the reason I think the Star Trek toy line failed wasn't for the reasons given in this video I think the toy manufacturers didn't understand how kids played Star Trek I remember when I was a kid we didn't want action figures of Captain Kirk and Spock and none of the other characters to play with the same way we played with Star Wars and GI Joe characters we wanted their gadgets we wanted phasers tricorders and communicators we would pretend to be members of the Federation and run around the neighborhood like maniacs so what the manufacturer should have made was those gadgets seen on Star Trek.
King Mojo , they were just trying to mimic the success of Star Wars toys. It was a typical example of corporate minds not understanding WHY something worked. Star Trek is not Star Wars, and vice versa. Another line that tried to copy Star Wars was Disney's The Black Hole. Kids didn't want an action figure of Ernest Borgnine, they wanted the robots and ships. The twelve inch line was all boring human characters. Where was the large robots? Corporate minds did not have a clue how to market their toy lines or build on the strengths of the particular brand. It was always dollar signs in their eyes, let's copy Star Wars.
well that's true. but the enterprise should have made like the falcon was. forget scale. it would have to be big. bigger than the falcon was. but it would have been cool. you could open the dish up and have you figure pile into the ship.
We wanted their gadgets, and we sorta got a few. There were model kits of the tricorder, phaser, and communicator, as well as the ship and shuttle craft for a while. Playmates would later make those toys, starting with 'The Next Generation' ..
Me too! DEFINITELY saved the best joke for last. I used to really like Decker too- or at least felt bad for him. Now it's tough to watch TMP. I would have killed for that electronic Enterprise when The Wrath of Kahn came out- I must have watched that movie a hundred times on HBO.
What's worse, somehow (being both a Trek and general pop culture fan) I didn't know until now. "A Klingon" "A Pedophile" (quick confused Google search) (couple of minutes shock) "Bwahahahaha". Too soon too laugh?
Another awesome video!!!! Mike and Malinda, you guys rock at filming,editing and obviously research. Your videos are always entertaining and extremely informative. Kudos to both of you 👍
I just stumbled across your videos. The buck Rodgers episode 1 showed up in my feed for some reason. I watched it loved it, and still loving them. Takes me back to my childhood. Thank you for these videos.
I love these classic RetroBlasting videos. I watch them over and over. They bring a sense of peace and allow me to remember a time that was so much fun in my life.
I couldn't AGREE more! That bridge was a thin, flimsy coffee cup lid held together with double-sided tape! You also needed magnified glasses to play with it. I threw it out. I never thought any collector would want this dollar store purchase!!! 😂😂😂😂😂
Holy 6 year retrospective Batman. Given you were in the UK at the time you would probably know for sure, But I seem to recall that Corgi had a tiny Trek 2 Enterprise in their Corgi Juniors line and I do remember seeing a couple hit stateside at the time. I didn't seek one out because of how off it was with the backward pylons. Of course around that time both Dinky and Corgi were on life support anyway given how the British pound sterling performed weakly to the US Dollar. Lesney Matchbox survived, but barely and they ended up selling AMT, the company known for Star Trek model kits, to Ertl around 1981-82.
I think the biggest problem with the "imagination" thing is that.... kids don't really LIKE using their imagination as much as adults think they do. It's usually their last resort, they wanna see and touch the thing, not just imagine it.
GRex7777 I think you're on to something. As a kid, my imagination was OUT OF CONTROL. I constantly making up my own shit, repurposing action figures; mixing & matching various lines together. But when it came to existing properties, I got very frustrated if certain characters didn't have a figure, or the figure wasn't a good approximation, or the playset was inaccurate, or the vehicle was lame. And in light of my imagination, adults were always puzzled when I said I preferred the movie version to the book in the cases where both exited... I was like, "well, I want to know how it's *supposed* to be. How I would imagine it was fine and good, but not official to my kid brain. My own self-created mythos were one thing; existing franchises another entirely. I think it was like, "why should I do someone else's work for them?" Haha
Back then, I would have given anything to have actual toys of some of the things I loved. It was impossible. I had to use Star Wars and Buck Rogers as stand ins for everything else. I used to make capes and wings out of contruction paper for my figures, and I built ships out of Legos. I had a great imagination and was very creative, but it was so frustrating that only a small handful of things I liked actually got toys.
Love your channel. as I grew up with the majority of these toys you review and still have many of them in storage (need a bigger place to display them eventually).
Star Trek The Motion Picture Director's cut is an excellent science fiction film. It's what Star Trek was all about, seek out new life forms and the mystery of space. Star Trek was always at it's best when it was serious and cerebral.
Really liked your tribute to Leonard Nimoy as well. I actually got to meet him once my dad took me to a convention in Indy one year for my birthday at the Westin hotel. Not recognizing him with a mustache and beard I carried his bags to his room for him after he got on to the elevator that my dad and I were on and he tried to give me $5 and I refused politely and went back down the hall to the room my dad and I were in. There's more to the story way too much to type maybe some time I can tell you.
That's amazing! I never met Mr. Nimoy. I did however accidentally rear-end his niece in Los Angeles (less than 5 mph blunder). True story - and it was a week after I'd purchased the Search for Spock Collector's DVD.
Haha! You're such a big kid (as am I!) and I really like your collections and love of the old toys. I was too poor to ever own the more expensive items back in the day, though I DID get the"chicken walker" for xmas in the 80s and picked up the Falcon, X-Wing, Y-Wing and AT-AT from jumble sales (UK charity bring-n-buys) throughout primary school (UK elementary school), but I discovered I must've taken better care of my toys than other kids - theirs had so many missing pieces! I recently found all my Ghostbusters stuff, which I'm pleased to announce had all their accessories and everything. Even Ecto1 and the firehouse. Why am I rabbiting on? Oh yeah! Love your channel man, and kudos to you AND your beloved for finding each other and sharing such geeky passions. Merry Christmas!
As a rare child Star Trek fan, these were the only figures I had, and were ever available in my childhood. I'm a rare weirdo that likes the TMP, but yeah, this review is spot on :-) But, the lack of Star Trek toys did get me into the AMT model kits, which I love to death
the USS Enterprise was never designed with toy line in mind. for example if MEGO had made a USS Enterprise play set to action figure scale it would have been in insanely expensive when compared to the Millennium Falcon, because a USS Enterprise play-set would have to have not just the bridge it would need to have a transporter room, captains cabin, medical bay, engine room. resulting in a playset that would have been way too expensive to produce and had mego produced such a USS Enterprise play-set it would have ended up shelf warming because it would have been too expensive for the consumer. so it just more cost effective to do a bridge play-set, heck any star terk toyline to date has made a bridge and transporter room as playsets but never the full ship .
i had the mego vinyl star trek playset. yeah, it was pretty cool. the problem became holding the flimsy playset together once the seams began to tear. i think it eventually got crushed during a move, which is no surprise because as cool as it was it was still the cheapest thing in a kid's toy collection.
I agree with Harry, I look forward to new posts from you guys. A lot of care and effort goes into these episodes and they are excellent. Mego certainly is the patron saint of lost action figure causes - black hole anyone?!
Very cool! I have that large-scale Enterprise. It was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid and one of the few I kept. Thanks for these videos. Great job!
The South Bend Enterprise's alternate configurations were based on the "Star Fleet Technical Manual" Ballentine Books published in 1975. Franz Joseph (who also had done separate deck plans of the starship) pretty much used the TV show USS Enterprise to make an entire fleet. You may not have gotten toys, but the movies did produce plastic models of the various ships, including the Klingon warships from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and the Bird of Prey from "Star Trek III", and the original 1960s Enterprise model was re-released either during the run of the first movie or from the late '70s when the show had become a hit from re-runs.
I remember getting the crew and play set as a birthday gift. I only ever remember playing with the bridge play set once. Only once.. but I kept the figures for years.
Really great video guys! It's such a shame that Star Trek didn't get a great toy line in the 80's. I was a fan of the larger mego's in the 70's. I really love your channel keep the great videos coming!
Great video, i do enjoy watching your videos. Keep up the good work its a very good channel. You obviously put alot of effort into your videos/shows...
Absolutely love this! So informative on why Star Trek toys was a big flop back in the day. I never knew this and just picked up Playmates Wrath of Khan figures and USS Enterprise. Love your channel, fun, funny, informative and amazing how you have some golden oldies on hand!
What a fun video! Growing up, we loved Star Trek quite a bit, but I couldn't help but be confused about Star Trek II without knowing what happened in the first one. I didn't end up seeing The Motion Picture until well after seeing Star Trek IV, and the only thing that stuck with me was how "The Next Generation" took it's main theme! I wonder which stores stocked most of these toys, because other than the Next Generation stuff, I never saw it for sale, and none of my friends (who enjoyed Trek as much as I did) had any of 'em. Definitely a missed opportunity on someone's part!
That and the fact that Motion Picture and Wrath of Khan had no story connection, so nothing was missed. The episode Space Seed is the precursor to Wrath of Khan, which I rented from the local vid store back in the day.
You have knocked it out of the park again!!! BEST channel on UA-cam, no question!!! You should do a series of features on a few modern toys too. It might help with the current state of yuck in the industry now. Reviews are nice and all but a solid, concise and direct style like yours would make 'em get their houses in order. HAHAHA!!!
I distinctly remember this being given to me as a kid for Christmas. I also got a STMP metal rubbish bin, that stayed with me until I left for College. lol
I'm still hopeful that, one day, someone w/love of action figures will make quality 3 & 3/4 inch toys of all the movies, games & TV shows we loved as children; both recreations of those that existed & those that should've but never did. The closest we have of that today is the ReAction line, but they still have a ways to go in terms of quality. With Hasbro & what they did w/Star Wars & even GI Joe in the last few years, I was hopeful there would be a renaissance of sorts, where big kid collectors, who are now adults, have the money to buy the toys from their childhood, but we still haven't quite gotten to that point yet. We no longer have toys & action-figures, now we have "collector display pieces". It's better than nothing, I suppose, but still.
***** Cell phones. It's like you guys pointed out, today's kids would rather be playing Flappy Bird or some other crap game on their cell phones then collect and play with action figures. More sad then weird.
I'm really surprised no one has made a toyline or anything based off of David Drake's *Hammer's Slammers* series. I guess I can always kitbash and convert old G.I. Joe toys to get that would-be action figure line.
I remember being a Trek fan back in the 80s and the lack of toys. It was nice that years later they did make a variety of figures and vehicles based on TOS and TOS films. Have a good many of them myself (including Khan himself).
Spot on review. I remeber the Motion Picture action figures were always unsold in the stores for years after they were produced. None of my school friends played with the ST figures.
Awesome video (again!) And SO interesting. As a kid, I always wanted good Star Trek toys but never got them. Now I know why. Oh, I got TMP Mr Scott off my granddad onetime, but honestly, it wasn't a good toy. Another brilliant video guys, well done! :)
Great video - very entertaining and educational. It did seem like toy manufacturers just didn't know what to do with Star Trek, at least not until Playmates got involved during Trek's golden age. And even now, manufacturers are confused as to what to do with the current movies. On that ending, please consider doing a video on the rest of Star Trek toy history.
Maybe do a one on Black Hole figures, I used to have those and these Star Trek figures. I agree with other comments that this channel is Ace, very informative on this hobby and I am always seeing if a new video is up yet. The restorations are great as well, keep up the good work, it is not wasted on us..
The Queen & toy collector Thanks Queen - Just one thing. Do you have $3,000 or so? (j/k) Those Black Hole figures are scary expensive. And Humanoid is one of the most expensive figures *ever* in the history of toys. If there's a way to get the figures to put on video, we'll definitely do it. Making a video without the toys actually there to showcase is a tough prospect.
I see what you are saying, I don't know what you do or don't have in your collection, nice to dream though, I had all of them as a kid but they fell apart after a lot of play so they got binned, I wish I kept them but never mind, my brother still has the remains of Vince somewhere but his claws fell off, nice toy though.
When I was a kid I had to keep begging my parents to buy shreddies cereal to get my start Trek toy ship lol. The first ship I got was enterprise and I was so happy, I played with it weeks, luckily it's easy to make the bog ships for it to battle lol.
Just a weird question.... I still have some of the Mego Star Trek figures still carded... I noticed on my Spock figure that his little emblem piece on his chest is not red but I keep noticing on everyone else's Spock figure that the piece is red. Did they make 2 versions of him? Just wondering. This is my favorite channel and I love the videos. Being a 42 year old man who still plays with toys your site makes me yearn for the good ol days when they had figures for every show and movie practically. It's sad that it seems the state of toy making (action figures especially) seems to be disappearing. Keep up the good work. Can't wait for all future videos.
Bill Lane Hey Bill! That's interesting about your Spock. Mego was all over the place quality wise toward the end, so it wouldn't be shocking to see a carded figure without a paint app applied. (e.g. Dukes of Hazzard - what a mess...)
Mego made some Cool Black Hole figures too. and were the ones that made the Buck Rogers stuff. I have a book on Mego. They also made the Eagle Force Metallic figures that are even smaller then the Star Wars and Gi Joe Figures.
I really loved the die cast ship. I got the Ertl ships and desperately regretted not getting the TMP Klingon D7 which was out of circulation by that time of ST 3
Excellent video. The only good thing about the Star Treck TMP figures was that back in the 80's you could always find them in bargain bins and they could bump up the ranks of other figures. Spock served as a scientific advisor for my limited Action Force crew and and i had a rough away team, with the Ertl Kirk and Ernest Borgnine Black Hole figure doubling for Scotty…. Wrath Of Khan is a five star classic, it always bummed me out that they never even made a die-cast Reliant,let alone figures.
Holy crap! That South Bend Enterprise toy (that I had no idea existed) has the same sound effects as my old Star Bird toy. I guess they recycled a lot of circuits back then.
having grown' up in the 70's/80's, I had a couple of the original Star Trek action figures. I also saw ST:TMP in theater and remember people actually walking out of the film.
Amazing it took until 2007 to get a full line of Khan figures from Diamond Select. I got a bit crazy with Star Trek figures when Playmates had the licence and Star Wars was in semi-hibernation. I had basically everything from 1992 to 1996. When they decided to do the limited figures and non nonsensical scale with First Contact I was out of it. I only have a vague recollection of the Motion Picture toys out on shelves. They looked boring then and since I didn't see any Trek until Star Trek 3 I and being just a toddler really I wasn't interested. I had no idea about the diecast and Ertel figures. They somehow got the odd numbered films which are not as well loved stocked with merchandise and the even got little. Weird in hindsight. Excellent work as always!
Growing up in the 70s , I never had any star trek toys. I had , Battlestar , Buck Rogers , star wars figures and even some horror figures like Dracula , wolfman , Frankenstein monster , the mummy I like star trek but never had any of there toys range.
That was cool. I never sat through the first Star Trek movie, but I did see reviews from the likes of The Nostalgia Critic and Oliver Harper, and they pretty much pointed out most of the first movie's flaws. I have to say, that toyline had to be the most unexciting line ever produced. No accessories, no vehicles aside from the Enterprise, and a really dull Bridge playset. Good video.
Growing up I never knew there were Star Trek toys or figures. I wasn't into Star Trek as a kid and none of my friends were either. Looking at what they did offer, I'm not surprised the toys flopped.
Great video Michael and I loved the ending! Although I'm not one of the those people who only thinks the even numbered Trek movies are good while TMP did have scenes that could have been made into toys in terms of the colour is was very bland. It would be like making a toyline of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
One the most fun things about the late 70's /early 80's era of action figures ..was imagination "crossover universe " play ...lol..at one point i had Star Wars ,Trek , Buck Rogers , The Black Hole and G.I. Joe all interacting ...personally i found the BSG figures were too big though a couple of them made cool additions to the Star Wars universe as giant Cantina type aliens lol
the reason I think the Star Trek toy line failed wasn't for the reasons given in this video I think the toy manufacturers didn't understand how kids played Star Trek I remember when I was a kid we didn't want action figures of Captain Kirk and Spock and none of the other characters to play with the same way we played with Star Wars and GI Joe characters we wanted their gadgets we wanted phasers tricorders and communicators we would pretend to be members of the Federation and run around the neighborhood like maniacs so what the manufacturer should have made was those gadgets seen on Star Trek.
King Mojo , they were just trying to mimic the success of Star Wars toys. It was a typical example of corporate minds not understanding WHY something worked. Star Trek is not Star Wars, and vice versa. Another line that tried to copy Star Wars was Disney's The Black Hole. Kids didn't want an action figure of Ernest Borgnine, they wanted the robots and ships. The twelve inch line was all boring human characters. Where was the large robots? Corporate minds did not have a clue how to market their toy lines or build on the strengths of the particular brand. It was always dollar signs in their eyes, let's copy Star Wars.
well that's true. but the enterprise should have made like the falcon was. forget scale. it would have to be big. bigger than the falcon was. but it would have been cool. you could open the dish up and have you figure pile into the ship.
We wanted their gadgets, and we sorta got a few. There were model kits of the tricorder, phaser, and communicator, as well as the ship and shuttle craft for a while. Playmates would later make those toys, starting with 'The Next Generation' ..
Too true and full of saving planets memories!
Maybe there would have been more interest if there was a 1980 onwards Saturday morning cartoon?
"STOP... competing-with-me-decker."
This is my favourite channel in existence. That is not hyperbole.
Harry Partridge Harry, I can't thank you enough for the comment and your time watching our content. It is valued beyond measure.
Yep!
That was very nice of you Harry. This is a fun and informative channel!
Harry Partridge i
"A Klingon!"
"A Pedophile..."
I lost it
EnigmaticPenguin l
It was good!
Me too! DEFINITELY saved the best joke for last. I used to really like Decker too- or at least felt bad for him. Now it's tough to watch TMP. I would have killed for that electronic Enterprise when The Wrath of Kahn came out- I must have watched that movie a hundred times on HBO.
Lol...I know right!!! Man I died laughing at that part!!!
What's worse, somehow (being both a Trek and general pop culture fan) I didn't know until now. "A Klingon" "A Pedophile" (quick confused Google search) (couple of minutes shock) "Bwahahahaha". Too soon too laugh?
In the late 1990’s & early 2000’s, Playmates came out with a great line of Star Trek figures. Thank goodness for Playmates.
I think the time is right for a follow up to this Retro Blasting classic.
Another awesome video!!!! Mike and Malinda, you guys rock at filming,editing and obviously research. Your videos are always entertaining and extremely informative. Kudos to both of you 👍
Thanks Brian! Thanks for being a subscriber!
I just stumbled across your videos. The buck Rodgers episode 1 showed up in my feed for some reason. I watched it loved it, and still loving them. Takes me back to my childhood. Thank you for these videos.
I love what you did with the action figures at the end. Good job with the voices.
I love these classic RetroBlasting videos. I watch them over and over. They bring a sense of peace and allow me to remember a time that was so much fun in my life.
I couldn't AGREE more! That bridge was a thin, flimsy coffee cup lid held together with double-sided tape! You also needed magnified glasses to play with it. I threw it out. I never thought any collector would want this dollar store purchase!!! 😂😂😂😂😂
Holy 6 year retrospective Batman. Given you were in the UK at the time you would probably know for sure, But I seem to recall that Corgi had a tiny Trek 2 Enterprise in their Corgi Juniors line and I do remember seeing a couple hit stateside at the time. I didn't seek one out because of how off it was with the backward pylons. Of course around that time both Dinky and Corgi were on life support anyway given how the British pound sterling performed weakly to the US Dollar. Lesney Matchbox survived, but barely and they ended up selling AMT, the company known for Star Trek model kits, to Ertl around 1981-82.
I think the biggest problem with the "imagination" thing is that.... kids don't really LIKE using their imagination as much as adults think they do. It's usually their last resort, they wanna see and touch the thing, not just imagine it.
GRex7777 I think you're on to something. As a kid, my imagination was OUT OF CONTROL. I constantly making up my own shit, repurposing action figures; mixing & matching various lines together. But when it came to existing properties, I got very frustrated if certain characters didn't have a figure, or the figure wasn't a good approximation, or the playset was inaccurate, or the vehicle was lame. And in light of my imagination, adults were always puzzled when I said I preferred the movie version to the book in the cases where both exited... I was like, "well, I want to know how it's *supposed* to be. How I would imagine it was fine and good, but not official to my kid brain. My own self-created mythos were one thing; existing franchises another entirely. I think it was like, "why should I do someone else's work for them?" Haha
Back then, I would have given anything to have actual toys of some of the things I loved. It was impossible. I had to use Star Wars and Buck Rogers as stand ins for everything else. I used to make capes and wings out of contruction paper for my figures, and I built ships out of Legos. I had a great imagination and was very creative, but it was so frustrating that only a small handful of things I liked actually got toys.
No. I preferred leading. Not following. Leaders Imagine.
Spock: "V'ger is a child..."
ua-cam.com/video/5Ei_2wS0U-w/v-deo.html
So, that's why Decker went off with V'ger/Ilia at the end.
HAHA
The short scene at the end is honestly more entertaining than the whole Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The hell it is. ST: TMP is awesome.
@@CaptainSpalding72 No, No its not
@@juantanamera7798 yes it is...
@@juantanamera7798 the score alone elevates the film. Its over hated. Not perfect but far from terrible. Get new eyes.
@@juantanamera7798 yes it is
The Playmates line in the ninties was awesome.
Great analysis! And that ending was brilliant!
Another Great Video from you guys. I always look forward to a new installment.Keep up the good work.
sonic360 Will do, sonic!
I must say .. the skit at the end of this was Awesomeness! Great Job RB!
Love your channel. as I grew up with the majority of these toys you review and still have many of them in storage (need a bigger place to display them eventually).
Don’t believe Rodddenberry was thinking “toys” when developing Trek.
Awesome, I hope you add the Black Hole figures into this sweet 80’s mix!
Star Trek The Motion Picture Director's cut is an excellent science fiction film. It's what Star Trek was all about, seek out new life forms and the mystery of space. Star Trek was always at it's best when it was serious and cerebral.
Right, but which version? The 2001 DVD version or the recent re-mount with significant changes of its own?
So Far this is my favorite RetroBlasting video!!! Cant wait to see the next one. Thank you.
***** Appreciate that Art!
Really liked your tribute to Leonard Nimoy as well. I actually got to meet him once my dad took me to a convention in Indy one year for my birthday at the Westin hotel. Not recognizing him with a mustache and beard I carried his bags to his room for him after he got on to the elevator that my dad and I were on and he tried to give me $5 and I refused politely and went back down the hall to the room my dad and I were in. There's more to the story way too much to type maybe some time I can tell you.
That's amazing! I never met Mr. Nimoy. I did however accidentally rear-end his niece in Los Angeles (less than 5 mph blunder). True story - and it was a week after I'd purchased the Search for Spock Collector's DVD.
Is there a part 2? What about playmates Star Trek toys?
Tattooine77 Yes yes... to Obi Wan you listen *****
Haha! You're such a big kid (as am I!) and I really like your collections and love of the old toys. I was too poor to ever own the more expensive items back in the day, though I DID get the"chicken walker" for xmas in the 80s and picked up the Falcon, X-Wing, Y-Wing and AT-AT from jumble sales (UK charity bring-n-buys) throughout primary school (UK elementary school), but I discovered I must've taken better care of my toys than other kids - theirs had so many missing pieces! I recently found all my Ghostbusters stuff, which I'm pleased to announce had all their accessories and everything. Even Ecto1 and the firehouse. Why am I rabbiting on? Oh yeah! Love your channel man, and kudos to you AND your beloved for finding each other and sharing such geeky passions. Merry Christmas!
As a rare child Star Trek fan, these were the only figures I had, and were ever available in my childhood. I'm a rare weirdo that likes the TMP, but yeah, this review is spot on :-) But, the lack of Star Trek toys did get me into the AMT model kits, which I love to death
Loved this episode. But more Star Trek content is required. LOL. We should do a crossover!
the USS Enterprise was never designed with toy line in mind. for example if MEGO had made a USS Enterprise play set to action figure scale it would have been in insanely expensive when compared to the Millennium Falcon, because a USS Enterprise play-set would have to have not just the bridge it would need to have a transporter room, captains cabin, medical bay, engine room. resulting in a playset that would have been way too expensive to produce and had mego produced such a USS Enterprise play-set it would have ended up shelf warming because it would have been too expensive for the consumer. so it just more cost effective to do a bridge play-set, heck any star terk toyline to date has made a bridge and transporter room as playsets but never the full ship .
Do it!
This needs to happen! NEEDS, I tell you!
Oh man, I love this channel! I always wondered as a kid in the 80s why there seemed to be no Trek toys other than models. Now I know. Thanks!
Thanks Venkman! You're welcome!
@7:27 I've always loved me my TOS and TMP era kitbash classes.... now I see what inspired them all
Thanks for the video! I had no idea any Trek toys existed between the 1960's and the TNG Galoob line.
Another great video, love all the Star Trek references! Keep up the great work! Always enjoy your toy line reviews!
Clay Montgomery Thanks Clay! Will do!
i had the mego vinyl star trek playset. yeah, it was pretty cool. the problem became holding the flimsy playset together once the seams began to tear. i think it eventually got crushed during a move, which is no surprise because as cool as it was it was still the cheapest thing in a kid's toy collection.
6:20
God...
That really sums up my time with action figures as a kid
I agree with Harry, I look forward to new posts from you guys. A lot of care and effort goes into these episodes and they are excellent. Mego certainly is the patron saint of lost action figure causes - black hole anyone?!
stu birchall Appreciate the kind words, stu! Our latest feature is a big one and it's going to be posted this week.
Very cool! I have that large-scale Enterprise. It was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid and one of the few I kept. Thanks for these videos. Great job!
The South Bend Enterprise's alternate configurations were based on the "Star Fleet Technical Manual" Ballentine Books published in 1975. Franz Joseph (who also had done separate deck plans of the starship) pretty much used the TV show USS Enterprise to make an entire fleet.
You may not have gotten toys, but the movies did produce plastic models of the various ships, including the Klingon warships from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and the Bird of Prey from "Star Trek III", and the original 1960s Enterprise model was re-released either during the run of the first movie or from the late '70s when the show had become a hit from re-runs.
Great Job!!!! I Love This Channel and Please Make More Star Trek Figures.
PS I loved the ending !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jimmy George Thanks Jimmy!!!! More Star Trek videos are in the future!
I remember getting the crew and play set as a birthday gift. I only ever remember playing with the bridge play set once. Only once.. but I kept the figures for years.
I'm starting to see a pattern, the Even Numbered Good Star Trek Movies don't get toys, while the Odd-Numbered Bad Star Trek Movies got toys
Really great video guys! It's such a shame that Star Trek didn't get a great toy line in the 80's. I was a fan of the larger mego's in the 70's. I really love your channel keep the great videos coming!
Jedi Council Much appreciated, Jedi Council!
Great video, i do enjoy watching your videos. Keep up the good work its a very good channel. You obviously put alot of effort into your videos/shows...
Gary Horsburgh Thanks Gary. We make every effort to give our subscribers quality content.
loved the ending. "a kleeon, a pedifile, jim a vampire" lol...
Absolutely love this! So informative on why Star Trek toys was a big flop back in the day. I never knew this and just picked up Playmates Wrath of Khan figures and USS Enterprise. Love your channel, fun, funny, informative and amazing how you have some golden oldies on hand!
"Jim a vampire!"
Good ol' Bones...
What a fun video! Growing up, we loved Star Trek quite a bit, but I couldn't help but be confused about Star Trek II without knowing what happened in the first one. I didn't end up seeing The Motion Picture until well after seeing Star Trek IV, and the only thing that stuck with me was how "The Next Generation" took it's main theme!
I wonder which stores stocked most of these toys, because other than the Next Generation stuff, I never saw it for sale, and none of my friends (who enjoyed Trek as much as I did) had any of 'em. Definitely a missed opportunity on someone's part!
That and the fact that Motion Picture and Wrath of Khan had no story connection, so nothing was missed. The episode Space Seed is the precursor to Wrath of Khan, which I rented from the local vid store back in the day.
I remember seeing Ilia figures selling for $0.25 a piece at Children's Palace in the early 90's. Kids just weren't into bald chicks I guess.
Love the channel keep up the good work
You have knocked it out of the park again!!!
BEST channel on UA-cam, no question!!!
You should do a series of features on a few modern toys too.
It might help with the current state of yuck in the industry now.
Reviews are nice and all but a solid, concise and direct style like yours would make 'em get their houses in order. HAHAHA!!!
MC Austin Thanks for the compliment, MC! Modern toys? Hmmm...Like what?
I distinctly remember this being given to me as a kid for Christmas. I also got a STMP metal rubbish bin, that stayed with me until I left for College. lol
Excellent stuff! Sorry to see Worf and Data got the phaser treatment at the end!
I'm still hopeful that, one day, someone w/love of action figures will make quality 3 & 3/4 inch toys of all the movies, games & TV shows we loved as children; both recreations of those that existed & those that should've but never did. The closest we have of that today is the ReAction line, but they still have a ways to go in terms of quality. With Hasbro & what they did w/Star Wars & even GI Joe in the last few years, I was hopeful there would be a renaissance of sorts, where big kid collectors, who are now adults, have the money to buy the toys from their childhood, but we still haven't quite gotten to that point yet. We no longer have toys & action-figures, now we have "collector display pieces". It's better than nothing, I suppose, but still.
Yes - the toy aspect is eroding away from the toy market, which is very weird.
***** Cell phones. It's like you guys pointed out, today's kids would rather be playing Flappy Bird or some other crap game on their cell phones then collect and play with action figures. More sad then weird.
I'm really surprised no one has made a toyline or anything based off of David Drake's *Hammer's Slammers* series. I guess I can always kitbash and convert old G.I. Joe toys to get that would-be action figure line.
A very interesting insight into the star treck line. I couldn't agree more with you guys! Keep up the great work!
Jeff Solo Thanks Jeff!!!
Love the sound squirm scenes starting @7:13! LOL!
Michael, your videos are really great.
I really loved “The Motion Picture”
The Enterprise 1701 A is imo THE most iconic and sleekest looking of all the Enterprises...i always wanted a desktop sized version of it
Great video! The end teased a follow up or part 2 for TNG. Is that coming soon?
I'm loving with "w/ Broken Vader" in the intro.
Don't ever fix that asshole.
I remember being a Trek fan back in the 80s and the lack of toys. It was nice that years later they did make a variety of figures and vehicles based on TOS and TOS films. Have a good many of them myself (including Khan himself).
Spot on review. I remeber the Motion Picture action figures were always unsold in the stores for years after they were produced. None of my school friends played with the ST figures.
BCibroski Seems to be a theme from back then. ;) Such a shame.
Brilliant! Excellent commentary as well! Thanks again!
You're welcome OIF! Thanks for watching!
Loving the new Broken Vader credit in the intro! XD
Thanks Wes
No problem! I think it'd be rather funny to tease him with a lightsaber he can't hold sometime ;o
Awesome video (again!) And SO interesting. As a kid, I always wanted good Star Trek toys but never got them. Now I know why. Oh, I got TMP Mr Scott off my granddad onetime, but honestly, it wasn't a good toy. Another brilliant video guys, well done! :)
Great video - very entertaining and educational. It did seem like toy manufacturers just didn't know what to do with Star Trek, at least not until Playmates got involved during Trek's golden age. And even now, manufacturers are confused as to what to do with the current movies. On that ending, please consider doing a video on the rest of Star Trek toy history.
CBunye As you might have seen at the end, it says "To be continued" ;)
***** Oh, I saw it. Just checking. Looking forward to it! ;-)
OMG!!! Epiphany ahoy!!! Now I know why I loved Star Wars first over Trek when I was growing up in the Eighties. Thanks 🖖
Wow! Love this review!!! Very good observations 👍
Please make a TGN toy review!
Maybe do a one on Black Hole figures, I used to have those and these Star Trek figures. I agree with other comments that this channel is Ace, very informative on this hobby and I am always seeing if a new video is up yet. The restorations are great as well, keep up the good work, it is not wasted on us..
The Queen & toy collector Thanks Queen - Just one thing. Do you have $3,000 or so? (j/k) Those Black Hole figures are scary expensive. And Humanoid is one of the most expensive figures *ever* in the history of toys. If there's a way to get the figures to put on video, we'll definitely do it. Making a video without the toys actually there to showcase is a tough prospect.
I see what you are saying, I don't know what you do or don't have in your collection, nice to dream though, I had all of them as a kid but they fell apart after a lot of play so they got binned, I wish I kept them but never mind, my brother still has the remains of Vince somewhere but his claws fell off, nice toy though.
I love This Channel Please Make More Star Trek Videos Soon!!!
Jimmy George The TNG toys episode is in the scripting phase of development.
🥰😅🤣🤣🤣Great video. You make me laugh so much. So many great childhood memories. 👍
When I was a kid I had to keep begging my parents to buy shreddies cereal to get my start Trek toy ship lol. The first ship I got was enterprise and I was so happy, I played with it weeks, luckily it's easy to make the bog ships for it to battle lol.
I love your vids.
Excellent vid guys. You rule!!
Not a big Star Trek fan but the video is entertainingly informative.
"A Klingon!!"
"A Pedophile!!"
LOL!!!
I had the South Bend Enterprise... wish I still had it... ah, the things we miss into our 40's
full size and accommodating vehicles in toy lines were what we lived for!
Great vid. I love dis subject. U gotta do alotta these trek 1s lol
More Trek features are in the works for sure.
Just a weird question.... I still have some of the Mego Star Trek figures still carded... I noticed on my Spock figure that his little emblem piece on his chest is not red but I keep noticing on everyone else's Spock figure that the piece is red. Did they make 2 versions of him? Just wondering.
This is my favorite channel and I love the videos. Being a 42 year old man who still plays with toys your site makes me yearn for the good ol days when they had figures for every show and movie practically. It's sad that it seems the state of toy making (action figures especially) seems to be disappearing. Keep up the good work. Can't wait for all future videos.
Bill Lane Hey Bill! That's interesting about your Spock. Mego was all over the place quality wise toward the end, so it wouldn't be shocking to see a carded figure without a paint app applied. (e.g. Dukes of Hazzard - what a mess...)
This was great! I loved the action at the end.
Loved that ending sequence!
I love the end scene thing that you did could you do more?
Thumbs up for the scene at the end! VERY FUNNY!
Mego made some Cool Black Hole figures too. and were the ones that made the Buck Rogers stuff. I have a book on Mego. They also made the Eagle Force Metallic figures that are even smaller then the Star Wars and Gi Joe Figures.
I really loved the die cast ship. I got the Ertl ships and desperately regretted not getting the TMP Klingon D7 which was out of circulation by that time of ST 3
Excellent video. The only good thing about the Star Treck TMP figures was that back in the 80's you could always find them in bargain bins and they could bump up the ranks of other figures. Spock served as a scientific advisor for my limited Action Force crew and and i had a rough away team, with the Ertl Kirk and Ernest Borgnine Black Hole figure doubling for Scotty…. Wrath Of Khan is a five star classic, it always bummed me out that they never even made a die-cast Reliant,let alone figures.
Holy crap! That South Bend Enterprise toy (that I had no idea existed) has the same sound effects as my old Star Bird toy. I guess they recycled a lot of circuits back then.
Loved the end!
having grown' up in the 70's/80's, I had a couple of the original Star Trek action figures. I also saw ST:TMP in theater and remember people actually walking out of the film.
Amazing it took until 2007 to get a full line of Khan figures from Diamond Select. I got a bit crazy with Star Trek figures when Playmates had the licence and Star Wars was in semi-hibernation. I had basically everything from 1992 to 1996. When they decided to do the limited figures and non nonsensical scale with First Contact I was out of it. I only have a vague recollection of the Motion Picture toys out on shelves. They looked boring then and since I didn't see any Trek until Star Trek 3 I and being just a toddler really I wasn't interested. I had no idea about the diecast and Ertel figures. They somehow got the odd numbered films which are not as well loved stocked with merchandise and the even got little. Weird in hindsight. Excellent work as always!
I love your toy dramas.
Growing up in the 70s , I never had any star trek toys. I had , Battlestar , Buck Rogers , star wars figures and even some horror figures like Dracula , wolfman , Frankenstein monster , the mummy I like star trek but never had any of there toys range.
Great Video Guys!! Thanks!!
You're welcome, John!
That was cool. I never sat through the first Star Trek movie, but I did see reviews from the likes of The Nostalgia Critic and Oliver Harper, and they pretty much pointed out most of the first movie's flaws. I have to say, that toyline had to be the most unexciting line ever produced. No accessories, no vehicles aside from the Enterprise, and a really dull Bridge playset. Good video.
+sfighter00 Thanks much.
Growing up I never knew there were Star Trek toys or figures. I wasn't into Star Trek as a kid and none of my friends were either. Looking at what they did offer, I'm not surprised the toys flopped.
TVfanfanatic Yeah - they had some shortcomings.
Great video Michael and I loved the ending! Although I'm not one of the those people who only thinks the even numbered Trek movies are good while TMP did have scenes that could have been made into toys in terms of the colour is was very bland. It would be like making a toyline of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
thanks p!
Could you do an overview of Kenner's Jurassic Park and Lost World toylines even though they are from the 1990's?
Hey hey!..a bit more respect for Star Trek the Motion Picture, it was my favorite movie to get to sleep! (i still love it though)
One the most fun things about the late 70's /early 80's era of action figures ..was imagination "crossover universe " play ...lol..at one point i had Star Wars ,Trek , Buck Rogers , The Black Hole and G.I. Joe all interacting ...personally i found the BSG figures were too big though a couple of them made cool additions to the Star Wars universe as giant Cantina type aliens lol
My grand father has a few of those 12 inch figures on a display he used to love the show during the 70s
As a kid in the 80s all I wanted was a toy communicator and phaser that looked like the ones on the show.