I know I may be a little old for toys, but was recently thinking about my favorite Star Trek toys as a kid, which were made by Galoob. Do you remember Galoob? They were around until 1998 when they were bought out by Hasbro. They made some of my favorite Star Trek The Next Generation action figures. Some of them are even considered to be collector’s items now. I also remember sending in some Cheerios UPC codes to get a classic Star Trek NCC1701D poster with it in front of a starry background. It was a slightly smaller version of the poster seen in Captain Picard’s ready room.
I still have that poster, but it has since bent and ripped over the years. I was lucky enough a couple of years ago to get a hold of a new, still in the plastic wrap, poster off the Internet. Isn’t the Internet wonderful? 🙂 On the back of the poster were listed all the Galoob Star Trek TNG action figures. I still have the poster in the plastic, but plan on framing it and proudly hanging it on the wall. What can I say? I am proud to be a Star Trek geek.
Once I had the poster, I of course had to get some of the toys listed on the back. Somehow Santa Clause caught wind of this and I got a Commander Riker and a die cast NCC1701D Star Trek Enterprise for Christmas. The saucer section even separated. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. These toys, unfortunately, are now long gone.
Front of Die Cast Enterprise:
Back of Die Cast Enterprise
So what did I do later on as an adult? I got on e-bay and purchased a bunch of these toys for my own personal collection. I probably have 15 action figures and the die cast NCC1701D all in the box with the blister and card still in good condition. E-bay has tons of Galoob Star Trek toys available, with many of them still in good condition. You can find these Galoob toys here.
Some of the action figures were produced differently, making some of them collector’s items. The first release of these toys, in 1988, had a flat blister. The second release of toys had face paint variations and an indented blister. Data went through the most variations.
The first Data released had an almost blue colored face. This is considered to be the most collectible Commander Data. The face was changed by Galoob to make it look more human. The face turned out very dark. Data was later created with lighter skin and yellow lips, like an android. Quality control was a little lax and some of the Datas produced had a speckled-face look. I actually own one of those. You will also notice that some of the Commander Rikers and Captain Picards ended up with yellow lips. Oops!
I hope you have learned a little about Galoob’s Star Trek line of action figures. This site has some great pictures of the different Galoob Star Trek TNG toy variations.
I have seen the Galoob toys before, but I am also a big fan of the Playmates toys. I think after Galoob stopped producing toys for Star Trek, Playmates started making toys in the early 90’s. I personally think the Playmates toys are some of the best TNG toys made. They have more movable joints!
I still have the galoob die-cast enterprise “D”, worf in red season 1 uniform, worf in yellow season 3+ uniform, capt. picard in season 1 uniform, deanna troi in blue season 3+ uniform, Data with season 3+ uniform w/ hand phaser 😀
I don’t know how many of the figurines are galoob.