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Why were the galoob tng line cancelled so quick?


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#1 gkap

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Posted 09 June 2009 - 06:45 PM

As the title says why were they cancelled. Does anyone have info on this ?

#2 neoworx

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Posted 09 June 2009 - 07:31 PM

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say "because they sucked".

#3 JonWes

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Posted 09 June 2009 - 07:31 PM

Low sales. That's why you can get the first series so readily for not much money. There was just a lot that went unwanted. I just don't think TNG was popular enough to support the line. It's a shame as I loved them as a kid and really wanted a Bridge playset. I used to make my own out of Legos or cardboard.

#4 VulcanFanatic

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Posted 09 June 2009 - 07:42 PM

Speaking as someone who went to every store in town when these came out to find them, i think that it was a combination of factors. One factor is that Galoob had plans for more stuff than they could sell to retailers, and second factor is that the figures were not that attractive to consumers because the sculpts were not really that good, they were really small, very little articulation, came with phasers molded into their hands and no other accessories. I have read that Galoob was not committed to the line, and when sales were not what they wanted, they bailed on the line without producing most of what they had announced. Quality control was not that good, and you can find several versions of Data with different skin tones as well. The aliens were pretty hard to find and just about the time the aliens, shuttlecraft and ferengi ship came out, they bailed out.

#5 Jedigreedo

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Posted 09 June 2009 - 07:45 PM

I remember getting Geordi, Worf, Picard and Riker as a kid, but I don't recall them being all that interesting. With no villain characters to get, the phasers being stuck in their hands didn't make things very fun. I didn't even know there were vehicles available for the line until at least a decade later, so I'm pretty certain they didn't do a very good job at promoting them.

#6 JonWes

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Posted 09 June 2009 - 08:38 PM

I seem to remember the shuttlecraft and ferengi marauder being on the card backs (though they never got them in at my small town local store), as well as the promised Bridge playset that never came... sad. The phasers being stuck in their hand was annoying. I was sad the second wave wasn't readily available though as that's where all the aliens were.

#7 knightone

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 03:05 AM

Never saw anything except the first wave of figures and the die-cast Enterrprise in the stores. At the time, I had to get the shuttle, ferengi fighter, phaser, and wave 2 figures through mail order. Thank goodness for the old sci-fi mail order places like Intergalactic Trading Co. and New Eye Studios back in the day (really miss those retailers). Preordered a lot of the stuff that was never released as well and was sorely disappointed when they were never released. By the end of the line, you could find the first wave of figures for a dollar each or less in stores.

#8 sallah

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 04:09 AM

QUOTE (knightone @ Jun 10 2009, 03:05 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Thank goodness for the old sci-fi mail order places like Intergalactic Trading Co. and New Eye Studios back in the day (really miss those retailers).


Not to derail everything...but I think Intergalactic Trading Co. may still be around... I know they still go by that name on eBay. I just bought something from them the other day...

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#9 VulcanFanatic

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 04:33 AM

Yes, Intergalactic trading company AND New eye studios are still around, of course they dont hold the distinction that they used to is pre- Internet days, but its still nice to look around their sites. I spent much time looking through their catalogs that you have to send a SASE envelope for or send a dollar or two to get the ITC big catalog. There were a lot of other smaller companies around back in those days, but i never see anything of them any more.The shuttle and ferengi fighter were released in boxes, not card backs. Too large for card backs because these were scaled to fit the figures. I think there was a diecast ferengi ship planned, but i never saw it released.

EDIT: looks like NewEye has let their website lapse, dont know if they are out of businees or short on cash to fund the website.

#10 JonWes

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 07:52 AM

QUOTE (VulcanFanatic @ Jun 10 2009, 05:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Yes, Intergalactic trading company AND New eye studios are still around, of course they dont hold the distinction that they used to is pre- Internet days, but its still nice to look around their sites. I spent much time looking through their catalogs that you have to send a SASE envelope for or send a dollar or two to get the ITC big catalog. There were a lot of other smaller companies around back in those days, but i never see anything of them any more.The shuttle and ferengi fighter were released in boxes, not card backs. Too large for card backs because these were scaled to fit the figures. I think there was a diecast ferengi ship planned, but i never saw it released.

EDIT: looks like NewEye has let their website lapse, dont know if they are out of businees or short on cash to fund the website.



LOL - I meant that they were mentioned and/or pictured on the back of the card, not that they were mounted on card backs. smile.gif

#11 TheHSBR

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 08:41 AM

For the era, those figures were way behind the toy market. When I was growing up in that time GIJoe was pretty big and were done at the same scale. Articulation was infinitely better and the accessories dwarfed the galoob stuff. I think galoob was trying to be like the very antiquated star wars line with their Trek release and it wasnt really up to par. Toys were changing greatly in the late 80s early 90s and Galoob just got caught up with trying to do stuff the "good ol way" instead of being innovative. On the flipside though, their shuttlecraft and ferengi fighter which i just bought last week are pretty good for the era and the fighter is almost as cool as some of the star wars ships I have!

#12 bgiles73

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 05:13 PM

I used to order from Intergalactic Trading Co. way back in the day too. Here's where you can find them today:

http://www.intergalactictrading.com/

#13 sallah

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 10:28 PM

Argh! All this talk about the galoob stuff has me wanting to track all of that down! I actually kinda dig those figures, and I'm not even that much of a TNG guy. I went and dug up the old galoob company catalog at work and checked out all the stuff from the line... The aliens and the ships look great! It's a shame I never saw those in stores...it would have been great to use those with my Mego TMP figures!

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#14 hcmv007

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Posted 14 June 2009 - 07:41 AM

When they first came out, I bought a few even though I could not see the show at all! (ST:TNG came on at 10:00 Sunday night in BR-a school night for a 9 year old). I got the full available crew a year or so later-at discount price at a mall. I didn't like the phaser being molded into the figure and then to have the other arm at a 90 degree angle was infuriating-they couldn't hold the tricorder! But I still have them-but I had to use the Tasha Yar head for a Star Wars custom. But for the time-the face sculpting was pretty damn good, even by today's standards. I would love for Playmates to do ST:TNG in the 3.75 inch scale, but I am not holding my breath on that one.

#15 knightone

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Posted 14 June 2009 - 12:46 PM

Yeah. I've seen Intergalactic and New Eye on Ebay. They are definitely not like what they used to be and they seem to overcharge for most of their items. I know they sell a lot of out of production stuff, but it is still overpriced compared to other sellers. They failed to keep up with the times and the market.

As for Galoob, the vehicles were the nicest part of the line. Scaled nicely to the figures and nicely detailed for a toy of the era and of that size. Even the die-cast Enterprise was pretty nice.

The phaser was the worst part of the line. Designed to be more of a flashlight than a role-play toy and it wasn't even that great of a flashlight. I don't remember the sound being accurate either.

The figures weren't too bad. They could have used more articulation, but the sculpts were nice. The only real problem I have with them are the accessories. The phaser should have been separate and the tricorder should have been better designed, without the carry strap. The closed fist of the weak side hands weren't a great idea either. The lack of other accessories was quite noticeable, but with the closed fist choice of accessories would have been limited anyway.

#16 JonWes

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Posted 14 June 2009 - 12:57 PM

QUOTE (knightone @ Jun 14 2009, 01:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The phaser was the worst part of the line. Designed to be more of a flashlight than a role-play toy and it wasn't even that great of a flashlight. I don't remember the sound being accurate either.


Oh man I loved the phaser toy as a kid! I thought the light and sound were actually very cool. But there was one thing that REALLY bothered me about it...

the sticker that said "Star Trek: The Next Generation" on it!!! Even as a kid of 7 years old I knew that was dumb. I was sad that Playmates never made a version of the "cricket" phaser though as I thought it was fun.


#17 knightone

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Posted 14 June 2009 - 01:50 PM

QUOTE (JonWes @ Jun 14 2009, 01:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I was sad that Playmates never made a version of the "cricket" phaser though as I thought it was fun.



Playmates did make a cricket phaser. It was even more oversized than the Galoob. It was, however, the right shape, unlike the Galoob version.

#18 Smitty

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Posted 14 June 2009 - 01:52 PM

Oops knightone beat me to the punch!

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#19 Malcolm Orr

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Posted 14 June 2009 - 04:07 PM

I got Picard, Geordi and Worf having read, in a newspaper, that Geordi was 'the new Spock-type character' (because of his Visor!!!). Picard slugged out a few aliens, including Gorn stand in Bossk, until I actually saw TNG on video and realised it wasn't actually like the Trek I'd seen before and Picard didn't do that.

They are very well sculpted figures, the likenesses are very good too. The articulation wasn't great, but if season 5 versions came out with the same artic but no fixed phaser, I'd buy them in a shot and be very pleased!

#20 JonWes

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Posted 14 June 2009 - 05:47 PM

QUOTE (knightone @ Jun 14 2009, 02:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Playmates did make a cricket phaser. It was even more oversized than the Galoob. It was, however, the right shape, unlike the Galoob version.


Wow, I never realized! Too bad about it being even more over-sized. Huh. I guess there was so much coming out towards the end, and my only source of what was coming out was really what I saw in stores and the occasional mention in a magazine. I didn't realize they had made a Laser Pistol from The Cage until I saw it on Ebay not long ago.




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