Star Trek II Wrath of Khan SDCC Exclusives
Diamond Select Toys and Art Asylum
by Mr. Stinkhead

The 2007 San Diego Comic Con has come and gone, but the memories, and the exclusive collectibles, linger. (Ha-ha, you thought I was going to make a body-odor joke about the attendees... I thought that though it was appropriate as a lead-in, it's getting a bit stale HA-HA... I kill me.)

So among the re-paints and chase variants, a crew of exclusives from Diamond Select Toys and Art Asylum's Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan stand out proudly. In this series you could try to get Sulu, Chekov, Bones, Scotty, and Char-broiled Khan. You had to attend SDCC to get these puppies, so I want to show you what only the few were privy too.

If you were at all familiar with DST & Art Asylum's line of ultra-articulated, and actor-accurate Star Trek line, you know what you're in for. If not, lemme give you the rundown. Each of these figures (except Khan, who has a bum left arm) has a ball joint neck, ball joint shoulders (that rotate around, and lift away from the body), bicep, elbow, wrist, waist, hip, just-above-the-knee, knee, and ankle. Whew. On top of all of that articulation, you get some nice accessories, such as interchangable hands, and finely detailed Starfleet Gear. The Communicator actually hinges open, and McCoy comes with additional medical gear. Check out the mind-control sand ear that Checkov comes with.

I'm also impressed with the likenesses. Bones is dead-on in his crotchedy goodness. Charred Khan has that wiley Montelban look in his eyes. You can almost hear Scotty wheezing even when standing still. I think Chekov should be shorter, but it doesn't bother me all that much. It's nice having the detail and articulation in one package. I love when you can get some great poses, but they still appear to be high-end collectibles.

And here's a bonus— in this dawn of ultra-articulated Marvel Legends and what-not, these figures all actually stood up on their own without any problems. The simple rotator joint right above the knees is great at widening each figure's stance, without distorting their overall shape. They all look really nice.

My only complaint, seriously, only complaint was the use of actor photos on the back of the card. I think when you're buying action figures and you want to see who else is available, you want to see a photo of the actual toy. (I understand a lot of these photos are prototypes anyway, but still...) It's DST/Art Asylum, so we know the likenesses are good. But this presentation makes me feel that maybe they were worried you wouldn't know who was who based on the sculpt alone. I'm guessing the figures weren't all quite ready for photography and they wanted an all-or-nothing approach. So that's all. I'm not disappointed in the actual figure at all.

We got to check out all of these figures at Toy Fair earlier in the year, but it's a completely different experience when you really get to handle these guys and give their joints the once-over. All of these joints are nice and tight, and will hold a pose on your shelf for ages.

Note to DST: I still think that a mail-away offer (or web-site exclusive) soft rubber mind-control worm that fits over any BlueTooth enabled wireless ear piece would be sweet. Just keep that in mind...

You can find out more about Diamond Select Toys and Art Asylum's Star Trek Line (including the classic Mego figures) at DiamondSelectToys.com/. And check out the rest of our Star Trek articles.

All photos and article ©2007 MillionairePlayboy.com . All characters are property their original owners.