Playmates Toys, a subsidiary of Playmates Holdings Ltd. of Hong Kong, China, is an American toy manufacturer based in Costa Mesa, California. Founded in 1966, the company produced a large number of licensed Star Trek action figures, vehicles and play accessories between 1992 and 2009.
Playmates' Star Trek lines launched in the fall of 1992 with the release of a series of action figures based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Nearly the entire USS Enterprise-D crew was represented, plus Gowron, a Ferengi, a Borg, and a Romulan. Role-playing items included a type 2 phaser and communicator, while a shuttlecraft was produced for the figures. A model of the Enterprise-D was also released. The line was quite successful and another wave of TNG figures, accessories, and vehicles were produced in the fall of 1993 along with a special boxed set of all seven of the Original Series' major crew members.
The 2018 "Star Trek" episode of the Netflix documentary The Toys That Made Us, credited Playmates for being the first company to actually and successfully find their target market by appealing to both the hardcore fans, yearning for accuracy, but also to kids, contrary to their immediate predecessors Ertl Company and Galoob. Former Playmates Senior VP of Marketing Karl Aaronian understood that they "(...)had to appeal to those hardcore fans, otherwise you don't have anything," elaborating, "With Star Trek, you have a fanatical following who notices every little detail." So Playmates planned for detailed accurate products with play features in service of that goal, greatly aided by the fact that the company's chief action figure sculptor, Steve Varner, was a "trekkie" himself. It paid off, at a time when, as per Aaronian, "timing was everything" as "the audience had really reached its maximum size and was hungry for product", the Playmates releases became the "biggest and most successful Star Trek line ever."
Deep Space Nine debuted in 1994 and was followed by more Playmates TNG characters and a toy line for the feature film, Star Trek Generations. Voyager figures arrived in 1995, as did more TOS, TNG and DS9 items. By 1996, the separate lines were all consolidated under a single "Star Trek" banner, excepting releases that were based on Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection.
In 1995, Playmates' video game division called Playmates Interactive Entertainment released Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Crossroads of Time for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System platforms.
The founders of Art Asylum designed Playmates' nine-inch Alien Combat Series figures when they were starting out as a design house. Micheal Dorn stated that the unreleased Klingon Warrior Worf figure from this line was his favorite representation of the character.
Nonetheless, the license's popularity had begun to decline by 1998. By 1999, the number of items produced by Playmates had dwindled and its limited releases were reduced to being offered to the public exclusively through individual retailers. Karl Aaronian also went on record with his explaination for the rather surprising decline of their hitherto popular Star Trek toy lines. Even though there were other issues at play for the diminishing appeal of the overall franchise as well at the time , Aaronian himself blamed the decline of their Star Trek toy lines primarily to their error in judgement by introducing "Limited Edition" and "Retail Exclusives" releases, the 1996 "1701 Series" in particular, a bussiness practice euphemistically called "market discrimination" and one that is particularly loathed by fans in general, and Star Trek fans in particular. "It also truly pissed the fans off," conceded Aaronian, "Because if you're a completist and you're not able to find one of those, you feel incomplete." Belatedly realizing that Playmates had underestimated the passion of Star Trek collectors, and faced with sharply declining sales as they almost overnight stopped collecting, Playmates bumped up production runs of their "1701 Series" to no avail; they had lost the market. On 17 September 1999, Playmates' Star Trek lines were formally cancelled.
In Europe, the company's 1990s releases were distributed by Bandai.
In January 2008, it was reported that Playmates would be creating a toy line for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek film. This new line of figures, vehicles, and role-playing items was launched in April 2009.
A second wave was slated for release in late 2009 but was subsequently pushed back to spring 2010 before finally being canceled. Citing disappointing sales, Playmates' Star Trek licensing concluded at the end of 2009. The company also expressed some interest in acquiring toy licensing for the film's sequel but this did not materialize.
Playmates' Star Trek lines launched in the fall of 1992 with the release of a series of action figures based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Nearly the entire USS Enterprise-D crew was represented, plus Gowron, a Ferengi, a Borg, and a Romulan. Role-playing items included a type 2 phaser and communicator, while a shuttlecraft was produced for the figures. A model of the Enterprise-D was also released. The line was quite successful and another wave of TNG figures, accessories, and vehicles were produced in the fall of 1993 along with a special boxed set of all seven of the Original Series' major crew members.
The 2018 "Star Trek" episode of the Netflix documentary The Toys That Made Us, credited Playmates for being the first company to actually and successfully find their target market by appealing to both the hardcore fans, yearning for accuracy, but also to kids, contrary to their immediate predecessors Ertl Company and Galoob. Former Playmates Senior VP of Marketing Karl Aaronian understood that they "(...)had to appeal to those hardcore fans, otherwise you don't have anything," elaborating, "With Star Trek, you have a fanatical following who notices every little detail." So Playmates planned for detailed accurate products with play features in service of that goal, greatly aided by the fact that the company's chief action figure sculptor, Steve Varner, was a "trekkie" himself. It paid off, at a time when, as per Aaronian, "timing was everything" as "the audience had really reached its maximum size and was hungry for product", the Playmates releases became the "biggest and most successful Star Trek line ever."
Deep Space Nine debuted in 1994 and was followed by more Playmates TNG characters and a toy line for the feature film, Star Trek Generations. Voyager figures arrived in 1995, as did more TOS, TNG and DS9 items. By 1996, the separate lines were all consolidated under a single "Star Trek" banner, excepting releases that were based on Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection.
In 1995, Playmates' video game division called Playmates Interactive Entertainment released Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Crossroads of Time for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System platforms.
The founders of Art Asylum designed Playmates' nine-inch Alien Combat Series figures when they were starting out as a design house. Micheal Dorn stated that the unreleased Klingon Warrior Worf figure from this line was his favorite representation of the character.
Nonetheless, the license's popularity had begun to decline by 1998. By 1999, the number of items produced by Playmates had dwindled and its limited releases were reduced to being offered to the public exclusively through individual retailers. Karl Aaronian also went on record with his explaination for the rather surprising decline of their hitherto popular Star Trek toy lines. Even though there were other issues at play for the diminishing appeal of the overall franchise as well at the time , Aaronian himself blamed the decline of their Star Trek toy lines primarily to their error in judgement by introducing "Limited Edition" and "Retail Exclusives" releases, the 1996 "1701 Series" in particular, a bussiness practice euphemistically called "market discrimination" and one that is particularly loathed by fans in general, and Star Trek fans in particular. "It also truly pissed the fans off," conceded Aaronian, "Because if you're a completist and you're not able to find one of those, you feel incomplete." Belatedly realizing that Playmates had underestimated the passion of Star Trek collectors, and faced with sharply declining sales as they almost overnight stopped collecting, Playmates bumped up production runs of their "1701 Series" to no avail; they had lost the market. On 17 September 1999, Playmates' Star Trek lines were formally cancelled.
In Europe, the company's 1990s releases were distributed by Bandai.
In January 2008, it was reported that Playmates would be creating a toy line for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek film. This new line of figures, vehicles, and role-playing items was launched in April 2009.
A second wave was slated for release in late 2009 but was subsequently pushed back to spring 2010 before finally being canceled. Citing disappointing sales, Playmates' Star Trek licensing concluded at the end of 2009. The company also expressed some interest in acquiring toy licensing for the film's sequel but this did not materialize.