100 replies to this topic

[Gothneo]

At this point I'd be happy if DST just stopped "producing" figures so I can box this collection up and be done with it.

So whirlygig's comment made me wonder... I have all my AA/DST figures out on display! I love 'em! even if the line ends I don't intend to box them up and store them! But I realize that many collectors do once a line is no longer "active"... in fact many collectors sell off a line once they no longer have anything to "Collect"

If/when DST ends the current line what will you do?

(BTW I spun this off the TOS 5 thread as it wasn't really about TOS 5 specifically, and I thought the mods would rather I start a new thread then take that one off topic!)

[Jedigreedo]

The first thing I would do is go on a rant for most likely a whole day, using up every curse word I know - and then some - at least a few dozen times. After that day I'd most likely accept it, and start filling the holes from the previous stuff they released, and then evaluate the sets that I want to keep or sell off. After that, I probably wouldn't collect any future Trek figures unless they were absolutely amazing, and/or there was guarantee that they would release 6"-8" TOS, TNG, DS9 and VOY figures.

If there was no superior future line from another company, then all of that money would go towards more important things or more "mature" collectibles such as statues and prop replicas, which my action figure focus has really denied me over the years.

[VulcanFanatic]

Right now i have all of my AA/DST figures on display. I have considered selling off the whole collection or parts of it, but after thinking about how many years and how much time, sweat and money has gone into collecting all of them, and how much i like them, i am not presently planning to get rid of them, even if DST pulls the plug. I have a couple of figures left to get that are out, but my future right now is to collect any future figures in the line and if it ends, i may try my hand at customizing some to try and get some variants never offered by AA/DST.

[Gothneo]

Superior product is a good reason to dump a collection.

When Mattel got serious about the DCUC line I got rid of all my DC Direct figures... well almost all, I think I kept the original 5 JLA figures, but that was it. Even being selective on the Mattel DCUC line... I have a much better collection with the DCUC.

Cost can be another reason. I liked the 25th any G.I. Joe figures, but when they started jacking the price way up, I quit collecting them and thus got rid of the figures.

[J C R]

I am still hoping and praying the line gets a new wind....but I know that is wishful thinking. As others have already said, I would probably try and get the ones I am missing. I think all I am missing is T'Pol with the Science Station, Screaming Kirk, Kang, Capt. LaForge from VOY, Sulu in Science Uniform, ...and TMP two-pack with a grey uniformed Kirk. But as of now I am not really sad about missing any of those.

I may go back and re-collect the figures that have broken down over the years. My S7 Troi split in two when I opened it and is glued together. Malcolm's nose is chipped. Tribbles Bahir will not stand.

But I'd rather put the money towards new figures!!

[Pauln6]

I am still hoping and praying the line gets a new wind....but I know that is wishful thinking.

I'd cry and lament all the missing characters I'd have loved to have. If they would just produce Decker and Ilia in a 2-pack I'd go custom crazy and knock up custom crew with my spare TWoK figures.

[New Frontier]

I won't shed one tear.

When Art Asylum first got this license i was blown away by their attention to detail and their amazing sculpt and paint work, this was a company that cared and it showed, from the collectable coin to the list of artists on the back of the product and to the figure/ship/play-set itself - you knew that this was a quality product, i was thrilled by AA's work and i still am - superb. It wasn't that AA didn't have their issues too, i remember most of them but these days there is nothing at all amazing about the DST Star Trek line, it's head swaps, re-paints and minor changes to AA's sculpts produced without no care or attention to detail and thats why for me it has failed big time. DST have just got stuck in their ways I'm afraid. They have squandered chance after chance to show us a Star Trek line that would at least live up to Art Asylums and they have failed. Rather than going for quality they have chosen to go for the cheapest and that sucks and it's no surprise that this line isn't very popular. The quality of ALL of their products is dire from the application of paint to the god awful factory they get these things made in - i think i have ONE DST item that i love and that is the communicator, even the Enterprise - D for me has cheapness written all over it. Delay after delay has caused people to be turned away from these sub-standard action figures and quite rightly so, this isn't a line that Joe bloggs could easily get into; these Trek figures don't stand a chance against the NECA's or the McFarlane's or the Mezco's or even the Hasbro's. This line died with Digger selling off Art Asylum in 2006, since then it's just gone down hill.

I hope it is lights out because perhaps in years to come someone else, like Digger, perhaps NECA or McFarlane will pick up the license - they may not be companies without their own issues but going by what i've seen on the pegs at Forbidden Planet - they are head and toes above Diamond Select Toys.

[Dilithium1]

what will you do if/when DST ends the current line?

Quote Worf!

Perhaps today IS a good day to die! Prepare for Ramming speed!

[reverie]

I'd be very saddened, and it'd take a bit to get me back into any Trek toys in the future. I certainly disagree on the McFarlane thing, I hate his stuff! Sure they look nice, but if you breathe on them, they break! I'm pretty sure DST is coming to the end of the line with Trek, and it saddens me greatly for all the missing crew members, figures, possibilities, and poor Voyager. I'm sure my figures will stay put regardless on my shelf downstairs.

[knightone]

I'd be sad and upset. I'd really, really miss the Trek Tek and Starship Legends lines. I would probably turn my attention completely to prop replicas. I'd be hard pressed to start collecting any other toy line in the future unless they can match or surpass the quality and detail of DST/AA's Trek Tek and Starship Legends lines. I'm thinking about stopping collecting action figures anyway, so I probably wouldn't collect a figure line after DST. But good quality role-play and ships could definitely get me buying again.

[weyoun_9]

Well, I've already decided to try my hand at sculpting my own...I'm planning on building Lursa and B'Etor from scratch. If they look good and I have fun, I'll keep donig it. if not...oh well. As far as the DST/AA line, I would be really bummed if the line quit...but I also agree with what I've been reading here. They dropped the ball big time with delay after delay, no doubt expensive mistakes that have led to them making terrible choices and head swaps to try and milk the die-hard collectors without actually giving them what we all want which is NEW characters and figures.

Now...if a new toy company would hire the sculptors and work out a new marketing plan and business model...I think the line itself could still have life to it...but we need new leadership who is willing to keep on schedule, keep us informed, and build confidence back in the collectors. You know...nothin' big.

And yeah...If the line is done, I'll finish buying BSG (if those come out) and that will probably be it for me as far as action figure collecting.

[Gothneo]

I guess I thought of the action figures as one line, the role play as a different line and the ships as yet a 3rd line...

I don't know that when the action figure line dies it will mean the end of the other lines...

And New Frontier... I was under the impression that you had already abandoned/quit the line and got rid of all your DST figures? Are you still collecting any DST product at this point? Did I have the wrong impression?!

[Whirlygig]

Heh. What will I do? Save money... I had always had collector blood in me, but I never had the means and never really got into anything on a large (completist) scale before. Before this, the largest collection I probably had were my childhood TMNT figures I received as gifts, which were lost to a garage sale. Then, a few years ago, I had quite a bit of excess money lying around and I found two lines of toys that I thought were really cool -- AA/DST Trek and Hasbro Star Wars Titanium series. So I started collecting them. At first, I was only buying ONE variant of each figure but my collector blood eventually got the best of me. Since then, I've moved into a house, taken on more expenses, and honestly it is a teeny bit irresponsible for me at this point to maintain these collections. I was therefore actually relieved when Hasbro announced that the Titaniums were going on hiatus earlier this year. Those are stocked in every major retail store and some were still becoming harder and harder to find for a reasonable price near the end. In all honesty I would feel similar relief if DST finally called it quits, and stopped leading us along with these mediocre releases. If they pick up the pace I would be glad to keep going, but where it's at now has become more of a headache than anything.

I do box up my collections, even as I am collecting them, because I don't have a good strategy for display -- it's hard to find room to show everything off when you are an in-package collector (or even if they were opened, I'm sure). I have several ships opened & on display, and some duplicate figures I got on the cheap.

[Quadrotritacale]

I'll be relieved when it ends, just as long as they put out the two figures I want before it does. I was going to quit collecting/paying attention to DST products after I get those figures anyway. I have never been so jerked around by a company in all my time collecting...I didn't even know it was possible for a company to do things like this, with the setting release dates and then delaying them like four times. My closest experience has been with DVD release dates being delayed, but that was rarely more than once. Whether the line ends or not, once I get the two figures I've been waiting on, I'll be happy to say good riddance to DST.

[JMW326]

So whirlygig's comment made me wonder... I have all my AA/DST figures out on display! I love 'em! even if the line ends I don't intend to box them up and store them! But I realize that many collectors do once a line is no longer "active"... in fact many collectors sell off a line once they no longer have anything to "Collect"

If/when DST ends the current line what will you do?

(BTW I spun this off the TOS 5 thread as it wasn't really about TOS 5 specifically, and I thought the mods would rather I start a new thread then take that one off topic!)

The figures look great on display so I will not be boxing them up or getting rid of them. If and when DST no longer do Figures then I am happy with what we have. I know they havent done every secondary character or guest on the show but they have done who I want and think I need to complete my display which is the main characters from the different shows (with the exception of Quark).
Aside from not getting Voyager and a couple from DS9 I am very happy with the collection DST has given us. Lets take a quick look at the different collections that DST has put together for us (minus every variant and uniform version)

TOS

AA RE releases
Kirk
Spock
McCoy
Scotty
Sulu
Uhura
Kang

TWOK
Kirk
Spock
Sulu
McCoy
Scotty
Uhura
Chekov
Terrel
Savikk
Khan

TNG
Picard
Riker
Worf
Data
Geordi
Dr Crusher
Wesley Crusher
Troi
Ro Laren
Barclay
Obrien
Ogawa
Thomas Riker
Lore
Q

Nemesis/FC
Picard
Riker
Troi
Data
Geordi
Worf
Crusher

DS9
Sisko
Dax (Ezri)
Dax (Jadzia)
Odo
Obrien
Bashir
Kira
Martok
Gowron


That is a lot of figures and a lot of characters. The only way I would replace them is if something better came out down the road. Which IMO would be hard to do.

[bgiles73]

If out of the ashes arose a quality 3 3/4" line jointly designed and produced by Playmates and DST I'd shed no tears. I haven't really felt a need to have every character variation in the 7" scale anyway. I bought TNG crew in Duty Uniforms but passed on "All Good Things". I don't have the room for all that! Now if the were smaller I'd be more apt to buy all the variations, so DST would have a full sale through on lines. I did the same when Hasbro cut back on Marvel Legends in favor of the smaller Marvel Universe. I didn't feel compelled to buy everything with the 6" figures, but those little guys, I have to get them all. It is a universe of them after all!

[weyoun_9]

The figures look great on display so I will not be boxing them up or getting rid of them...That is a lot of figures and a lot of characters. The only way I would replace them is if something better came out down the road. Which IMO would be hard to do.

I agree...I think my biggest frustration with the line and its hypothetical though probable ending is that the quality is so good and that it's hardly likely a comparable line would come along any time soon. So then I look at all these extra Kirk's and I see some new sculpts for duplicate characters (such as Mirror or All Good Things) and I think how much more I would have liked to see Quark, Bajoran Kira, and the Voyager Crew. They're cool...but no replacement for a complete set of crews.

I currently display the Enterprise crew, the TWOK crew, the TNG crew, the DS9 crew, then a shelf of aliens, and then the TOS crew and a final shelf with AGT and NEM TNG characters. They do look great...but sadly incomplete. I guess they'll have to stay that way.

I think if a 3 3/4 line pops up I will be very skeptical. I have never really liked that size because the sculpts are never really accurate. They don't have to be per se at that size. I LOVE some of the DST/AA sculpts...Ensign Ro is eerily accurate...and of course the Scott Bakula and other Enterprise scans are pretty cool as well. The 3 3/4 would have to be 24th century Trek and really good before I took the plunge.

[New Frontier]

I think the best thing for this line perhaps is for it to take a breather until Star Trek: something something (something dark side?) comes out and then whoever has the license then (DST/Playmates? Hasbro?) comes back and really launches right into producing whatever scale works best (probably the 3 3/4) and tackle it all; The new movie, Star Trek 2009, TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, Movies 1 - 10, the lot - it will give collectors a chance to catch up with what they need from the current DST line but i think that clearly DST have got to sort Star Trek out - it really does need some life kicked into it - much like the franchise needed a kick after Enterprise so taking a year or two out would probably do it some good.

[Gothneo]

... i may try my hand at customizing some to try and get some variants never offered by AA/DST.

I was looking at my Enterprise shelf and I count 14 unique figures between the Broken Arrow and Away Team lines... To date I have added 7 more customs to my Enterprise shelf! That's like 50% more! Granted several were quite simple, but as a whole, it really fleshed out my ENT shelf nicely.

I find it to be a fun way to keep the line alive... and there are many people have been doing that with lines like the mego line, and even the playmates!

[Artistix]

My Playmates & DST figures are both on display these days. They likely won't go anywhere until I move again. At which point I'll probably just keep DST's TNG season 7 crew on display. Maybe TOS as well if they release Chapel.