Got home tonight and couldn’t wait to snap some pics and do a comparison of Kirk and the Klingon with their original counterparts.
Got a set from SDCC yesterday (the only set I saw on the floor, actually) and what was funny was that at first, the only reason I walked towards them is I thought they were original and wanted to see what they were going for. I know it’s so obvious when you see the card front that they are different, but the front is SO similar that at first glance I thought they were originals.
Anyway, here are some pictures and a review. Most know that I’m pretty “Pro” reproduction stuff so that opinion obviously colors my review.
PACKAGING
As you can see the front is very similar to the original artwork with obvious copyright changes, the nicely done addition of the Andorian and Romulan to the front, and a slightly awkward WARNING sticker that I think could have been better integrated into the overall design. The back of the card has a VERY awesome, period-feeling shot of the 6 main characters (LOVE IT!) and a nice statement about Marty. My only criticism of the back is the inclusion of the dates of availability with the figures. This I think detracts from the shot, and frankly I think dates the package unnecessarily. I can assume they are doing it to help advertise the figures which makes sense, but it just feels more like an advertisement then a package shot. I would have went with “COMING SOON” instead of specific dates.
I initially was very excited about the cut-away resealable cards but as Hulk mentioned, the end results are spotty. I have a pretty killer pair of scissors that made short-order of the plastic, but consider it basically impossible to do open them in a way that will look clean. I hope that EMCE makes pre-cut versions of these cards available, not only for his figures but for the repro-card fans in the audience (I checked, and yes an original card will fit, but not with the blister attached so you won’t be able to seal your original figures inside like you can with a SuperClam)
Here’s a shot of the carded figures with some loose originals I had for display. These are not minty loose figures I’m using for comparison but you’ll get the gist.
FIGURES
Here’s the best way I can describe taking these figures out of the package – like being a kid at Christmas. My hat is WAY OFF to the Doc for delivering, hands down, the most MEGO-like experience to come along since the originals. As you can see, the likenesses (especially the faces) are even better than what we’ve seen previously from him. The skin color is a little more tan, but otherwise the facial shape and details are incredibly close. Kirk’s eyebrows are painted a little thin, but he has the exact shade dark-brown hair as the original. The likeness of the Klingon in particular is remarkable. The “thinning” effect present in his WGSH heads are gone. One thing that I was really worried about was the “hard head” syndrome we’ve experienced with Doc’s heads in the past and that appears to be gone as well. The heads are much squishier and feel only slightly thicker than the originals. I popped one of the heads off and put it back on with no problem.
My only real complaint here (and this may be more of a production issue) is that each of the legs on my Kirk figure are different. One is hard plastic, the other is hollow and squishy. I’m going to assume I got some sort of error on the leg but we’ll see what happens when more of these get out.
ACCESSORIES AND CLOTHING
Pictures are worth 1000 words here
Anyone that has seen the Doc’s Trek pants or shirts before knows what they are getting with Kirk. Pants are more nylon-ish, the shirt is brighter and the sleeve rankings are sewn farther apart. Nobody is going to mistake Kirk for an original figure in a picture. Also, the foil emblem is already peeling away and leaving a slight residue on the shirt.
Klingon on the other hand is a whole different ballgame.
Again, my hat goes off to the Doc because the costume on the Klingon is absolutely fantastic. Truly an amazing replica. Again, many experts here can easily spot the slight color and material differences, and the grain in the vinyl is slightly tighter, but man it's really an unbelievable replica of that suit. There is very slight amount of crotch-sag in the pants, but nothing like we dealt with on the CTVT figures. Bring on the GORN!!
Accessories have some good news, and some bad news.
The good news is that the Klingon boots are awesome. Far-and-away the best replica of the Blackbeard boots - much superior to the CTVT ones, and IMO the best boots the Doc has ever done. They are glossier than the originals, but they don’t suffer from the super-thick, hard boot problem of Doc’s previous mass-produced boots. Like the heads, they are thin and pliable like the originals and look very, very good. Unfortunately, there are no markings on them which may make them harder to spot in photos, but will be very obvious in person.
Belts appear to be the same ones Doc has been selling. e.g. close to original but a little too long.
The weapons are also fantastic. The detail in the small-parts of the phaser are truly great. There are some very nuanced differences, but effectively they are perfect. Other than the “7” very clearly imprinted on the handle (yay!) and the fact that they aren’t faded (yay!), you would never be able to tell the difference unless you get up close. The phaser does not stay locked in the holster and falls out immediately (they are rubber-banded together on the card). This appears to be a flaw in the belt design as the phaser clips perfectly in a vintage belt.
The communicator is not marked (boo!) and is also, effectively, perfect. It’s flat on one side like the original. It’s exactly the same size. I haven’t compared to a variety of communicators, but they only way you’re going to tell is by looking at them in person. The original I have here has some casting flash on it, and the Doc’s communicators have no flaws. This may cause some consternation, particularly for the red weapons which are less common.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Anyone with a pre-order is going to be very pleased with their purchse, I have no doubt. After living with CTVT for the last couple years (who have done some very good things), the Doc has delivered on his promise of true Mego figures and you do forget the quality and attention to detail that he puts into his work.
Overall, the figures are about what I was expecting - slightly exceeding my expectations in some ways. This sounds bad but it's not. They are common figures so it’s very hard to go completely nuts over them. They are using Doc’s bodies, love ‘em or hate ‘em.
The heads are much, much better than expected and I had pretty high expectations. The weapons are fantastic, 10/10, but I would have liked to have seen some mark on the communicator. Klingon boots are great and PLEASE start selling the boots and weapons separately, Doc!!
Kirk is good, but the Klingon really is a masterpiece of reproduction especially considering it was reverse engineered. It make the Apes fan in me long for Paul to do those suits as well. If the Klingon is any indication of the attention to detail for the remainder of this line, the Andorian and Romulan are going to blow everyone’s minds. All I ask is that those parts are all marked somehow to avoid any confusion over real parts.
Anyone who loves Megos should go out and support this line – even if you don’t want them for yourselves give them to a kid, or Trek fan you know. I can’t wait to see where this line goes.
Got a set from SDCC yesterday (the only set I saw on the floor, actually) and what was funny was that at first, the only reason I walked towards them is I thought they were original and wanted to see what they were going for. I know it’s so obvious when you see the card front that they are different, but the front is SO similar that at first glance I thought they were originals.
Anyway, here are some pictures and a review. Most know that I’m pretty “Pro” reproduction stuff so that opinion obviously colors my review.
PACKAGING
As you can see the front is very similar to the original artwork with obvious copyright changes, the nicely done addition of the Andorian and Romulan to the front, and a slightly awkward WARNING sticker that I think could have been better integrated into the overall design. The back of the card has a VERY awesome, period-feeling shot of the 6 main characters (LOVE IT!) and a nice statement about Marty. My only criticism of the back is the inclusion of the dates of availability with the figures. This I think detracts from the shot, and frankly I think dates the package unnecessarily. I can assume they are doing it to help advertise the figures which makes sense, but it just feels more like an advertisement then a package shot. I would have went with “COMING SOON” instead of specific dates.
I initially was very excited about the cut-away resealable cards but as Hulk mentioned, the end results are spotty. I have a pretty killer pair of scissors that made short-order of the plastic, but consider it basically impossible to do open them in a way that will look clean. I hope that EMCE makes pre-cut versions of these cards available, not only for his figures but for the repro-card fans in the audience (I checked, and yes an original card will fit, but not with the blister attached so you won’t be able to seal your original figures inside like you can with a SuperClam)
Here’s a shot of the carded figures with some loose originals I had for display. These are not minty loose figures I’m using for comparison but you’ll get the gist.
FIGURES
Here’s the best way I can describe taking these figures out of the package – like being a kid at Christmas. My hat is WAY OFF to the Doc for delivering, hands down, the most MEGO-like experience to come along since the originals. As you can see, the likenesses (especially the faces) are even better than what we’ve seen previously from him. The skin color is a little more tan, but otherwise the facial shape and details are incredibly close. Kirk’s eyebrows are painted a little thin, but he has the exact shade dark-brown hair as the original. The likeness of the Klingon in particular is remarkable. The “thinning” effect present in his WGSH heads are gone. One thing that I was really worried about was the “hard head” syndrome we’ve experienced with Doc’s heads in the past and that appears to be gone as well. The heads are much squishier and feel only slightly thicker than the originals. I popped one of the heads off and put it back on with no problem.
My only real complaint here (and this may be more of a production issue) is that each of the legs on my Kirk figure are different. One is hard plastic, the other is hollow and squishy. I’m going to assume I got some sort of error on the leg but we’ll see what happens when more of these get out.
ACCESSORIES AND CLOTHING
Pictures are worth 1000 words here
Anyone that has seen the Doc’s Trek pants or shirts before knows what they are getting with Kirk. Pants are more nylon-ish, the shirt is brighter and the sleeve rankings are sewn farther apart. Nobody is going to mistake Kirk for an original figure in a picture. Also, the foil emblem is already peeling away and leaving a slight residue on the shirt.
Klingon on the other hand is a whole different ballgame.
Again, my hat goes off to the Doc because the costume on the Klingon is absolutely fantastic. Truly an amazing replica. Again, many experts here can easily spot the slight color and material differences, and the grain in the vinyl is slightly tighter, but man it's really an unbelievable replica of that suit. There is very slight amount of crotch-sag in the pants, but nothing like we dealt with on the CTVT figures. Bring on the GORN!!
Accessories have some good news, and some bad news.
The good news is that the Klingon boots are awesome. Far-and-away the best replica of the Blackbeard boots - much superior to the CTVT ones, and IMO the best boots the Doc has ever done. They are glossier than the originals, but they don’t suffer from the super-thick, hard boot problem of Doc’s previous mass-produced boots. Like the heads, they are thin and pliable like the originals and look very, very good. Unfortunately, there are no markings on them which may make them harder to spot in photos, but will be very obvious in person.
Belts appear to be the same ones Doc has been selling. e.g. close to original but a little too long.
The weapons are also fantastic. The detail in the small-parts of the phaser are truly great. There are some very nuanced differences, but effectively they are perfect. Other than the “7” very clearly imprinted on the handle (yay!) and the fact that they aren’t faded (yay!), you would never be able to tell the difference unless you get up close. The phaser does not stay locked in the holster and falls out immediately (they are rubber-banded together on the card). This appears to be a flaw in the belt design as the phaser clips perfectly in a vintage belt.
The communicator is not marked (boo!) and is also, effectively, perfect. It’s flat on one side like the original. It’s exactly the same size. I haven’t compared to a variety of communicators, but they only way you’re going to tell is by looking at them in person. The original I have here has some casting flash on it, and the Doc’s communicators have no flaws. This may cause some consternation, particularly for the red weapons which are less common.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Anyone with a pre-order is going to be very pleased with their purchse, I have no doubt. After living with CTVT for the last couple years (who have done some very good things), the Doc has delivered on his promise of true Mego figures and you do forget the quality and attention to detail that he puts into his work.
Overall, the figures are about what I was expecting - slightly exceeding my expectations in some ways. This sounds bad but it's not. They are common figures so it’s very hard to go completely nuts over them. They are using Doc’s bodies, love ‘em or hate ‘em.
The heads are much, much better than expected and I had pretty high expectations. The weapons are fantastic, 10/10, but I would have liked to have seen some mark on the communicator. Klingon boots are great and PLEASE start selling the boots and weapons separately, Doc!!
Kirk is good, but the Klingon really is a masterpiece of reproduction especially considering it was reverse engineered. It make the Apes fan in me long for Paul to do those suits as well. If the Klingon is any indication of the attention to detail for the remainder of this line, the Andorian and Romulan are going to blow everyone’s minds. All I ask is that those parts are all marked somehow to avoid any confusion over real parts.
Anyone who loves Megos should go out and support this line – even if you don’t want them for yourselves give them to a kid, or Trek fan you know. I can’t wait to see where this line goes.
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