The license to create Star Trek action figures for the 2009 JJ Abrams film was given to Playmates. They created three different sized action figure lines: the 12 inch Command line, the 6 inch Warp line and the 3.75 inch Galaxy line.
The Command line features cloth uniforms and quite decent likenesses. The consisted of nine figures including Spock and Spock Prime. I don’t have these in my collection because I’ve never really liked cloth uniforms. The completist in me might pick them up someday.
The first wave of the Warp line consisted of ten figures including Spock and Spock Prime. For the most part, the likenesses of these figures are quite good. Playmates seems to have corrected the issue of the disproportionately large heads that its 1990s Star Trek figures had. I don’t care much for the sculpted Starfleet uniforms. I think they look a bit like sweaters. I do, however, like the Spock Prime figure quite a bit.
A second wave was announced but never released. It would have consisted of six additional figures including the creatures from Delta Vega and Spock in his Starfleet Academy uniform. The Playmates website included a photo of this figure but I doubt we’ll ever see it actualized.
The Galaxy line seems to be an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Star Wars figures of the same size. Unfortunately, they are lacking in detail and the likenesses are vague. There is also very limited articulation. The first wave consisted of eleven figures including Spock and Spock Prime.
As with the Warp line, Playmates announced a second wave of Galaxy figures that has yet to materialize. It would have consisted of eight additional figures including Spock in his Starfleet Academy uniform and Sarek. Again, the Playmates website offered photos of these figures.
Though it’s not that great looking, I would have liked to have seen this Sarek figure produced. Sarek is one of my favourite characters.
All told, I only added three of these figures to my collection. Spock from the Galaxy line and Spock and Spock Prime (Actually, I bought two Primes. One to open and one to keep sealed) from the Warp line. These toys were obviously targeted for a fairly young audience rather than the older collector. Like the film itself, they were designed to try to lure a new audience to the franchise. Unfortunately, they did not sell especially well which is why the second lines of the Warp and Galaxy figures were not released.
I have published these screencaps from the Playmates website strictly for archival purposes. No copyright infringement is intended.
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