Hot Wheels Star Trek: Reliant

This ship is a little obscure if you're not a fan. The Reliant is the ship commandeered by Khan in the second Star Trek film. It was actually a little less advanced than the Enterprise, but in Khan's hands it was a deadly weapon.

Once again, this comes with a Federation base. I like the base, but it clearly works better with ships where the engines are above the craft, rather than below. The Reliant sits incredibly close to the ground, which hurts the effect.

This is the "battle-damaged" variant, which was apparently less sought after, as National Wholesale Liquidators has these for just five bucks.

The battle damage is mainly evident on the rear engine. It looks pretty good, though they probably should have used a little less paint to create the effect.

Hot Wheels: Star Trek Enterprise 1701 Refit

Lindsay and I found a whole wave of these at a National Wholesale Liquidators in Queens going for five bucks each. Even though we already have a really nice Original Series Enterprise from Art Asylum, we decided we wouldn't mind having one in this scale, as well.

Technically, this is actually the redesign of the Enterprise for the early Star Trek films. This one, if memory serves, was in Wrath of Kahn, one of the best.

As before, this comes with a Federation-style base. I'm really pleased with the level of detail and overall look of the toy.

Star Trek: Klingon Bird of Prey

I'm shopping at the Time Square Toys R Us, selected what I want (or not, if they don't have anything I'm looking for), and then I go down the basement floor, where they keep all the die-cast cars. I find the Klingon Bird of Prey and take it to a scanner to verify it's still $15.

It is. It always is.

I do this every time I go in. For about a year. The Bird of Prey moves around sometimes, but I always find it, always scan it. And it's always fifteen bucks.

Until today. Today, it's eight dollars. And, unlike $15, that's something I'm willing to pay.

This is a pretty cool toy. The package claims it's die-cast - and I'm sure some of it is - but the majority is clearly plastic. No problem: if I was prejudiced against fossil fuels I wouldn't be running this blog.

Like the Next Gen Enterprise I bought last year, it's a lot bigger than the matchbox cars, but a good deal shorter than the more expensive Diamond Select toys.

This actually has some articulation in the wings. You can move them into three positions - up, neutral, and down - similar to how they move in the show. The base, while echoing the shape of the Federation symbol, is in Klingon colors and has their empire's insignia on the side. Once again, the ship is held in place by a ball-joint.

Which reminds me: be very careful when playing with these. The reason you don't see any comparison shots with the Next Gen Enterprise is that the peg snapped on me.