QUOTE (AskDST#191)
It’s a double shot of DST Chuck! See if your question was answered after the jump!
Thomas Allison
Are there any plans to remake the Star Trek Phaser from The Final Fronter?
DST CHUCK: We have never made that phaser and do not have any plans to at this moment.
Nick
I just want to say u guy’s r doing a great job on the star trek ship’s. The look, sounds, everything is amazing and so much better then playmates ever did. please keep up the great work! i noticed there is finally a enemy ship, the klingon bird of prey. glad to see that, instead of another enterprise. although it’s great u guy’s r doing the enterprise line. however, it would b cool to see some enemy ship’s and see the bird of prey gives me sum hope. lol. A couple of other cool enemy ship’s would b the Klingon ship the Negh Var, a Cardassian ship, Jem’ Hadar ship, Valdor Warbird, Borg Tactical cube, and the Scimitar. Also please make a toy of the U.S.S. Voyager, it’s my favorite starship. Thx for ur time, and great job guy’s! Sincerely Nick.
DST CHUCK: Nick our plan is to see how the BoP does and if it sells as well as we hope we’d absolutely look to do more enemy ships.
Daryl Bowlin
Since the Excelsior is a limited edition variant, do you have a list of the retailers that you’ll be shipping them to so we can keep an eye out for them? Thanks.
DST CHUCK: Daryl I have no idea where you heard that the Excelsior was limited to one of a few retailers that is not the case. As soon as we’re done with the B we’ll move on to the final details for the Excelsior and start to line up a ship date.
Glen Fig
Hi Diamond, I recently came across your Retro Star Trek action figures I. Was impressed. The reproduction of my beloved action figures i no longer owned is incredible. I have them in my home office on display. Any chance of creating a Retro Mego Marvel action figure set? I would buy them all in a heartbeat! Thanks for the Star Trek retros anyway. Glen.
DST CHUCK: I think the Marvel Select and Minimates are all we’re going to be able to create for Marvel figure lines.
Eric Walters
Hey, Chuck… You da man !! I just saw the New pics of the New Enterprise-D with Updated Secondary Hull w/Windows. Will there be a replacement program for those of us who recieved the defective (D’s)? Plus… Has the Sound FX Distortion been issue resolved in this Reissue of the Enterprise-D? I would like to replace mine”No questions asked”, maybe a customer Service type of setup or something….
DST CHUCK: I would not call our previous release defective – as with any product we re-run we try and improve what we can. If you mean the window decals I will say to this day we still ship them out as customers contact us. I do not know what distortion you mean but if you contact CS I am sure they will do what they can but I have no idea what no questions asked might mean since they have to ask you what the problem is before they can help you – right?
David Ellis
Hi Chuck! As always its a pleasure to read your thoughts on Star Trek and there’s always room for more questions so here goes…
1) DST Zach and the Facebook team recently posted photos of the Enterprise D – still as beautiful as ever and with added windows it’s an improvement on the last release with one exception… The ugly ‘made in china’ legal rubbish stamp is far far too big. As I see it although these are toys, these are by and large bought by collectors and people who want to display them. Most (if not all) your ships manage to hide the legal stuff very very well so why is it
A ) not hidden as it is with your other ships and
B ) why is it so large?
It would please me and I’m sure many other fans out there if you’d hide the irrelevant (to fans anyway) legal stuff since it really does ruin an otherwise great model/toy.
2) Keeping with the legal info… Please tell me that the legal information on your other ships, new or re-releases will not be as obvious and hidden from view at any angle the customer wishes to view your ships.
3) Star Trek: Enterprise… It’s a tough call for DST to decide to go there again but the ENTERPRISE – NX – 01… I understand it would involving tooling a new mould for it unless you find the missing tooling and I’m not privy to the information DST has available but from a fan’s perspective, ships with Enterprise in their name will always be popular and like some fine wines, all the Star Trek’s gets better with age including Star Trek: Enterprise so will the NX-01 see a release once more? Thanks DST!
DST CHUCK: 1) You and I might know they are made for collectors but the government regulates then like toys and we do as we are told. Whenever possible as you stay we hide whatever we can to hide those types of things but the factory and testing lab have to be comfortable with it and it has to passes testing. Something like this is out of our hands but we do what we can. 3) For now our plans have not changed for the NX-01 we have no plans on re-running it and as I’ve said in the past we’re not sure the location and condition of the tool at this time.
Steve Habisch
Do you have any estimates as to when you’ll be shipping Excelsior after the B releases?
DST CHUCK: Nope.
Stanley Wong
Now that STTNG is being released on Blu-ray, we can see the Enterprise-D model originally was colored in blues and greens. If or when you re-release the Enterprise-D toy, could a variant be made of the blue/green paint job?
DST CHUCK: Stanley – I think this debate as gone on since toys started – are Han’s pants Blue or Black etc.. There are hero versions of ships, CG versions etc…we do the best we can and the re-issue D’s are well on their way to shipping so no changes will be made, I suppose it’s something we could look at and research if we do an additional run after this.
Blair Brown
First,I wanted to ask if you had firmed up a date on the Enterprise-E launch. Your FB page says that it would be out “just after the new year.” But the guy at my comic book shop(Amazing Spiral) says it would out sometime in June,at least according to HIS guy at DCD. I just need an ETA so I have a vague idea what date to put on the calender. Also,I’d like to comment on what Adam Miatke said in Ask DST#188. He’s probably been burned by the Playmates version of the Excelsior/Enterprise-B,which used the same mold for both ships,presumably as a cost cutting measure. I know I felt the same way when I went halfway across the State of Maryland to purchase the Playmates Enterprise-E from Insurrection,which only vaguely looked like the ship we all knew & loved from the TNG movies. Since you guys weren’t around then,I only have myself to blame and I ask you not to judge Adam too quickly or harshly. Anyway thanks for reading!
DST CHUCK: We can get pretty close with an specific ship date once a shipment leaves China and we can get close to exact date when it hits the warehouse – other than those two time periods it is still an estimate.. We’re going to do the best we can to keep updating the AA shipping blog to keep everyone as updated as possible. The Excelsior will NOT just be a repainted B – I hope that helps.
Arthur Chester
Okay Chuck, I am baffled by another Trek decision so I’m here yet again. Zach (REDACTED) posted pictures of the Enterprise-D re-release, and I was startled by the image of the aft section of the separated saucer. There, in plain view, was the worst-placed huge legal jargon in big black letters in the docking area! Is that going to be on the final toy? I sure hope not! It looks TERRIBLE! Will it also be on the AGT re-release? If so, I’m going to have to pony up the dough for the first release then. Also, while I was glad that the neck windows have been addressed, why are they different than the waterslide decals? I have the waterslides applied to mine and they look great, so I am curious as to why they seem to have been redesigned. (REDACTED) Anyway, thanks for your time and I patiently await the release of Enterprise-B (and a BoP with landing gear)!!!
DST CHUCK: Arthur- Just to say it for the record and for everyone to read…I answer EVERY question sent here but I will no longer answer yours if they include a personal attack on one of my staff, another company, or toy folks. I don’t care if folks insult me – have at it – but not OK to attack the hard working folks that work so hard for me and fans out there to do the best products they can – I removed the comment this week. I already commented on the legal mark in an earlier question. I think the pictures Zach posted were work in progress – I can’t comment on the final details until I see the final. Hopefully the final product is to your liking, while it’s possible we could miss something we’ve added more onsite QC for this new run of Trek ships and role play to make them as accurate as possible (they already caught and improved several small things as we have moved along).
David Ellis
Brilliant looking Minimate USS Enterprise! If successful will you go ahead and do my generation’s iconic Enterprise, the USS Enterprise D?
DST CHUCK: David I think moving forward with an all new model is a ways away but of course if it’s a huge hit – why not!
Marty Chamberlain
Which stand is the Enterprise B going to ship with? The style that came with the D? or the nicer ball joint style one from earlier ships?
DST CHUCK: The problem with the ball joints in the earlier version was they broken even more than the later more bulky versions.
John
Hi there, I was wondering if and when maybe in a few months or so, you might be making a repo TOS “Hypospray” with the hissing sound + two other viles that can be interchanged? And, the Hypo from the TNG/DS9/VOY with also the hissing sound + viels? Just a though from a star trek fan, Please let me hear back from you soon, John
DST CHUCK: I don’t think we have ever considered the hypo spray but as I’ve said in the past no new items have been settled on yet – but will be soon.
Rick Andrews
I’m a huge fan of the retro cloth ST action figures. I am wondering when/if you plan on releasing the following figures; Vena Nurse Chaple Andorian I have all the others in my collection, but am waiting on the release(s) of the above. thanks- Rick A
DST CHUCK: Sorry Rick those are not planned at this time.
Jeff Weber
Hello, I was wondering Any plans for a Battlestar Galactica 2003 Ship Line like youre Star Trek Ship line?
DST CHUCK: Sorry Jeff right now we have no plans for more BSG product.
Alejandro Huertas
Wonderful ships that you produce, however, I believe introducing other ships, such as the USS Rode Island from Voyager, USS Equinox, and other ships from different shows that are not the main stream could be highly marketable and collectable versus the standard old original ships that you constantly reintroduce! Especially those that can be separated such as (the ships name that I can’t remember from voyager episode) that can separate in three sections would be a highly valuable prize for any ship collector! Also the many BSG battle ships that can also be created as ready to go ships with automated sound and action would also be very marketable!
DST CHUCK: The quantity we have to sell to make the ships profitable at a price this low with the details we put in them are really very high – I think higher than you might think VS the existing fan base. Some of the ships you suggest will not have the overall appeal that you think they will. That said if the ships we do choose to make keep selling we’d be crazy to not keep trying to expand the line.
Todd Bamford
Hello. I was just wondering if AA is ever going to produce the Star Trek Enterprise C unit?
DST CHUCK: To date we have not settled for sure on which ship we will do after Excelsior.
Arthur Chester
Hello again Chuck! I’m really liking what I’m seeing and hearing so far with the Enterprise-B. I can’t wait to get my mitts on it! I was holding an Enterprise-E recently, and was reminded of all the problems and controversy around it, as well as the fact that it is coming back in 2013 with a new paint job. There has been practically no information on the toy as far as addressing the problems, so I wonder if you could let me/us know what is going on with the toy? Have the incandescent bulbs been replaced with LED’s? Have lights been added to the blue nacelle strips? Has the stand been redesigned? Has a better quality speaker been found to address the distortion in the sound? Also, the first time the Enterprise-E was released, it marked the first time ever that we received a ship without a second battery cover with NO hole in it for the stand. This was recognized by DST to be an oversight, but still none were made available. Will we be getting the battery cover t! his time?
DST CHUCK: Hello Arthur glad you’re exited and just as glad to see a “clean” question from you. I think some of the issues with the E were the transition between AA being the lead and DST taking the lead after acquiring select assets to AA . I would not want to say one method is better or worse, it’s just that we have a different vision for the ship than they did. The paint is being changed to more accurately reflect a specific version of the ship and I can tell you we’re making as many (I guess you would call them) “improvements” as we can while still fitting in our budget and with the existing tooling we have. We are not going to be able to change the chip because we still have an inventory of chips from the earlier runs. Hopefully you and other fans will be happy with this re-release.
Arthur Chester
I knew I forgot to ask something! Will the new Enterprise-E have an “always on” light feature?
DST CHUCK: Arthur it will not have that feature at this time – reason being we still have chips in stock as I said in your earlier question.
Thomas Allison
Are there any plans to remake the Star Trek Phaser from The Final Fronter?
DST CHUCK: We have never made that phaser and do not have any plans to at this moment.
Nick
I just want to say u guy’s r doing a great job on the star trek ship’s. The look, sounds, everything is amazing and so much better then playmates ever did. please keep up the great work! i noticed there is finally a enemy ship, the klingon bird of prey. glad to see that, instead of another enterprise. although it’s great u guy’s r doing the enterprise line. however, it would b cool to see some enemy ship’s and see the bird of prey gives me sum hope. lol. A couple of other cool enemy ship’s would b the Klingon ship the Negh Var, a Cardassian ship, Jem’ Hadar ship, Valdor Warbird, Borg Tactical cube, and the Scimitar. Also please make a toy of the U.S.S. Voyager, it’s my favorite starship. Thx for ur time, and great job guy’s! Sincerely Nick.
DST CHUCK: Nick our plan is to see how the BoP does and if it sells as well as we hope we’d absolutely look to do more enemy ships.
Daryl Bowlin
Since the Excelsior is a limited edition variant, do you have a list of the retailers that you’ll be shipping them to so we can keep an eye out for them? Thanks.
DST CHUCK: Daryl I have no idea where you heard that the Excelsior was limited to one of a few retailers that is not the case. As soon as we’re done with the B we’ll move on to the final details for the Excelsior and start to line up a ship date.
Glen Fig
Hi Diamond, I recently came across your Retro Star Trek action figures I. Was impressed. The reproduction of my beloved action figures i no longer owned is incredible. I have them in my home office on display. Any chance of creating a Retro Mego Marvel action figure set? I would buy them all in a heartbeat! Thanks for the Star Trek retros anyway. Glen.
DST CHUCK: I think the Marvel Select and Minimates are all we’re going to be able to create for Marvel figure lines.
Eric Walters
Hey, Chuck… You da man !! I just saw the New pics of the New Enterprise-D with Updated Secondary Hull w/Windows. Will there be a replacement program for those of us who recieved the defective (D’s)? Plus… Has the Sound FX Distortion been issue resolved in this Reissue of the Enterprise-D? I would like to replace mine”No questions asked”, maybe a customer Service type of setup or something….
DST CHUCK: I would not call our previous release defective – as with any product we re-run we try and improve what we can. If you mean the window decals I will say to this day we still ship them out as customers contact us. I do not know what distortion you mean but if you contact CS I am sure they will do what they can but I have no idea what no questions asked might mean since they have to ask you what the problem is before they can help you – right?
David Ellis
Hi Chuck! As always its a pleasure to read your thoughts on Star Trek and there’s always room for more questions so here goes…
1) DST Zach and the Facebook team recently posted photos of the Enterprise D – still as beautiful as ever and with added windows it’s an improvement on the last release with one exception… The ugly ‘made in china’ legal rubbish stamp is far far too big. As I see it although these are toys, these are by and large bought by collectors and people who want to display them. Most (if not all) your ships manage to hide the legal stuff very very well so why is it
A ) not hidden as it is with your other ships and
B ) why is it so large?
It would please me and I’m sure many other fans out there if you’d hide the irrelevant (to fans anyway) legal stuff since it really does ruin an otherwise great model/toy.
2) Keeping with the legal info… Please tell me that the legal information on your other ships, new or re-releases will not be as obvious and hidden from view at any angle the customer wishes to view your ships.
3) Star Trek: Enterprise… It’s a tough call for DST to decide to go there again but the ENTERPRISE – NX – 01… I understand it would involving tooling a new mould for it unless you find the missing tooling and I’m not privy to the information DST has available but from a fan’s perspective, ships with Enterprise in their name will always be popular and like some fine wines, all the Star Trek’s gets better with age including Star Trek: Enterprise so will the NX-01 see a release once more? Thanks DST!
DST CHUCK: 1) You and I might know they are made for collectors but the government regulates then like toys and we do as we are told. Whenever possible as you stay we hide whatever we can to hide those types of things but the factory and testing lab have to be comfortable with it and it has to passes testing. Something like this is out of our hands but we do what we can. 3) For now our plans have not changed for the NX-01 we have no plans on re-running it and as I’ve said in the past we’re not sure the location and condition of the tool at this time.
Steve Habisch
Do you have any estimates as to when you’ll be shipping Excelsior after the B releases?
DST CHUCK: Nope.
Stanley Wong
Now that STTNG is being released on Blu-ray, we can see the Enterprise-D model originally was colored in blues and greens. If or when you re-release the Enterprise-D toy, could a variant be made of the blue/green paint job?
DST CHUCK: Stanley – I think this debate as gone on since toys started – are Han’s pants Blue or Black etc.. There are hero versions of ships, CG versions etc…we do the best we can and the re-issue D’s are well on their way to shipping so no changes will be made, I suppose it’s something we could look at and research if we do an additional run after this.
Blair Brown
First,I wanted to ask if you had firmed up a date on the Enterprise-E launch. Your FB page says that it would be out “just after the new year.” But the guy at my comic book shop(Amazing Spiral) says it would out sometime in June,at least according to HIS guy at DCD. I just need an ETA so I have a vague idea what date to put on the calender. Also,I’d like to comment on what Adam Miatke said in Ask DST#188. He’s probably been burned by the Playmates version of the Excelsior/Enterprise-B,which used the same mold for both ships,presumably as a cost cutting measure. I know I felt the same way when I went halfway across the State of Maryland to purchase the Playmates Enterprise-E from Insurrection,which only vaguely looked like the ship we all knew & loved from the TNG movies. Since you guys weren’t around then,I only have myself to blame and I ask you not to judge Adam too quickly or harshly. Anyway thanks for reading!
DST CHUCK: We can get pretty close with an specific ship date once a shipment leaves China and we can get close to exact date when it hits the warehouse – other than those two time periods it is still an estimate.. We’re going to do the best we can to keep updating the AA shipping blog to keep everyone as updated as possible. The Excelsior will NOT just be a repainted B – I hope that helps.
Arthur Chester
Okay Chuck, I am baffled by another Trek decision so I’m here yet again. Zach (REDACTED) posted pictures of the Enterprise-D re-release, and I was startled by the image of the aft section of the separated saucer. There, in plain view, was the worst-placed huge legal jargon in big black letters in the docking area! Is that going to be on the final toy? I sure hope not! It looks TERRIBLE! Will it also be on the AGT re-release? If so, I’m going to have to pony up the dough for the first release then. Also, while I was glad that the neck windows have been addressed, why are they different than the waterslide decals? I have the waterslides applied to mine and they look great, so I am curious as to why they seem to have been redesigned. (REDACTED) Anyway, thanks for your time and I patiently await the release of Enterprise-B (and a BoP with landing gear)!!!
DST CHUCK: Arthur- Just to say it for the record and for everyone to read…I answer EVERY question sent here but I will no longer answer yours if they include a personal attack on one of my staff, another company, or toy folks. I don’t care if folks insult me – have at it – but not OK to attack the hard working folks that work so hard for me and fans out there to do the best products they can – I removed the comment this week. I already commented on the legal mark in an earlier question. I think the pictures Zach posted were work in progress – I can’t comment on the final details until I see the final. Hopefully the final product is to your liking, while it’s possible we could miss something we’ve added more onsite QC for this new run of Trek ships and role play to make them as accurate as possible (they already caught and improved several small things as we have moved along).
David Ellis
Brilliant looking Minimate USS Enterprise! If successful will you go ahead and do my generation’s iconic Enterprise, the USS Enterprise D?
DST CHUCK: David I think moving forward with an all new model is a ways away but of course if it’s a huge hit – why not!
Marty Chamberlain
Which stand is the Enterprise B going to ship with? The style that came with the D? or the nicer ball joint style one from earlier ships?
DST CHUCK: The problem with the ball joints in the earlier version was they broken even more than the later more bulky versions.
John
Hi there, I was wondering if and when maybe in a few months or so, you might be making a repo TOS “Hypospray” with the hissing sound + two other viles that can be interchanged? And, the Hypo from the TNG/DS9/VOY with also the hissing sound + viels? Just a though from a star trek fan, Please let me hear back from you soon, John
DST CHUCK: I don’t think we have ever considered the hypo spray but as I’ve said in the past no new items have been settled on yet – but will be soon.
Rick Andrews
I’m a huge fan of the retro cloth ST action figures. I am wondering when/if you plan on releasing the following figures; Vena Nurse Chaple Andorian I have all the others in my collection, but am waiting on the release(s) of the above. thanks- Rick A
DST CHUCK: Sorry Rick those are not planned at this time.
Jeff Weber
Hello, I was wondering Any plans for a Battlestar Galactica 2003 Ship Line like youre Star Trek Ship line?
DST CHUCK: Sorry Jeff right now we have no plans for more BSG product.
Alejandro Huertas
Wonderful ships that you produce, however, I believe introducing other ships, such as the USS Rode Island from Voyager, USS Equinox, and other ships from different shows that are not the main stream could be highly marketable and collectable versus the standard old original ships that you constantly reintroduce! Especially those that can be separated such as (the ships name that I can’t remember from voyager episode) that can separate in three sections would be a highly valuable prize for any ship collector! Also the many BSG battle ships that can also be created as ready to go ships with automated sound and action would also be very marketable!
DST CHUCK: The quantity we have to sell to make the ships profitable at a price this low with the details we put in them are really very high – I think higher than you might think VS the existing fan base. Some of the ships you suggest will not have the overall appeal that you think they will. That said if the ships we do choose to make keep selling we’d be crazy to not keep trying to expand the line.
Todd Bamford
Hello. I was just wondering if AA is ever going to produce the Star Trek Enterprise C unit?
DST CHUCK: To date we have not settled for sure on which ship we will do after Excelsior.
Arthur Chester
Hello again Chuck! I’m really liking what I’m seeing and hearing so far with the Enterprise-B. I can’t wait to get my mitts on it! I was holding an Enterprise-E recently, and was reminded of all the problems and controversy around it, as well as the fact that it is coming back in 2013 with a new paint job. There has been practically no information on the toy as far as addressing the problems, so I wonder if you could let me/us know what is going on with the toy? Have the incandescent bulbs been replaced with LED’s? Have lights been added to the blue nacelle strips? Has the stand been redesigned? Has a better quality speaker been found to address the distortion in the sound? Also, the first time the Enterprise-E was released, it marked the first time ever that we received a ship without a second battery cover with NO hole in it for the stand. This was recognized by DST to be an oversight, but still none were made available. Will we be getting the battery cover t! his time?
DST CHUCK: Hello Arthur glad you’re exited and just as glad to see a “clean” question from you. I think some of the issues with the E were the transition between AA being the lead and DST taking the lead after acquiring select assets to AA . I would not want to say one method is better or worse, it’s just that we have a different vision for the ship than they did. The paint is being changed to more accurately reflect a specific version of the ship and I can tell you we’re making as many (I guess you would call them) “improvements” as we can while still fitting in our budget and with the existing tooling we have. We are not going to be able to change the chip because we still have an inventory of chips from the earlier runs. Hopefully you and other fans will be happy with this re-release.
Arthur Chester
I knew I forgot to ask something! Will the new Enterprise-E have an “always on” light feature?
DST CHUCK: Arthur it will not have that feature at this time – reason being we still have chips in stock as I said in your earlier question.
