NCC-1701
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…because I am.  I realized this recently, and I’m kind of ashamed of it.  I LOVE Star Trek, but sometime during Deep Space Nine, my inner fanboy started to retreat into the darkness, replaced by so many other genre distractions.  To this day, I’ve not seen the full series of Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or Enterprise. I know…I know…I’m bummed about it too.  I’ve actually given all of them a try.  I watched the first couple of seasons of DS9, the first full season of Voyager, and a good portion of the first season of Enterprise, who I feel had probably the best pilot Trek has ever seen (I know many will disagree).

Still…somehow, somewhere, I lost interest.  I still saw the movies, of course, but that was about it.  I didn’t collect the comics, didn’t buy the toys, didn’t read the books.  And then, while I was in Toys R Us yesterday looking for G.I. Joe Mighty Muggs (found Destro, but no Baronness), I came across the a TRU employee, stocking the shelves with the action figure line based on the new Trek movie.  I have to admit, I found the figures themselves lacking.  Playmates, the company behind the favorite toy lines of my youth (Ninja Turtles and Dick Tracy) are behind these figures, but they don’t seem to have that same old Playmate charm.  There are 3.75″ figures, 6″ figures, and 12″ figures.  My favorites are probably the 6″ ones. Under the racks of figures were the Enterprise you see above, a bridge playset, and a transporter room playset.  My inner fanboy was about to freak out, but luckily there was a guy there blocking all of it, so I left, not having purchased any of it.

The Bridge, from the Star Trek movieI got into my car, accidentally tearing my pants.  Dismayed at the tear in my pants, despite my inner Trek fanboy wanting me to go back inside and buy as many toys as I could, I started the car and began to drive off.  After all, I purchased hundreds of dollars of Indiana Jones toys when Crystal Skull came out, and was so disappointed with the movie, I sold them all on Ebay.  I didn’t want a repeat of that.

But I hesitated.  Surely, I needed a replica of the Enterprise for my office.  I mean, what office is complete without an NCC-1701 on the top of a desk or shelf?  Even my dad has two – the NCC-1701 and the NCC-1701-D.  I turned the car back around and, with torn pants, went into Toys R Us and purchased, for $29.99, the Enterprise.  It’s now set up in my office, and your press on the bridge up top and it lights up and makes noises.  It’s just about the best thing in the world to me right now.  I’m pondering going back to Toys R Us with fully intact pants and seeing what else I want to buy, or if my money would be better spent getting my hands on full series box sets of the Trek TV shows.

My inner Trek fanboy is back and he’s ready to set phasers to stun on my bank account!

Want to see what the toys look like?  Playmates has a pretty cool website here.

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