Star Trek Action Figure Reviews

Here you'll find our continually updated guide to all the best (and worst) Star Trek figures that are out there, including all the latest toy lines from Art Asylum...

Enterprise - "Broken Bow"
by Art Asylum

This is the first set of Star Trek figures released by Art Asylum - who have taken over the Star Trek action figure licence from Playmates - and the initial wave consists of six figures based on characters from Enterprise's pilot episode, "Broken Bow". (All photos for these reviews are courtesy of Art Asylum.)

This initial wave of figures from Art Asylum are 7" tall and on first impressions, certainly look better than previous Star Trek figure releases... The first thing that strikes you with all of these is the packaging which is absolutely remarkable. It has been designed is a series of metallic grey colours to give the impression that it has been made out of a section of the Enterprise itself, with a clear area at the front where you can see the figure, and transparent panels at the sides revealling all of the accessories. Each figure has a wide range of accessories including weapons, an Enterprise display stand, communicators and - something that took me by surprise - interchangable hands. In some cases, notably the Silik figure, they can come complete with as many as three pairs!! Unlike the recent Spider-Man figures and some of the larger Transformers toys of late, while the figures are fully poseable, they don't have the luxury of movable fingers, but the inclusion of the extra hands is a fantastic idea and I'm surprised no-one has thought of doing this before. All of the figures are intricately detailed and have some superb subtle detailling on the costumes with some great paintwork and shading. This certainly makes these some of the most visually stunning figures I have seen for a long time. The first in this range is the figure for Captain Jonathan Archer. Art Asylum have done a fantastic job of recreating Scott Bakula's likeness as you can see from the photo. the costume is superb, even down to the detailling on the Enterprise patch on the shoulder. It makes me shudder to think of the lack of detail on the old Star Trek figures in comparison, and it's almost enough to make me stop collecting the older toys and just concentrate on Art Asylum from now on. This figure is a superb start to the collection and should be a part of every Enterprise fan's collection. Next up is Sub-Commander T'Pol in the one-piece outfit worn by Jolene Blalock in the pilot. This figure isn't quite as good as the Archer figure, with the face lacking some of the detailling and accuracy of the first in the series, but it's still a good toy. The colouring on the costume is wonderful, however, and this more than makes up for that and manages admirably to show off all of Jolene's curves! One thing I particularly liked about this figure were the extra hands supplied - one of them had T'Pol's fingers spread out in the traditional Vulcan salute - a very nice touch and something that I can't ever remember seeing for a Vulcan action figure before! Again, this is another good action figure, although if I could only choose to buy one, T'Pol wouldn't be top of the list... Next is my personal favourite - Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. It makes a refreshing change to see a British Star Trek character actually played by a British actor, and the toy really does Dominic Keating justice. The detail on the face is a remarkable likeness, and there are more accessories than you could possibly wish for including a carrying case, communicator, two phase pistols, a scanner, and an extra pair of hands!! It's not just the facial expression or the accessories though. Art Asylum have even managed to capture the essence of Dominic Keating in the way the figure is standing. You can just glance at the figure and know, even without looking at the face, who it is meant to be and that's something that's difficult to capture in seven inches of plastic! Finally of all the regular characters for the first set is Ensign Travis Mayweather and I have to say that this is the only figure in the first wave that had any disappointment for me. While the costume and accessories are fine, as would be expected, the likeness is quite poor and it bears very little resemblance to Anthony Montgomery. To be a little more specific, the jawline seems to be a little too thin on the toy, and the colouring seems to be a bit off-shade as well. Also, the expression itself seems to be a strange choice. Of all the Enterprise characters, Travis is seen smiling most of the time, so surely it would have been possible to reflect this in the figure as well? It's still a reasonable figure, but for my personal collection this would have to be at the bottom of the shopping list I'm afraid. Next we come onto the two aliens in the set - Klaang the Klingon and Silik the Suliban. I'll start here with the first ever Klingon to be seen in the series... Klaang is one of the most impressive figures in the series with some stunning attention to detail on the face. Art Asylum have managed to bring out the aggressive Klingon attitude brilliantly here, and the figure manages to convey a menacing image that this is someone who you certainly don't want to mess about with. There is a good selection of accessories as is the norm for the set, this time including a disruptor pistol and a Klingon dagger, but what really makes this toy stand out from the rest is the stunning work on the costume. Every detail from the episode has been recreated superbly and there is some truly beautiful paintwork. There is an incredible level of painstaking detail on this figure and this figure is easily one of the "must haves" of the range. I'm astonished to think that a figure this good is part of Art Asylum's FIRST Star Trek range - if this is the quality they are offering now, who knows what they'll have in store in a couple of years time when they have got used to the characters... Finally is Silik. Not the most impressive of adversaries in the series, despite their unusual physical attributes, but the figure - as with the rest of the series - still manages to capture the necessary detail with expert precision. The costume is fairly bland but this is through no fault of Art Asylum as they can only work with what they are given. Saying that, they have managed to do a great job in recreating the leather look of the costume and it does look very convincing. With the Suliban, the main area of importance is the texture and colouring on the hands and face and there is no disappointment here. The scaly look has been copied perfectly and in the case of this figure, the accessories really add to the figure as well with a selection of weapons and no less than three pairs of hands, one of which shows of the Suliban body flexibility very well indeed. One thing of note with this figure for collectors is that in the packages sent to stores, there is only one Silik figure compared with two of ever other one and three of Archer, so if you are looking at buying these toys from a collectors viewpoint, then I'd get this one first as it will quickly become scarce. One thing I did notice about the main Enterprise crew is that none of the parts seem to have been recycled between characters - something that Playmates were notorious for doing. If you look closely at all of the photos here, you'll see that even the feet, arms and legs have all been sculptured individually for each character. It's this attention to detail and care which is what must have won Art Asylum the action figure contract in the first place. In comparison with other action figure companies, Art Asylum is relatively small so it's surprising to see such high standards. Yes, there are aspects where a few corners have been cut with the packaging so they can produce a standard design across the entire Enterprise range making just minor card insert differences for each figure, but if this is what it takes to make these figures affordable, then I'm quite happy with that. In fact, it does give the set a rather stylised, uniform look that impresses when the figures are on display. Overall, these are remarkable action figures and should already be sitting on the shelves of any self-respecting Star Trek fan's collection. Yes, they are more expensive than previous Star Trek figures of this size, but if the quality is this good, I'm certainly not going to complain. I've only got the one figure so far, but I know that I'll be getting the rest of this exceptional series very soon indeed.