JANICE RAND

STAR TREK (PLAYMATES)

Well, I’ve officially run out of Playmates Star Trek figures based on “The Cage” and while I could easily use that as a reason to stop doing Trek reviews, I’ve decided to not…do…that.  Because I’m nuts, or something.  I’m sticking to the Classic Trek side, though, because that’s where I feel the most comfortable.  I’ve looked at all of the core crew members, as well as one of the more notable recurring crew, Nurse Chapel.  I haven’t looked at the other most notable recurring crew member, Janice Rand, who was a pretty notable character until her actress Grace Lee Whitney was suddenly let out of her contract halfway through the first season.  Despite her abrupt departure, Rand still made an impact, and that makes her more than worthy of the action figure treatment!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Janice Rand was released in the fifth “mixed assortment” of Playmates’ general Star Trek line, the same assortment that included Chapel.  The two of them served to round out the bridge crew set from earlier in the line.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and she has 12 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is almost identical to that of Chapel, with the standard line set-up and the more restricted hip joints due to the skirt.  Rand’s sculpt is unique to her, which is somewhat surprising, given it’s the same uniform as Uhura, but it was totally new.  The exact layout of her uniform is slightly different, but it’s accurate to how it looked on the show.  The head’s not a pitch perfect Grace Lee Whitney likeness, but it’s close enough to sell the general idea of who she’s supposed to be.  Certainly, it’s as close as most of the other figures in the line got, especially when it comes to the classic Trek characters.  Like Chapel, she avoids the big-headed-ness of the earlier figures in the line, which is always a plus.  Her color work is basic but generally well handled.  The red on her uniform is a little darker than the color used for Uhura and Scotty in the boxed set, for not particularly clear reasons, but internally it works fine.  Rand is packed with a phaser, a tricorder, a communicator, a data pad, and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with Chapel, I didn’t have Rand as a kid, but I do remember my dad getting one for his collection.  I ended up snagging this time in mid-2018, at the same time as the Spock from “The Cage.”  I got both of them loose without their accessories, but as with Spock, I was able to find her accessories after the fact, and here she is in all her complete goodness.  She’s not quite as strong a figure as Chapel, but she’s still a better figure than the core crew set figures, so that’s not so bad.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.