ERTL Archives - PS

Toy-Ventures: ERTL Star Trek 3

Mantooth — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 12:00:00 +0000

We’re back after a short break and going to take a look at a 1980s property for a change.

This week is all about the rarely talked about ERTL Star Trek 3 line, one of the most obscure toy lines of the 1980s. We delve into the back story of Star Trek movie toys, how these got made and why they didn’t really succeed.

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ERTL Star Trek 3 Klingon Prototype Found!

Mantooth — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 05:00:00 +0000

I’ve talked about the ERTL Star Trek 3 figures before and I especially love this press photo of the handmade mockups. While the Kirk, Spock and Scottie are obviously repainted Mego The Motion Picture figures, I always wondered what the Klingon figure was.

Well, today I got that answer, more after the jump:

Recently I got an email from a collector named Nick, who bought a large collection, well I’ll let him explain.

“I acquired this via an extremely large carded Star Wars collection and it was randomly in there. I admittingly know very little about Star Trek toys but I could tell it was a Klingon of some sort. The guy I bought the collection from was selling it for a friend of his who has dementia and needed money for hospital bills.

The collection of Star Wars figures I noticed were clearly accumulated during the 80s by this one collector because almost all of them had price stickers from a department store called “Long’s.” So it wasn’t a pieced together collection…he was buying them as they were coming out in the 80s. After some research, I found out that the department store chain was located in Iowa.

So, when I finally got around to figuring out what the Klingon figure was I was perplexed. I couldn’t find anything online about it. Luckily I have some friends who could help. They pointed out that it looked like a mock-up for the ERTL line from the 80s. Then bam, I came across the photo on your site of the vintage ToyFair pic. Ans then read ERTL was based in Iowa. And then when I saw the glue on the feet, it pretty much sealed the deal. I knew it was that exact figure.

I’m trying to gather more information from the person I bought it from but so far it’s a roadblock. But somehow this collector got his hands on it in Iowa in the 1980s (likely). “

There is the glue that is so prominent in the black and white shot in the picture.

You can see a colour shot of the figure in the 1984 ERTL catalog here.

You can totally see the Kenner roots of this mock up, pretty sure those are biker scout legs.

Thanks to Nick for sharing this awesome find.

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ERTL Star Trek 3 Figures

Mantooth — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 04:00:00 +0000

I thought it would be fun today to talk about a Star Trek action figure line that nobody really ever does, from 1984 let’s explore the ERTL toys Star Trek 3 line and I’ve even got prototype shots! More about this fun (and very affordable) line after the jump!

So after the merchandising disaster of the Motion Picture, the Star Trek property was kind of radioactive to toy makers. The sequel “Wrath of Khan” didn’t see much merchandise save for some Dinky die-cast ships.

However, “Khan” was a hit and AMT/ERTL was selling lots of Star Trek related model kits and branching out into action figures, so they gave the next movie “The Search for Spock” a go.

This is ERTL’s press photo to the toy trade, it’s kind of telling that they are just repainted Mego Star Trek the Motion Picture figures (not sure who Kruge is based on but i’m guessing possibly a Kenner Star Wars figure). There is a catalog shot which shows later prototypes with a Lassie like dog as a stand in for Kruge’s pet.

ERTL went all out with these and created O-Ring type figures popularized by Mego and Hasbro. These were actually well made but you occasionally saw them in stores having broken in the package.

The nicely made figures suffered only in two regards, the accessories were too big (Seriously is that an ipad or a communicator with Kirk?) and the movie uniforms gave the figures a slightly generic look. A far cry from the explosion of colour the TV uniforms were.

Also, Spock is NEVER in uniform in this movie! I just realized that.

Scotty is another odd choice for the film as Dr. McCoy had a much larger part in the film.

So, even though Star Trek 3 was a hit that summer, these figures were not.

They languished on store shelves for years and were sold on clearance. I started collecting vintage SF toys in the summer of 1985, these were easily found for under a dollar and even though they were modern, they gave me a Mego vibe so i snapped them up.

So why did they bomb?

There are a number of factors as to why these didn’t succeed. The first being that Star Trek was still a risky property after the Motion Picture fiasco.

ERTL was also a manufacturer primarily known for die-cast toys and models, so they didn’t get the presence on the action figure aisle like many competitors (I remember them mainly from grocery store cereal aisles). They used the same channels that they used to sell diecast cars, models and tractors.

Edited to add: Since this article dropped i’ve gotten feedback that collectors only saw these at places like Farm Supply stores, hobby shops and Truck stops, not exactly the places you traditionally buy action figures.

And lastly, 1984 was a super crowded year for action figures, you had returning winners like Masters of the Universe, Star Wars and GI Joe along with new choices like Power Lords, Super Powers, Lords of Light, Secret Wars, Man Tech, Go-Bots and Transformers. Star Trek merely was lost in the shuffle with all those brands vying for a kid’s pocket money.

It truly was the last time the original cast would be marketed to children. Galoob would try (and fail) with the cast of the Next Generation in 1988 but every time after this line that you’d see Kirk or Spock, the words “Limited Edition” would be stamped somewhere. Star Trek became about the adult collector.

What’s great about this is, they’re well made toys that can be had for a song. I paid $99 for this set and I got the whole collection done in a shoe box, yay me!

As a kid who actually played Star Trek in my back yard, this line will always have a place in my heart.

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