A new year brings new Star Trek starship announcements, and we’re just a few months away from the next expansion of the long-running Official Starships Collection!
This April, the Star Trek Universe Official Starships Collection launches, collecting all the upcoming Discovery, Picard, and yet-to-be revealed Strange New World model releases under one banner — and as part of its inaugural month of releases, a pair of Picard ships are headed your way.
The first member of this new fleet will be Captain Rios’ La Sirena, the hero starship at the center of Star Trek: Picard, clad in its red-and-white hull coloring — followed by the ship Captain Will Riker lead to stop the invading Romulan fleet, the Inquiry-class USS Zheng He.
LA SIRENA — The signature ship of Star Trek: Picard, this red-and-white Kaplan F17 Speed Freighter was hired by Jean-Luc Picard, who required a discreet warp-capable vessel. Helmed by Captain Cristóbal Rios, an ex-Starfleet officer himself, the ship was home to Picard’s ragtag crew in their search for Doctor Bruce Maddox and Soji Asha.
USS ZHENG HE — A formidable Inquiry-class Federation starship named for a 15th-century Chinese admiral, the U.S.S. Zheng He was touted as the toughest, fastest, most powerful ship Starfleet had ever put into service. In Star Trek: Picard, William Riker returned from retirement to captain the U.S.S. Zheng He into battle above the planet Coppelius.
La Sirena measures in at 8″ (205mm) in length, while the Zheng He is slightly larger at 8.8″ (225mm); each ship model will retail at $54.95 / €49.99 / £39.99.
(Photos of the actual models set to arrive in April are not available yet, but we’ll update this post once we’ve got them.)
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Expanding the line of Star Trek Online starships is the Aelahl-class Romulan Light Warbird, a late-24th century successor to the traditional Next Generation-era D’Deridex-class ship.
AELAHL-CLASS LIGHT WARBIRD — An agile vessel available to Romulan players in Star Trek Online, the Aelahl-Class Light Warbird was conceived as a successor to the older D’deridex-class. The Aelahl’s smaller size made it slightly less durable than the larger warbird, but it more than compensated with vastly increased maneuverability.
The Aelahl-class ship will retail for $29.95 / €24.99 / £19.99, and measures 4.5″ (110mm) in length.
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Finally, in addition to the three new starship models scheduled for April, four more hardcover reprints of classic Star Trek comic tales are coming from The Official Graphic Novels Collection.
Included are Star Trek: Voyager stories Encounters with the Unknown, the Next Generation tale The Gift, DS9-era Starfleet Academy saga T’Priell Revealed, and a return to classic Trek in the Motion Picture-era three-part adventure The Return of the Worthy.
#131 – Star Trek Voyager: Encounters with the Unknown
The Voyager crew encounters pirates, the Borg, Arthurian knights, and a planet-killing doomsday machine! WildStorm Comics takes up the reins on Star Trek: Voyager to chart the adventures of Captain Kathryn Janeway across the Delta Quadrant. Collects the Planet Killer miniseries, plus three one-shots from writers including Dan Abnett and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
#132 – Star Trek TNG: The Gift
DC Comics explores the backstories of Jean-Luc Picard, Will Riker,and Geordi La Forge—plus, the return of Q! Few actors have won over Star Trek fans’ hearts quite like John de Lancie, who made the trickster-god Q one of Picard’s greatest foils on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The actor cowrote the first of DC’s annuals starring Picard’s crew, naturally heralding Q’s return!
#133 – Starfleet Academy – T’Priell Revealed
Omega Squad faces execution for visiting Talos IV, and Ambassador Spock must intervene on their behalf! As Marvel’s Starfleet Academy nears its close, Spock represents Cadet Nog and his comrades in court, but the outlook is uncertain… Plus two unpublished tales, including one from actor Mark Lenard.
#134 – Star Trek TOS: The Return Of The Worthy
Danger! Danger! The space family Worthy are back as DC Comics’ Star Trek pays homage to Lost in Space, in a three-part tale co-written by Lost in Space’s Bill Mumy! Plus, J. Michael Straczynski offers an intriguing tale similar in tone to his most famous creation, Babylon 5.(This volume also collects IDW’s Star Trek: Infestation, featuring crossovers with Ghostbusters, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and more.)
Each of the republished graphic novel hardcovers run from 170-240pages each, and will retail individually for $19.95 / €16.99 / £12.99.
Stick around for looks at more from Hero Collector and the Official Starships Collection, as well as reviews of the XL-sized, three-nacelled USS Enterprise-D from “All Good Things…,” the XL-sized edition of Starbase Deep Space 9, and the Regula One station from The Wrath of Khan in the coming weeks!