10 Star Trek Toys That We Loved
Sorry, Worf. We all play(ed) with toys!
The story of Star Trek merchandise goes all the way back to the beginning of Star Trek when, in 1966, model maker AMT got the licence for its kits in a deal with Desilu Studios. In 1967, Majel Barrett and Bjo Trimble started Star Trek Enterprises, later Lincoln Enterprises, a mail-order catalogue business selling various bits of, errm, Trek 'memorabilia'.
The 1970s gave us the first Star Trek action figures and playsets by Mego, although accuracy and authenticity weren't always on the character cards. Mego went bankrupt, and the less said about Star Trek toys in the 1980s (the few there were) the better. Thankfully, the 1990s witnessed a renaissance of Trek toys when Playmates and its in-house Trekkies entered the game, at first with their line of Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures. Since then, we've had a lot more Playmates and AMT, and a plethora of newbies like Diamond Select/Art Asylum and Eaglemoss, and all the ships, props, and accessories therein.
Whatever the wobbles over the years, there have been some truly exceptional Star Trek toys and collectibles that we've all fallen in love with at some point. Asking us to pick between them is akin to choosing between the tiny salamander babies that came with the Playmates Warp 10 Tom Paris. Nonetheless, decisions have been made.
The festive season might now be over, too, but these are the Trek toys we've loved all year round.
Set replica phasers to nostalgia!
10. (Official) Star Trek Helmet
Oh, the 'Official' Star Trek Helmet aka 'Spock's Helmet'! It's as notorious as it is hilarious — the ultimate in 'so bad it's good'. Sure, the toy had absolutely nothing to do with Star Trek or Spock, aside from having those words plastered on it, but does that matter? Time itself has been the judge and ruled no. Thanks to Star Trek: Lower Decks, the 'Space Fun Helmet' is also now canon as an in-universe collectible of the infamous Collectors Guild, and, perhaps more appropriately, as an item of contraband of one Beckett Mariner.
The history of the Helmet is as odd as you might expect. As recounted in Netflix's The Toys that Made Us: Star Trek, in the late 1960s to early 1970s, toy company Remco had started "label-slapping" Star Trek and 'Astro' on and in front of a whole range of their existing toys, giving the world the 'Star Trek Astro-Buzz-Ray Gun,' the 'Star Trek Astrotank,' and the bug-eyed 'Star Trek Astro-Helmet'. In 1976, it was Enco Industries who followed suit with the iconic disaster that is 'The Star Trek (Space Fun) Helmet'. It wasn't just Spock you could slap on the front either. The helmet came with Kirk, McCoy, and Scott decals too.
In a final twist, in 2019, Ethan Peck unboxed and donned the Helmet for StarTrek.com. Finally! The toy no longer wears the wearer; Spock wears it! "There's the vintage tissue," as Peck said. The toy has come full circle, in flashing light and pulsing sonic sound! Ultimately, we can't help but love it, if only for the sheer bonkers audacity of it all.