2022 brought the long-running Eaglemoss Star Trek machine to an unexpected end, as the company behind The Official Starships Collection, several ongoing book lines, and the large build-your-own-Enterprise-D model program went out of business.
We last spoke to former Eaglemoss program manager Ben Robinson in August, after the dust settled on the company’s demise and he was free to discuss the situation, sharing with us some behind-the-scenes information about what happened towards the end of the company’s life, and what was potentially in the cards for a revival of some of the well-loved Star Trek programs in the future.
In mid-January, it was announced that the Enterprise-D build-up program found a second life with Fanhome, part of the international licensed collectable company DeAgostini Group, allowing new subscribers to start their Galaxy-class model from stage one — but more importantly, allowing former Eaglesmoss subscribers to get their partially-completed builds underway once more.
This week, we sat down with Robinson to talk about the new Fanhome program, and continue the conversation about the future potential for the other now-defunct Eaglemoss offerings.
TREKCORE: When Eaglemoss closed, no subscriber had received all the parts needed to complete their Enterprise-D model — is that correct?
BEN ROBINSON: That is correct. I have the only complete model in the world.
TREKCORE: It’s good that people will be able to get those models completed then! Where do things stand today, Ben?
ROBINSON: It took a little while to sort out, but DeAgostini, which operates from a website called FanHome.com, have taken over the license and will be completing the Enterprise-D build up. Their first priority is to make sure that everybody who had started the model is able to complete it.
What they’re doing right now is taking names, and will very shortly get to the point where they can take orders as well. For them, the big logistical question is “Who’s still there? Who wants to finish it? Have we got the stock?”
At the moment, they’re working with the existing stock. They will order more, but they don’t know how many people they’re ordering it for. The first thing they need to do is get their heads around the situation. The model itself is exactly the same parts that Eaglemoss were releasing. They’re using the same factory, which is PCT. There won’t be any problem with any of the fit or anything like that. It’s the same model.
The same editorial team will finish off the magazines and the instructions. It is a continuation of the project that Eaglemoss started. I’m sure people feel like this is taking forever, but actually, to get it back up and running in six months is quite an achievement.
CBS were completely blindsided by this — there were loads of issues, and they’ve been restricted in what they can say because they have lawyers and that type of stuff — but they’ve really gone to town to make sure that this works. They’ve done a lot to make sure that they’ve found the right partner, and to make sure that people are not left with something unfinished.
In terms of DeAgostini being the right partner, they’re the biggest partwork company, I think, in the world.
TREKCORE: They’ve done a lot of Star Wars collectibles, if I recall correctly?
ROBINSON: They’ve been the Star Wars licensee for 20-plus years, so they absolutely have a lot of experience with this kind of project. They did a big buildup line of the Millennium Falcon, which is an extraordinary thing. It’s huge. They are a really big, substantial company that has very deep pockets.
Everyone should feel confident that they know what they’re doing and that they will get stuff to people, and they will deal with any questions anybody has, and they’ll be on top of it.
TREKCORE: How will the process of signing up for the build up again through De Agostini work if subscribers were at different points in the build up when Eaglemoss went bankrupt?
ROBINSON: At the moment, everyone can just pick up exactly where they left off. You just say, “Please start my subscription from issue 13 or issue 19 or issue 28,” wherever you were. At the moment, they can’t let people catch up.
I know people have asked about, “Could I just get a load of issues in one go?” That’s something that longer term they’ll look up as a possibility, but the first thing to do is to make sure that everybody who has started can finish. That’s the overwhelming priority.
All the clever stuff about, “Can I do this or can I do that or that?” It’s like, “Yes, just hang on.” Maybe we’ll get to that, but right now let’s just make sure that people can finish.
TREKCORE: What about some of the supplementary items that were on offer with a subscription, like the free gift shuttle sets or the premium display base?
ROBINSON: The first thing to say is that DeAgostini did not buy Eaglemoss. Eaglemoss had all sorts of problems, which meant that nobody was willing to buy it. Unfortunately, if anybody paid for anything they didn’t get from Eaglemoss, that’s something they need to take up with their credit card company, or their bank, and try to recover the money that way. I hope that everybody has tried to do that.
DeAgostini, they can’t take on that liability; they didn’t get anything from this in that respect. They’ve just taken over the license. They’ve taken over the rights to do the Enterprise-D model, and they’ve bought the stock, and they’re trying to contact people.
Anybody who’s like, “Well, I paid for half of my stand,” or whatever, I’m sorry but that’s something you need to take up with your bank. As for the free gifts and the premium display base, DeAgostini’s intention is to offer similar things. It’s a little bit more complicated tracking down to some of those things — and to be honest, that mirrored base still wasn’t finalized.
We were still working on it, but their intention is to make similar things available. I haven’t double-checked this, but they should be able to do the shuttle sets. There’s no reason why not. I’m not sure whether there might be a bit of a delay because it will involve new manufacturing, which can take a while. There is some stock, and this is part of the problem, is they need to work out how many people want things to try and match the demand to that.
Ultimately, you should be able to get the same or very similar. There will be gifts for subscribers, there will be specials, you will be able to buy a premium display base.
TREKCORE: Do you think DeAgostini will open up the model subscription to new subscribers who had not started the project under Eaglemoss?
ROBINSON: It will be a possibility. Exactly when they’re able to offer that will depend a little bit on how many people want to complete what they started through an Eaglemoss subscription. The danger is that they need to manage it — and to make sure that there is enough stock to supply people. That’s the first priority.
What they don’t want to do is say anybody can sign up and suddenly, you find thousands of people come and sign up, and then stock that should have been going to the people who needed to resume their build-up all goes out to new subscribers.
Long term, their intention is absolutely to make it available so that you can start from the beginning again, if you’re interested in a new build. Anybody who’s interested should sign up; that way they’re in the database.
The other big part of this is the way that the database laws work means that they can’t just take over the Eaglemoss database. People will have to sign up again. They’ll have to give their credit card details again. They’re making a new agreement with a new company, even though it’s the same product.
This is not Eaglemoss, this is DeAgostini. That’s how people should treat it, and they should just register, and be ready to sign up. But the hope is that there will be an option for new subscribers, and I know they’re interested — if this works — in doing more Star Trek.
TREKCORE: So do you think this might be the start of a larger product line for Star Trek with DeAgostini?
ROBINSON: It’s very possible. There were some things that Eaglemoss was really, really good at — and as a result, those rights weren’t available to other companies. But now that Eaglemoss isn’t around, they’re able to get into that business. DeAgostini have employed me as a consultant for whatever that means… and not just to relaunch those programs.
Exactly what they do will take a little while to work out, but they are certainly enthusiastic and committed. They see Star Trek as a real opportunity — and they’re very interested in the fact that Eaglemoss was operating very successfully in the US.
They are employing people who have some experience with Star Trek and using me as a consultant, which is gratifying. Yes, I think there are reasons to be optimistic about the future of Star Trek production of the same kind of things that Eaglemoss was doing.
TREKCORE: Based on what you were hoping from our previous interview last year, related to companies taking over the various Eaglemoss product lines and continuing them, are you pleased with the direction things have been heading to resolve those issues?
ROBINSON: Yes, I think so. I think that the picture is every bit as positive as you would hope. I don’t want to promise things that haven’t become definite yet, but I am no less optimistic now than I was six months ago.
In fact, everything that I hoped would come to pass, is coming to pass — and you can draw your own conclusions about might mean! I’m happy to say that. I’m happy to say that I think that what Star Trek has shown is that there’s a remarkable loyalty and enthusiasm from the fan community for these products. Any sensible business can see that.
They understand that this is a good business, and they are interested in being in it — though, obviously, any business has challenges. We’ve done 400 ships. I keep asking, “How many more do people need?!” I hope the answer is plenty!
All of this depends on how successful everything is. If five people say, “Yes, I’ll finish the model,” then obviously, that’s going to be a problem. If most people sign up again, then they’ll be like, “Okay, this is really good. This is healthy.”
Everything is dependent on people being able to make money out of it. Their intention is to do more and to be part of the Star Trek family going forward.
TREKCORE: Do you have any updates you can share on Eaglemoss’s book releases that were planned before the bankruptcy?
ROBINSON: There are negotiations happening, but I’m not directly involved in those at the moment. I’m optimistic that the books will find a new home, but that’s still in negotiation. What I can tell people is that the Star Trek Shipyards books, which are the most popular, would be very easy to finish.
There were two more planned volumes in that series for the Alpha Quadrant to publish. Eaglemoss had done a good chunk of the work on those books, and they were ready to go.
They wouldn’t take too much to finish off. If someone picks up the rights to them, and is interested, that’s a doable deal. They’re not having to start from scratch or whatever.
The first conversation has just been taking over the rights — and then the second conversation is, “Okay, what do they want to do with anything new?” My immediate ability to write books myself is not enormous, because I have new employment that involves doing other things. I really enjoyed working on all the Star Trek books I worked on and I’m really proud of them. I would love to have had the chance to do some more, but I can’t see that happening in the immediate future. That’s a shame when I think about it that way — but never say never.
TREKCORE: So what is your advice to fans looking to stay informed on the future of the former Eaglemoss programs?
ROBINSON: The main message: at the moment, everybody is in a signup phase. Because of privacy laws, you can’t just email most people without them saying it’s okay for you to email them, so it’s very important for people to go and sign up. It’s so complicated the way this works, but there are rules about who you can email and who you can’t.
People may see that some people are getting an email and they’re not getting it, but the best thing for them to do is to go to FanHome for the Enterprise-D part work subscription, or to MasterReplicas.com for the remaining Eaglemoss Official Starships Collection ship model inventory and sign up if they’re interested.
No one wants to make any promises that aren’t kept, particularly given what happened. The message is these people are both FanHome and Master Replicas are legit. They will both deliver a good service. I wouldn’t want to be involved with them if I didn’t think that was the case. No one’s trying to be unfair or unscrupulous. So go sign up!
Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest in Star Trek merchandise news — and watch for our next interview with Ben Robinson later in February, where we’ll be talking about the soon-to-arrive Master Replicas Official Starship Collection stock sales.