Review: Command Collection 12" McCoy
Posted By Lindsay

I loved this summer's Star Trek.  Loved it.  Have the special edition DVD, bought the awesome soundtrack.  Sadly for this collector, I don't like most of the toys enough to extend my love to them, or you'd be seeing a lot more reviews. 

Nevertheless, when the 12" figures started to go on sale at Toys'R'Us, I couldn't resist picking one up for investigation.  The Kirk likeness is just awful, the Spock highlights his Beatles haircut in an unfortunate manner, and I wasn't interested in Original Spock (for reasons I'll touch on later).  So McCoy it is.

My only regret about this review is that my 12" Eomer is in storage and not available for comparison.

Like all of the other new mass market Trek merchandise, he's made by Playmates.

Incidentally, since I bought him, a 12" Sulu and Pike have also appeared on the shelves, and they've gone on even steeper clearance.

Appearance and Construction: 7/10

He's a solid toy, but not exceptional.  The likeness is vaguely like Karl Urban, he's got a mildly skeptical look on his face, which is appropriate, but I think they could have taken the expression a touch farther to make it clear without being cartoony.

The costume's fine.  I do think it's a bit silly that they decided to highlight what (in the movie) are just shoulder seams in the uniform sweater with bands of another fabric, but it does visually break up the hulking chest of the base figure.  The Trek emblem and wrist bands on the top are nice, although they probably wouldn't stand up to rough play.  There are even painted details of back pockets on the pants, although you can't see them under the top.

Be aware: the paint is uneven across the line.  I shuffled through a few to find one with even eye paint, and the paint on his boot has already started to scuff.

Packaging and Extras: --

The package is adequate to protect the toy, which might be necessary: this one had taken a lot of banging about before I got to it. 

It was not easy getting him out of there, either.  He's held into a formfitting plastic tray by plenty of wires and elastics and straps, and then the tray itself is tabbed into the cardboard liner.  I actually cut my hand on the plastic extricating this one.

Aside from his costume, he comes with a removable belt, phaser, communicator and tricorder.  The other figures in the line come with the belt, phaser and communicator.  (Original Spock only comes with a hideous alternate hand.)

Oh, he also comes with a stand, but this is practically useless.  It's not really big enough for him to put both feet on, and not heavy enough to support much in the way of active poses.  He stands well enough on his own anyway.

On the other hand, he can hold all the other accessories, although it stretches the plastic to hold the tricorder.  He looks good holding them, and the phaser and communicator fit easily and securely into the belt.

On the other other hand, nothing opens or moves on any of the pieces.  Considering they all opened or spun in the movie, I think this is a rather glaring missed opportunity.  It also means his phaser is always set to 'Stun'.  No Bonus.

Play and Display: --

McCoy's articulation is average for this price point (in a "boy's" 12 inch figure).  He has ball joints at the shoulders and neck, combined hinge/cut at the elbow which gives you a good range, a hinge at the hip and knee, cuts at wrists and ankles, and a joint in the chest which allows him to spin his upper body entirely around... if you think that's useful. 

The joints on mine are pretty sticky, and the layers in the top bunch awkwardly in some shoulder positions, so you don't have a ton of options.

I feel I need to warn you about one other aspect of this figure at this time.  The boots are non-removable, which is a disappointment for me, but doesn't matter to many people, so no deduction.  You cannot remove his pants, they are sealed into the tops of the boots.  However, he has a velcro fly, and:

Regulation Trek-emblem-pattern-Boxers.  Now I've seen everything.  (He also hides the Trek emblem in the treads of his boots.)

Special Section: Discussion of Custom Potential

I mentioned up above that I had a reason for picking up this figure rather than Original Spock, or Spock, and besides my affection for Karl Urban, this is it: 

A headsculpt of Spock will always be Spock, or possibly a very 70's elf.  McCoy is generic enough that he could be a custom project, if not for his damn boot-feet. 

It's hard to see in the pictures, but he has a peg hole in one foot to fit the stand, and his feet are his boots.  That takes him down a notch as far as easy customizing goes, and is why I haven't picked up any more figures in the line.  I know it's not rare in "boy's" figures, "girl's" figures are more likely to have entirely removable costumes.    When the figure is high end, I don't mind having bits that don't come off, as I'm more likely to be leaving them as is, but here it's just annoying.

Price Tag and Final Analysis: 7/10

I am not being generous with the bonus points, am I?  Ah well, I stand by my original assessment: Good, not exceptional. 

I picked up McCoy for about $20 as you can see in the picture, marked down from $30.  Last time I was at Toys'R'Us (around New Year's) they were going for $15, which I think is a pretty good price if you like the character, but I probably won't start picking up more unless they hit ten. 

Or unless I think of a really good use for one...

What am I talking about when I say "Custom"?  See my creations at the Workshop. 
Or head over to the Middle Room for Erin's review of Star Trek.