Yeah, the collectible figure market... as well as comic  books went through a boom to bust crazy back in the 90's and early 2000's 

I watched this documentary on baseball card collectibles... and it was kinda sicking how the manufactures were in on grifting the public.

Basically I've never really "collected" things for the monetary value... but rather the enjoyment of the franchise... or even the items themselves.

https://decider.com/...rd-documentary/

This series seems perfect for something like mini-mates

The entire culture of convention exclusives (of all kinds not just Star Trek) continued for years... and I'd gander that it wasn't until the last 8-10 years that after market demand settled  down a bit ... not that it died off, but once manufactures found that they could really sell the exclusives on-line as well as at the convention, many more people were able to get them at more reasonable prices. 

I want to say that the last couple of years I haven't even been interested in any con exclusives from SDCC... which kind of amazed me... and I think thats the second aspect, manufactures have tended to try and either skew toward items that might not be "must haves" or they release them as a re-paint, which again many collectors don't feel incomplete. Gold Star Trek ships are like that for me. Nice con exclusives... maybe I get one maybe I don't. 

fun stuff Sybeck1

Chapel seems to consistently get diss'ed. Overall Chapel appears in at least 25 TOS episodes... which is basically 1/3 of all episodes. Then They brought her back for the animated series and again, Chapel appears in about 1/3 of the episodes. 

So while the argument can be made that she wasn't cast as a main crew member, She is, I think, the character with the most recurrences in TOS, and thus a very prominate character in the series... which is why its the one character I think AA/DST messed up by never releasing.

yes, I have that phaser... I think the phaser that comes with rock looks blah. 

Clearly its not helping your mood! 

ok, thats a better idea!

So... I saw this was out there... which is interesting... as well as something I never considered as a needed or interesting replica... 

https://www.thewandc...ock-mood-light/

Yeah... when is that supposed to air? 

as in an animated series? or just a comic book?

Situation being what it is... I would not begrudge them to use different actors... yes they wouldn't be the same, but due to all the prosthetics for both the look could be captured, but we would know it wasn't them by the voice. 

It wouldn't diminish my love for the original actors, and I'd just love to see that cool cat capt on the screen again!

so I guess the decision to clear inventory or not, is theirs?!

The individual Walmart managers must have some flexibility... and they have to have dept heads that make decisions... because I've lived in places where there are 4 or 5 Walmarts... and while one decides to clearance a ton of toys... 5 miles down the road another Walmart carrying the same stock leaves it on the peg. So you could call and ask for the manager of the toy dept, and I bet they will give you someone?

It is some work... and Yes, spray primer will work... and you can hand paint it all... but the spray will give it a smoother more even look... also... if you can / want to venture out and a something like a Michael's is open... they sell these cheap cans of air type spray painter... its not as fine and adjustable as an actual airbrush, but for a few jobs it will work... I used them for years with good success. 

I should think a very fine emery board might be good to sand down the rough spots?

What you want to do is carefully smooth the surface... git rid of any bumps and then fill air holes. really small holes will be filled with a light coat of primer, then you want to form and prep the peg hole, make sure it all fits before  painting... spray (airbrush) the base skin color and do the hair by hand. Thats my usual order...

As tired as I am of classic TOS-era Minimates (not to be confused with contemporary TOS-era 'mates based on DISCO, SNW, and JJ) I'd probably buy more of them if it made it easy to create other crew members.

 

I keep saying a 4-pack of the TNG crew that had enough spare parts to create four additional crew members would encourage multiple sales. Mix & match is the brand's play pattern. Take advantage of it!

 yeah... but we couldn't even get Rand and Chappel and basically those were just a headsculpt -yes there should have been differences in hight and on Chappels uni... but thats how it goes... plus... they already had TOS bodies they could have dumpped more trials and tribulation characters... we could have gotten ENT mirror figures... there were just tons of simple knock offs that we would have complained about at the time... but I for one would have bought them all!  

to your point they could re-release many figures with two head sculpts... and then watch some buy them twice!

Last I looked the ENT Phase Pistol command some respectable sums. 

 Some people say they'd pay more for a limited run of something, but they would be better off investing in other Trek products to show the health of the brand to retailers, rather than waiting for one specific one and hoping the retailers get THAT one. Stinks, but it is what it is. 

So... buy more Kirk's and Spock's ? I get what your saying, but when your talking about collectors... we all have our niches... some of like the mego products... some like playmates... some actually like DST! some like ships, some like action figures, some like role play! 

oh! nice! Yeah Aston Mount shined in S2 of DISCO.

What a fun documentary (I just watched it). I guess I never realized how poor a view the fans and execs had of DS9. I'll be honest.. I was slow to adopt it... I pretty much missed the 1st two years... and I came in year 3... and then year 4 when it really took I was hooked... I stayed up late nights to watch re-runs of seasons 1 & 2 to coach up.

Of course these days you can stream it all... and they are right! DS9 is very well suited to serial streaming.

Until DS9... I would half-heartedly watch even TNG... in other words I wouldn't schedule anything around it... but with DS9, once I was hooked it made me a fan to tune in a watch every episode of every series.... until recently. I passed on Picard after the two seasons of DISCO. I guess DS9 was the show that made me a super fan... DISCO was the show that seems to have ended it... Sadly, with the death of both Auberjonois and Eisenberg the story line they came up with would require new actors. 

Didn't he basically just say that??
 
wait here... maybe this will make you feel better!
 

work continues,  factory problems.
 

Oh! Timely post Jay K. Its available on "Tubi" for free (with some adds) just add the tubi channel on your Roku and watch it!

I don't think we can move anyone like Walmart by contacting them.

 

Maybe... I think if Walmart didn't carry product at all, you need a digital grass roots campaign to get the product in a store... but they do carry product, what you need to do is get the stores in your area to carry it then.... but if we just want more product then all of Walmart carries... I'd think a national campaign might have some effect... its been done with other things!

As I've always said, moaning to the manufacturer is like preaching to the choir. They want to make and sell this stuff. If collectors really want to demonstrate the level of demand they believe exists for Star Trek, they need to take it to the retailers.

Not that I know anything... but I *thought* the model (being overly simplistic)  was 1) prototype up a product, 2) offer it to retailers, 3) if there is enough retailer interest make it. additionally many online retailers choose to forward that solicitation to customers in the form or pre-orders to make sure they have gauged the demand... if the retailers don't get enough orders to satisfy the manufactures cost... its a bust. So in a market like Trek toys that is shrinking its tough to meet the price point... long way of saying my understanding agrees with you MisterPL... unless I'm completely wrong.

We look at what needs to be re-issued on a regular basis, and we've talked about bringing back the D, among others. And the C and the Reliant and the TNG phaser are all in development, work does continue. 

Firstly, thanks for posting Zach, good to see you back on the board. I guess you confirmed what I was saying about re-issues...

Most direct and honest answer I've heard! Thanks!

I think you just answered your own comment... Trek isn't a "timely" product line. 

The real rub from some us... actually to me its a joke now, is that TNG phaser is 5 years into development! At some point folks just say its never happening.