Star Trek Barbies: couldn't help myself!

Okay, my excuse? Mattel's Barbie and I are currently the same age. She looks very well preserved for 50, though.

I wasn't planning to buy this trio: Ken as JJ Abrams' Young Kirk (Chris Pine), Ken as Young Spock (Zachary Quinto), Barbie as Young Uhura (Zoe Saladana), all from the upcoming "Star Trek" movie in May. But I saw them in a collector shop last night - the very last set left at High Court Cards, Penrith - and couldn't leave them there. Beautiful figures! (Kirk's real hair is wonderfully tousled.)


Click: My Flickr slideshow (Seven images)

I decided to open the figures, as you can see, but Uhura's hair, the third one I released, was a bit of a nightmare to set free from the backing material. I accidentally discovered a certificate and a "Star Trek" doll stand and post hiding inside the cardboard backing form of the red Uhura movie poster. Kirk and Spock have these goodies, too! Don't chuck out your packages!

Comparing these dolls with pics of the Playmates 12" action figures, I'm actually liking these Mattel characters better as young versions of the recast crew, and the costumes are well done too. (I'm only intending on buying a 12" Nero - Eric Bana - from the large Playmates line, but I'll be getting all smaller series offered.)

Barbie and Ken first joined the world of Star Trek in 1996, in a hotly coveted "30th Anniversary Star Trek Gift Set". A more generic-looking blonde Barbie posed as a Starfleet yeoman, and Ken posed as a Commanding Officer, standing beside cardboard cutouts of Shatner's Kirk and Nimoy's Spock. This time, they're boldly going even further!

Bluey is in da house!

As I impatiently await my recent eBay costume win, at least I can console myself with the arrival today of... Bluey the mannequin.



Bluey is quite lightweight for such a strapping young man. Instead of a regular metal stand, he gets suspended by a sturdy wire coming out of the top of his head. Bluey's arms and hands detach, but the rest is all one piece. The blue hands are exquisite: very expressive, and they are definitely life casts of a real man's hands.

I have this terrible sneaking suspicion that it's all just a bit too much like owning a giant Andorian Ken doll from Mattel - and waiting anxiously for my Mum to buy me the clothes to dress him in. Now I just need to find somewhere to hang him up that won't freak me out every time I enter a room and see him there in all his bluish naked glory.

I hope his Andorian robes arrive soon...