The toy company most associated with Star Trek in the heyday of the 1990s is back.
Playmates rejoins the Star Trek Universe
Today, Playmates Toys and ViacomCBS Consumer Products announced a new global license for the Star Trek franchise. The deal covers the rights for action figures, vehicles and ships, role play, and other toy categories for all Star Trek properties. The official announcement touts Playmates for its “attention to brand detail, authentic portrait sculpting, and new product innovations.” The new line of Playmates Star Trek toys will kick off in 2022.
The announcement makes a point that Playmates is returning to the franchise, “following Star Trek’s entry into kids’ content” with the upcoming 2021 premiere of Star Trek: Prodigy.
“As Star Trek readies to beam into the kids’ space for the first time with Star Trek: Prodigy on Paramount+, we are thrilled to also enter the toy aisle with Playmates, offering a new generation of fans out of this world toys that will allow them to embark on their own Star Trek adventures at home,” Dion Vlachos, Executive Vice President, Hardlines and Retail, ViacomCBS Consumer Products. “Playmates Toys has deep experience in developing Star Trek figures and playsets. The expertise and ingenuity they plan to bring to figures, ships and more will elevate the play experience for kids and collectors alike.”
In addition to toys for Prodigy, the announcement says fans can look forward to a new lineup of action figures and accessories from Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Star Trek: Picard, along with “other Star Trek series throughout the universe coming soon, and future selections from the expansive Star Trek Universe of series and motion pictures.” Playmates promises details on forthcoming Star Trek product lines will be announced at a future date.
Playmates released a teaser image to go along with the announcement showing some action figures beaming up. If you look closely they appear to be for (left to right) Data from Star Trek: Picard (TNG flashback), Michael Burnham from Discovery, Jean-Luc Picard from Picard, Captain Pike from Discovery season 2 (and Strange New Worlds), Saru from Discovery, and bearded Spock from Discovery season 2.
Teaser image for Playmates new Star Trek toys
Star Trek and Playmates have history
Playmates was the master toy licensee for Star Trek from 1992–1999, offering an extensive line of figures, vehicles and playsets from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, The Original Series, and films. In 2009 they returned briefly, releasing figures and accessories based on the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie.
“We’re excited to be transported back into the Star Trek Universe, a brand and world that we know very well,” said Karl Aaronian, senior vice president, Playmates Toys. “Our product team includes some lifelong super fans, like me, and we are honored to join with ViacomCBS again to help further engage fans with the wealth of new content coming as well as captivate a new generation of kids with the positive values that Gene Roddenberry introduced in his Trek world.”
Check out this commercial for Playmates TNG toys from their first year with the franchise.
Keep up with Star Trek merchandise news and reviews at TrekMovie.com.
This is wonderful news. Collecting trek toys was one of my hobbies as a kid.
I think that Picard toy might from Picard, not TNG. When I zoom in, it looks like the black/grey civilian jacket from season 1
Yes, it does appear all the figures in the teaser image are from Disco and Picard (as Data appeared in Picard in his TNG uni too). The Pike is either DSC S2 or SNW S1 depending on your POV.
The droid ship controller is narrating Star Trek some eight years before Episode I’s premiere.
Classic time travel story going on here.
Maybe when they get around to doing toys of the various classic series they will do something on Enterprise. A series that definitely deserves a lot more respect than it gets
Art Asylum created a small line of Enterprise figures. The only place I found them was at “Star Trek: The Experience” in Las Vegas. Then again, I wasn’t really looking for them. It was more of an “Oh, cool, here’s my money” moment.
Wonder if these will be in scale and the same style as the original line. Perhaps we will see figures for more characters from the legacy series as well?
That would be awesome. Though I’d wonder if there’d be an appreciable difference in detail and quality between the sculpts on the 90’s toys and the new line.
Looking forward to new Star Trek toys from Playmates.
I enjoyed my action figures as a kid. Hope these hold up to the same standards as the 90s toys.
I hope these exceed those. Like being able to sit in their chairs w/o looking like they have a crotch rash.
Exciting news. Playmates’ Trek toys defined part of my Trek fandom.
As for the image, the space between Saru and Spock makes me wonder if the Spock figure is a bonus, perhaps it’s a “build a figure” style series.
Wow finally! I been complaining for a looong time there is nothing out there for kids or for people unless you are an avid fan of models and/or overpriced props with a lot of disposable income. It’s nice to finally get toys for the masses again and of course for kids or teenagers who may be watching these new shows just like I was back in 90s.
It would be great to just go to a store and see actual Star Trek merchandise and figures again.
This is really great news! I have been hoping for Playmates to return to Star Trek. I really hope they will be in the 4.5 inch scale of the 90’s figures. I have been buying Ben 10 figures just to keep up with how Playmates Toys are doing things now and the articulation is great. Star Trek figures featuring this great articulation and playsets will truly be something special. I really look forward to having electronic ships again. I hope Playmates will consider doing mini-ships similar to Micromachines also. I want an affordable alternative to Eaglemoss so we can collect them all!
Awesome. I just hope Playmates corrects some of the problems their Trek figures from the 90s had: those weird Y-joints for the legs that did not allow the figures to sit properly (unless you wanted that criss-cross applesauce type of sitting), also their gripping hands could barely hold the accessories.
Here’s hoping…
While I still cherish my 90’s Playmates ST toys, Playmates’ products for the 2009 movie were really awful and bland. The lack of detail on their JJ Enterprise was a step back from the 90’s ships and pales in comparison to the DST ships. Why no mention of that in the article?
Hopefully this line brings back the glory of the 90’s line instead of the “bleh” 2009 line.
Also, what’s going on with DST’s Trek license, did they (deservedly) lose it? Whatever happened to the MacFarlane line we were promised? The Kirk and Picard figures were great, I had high hopes for that line.
I had similar questions for DST specifically because I’m waiting for the Ent-C. They did a live stream interview earlier this year which said the primary focus for them with their Star Trek license is getting the Ent-C done, then maybe the Reliant, but the TNG Cobra Phaser is back burnered and they will not be pursuing making more figures. I have no clue if that’s still the current state of things but the video was from February of 2021.
Well, guess this is the end of The (current incarnation of) MEGO’s 8 inch STAR TREK figures…
As long as Playmates specifically avoids producing 8-inch figures with fabric clothing, I don’t think MEGO’s license would be cancelled.
YES!!!!
With respect, my eyes don’t see a bearded Spock.
What i see, left to right:
Data, Burnham, Picard, Pike, Saru
Not that i’ll complain if bearded Spock eventually appears!
hopefully new products will match the wonderful quallity of the 1992–1999 lines.
Very sadly the market isn’t what it used to be for Trek toys. Seeing loads of untouched carded figures under $10 and a boxed Romulan Warbird go for just over a dollar on ebay isn’t an optimum situation. Nonetheless hoping for the best.
This is Wonderful News. I hope They do a Electronic Version of USS TITAN and USS CERRITOS.
I’m thinking my pigs and hell comment might apply here as well.
I hope Diamond Select/Art Asylum will rejoin the Star Trek Fold Soon
You might as well hope pigs fly or hell freezes over as those events are more likely to happen first.
are they reusing molds from some of the 90’s action figures?
I only want ONE figure. Linus! lol! But I’ll probably end up buying almost all,again.
I was really excited about this at first, but after talking to some other fans I’m really not hopeful. There are fans who want a direct continuation of the original line, fans who want a brand new, collector-focused line at the six-inch or nine-inch or twelve-inch scales (but mostly six) and fans who want a smaller scale that can include playsets and vehicles, all in addition to those who are vocally opposed to buying anything based on the newer shows… and the only thing everyone agrees on is that Playmates cannot do all of these things and will probably need to pick just one.
I worry that alienating a sizable chunk of the collector base – which is inevitable regardless – will result in another stillborn line like ST2009, MacFarlane Toys, Funko, etc. so… hard to be hopeful at this point.
To be honest, I’m just glad that Playmates got the Star Trek license back. Their old toys were fantastic! With Playmates making Star Trek toys again, maybe we’ll finally get some toys that are ACTUALLY affordable and not just some super expensive “For Collectors Only” stuff.
In fact, what are the chances that we might get some new miniature starships in the scale of the old Micro Machines?
Lots of good discussion and comments here. Tune in next year for more exciting news on this subject as this site has fulfilled it’s one post per year for Trek merchandise in 2021.cant wait see what they post in 2022. See ya next summer.