became peg warmers. When I started up, I heard about these, and in all honestly was put off by the bad reputation. Plus, I'm more likely to buy a Sisko or O'Brien figure than a Cadet, hence I didn't even buy one till this September. But as the pile of figures to buy has rapidly decreased, I began to look at them differently, and they didn't seem half bad based on the pictures.
I had an opportunity to buy a complete, sealed wave one, and I took it! Here's Picard (with hair!):
Boxed in plasticy stasis. Apparently, he's wearing a "standard issue flight suit". Pretty nice, though a bit monochromatic based on face value. The box is beautiful, very grand, taller and heavier than your average box, it really invokes the feeling that it's "special", if that makes any sense. Very, very nicely done, I'd argue this one of the best box designs they did.
The cardback. I had to take a photo, it's very nicely done. The gas cloud is either a vampire cloud creature, or err, "gas leakage" from Picard after a spicy meal. (I should say this card belongs to Riker)
The back. Again, very nicely executed. The accessories, the other figures, how to operate the CD ROM, and lots of various info are present. No crazy Vedek's, fist punching Klingons, or gun toting, knife wielding kids are present, though the prototypes have a ton more paint apps than the originals, no doubt dropped due to cost.
His bio. Somebody did some research, referencing events mentioned in "The Best Of Borth Worlds", "The First Duty", and "Tapestry".
And the CD ROM
To the figure!
Picard's accessories. One of the things that was a really pleasant surprise with the cadets was the accessories. Some really nice stuff, not the usual multi range light source and light stick (for the most part, at least). Here we have, from left to right, a PADD, a protective flight vest, an eye visor, in front of that is a subspace beacon, and finally a Starfleet phaser. The last two have long pegs on the underside, allowing them to be attached to Picard via various holes on his belt and arm. And best of all, silver!! It's all silver or white! Not purple or pink!
His base, identical between all the cadets. Like everything else so far, I love it, it's textured, it looks great, and is pretty accurate too.
A front view, without his gear. You can see the holes where the phaser and beacon attach, the Starfleet delta on his belt buckle and some interesting blue boots. I like the way all the various straps look similar to a pilot's harness nowadays, no doubt this was what they had in mind with this being a flight suit and all.
A close up. I've got to say, while I wasn't convinced at first, I think they did a pretty damn good job on making him look like Picard, particularly around the eyes and the nose.
A back view. The pilot motif continues around the back.
Continued in a second, same Starfleet time, same Starfleet channel!