Chief Obrien has had a great run on Star Trek.  He got his start all the way back on season one of TNG as a guest character and really took off on DS9 when he got a lead role.  One of the things that always surprises me about the Chief is how much his character evolved on both shows.  He got married and had children, all the while playing integral roles on the ship such as transporter operation and eventually DS9’s chief engineer.  All pretty good for a simple “enlisted man.” I would also guess that the chief has worn the most uniforms of any Trek reoccurring guest.  He’s even worn a few more than some of the bigger names of the Trek franchise.  For some fun I’m just going t start of list of what DST should consider when producing variants: TNG S1 Red, TNG S1 Gold, TNG S7 Gold (check!), DS9 S1, FC/Nem Gold (check!) and TNG Gold Dress Uniform.  DST’s got some work to do!  In any case, the chief deserves it because he’s one of my favorite Trek characters so lets see if DST did him justice.

  The Chief utilizes the standard DS9 packaging which as I’ve said multiple times will be the last time we see this format.  It once again does a good job showing off the figure and many of his accessories.  The back of the packaging shows off the other figures in the wave.  They must have had to do some major research to find one of Kira in that uniform since she appeared in it for so short of a time!  The central focus on the back of the package is a beautiful shot of the DS9 station and the wormhole.  It’s pretty impressive and does add a lot to a part of the overall presentation that usually is a “throwaway.”  I do wish DST would go back to using color specific twist ties because the clear ones really detract from a MOC collector’s overall presentation.  The black ones usually just blend right in and aren’t really that noticeable when looking at the package.

Once again we see the use of the FC Data male body mold.  I do believe that this body mold is becoming a bit overused not to mention being used for characters that don’t really fit.  Just as in my first review of Captain Sisko, I also believe that Chief O’Brien does not fit this mold.  Especially on the DS9 series, O’Brien seemed a bit stockier than what this figure mold gives us.  The height is dead on because both Spiner and Meaney are the same height.  I just think that O’Brien is built a bit thicker than what is being shown.  Granted we probably won’t get a completely new sculpt but it would have been nice to get a new torso or shoulders to show this body type variant.  I think DST is really missing the boat by not adding in some variation to this line.  Very few companies do it all at once, but over time by adding new pieces to the mix such as a new torso or new set of legs, you begin to create variation within the line that can greatly differentiate one figure from the next.  By mixing and matching you can also create more accurate figures than simply trying to fit every character into 3 to 4 body types.

The paint applications are once again done well.  I’m especially impressed by the rank insignia that designate him as being a chief petty officer.  It’s pretty detailed and is applied perfectly.  Paint washes also give his hair and face a little bit more depth. 

  Another big complaint I have with this figure is his face sculpt.  The Chief’s face is just too smooth and young looking. By the time the later seasons of DS9 rolled around, Miles had a weathered face that had a lot of character.  Most importantly his brow had many lines in it obviously from all the stress he had on both the Enterprise and DS9!  This facial sculpt just doesn’t capture any of that.  I think DST tried to put these elements in but they just aren’t cut into the plastic enough and are barely visible.  His hair also doesn’t really capture the curliness that the Chief had for most of his appearances on both Trek shows.  I think this sculpt would be very good for a cadet O’Brien (and considering he’s an enlisted man I doubt we’d see that) but it definitely doesn’t fit for the S7 version.  Its really a shame because the T&T O’Brien is an excellent face sculpt but the only thing preventing me from doing a head swap is the 1960s hair style they gave him.  I just wish they would have taken that face sculpt and just updated the hair instead of starting from scratch.  The head is a decent offering and is definitely passable but it could have been so much better.

This figure has 16 points of articulation which is the same as previous releases utilizing this body type.  Another problem with overusing the same mold is it also limits the amount of poses that a display can have.  Another issue is that this line overall is very static.  Whereas the Riker and Worf figures had a little action going on in the sculpt, this mold has nothing.  Its especially disappointing with this figure because O’Brien was always contorted trying to fix various things on the station.  Very few of those can be recreated with this mold and articulation.

  With O’Brien we also get the standard offering of accessories that come with many of the uniformed officers.  We have a Nem styled phaser rifle, dolphin phaser, 2 PADDS, and a character specific raccoon skin hat that O’Brien used on all those holosuite expeditions with Bashir.  Im not really a big fan of this phaser style because the underside is completely flat without any detail.  I’m also tiring of getting the Nem styled phaser rifle when it was used very seldom on DS9.  DST has the sculpts for the accurate rifles/phaser and I wish they would include those instead.  The PADDS are fully painted with displays but unfortunately don’t show any displays of the station.  It would have been nice to get at least one showing a picture of the station instead of what appears to be a starchart.  I guess its very important for the chief engineer to be up to date on what course a ship is taking.  The best accessory is the raccoon hat because it is new and is character specific.  When you put it on his head, he looks kind of silly but honestly who doesn’t in a raccoon hat!

  Overall this is probably the most disappointing figure of Wave 2 because it could have been so much better.  I can live with the body style choice, but the face sculpt just isn’t up to par for such an important character.  The fitting of characters into the same mold is just getting to be a bit much.  I don’t think most fans are asking for a lot more, but simply a few new pieces added into the mix to give the line variation.  This is an average figure and as such I can’t really say that this is a “go out and buy it immediately” figure.  For people who like the show or the character, go buy it because it will fit nicely into a display.  However, DST didn’t really break any new ground with this one and pretty much underwhelmed when it comes to mold, facial sculpt, accessories, and articulation.

Positives:

Multiple paint apps that are all near perfect

Negatives:

Facial sculpt doesn’t capture character perfectly

Static figure despite 16 POA

Accessories that have become generic

Rating:   out of 5 stars.

As Always