Just over five months since new Star Trek 1:6-scale figure company EXO-6 hit the stage back in January, their first entry into the franchise has just arrived — marking the start of what the company hopes will be a long and fruitful run of Trek character collectibles.

EXO-6 has chosen to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: First Contact with their inaugural figures, starting with Lieutenant Commander Data as he appeared in the 1996 film — a heavily-detailed replica of actor Brent Spiner’s android alter-ego, complete with a bevy of Starfleet-issue accessories and an alternate head featuring his Borg Queen-inflicted alteration.

Measuring in at just over eleven inches tall, this First Contact Data build comes clad in the 2373-era grey-shouldered Starfleet uniform, a non-removable outfit features all the details you’d expect: metallic rank pips and combadge, grey stitching to accentuate the shoulder areas, a bright operations-gold undershirt and matching wrist stripes, and stirrups under the boots to keep the trousers taught — no wrinkles allowed in the 24th century, you know!

We found that the collar has a little trouble staying above the shoulder yoke area, and required a bit of tugging to show the rank pips after positioning the figure on display; probably a bit of additional length on the collar tailoring would probably solve that for future character builds.

(One note on the sleeves: You may see in some of our photos that the left sleeve seems a bit too short, we learned only after our review was competed that the left arm was simply extended a bit too far at the shoulder joint — this occurred during photography ‘posing’ setups and is not an EXO-6 design fault.)

There is always a great deal of fan debate when it comes to the the accuracy of likeness sculpts on action figures, models, and other collectibles, and the initial reactions we’ve seen to EXO-6’s Data design certainly doesn’t escape that trend. With two included head options, the sculptors behind this figure have two opportunities to recreate Brent Spiner’s facial features; one is a bit more on-the-mark than the other, in our opinion.

While the ‘half-human’ head sculpt seems remarkably on point to us, the ‘standard’ Data head doesn’t quote hit the target — the cheeks and lower face seems slightly too full, and the eyes are open just a tad too wide, missing some of the “life” that seems to be in the ‘half-human’ face’s eyes… though perhaps that’s just Data’s emotion chip in action.

That said, both of the Data head sculpts are remarkably detailed when you examine them in person, from the depth of color in the eyes, to the blue and red ‘lights’ on his ‘half-human’ head, to the subtle variations of paint coloring which make up the varying tones of both the android and human skin.

Up close, it’s evident how much care was put in to getting just the right hues in the paint work; there is much more than just ‘android gold’ painted on Data’s face and hands here — whatever you may think of the sculpts themselves, the paint work is quite remarkable.

Again, likeness designs’ success are always pretty subjective, so of course you’ll have to decide for yourself how well the EXO-6 artists did here; both of the heads do find ways to hit that Spiner ‘sweet spot’ when you view them from just the right perspective.

Along with his uniform, and  this Data release also comes with four pairs of swappable hand forms to allow the figure to hold the included accessories; a Type II ‘boomerang’ hand phaser (with holster) and Type III, Mark II phaser rifle for combat situations; and a Type X Starfleet sciences tricorder for scanning during away missions (with holster).

The chrome-and-black phaser rifle is a solid piece — no worries about bending or deforming here — with the distinctive top-mounted spotlight dabbed with bright orange-yellow paint. It took a little bit of trial and error to identify which set of hands were meant to fit with the trigger grip for this one, but once in place, it’s a sturdy fit for showing off the fan-favorite First Contact weapon.

While the phaser rifle is certainly a bit larger than the other accessories, the dime-sized hand phaser and tricorder are remarkably detailed for their tiny dimensions — the ‘boomerang’-style phaser even has the the characteristic textured grip on its underside, something often ignored in small action-figure-scaled accessories.

The tricorder is also quite nice, with colorful sticker labels recreating the look of the future tech with ease. The folding tricorder, which fits into its included holster, is actually the work of a bit of integrated magnetics: each half of the hand scanner is separate, with no physical connection between them.

Small magnets are inserted in each plastic bit, which keeps the two halves of the tricorder together when folded or in the ‘open’ position. A neat way of keeping the design functional at such a small scale, however we did notice that the magnet slivers are somewhat easily extracted from their insertion points — and might be easily lost if accidentally removed. (A bit of adhesive in there would certainly solve that in future releases.)

Both the hand phaser and tricorder holsters nicely mount on Data’s hips, thanks to a pair of hidden magnets underneath his uniform — no need for unsightly Velcro patches, thankfully, which can wear out over time and don’t look very appealing when not in use.

Finally, each of EXO-6’s figures will include a transporter-pad-themed display base; creatively, the base plate has a removable graphic insert depending on how collectors choose to show off their figures as the collection grows.

Installed upon delivery is the blue central light of a standard Starfleet transporter pad, with an alternate graphic which is designed to mimic the outer ‘white’ standard pad. As additional EXO-6 figures are released, the base plates can be aligned in a circular pattern –with a blue base in the center — to simulate your Starfleet crew beaming into your personal collection.

There’s also an LCARS-themed ‘personnel file’ card packed in the box as well, for collectors who wish to pair Brent Spiner’s autograph (um, not included) with the 1:6-scale figure on display. (A nice unexpected touch, for those who can obtain the actor’s signature at a local convention.)

Despite the few minor quibbles we detailed above, EXO-6’s first foray into the Star Trek arena is a pretty remarkable one — and if the work and detail that went into this First Contact Data figure is the starting point for what they claim to have in the pipeline, fans who are collectors of 1:6-scale figures had better start building up that bank account.

With a First Contact Captain Picard already announced, and promises of every Trek captain — and associated crew — on the way to follow, the sky’s the limit for who we might see in 1:6 form if the EXO-6 product line is successful… and we’ll certainly be keeping a close watch on their progress as their announcements continue.

If you want to add EXO-6’s Star Trek: First Contact Data 1:6-scale figure to your own collection, direct sales are closed, but you can still order through third-party distributors like Big Bad Toy Store for $189 USD.