First Star Trek Movie Toys Listed Online – Offer Clues

Let the toys begin. The first descriptions (w/o pictures) of toys for the Star Trek 2009 feature film have just shown up online. UK online retailer Play.com has started offering a small selection of Playmates Star Trek toys for presale, which offer clues into the toy line and the movie itself. 

12" Figures offer movie clues
Playmates Toys has previously confirmed that there will be both 3.75" and 12" action figures based on the new movie (with Trekmovie.com hearing rumors of additional sized action figures possible). So far Play.com is only listing 12" figures, which are designed more for collectors than the smaller figures. At Play.com, four of these deluxe sized action figures are now available for preorder (at £27.99 delivered or around $44.50 USD).  The four figures are:

• 12" Kirk in Enterprise Outfit Figure
• 12" McCoy in Enterprise Outfit Figure (Bones)
• 12" Prime Spock Figure
• 12" Scotty in Frozen Planet Outfit Figure

The likenesses of Kirk, McCoy and Scotty are listed as being those of Chris Pine, Karl Urban, and Simon Pegg respectively.

Regarding ‘Prime Spock,’ according to TrekMovie sources, the script for the new film refers to the older Spock (Nimoy) as "Spock Prime" in order to distinguish him from the younger Spock (Quinto), though neither the name "Prime Spock" nor "Spock Prime " appear in any dialog and won’t be featured in the film itself. What is interesting is that Play.com lists the Playmates Toys 12" Spock action figure with the moniker of "Prime Spock" yet it is described as featuring the likeness of Zachary Quinto. As more details and images of the toys become available, the mystery of whether this is a Nimoy or Quinto figure will be revealed.

Also of note, while the other 12" characters are in their Enterprise uniforms, Scotty is featured in his "Frozen Planet Outfit." TrekMovie has previously reported that Scotty would be seen in the film in civilian clothing (in addition to his uniform) and recently Kevin Smith (who got an early Star Trek preview) revealed that Scotty is the last crewperson to join the crew as they all come together. According to TrekMovie sources the ‘Frozen Planet’ referred to in the figure description is the same planet that Kirk is seen on in one of the newly released official images from the film.

Kirk on the ‘Frozen Planet’

Each figure is accompanied by this description of the film:

Director J.J. Abrams brings you a brand new version of the classic space adventure! Star Trek chronicles the early days of James T Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew. Leonard Nimoy returns to his iconic role as the half-Vulcan half-human Spock, whilst Zachary Quinto stars as the young Spock. Chrs Pine, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana and John Cho star as the original series’ characters, whilst Eric Bana plays the Enterprise crew’s nemesis; Nero!

These new figures will not be the first Trek 12" figures from Playmates. From 1998-2000 Playmates released an excellent 12" collectors line, featuring figures from each of the four Trek series as well as two feature films (Wrath of Khan and Insurrection) . The likenesses were excellent as were the cloth costumes. The technology has improved in the last decade so this line will be highly anticipated by collectors. 

Electronic Tricorder
Play.com also lists an electronic tricorder role playing toy from the new film. Featuring electronic lights and sounds from the film, this item is preselling for £17.99 (or around $28.50). TrekMovie has previously reported that Playmates will also be offering a communicator, phaser and separate ‘utility belt’ for the film, but these are not yet online for presale.

Timing is Everything
For a film scheduled for theaters in May, this is about the time in which specifics about toys are usually available. It was about November of last year that toys for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull were being presold and details were getting to fans from retailers. However, it is disconcerting that Play.com lists the release date as June 30, 2009 for these items. If true, it means that these Star Trek items would not be available for a full two months after the film’s release, which would negate their power to appear on store shelves to help the film’s theatrical popularity and probably affect sales of the toys themselves. However, it is possible that only the 12" action figures and tricorder are being released later, and that the 3.75" action figures and other toys will be available a few weeks BEFORE the film in May which is as it should be with modern marketing. It is also possible that the UK may be getting toys later than the USA.

Also it is likely for these and other toys from the Star Trek movie to start appearing for pre-order at other retailers around the world. These items are not exclusive to Play.com, they were just the first to list them. Trekmovie.com will continue to investigate and fervently hopes that to maximize the benefit to the box office, that the Playmates Toys are going to be available in retail stores April 2009.

Merchandise = clues
TrekMovie will also continue to monitor the appearance of merchandise both for collectors and to find clues to the movie itself. Often early descriptions of movie merchandise ends up offering up information about movies before it has been released elsewhere. This has happened with many films and the new Star Trek is no exception. In fact last month the first ‘official’ confirmation that Nero was a Romulan came from the online description of the prequel comic book on Amazon.

Thanks to Steve B. who spotted the toys at Play