Palisades Marketing announced on Friday that the company has obtained a license to create a thirty-fifth anniversary set of Star Trek six-inch action figures of Captain James T. Kirk and series creator Gene Roddenberry.  This will mark the first action figure ever of Roddenberry himself.  The six-inch figure of Roddenberry will include fourteen points of articulation while the Kirk action figure will have sixteen moveable joints.  The figures will come together along with a diorama setting of the Enterprise bridge.  The figure set will be limited to 35,000 pieces worldwide.  The entire run will be numbered sequentially on the box.  Palisades has not announced when the Star Trek figure set will be available, but the company is striving to have product ready to ship for the coming holiday season.  Retailers that attend Comic Con International in San Diego or WizardWorld in Chicago can stop by the Palisades booth for a look at early versions of the figures.

 

During its thirty-five years of existence, Star Trek has spawned three additional TV series, nine movies -- and a 'prequel' series is in the works for this fall (see 'New Star Trek Series Set').  The fact that a smaller toy company like Palisades can obtain even a limited license for Star Trek action figures indicates that the venerable property is losing steam in the mass market.  However this is not necessarily bad news for pop culture retailers.  Companies like Palisades know how to create products that will appeal to collectors, and specialty retailers will face less competition from discount department stores.  As the mass market loses interest, hardcore Star Trek fans will have to chase merchandise into the specialty market; and the new series, with its focus on adventure is likely to spur additional interest from fans of the original Star Trek TV series, which was also very action-oriented.