4 replies to this topic

[Morgan]

 

 

Ambassador Spock (1993)

 

This is a pretty well known color variation, even though it wasn't listed in magazine price guides in the same way as the Ferengi with black boot trim or without, for example. 

 

There were three variants of Spock: with a lilac body and light sleeves, with a darker gray body with darker spots and light sleeves, and with a darker gray body with a mix of light and darker colored sleeves. The middle one could have a mix of different sleeve shades, actually, that look like they came from different figures.

 

Collectors noticed this and wrote to magazines back in the day, but there wasn't really an early versus late color change going on, and price guides and stores didn't pay attention to its rarity. Realistically, they're all worth about the same, especially now, because this wasn't a super obvious change where something like first 1000 figures or so had one particular paint snafu. But, if you look closely at these, there are some pretty major differences.

 

 

[Morgan]

 

 

Ferengi (1992)

 

This is one of the best-know and early color variations, a paint process that was caught early on and changed to add black trim to the boots. The one on the left is 007752, and by the 20,000 mark they already had the black trim. (We should try to find the exact cutoff point). 

 

The early figures without the black trim commanded $40 at a time when the figures with the black trim, in the mid 1990s, were going for $20-25 in the big action figure mail order stores. Needless to say, that distinction doesn't really exist at the moment -- they're both worth about the same now.

[Jpatrik]

Thats some great intel on the Spock figure - had no idea that I had the "light" coloured one this whole time!

 

So were these like "running changes" like the Star Wars Power Of The Force 2 line?  Or just oddities that cropped up from time to time.

 

The only one I know about is Necessary Evil Odo - some of them have a "squared" thumb, and some dont.

[Gothneo]

Whats thats supposed to be on the head? Obviously not a paint blemish as its on both... but looks odd to me. 

[Morgan]

That's the blue Ferengi symbol tattoo that they had in "The Last Outpost" and one or two other episodes, but that we never saw again, just like the fur outfits.

 

The outfits were cute, and I kind of hoped they would bring them back randomly in some episode, like in DS9.

 

The one kind of unacknowledged thing about the Ferengi figure is that Playmates decided to go with "The Last Outpost" look in 1992, way after that look had faded for the Ferengi. It's almost as if they just used the Galoob figure for reference.