Star Trek, The Butterface Generation

I saw these four two at the flea market and even though I don't collect much Star Trek, something about them caught my eye and once I had them in my hands I just couldn't cleavage myself away from them!

Lursa and B'etor are a pair of Klingon sisters who...oh hell I don't even remember. I did follow TNG religiously back in the day, but little about these ladies sticks in my memory besides...well...the obvious.

The back of the package indicates the sisters are from the influential Klingon House of Duras and caused the Federation all sorts of headaches and probably other uncomfortable feelings too.

B'etor is the younger sister and the more attractive of the two, at least in action figure form. That means she's only a two-bagger: one bag over her head and one over your own in case hers breaks.

Playmates in their heyday: The details on their action figures, along with the plethora of accessories - hell, you even get a stand and a mini poster with this figure! That simply does not happen in this day and age, especially at the modest price point these figures commanded.

B'etor may have the cuter face but Lursa clearly has nicer...eyes. Yes, eyes. Up there. She has eyes. You may not have noticed.

These ladies were too cheap to pass up, and of course the terrible sexists jokes just materialized out of nowhere the second I spotted them (perhaps they were beamed down from the 1960s Enterprise. Kirk would be proud.) and reproduced like Tribbles, screaming out to be put down in a blog post for all the world to judge me on. Be kind. I had no control.

I do wish I had paid closer attention to Playmates' Star Trek offerings back in the nineties. I had a couple from the original series, and a couple from DS9, but I didn't actively collect them. I've avoided getting into a Playmates Star Trek collection thus far but hey, they are pretty cheap and easy to come by nowadays, and with these sisters to spark my...interest...once again, this might be the start of something (dare I say it?) big!

Star Trek Kre-O Blind Bag Minifigures and Codes!

In anticipation of Star Trek: Into Darkness, Hasbro via their Kre-O line has already released multiple building block sets - as well as a series of Blind Bagged minifigures!

I used the 'squeeze method' to find the two I needed: A Klingon and a Gorn (or is it just Gorn? Mr. Gorn perhaps? Maybe Ms. Gorn? I don't know.)

Gorn is pretty impressive. He has the 'Alien'  build that makes him a great extraterrestrial minifigure, as well as great custom fodder.

He also has a very cool weapon.

'Bring it on, Captain Jerk!'

Of course I also had to have the Klingon. He has that ubiquitous Klingon weapon that I don't feel like looking up right now, as well as a cool jacket.

He's apparently also wearing a helmet, which may be the new Star Trek's way of bridging the smooth headed Klingons of the original series with the lumpy headed Klingons of TNG.

FIGHT!

Each package has a unique set of two numbers on the back upper right of the package, which leads with '30711' on all of them.

The Klingon was 30711 08 and Gorn was 30711 09. Or maybe it was the other way around, I got the packages mixed up when I opened them. Regardless, you will be able to tell because Gorn has those massive legs, and their weapons are unique too. So you might have to squeeze a little bit, but not too much ;)

Hotwheels, the Final Frontier.

I bet you didn't see this one coming - I sure didn't!

Look for the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie reboot version of the Starship Enterprise on Hotwheels shelves now, for about a dollar.

Hotwheels is releasing the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 in their HW Imagination series (don't be fooled by the green stripe on the card, this is not a Treasure Hunt or chase or rare vehicle. Just a new model for 2013, available wherever Hotwheels are sold and in the same quantities as any new release.)

Okay Hotwheels, while I appreciate what you are doing here (and will buy one when I see it) and dig all the licenced movie vehicles you have been releasing lately, I am more than a little peeved that we're getting a freaking Starship Enterprise before we get Mad Max's Interceptor, which is by the way AN ACTUAL CAR and has...WHEELS that were in fact pretty hot if I remember my film history correctly.

Now do us a solid, Hotwheels, and get us some more movie and TV vehicles with, you know, wheels - starting with Mad Max's Interceptor - before you continue boldly going where no Hotwheels orange track can go anyways.

Pic unabashedly borrowed from eBay, where I do not suggest you go and pay more than a dollar for a dollar Hotwheel. But hey, it's your money.

Kre-O lands Star Trek Licence :: Kre-O Enterprise

I've got to have this Kre-O Enterprise, if only to allow my Lego Darth Vader to commandeer it for the Empire!

This is an instance where the building sets are vastly cooler than the potential mini-figures! Coming in 2013, this is obviously based off the most recent Star Trek movie Enterprise, but if this line is a success we could possibly see other stuff from past Star Trek TV and films!

Enterprise, I'll pick you up.

As most folks who read this blog have probably figured out, I am a swap meet and garage sale junkie.

A Junkin' junkie, if you will.

It's genetic. I get it from my mom. So it should come as no surprise to discover that the Saturday after Thanksgiving led to a car load of family members seeking out swap meets and yard sales.

The pickings were slim, like the bones of a turkey two days after Thanksgiving. In fact, we only found two garage sales in the whole town.

But I still did good.

Because at the second garage sale I found this Dinky beauty for a buck:

I never even knew this cool U.S.S. Enterprise existed until last year, when fellow toy blogger Charles of Eclectorama blogged about his childhood Dinky Starship Enterprise.

Thanks to Charles, I knew exactly what I was looking at when I saw this Enterprise laying in a pile of toys , clothes and other miscellaneous castaways. It was pretty filthy (I've cleaned it up) and clearly missing some decals and a warp nacelle tip. I also knew it fired disks from the saucer section (also missing) but otherwise it is quite an unexpected gem and, having been manufactured in 1976 by Dinky toys, not a very common garage sale find.

The satellite dish in the front points upwards a tiny bit but is in excellent shape. In fact, the whole ship is in really good condition, all things considered. This is one solid toy, and it was built to last. There's a lot of metal in it's make-up, probably more than the current Mattel releases (which likely have no metal) and the "action" feature is really cool without detracting from the ship's design (even if I don't have any disks to shoot!)

One of the nacelle arms was pretty (...wait for it...) warped, but all it required to straighten it out was a blast from a hair dryer.

Having seen Charles' Starship a year ago, I knew this Enterprise (potentially) held a neat little bonus. But I wanted to act casual, so I didn't bother checking before I made the transaction.

I happily paid the dollar the lady asked for the ship (it was hers since childhood - how do people let go of these things?!?!) - I didn't even try to talk her down in price ;) - and returned to the car after shuffling through some more toys (found some old school Little People, including Bert and Ernie, for a quarter each.)

Once we started driving away I popped open the bay doors beneath the Enterprise, and there it was:

The little bitty shuttle craft! I did not expect to find it in there! But there it safely hung from it's little metal peg. So cool.

I found it kind of ironic that Eclectorama was just wrapping up it's Batmobile theme week as I found this puppy, seeing as how the Enterprise lost to the Batmobile in Charles' theme week poll. While it's no surprise that the Batmobile won, because it is so awesome, this Dinky Starship does prove that the U.S.S. Enterprise is one cool space ship, and there probably hasn't been a better toy version made.

I think I'll try to track down a new nacelle tip, or maybe even make one somehow. I dig this Dinky ship!