Saturday 27 July 2019

Cards are Dealt: Hirogen and Borg Attack Wing Expansion Packs


At the same time that the Federation Attack Fighter pack arrived, there were another two card expansions waiting in the wings.

Providing a new slant on the Hirogen Hunting Vessel, this Independent faction card set includes not just the cards but the tokens to supplement your Attack Wing game - just make sure you have a Hirogen ship before using since this pack doesn't include the movement dial or card (nor the ship or stand for that matter). 


Totalling a cost of 22 points, the vessel attacks with four, defends with two and carries a hull value of three and raises four shield points. The additional slots here are well-mixed with two for Tech, two for Weapons and one for crew - which sort of makes sense since Hirogen vessels usually only had a commander and one other on board; nice touch Wizkids if that was intentional.


The Action bar has the standard Evade, Target Lock, Scan and Battle Stations features available while the unique action works when the ship doesn't succeed in an attack. Effectively it's something for nothing with the defending ship being Target Locked and the attacking Hirogen craft receiving a Battle Station token. Good move which means even the worst turn could end up with a positive result.


The generic version of the ship loses one shield point and a Weapon upgrade as well as the Unique Action for a cost of 18 points - still a decent ship even with some teeth removed.


Captaining this new vessel offers two alternatives with the Hirogen Hunter costing more (four points) and packing a skill of five. A reusable card, it allows Tractor Beam to be used as a Free Action as long as it is equipped to the same ship. The Hunter also has the option to add on an Elite Action. Surprisingly Idrin, the named captain, costs only two points with a skill of three. During the Activation Phase Idrin can be Time Tokened to remove disabled or Time tokens from either Tech or Weapon upgrades attached to the same ship. He too can add on an Elite Action of which there are two included with this card expansion.


Beta Hirogen kicks off the two new Crew cards. Costing three points he's worth the punt given that he increases the Captain Skill by one and doubles up on Scan tokens whenever one is played on the ship he's equipped to. I really like this one due to its double use and benefit to the overall playability of the ship - especially if you're fielding Karr from the Alpha Hunter pack.

Donik, a character from Flesh and Blood, is also damn useful as he stops any upgrades fired from a Secondary Weapon arc having any effect on your ship. This is a MUST to equip and rules out being hung out to dry with torpedo attacks launched from the backs of many a ship. His cost of just two points for such a huge blocking move is a steal - I'd have doubled the price for this one.

Ok. We mentioned earlier the Tractor Beam card and now let's get to it. It's one of the two Tech upgrades provided in this expansion and costs a rather appetising three points to equip. Activated in the Action stage of the round, Tractor Beam has the bizarre ability to swap the green and red maneuvers meaning that green moves would incur an auxiliary power token while the red ones won't. Active at ranges one and two this could well slow down potential prey and leave them in range for that one further turn. 

Stealth Mode (three points) allows your vessel to perform a Sensor Echo move even if not cloaked at the cost of two Time Tokens. A nice defensive move for a pack which is very offensive in it's nature and does allow the player a chance to regroup if necessary.

Talking of offensive capabilities it's perhaps a shock to find that there is only one Weapon upgrade included with this card expansion. Subnucleonic Beams costs three points and operates at ranges one and two. Acting with the same four dice as the Primary Weapon in the pack, it lets you fire and then disable as many Crew upgrades on the opponent's vessel as there are uncancelled Damage or Critical Damage icons. A double hitter here that could take out some potential big guns and clever combos. It will incur two Time Tokens however which limits its activity during the game.

Optronic Data Core functions as either a Weapon or a Tech upgrade (hence the question mark emblem) and can be used as a free Action at the cost of three Time Tokens OR it can be disabled to remove a disabled token from another "?" card attached to the ship. Now, I wouldn't think that second one will happen very often so you're probably not going to be using this card very often!

Closing out the set we have two Elite Actions. The first, the three point The Lone Hunt, is active at ranges one and two but only if there are no other friendly vessels within that zone. It's notably neither disabled or discarded and so can be reused over and over giving your ship an additional die in attack - and I always have a fear of five dice rolling ships which could make this one more than a handful given the other useful upgrades included here.

Last up is the four point Relics which can only be attached to Karr or a Hirogen Captain (isn't that the same thing?) and has two stages to its use. The first part sees you drop a Mission Token onto the card for each time you make a successful attack (once per round) up to a maximum of three tokens. These can then be spent during the Activation Phase to perform a free Action from the ship's Action bar. Fairly useful but not quite as dynamic as the other features in the pack and I'd pick The Lone Hunt over this one every day of the week.

With no Mission cards in this pack we can jump straight across to the other card expansion pack - Queen Vessel Prime aka the Borg Octahedron. As part of the Borg faction this is one of those ships that you love to play given its firepower and capabilities but is an absolute b*****d to take on because of those exact same reasons. This pack will only solidify your thoughts further.

Carrying a six Attack, zero Defence (and why would you need that...), eight Hull and seven Shield points, the diamond ship costs a stinging 42 points with slots for two Borg, one Tech, one Weapon and two Crew. Standard Actions for the Borg are Target Lock, Scan and the ever popular Regenerate. If all that's not enough, the unique Action for the pack means that this one could well be virtually unstoppable since the End Phase of each round can see you add a Drone token to the Captain. Now, stupidly that doesn't specify up to the starting amount...? Could you go over?

The generic version of the Octahedron loses that vague unique action plus a Shield point and a Crew upgrade slot to rock in at a 38 point cost. 

The Tactical Drone starts out with a Captain skill of six and if there's an enemy ship within ranges one or two during Combat then spending a Drone token will allow you to add a Battle Stations token to your vessel and therefore give you a smidgen of defensive possibilities. While this is a good card the lack of defence overall for the Borg is a significant challenge so always go in prepared - even if it costs!

First costs four points to the Tactical Drone's three and starts out with the same six Captain skill as dictated through the number of Drone tokens assigned to it. His functionality is much more attractive, allowing you to spend a Drone to remove two Time tokens or one disabled token from any upgrades on the ship - this will have you back up and running at full tilt almost every round.

This pack offers up four Crew upgrades which are a mixed bunch to say the least. Neonatal Borg adds a further Crew slot to the ship and also lets you fill Tech or Borg slots with Crew. For a two point cost it does provide a lot of flexibility on a Borg ship so you can pick out the very best opportunities. Mezoti (also two points cost) nullifies the effect of a Crew upgrade being used against the Borg ship and is discarded once it's been effectively deployed. As a suckerpunch to the enemy ship the Crew upgrade used in the round is then disabled and its effects cancelled out. Having this ability in your stack will definitely improve the longevity of your time in the game and is another sterling defensive move to have available.

One and Second both cost four points to get aboard your vessel. The futuristic One from Drone is discarded after use and causes Shields to be disabled rather than destroyed for each hit. No shields however and it's pointless to use as there is no effect. Another chance to add some defensive options to the Borg fleet. I'd be more tempted to stick this on the Sphere or the Tactical Cube where there are a higher Shield totals and give yourself even more time to make the killer blow.

Second is a costly card and that's being easy on it. For four points you get to perform a free Action, drop four Drone Tokens onto this card and remove the existing Captain. Second then becomes the Captain. For the chance to use a free Action this comes across as massively OTT but then you think about it - if you've used up all or most of the Drone Tokens off the existing Captain, this gives you another four goes so y'know what - it IS worth the risk!

Only one additional Weapon upgrade in this set and trust me, with six in Attack you don't need much more. Tractor Beam (not the same as the Hirogen one) fires at ranges one and two with the same number of dice as the ship's Primary Weapon. For the whopping five point cost you expect fireworks and this does deliver - to a degree - and there is more risk and gambling than actual certainty since it switches Critical Damage hits into the ability to steal Tech or Crew upgrades from the opponent regardless of defensive status. 

It's a big cost and quite a chance to take although there's no stipulation of when you can play this card either before or after your roll to attack. Nor does it specify if you equip the stolen upgrades to your ship even if they exceed the points limit you may have imposed. Little bit vague again from Wizkids and this certainly needs a little clarification going forward.

There's also a singular Tech upgrade slipped in here in the form of Technological Analysis for four points. Active at all weapon ranges it leads you to discard a Drone token to then remove a Battle Stations, Evade, Scan or Target Lock from the target opposing ship. Useful if only to take the punch out of your opponent’s attack or render them a little more susceptible to retaliation. 

Last up is the solo Borg upgrade; Threat Analysis. Costing a minimal one point, this allows you to disable this card with two Time Tokens to be able to play Battle Stations. What’s the great thing? Well the Borg ship here can’t play this for its Action bar so this provides both an offensive and defensive advantage particularly if things aren’t going too well. 

The Elite Action included costs two points and is entitled Neural Transponder. This card seems to be an enforced Action as whenever a Battle Station, Evade, Scan our Auxiliary Power Token is played then the card is discarded and any  friendly ship at ranges one or two receives the same token as long as one isn’t already there. It’s a bit wishy-washy as an upgrade so you can use your points more wisely elsewhere. It’s likely to be the weakest card in the pack where there are much stronger cards for a slightly higher price. 

The Borg pack seems to be very average in the style and type of upgrades included for your already overpowered fleet. The Hirogen pack is one of my favourite expansions, possibly one of the best packs in the game. There's lots of new spins on gameplay in here and gambles to select just the right upgrades to make the most effective ship. This has made me want to get hold of more of these card packs as there seems to have been a bit of thought outside of the Attack Wing box that we haven't seen since initial launch. Definite thumbs up for these and fingers crossed there are more in the near future - but let's see those Borg and Animated Series packs first please...

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Friday 26 July 2019

SDCC - Discovery


You might be forgiven that Lower Decks and Picard overshadowed the news from the Discovery camp however it probably had more to announce than the other two combined.

As you may remember (SPOILERS) the crew have now jumped around 1000 years into the future to secure the data contained within Discovery's computers which will mark a major change in the direction of the show for its third season.

SDCC revealed that the crew may not have all ended up in the same place and that Terralysium wasn't their final destination. The cast itself will be adding David Ajala as Cleveland Booker who will be setting the cat amongst the pigeons (shake things up) with his arrival. 

Several new shots from filming in Iceland had emerged since SDCC but plot details other than the new arrival in the cast and that it's going to be in the far flung future have been kept a close secret. The only thing I can be almost certain of is that it'll pick up right after Such Sweet Sorrow since Burnham is still in the Red Angel suit.

That said, the Short Treks will be returning with six new adventures to bide us over until there's new Discovery. To our delight these will feature Pike, Number One and Spock with the trailer confirming this straight off. There will be three live action shorts featuring the trio plus two animated shorts and a final one which will spin into Picard.

Now it also appears that the two animated shorts will not be in the style of Lower Decks but will instead focus on Discovery to answer some questions left over from season two. The six announced titles are... 


The Girl Who Made the Stars

I'd suggest this is the one in which Pike is captured and attempting to escape. His cellmate seems to be a Starfleet officer too but is unwilling to help. More of the trailer is devoted to the following pair...


Q&A

Money's on this one being the Ensign Spock and Number One discussion in the turbolift. Trailer details for this show the pair stuck in the transport tube just as Spock comes aboard for the first time. All sorts of questions - what OS does the ship run and most importantly, does Number One like eggplant? I would see this as being the highlight of the six even if the stuck-in-alift trope is a very old and well used one. 



The Trouble with Edward

The trouble with...tribbles? Man-eating ones at that if the trailer is to be believed with a whole pile of them devouring an individual. One lab breach later and they're all over the ship featured although that doesn't seem to be the Enterprise as there's a different captain at the head of the conference table and this might be whom Pike is speaking to right at the end of the minute and a half clip compilation. There's some interesting shots in here - the floor of Tribbles in the corridor, a girl bizarrely devouring a small furry tribble...could be a first diversion into mild horror/comedy?


Ask Not

Possible animated short - no footage of either animated installment was shown.


Ephaim and Dot

As previous - suspect it's the other animated short.

Children of Mars

Might this be already filmed and ready to go as a tease in to Picard or is it going to be aired after season one closes out? Given the secrecy around the show I'd rather not put money on any option here.


The variety of the Short Treks is incredible, hopefully explaining loose ends, offering up new ways of telling Star Trek stories and even perhaps laying foundations for the next big thing from the franchise. They provide a snapshot of the universe and if there's anything to learn from the initial group of four we had during the Discovery season one/two gap, it's to expect the unexpected and that everything, no matter how insignificant or off the wall, might actually have a goddamn point for being there - even if we're categorically told that it doesn't!!!

What do you think to the new Short Treks and what would you like to see from them?

Catch up on our three SDCC 2019 posts HERE

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Thursday 25 July 2019

SDCC - Lower Decks


Second up on our tour of all things SDCC is Mike McMahon's new animated series.

Now confirmed to be set in the post-Nemesis era (with Voyager back home), Lower Decks will find us getting to know four ensigns aboard the California Class USS Cerritos.

While plot details are non-existent we now have a full cast list, stills of the main characters and the command crew of this less-than-important ship of the fleet. So what do we know?


The Ensigns (not) of Command

Four members of the crew will be our guides in the show covering all three disciplines.

Ensign Mariner - voiced by Tawny Newsome is a no-nonsense ensign who gets the job done. Newsome will also be the host of the new CBS Star Trek podcast announced at SDCC.






Ensign Boimler - voiced by Jack Quaid who goes by the book, gets his own way and seems to be an expert when it comes to mental exercise but isn't practically minded.







 Ensign Tendi - voiced by Noel Wells is the Trekkie in us all and hugely excited to be on the mission. 












Ensign Rutherford - voiced by Eugene Cordero is the engineer who can do anything but won't have it solved by the end of the episode.




The Command Crew

Joining the quartet will be...

Captain Freeman - voiced by Dawnn Lewis

Commander Ransom - voiced by Jerry O'Connell

Dr T'Ana - voiced by Gillian Vigman (she's a cat!!!)

Lieutenant Shaxs - voiced by Fred Talasciore (note he's a Bajoran!)

Not much else to reveal on this one at the moment. Characters, ship name....done. I'm hoping that Las Vegas will give us some more details about the upcoming animation!

What do you want to see in Lower Decks?


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Monday 22 July 2019

SDCC - Picard: The Trailer


Take a breath and now let’s dive into the trailer for Picard which aired this weekend (twice!) during the Star Trek San Diego Comic Con panel...

Instead of frame by framing it, let’s work out what all this might mean and discuss the relevant characters and events in turn starting with

Jean-Luc


Retired, living back at the Picard vineyard and seemingly all alone out there following his departure from Starfleet, Picard seems to be drawn back to action with the arrival of Dahj. Played by Isa Briones, she’s the enigma of the show and, according to Jean-Luc when he drops by Starfleet Command, in a great deal of danger. Indeed we see the young girl dealing with masked assailants and phaser attack during the trailer. 

Picard himself it appears is not just affected by the destruction of Romulus but is still haunted by the loss of Data as we are told in the voiceover. So much so that he visits a Soong type android in storage which I would think is Lore who was disassembled at the end of Descent. More on Soong androids in a sec as it’s interesting that this event from Nemesis is going to have such a big effect. I did predict its involvement in a recent post but not on the scale that we get here.

If we are expecting the slower more philosophical approach of The Next Generation I think we will be surprised. Even Jean-Luc picks up a phaser during the trailer to take on an unseen foe. Given Patrick Stewart’s more mature age I doubt he’ll be leaping all over the place but this is definitely going to be fast paced and more action based from the start - no question this is how Star Trek will go now because that’s how TV has evolved - it needs to catch you from episode one or its game over.

Then there's the "Captain Picard Day" banner - that was a bit of a twist to see it after all these years - has someone kept it? Is it one of his crew's possessions perhaps? Were one or two of them kids on the Enterprise-D?

From what I see it looks like Picard’s request for assistance from Starfleet falls on deaf ears leading him to assemble a diverse crew to complete his mission. Oh - and in the trailer he gets to utter the immortal "Engage" line which will have you getting all reminiscent. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up at this point.


The Crew


Dahj - Isa Briones
Young woman entering the next phase of her life when a major incident changes her whole world.




Santiago Cabrera- Christobal Rios 
A former member of Starfleet and someone "reticent" to initially help Picard.






Alison Pill - Doctor Agnes Jurati
A researcher (rumour has it a cyberneticist - now she's limited to what she can say about the role which suggests Pill is crucial to the story)







Harry Treadaway - Narek 
Romulan involved in some sort of secret activities that cannot be divulged at present.






Michelle Hurd - Raffi Musiker 
A past with Picard and a genius strategist haunted by her demons; has a link with Rios because of this.






Evan Evagora - Elnor
Seventeen year old Romulan skilled in hand to hand combat and sword fighting.







The trailer itself doesn't give away much in regards to the characters of anyone except Dahj who would appear to be a major part of the plot at least for the first episode which I would suspect a lot of this footage is from. There's lots of posing, walking, gesturing and staring from all concerned but they're leaving a lot to be discovered which might indicate that giving us a bit of info on Dahj is trying to turn our attention away from other things!

One thing we don't know is what ship these guys are using. They are on one during the trailer but as yet it's still shrouded in a ton of secrecy. From the shots it seems to be very open and maybe some type of cargo ship.




The Romulans

We have two in the crew. One who is very loyal to Picard (Elnor) and another who would seem to have a different agenda. Could Narek be Tal'Shiar perhaps or whatever was created to replace them after the Dominion War? 

Notably some of the shots we have here of other Romulans includes a couple who have the distinct makeup that makes them look a lot like Nero and his crew sans the tattoos from the 2009 reboot. 

Note too that the Romulans are missing their cranial ridges so there has been an update to their appearance since we last saw them in Nemesis. There are some new ships spotted at one point however it's from the rear so they might/not be Romulan; could be Vulcan?

The Borg

Cancel Christmas people, they're back. I was just about to write a piece on whether or not Picard would need the Borg when the trailer dropped and answered my question. Yes, it does. Not only do we have the Borg but we also have Jonathan Del Arco back as Hugh 20 plus years on from Descent and him taking charge of the community that had separated from the Collective and was residing in the Alpha Quadrant. What has happened over time and is that Hugh in the trailer having an implant removed? Take a look at the huge gap in the top right of the cube and also there are two objects which appear to be orbiting it - guard ships? Satellites?

I was very surprised by the inclusion of both Hugh and in turn the Borg so early into the show although its a massive attention-grabbing piece. The Borg also appear to have a new colour scheme changing from green to blue BUT this could either be the individual "collective" established by Hugh or a genuine change to the Borg threat.

Apparently they aren't as dead as we believed following Endgame which rounded off Voyager although those were all connected to the Collective and in the Delta Quadrant. Might we end up over that side of the galaxy given there must have been advances in propulsion and learnings from Voyager's return?

The cube is the only definitive sign of their inclusion in the series. We do seem to see a couple of Borg alcoves in what might be the cube converted into a prison yet that is all conjecture and possibly down to how they have edited shots together in the trailer.

What that scene does show is that there have been 5843 days since an assimilation at the facility which suggests that the Borg are still out there and causing havoc. With a bit of maths though, that 5843 days s actually just over 16 years which is when Picard was taken off the Enterprise and given his special assignment and promotion to admiral....coincidence....? Hmmm.... Also that script to the right appears to be either Vulcan or Romulan which also links to the appearance of the guards with their distinct right angle haircuts.

Have they been reborn or is this Hugh's doing? We know from the LiveWire interview with the cast that his role as leader of the group has evolved since we last saw him on screen but in what direction?

The Surprises 

Holy mother of God. Data...Seven!!!

That same LiveWire interview confirmed that the android at the end of the trailer is Data and by taking into consideration that Patrick Stewart is wearing a uniform again for a flashback he's filming shortly then this could also be a flashback, or maybe a holodeck encounter. The mug we see Picard using for his tea while playing cards is identical to the one from the Enterprise so that might be a clue and I also believe there will be a lot of flashbacks in the show to fill in the 20 years of gaps as the story unfolds. Note too that Data/B-4 refers to Picard as "Captain" not "Admiral" which indicates that he is working on pre-2381 knowledge.

But how the hell did they keep Data a secret? Is the droid in the drawer B-4 as Brent Spiner might have let slip or is this again a red herring to misstep us for another few months. Might that be the disassembled Lore from Descent? Will Data be reborn in B-4? We now know he's going to show up across the series (not every episode) in various ways.

Then there's the return of Seven of Nine. Hair down, still sporting her Borg implants but considerably more at ease than we ever saw her in Voyager. Did she get married to Chakotay or were her abilities snapped up by Starfleet or Section 31? Her appearance in Picard's La Barre home is a huge shock in the trailer and there is another glimpse of her later. Is she responsible for Picard's mission? Is Seven again going to be dropping in every now and then?

Marina Sirtis managed to keep it closed down at the press conference for Destination Star Trek last year and was very firm in her denial of any involvement with Picard but now we also know that both her and Jonathan Frakes will be back as Troi and Riker in this first season. This can only pave the way for other illumni from The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager to be included but for worthwhile appearances and not lip service. Patrick Stewart is hugely involved with the writers' room to get Picard and the series right so this reassures me it won't be done as a gimmick.

The LiveWire interview also has Stewart noting that there might be other characters from the franchise appearing outside of the main cast - but that's speculation for another day.

Two other questions the trailer raised - it looks like Picard is on TV but for what? AND what exactly is being tested/experimented on? There's a lot of green glow so either Romulan or Borg involvement. Might we suspect the Romulans are interning former Borg drones? Creating their own perhaps? Is Hugh fighting a war with the remnants of the Romulan Empire? Are the Romulans experimenting on Hugh???

The trailer is magnificent, giving a real feel of the show, an introduction to the characters and enough shocks and twists that will have fans chomping at the bit to see it. Picard now lands in 2020 and not at the end of this year but that's OK as long as it's done properly. This show has a lot going for it and a ton of backstory and history for us to see filled in since the closing credits of Nemesis. From the teaser and the trailer this is the Star Trek show that fans have been screaming for since 2003 - a step beyond Voyager into a new frontier and also outside the restrictions of Starfleet. 

What are your thoughts on the trailer? What does it all mean? Drop a comment below!

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Wednesday 17 July 2019

Delivery from Doomsday: The Official Starships Collection Special Edition - The Planet Killer


One of the franchise’s most iconic alien spacecraft has unexpectedly joined the Official Starships Collection.

Rocking in at 22cm in length, the Planet Killer from Star Trek’s brilliant The Doomsday Machine is initially an odd choice to supersize as part of the specials but there is a twist to the tale here.

The very shape of this one is odd to start with and Eaglemoss haven’t taken the easy route by simply making it symmetrical along the centre vertical axis which could have been enticing. Instead the shape and surface is uneven, angular and twisted just as we saw in the classic 1967 episode. The rear third of the craft is metal while the front two-thirds are plastic and separated into an upper and lower half - with good reason!

Aligning this to the original was potentially easier since I would expect the CG renderings for the remastered The Original Series would be the prime source to get this one screen accurate. The larger scale definitely benefits the contorted shape of the Planet Killer as does the point that this is 100% decal clean, finished only by the mottled blue/white/grey paintwork. The painting is totally different with the combination of colours creating a sort of organic/metallic feel that resembles the finished craft onscreen and gives the sensation of depth to the otherwise smooth, stepped hull. It's also a very crisp and clean paint job with no screaming errors and fantastic consistency.

This covers the whole thing so you might feel the price tag is a bit steep for something that is a very simple (but well executed) design. Yet this one does pack a unique feature which illustrates that Eaglemoss are thinking outside the box just as they did with the glow in the dark USS Defiant as part of the bonus editions series. 

Hidden under a well camouflaged and magnetically closed panel is a small battery compartment which takes two SL41 watch-style batteries. Fitting is a little fiddly with you needing to unscrew the top of the internal compartment and then push the batteries in and then cram back into the gap for the unit.

Fitted back into the Planet Killer, there’s a little push button which activated an LED bulb set at the back of the craft’s open maw. This illuminates the interior space and does, quite literally, bring the ship to life. The bulb is a dead simple solution very well inserted into this distinctive ship design and does escalate it beyond the usual standard of models. The interior of the maw is also an inset rippled plastic piece which gives a rather cool visual effect that makes this feel as close to the original design as can be. The inset does stand a little proud of the rest of the hull but that doesn't detract from the visual power of the light effect.

The lighting effect is decent but not overpoweringly bright, giving off enough light to illuminate the cavernous mouth of the Planet Killer and it looks ace. Certainly it’s one of the simplest models from all strands of the collection although not as basic as the Fesarius since there’s a worn, uneven and angular hull that gives that awesome look.

For display the craft sits atop a double cupped cradle which doesn’t offer anything in the way of support l, more providing an aesthetic display than ensuring it won’t be maw-planting the carpet/wood floor/quarry tiles in the coming weeks. Make sure it’s on a deep shelf would be my suggestion!

The special edition magazine has a lot of CG images newly created and also from the remastered episode. The model shots from the original episode are conspicuous by their absence and it’s not sitting well that the original vision of Star Trek seems to have been cast aside in favour of the updated versions from only a few years back. 

Covering the episode, the magazine relates the events surrounding the encounter with the Planet Killer as well as views of the craft to compare to the "real" thing. The rest of the pages are turned over to discussing the development of The Doomsday Machine episode from the mind of Norman Spinrad plus some side notes on how he nearly contributed to Star Trek beyond The Original Series. It's fairly standard background information and is kept very relevant to the model it's packaged with.

The Planet Killer is perhaps not the most inspiring model to arrive and for some it may seem overpriced especially as it's a special rather than a regular issue. That said, the larger scale has allowed the welcome inclusion of the lighting element which makes a big impact when used and gives a more impressive feel to the end result. 

A rare chance to get hold of a decent scale model of this creation and definitely one you should go for.

The Planet Killer is available now at selected retailers and online via the Eaglemoss shop RRP £29.99

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