Star Trek losing out on its Playmates line is devastating

Star Trek has had its toy line with Playmates canceled.

In some very sad news for fans and collectors of Star Trek action figures, it’s been revealed that the folks at Playmates have ended the creation of new action figures for the brand. The toy manufacturer will still produce playsets and ships for the science fiction franchise but it’s unlikely we see any new action figures being made any time soon.

As was talked about previously on this site, the call for Playmates to cancel the action figure line was due to low sales, not entirely surprising, as most of the possible sales avenues were through online retailers.

While simply an assumption on our part, it seems likely that many fans didn’t know that the toy line had returned, mostly due to a lack of a strong presence in toy isles in big box stores, and of course the closure of just about every toy store in the United States. While the toys were still sold on things like Amazon and through Playmates affiliates, that’s not a great way to appeal to new fans.

How can you look for something you didn’t know existed?

So while it’s sad that the action figure line has come and gone once again, with barely anything to show from it, it’s also a sign that it’s hard to sell things digitally unless you have a massive footprint needed to promote it.

Star Trek collectors and fans lost a wonderful toyline

Fans of a certain age will remember the Playmates toy line with fondness and will have collected a lot of them. The toys were great, and covered four different parts of the franchise during its heydey. The toys were really detailed, for the time, and were so popular and in demand, that they’re still being sold in-box at conventions across the world.

Losing out on the toy line before we could get Strange New Worlds or the Kelvin cast definitely sucks.