Galoob Star Trek – Random Toys

For this week’s Random Toys, we’re taking a look at an entire toy line rather than just one toy! Since it is the 50 year anniversary of Star Trek, I thought we’d take a look at one of my favorite Star Trek toylines, the Galoob Star Trek The Next Generation line.

In 1988 Lewis Galoob Toys released their Star Trek the Next Generation toyline based on the new TV series that just started airing the previous year (1987) The Galoob Star Trek line is a small toyline since it was cancelled midway through production on their second year due to low toy sales.

There are 6 figures from the Enterprise’s crew in the Galoob Star Trek line. (Capt. Picard, Riker, Data, Worf, Tasha Yar & Geordi La Forge) All 6 figures stand about 3 3/4″ tall and feature 7 POA: Swivel Neck, Shoulders & Hips plus Hinged Knees. One hand has a Type-2 phaser molded in it while the other arm is bent with a fist.

 

 

Included with each Starfleet figure is a basic Tricorder accessory. The Tricorder is sculpted in the open position and features a strap to allow it to be hung off the shoulder. This strap was probably added since neither hand on any of the figures could hold the Tricorder.

 

 

There are multiple versions of Data in the Galoob Star Trek line, this is due to the fact that the skin tone was never quite right enough for the designers, so there were multiple changes requested during production. These are just two of the four different versions (Speckled, Dark, Blue & Flesh/White)

 

 

Since production on this line was started before the first episode even aired, all of the Aliens are from the first 6 episodes of season one (This is also why all of the Enterprise crew have season 1 appearances) The 4 Aliens in the Galoob Star Trek line are Q (in his judge robes) Ferengi (Who comes with an Energy Whip) Antican & Selay from the episode “Lonely Among Us” All figures have the same articulation as the Enterprise crew.

 

There are two ships for the figures to interact with, the first being the Shuttlecraft Galileo. This Type 7 Shuttlecraft featured a pop up sensor unit that could be rotated around, opening rear hatch and two swing open side hatches. The cockpit seats two figures and the rear has enough room to store cargo or two more figures.

 

The other ship in the Galoob Star Trek line is a Ferengi Fighter. It features a pop up phaser on the front, also the phasers on the sides pull out and a button pops a top hatch up to simulate the surrender posture as seen in “The Last Outpost” The cockpit seats two figures.

 

 

Along with the 3 3/4″ toys, there were two differently scaled toys. The first is a Die-Cast Enterprise. The Galoob Star Trek Enterprise is only about 5″ long and features a detachable saucer section.

 

 

The only electronic toy in the line is a role play phaser. This toy is based on the Type-1 hand phaser seen mainly in the first season of The Next Generation and at least one episode of Voyager. Unfortunately I do not have one of these yet, but according to the packaging, One button would turn on a phaser light while another button would make a phaser sound. There was also a non-functional slider switch.

 

Since the Galoob Star Trek line was cancelled during the second year of production, you can find items that were not released on the packaging and in other print media. These include a Romulan and Wesley figure (both of who have packaged prototypes in the wild) There was also a Die-Cast Ferengi Fighter planned along with an Enterprise playset and multiple other products like frisbees and walkie talkies.

 

I hate that this toyline didn’t take off like the later Playmates one did. I’ve always enjoyed the 3 3/4″ figures and think the toyline could’ve really been something special (Especially the Enterprise playset as I really want a bridge for my figures) I have found that some of the Playmates playsets work well with the Galoob figures like the Generations Engineering playset.