Review: Command Collection 12" Sulu

You knew this was coming, if you've been paying attention.

The rest of the 12" Trek gang pulled Sulu free from the packaging a few weeks back, and you've probably been expecting the review ever since.

I know, I've already looked at:
Command Collection McCoy (same line)
Barbie Uhura
Ken Kirk and Spock

And you're probably wondering what could possibly be left to say about 12 inch Star Trek figures.  Me too.  So I'll try to keep this short.

A few 12" Trek guys are still cheap at Toys'R'Us, which is where I picked him up.  The second and probably final half-wave of these guys consisted only of Pike and Sulu.  These are made by Playmates.

Appearance and Construction: 7/10

I was going to come down on this figure for having an oddly flat face, but looking at pictures of the actor, it appears that John Cho has somewhat flattened features.  So I guess it's accurate, but it still looks a little odd from some angles. 

Overall, like McCoy, this is a decent figure, but not a great one.  The head and hair is well done, the paint is subtle, the hands are nice.  The muscular base is a bit odd next to the slim Kens, but I'm getting used to it.

The costume works well, although I've already got accidental scrapes on his boots.  The boots are well sculpted, and the detailing on the tunic is good, except the command symbol in the center of the breast patch is sightly misshapen.

Packaging and Accessories: ---

The packaging matches the rest of the line, and is beat up a bit from being on the shelf so long, also like the rest of the line.

Sulu comes with one fewer accessory than McCoy did.  The full complement in this case is the stand, phaser, communication, and belt which holds the two small pieces.

Same commentary as McCoy here: why don't these accessories have moving parts the way the ones that came with the Trek BARBIES do?  That's such a missed opportunity, with the communicator especially.  The fact that the Trek communicators flip open is the best thing about them!

He can hold the pieces okay, but getting the phaser to pose well is more difficult than it should be, and the stand kinda works, but the plastic isn't heavy enough for anything fancy.

Play and Display: ---

Considering how many joints he has, it's a shame that it's so hard to get any dynamic poses out of this figure.  He's got a pretty standard array: Ball joints at neck, shoulders and hips, hinge-post at the elbow, hinge at the knee, cuts at wrist, ankle and under the ribs.  The joints all work okay, but the combination is nothing special.  No demerit, but no bonus.

Price Tag and Final Analysis: 7/10

I barely remember what these guys were going for originally, the Playmates Trek toys have been on clearance for so long.  The 6 inch line was sadly fairly mediocre, and the 3.75 line pretty bad, so we'll probably never see the other planned waves in production.  Which is only sad because I have no toys in that fun space-drop armor.

The 12" figures are currently 14.98 at Toys'R'Us, although I picked up Sulu on a week when Clearance was an extra 20% off, so I got him for close to 12.  I think that's a fine price for this figure.

Overall, I can't complain.  Sulu here does exactly what I wanted him to do: fills out my bridge crew.  Couple more pictures below!

As much fun as that was, (scrap cardboard, dollar store toy keyboard, Barbie chair), I know what you're waiting for.  It's below. 
When you're done, consider visiting another of our fine web-places:  Blue Fairy's Bookshelf  Middle Room