Happy Friday again everyone! We’re back with the latest round of Ask DST questions submitted by YOU! This week’s theme is Star Trek, so fire up your warp reactors and see what’s over the horizon. Will Phaser Rifles see the light of day? Will Guinan be the next Star Trek action figure? Will DSTChuck ever run out of things to say? Find out after the jump!

Robin Hu

Will the Dilithium crystal/knob on the back of the TWOK phaser light up? What exactly will the electronic functions of the TWOK phasers be? What kind of lights, what kind of sounds?
What are the chances of DST ever producing a phaser rifle or disruptor rifle of any kind in the Trek Tek line? Or even producing one as a higher end prop replica? What would be the top three contenders on a list of what comes after the TWOK phaser in the Trek Tek line?
I won’t hold you to any choices you list, I’m just trying to get an idea of the possible direction the line might possibly take in the next couple of years.

DSTChuck: Hi Robin seems you like the role-play we’re doing.. Yes the knob on the back will light up and there will be LED lights on the sides as well as the panel lighting on the top. The sounds will be pretty standard phaser still, like Stun, Kill, self destruct etc.. When we get closer I’ll see if we can get a You Tube video up there for everyone like we just did with the Enterprise D. I honestly have to say while a rifle would be cool, none are very high on the list due to the extensive tooling that it would require.

Paul Newland
Riding on the success of TWOK, it looks as if the demand for the limited edition TMP figures has outstripped expectations. If a Decker & Ilia two-pack is a possibility, would their male and female body templates make it more likely that we would then get a full crew compliment using TWOK heads? I’ll admit that Scotty/Rand and McCoy/Chapel two packs would be a dream but any hint that there are plans to make more of the crew might inspire people to buy more of the initial figures now. If more crew are coming out, I will definitely be buying spares to make custom & alien crew from the Rec Deck scene of the movie

DSTChuck: Right now for the two packs I think our plan is to go forward and cover movies we have not touched on yet. If we were to go back to do more TMP I think Decker & Ilia would be considered. As for TOS figures I can say we are NOT done with what we want to do!

Jonathan Cox
Is the new Art Asylum Star Trek Enterprise E coming out with a new paint job? I see that it is up for preorder on BigBadToyStore. Love your stuff!

DSTChuck: There are NO current plans to go back in production on the E. We have sufficient stock right now. Once that runs low, you never know, but that’s not any time soon.

David Ellis
Star Trek is a global brand - your recent DVD free figure exclusive Captain Geordi will only be available to the US - and whilst it’s not impossible to get this figure from the UK, it’s still unnecessary as we too have DVD stores such as HMV, Zavvi and many more. do you think that part of the problem with Star Trek sales etc.. is that your not reaching the global market Star Trek has - as i said, it is a huge GLOBAL brand and i feel sometimes you only focus on the US where in fact if you were to focus on the other countries that Star Trek is hugely successful in (Germany, UK, Australia) you would possibly see a much larger market than even the US. I was wondering if this idea would be worth while: basically we all know that Enterprise figures wouldn’t sell - however, when AA had the license they never got round to producing the following: Salt Vampire, Dr Phlox, Hoshi Sato and the helm station with Ensign Mayweather. What about producing a limited box set including for a one time only - the original AA coins painted a metallic gold - but not just any box set - what about putting it in a metal commemorative case with padding in it to secure the figures reminiscent of the Enterprise weapons case used in the Enterprise series. It wouldn’t be a cheap item but i think it would be something fans would love to have.

DSTChuck: The current DVD offer was set up with CBS and is valid anywhere you can buy the DVD in fact I THINK we got a order from the EU this week but I’d need to double check to be sure. As for international sales, the sales staff pitches the Star Trek brad to distributors in ALL countries and into comic stores through Previews, so if it’s not available in your area you need to talk to your retailers. I really don’t like to say it and we over here really live by the phrase “never say never” but those old AA items that were not made are not on any of our current plans, sorry.

Andrew LaRue
In the first Q&A on here it was mentioned that you are hoping to do at least one 2-pack for each movie, does this include the 2-packs already released/planned for TMP, TWOK, Search for Spock and Nemesis? And, have you considered Lursa & B’Etor for the Generations 2-pack?

DSTChuck: Yes I guess it does. We’ve already done several two-packs from movies as you say so they “count”… We are not currently in planning on a Generations two-pack so I can’t say but I don’t THINK that will be the next two-pack we end up doing.

Duncan Finley
are there any plans to make an assault phaser for the awesome star trek line of yours?

DSTChuck: We’ve figured out the role play and ships we hope to do in 09 and a assault phaser is not among them.

Adam Smith
Thanks for making trek live again. You guys have done a great job! love the new TWOK phaser toy prototype. I can not wait. I really can not wait for the Enterprise-D. Wow the features sound awesome. My question is what are the other two ships you have decided to grace us with. I must know. If one is the Equinox i will be the happiest person on the planet. Will the tricorder for TOS have voice effects as advertised or is this a misprint? as I personally feel that only ships and communicators should talk. and was very relieved to hear the TWOK phaser will not talk.

DSTChuck: I am sorry to say that today is not the day I make you the happiest person on the planet. I guess it’s not your day Adam, I have to disappoint you again. We had many discussions here about the Tricorder and it’s true we decided to add voice effects to it. We really think some of the McCoy and Spock phrases are just too much fun to pass up.

Jonathan Quirk
Can you PLEASE create Mirror Universe variants of DS9 characters for future waves? MU episodes of DS9 are fan favorites, and I know figures of Intendant Kira, Smiley O’Brien, Ezri Tigan etc would sell well (the MU outfits, especially for the women, would certainly stand out on shelves!)

DSTChuck: I think after DS9 Series Two we’re going to take break from a main line release of DS9. However many of us here at DST love the show so we’re not done with action figures yet, so you never know…

J.B.
I’d like to know what is being done to address the endless production delays with Trek. It seems like Trek constantly gets the back burner. I know your release dates are ‘estimates’ but considering that TNG Wave 5 has been delayed for 10 mos now is frankly ridiculous and extremely frustrating. Especially, considering it uses existing bodies and 3 new heads and a new hair piece for Beverly. In the past DST has acknowledged this and said you’re working on it. However, things have seem to have gotten considerably worse and not any better. DST has mentioned in past Q & A that you have hopes of doing a 2nd Borg wave. Instead of more Drones would you consider doing Borg related characters or characters that have been affected by the Borg such as ‘regular’ Seven of Nine and Guinan? Since DST has indicated that they don’t have too many plans for Voyager figures would you consider doing an Admiral Janeyway figure from Nemesis to go along with the TNG movie line? Perhaps in a future 2 pk? Is there any chance we could see some updated protypes or package shots of TNG Wave 5. Other than their original announcement, I don’t recall that you ever displayed them at any WW convention or at Comic Con.

DSTChuck: For sure TNG Series 5 is going to come out very late and for that we’re sorry. It’s not in our nature to make excuses or blame someone else. The agreement we have with fans is our contract to deliver good product, at a good price and to do it on time. Factors that affect that are not something we feel you should have to deal with. You are correct that the delay for TNG Series 5 was NOT do to tooling (there has been plenty of time to get that taken care of). All I can say is we’re sorry that this happened and it’s NOT due to a lack of attention given to Star Trek. I think we’re pretty set on the line up for the Borg figures BUT if they do well I think some ideas such as you mention would be great for a possible third series. While I have seen painted factory samples of TNG Series 5, I have not seen package samples BUT as soon as I do I’ll have Graphics shoot them and add to the gallery… and we’ll do the same for DS9 Series 2.

Duncan McWilliams
Hi I was wondering are you going to bring out a Uss Voyager ship and Voyager crew figures because that would be amazing for my collection could you please confirm this. Thank you

DSTChuck: Right now we do not have plans for the Voyager ship or a wave of Voyager figures so sorry, they will most likely not be out in 2009.

Martin Lakin
So I love the Trek II phaser (something I thought I’d never see!) But the doozy for me has to be the Trek III phaser - that would be a first in electronic/toy form and would get the best treatment in your hands!! Please consider??

DSTChuck: We can consider it… I promise!

Scott P
Hey, thanks you guys for all the Klingons coming out. How about some TOS Romulan two or three pack? Heck, I would be happy with just one! I have just about everything you have produced with the exception of an exclusive or two. I just purchased the Regula One Kirk. Where, I think, the sculpt is great and dead on. I am more disappointed with its lack of possibility. This should be sold more as an action statue rather than a figure. Why would you not use the more rubbery substance used on the body of the TOS figure shirts? This hard plastic field jacket just doesn’t cut it. I would much rather see you guys put out something outstanding ( like you have up to this point) and pay a little extra for it then to get something and be disappointed. Please switch that hard plastic to the rubber if you ever reissue it or do a Reguala One Kirk and McCoy two pack. Thanks, Scott

DSTChuck: Scott, I am so glad you like what we’re doing and I am sorry you’re disappointed with your new Kirk. The material used way back for TOS was very cool. DST even used it for our Battle of the Planets figures. However the material proved to be very unstable and did not hold up well or keep its paint well. Many toy companies have moved away from using it because of this. It’s always a fine line between the look of a figure, production costs and playability. We take that balance very seriously and I am sorry if you think that figure moved away from playability more than you would have liked.

Mike Griffin
After the release of the 5th wave of TNG figures are released, are you going to be releasing any more figures from the series in the future? Perhaps a Tasha Yar and Guinan figures? Or are you going to be moving on with Deep Space Nine and Voyager?

DSTChuck: Right now we’ve moved our full waves of figures away from TNG. We could still do two-packs or go back to the line in the future but it’s going to be a little while. The good news/bad news is that the Star Trek universe is SO vast it’s pretty much impossible to keep everyone happy.

John Park
I think the Art Asylum star trek figures are great. Are there any plans to complete the enterprise series, eg Phlox and Sato in uniform, deluxe Mayweather set. are the Enterprise figure set ever going to be completed, Mayweather deluxe, Sato, Phlox uniform and reed, Mayweather away team figures. thanks for the good work.

DSTChuck: Sorry John, but for now and the foreseeable future we have no plans to go back and make those figures.

Chris Hartley
Any surprises in the pipeline for the Trek line? The Search for Spock 2 pack surprised us all and I was just wondering if there’s anymore coming up or whether I’ll have to be patient and wait for Toy Fair 2009?

DSTChuck: We’ve already shown a good percentage of what we have planned for early 2009 and I think the next BIG show we have is Toy Fair in February, so we’ll have more new stuff then. I think based on what we’ve done in the past and from these Q&A’s, you can figure out what we’re going to show (just not the exact figure, ship or role play item). After that San Diego Comic Con is in July and that will show the rest of 2009 - that is if all goes as planned.

Thomas McDonald
Hi, a Trek question. You have mentioned a “top 5″ list of ships in a recent Q&A. Can you share what’s on the list (not necessarily in any order):? I was excited to read that the Reliant may be on it.

DSTChuck: I’m really sorry to frustrate everyone with these types of questions in the Q&A but I really can’t say what figure or ship etc will be next. The Marketing department has all sorts of plans for stuff and if I blab everything in here then they will get real mad at me. I will tell you an alien ship is in the top 5.

Mike Schatz
I purchased the original USS Enterprise Ncc-1701-A electronic ship and when I heard you were releasing others like the wrath of Khan ships and the Ncc-1701-E I bought all of them and I have been very disappointed. My reason is they all have paint errors, bludges and mistakes like they were rushed . One nacel on the 1701-e had the number ncc 1701-e blurred it looks really stupid. I am sorry but i have lost faith in otherwise a long line of good products,

DSTChuck: Mike, I assure you no DST product gets rushed… especially the ships and role play items. They are very complicated and take many months to get as accurate as we can. Keeping in mind that this is a toy and not a high end replica, it needs to be viewed as such. If you have a problem with a DST item and it’s not as it is supposed to be (and I think that’s the situation here) then please just email customer service and they will work with you for a replacement or do whatever they can to help you.

Justin Leighty
Would you consider doing the Star Trek III phaser after the Star Trek II phaser is released? It’s a great design that carries on the original phaser design nicely. Also, I’d add to an earlier request to re-release the Phase Pistol, if it’s at all feasible. Finally, if the Enterprise-B and -C and Voyager aren’t in your top 5 for possible ship choices, what are the rest of the top 5, assuming the Reliant is in there.

DSTChuck: Justin, I think most of what you’re asking was covered in earlier questions.

Jamie Thompson
In 2002 (and possibly in other years) you made a series of Star Trek action figures that included small plastic tokens in the side of each box. I am interested in those tokens and have several questions. 1.) Is it possible to purchase the tokens from you separately from the action figures? 2.) Can I get a list from you of all such figures/tokens you produced by series (i.e. “Enterprise”, “Nemesis”, etc.)? 3.) Does every action figure come with a token with a unique design, or are all tokens in each series identical to one another regardless of action figure? Thank you for your help

DSTChuck: Sorry, but that was a program that the folks at Art Asylum did when they worked with Play Along on the Star Trek line so I can’t help you with any of those questions. DST has no plans for such a program.

Jeremy Trainer
Do you have any news about the 1/4 scale Kirk that was announced a few months back? What sound clips are you guys looking at? How will the sounds be delivered - built into the figure or into the base? Any chance we could see some new pictures?

DSTChuck: The master models have been made and the factory is moving along with acquiring the materials needed to match the outfits. The phrases are at CBS for approval so I can’t say for sure what they will be. The sound chip and speaker will be in the torso of the figure so you will press an area in the torso and hear the phrases.

Danny Marton
What has happened to the Kirk w/ electronic Command Chair ? I don’t see it in the shipping updates anymore but the DST store says 12/02/08. Has it been delayed or cancelled ?

DSTChuck: We’re still going full speed on the Deluxe Kirk & Electronic Command Chair set, so when I update the ship dates on our Blog I’ll look for that item and add it if it’s not there. It should be!