Thursday, April 12, 2012

Retro Toy Week: Playmates Star Trek Borg!


He's mostly cut-joints, and came with several accessories he couldn't hold. But that didn't mean he wasn't a decent figure for his time: from 1997, Playmates Borg action figure. Well, the full listing would be the Borg action figure from Star Trek: the Next Generation "1998 Warp Factor Series 1 Deluxe Action Figure with Spring-Firing Borg Arm."

Wait, didn't I just say 1997? Yes, because a good chunk of this figure was used the year before for a Borg in the Star Trek: First Contact line. That one had a cybernetic claw and a pasty human hand; while this one has a spring-loaded phaser hand and an opening clamp. (Did the Borg have phasers, or disruptors, or something else? I'd have to look it up sometime...)

There are five tubes coming into and out of him, along with two molded ones in the gun arm. The articulation, like I say for most of these figures, is of its time; but you don't need a hyper-poseable Borg figure. You need more Borg.

Like zombies, the Borg don't look right by themselves: you ought to have at least three on the shelf. I know I have one of the First Contact Borg somewhere; along with one of the higher end Art Asylum ones from a few years later. These Borg are taller than most of the Playmates Trek figures: they're labeled as six-inch (really?) while most of their line was 4.5. I used them in a strip a long time back.


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