New Star Trek 3D Chess Collection figurines

Eaglemoss: Hero Collector have launched a new Star Trek collectable range, the Star Trek 3D Chess Collection(ad), which combines the classic game in it's tridimensional Star Trek form, with figurines of characters from across the Trekverse. Continue below to check out details of this new series.

The collection promises to delivery 48 characters as chess pieces, comprising three full sets, themed on The Original Series, The Next Generation, and "Aliens and Enemies".  The pieces are at 1:21 scale, making most of them about 3.5 inches tall, and they are all hand painted metallic resin. 

Bradford Exchange's Transporter Figurine Collection

Bradford Exchange have revealed their latest Star Trek sculpture collection, and have come up with quite a creative format. The "To Boldly Go" Transporter Figurine Collection(ad) will offer up all the main TOS crew on a transporter pad. Each figurine is partially molded in transparent glittery resin, standing on a clear transporter pad base, so when combined with the transporter room display base, which lights up, you get a nice transporter effect. This is brought to life further with sound effects from the transporter base. Continue below to check out the series.

Hallmark reveals Klingon Bird of Prey to join this year's Star Trek Keepsake decorations

Hallmark have revealed a new addition to their range of Star Trek Keepsake Christmas decorations this year, in the form of a convention exclusive ornament. With the Klingon Bird of Prey joining the line-up, this makes 2021 a two-starship year for Hallmark, who have already announced La Sirena from Picard, alongside TOS figures that make up the rest of this years range. Continue below to check out the latest preview images of them all. 

Bradford Exchange launch metal starships collection

Bradford Exchange have launched a new series of starship models, the Cast Metal Star Trek Starship Sculpture Collection(ad), which kicks off with the original USS Enterprise, of course.

Here's Bradford's very enthusiastic description:

Each sculpture shines in a bright golden finish that gloriously brings it to life. As the perfect finishing touch, the gleaming sculptures are permanently attached to the base shaped like the Starfleet Command insignia. This collection is a stunning celebration of groundbreaking spaceship design and it makes a wonderful addition to any STAR TREK decor. 

Hallmark brings little starships back to the Christmas tree, plus their latest Mirror Mirror figurines

Hallmark have revealed their 2021 Keepsake Christmas decoration range, which includes three new Star Trek releases - Those include the expected continuation of the Mirror, Mirror Storytellers range, and the welcome return of Hallmark's little starships to hang on the tree too. Continue below to check them out.

Last year was the first without a little ship since the Star Trek collection began in 1991 - We got a big ship instead, see below - But the smaller format is thankfully back this year. The starship for 2021 will of course be the latest hero ship, the star of Picard, La Sirena. So far Hallmark have just released a fairly low resolution rendering of this in their Dream Book catalogue, so we'll have to wait for a clearer look of the real thing closer to release. La Sirena is expected in October, and will include sound features, with clips from the show.

The Borg Cube record player is coming, resistance is futile

What's a thing you never knew you needed but you absolutely need? Why a Borg Cube record player of course! Resistance (to disco beats) is futile!

This is coming soon from CherryTree, makers of Borg Cube PCs, and yes, this is also a PC as well! Here it is in action:

 

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A look back at Kevin Francis's semi-lost range of Star Trek toby jugs

I love an obscure bit of Star Trek merchandise, and something that caught my eye in the hunt for such oddities recently is Kevin Francis Ceramics' range of Star Trek toby jugs. Or almost range: While the company worked up designs for at least eleven different TOS and TNG characters, only four ever appear to have made it into production - And all of those were in limited editions of between 350 and 650 a piece, so even they are quite illusive items. Continue below to have a look back at what could have been an ambitious and distinctive Star Trek collection.

Toby jugs, for the unfamiliar, are normally a ceramic mug in the form of a character, traditionally a sitting rotund man with his own mug of ale in hand. They can be practical drinking vessels, but they're more often produced to be novelties and collectors items. A few companies have had a go a some form of character or figural mug in the Star Trek realm before, perhaps most notably Applause, who produced quite a fairly large range of character's heads as mugs. A couple of years before them though (circa 1995), Kevin Francis went down a far more ambitious and artisan path.

You can get a really good sense of what they were creating in one of the designs they did manage to get to market, the Borg drone toby mug - As you can see, he's barely a mug at all! This tall standing character casts aside the typical constrains and practicalities of the toby mug format to focus on delivering an impressive ceramic sculpture. Setting this apart from your usual figurine though, at the back of this character you find a Borg Cube streaking through space; this is the handle. A hole at the top of the head allows liquid to be poured in and drunk out from, and so this is still a functional mug (if maybe slightly difficultly so).

TNG crew frustration continues with Commander Riker facepalming bust

It's a tough year, in recognition of this Icon Heroes have turned their facepalming busts into a series, with Commander Riker now joining Captain Picard (who himself just recently had a third edition release announced).

The new Commander Riker facepalming bust, based on a moment from the episode A Matter of Perspective, is 7.9 inches tall, and a limited edition of 1701. Made from polystone, and hand painted, this is officially not just a bust, but also a paperweight. It is also officially a San Diego Comic Con exclusive, but of course there is no SDCC this Covid infected year, so you'll just have to get one via Icon Heroes' website.

Facepalming Picard bust returns, and is now taller!

The Picard facepalming bust is back! Icon Heroes eternally frustrated polystone paperweight is reborn at a new larger 8 inch tall format (rather than 5.5 inches before). They've also adjusted to sculpt slightly, and painted the combadge on the base this time.

Picard is perhaps facepalming this time because this is nominally a San Diego Comic Con exclusive; but there is no San Diego Comic Con this year! Instead he'll be exclusively available via the distributors Previews, which means you'll be able to order him at most comic book and collectables shops, and some online retailers, such as Entertainment Earth.

This will be a limited edition of 1701. Continue below for lots more images.

Hallmark previews 2020 Star Trek Keepsake decorations

Hallmark have released lots of new images of this year's range of Keepsake Christmas decorations, including of course all the Star Trek pieces in the collection. This year the Star Trek offering is going in a completely new direction; instead of franchise-spanning assortment of ships, figurines, and small scenes we've grown accustomed to in recent years, this time everything is one theme, all inspired by the original mirror universe episode Mirror, Mirror; and they're all interactive!

As part of Hallmark's Storytellers range all the pieces this year, and over the next couple of years too, interact with each other to tell the story from the episode; with every decoration featuring light and sound functions. Which characters you get will determine which bits of dialogue are activated when they start playing off of each other (you'll need to get a seperate Hallmark's Keepsake Power Cord to power and connect them all). As the collection expands over the next few years you should be able to build ever more elaborate "performances".

The highlight of this initial wave is the impressive USS Enterprise tree topper, which sits upon a pyramid of Starfleet deltas, which illuminate, and form a base for further upward lighting of the ship. The ship itself also has lit parts. This piece does include its own power adapter, and also comes with a remote (also delta shaped) to activate the performance (or you can press a button on the ship itself). On it's own it plays the Star Trek theme music, and if connected to the other Storytellers it starts telling the story too. Jake Angell is credited as the designer of this decoration:

1/3 scale Captain Spock statue from Darkside Collectibles

Darkside Collectibles Studio have revealed an impressive new Star Trek release, a 1/3 scale Spock statue! Specifically Captain Spock, as seen in The Wrath of Khan. That scale makes for a whopping 65.5cm tall statue, which stands on a 29.5cm diameter Starfleet logo base. Made from polystone Captain Spock weighs in at 15kg. To stir your Federation patriotism for this hero of Starfleet, the statue also comes with a seperate Federation flag, which itself stands 81cm tall.

Darkside Collectibles are taking orders for this now, with an expected delivery in October 2020. They also have an exclusive variant, with a live long and prosper hand. Continue below to check out that, and lots of images of the regular release too:

Hallmark's 2020 Star Trek Keepsakes revealed

At the Star Trek Las Vegas convention Hallmark have just revealed their 2020 Star Trek Keepsake Christmas decorations (which StarTrek.com have diligently released images of too).

This year they've got a whole new assortment of ornament styles to shake things up a bit. All of the ornaments in this year's range are interactive, part of a new series called Storytellers. Each ornament has built in sound recordings, as many have before, but these ones also work together to tell stories, depending on which ornaments you bring together using a Keepsakes Power Cord. Reporting from the STLV panel, TrekCore say this is the start of a three year program of releases, so there'll be lots more story to come over the next few Christmases.

The bulk of the range is made of character figurines, and they've gone mirror universe themed for this initial assortment, with mirror versions of Kirk, Uhura, and Sulu. Each is displayed on a small base, which lights up when they "talk".

Star Trek Cats statues from Bradford Exchange

Not long ago Chronicle Collectables announced a new range of sculptures based on the Star Trek Cats series, but it turns out their not the only ones in the business for statuesque cats, as Bradford Exchange launched its own range back in March!

Like Chronicle, Bradford are mining TOS, with releases as part of their The Hamilton Collection range of collectable sculptures. Like many of Bradford's lines, the series comes as a subscription. So far four character have been revealed in the collection, called Space Cat Crusaders: Cat-tain Kirk, Mist-purr Spock, Lieutenant Uh-purr-a, and Doc-purr McCoy.

Star Trek Cats now coming as statues

Star Trek Cats, which started life as a book, illustrated by Jenny Parks, back in 2017, has spawned all manner of merchandise since its inception, including calendars, apparel, and even postage stamps! Now the cats are entering the third dimension, with a new range of Star Trek Cats statues from Chronicle Collectibles.

The initial range consists of three TOS characters in cat form, Captain Kirk, Spock, and Scotty. All are made from polystone, and are limited editions (although the quantities have not been revealed). Continue below for full details and lots of images of each of them:

Cat Captain Kirk is the most impressive of the bunch, coming complete with a captain's chair replica. It appears the cat is a separate element in this ensemble, giving you some flexibility in how both the cat and the chair are displayed. At 1:9 scale the piece measures 7.5 inches tall, 7 inches wide and 5 inches deep.

Facepalming Picard bust returns, in bronze!

Last year Icon Heroes brought to life the popular Captain Picard facepalming meme in the form of a bust-paperweight. The ThinkGeek exclusive edition of 1602 life-like painted busts sold out in short order - But if you missed out, frustrated Picard is back, now offered in bronze, and there's 6000 of him this time!

Once again he's a ThinkGeek exclusive, and made from resin, with a bronze finish, including a patina highlighting the details. Available now, the bust is six inches tall. Icon Heroes have sent me a nice set of high res images, so continue below for a closer look:

New images of Hallmark's 2019 Keepsakes

Hallmark have released lots of new images of their Keepsakes range for this year, including of course a gaggle of Star Trek designs. Continue below to check them out:

This years ship is the refit USS Enterprise, chosen to reflect the 40th anniversary of The Motion Picture. The battery operated model has light features, which you can see in action in a video on Hallmark's website (as is the case with each of the items mentioned below):

Eaglemoss Discovery ships updates: First look at Sarcophagus ship, another Disco-Enterprise, tardigrade, and more!

Eaglemoss have updated their listings for ships in the Discovery Starships Collection, giving us first looks and new looks at several forthcoming ships. Continue below for all the latest:

First up we have our first look at the first larger special issue in the series, the Klingon Sarcophagus ship. Even as a larger model it seems hard to do this ship justice with all it's pointy details, but they've certainly had a good crack at it! The US Eaglemoss shop has this down for March release.

UPDATE: Eaglemoss have released a much higher res image of this model as part of their Toy Fair press release:

Seven of Nine and Captain Proton fill the final Star Trek Mission Crate

Subscribers to Loot Crate's Star Trek Mission Crate have begun to receive their third subscription box in the series, the Voyager themed Dark Frontier crate. This much delayed crate was originally due to arrive early last year, but with every crate in the series delayed by months Loot Crate have now given up completely and cancelled the series half way through - More on that below, but first, let's look at what they did manage to send out!

The centerpiece of each of the Mission Crates is a QMx Mini Masters figurine (which also get seperate releases from QMx at a later date if you're keen to get hold of them). So far we've had Locutus of Borg, and Worf, and they are joined now by a Seven of Nine apparently pondering something. An eBay listing provided these photos of the figurine and packaging:

More Hallmark Christmas decorations this year

Surprise, Hallmark aren't done with Christmas this year it seems. In addition to their Keepsake ornaments released earlier in the year, they have also produced several other Star Trek decorations outside the Keepsake brand. Continue below to check them out.

First up there are two ceramic-style designs, both quite stylised. The first of which is a new ship! Shuttlecraft Galileo, which is a Walmart exclusive. The Hallmark Star Trek Ornaments blog and Garth Duran via the HeroCollector Star Trek Fan Group found all these photos of it:

New Zealand Mint bring us silver Spock, Wrath of Khan and TNG poster coin-notes

The New Zealand Mint have been busy of late, producing several new items in their various collections of Star Trek coins and silver-stuff. Continue below to check out some of the latest TNG and movie inspired releases.

But first, here is the recently revealed third in their series of TOS silver miniatures, Mr Spock (who follows the previous Captain Kirk and USS Enterprise releases):