In previous ToyBox columns, I have complained long and hard about how Playmates failed to produce action figures of some of the more popular latter-day Star Trek characters. This is very, very true. However, it was brought to my attention that I was wrong on one count – and it was also brought to my attention that Playmates isn’t the only source of the occasional new Trek character in plastic.
The Seven of Nine figure seen at right was a 1998 exclusive to Target stores under Playmates’ “Starfleet Command” subset, which also included 4.5″ First Contact/Insurrection uniformed variations of Picard, Riker, Troi, Dr. Crusher, and Worf. This version of seven – the only 4.5″ scale version produced – was very clearly sculpted from Paramount’s earliest publicity photos of the character, which posed her as provocatively as possible. The figure’s pose is most un-Seven-like, even though the detailing of her Borg gear is fairly intricate.
Now…the real surprise. The Ezri Dax figure is a one-of-a-kind custom figure created by “The Bounty Hunter,” a figure collector/ customizer from Canada. I asked him for some background on how this Ezri figure was created, and the resulting article is forthcoming.
I’m speculating that the body is probably from the aforementioned Starfleet Command variations of either Troi or Crusher. I’ve no idea where the head is from, or if it’s a custom sculpt; either way, it’s very close, and I’m exceedingly happy to complete my set of DS9 regular cast members – even if I did have to wait for someone to make a customized version!
