For those of you planning to buy more Star Trek action figures once they were released by Playmate Toys, this will come as a big disappointment.
Playmate Toys has decided to end the development of the line-up of Star Trek action figures due to poor sales. [via Trekcore] So far, the company had only produced three figures from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Captain Kirk, Spock, and Khan), three from Star Trek: The Next Generation (Captain Picard, Commander Riker, and Lt. Commander Data), two from Star Trek: Discovery (Captain Burnham and Saru), and five characters from Star Trek: Prodigy — Dal, Murf, Gwyn, Zero, and Jankom Pog.
This is bound to be upsetting news for those fans who wanted to complete their collection, especially since in was only in June 2021 that Playmates announced that fans could look forward to a new line-up of action figures and accessories.
A representative from Playmate Toys released a brief statement about the cessation.
"Given lower than expected figure sales, Playmates Toys is focusing on producing new ships and roleplay items for the foreseeable future. As longtime Trek fans, we’re disappointed."
But given the failed promise of future action figures, this might make fans hesitant to begin or continue building any type of collection.
So many fans collected the action figures from the 1990s, and the ability to collect newer models after over twenty years was something they were looking forward to. Though the figures that were already released didn’t meet sales demand, odds are good any potential new sales aren’t going to happen, either. Knowing you can’t complete your collection gives you no incentive to even begin it.
Perhaps this is something that will be reconsidered in the future if the sales of starships and accessories exceed Playmate’s expected demands. Otherwise, this will be another permanent disappointment for fans.