5 replies to this topic

[Alex]

Okay, awhile back I had ordered two Enterprise-E's which Rick over at NFCC had shipped to me using the same box that the "case of 4" was initially shipped to him in. I believe, that was back in 2006 or 2007. Well I recently purchased a "case of 4" Enterprise-E's from Rick, primarily with customization in mind, and I'm happy to report that the Enterprise-E was indeed reissued. Please note I have not opened the actual case yet, because I'm not ready to begin customizing my ships yet, but I did take pictures of both shipping cartons (cases) side by side. As promised, this thread has been updated with pictures which you can view below. In case anyone's wondering why I have a carton from two years ago, it's because I use it to store all of my packing materials for anything I'm shipping out to other people.








If for some reason a forum member can't view the pictures, the text which appears on the two cartons in ALL CAPS is reproduced below in ALL CAPS, exactly as it appears on each carton:

Original AA/DST Enterprise-E release
**DST Logo is centered above text; text is smaller are the original carton**
DIAMOND SELECT TOYS
AND COLLECTIBLES, LLC.
MEMPHIS, TN 38118
PO#DST-1287
ITEM#2615848 (AUG053801)
QTY: 4 PCS
MADE IN CHINA
C/NO.: 3770 OF 4000
UPC #6997 8817 5064

Original AA/DST Enterprise-E release
**DST Logo is left-justified above text; text is very large and identical in size to the text on the Battle-Damaged 1701-E cartons**
DIAMOND SELECT TOYS
AND COLLECTIBLES, LLC.
MEMPHIS, TN 38118
PO # DST-1447
ITEM # 17506
ITEM CODE: AUS053801
ST TNG ENTERPRISE E REISSUE
QTY: 4 PCS
MADE IN CHINA
C/NO.: 81 OF 1500
UPC #6997 8817 5064

What's different: The PO# has changed from DST-1287 to DST-1447 on the reissue, the item number has changed from 2615848 to 17506, the item code has changed from AUG053801 to AUS053801, the original packaging has nothing comparable to the "ST TNG ENTERPRISE E REISSUE" line of text, and the number of cases dropped from 4000 on the initial run to 1500 on the reissue.

Of course, now that we have an answer to the question, "Did AA/DST reissue the Enterprise-E," we of course have several new questions to go along with said answer, and thanks to Rick, a couple new answers to for some of those questions, specifically:

1. When did AA/DST reissue the Enterprise-E?
Answer provided by Rick: The reissue took place in 2007, along with the Battle-Damaged release of the 1701-E.
2. Is it "normal" for AA/DST to reissue ships, and if so, is the decrease from 4000 to 1500 cases on a reissue standard operating procedure?
Interpretation of the answer provided by Rick: For major items (see Rick's post) this is normal, but for others it's not.
3. Are there any changes to the ship(s) themselves, or to their packaging? (I'll attempt to accurately answer this one when I open said carton.)
Hypothetical answer provided by me: Based on the information Rick has provided, my guess is that the toy itself hasn't been altered in anyway, however I believe that I saw a "box variant" at Mid-Town comics in NYC sometime in 2007 (early 2008 at the earliest) so the packaging may or may not be different. If the packaging is different, than the difference is minor.
4. Why didn't AA/DST mention that they were reissuing the Enterprise-E the way that they did when the NX-01 was reissued. (Still looking for the NX-01 reissue by the way.)
Interpretation based on Rick's answer: Certain items (Rick cites Phasers as an example,) are reissued all the time so there's no point in mentioning that they're being reissued.
5. Finally, if there are changes to the ship and/or the packaging, why didn't AA/DST change the UPC code?
Answer provided by me: See answer to question #4; it pretty much covers this question as well.

So the only question we don't have a "concrete" answer to, is whether or not the packaging is different; once I open my ships, I'll report back with my findings.

My thanks to Rick for having a case of Enterprise-E's in stock, (I would have never gotten my hands on the reissued ships without Rick and NFCC,) as well as for his insight in the post below. If anyone has further insight to offer on this subject matter, please do so. Also, I completely forgot to take pictures of the Battle Damaged 1701-E carton, so there's only the "original" 1701-E carton and the "reissue" 1701-E carton in my photos to compare to one another, and I hope this information is useful to my fellow forum members.

Finally, just a quick set of "rules" regarding the pictures in this post. You may download, save, share, blog, and redistribute, them freely, so long as you redistribute them for free, and do not use them to make a profit. However,I ask that you simply give me credit for taking the original pictures ("Courtesy of Alex on the TrekToy forums" will suffice,) if you're going to redistribute them in any way, shape or form. If you wish to profit off of my pictures, and are willing to pay me for non-exclusive rights to use my images, please PM me and I'll be more than happy to try and work something out with you. I hope that we can agree that this is a "fair" request that I'm making.

[NewForceComics]

hello all...
in 2007, DST did another small run of the E ships, that is how we were able to get our BD version (between the 2, it was enough to warrant another production)...DST never intended for "core" items to sell out (that is why phasers and communicators, etc, are continuously available)...
that said, at this point, they have no plans to do another run of E's...
rick

[Alex]

hello all...
in 2007, DST did another small run of the E ships, that is how we were able to get our BD version (between the 2, it was enough to warrant another production)...DST never intended for "core" items to sell out (that is why phasers and communicators, etc, are continuously available)...
that said, at this point, they have no plans to do another run of E's...
rick

Rick--

Thank you very much for the information that you've provided in this thread, it's admittedly been very useful to me. Furthermore, AA/DST still has some Enterprise-E's up for sale on their own website so it seems logical to me that they wouldn't have plans to do another run just yet. Besides, with the Enterprise-D, AGT Enterprise-D, Enterprise-B, and Excelsior all in the works, I'm guessing that they'd prefer to get their money's worth on those ships before they consider reissuing the Enterprise-E again. I just hope that AA/DST does do another run of Enterprise-E's at some point, and I also hope that they address at least two of the three constructive criticisms that fans have pointed out to them.

Finally, does AA/DST not consider the ships to be "core" items? It seems like the Enterprise-A has been screaming for a reissue with minor retooling (LED lighting and some additional sounds,) for quite some time. Likewise, it'd be nice to see the NX-01 get a "Starship Legends" reissue, again with minor retooling (LED lighting, the ability to play all of the sounds in sequence by holding down the bridge, etc.) and a new "Starship Legends" package. I know Enterprise as a series wasn't very popular, but the toy seems to have sold well enough to garner one reissue (I wish I had known about it back when AA/DST release it with the retooled warp nacelles,) a battle-damaged variant, and a mirror universe variant, so maybe a reissue is in order for the "fresh from spacedock" NX-01, complete with SL packaging. Thank you again for your reply Rick, as noted before, it was extremely helpful--you pretty much answered all of my questions.

[knightone]

I think DST does consider the ships to be core items, which is why the E-E and the TOS E have both had multiple runs. However, I think they are hesitant to re-issue the AA released ships again. That is why they decided to make the TWOK Enterprise with the original molds from AA rather than just re-isssue the orignal 1701-A with some improvements. The NX-01 reissue was a special case since they received a request for a large order of that product. So unless a retailer is willing to pay for a large run of either the NX-01 or the 1701-A, I doubt DST will seek to reissue those ships themselves.

[Alex]

Okay folks, after my abysmal experience with AA/DST's "The Cage" and WNMHGB 1701s, I decided to crack open the case of 1701-E's before I needed them--just to make sure that they were all functional. Anyway, I'm pleased to announce that all of the ships work, and although I didn't open the packaging, I tried to look inside the "window" on the box as much as I could to inspect for any cosmetic flaws, and again, I'm pleased to report none that I could find.

So what's in a re-issue carton of the 1701-E? Here are the four ships you get:
- "Battle Damaged" NCC-1701-E x1.
- "Regular" NCC-1701-E x3.

All are in their standard packaging, so I'd really like to know what I saw up at Mid-Town comics in NYC with a slightly minor box variant. At this point I'm beginning to think that my mind was playing tricks on me...or maybe it was just Q.

I think DST does consider the ships to be core items, which is why the E-E and the TOS E have both had multiple runs. However, I think they are hesitant to re-issue the AA released ships again. That is why they decided to make the TWOK Enterprise with the original molds from AA rather than just re-isssue the orignal 1701-A with some improvements. The NX-01 reissue was a special case since they received a request for a large order of that product. So unless a retailer is willing to pay for a large run of either the NX-01 or the 1701-A, I doubt DST will seek to reissue those ships themselves.

knightone, not to sound rude, but I'm not sure that I follow your reasoning here. Why would DST, which has been reissuing AA items like Phasers left and right, be unwilling to reissue the same ships that AA put out?

If they didn't want to touch AA's original work, the NX-01 would have made no sense at all, although you did note that their was retailer demand for it. But the fact remains, they created the ISS Enterprise NX-01 toy on their own for the limited run of that item.

You also mentioned that they made the TWOK Enterprise using the same mold that the 1701-A used. Again, there was fan-demand for both the TWOK ship and another run of 1701-A's. If DST didn't want to touch AA's molds, why did they even bother to do the TWOK ship? I'm guessing that they wanted to "complete" their line of Enterprises, and that the TWOK ship was part of that completion. It also gave them the ability to do a true TWOK "Battle Damaged" variant, rather than a TSFS "battle damaged" variant in a TWOK box, which is what AA/DST released. (In truth, I really would like to see this go beyond a limited run--maybe with accurate sound FX this time.)

What's more, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Enterprise-E was the first ship DST had their hand in developing the mold for? If I remember correctly, DST is the reason that the blue portions of the warp nacelles don't light up, and the reason that the ship was perpetually delayed, and the reason that the "play cover" for the battery compartment is missing. It's the first ship that I know of where DST's credited on the packaging, so I can't see why they wouldn't want to reissue it.

Furthermore, the ship was sold out on pre-order until the first batch shipped and people posted about the quality of the item (the missing "play cover," and the lack of lighting in the nacelles being the two biggest complaints,) which is why many people canceled their pre-orders and the first run wound up warming shelves until people started talking about how accurate the overall design of the 1701-E was. I would think that this is the ship that AA/DST would want to reissue the most; if they added a "play cover," switched to LEDs (this is a no-brainer,) in keeping with current ships, and lit up the blue portion of the warp nacelles, they'd sell out of this ship on pre-order.

Personally, my theories for why AA/DST hasn't reissued the Enterprise-E are as follows:
1. It's not a TOS toy. I'm sorry to put it that way, but with TOS Wave 5 now out, (talk about overkill,) it seems like DST only cares about their TOS line.
2. There aren't enough variants that AA/DST can do with the 1701-E's mold. Simply put, we've never really seen another Sovereign-class starship on screen. AA/DST made a "spacedock-fresh" ship, and a "battle damaged" variant. Anything else requires significant retooling. A First Contact"borg-ified" variant would require retooling on the hull to add borg parts. An Inssurection "battle damaged" variant would require retooled nacelles that looked like they were venting plasma (not a bad idea though, this could cause AA/DST to "fix" the regular warp nacelles by lighting up the blue portion of them while they're at it,) and a second Nemesis Battle damaged variant would require the entire saucer section to be retooled to take a huge chunk out of the ship. All of those ideas cost a lot more money than slapping a new registry number on the mold.

In truth, I really want to see the 1701-E done correctly, if AA/DST wants a "cheap" variant, howabout painting the ship gold the way Playmates did with the Enterprise-D, and DST did with the 1701 in Japan. I'd buy a gold Enterprise-E variant if it meant that AA/DST would reissue the ship, retool the warp engines, and add a play cover. Those are all minor alterations that'd be feasible and allow AA/DST to sell more Enterprise-E's, both to new customers and people who bought the original ship. A packaging update wouldn't hurt either.

Also, as far as the Enterprise-A goes, there wasn't much of a demand for a reissue from what I remember until after the TWOK ship was released with LEDs, Kirk's voice, and the ability to hold down the bridge dome and have all of the sound FX play in order. Of course, there's a demand for both the Enterprise-A and the Enterprise-E to be upgraded now, so it would be nice if DST would listen to their customers and create said upgraded ships. We just missed the 10th anniversary of Inssurection (2008,) but Nemesis' 10th Anniversary is in 2012 and First Contact's 15th Anniversary, as well as the 5th anniversary of the DST Enterprise-E is in 2011. I'd like to see the Enterprise-E reissued before then, but if DST needs an excuse, well 2011-2012 might be a good time to try an updated reissue.

[knightone]

I didn't say they were hesitant to use the molds. I said they are hesitant to release the exact same products unless a retailer specifically asks for it. They are willing to reuse the molds, since they don't have to pay for them, they just want to make it their own and unique to the DST line rather than revisit the same product AA released. Hence all the TOS color variants rather than the orignal color scheme with the light grey body which was only re-released during the transition period when DST first started taking over the line.

I also never said they weren't willing to reissue the Enterprise-E. In fact they did do at least one more run of the E-E and they said that it was a core item that they would replenish as the supply ran out. I don't think they are willing to go back and spend the money to add the extra lighting or play cover anytime soon, but they will run the ship as it is for as long as it sells.