Playmates Toys and ViacomCBS Consumer Products today announced that ViacomCBS has awarded the global toy company with the licensing rights for action figures, vehicles and ships, role play and other toy categories for all Star Trek properties. Playmates will launch its new Star Trek toy line in 2022, following Star Trek’s entry into kids’ content with the premiere of Star Trek: Prodigy, the first Star Trek series aimed at younger audiences.
Among the qualities Playmates will bring to the Star Trek Universe are its attention to brand detail, authentic portrait sculpting, and new product innovations it plans to introduce to its forthcoming Star Trek collections. Fans can look forward to a new lineup of action figures and accessories from Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Picard, other Star Trek series throughout the universe coming soon, and future selections from the expansive Star Trek Universe of series and motion pictures, including the Paramount+ CG-animated series Star Trek: Prodigy produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and CBS Studios. Details on forthcoming product lines from Playmates will be announced at a future date.
“As Star Trek readies to beam into the kids’ space for the first time with Star Trek: Prodigy on Paramount+, we are thrilled to also enter the toy aisle with Playmates, offering a new generation of fans out of this world toys that will allow them to embark on their own Star Trek adventures at home,” said Dion Vlachos, Executive Vice President, Hardlines and Retail, ViacomCBS Consumer Products. “Playmates Toys has deep experience in developing Star Trek figures and playsets – in fact, they helped to define and raise the stature of the range of collectibles. The expertise and ingenuity they plan to bring to figures, ships and more will elevate the play experience for kids and collectors alike.”
“We’re excited to be transported back into the Star Trek Universe, a brand and world that we know very well,” said Karl Aaronian, senior vice president, Playmates Toys. “Our product team includes some lifelong super fans, like me, and we are honored to join with ViacomCBS again to help further engage fans with the wealth of new content coming as well as captivate a new generation of kids with the positive values that Gene Roddenberry introduced in his Trek world.”
Playmates was the master toy licensee for Star Trek from 1992–1999, launching award-winning collections of action figures and innovative accessories from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and classic Star Trek. In 2009, the company also released the official figures and accessories based on the J.J. Abrams Star Trek motion picture.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
[ July 16, 2021, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: TSN ]
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
I loved their ships, but I hated their figures. I’m more of a 3.75 inch fig guy, plus they always reminded me of TMNT figs, which I didn’t like either.
Posted by 137th Gebirg (Member # 2692) on :
FFS! Do we really need to have a 100,000x100,000 pixel image blowing out the screen margins here?
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
What, you don't have auto resize?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Dude, the software running this place hasn't been updated in over a decade. Of course it doesn't.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I meant on his browser.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Is that a thing? I'm on the latest Firefox, and it certainly didn't resize it for me. I don't think I've ever seen a browser independently decide to rescale images in the middle of a page.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Did for me on Chrome mobile, on a Huawei Mate 20 X. Maybe because I posted it?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Oh. Or just because it's mobile? Mobile devices have to do a lot of rescaling for their smaller screens, so maybe it's more likely to be a thing there.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
I'm running Chrome and it didn't resize either.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Playmates finally provided some release dates and information about their first wave of releases. Honestly, I'm pretty underwhelmed.
In terms of figures:
The first wave, due in July, includes TNG action figures of Picard, Riker, and Data; Discovery figures of Michael and Saru; and Wrath of Khan of Adm. Kirk, Capt. Spock, and Khan.
A prop of a TOS phaser pistol.
A 18" or 21" long TOS Enterprise.
The figures are 5", so roughly in scale with their 90s line, but they don't quite have the same dynamic, toyetic sculpting, so they have a kind of bland appearance to them (they sort of look like oversized Kenner-style figures, similar to Super7's 3.75 TNG line). They appear to have 12-14 points of articulation (about the same to the 90s line).
It's hard to get a good feel for these because these are photos, don't appear to be of particular good quality, and may be of 3-D printed, hand-painted prototypes, but my initial impression is ... not that great.
On the good side: I'm glad they're producing figures from the entire Star Trek lineup. Their initial press release from last summer played up the recent properties (and I am very looking forward to a Lower Decks crew on my shelves).
There's no information yet as to what accessories they may come with, or if they may have sets of hands (for easy swaps, and to hold phasers, etc.)
Sounds like future waves will be in 2023. No pricing currently available.
Call me underwhelmed as well. I’m am, however, looking forward to their Prodigy line, if only because there’s a chance they’ll make that cool phaser.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Playmates announced a full wave of Prodigy figures, but only showed about half of them. You can read (and see) their release here.
quote: Star Trek: Prodigy follows a motley crew of young aliens who must figure out how to work together while navigating a greater galaxy, in search for a better future. These six young outcasts know nothing about the ship they have commandeered – a first in the history of the Star Trek franchise – but over the course of their adventures together, they will each be introduced to Starfleet and the ideals it represents. Produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and CBS Studios, Star Trek: Prodigy is currently available to stream exclusively on Paramount+ and will debut on Nickelodeon in the U.S. later this year.
At launch, the new toy line will include the following Star Trek: Prodigy characters:
Dal R’El figure with Murf Gwyndala Jankom Pog Hologram Janeway Zero Rok-Tahk (coming early 2023) These five-inch, 1:14 scale figures will feature 14 points of articulation and come packaged in a brand-new blister pack style designed exclusively for the Star Trek: Prodigy toy line.
