But alas...here we are....
As you might expect, it's a real mix of expectations and delivery with the Husnock Warship from The Survivors, the Vidiian Starship from Voyager's Deadlock and finally, perhaps fittingly and conspicuous by its very absence, the Borg Cube from First Contact.
The Husnock ship from The Next Generation's pivotal third season might look a little familiar - and so it should since it's the original form that would be altered to become the Bajoran Freighter and the Smuggler's Ship from Unification among several others.
in terms of its detail, the original is probably this model in its simplest version. Coated in a plain grey with darker grey highlights, the Husnock Warship has a subtle aztec pattern across its surface with some small, raised details. Towards the centre the darker grey denotes the bridge module painted in with blue windows around two sides of the ‘v’ shaped unit.
In comparison to its later variants, the Husnock Warship continues to build towards the rear and Eaglemoss have accurately captured its simple but distinctively angular shape at the back end too. I always remember this one looking particularly "plasticky" on screen and I'm glad that they have kept that manufactured feel in the replica here.
Everything about it seems almost too good to be true and too pure in form with only a series of blue and white dots, indicating the size of this craft, spread across the central piece to the rear.
Out to the sides that clean, minimal finish has been maintained into the darker grey wings with each of these tipped with an underslung, pointed energy weapon. Both of the prongs to the sides are a little flexible but still feel sturdy. Indeed, the whole ship feels very solid thanks to its blocky structure.
The rear of the warship is tonally even darker than the forward sections and carries a more condensed form of the aztecing seen elsewhere. The lines continue to be cleanly finished and the painting in of the engine is also crisp alongside what seems to be a small docking port just below it.
On the bottom, there's a fraction more detail to be seen. You get a better look at the greebling on the underside of the two weapon prongs which are more visibly attached into the main body of the ship. You also get a clearer view of the windows that line both sides of the hull almost right to the front.
There's a third weapon prong slapped in underneath and right in the middle which wasn't present during the Husnock's first attack during the Enterprise's first visit to the planet. This is noted a few times and lines up both the screen appearance with the model.
While you can see where this and the wingtip weapons fit into the ship, the main join line is hidden away below the overhang from the top of the hull giving an overall seemless impression.
The first of the three magazines in this delivery provides the usual ship overview as well as the customary plan views to compare against the model. In fairness they are very close perhaps on this occasion the CG and images contained therein are even more plain than the mode.. Issue 178 also includes a relevant section dedicated to the making of The Survivors especially in note to the location work that made this one such a memorable episode. Alongside the text are a good selection of photos from the story as well as behind the scenes from the time out of studio.
An excellent final piece for The Next Generation here allows Hans Beimler a chance to recount his memories from his time on the series including writing this episode and being involved with the many-handed Yesterday's Enterprise instalment from later in the same season.
The penultimate edition of the collection takes us into Voyager territory with the Vidiian Starship. It's only the second occasion that the race famed for its ravaging Phage has appeared in the series following issue 103's Warship which was actually used later in the series.
The overall design theme of them both is extremely similar although this later creation has a more golden coat but retains the "front heavy" concept tapering to the rear.
Certainly the colour difference is striking and actually out of character with keeping an aesthetic with alien ship continuity. Perhaps with the Vidiians though it was easier to retain a visual impression alone in the shape of their ships.At the front the starship features a pair of pincers arcing out to the front paralleled by the two warp engine humps on either side.
The golden finish is speckled with white dots to indicate internal lighting and are painted onto the hull rather than sitting into indentations that probably wouldn't be aligned. Rather than an aztec look, the Vidiian ship carries distinct panelling across the whole surface .
Both the warp engines mounted as part of the wing design are tipped with a slightly orange glow before curving back into the larger "shoulders" of the ship and the assembled gubbings on top of the craft. It's not a stunner but the detail of the hull is well replicated from its limited outings and does come across as a model that more time was taken to complete given the texture of the hull, the colour and well, everything.
The structure around those main, prominent features are supplemented with well defined supporting sprues to the rear from the hull to the engine exhaust and then to the front, either side of the predatory pincers. It contrasts quite starkly to the Husnock Warship with its simple lines and plain finish, demonstrating once more the difference just six years of model creation and CG had made on the franchise.
Even out to the edges of the wings there are the geometric panel forms both top and bottom with the underside losing the spinal feature of the dorsal piece but retaining the finely painted engine in the centre back.The other less noticeable details that do reappear on both sides are the blacked out, recessed grilles on the engine pods, again with their painting precisely aligned with the indents.
For a ship that, for once was used more than once but not more than twice, the Vidiian Starship is somewhat seductive with a smooth slimline shape and profile that Eaglemoss have done well to recreate. The stand positioning works very well with the negative space of the hull allowing for a central grip more evenly distributing the weight of the ship over the stand. It's a bit of a fiddle due to the length of the forks that grip the main hull from the back and how far the go back against the main hull but the end effect looks good.
This magazine is our last trip into the Delta Quadrant exploits of Voyager and focuses mainly on the second season. Opening by compiling the stats for the Vidiian Starship, the magazine suffers from not having that many good photos of this vessel to work with, leaving the visuals a little fuzzy or, at best, long distance.
The CG here is better than the real thing, adding more texture to the ship than we received on screen or in the flesh.
Starting out as another ship - that from an earlier season two episode, Parturition - the Vidiian ship made just two appearances in the excellent Deadlock and later in Fury before being replaced with the even more angular Warship.
Finally we take a look into the filming of the Voyager episode in which this starship appeared and it's one that took a lot to complete since there are two of the hero vessel, a challenging-to-film death scene and a sequence which saw Janeway meet Janeway. This probably provides more detail on the filming of the episode than the Voyager Companion (not the greatest series guide written) including how some of the pieces were successfully committed to film.
Deep breath now.
Here we go - and forgive me if I stumble over this because we are now here...the Borg Cube and the end of the regular collection. Grab a hankie.
Now the last time we welcomed a six-sided addition to the series was the Tactical Cube in issue 58 from October 2015(!). Now we have our sixth Borg ship and the first "proper" Cube since we're not going to count the oh-so-well-remembered light up box that was among the initial free gifts way back when.
Unsurprisingly the whole thing is plastic so it's a bit of a double-edged finale since we would have sincerely loved this to be a true combo of the metal and plastic builds we've been used to since issue one.
But hey, there is one major redeeming feature which sets this one right above the Tactical Cube. That Borg craft cleverly repeated each of its sides meaning there were only three distinct elements combined in duplicate to make the threatening starship. Here, each side is unique, each piece carries its own markings and hull nuances and every surface is filled with technical detail including - and it would have been a major error to leave out - the hatch for the Borg Sphere on which the Queen makes her escape into the 21st Century.
Coated in a single dark grey, the hull of the cube is highlighted with marks of green to show the pulsing energy through the structure. This effect is a bit lost on a plastic model and it doesn't help that the depth of the craft that you see on the big screen is lost due to the nature of the building material which only allows for minor changes in the undulation of the detail. Final tip of the hat to Eaglemoss because I could swear point blank that the surface of the Tactical Cube under the added armour plating is almost identical to that of the First Contact cube - nice but of continuity/cheap option to reuse the mould...!
As for the fit together, the six sides are clipped into place internally with only a slight seam around two of the face to give any indication of the construction. As for the stand, it's the same principle as was utilised for the Tactical Cube - just sit it on a plastic shelf and attach to the base. Job. Done.
So to our last look into the magazines and we have a straight forward retelling of the opening battle sequence from First Contact along with some crisp new CG of the distinctive craft and shots from the movie. As for designing the ship, it's a bit like trying to reinvent the wheel as we discover from the perspective of John Eaves.
Voyager introduced Borg Probes, the Queen's ship and the already hat-tipped Tactical Cube but it's odd to think that the lead alien vessel could have looked very different before the designers returned to the familiar - but even then it did look, initially, different to the screened version which even has its visual cues in the Artifact from Picard.
Closing out this issue ahead of the Key Appearance is a brisk two page piece on how some of the Borg technology in the film came to be...you'll be surprised as to what was used so I won't ruin the surprise.
And that's it. 180 issues over and done. We've reviewed every one from the very beginning and it's been an utter pleasure to do so. As for the pick of the crop from these three, well, let's not select a top dog this time. All three have some great merits and are pretty damn screen accurate all round. The magazines have a right mixture of quality with, as we've come to expect, some articles being over long and others that merit more length getting a few paragraphs.
Apparently we will have more collections coming in 2021 - so that'll be Picard and Lower Decks at a minimum...but who knows what else. For now the binders on this one can be snapped shut and filed. Could there have been more issues? Yes, but what would we have been left with since this felt as though we were already starting to get the splinters from the barrel bottom. The Official Starships Collection has been a major game changer for the franchise and one would suspect, Eaglemoss/Hero Collector as well and that will never ever be surpassed.
You did us fans proud.
Thank you.
In comparison to its later variants, the Husnock Warship continues to build towards the rear and Eaglemoss have accurately captured its simple but distinctively angular shape at the back end too. I always remember this one looking particularly "plasticky" on screen and I'm glad that they have kept that manufactured feel in the replica here. Everything about it seems almost too good to be true and too pure in form with only a series of blue and white dots, indicating the size of this craft, spread across the central piece to the rear.
Out to the sides that clean, minimal finish has been maintained into the darker grey wings with each of these tipped with an underslung, pointed energy weapon. Both of the prongs to the sides are a little flexible but still feel sturdy. Indeed, the whole ship feels very solid thanks to its blocky structure.
The rear of the warship is tonally even darker than the forward sections and carries a more condensed form of the aztecing seen elsewhere. The lines continue to be cleanly finished and the painting in of the engine is also crisp alongside what seems to be a small docking port just below it.
On the bottom, there's a fraction more detail to be seen. You get a better look at the greebling on the underside of the two weapon prongs which are more visibly attached into the main body of the ship. You also get a clearer view of the windows that line both sides of the hull almost right to the front.There's a third weapon prong slapped in underneath and right in the middle which wasn't present during the Husnock's first attack during the Enterprise's first visit to the planet. This is noted a few times and lines up both the screen appearance with the model.
While you can see where this and the wingtip weapons fit into the ship, the main join line is hidden away below the overhang from the top of the hull giving an overall seemless impression.
The first of the three magazines in this delivery provides the usual ship overview as well as the customary plan views to compare against the model. In fairness they are very close perhaps on this occasion the CG and images contained therein are even more plain than the mode.. Issue 178 also includes a relevant section dedicated to the making of The Survivors especially in note to the location work that made this one such a memorable episode. Alongside the text are a good selection of photos from the story as well as behind the scenes from the time out of studio.
The penultimate edition of the collection takes us into Voyager territory with the Vidiian Starship. It's only the second occasion that the race famed for its ravaging Phage has appeared in the series following issue 103's Warship which was actually used later in the series.
The overall design theme of them both is extremely similar although this later creation has a more golden coat but retains the "front heavy" concept tapering to the rear.
Certainly the colour difference is striking and actually out of character with keeping an aesthetic with alien ship continuity. Perhaps with the Vidiians though it was easier to retain a visual impression alone in the shape of their ships.At the front the starship features a pair of pincers arcing out to the front paralleled by the two warp engine humps on either side.
The golden finish is speckled with white dots to indicate internal lighting and are painted onto the hull rather than sitting into indentations that probably wouldn't be aligned. Rather than an aztec look, the Vidiian ship carries distinct panelling across the whole surface .Both the warp engines mounted as part of the wing design are tipped with a slightly orange glow before curving back into the larger "shoulders" of the ship and the assembled gubbings on top of the craft. It's not a stunner but the detail of the hull is well replicated from its limited outings and does come across as a model that more time was taken to complete given the texture of the hull, the colour and well, everything.
Even out to the edges of the wings there are the geometric panel forms both top and bottom with the underside losing the spinal feature of the dorsal piece but retaining the finely painted engine in the centre back.The other less noticeable details that do reappear on both sides are the blacked out, recessed grilles on the engine pods, again with their painting precisely aligned with the indents.
For a ship that, for once was used more than once but not more than twice, the Vidiian Starship is somewhat seductive with a smooth slimline shape and profile that Eaglemoss have done well to recreate. The stand positioning works very well with the negative space of the hull allowing for a central grip more evenly distributing the weight of the ship over the stand. It's a bit of a fiddle due to the length of the forks that grip the main hull from the back and how far the go back against the main hull but the end effect looks good.
This magazine is our last trip into the Delta Quadrant exploits of Voyager and focuses mainly on the second season. Opening by compiling the stats for the Vidiian Starship, the magazine suffers from not having that many good photos of this vessel to work with, leaving the visuals a little fuzzy or, at best, long distance. The CG here is better than the real thing, adding more texture to the ship than we received on screen or in the flesh.
Starting out as another ship - that from an earlier season two episode, Parturition - the Vidiian ship made just two appearances in the excellent Deadlock and later in Fury before being replaced with the even more angular Warship.
Finally we take a look into the filming of the Voyager episode in which this starship appeared and it's one that took a lot to complete since there are two of the hero vessel, a challenging-to-film death scene and a sequence which saw Janeway meet Janeway. This probably provides more detail on the filming of the episode than the Voyager Companion (not the greatest series guide written) including how some of the pieces were successfully committed to film.
Deep breath now.
Here we go - and forgive me if I stumble over this because we are now here...the Borg Cube and the end of the regular collection. Grab a hankie.
Now the last time we welcomed a six-sided addition to the series was the Tactical Cube in issue 58 from October 2015(!). Now we have our sixth Borg ship and the first "proper" Cube since we're not going to count the oh-so-well-remembered light up box that was among the initial free gifts way back when.Unsurprisingly the whole thing is plastic so it's a bit of a double-edged finale since we would have sincerely loved this to be a true combo of the metal and plastic builds we've been used to since issue one.
But hey, there is one major redeeming feature which sets this one right above the Tactical Cube. That Borg craft cleverly repeated each of its sides meaning there were only three distinct elements combined in duplicate to make the threatening starship. Here, each side is unique, each piece carries its own markings and hull nuances and every surface is filled with technical detail including - and it would have been a major error to leave out - the hatch for the Borg Sphere on which the Queen makes her escape into the 21st Century.
Coated in a single dark grey, the hull of the cube is highlighted with marks of green to show the pulsing energy through the structure. This effect is a bit lost on a plastic model and it doesn't help that the depth of the craft that you see on the big screen is lost due to the nature of the building material which only allows for minor changes in the undulation of the detail. Final tip of the hat to Eaglemoss because I could swear point blank that the surface of the Tactical Cube under the added armour plating is almost identical to that of the First Contact cube - nice but of continuity/cheap option to reuse the mould...!As for the fit together, the six sides are clipped into place internally with only a slight seam around two of the face to give any indication of the construction. As for the stand, it's the same principle as was utilised for the Tactical Cube - just sit it on a plastic shelf and attach to the base. Job. Done.
Voyager introduced Borg Probes, the Queen's ship and the already hat-tipped Tactical Cube but it's odd to think that the lead alien vessel could have looked very different before the designers returned to the familiar - but even then it did look, initially, different to the screened version which even has its visual cues in the Artifact from Picard.
Closing out this issue ahead of the Key Appearance is a brisk two page piece on how some of the Borg technology in the film came to be...you'll be surprised as to what was used so I won't ruin the surprise.
And that's it. 180 issues over and done. We've reviewed every one from the very beginning and it's been an utter pleasure to do so. As for the pick of the crop from these three, well, let's not select a top dog this time. All three have some great merits and are pretty damn screen accurate all round. The magazines have a right mixture of quality with, as we've come to expect, some articles being over long and others that merit more length getting a few paragraphs.
Apparently we will have more collections coming in 2021 - so that'll be Picard and Lower Decks at a minimum...but who knows what else. For now the binders on this one can be snapped shut and filed. Could there have been more issues? Yes, but what would we have been left with since this felt as though we were already starting to get the splinters from the barrel bottom. The Official Starships Collection has been a major game changer for the franchise and one would suspect, Eaglemoss/Hero Collector as well and that will never ever be surpassed.
You did us fans proud.
Thank you.
Read all our other reviews of The Official Starships Collection from issue ONE here.
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