LIEUTENANT COMMANDER DATA

STAR TREK: UNIVERSE (PLAYMATES)

I’m apparently keeping this Star Trek thing running.  And also this Data thing running.  So here we are.  But for today’s review, I’m jumping a ways ahead…while also back.  Back in 2022, Playmates picked up the Trek license for the third time, and this time around tried to do the thing everyone said they wanted, which was more figures in the same scale as their original line, but with some modern advances in sculpt and articulation.  It was a valiant effort, but…well, like so many Trek lines, it didn’t really have legs.  We got a small handful of figures from a few different themes, and Data was amongst the Next Gen figures.  So, two three years after the fact, here’s that figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lieutenant Commander Data was one of the eight figures that launched Playmates’ Star Trek: Universe line.  All of the figures were on the same Universe card outside of the US, but domestically, the “retro” figures were put on retro inspired.  Data and the other two Next Gen figures were released in packaging replicating their original Playmates releases.  Like Data’s original Playmates figure, he’s based on his post-Season 3 version of the standard uniform, which is really the “classic” Data look.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 21 points of articulation.  He’s a little taller than the vintage Playmates Trek, and the articulation is completely different.  There’s a lot of universal joints in play, and he also gets wrist and ankle movement, which wasn’t present on earlier figures.  He does lose out on waist movement, which feels a little bit like a step back.  That said, he can at least sit down, which is an improvement across the board.  The sculpt is an interesting approach, because it feels like it’s aiming to sort of capture the retro stylings, but it’s not quite a match for how they used to do things.  Most notably, the hands are really small.  Like “look like they should be on a 3 3/4 inch figure” small.  Not sure why they’re so small.  The head is okay; it’s not unlike Brent Spiner, but I can’t really say it looks more like him than the vintage one did.  Data’s paint work is generally not too bad.  It’s very basic, and the collar is notably pretty sloppy, but it generally gets the job done.  Data is packed with a phaser, tricorder, diagnostic testing unit, and display stand.  They’re modeled on the accessories from the original release, so the phaser has the permanently attached beam, and they all have hand holds attached.  In this day and age, not having the beam be removable feels like a real missed opportunity.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve had no shortage of opportunities to get most of the vintage Playmates Trek run, so I wasn’t in dire need of any of the new ones when they hit, but I admired Playmates giving it a try.  One of the Datas fell off the card at work, so I snagged that one, since it was a Data and all.  And then I pretty much forgot I owned it for a year and some change, which isn’t the sort of thing you should do.  I finally unearthed him, and here we are.  I think I might have been part of the problem?  Or, maybe Playmates was?  He’s a weird figure for sure, but I feel like if the line had gone further, there could have been some cool stuff.  Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.