What's Inside the Enterprise?! (and some other merchandising)

Where's the loo??? Is that the warp core? What's inside the saucer?


Created by the team behind Dragon Models' Project Cutaway line and available NOW, this plastic, fully painted model of the original TV series Enterprise uses transparent pieces to reveal the detailed interior of the ship that started it all. Measuring 18 inches long (good size that) and with a metal display base it also has the lovely RRP of $174.99. A bargain of course(!)

It looks awesome from every angle on these photos and I suspect Diamond Select Toys have got a winner on their hands no matter the cost.  Having not seen the finished item face to face I can't comment on the quality, scale or detail contained within but I don't think fans will be disappointed. An A, D and E variants must surely be coming at some point if the market takes this well enough? It's certainly unique and goes a bit further than the posters we saw in the 1990's of the A and D which were included in the boxes for AMT models (blast from the past). It just shows you how far technology has come in the last 20 years. I would have liked to have seen a bit more detail on the saucer pics as it just looks like it's showing the internal structure and corridors and not what's in the rooms. Warp core takes up a bit of room though, doesn't it?

Just to indulge for a second, I had both of these on my wall at home and the detail was beautiful. I hope in some ways these get re-released at some point as they were some of the best images created for the 30th Anniversary in 1996. I suspect a project might be to delve into their past a bit more and see if we can find out who was responsible for putting them together. (both images from memory alpha). Out of the two I preferred the "A" poster as it was easier to see all the finer points of the ship with less decks to fill up the image. It included a great little drawing of the bridge, the shuttle and even the never-seen saucer landing legs! I recall spending a lot of time crawling over both to spot the minor details and things that were drawn in to find - transporter rooms, backup control rooms...the loo....

Also released this week were the packaging images for the new Minimates range of figures. We've talked about these extensively before so I'm going to just include the pic for reference - at least it'll help you spot them quicker on the shelves after launch in June 2013.

Stores carrying Star Trek: Attack Wing will host tournaments for players to challenge each other for dominance of the Alpha Quadrant. Players will collect a participation prize each month as well as compete for a new playable ship that will only be offered via the Organized Play events. The player with the best record over the six-month event will be bestowed the title of Fleet Admiral and awarded a special grand prize at the end of the program.

Two more bits of "stuff" for you take a look over in the next few days. Firstly there's Hero-Clix. Now at initial glace it's a kids' game but what does make me a little bit more interested is the ships that are involved. Already in production, there's now a special event called Star Trek: Attack Wing coming online. The six-month storyline Organized Play program focuses on  the Dominion War from the Deep Space Nine timeline and looks like a lot of fun (big kid mode engaged).

Pre-orders are now being taken for the Star Trek: Attack Wing Starter Set and first eight expansions packs that launch this August at GenCon 2013. At the event players will be able to experience demos at the WizKids booth as well as limited tournaments to get a first look at the game.

Under license by CBS Consumer Products, Star Trek: Attack Wing utilizes the FlightPath™ maneuver system featuring pre-painted miniatures of iconic ships from the Star Trek universe. Players can assemble their fleet and customize ships with different captains, crew, weapons and tech upgrades.

Now this is where is gets a bit more exciting for fans as the Star Trek: Attack Wing Starter Set includes the USS Enterprise-D, a Klingon Vor’cha-class cruiser and Romulan D’deridex-class ships (featured on the poster above) as well as a rulebook and all the components needed to play. After that initial set up, there are further releases planned with the first eight expansion packs of two each of Federation, Romulan, Klingon and Dominion faction ships leading the charge. Anyone know if these are available in the UK? I just want the ships!

The upcoming release of another item might just help contain my Inner Trekker and give me the ships at the same time however. The Eaglemoss Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection which launches in August 2013.

If you register through the website you can get yourself a free trial of the product which gives you access to view the first issue for a limited time and then choose whether to buy or subscribe. I might be tempted to have a look over the first issue (priced £1.99) and get the Enterprise-D but once the price hikes up to £5.99 for issue 2 and then higher for each subsequent issue I'm not sure if I would be able to justify purchasing this regularly. It might be one of those where only specific ships influence my purchase along the run of 65 magazines promised.

Taking a look at the pages available it appears like a cross between the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual and the Star Trek Factfiles. Blatantly timed with the release of Star Trek Into Darkness this is going to be aimed towards the younger, newer fan market rather than the more seasoned fan as the content doesn't appear that "technical". The preview images are heavy on full colour pictures and low on text but it's more about the model and the quality that they can produce on a fortnightly basis. I look forward to seeing the result in a newsagent near me soon. Upcoming issues (two through five) promise the refit movie Enterprise, Klingon Bird of Prey, Romulan Warbird and the NX-01 from, of course, Enterprise.

If you pre-order then there's a plethora of goodies you'll get alongside the first few issues - binders, Enterprise-D dedication plaque, Borg cube (not full size), a digital copy of the magazine and, probably the best bit, a model of the Enterprise-D from All Good Things... resplendent with third nacelle. Oh, and you have the chance to win an iPad mini.

Eaglemoss are doing a good job with the presentation of the website and the offers to get people onboard ahead of launch but I would personally rather wait and get a better idea once it's had a first issue release as it could all be hype and I've seen this kind of publication before with Bond cars and all sorts of promotions. Certainly all the pre-launch material makes it look super-tempting for new, moderate and hardcore fans and I will endeavour to provide a review of the first issue when it's launched for the budget price of £1.99. No doubt office desks across the land will be adorned with miniature USS Enterprise models from August. While there is that sense of caution I am intrigued as to what will be on the shelves in two months. If Eaglemoss are reading, can you make sure there's every version of the Enterprise, Defiant, Voyager, Prometheus and Dauntless....!

giantfreakinrobot.com

One thing I can say is that their customer service team are on the ball. I've had some issues logging in but Arlene from Eaglemoss has been very helpful throughout the process...shame I still can't get into the trial section however.

Enterprise and Minimates images courtesy of Diamond Select Toys
Star Trek: Attack Wing images courtesy of NECA/Whizkids
Star Trek: The Official Ships Collection images from Eaglemoss