115 replies to this topic

[BlueArrow]

Has anyone heard any news on the future of the Playmates Trek line?

[BadBunnyMike]

As of now, the line has been cancelled or atleast delayed for some "restructuring" We might get some more news at Toy Fair next month....hopefully

[VulcanFanatic]

I got an email from Paula Billingsley about two hours ago. It was a response to a email i sent her about two months ago or so. She stated that Playmates had been looking for alternatives for distribution, but were unable to come up with an option, and that the Star Trek line had been "Discontinued". She was very apologetic and offered to send me my choice of a free Communicator, Tricorder or Transporter room playset for my trouble. Her words did not hold out any hope for the line and i do believe "Discontinued" means the same as "Canceled". It doesnt look like we will see any figures from a new movie either unless another company like DST gets the license for it and they can get someone to order enough of them.

[bgiles73]

Yeah bummer. I just got an email from Paula too. It doesn't look good for the future of Star Trek figures anywhere. I was looking forward to those TOS 3 3/4" figures. I would sure like to see production art or something on those. It sucks that a show with as rich a history as Star Trek can't have product that catches on with the kids today. What's the matter with the little video game zombies? My three year old daughter likes Star Trek, she even calls Star Wars and all other space and Sci-Fi - Star Trek. I guess it's all in the raising. I can't understand why Paramount doesn't get an animated series out there, and better yet why push the movie all the way into 2012?

[TheHSBR]

Ahh the good ol' days of lines being "discontinued" bring back not so fond memories. Well thats quite a shame and Im assuming that also means the death of the classic TOS 3 3/4" figures as well? I guess when you produced average to below average figures the results tend to go the same way. This line broke absolutely no new ground and was completely underwhelming to say the least. I wonder what would have happened if they gave it a more modern treatment with articulation and sculpting more in line with star wars or gijoe or if the end result would have just ended up being the same anyway....

[Gothneo]

Well, this is a bummer for everyone I think, regardless of if you liked the line or not. My view was that having Trek Product out there that was selling would eventually trickle down to sales in more adult collector stuff, which I would like.

I've heard from many friends that collect all kinds of toys tell me that main problem w/Star Trek is that the basic style/uniforms are boring and that's why they don't grab kids.

While there may be a bit of truth in that, I think it's all the way they market stuff. Early on Toy makers (and then Lucas) realized that the aliens of the Canteen in the original movie caught the eye and imagination of the kiddies. Even though most had scant seconds of screen time!

Star Trek has a rich line of aliens, and I just don't get why retailers don't think they will sell!

Ah well. At least I can have fun making the rest of my custom crews for the time being!

[VulcanFanatic]

For a movie that made as much money as Star Trek did in '09, the merchandising seemed subdued to me in some way. I really had to know about the stuff and make an effort to find any of it when i went to a store, and often couldnt find any items at all at any particular store. Casual fans or others that might pick up a Star Trek item for a family member who was a fan didnt get much of an opportunity to see this stuff at most stores. TRU did have that big behemoth of a display at the front of the store which was primarily for the playmates stuff with little else from any other company there. I thought that Barnes and Noble would have a book/game display setup but they didnt in my area B&N 's. Point is here is that had i not known that items were available i wouldnt have known they existed by the NON efforts by retailers to carry or prominently display these items for casual fans/other customers to see and get excited by and purchase. Hasbro had several DVD action figure tie in sets available to attract interest To Star Wars and Indiana Jones toys, why couldnt playmates have done this? If a store could have grouped Books, figures, movies, posters, other toys, birthday items, clothing,etc together at least for a few weeks they could have cross pollenated sales and had more success with there merchandising. I did my part to buy all that i could of the different items available, but had it not been for the internet, i would probably never found some of the items or even have known they existed.

[TheHSBR]

Yes Trek made a bunch of money, BUT on my four trips to see it I saw very few children 10 and under. I saw mostly adults and teenagers which is great for the future of the series but not so good for toys. Im not sure if those experiences were isolated or the general trend either.

[Sybeck1]

PG-13?

[TheHSBR]

Well back in the day a R rating didn't hurt Jurassic park who had a very successful toy line. I know that usually isn't the norm but I think a pg13 rating now isn't much discouragement

[Biffette]

A few notes:

1) Jurassic Park was PG-13
2) Cantina aliens sold well when the original Star Wars Trilogy was out in theaters, but for the past several years Hasbro has had to scale back the production runs on those types of figures because they no longer carry appeal beyond the collector audience.

I would never expect Playmates' Star Trek movie line life to extend past a year after the release date. For me the greater disappointment was the lack of a second wave when the movie turned out to be a successs. I see this as an uncertainty from retailers and even Playmates; was the new movie going to be a hit or a flop? That played a large part of why there was a distinct lack of displays and coordination between lines. (I never saw a Star Trek backpack, and I don't see Star Trek Valentine Packs out now ) Now that the sequel has been pushed back to 2012, Playmates will have an opportunity to re-evaluate their production and release strategy to align with the attention span of the modern audience, which is always on the move towards the next big thing.

[Gothneo]

Dino's are always a hit w/ th e kiddies!

[bgiles73]

A few notes:

1) Jurassic Park was PG-13
2) Cantina aliens sold well when the original Star Wars Trilogy was out in theaters, but for the past several years Hasbro has had to scale back the production runs on those types of figures because they no longer carry appeal beyond the collector audience.

I would never expect Playmates' Star Trek movie line life to extend past a year after the release date. For me the greater disappointment was the lack of a second wave when the movie turned out to be a successs. I see this as an uncertainty from retailers and even Playmates; was the new movie going to be a hit or a flop? That played a large part of why there was a distinct lack of displays and coordination between lines. (I never saw a Star Trek backpack, and I don't see Star Trek Valentine Packs out now ) Now that the sequel has been pushed back to 2012, Playmates will have an opportunity to re-evaluate their production and release strategy to align with the attention span of the modern audience, which is always on the move towards the next big thing.

For Star Wars everything is leaning more towards the animated line. 2010 will see a return of the Vintage Orignal Trilogy Packaging for the movie figures, and for the first time ever the prequel trilogy figures will see vintage style packaging as well. My ultimate wish would be for Hasbro to get the Star Trek license, but my fears are that Paramount still don't understand how to capture childrens interest with Star Trek. They are too blind to see that an animated series could do wonders. Hopefully Star Trek Online will catch on like Warcraft did, Playmates or DST really should get ready to jump on that! Neca's Gears of War and any other game they do figures for or really popular. If game figures generate revenue so collectors can see the movie accurate figures too, so much the better!

[TheHSBR]

Hopefully Star Trek Online will catch on like Warcraft did, Playmates or DST really should get ready to jump on that! Neca's Gears of War and any other game they do figures for or really popular. If game figures generate revenue so collectors can see the movie accurate figures too, so much the better!

I can say with certainty that STO will never achieve the popularity of gears of war or warcraft. As much as Id like to see STO merchandise, Im also certain that we will never see any merchandise from it.

I think our best bet here will be for the Trek sequel to drop and maybe we will see a complete relaunch of this line by playmates or whoever, and hopefully they will make this a line that is actually up to the standards to of the modern marketplace.

[sallah]

I am highly doubtful, but I hope that this just means the end of the movie line and not the TOS line. But it probably means both... boo!

Sallah

[Commodore Kor'Tar]

Well that's disappointing news , but I am by no means shocked . I'm just miffed that the Narada , and the Jellyfish are going into the cancelled pile as well , to say nothing of the Kelvin which we all were screaming for , only to have our cries go un answered . Well hopefully in a matter of time DST will get aholed of the ST XI Liscene and give us some high quaility figures that are in scale with previous AA/DST releases and maybe give us some hige qaulity ships including the NCC-1701, the Kelvin , Narada and the Jellyfish . then again this is DST we're talking about so if they do get the liscene they'll make a bunch of prototypes show them once or twice to get out hopes up and cancell them months later . Such is life for a 21st Century Star Trek toy collector .

[bgiles73]

I am highly doubtful, but I hope that this just means the end of the movie line and not the TOS line. But it probably means both... boo!

Sallah

Paula Billingsley told me in an email to address any further Star Trek questions to Pat Linden. I spoke to him by phone. He was really a nice and down to earth person. He said that TOS figures were canceled as well, and while he was hopeful he wasn't very opptimistic about the 2012 movie line. I invited him to post on here at trektoy.com , I told him that DST Chuck used to come on and posts sometimes. Mr Linden said that he might do that. So hopefully, if the stars align, Star Trek merchandising will one day see the profitability that it saw in Playmates first run and we will get a good figure line to compete with Star Wars.

[TheHSBR]

Ill be honest...thats the best news Ive heard. Lets give another company a shot at it and im pretty sure theres another company looking to amke a name for itself just like AA did back in the day. I welcome something new and something different at this point. Lets be honest, Playmates waltzed right into this market again, gave us some average to below average product and expected us to buy it up. Well you cant just restart the clock and take us back to the 1990s. Id like to see a company take Trek to the next level with likeness, scale, sculpt and articulation kinda like what AA did back in the early 2000s.

[Gothneo]

So hopefully, if the stars align, Star Trek merchandising will one day see the profitability that it saw in Playmates first run and we will get a good figure line to compete with Star Wars.

I really don't see a Star Trek Line returning to the popularity of the 90's Playmates line... sorry, but I think anyone that believes it might has a long wait.

Id like to see a company take Trek to the next level with likeness, scale, sculpt and articulation kinda like what AA did back in the early 2000s.

Yes. i agree. but I think CBS has to be willing to basically give the license away to such a company... in other words they need to see that the merchandising... at this time... is really about getting free advertising for the Trek franchise... you know to sell things like DVD's and Movies??