The Collective: DST Trek Toys Headed To Toys R Us + Review Of Retro Khan Figure

Diamond Select Toys announces this week that it has teamed up with Toys R Us stores in the United States to offer DST toys and collectibles, including the popular Star Trek line. See below for details, plus we have a review of the newest retro item, a brand new MEGO-style Khan figure (with the promise that the ubiquitous “Ah-dmiral Kirk” line “Khaaaannnnnn!” will not be featured).

 

Its True about TRU
The Diamond Select Toys R Us deal includes the retail giant featuring both previously released Star Trek items (fans will start to see such products as the replica toy version of the USS Enterprise 1701 in stores imminently) and new items. Especially exciting to collectors is that TRU will have exclusive Star Trek products, starting with two action figures. The DST press releases promises "We’ve also got two exclusive Star Trek action figures shipping very soon and a host of other new and best-selling surprises to unveil over the coming months."

For Star Trek as a franchise, this is good news. Star Trek has bee sorely absent from big retail stores for many years, except the occasional product like the Johnny Lightning toy ships. Of course the new line of movie toys from Playmates will be seen in major retailers (along with some movie items from Mattel), but now these movie items will be joined with ‘classic’ Trek items from Diamond Select. News such as this bodes well as Star Trek continues its mainstream return (something not seen since the mid 1990s) in preparation for the 2009 feature film.


Get ready to line up for your Trek toys at Toys R Us in 2009

REVIEW – RETRO KHAN FIGURE -This Figure Does Not Grow Fatigued
The Khan Mego-style retro figure is a first for EMCE Toys and Diamond Select Toys. This is the first “original” retro style figure to be produced for the line. There was never a Khan figure offered by MEGO during the 1970s.

The action figure sculpt by James Brady is excellent, capturing both a good likeness of Ricardo Montalban, and a look respectful of the original MEGO design aesthetic. This retro item feels as if it could have easily been from the 1970s MEGO line. The attention to detail with the costume is impressive, from the satin feeling of Khan’s outfit to the “riveting” texture of the fabric. Even the gold pin included which allows you to either show his incredibly manly chest or show his superior modesty, is a nice touch and design element from the original costume.


Khan Mego figure – front and back (click to enlarge)

Special Packaging Bonus
Collectors are often as smitten with the packaging as they are the items themselves. Many an older fan has memories of the cool MEGO packaging and boxes. A great bonus, and a nice sign that EMCE Toys really understands this market, is that they have brought back original Star Trek MEGO packaging artist Harold Shull to create new images for this selection. His art work is a wonderful reminder of those days playing with Trek toys in the 1970s, with new images of Khan, Sulu, Chekov, and the Gorn.


Khan Mego packaging – front and back (click to enlarge)

How to Get Your Khan
The Khan figure is available as an exclusive from Hasting Stores and Planet X. Another good source is from the website of Paul “Dr. Mego" Clark who is a founder of EMCE Toys.

Khan available at Dr. Mego site
$35.00
(available now)

More“Original” Retros on Their Way
The next waves of EMCE Toys and DST retro Star Trek figures include two different two packs: Sulu with the Gorn, and Chekov with Cheron. Both the Sulu Chekov figures join the Khan figure as “original” retro items, never having been offered in the original line. Also, the Gorn has undergone radical revision from its original design (the 1970s Gorn has brown and wore a Klingon outfit, looking more like an alligator than the TV show alien). All these figures look great in the soon-to-be released retro Enterprise playset which is beginning to sell out in presales from some retailers. Be sure to order yours soon from Entertainment Earth if you are looking a great way to display your retro Star Trek characters.

Preorder MEGO figures at Entertainment Earth 
Chekov + Cheron Sulu + Gorn
$37.99
(pre-order)
$37.99
(pre-order)

And, as promised, there wasn’t a single “KHAAAANNNN!” reference in this article. And if you are looking for ideas for what to do with your Khan and Kirk Mego figures, you can recreate this scene (although to remain ‘pure’ you should get two sets of figures, one for the original actors and one for the stunt doubles)

 

…and some not so good news…more DST delays
Unfortunately, DST does have some minor bad news for fans this week. Two of its popular preorder items, the electronic toy replica version of the USS Enterprise D and the retro MEGO Enterprise Playset, have been delayed until March 2009. Originally, these items were to be available December and January of 2008, yet because of factory delays caused by the Olympics this summer and other factors, fans have to wait a few months more.

DST pre-orders at Entertainment Earth 
TNG Enterprise D STII Phaser
$49.99
(pre-order)
$59.99
(pre-order)

 

 

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KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!

…sorry, couldn’t resist.

The Times Square TRU has had the TOS Enterprise for a really long time now. You have to get a sales rep person to get one for you, but they keep it and some other small Trek stuff(IE, Picard in the Captains chair) up where they used to keep the MR Star Wars stuff(behind the T-Rex). Hopefully this means there will be more stuff, maybe even an entire section similar to the Star Wars area or to the Dark Knight toy area(only I hope the Trek turns out to be a permanent area).

OLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYMPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICS!

Who is Cheron? If the Toy Company is referring to the gentleman who is black on one side and white on the other: Cheron is the planet where he came from, not his name.

On the back packaging for the Khan figure, he looks like he is ready for sub-zero temperatures with his collar up to his chin!

This is great news. Nothing is more aggravating than to see freakin’ Star Wars crap in every damn retail store you go in, while Trek stuff vanished long ago. Fortunately I’ve found several used bookstores in my area that regularly carry used Trek merchanidse at good prices and in good condition!

In the video: Watch for the shadow of the cameraman right after Khan crosses the door!

And yeah, the stuntment are painfully obvious in that fight… which i never noticed as a kid, but boy do they stand out now!

Yeah, the planet was Cheron…the character was Bele

Maybe this is just a Cheron native and not a specific one.

Yeah, he’s a Cheron like Spock is a Vulcan. But, is he a good Cheron, with his halves on the correct sides, or a bad Cheron, with his colors reversed? That is the question….

Now all he needs is a Marla Macgivers doll for him to dominate!

What ever happened to the AGT Enterprise D? Its like its dropped off of everyones radar and no one speaks of it anymore.

Toys R Me.

Love this stuff. My 14 year old son just got me the complete PEZ set. I’ll be looking for the TOS E stuff as I shop for EnsignR’s baby toys.

Too bad Abrams doesn’t have the same amount of respect for the original as EMCE Toys does.

Ah yes the Olympics , the factory must have been so busy molding Bejing 2008 trinkets that any Star Trek products went on the back burner . It is undertandable now .

Also from what I understand about the ships saucer sep feature , it’ll be held on by “strong magnets”

Well I do hope they are strong , I don’t want to live in fear of the saucer falling off each time I go to press the bridge sounds button .

Thanks for the Space Seed clip. I love that episode! Took me back.
TOS is a true classic! Thanks.

Wasn’t there a song about the half-white, half-black guy? “My Cheron-a”?

Excellent news! I got goosebumps thinking of all those great Trek items I used to get at Toys R Us back in the early ’90s. First the return of Star Trek Playmates, and now this…it’s like getting another childhood haha. Keep the great news coming!

ok enough with the Ent D..lets have some ships that never even seen the light of day yet..

Yea me too I have all the playmates ships and weapons still I love em!!!

Well, this gives me an excuse to go back into Toys R Us, lol.

This is definitely great news for Trek! Can’t wait to see everything that comes out.

JJ, If you’re reading this, the music in that Space Seed clip above is what we really want in the new movie. Can you see how much stronger and more bad ass Khan seems with that music?

BTW, Khan crushes the phaser, but the mini-Phaser was still intact. Where’s your superior intellect now, Khan!? I’m laughing… at… the superior… intellect!

Personally I’m a little bummed that the TOS Tricorder and WOK Phaser are delayed until 2/25/2009.

Hope I get them before Comic-Con.

That’s great news… TRU was the first place I ever saw the original megos…

Well that explains why my ENTERPRISE D hasn’t arrived! Thanks for the info.

Entertainment Earth didn’t offer an explanation….just changed the date.

STII Phaser????? Uhm no, try bridge set.

I still see that the AGT Enterprise D from DST still gets ignored. Does anyone have info on it?

Good to see the Khan figure’s chest looks greased up and made of plastic — just as I remember. Wow. That’s disturbing.

Wow! I forgot how much of a Bad-A fighter Kirk really was in his prime. I know some thing the fight scenes are cheesy, but that we pretty impressive.

More realistic that the WWE! HAHA

At least Kirk was able to pull out the calking gun from the plywood console to knock Khan out! Score one for the HOME DEPOT!

*think* and *than* and *was*

Sorry! Next time I won’t rely so much on spell check! :-)

Hot damn!

This is great news… I hate ordering items blind without being able to handle them first. Nothing worse than ordering some special figure only to have it arrive with the worst paint job ever.

Khan looks like Bruce Lee.

Poor old Khan looks like he’s got a bad hip and would walk with a limp. He also looks disturbingly like George Hamilton would look if he wore his hair in a bun.

That fight is just as bad as the one with the Gorn!

That bridge looks like a disco.

Even when I was a kid I thought the MEGO Star Trek Play Set (bridge) was garbage.
If Diamond Select started mass producing THIS however…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoWB17wgfJE&fmt=18

I would be interested.

:)

#34 — but it’s bad in a GOOD way! ;) I loved it!

“Five times your strength” eh?

Yet beat so easily by a cheap plastic “calking gun”. Pity to think Khan once ruled the world. Guess we know why he failed.

Got to love those stunt doubles. Kirk’s stunt double is almost as bad as Spock’s from “Amok Time”.

Yea why exactly are they reproducing crap from the 70s now?!?! Looking at it thru rose colored specs is great n all but come on its 2008 they can do better…..

#17 – Doug

Thanks for the best laugh I’ve had today (so far)!!!

#36 & 37 – Spockboy

WOW!!! Those 2 mini-bridge versions were fantastic! Thanks for sharing!!

The Khan figure is standing like Kirk rammed that club-thingy up his keister after he beat him with it. LOL

Good lord those stunt doubles were bad! Haha. Not even a vague resemblance to Shatner. Ahh, but that’s part of its charm, isn’t it? :)

I have an original Mego bridge so I’m happy that there’s at least one EMCE Toys item I will be able to skip purchasing.

Hey Bob & JJ

Are we going to see any cheesy fight scenes like this one in the movie?

Remember, you’re representing canon, and that’s what die-hard fans wanna see.

I say Mr Leslie was either a series of androids from Norman’s planet or a series of clones like out of Paranoia the RPG.

I hope in the new movie we get to see at least a dozen Mr Leslies performing different roles aboard ship, including Kirk’s stunt double.

Reminds me of the scene in Spaceballs…

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN’T WAIT TO GET MY HANDS ON THE ENT-D!!!!

That is all.

“Personally I’m a little bummed that the TOS Tricorder and WOK Phaser are delayed until 2/25/2009.”

I’m kind of relieved. My crap-buying budget is aklready pretty tight this month.

“Yea why exactly are they reproducing crap from the 70s now?!?! Looking at it thru rose colored specs is great n all but come on its 2008 they can do better…..”

Well, “why exactly” is because there’s OBVIOUSLY a market for this kind of retro nostalgia stuff. As as far as “come on its 2008 they can do better…..” goes, you’re acting as if those are the only Star Trek items being sold today. The DST stuff is a lot more detailed and accurate, so the market is obviously big enough to accomodate the retro, which you’ve just dumped all over, and the “come one its 2008” nouveau which I assume you’re marginally more interested in. I don’t get the “if it doesn’t appeal to me, it shouldn’t be on the market” attitude.

“Hey Bob & JJ

Are we going to see any cheesy fight scenes like this one in the movie?

Remember, you’re representing canon, and that’s what die-hard fans wanna see.

I say Mr Leslie was either a series of androids from Norman’s planet or a series of clones like out of Paranoia the RPG.

I hope in the new movie we get to see at least a dozen Mr Leslies performing different roles aboard ship, including Kirk’s stunt double.

Reminds me of the scene in Spaceballs…”

Hey thanks for pissing all over everybody’s fun with the completely out of place snark. Way to go. You’re so much cooler than the rest of us. Huzzah and kudos to you, sir. You’ve really put us in our place.

I bet the pilot Sulu figure we saw in the blue shirt is one of the two exclusive figures Toys R Us are talking about. Maybe a two pack Kirk and Spock from the pilot, Sulu and Scotty two pack from the pilot. Also a two pack of Pike and Spock from The Cage.