Yet all these Star Trek XI toys are on Amazon and eBay now for as little as £7.99, yet anything TOS still brings top dollar. Even second hand Art Asylum/Diamond Select phasers fetch £30 if boxed. Why? Because the 60’s design you reckon won’t “cut it” is iconic, timeless, and loved by all age demographics. The shmuck who designed the Starfleet away mission gear for Star Trek XI fell into the trap of thinking that to look modern, you have to have everything blinging in chrome and looking like it came from an Apple store. It was a great film, but right through, from the ship and bridge to the away mission gear, it was was horrible, horrible design. No one cares for it even now, let alone 40 years down the road.

See Star Trek III’s phaser and communicator for how to pay homage to the original designs but put a modern twist on them. THAT is exactly what the new designers should have done – kept the basic classic lines and put their own modern twist on them. I’ve seen fan designs prior to STXI that blew this instantly forgettable crap out of an airlock. I reckon you’re either like 12 years old or you just don’t know what you’re talking about. Utter nonsense.

Same thing happened to me. Have to manually lift it now.

My kids enjoy playing with these toys, especially the phaser.

Mark, the new phaser is actually more akin to the Star Trek 3 & 4 version in size (particularly the handle/grip), and the Star Trek 5 & 6 version in shape (the upper halves are startlingly similar).

The “pivoting” feature of the phaser’s beam emitter is pretty neat, too. It was a little confusing when I opened the package because the toy doesn’t come with any instructions (duhhhh … Playmates). Mine came with the red “vaporizing” emitter in the forward position. It took me a few seconds to figure out that you have to manually pivot the emitter back to the blue “stun” side. There’s a silver button on the upper-left side of the grip that enables the pivot feature. Unfortunately, it only works one way … from blue to red. Kind of a bummer, but I know nothing of the mechanics of toymaking, so I’ll just shut up about that.

There’s also an “off/on” switch on the underside (rear) of the phaser … not sure why it needs one, but, again, what do I know?

The red “vaporizing” sound effect is really sweet, and if you hold in the trigger, the noise will repeat/pulse.

The blue “stun” sound effect is kinda lame, though … it’s little more than an electronic “sputter,” but it, too, will repeat/pulse if you hold in the trigger.

The only thing the phaser is missing … and it could be really helpful for those of us who plan on “wearing” the toy to the premiere … is a holster, or at least a clip-on feature (like the TNG phasers). I mean, c’mon, Playmates, if you include a holster for the communicator, then why not for the phaser and tricorder as well?

Perhaps a specially designed “utility belt” is forthcoming?

But it won’t be ready for the premiere! Damn it!