New Frontier

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.

Back in 2001 when i glanced over a Forbidden Planet catalog

It's an interesting article but i think its under appreciated for a very good reason - it's just not good enough for ANYONE to really think WOW those are AMAZING! I MUST HAVE THEM - whilst they have produced toys that are better than Playmates offerings last year they still lack behind a lot of other TOY companies - most noticeably Hasbro with their Star Wars line and on the other side of the scale DST are in no way competitors with NECA or MEZCO so i beg the answer to this question; what the hell IS Diamond Select Toys? is it a toy company like Playmates or Hasbro or is it a toy company like NECA and MEZCO.

They have an entire legacy of characters at their sculptors hands from 5 series and 10 movies. If we are to appreciate their Star Trek line they need to improve greatly on their figure's quality and not just re-release figures made 10 years ago, to stop judging what they release on pre-sales and to look at a wider picture than just sales in the US - sure it's probably the biggest market for Trek but there are other countries out there but most of all DST if you want us to follow CTR advice, do something amazing and never before done and do it without delays without a bad build and something that is on the same level and standard as a NECA figure or even your won Marvel line.

Theres nothing new about it and I'm sorry but the quality is dire - retailers are probably sick of customers bringing DST items back and having to dish out refunds - i have a few friends who work for FP in the UK and DST are notorious for being a company that lacks the quality that NECA and MEZCO offer - even in these hard times. DST has really no reputation - it's a nothing company really and unfortunately it seems that DST have been over shadowed in both specialist and major retail stores by companies such as NECA, MEZCO, McFarlane, and Hasbro respectively.

off topic no i don't think so, hard for some to swallow perhaps but i feel that this might just be the larger consensus outside these four padded walls at trektoy.com - DST are a company with no identity or anything that sets them apart from the others - they are a slap bang middle of the road company with nothing that makes people want to go out and buy Diamond Select rather than NECA or Hasbro.

Give the license to someone like NECA or McFarlane or Hasbro and I'm sure sales will increase. For the first time in their license DST can't blame Star Trek for the failure of their line - this is DST's fault and i for one am sick of being persecuted because i say negative things that are to be honest very true.

don't ask me, i wasn't the one who took this topic off topic.

Fair enough but personally i think that the only decent figures DST have produced have been the following;

TNG Wave 1: Worf & Riker - TNG took a nose dive after the first wave, had the level of quality continued throughout i would have definitely got the lot but the line descended into head swaps and sup-par sculpting (data, Ogawa, Troi) with the females coming out more like team america puppets, and paint work that just sucked.

Khan from the Wrath of Khan wave - the best figure from this line by far - the rest were head swaps on three different bodies that each had the same legs - i mean I'm shocked that the fans don't mind buying the same figure over and over again as long as it has a new head...

Amok Time 2 pack - the only reason this is here is because it showed that DST could do some nice work if they wanted to - although these are repainted versions of the original Art Asylum sculpts and that bizarrely Spock is wearing a slightly re-tooled McCoy uniform they have one BIG redeeming feature - their hard torso's - had DST re-released their TOS figures with the hard torsos i would have got the lot but once again as with everything DST does the bureaucratic mentality took over and we were left with the rubber shirts on a sculpt by Art Asylum and a block colour paint job (black for hair, cream for skin) by a 2 year old who's not found that the use of tone is a must on an action figure built to represent a real man or woman.  

Every other figure has been below the standard set by Art Asylum imo - i mean Art Asylum were no stranger to problems and I'm sorry but comparing these two companies on the amount they've produced isn't going to win me over since i believe that QUALITY above all else should come first. Art Asylum's figures just seemed far more worth the money you paid for them, they felt to me as if a lot of care and attention to detail went into them and i have to say that 9 times out of 10 i have been extremely happy with them.