Trek Collectibles Spring Preview: Funko Bobbleheads and Vinyl Figures February 21, 2009
by John Tenuto , Filed under: Merchandise,TOS,Toys , trackback
In recent months there have been a lot of new Star Trek products announced, so each day for the next week TrekMovie will take a closer look at one line coming this Spring. Today we look at the new Funko Original Series-themed bobble-heads and vinyl figures, with exclusive higher resolution images and sound files.
Star Trek Wacky Wobblers
In December, Trekmovie revealed the news about the line of Funko talking Star Trek bobbleheads and vinyl figures. Funko has the licensee to some of the most impressive franchises including Star Wars and Marvel Comics, and now Trek.
The Funko line of Wacky-Wobblers bobble-heads are all 6 1/2" tall and retail for $11 bucks. The Kirk and Spock versions also come with sound-files, making them the first-ever ‘talking’ Star Trek bobbleheads. The Wacky Wobblers should be coming out in March or April.
Click the images below to see them super-sized.
Kirk Wacky Wobbler
Listen to 3 Kirk Quotes:
[audio:funkokirk.mp3]
Spock Wacky Wobbler
Listen to 3 Spock Quotes:
[audio:funkospock.mp3]
Andorian Wacky Wobbler
Gorn Wacky Wobbler
Star Trek ‘Quogs’ Vinyl Figures
In addition to the bobble-heads, Funko has the first ever Star Trek vinyl figures (sometimes called ‘super deformed’ figures), based on the new Star Trek QUOGS design. The vinyl figures are nice because they are something that younger fans could enjoy which is something Star Trek merchandising needs. However, the are cool enough that, like the Star Wars Galactic Hero line, these items will also likely generate a great deal of interest from collectors, too, because of their funky and stylized design.
The first three will be Kirk, Spock and an Orion girl. Each figure is 5 1/2" tall and will retail for $11. These are actually Funko’s first foray into ‘urban vinyl’ figures, but these kinds of figures are growing in popularity and have been done for Star Wars and other licenses by other companies.
Click the images below to see them super-sized.
Kirk Vinyl Figure
Spock Vinyl Figure
Orion Vinyl Figure
I feel the need to commend Funko on not only a fun line, but excellent packaging. While adhering to the unified design elements, the Funko packaging includes images of the characters featured, and has a very cool look. This kind of item will be noticeable on the store shelf and will look great for those who do not open their toys. These, though, are too fun not to open!
First Funko Trek wave in stores by March/April – available for pre-order now
Funko products are available at many major retail and grocery stores and the Star Trek line should be available in May. All seven new Star Trek Funko products can be pre-ordered now at Entertainment Earth (note, EE list delivery as May, but Funko tell TrekMovie they should be available by March or April).
Coming Next – Nodniks
In June Funko is releasing a number of new smaller-sized ‘Nodnik’ bobble-head two packs, including two Trek packs. Each figure is 3 3/4" tall and you get two for $11. The Nodniks are even more stylized than the ‘Wacky Wobblers,’ here are some sketches of the Trek sets.
Gorn and Gorn Nodnik 2-pack (sketch)
Klingon and Spock Nodnik 2-pack (sketch)
Funko Nodnik packs coming in June – available for pre-order now
The Nodnik sets come out in June and can be pre-ordered now at Entertainment Earth.
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Comments
Original Kirk doesn’t have blue eyes!!
Not bad.
I love those bobbleheads. Especially the Gorn… harrg grrrk
And why does this bobblehead resemble Kirk more than the DST Kirk figures?
Um…..no
To all of it.
no.
Really nice to see that the merchandising arm of CBS is allowing every imaginable licensee a stab at turning out exploitative garbage.
Right on, #5, MrAtoz. Couldn’t agree more.
I was just saying to my wife the other day “I sure wish I had a gorn bobble head. I have wanted one since I was a little shaver’.
I never buy these collectable toys and things, but I really like these. This is fun stuff.
#5
Yet, you take the time to disparage something your fellow fans might enjoy.
#1
Ha, exactly – we’ve got this week’s ‘Spot the Mistake’ winner.
They.just.can’t .FOOLUS!!
Does the Gorn blink?
Hmmm… not exactly to my taste, although my kids will like the QUOG stuff.
But hey, Star Trek goes mainstream – it can’t be a bad thing.
@ 10 – LOVE those Shatnerific pauses!!! LMFAO!!!
Actually that Kirk Bobblehead’s head is as big as Shatner’s!
Oh sorry forgive, it’s exploitative garbage what was I thinking…
-cs™
I like the Bobblehead packaging.
#5 and #13
Your comments about the being “exploitive” are offensive to those people who like them. You presume and imply that if someone else likes these, then they are allowing themselves to be exploited. If you don’t like them, fine. If feel some need to tell others you don’t like them, fine. Don’t do it by de facto insulting others. I’ll tell you what, when I am being exploited, I will let you know.
I neither presume, imply nor infer.
You, however… deduce… and I might add, incorrectly
Apparently, they’ll put the Star Trek name on any kind of crap!
I’m disgusted and revolted.
#11
Hahaha!
#15 John Tenuto
Good Form!
“I know all about exploitation, I’ve been exploited all of my life”–Elwood Blues
for kids these are great but CBS have done a shitty job at giving us companies that do really decent items for the older fans of both the original franchise and the up-coming movie.
I don’t want no wacky wobbler or some Nicknack??
People who complain about the merchandising make me laugh, between sneers.
Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but STAR TREK is a *product*. Okay? It is a piece of produced entertainment that exists ONLY because people exist who will spend money, or who will watch ad-supported television, to see it. Without that simple and extremely basic fact, it would never have been created; and the more potential monetary value it has in generating spinoffs, merchandising and other revenue streams only ensures that variations on it will continue to be produced.
Perhaps you missed the following simple point, but I’ll spell it out for you: Gene Roddenberry was a television producer who was in the business to make a living; and he himself was not above making whatever extra money he could out of whatever spinoffs he could get a piece of (Lincoln Enterprises, anyone?). There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, any more than there is anything wrong with Trek’s current owners making as much as they can from it.
Star Trek ain’t the Bible, children (and need I remind you that plenty of money continues to be made from THAT property, too?); it’s a very cool fictional universe that makes millions of people happy, but it is not some sacred, untouchable Holy Writ whose shining purity is being dirtied up by grasping moneygrubbers.
It also goes without saying that people who sneer at the bobbleheads and the bath towels and the Starfleet logo toilet paper are probably only too willing to pony up cash for those items they do not find beneath their dignity. But there is essentially no difference.
Short version of speech: grow up.
I’m 42 years old. I like the Quogs. I cannot quantify this. I just like them. I might buy them, but they do not have a high priority.
I post this to articulate that stereotypes do not work, not everything fits into categories of age.
Speaking of blue eyes….Has the Orcmister explained how by changing the past and diverging into a different yet similar universe changed the color of a Jimmy boys eyes from brown to blue? Did Nero’s changing of the timeline somehow get Mommy Kirk knocked up by a different feller?
The Gorn one is the coolest!
What? No classic Gorn quotes? “Earthling!”
My bobbleheads are better (lol)
http://tinyurl.com/bld3ue
LOVE the Gorn though!
: )
I’m just not into these. I guess they’re some fans that are though. My money is on the DST Tricorders and WOK Phaser!
BTW: Doesn’t that Funko vinyl figure of Kirk look like George Doobya Bush?
First?
“They’ll put the Star Trek name on anything”
“Exploitative”
Spare me. Some of you guys are acting like Star Trek is something other than CONSUMER PRODUCT, when that’s precisely what it is.
EDIT: I’m not saying anymore because I just read post # 21. Right on SB.
#23
I think with eye colors it’s just one of those minor details that has no importance whatsoever with Star Trek or the character Kirk and best to be ignored.
I suggest to those who do no like to collect trek products, to steer clear of the article about Trek products. We have a number of them lined up this week and the carping about ‘exploitation’ is already old, and will become trolling. Personally I don’t collect star trek stuff, but I like to look at the products and I know that many people do collect and we are bringing them the news.
No one is making anyone buy anything, therefore no one is being exploited
#16
If you are going to try and be witty, utilize your words properly. I did not deduce anything. I expressed an intrepretation, not a deduction.
I LOVE Star Trek merchandise.
Star Trek is indeed a business, and I’ll never forget the joy and excitement I felt when I got my first Enterprise model or toy phaser. If Star Trek is to survive then “new’ kids need to play with “new” toys.
My only complaint is that the likenesses aren’t great sometimes, but that is a problem I have with the artists, NOT the idea of making cool Star Trek toys. I’m very happy that companies like Art Asylum have really addressed this and have subsequently raised the bar on quality.
With all this buzz going around the bottom line is “How cool is it to be a Star Trek fan right now?”
: )
oh to see the old klingons again
The Gorn is cute.
I really can’t see the worth in these toys.
If some of you guys can, that’s great. But they just seem like overkill.
3 different lines of cutesy caracitures?!
I like(d) Trek for it’s realism, consistency, and adventure. When I was little, I bought ships, Figures and Roleplaying Accessories.
Now I’m older, I buy ships and maybe roleplaying accessories.
What market of any appreciable size is there for this stuff? Especially in the grips of a recession, why would anyone want this periphery licence fluff?!
Kaaaahn! Now people are complaining about complaining…
Love the Orion figure.
Those “Quogs” are repulsive.
I like the Wacky Wobblers, though.
I really can’t see the worth in these toys.
If some of you guys can, that’s great. But they just seem like overkill.
3 different lines of cutesy caracitures?!
I like(d) Trek for it’s realism, consistency, and adventure. When I was little, I bought ships, Figures and Roleplaying Accessories.
Now I’m older, I buy ships and maybe roleplaying accessories.
What market of any appreciable size is there for this stuff? Especially in the grips of a recession, why would anyone want this periphery licence fluff?! How can it justify itself financially?
Curse my connection. Triple post… sorry.
#23
“Speaking of blue eyes….Has the Orcmister explained how by changing the past and diverging into a different yet similar universe changed the color of a Jimmy boys eyes from brown to blue?”
I’m sure that this not a thing to care about … or do you have an explanation why saavik changed so much between wrath of khan and search for spock … I mean … some sort of HORRIBLE accident … mysterious genetic experiments … or wait, I know it … it was something that the genesis planet did.
No sorry, thats all wrong, Kirstie Alley didn’t want to play her anymore and they casted a different actress, thats the explanation …
Decloaking . . .
I only collect the eps and movies, but those bobbleheads just might end up on my self.
Recloaking.
Yikes. None for me thanks. Still waiting on the 3 3/4 inch… Maybe someone will do a special edition TOS bridge to fit the new figs!
new behind the scenes footage video
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1605524/story.jhtml
5 1/2 inch is twice the size of the Galactic Heroes. I am bummed out. I wanted these to be in scale.
PEOPLE:
Turning STAR TREK characters into bobbleheads is NOT the same as, say, turning Jesus Christ into an action figure or making a crucifix glow in the dark.
“Tacky” TREK merchandise has been around, since, oh… 1966!
(Besides, bobbleheads are FUN and I, for one, can’t wait to stick that talking Captain Kirk on my desk at work. So there!)
Just plain dumb
I don’t collect Trek stuff, either, but these bobbleheads are cute and fun to me. I just don’t see where the harm is in that. You don’t wanna buy ‘em, don’t.
Star Trek is geting so cute that it hurts my eyes.
Although I do have to laugh:
Probably the most accurate William Shatner likeness yet for an action figure… and it winds up on a bobblehead! HA!
Those “Quogs” figures or what ever they are, they irritate me, they’re just dumb, beyond it even, they make me want to hit things honestly.
Eh. People have a right to like these, sure, but also a right not to like them. If someone wants to call them exploitive, that’s a valid opinion. I personally have never understood why anyone would want a bobblehead anything.
Exploitive would be if you had to buy some unwanted crap in order to understand the plot of the movie, or to get 100% of the entertainment content out of the movie.
You could argue that the issuance of lots of toys in various styles may be overexposure, or lack of brand control, or injurious to Trek’s reputation as “serious”, or doomed to fail commercially because Trek fans are (admit it) traditionally permanently broke. I don’t believe any of that, but someone could argue it.
But exploitive it ain’t. Exploitive will be when they issue 10 different versions of the movie with different bonus content on every super-beta-holo-greenray disc format over the next 20 years.
OK the Gorn bobble head is pretty cool, I might have to get one for fun.
How could this devolve into a flaming about ‘exploitation’? Come on, it’s only funny BUBBLE HEADS.
Because I’m in Europe, I often see how these threads have developed only when it’s the next morning in US time zones (and afternoon over here). And then I’m frequently amazed how even the most inoffensive of subjects have given rise to petty sqabbling and flaming.
For those who feel the need to disparage collecting and the people who enjoy it I suggest you go *EXPLETIVE DELETED* off as it seems you are only haunting these threads like the strung out junkies you likely are, is to bring down the positive experience collecting is for some people. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Opinions are like *EXPLETIVE DELETED* , and it seems you are an especially huge one. However fear not strung out junkie… I’m sure your next fix is right around the corner. In the meantime enjoy being the huge *FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCT* bags that you are until then.
SEMPER FI~
I just think they look rubbish. Can’t imagine why anyone would want to buy them.
#54 — That’s not flaming. It’s called an opinion.
I think it’s garbage too. I don’t think it’s “exploitative” but it’s ridiculous the kind of crap they allow the Trek name to be put on.
What next? Star Trek toilet paper?
If so, I’m sure Anthony “My way or the highway” Pascale and John Tenuto would buy it! HAHAHAHA!!!
And none of us would be able to say one negative word about the product.
@52: Point well expressed and taken. Exploitative is the wrong word. But I still think people should have the right to dislike some of this stuff, and to say so, just so they’re not jerks about it. Or else what are the comments but one big echo chamber of praise? And if it really bothers you that other people might not like your Andorian Wacky Wobbler, probably it’s best just not to read other people’s opinions.
This is fun…
While I wouldn’t buy these items (hey! I’ve already been accused of being a packrat…), but if someone wants to buy them, go have fun with that.
Isn’t this whole franchise supposed to be all about having some fun (while making you think at the same time)?
It’s only exploitation if you don’t know what you are getting yourself into.
So seriously, tell me we fans don’t know what we are doing when we buy the books, the magazines, the models, soundtracks, Christmas ornaments, the DVDs, attend conventions, etc…
or visit this web site… for the sheer enjoyment of a hobby we all happen to share. If that is exploitation, I am all for it.
Where does the term “Quog” come from?
I don’t like any of these items. I am not trashing Star Trek , I just don’t like any of these items.
All of this is cheap garbage to be sure, a quick impulse buy, and a forgotten item next day collecting dust on your bookshelf.
Unless somehow a Trekker parent does buy this stuff for a small child in hopes the kid will be anamored with the classic series characters.
If they are priced any higher than5.99- 9.99, they’re shelf warmers to be sure, coming to a discount bin near you, or garage sale fodder in the making.
#45
And the exception to that rule would be that when I was a young boy my mom was alive and worked as a nurse aid in an elder care home one of the older ladies made me a painted cross out of glow-in-the-dark blue and green paint. The lady is long past and i still cherish the cross she made for me out of love and the goodness of her heart.
Even a crucifix is an object. Objects are not meant to be worshipped. It is what the giver and the reciever feel about it that matters.
You want to know how I know you’re gay? ‘Cause you bought one of these toys.
If ever they were gonna make a ST bobblehead, wouldn’t it just HAVE to be an Organian??
They’re practically bobbleheads already!!!
^^^
….uh, I mean TALOSIAN !!!
Idiot!!