181 replies to this topic

[Alteran195]

 

- really big -- the number of people who would pay $100 for a non-Enterprise is questionable, and that's probably where the price would start for a Warbird or Borg cube in any preferred scale.

 

Why does the Romulan Warbird have to be huge? Just because it was huge in universe, doesn't mean a toy would have to be. The Playmates Romulan Warbird was 14.5" long by 9.5" wide, and I'd say its a pretty good size for that ship. Are you saying a ship that size would cost $100? 

 

You made the Klingon Bird of Prey absolutely huge, it shouldn't even be remotely that size compared to other ships that you've made, so scale is completely irrelevant when it comes to your ships. 

 

 

- yet another variation on a Klingon vessel -- we just made arguably the most famous Klingon ship class, so I can't imagine we'll revisit that well soon, especially since the TNG ships are bigger and, frankly, clunkier

The BoP certainly is famous, but it is hard to argue whether it or the D7/K'Tinga is more so. You probably would have gotten more variants out of it than you will out of the Romulan Bird of Prey.

 

Also, you really think Trek fans would have complained about getting two Klingon ships in a row, especially if it was the D7? I'm sure there would have been some, but there probably would be more excitement for it than there is for the RBoP. (That's not to say there isn't excitement for it, there certainly is)

 

 

 

- an obscure Federation ship -- no one class really stands out, and most are based on a similar model to the Enterprise, like the Reliant is

 

 

The Prometheus is the first ship that comes to mind, it's fairly popular and doesn't share any design similarities to an Enterprise. After that I'd say the Akira, Norway, Sabre, and Steamrunner. Would these ships sell enough to justify being made? Probably not yet. 

 

 

- an obscure ship from a minor race -- how often did we see the ships of the Vulcans, Ferengi, Andorians?

 

Enterprise featured ships from the Vulcans pretty regularly, and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say they're some of the coolest alien ship designs in Star Trek, I'd kill for a D'Kyr type Vulcan ship. The Andorian Cruiser was also featured quite a bit.

 

Lets not forget that the Romulan Bird of Prey in Enterprise is a hell of a lot nicer looking than the one in TOS.

 

 

 

 

- the Enterprise C -- it's historically important, but it appeared in one episode

 

 

The Enterprise B had arguably the same amount of screen time, if not less. Thank god you managed to make the normal Excelsior out of it, or we probably would never have gotten it either. 

 

 

The original series is the essence. TWOK is just the best filmed representation of said essence.

TOS started Star Trek on its journey, but TNG and onward defined what Star Trek is now. 

[1701D]

I'd argue that the Romulan Warbird and Borg Cube are both more iconic than the TOS alien ships are. The Borg Cube especially is incredibably striking and I think people would pay $100 for a well made ship as its quite a striking design to have on a desktop or sideboard, on its own or as part of a collection of DST ships. The Romulan Warbird may be just a little too much of a hard sell maybe but still I think it would be popular and recognisable.

You've got a wealth of shuttle craft to think about too, a runabout and the classic TOS shuttle.

[ensignmelkor]

There's something I don't understand here--if a ship like the Romulan Warbird would have to be so big that it would cost too much to make, why did DST choose this particular scale for their Trek ships line at all? If all the ships were 2/3 of their current size the line would still look good, it would still be sufficiently larger than the Eaglemoss ships, and DST could actually afford to make all the ships, no? Why make a line of Trek ships at a scale so big that some of the most popular vessels are out of the question in the first place due to cost? 

 

I would also argue that the Romulan Warbird doesn't have to be huge--unless you define the size of the Enterprise-D as huge? (I think you mentioned somewhere that  you can't necessarily afford to make another Enterprise-D variant, but if that's the case, maybe this line is in trouble?) In the show the Warbird was bigger than the D but as Alteran195 mentioned, the ships in this line aren't in scale anyway, so what does it matter? As long as the Warbird isn't smaller than the Enterprise-D I wouldn't have a problem buying it and I'm sure most other people wouldn't either.

 

The Enterprise-D is a hugely popular ship and the Romulan Warbird was its chief nemesis. Not making one is like making a Batman figure line without including a Joker.

[ensignmelkor]

You made the Klingon Bird of Prey absolutely huge, it shouldn't even be remotely that size compared to other ships that you've made, so scale is completely irrelevant when it comes to your ships. 

 

 

Even though it has General Chang from Star Trek VI on the sound clips, I just think of this ship as a 24th century K'vort class Bird of Prey--they could be nearly as big as the Enterprise-D. I bought a couple of Eaglemoss Birds of Prey as well, just to have a proper 23rd century-scaled version. 

[Reign1701A]

K'Tinga or D7 for next alien ship please. Hard to believe that no toy company has ever tackled the design (other than EM sized miniatures).

For the next Fed ship, Reliant, Defiant, or Voyager are the only ones that make sense.

[Alteran195]

The D is about 17" long by 12.5" wide. A Romulan Warbird at 14.5"x 9.5" wouldn't be to bad.

[1701D]

There's something I don't understand here--if a ship like the Romulan Warbird would have to be so big that it would cost too much to make, why did DST choose this particular scale for their Trek ships line at all? If all the ships were 2/3 of their current size the line would still look good, it would still be sufficiently larger than the Eaglemoss ships, and DST could actually afford to make all the ships, no? Why make a line of Trek ships at a scale so big that some of the most popular vessels are out of the question in the first place due to cost? 
 
I would also argue that the Romulan Warbird doesn't have to be huge--unless you define the size of the Enterprise-D as huge? (I think you mentioned somewhere that  you can't necessarily afford to make another Enterprise-D variant, but if that's the case, maybe this line is in trouble?) In the show the Warbird was bigger than the D but as Alteran195 mentioned, the ships in this line aren't in scale anyway, so what does it matter? As long as the Warbird isn't smaller than the Enterprise-D I wouldn't have a problem buying it and I'm sure most other people wouldn't either.
 
The Enterprise-D is a hugely popular ship and the Romulan Warbird was its chief nemesis. Not making one is like making a Batman figure line without including a Joker.

.

I think it's more down to the fact that the scale was determined by Playmates back in the 90's and seemed to be a very popular size to continue on with. The NX 01 is actually a pretty small ship and I guess making that ship smaller wouldn't have been feesable for electronics to be put inside her, the same issue may have been had if the original enterprise and its movie refit were done any smaller.

I doubt very much that DST thought that the price of plastic and oil would shoot through the roof as well.

What would have been affordable to do 5/10 years ago is now probably a bigger risk.

That being said, I think the two ships mentioned, the Romulan Warbird and the Borg Cube could be risks worth takings a they do maintain a certain iconic status in Star Trek.

Let's not forget here, that Star Trek: The Next Generation was far more popular than the Original Series. That popularity has lasted and I think one of the many reasons that the new movies don't resonate with the fan base is because they go back to Kirk and Spock. Household names but names long since surpassed by other iconic, household names like Picard, Data, Worf and Riker not to mention Janeway and 7of9.

I think DST should be aware (maybe they are already) that there are more TNG fans out there than there are TOS fans. It's just about hitting them with the right product, I think in terms of the DST Trek line that does include producing fairly priced models of the Romulan Warbird and especially the Borg Cube.

If Playmates can release a really cool cube that threw light out into your room to fill it with a star field like effect then DST's version following the same idea, could be a must-have item.

[Razorgeist]

 

You made the Klingon Bird of Prey absolutely huge, it shouldn't even be remotely that size compared to other ships that you've made, so scale is completely irrelevant when it comes to your ships. 

 

 

Yeah I was thinking the same thing.  I just assumed you guys just chose a size for the ships.  I mean I know there was some scale controversy back in the AA days.

[ensignmelkor]

Hasn't the price of oil gone down significantly the past few years? I have no idea about plastic though.
 
The confusing thing for me about DST's resistance to making a Warbird is that there simply aren't very many iconic alien ships out there for Trek, unless all they want to make is Klingon ships. I guess I'd buy a D-7 or K'tinga like everyone else, it would look good next to the classic Enterprises, but what's left after that if TNG era Romulan, Borg and Cardassian ships aren't part of the plan? I can understand the reticence about the Borg because scale becomes a big issue there, but I think with the Romulan Warbird not making one could be penny wise and pound foolish on DST's part. If it really is so bad that they can no longer afford to make certain ships because of size issues, then I guess this line is in trouble. I'm certainly not going to pay for runabouts and shuttlecraft when I could just buy those in a much more proper scale from Eaglemoss.

[Alteran195]

I'd easily pay good money for an electronic Delta Flyer. 

[luclin999]

Let's not forget here, that Star Trek: The Next Generation was far more popular than the Original Series. That popularity has lasted and I think one of the many reasons that the new movies don't resonate with the fan base is because they go back to Kirk and Spock. Household names but names long since surpassed by other iconic, household names like Picard, Data, Worf and Riker not to mention Janeway and 7of9.

 

 

Debatable to say the least. 

 

Number of original series films :6.5

Number of Next Generation films : 3.5

 

The reason why the "new" movies don't resonate with the fan base is because the of the bad writing, poorly executed internal continuity, terrible story lines and an almost complete lack of respect for the feel of the original series.

 

Ships that change size from scene to scene because the director thinks they "look better" in a different scale from one shot to the next, an Enterprise which literally has to be "bigger on the inside" in order to accommodate some of the cinematography, plot holes in the story line that you could drive a dreadnought through, etc. are the reasons the fan base has so poorly received the "reboot" Trek.

 

As to "surpassing" the original series as iconic characters.. ask a random person on the street who "Captain Kirk" is and they will likely be able to answer you. Ask them the same question about "Captain Janeway"... not so much.

[1701D]

Number of TNG episodes: 178

Number of TOS episodes: 79

TNG brought in what is now the majority of the Star Trek fan base and whilst casual or non fans but geeks see Spock and Kirk as the poster boys of Star Trek, TNG is probably the more popular.

[JMW326]

I'd easily pay good money for an electronic Delta Flyer.

Same here.

[Alteran195]

I'm really curious as to why DST wouldn't consider doing a smaller, 8"-10" line of  electronic shuttles, runabouts, Delta Flyers etc, and sell them for like $50. I would think there would be a decent market for them, I know I would certainly buy them. 

 

They couldn't be that hard to manufacture since they'd have a good amount of room inside since they'd be mostly hollow. 

[Razorgeist]

Same here.

 

And here.

 

I definetly think the Romulan warbird is iconic.  Look at how many other shows used the split wing design.  Also i would say that some of the Dominion ships were toy worthy as well.

[luclin999]

Number of TNG episodes: 178

Number of TOS episodes: 79

TNG brought in what is now the majority of the Star Trek fan base and whilst casual or non fans but geeks see Spock and Kirk as the poster boys of Star Trek, TNG is probably the more popular.

 

Your argument is based upon a flawed assumption on your part. More episodes do not automatically equal greater overall popularity.

 

Actually the overall number of viewers for both the Original Series and Next Generation were quite comparable in their first runs.

 

TOS 1966: Average number of viewers = 9,800,000 per episode*

TNG 1987: Average number of viewers = 8,550,000 per episode*

 

*(Nielsen estimates)

 

The issue with TOS having fewer seasons had more to due the fact that it generally takes a higher overall viewership for a show to be considered a "success" for a major network than it does in syndication, which is why despite having a similar number of viewers, TOS was considered a "failure" at NBC while conversely,  TNG was considered a "hit" in syndication. 

 

Factor in that NBC's executives didn't get along well with Roddenberry and kept changing TOS's schedule to progressively worse time slots and the show's cancellation (twice) was guaranteed.

 

In any case, as you can see from the actual ratings data, there were easily as many fans of TOS in it's original run as there were fans of TNG.

 

Add in to that, many, many fans of TOS didn't even see the series in its original run but instead became hooked on the show in its subsequent decades in syndication and it should be clear that estimating TOS's popularity solely by its lower number of episodes is a flawed argument.

[1701D]

I'm really hoping that DST will eventually go onto produce models based on the shuttles and scout ships. A Runabout, the classic shuttle Galileo, Goddard and the Delta Flyer would all be awesome!

[Jay K]

I've got to say, reading this thread recently, seeing posts that are almost identical to ones made nearly ten years ago (in terms of requests and hopes for the line), makes me a bit sad.

Road to Nowhere - Talking Heads.

[Alteran195]

I've got to say, reading this thread recently, seeing posts that are almost identical to ones made nearly ten years ago (in terms of requests and hopes for the line), makes me a bit sad.

Road to Nowhere - Talking Heads.

It has been over 6 years since DST announced the last new Federation ships, with that kind of progress it isn't surprising to see. 

 

http://trekmovie.com...toys-announced/

[ensignmelkor]

Well, assuming my own personal worst-case scenario (DST never makes the Enterprise-C, never makes a Romulan Warbird, never makes a Borg, Cardassian, or in fact any other alien ship other than Klingons) I think I can still reasonably expect to see a D7 / K'tinga. With the rest of the ships I've already purchased, including the Klingon Bird of Prey and a couple of Eaglemoss Klingon Birds of Prey just for scale, my collection should look reasonably cool as a "Federation vs. Klingons" set.  

 

If DST makes a D-7, is the K'tinga an easy variant to put together or would it require so much new tooling that it would essentially be a brand new ship? Because I'd like to have both a D-7 and a K'tinga if possible, to show the evolution of the Klingon battleship. A Vor'cha would also be great but I'm not holding my breath.