Posted 09 January 2010 - 09:21 PM
What is there to really get? this is a forum to share opinions on action figures, yes thats right, not life threatening issues or something of any importance, but action figures. So you don't like me.. so what, just put me on ignore and get on with your life and let the mods decide wether or not holier than art thou should remain here.
It's simple this line is under appreciated because it sucks. The quality is bad, the management is awful, the direction is lacklustre, the delays are unforgivable, the re-use of body parts is indescribable, the... need i go on, and i quite agree with Donster on the idea of diplomacy ending and tough love beginning - it has nothing to do with comic book shops closing, there are a lot of other places for people to get their figures from but it seems they really don't want to and why should they? Not being a big fan of Star Trek, being a huge fan of Star Trek or perhaps being a Kid who loved the new movie or someone older who loved the movie or a collector like many here, none of it really make a blind bit of difference to me as to why these figures simply won't sell and have become under appreciated and unreleased - What DST produces now and what has been put on show at TRU has been done before by Art Asylum almost 10 years ago. Star Trek figures were never going to be the most exciting of action figures since Star Trek has pretty much become popular with an audience older than your average action figure buyer as well as Star Trek itself appealing to the older viewer (lets not have the time old excuse "but my son watches it or but i am only 16" it's besides the point because in a way i am preaching to the converted. Its a general known fact that Trek has perhaps become more appealing to the older sci-fi viewer 25 - old age) but AA did a bang up job - DST are not doing anything new so they are both boring and old news, just look at many of the review sites out there - none will have reviewed a Star Trek figure in yonks - there's nothing new or exciting about this line, it's dead, done, finished and over - and probably the biggest FACT around here is that no Kid under 15 (unless growing up with a dad or mum watching it) will care one iota about a William Shatner action figure or a Leonard Nimoy figure or a Gorn because they can't relate to it and don't know it because it's old fashioned and cheesy and probably pretty boring to a 12 year old and younger, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT are the same, no kid will even remember those series and why should they? TNG was a slow, "look within yourself for the solution" series, DS9 was about dark issues, war, disease, lesbianism, the battles were few and far between over the 7 seasons and none of this appeals to kids, Voyager was pretty much the same, dealing with more grown up issues that would put any kid to sleep unless they've grown up with it watching it with Mum and Dad, and Enterprise, well if most of the fanbase didn't catch it and love it why should kids ever realise it existed unless again your reading this as a member of this board and have kids. Sure the product might look OK to a kid but hanging alongside brands that have been staples of toy shops around the globe for decades, kept growing and kept going since their conception by new and relevant TV shows and movies to keep the interest there, well it's like asking your kid to play with grandpa rather than your cool uncle who understands what you want, it's like DST saying "look kids, here's a toy it's from a series that was made before you were born you can play with it sure but you wont really know or understand it because the series this character is from is over 40 years old and really hasn't remained popular with the kids because of all the other Star Trek series being far too complex/talky/boring for the general kid who loves things like Star Wars and GI-Jo and Transformers" and apart from the avid collector which is hardly a big market no one over the age of 30 unless you frequent message boards like this one here, is going to want a collection of action figures, sure Joe Bloggs might get bought a Captain Kirk action figure as a gimmicky present but I'm sorry DST has got it completely wrong by offering people who simply aren't all that bothered or interested, a huge selection of figures that really can't be supported by a small collecting base of fans. Add in the fact you now have 20 plus versions of the same character, countless re-paints and re-releases, eventually even that small collecting base is going to stop collecting thus your left with an under appreciated line and a problem DST face at this time.
Granted times are tight, sales figures are down and companies/shops are folding faster than towers made of cards but like the franchise before it, DST's line has become old and stale with only a select group of followers sticking with it. Like JJ Abrams did with the franchise perhaps the same has to happen with the merchandise, a new company, a new vision and a new direction that appeals to a broader audience - Hasbro rather than Playmates is one company who i think would work really well in producing a broad range of figures for kids and collectors and i hope that come 2012 it's Hasbro's Star Trek line that joins the likes of Star Wars and Transformers - it gives Star Trek a chance to become exciting to kids with Hasbro's well established line of cross-over Transformers, titaniums, role-play and much more that kids know and love. Older? and don't want a toy then QMx is there to do high quality merchandise ranging in price from the sublime to the ridiculous, eFx too producing again high quality items also ranging in price and for the band of fans who don't want toys but don't want to spend hundreds well there just isn't enough of you to support a line from DST for them to make it a quality line - and besides, if it has Star Trek on the label most die-hards will buy it anyway regardless of it being Hasbro or QMx.
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