Commander Will Decker arrived in my mailbox today. V'ger must have finished with him. He's a bit grey in the face, and has also misplaced his Perscan buckle and his shoes. But he's aliiiiiiiiiive!
I've had my Mego 12" "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Klingon since 1980. He was bought from a local flea market by a friend but, when I raced back, any other figures had long gone. Then, in January 1984, I found the rest in the dealers' room at a New York Creation Convention. Kirk, Spock and the Arcturian were all $25 each and Decker and Ilia were $35 each. Sadly, they wouldn't take traveller's cheques and I couldn't spare the cash to get Decker and Ilia. Sob. Little did I realise how shortpacked was Decker!
Then, about twelve years ago, a beautiful, boxed Ilia turned up in a local collectibles shop for about $90. Opening the packaging, I was horrified that she had a large, dark purple spot on her bald head, transferred from the inner cardboard box liner. Luckily, that mark faded away, even as poor ol' Kirk and Spock's faces continued to take on the dreaded "Mego greying disease". This Decker is a bit grey, and was loose, with battered paintwork on his hair, no shoes or buckle, and a uniform needing some attention, but he was cheap enough - and it's great he can finally be reunited with Ilia. (I've lost out on a number of Will Decker eBay auctions over the decades; I love the "Buy it now" option.)
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3 comments:
Nice STTMP collection, the aliens really do look good.
There is a great TMP-era novel by Crhistopher L. Bennett, Ex Machina, but it was after Decker had already...um...left the scene.
Do you know of any other good books that tell the Decker story? I'd love too see more about the Deltans (haha, "see more" hehehe)
Rich, didn't you notice the foreword of "Ex Machina"? There are two thank yous to me in there, and the Andorian character, Shantherin th'Clane (seen briefly in TMP, played by US ST fan, John Watts), is named for me.
Yes, there are two other Will Decker stories worth picking up: "A Flag Full of Stars", set before ST:TMP, in which the almost-completed, upgraded Enterprise saucer is raced out on an urgent mission, and a short story in "Enterprise Logs", called "Night Whispers".
The second DC Comics Annual (Series I), "Final Mission", sees Decker come uboard at the end of Kirk's five year mission and they visit Talos IV.
As for Deltans:
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Deltan
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