The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks arrived on Blu-ray last week, so today — in what is likely one of our last pieces about the series for quite a while — it’s time to check out the Season 5 release, along with the special full-series Steelbook collection!
The two-disc Blu-ray set contains all ten episodes of Lower Decks’ final outing — “Dos Cerritos,” “Shades of Green,” “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel,” “A Farewell to Farms,” “Starbase 80?!,” “Of Gods and Angles,” “Fully Dilated,” “Upper Decks,” “Fissure Quest,” and “The New Next Generation” — along with a single behind-the-scenes interview feature to round out the release.
As with past seasons, the Season 5 collection has a number of commentary tracks to shed additional light into the making of Lower Decks — including words from “Fully Dilated” special guest star Brent Spiner, as well as all four primary cast members on the series finale.
508 “Upper Decks” — Mike McMahan, Fred Tatasciore (Shaxs), producer Brad Winters, writer Megan Treviño
510 “The New Next Generation” — Mike McMahan, Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noel Wells, Eugene Cordero (Rutherford)
The single non-commentary bonus feature is the annual Lower Dectionaries interview(25:24), which combines on-camera interviews with series creator Mike McMahan and actors Tawny Newsome (Mariner), Jack Quaid (Boimler), Eugene Cordero (Rutherford) and Noel Wells (Tendi) talking about the events of the final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
The Steelbook set comes nicely packaged in a slip case featuring a swath of images from all five seasons, which will help protect the Steelbooks from scratches. Each outer face of the two metal cases showcases one of the four Lower Deckers, with the Season 3 “crystal face” artwork filling out the internal face of each Steelbook.
It’s disappointing that the Blu-ray discs have to be stacked inside each case — Seasons 1, 2, and 3 are in one Steelbook, with Seasons 4 and 5 in the other — but that’s the only real negative about the full-series package.
With the end of Star Trek animation for the foreseeable future, we’ve got a great giveaway courtesy of the folks at Paramount Home Entertainment!
This contest has ended and our winners have been notified.
Our grand-prize winner will win both Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 andStar Trek: Prodigy Season 2 on Blu-ray, and two runner-up winners will get their own copy of Lower Decks Season 5 on Blu-ray.
All you need to do is complete the below form by Friday, April 5 and you’ll have your shot at a free copy of each of these two fantastic Star Trek seasons — and we’ll contact the winners after the entry period closes.
(Unfortunately, we must limit this giveaway is limited to entrants in the United States.)
Best of luck to all!
Keep checking back to TrekCore for the latest in Star Trek franchise news!
This Friday afternoon finally brings long-awaited product announcement for fans of the Original Series — as The Wand Companytoday has finally announced final details for their in-production Star Trek: The Original Series electronic tricorder replica, first announced all the way back in June 2020.
Completed tricorders at the manufacturing location. (Photo: The Wand Company)
In a new update shared to their newsletter subscribers, the company has confirmed that completed tricorders are now rolling off of the assembly line at their manufacturing site and getting ready to ship to The Wand Company’s UK facility for distribution to fans through their Amazon UK storefront. (They also note that additional sales will follow through both the IGN store and StarTrek.com at some point following Amazon UK availability.)
Here’s how they’ve described the planned sales process, which will include a firm two-tricorders-per-customer order limit.
After some considerable thought, we have decided to bring the Tricorder from the factory into the UK and use Amazon to fulfill everyone’s orders. Please don’t worry, even if you’re not based in the UK, it [will still be] perfectly easy to order through Amazon UK.
Initially at least, we plan to bear the significant additional cost of airfreighting the Tricorders from the factory to the UK in order to get things moving for you as quickly as possible. We believe that in the current, somewhat volatile market, this combination of air freight and availability from Amazon offers both you and us the quickest and most reliable way to finally bring the Tricorder home to you.
We will be bringing the Tricorders into the UK as soon as they are completed, in a number of waves, and placing them into stock on Amazon UK as they arrive. As each wave is placed in stock and becomes available to order, we will email those who have registered their interest with us (in the order in which they registered) to let them know that they can purchase their Tricorder. (Note: we will do our best to use the first registration date for those who registered multiple times.)
Once each wave has sold through, the Tricorder may temporarily go out of stock, and for a limited time, it may not be possible to place an order. However, as further waves arrive and we load more stock into Amazon, we will be continuously monitoring the Amazon UK Tricorder listing to see when the stock becomes available to order again.
As for the big question on everyone’s mind: what about pricing? Impressively, The Wand Company remains committed to keeping costs to a quite reasonable $350 USD price point (£324 GBP, including VAT, for UK buyers).
Here’s what they’ve got to say about pricing, tariffs, and other international concerns:
Throughout the development, we have kept in mind the balance between functionality and cost, and have done our best to stay true to our company goal of providing products that are not only as good as they can be, but are also great value for all fans to enjoy.
The final price, although slightly higher than we had initially envisaged, will be the $350 USD [plus shipping/taxes, as applicable] that we most recently suggested in our newsletter. On the Amazon UK listing, the price will be shown as £324 GBP. This price includes VAT for our UK customers.
For those buying from the US or other countries, Amazon will deduct the VAT from the price, so it will not be charged, and the price (before shipping and US Sales Tax for US customers) will be £270 GBP, i.e. approximately $350 USD at current exchange rates. (Please note that as the exchange rate fluctuates the exact amount will differ).
Due to the current regulations regarding import duty, a single Tricorder order to the US falls under the “de minimis” rule, so will not incur any import duties (tariffs), although please note that the situation regarding import duties is rather fluid at the moment and might be subject to change.
For other territories, such as Europe, the order may be subject to the corresponding import VAT and duty rate, which Amazon will calculate at the time of ordering.
TrekCore’s own Jim Moorhouse with TWC’s tricorder prototype at SDCC ’24. (Photo: TrekCore.com)
All that said, as of today’s announcement, preorders are not yet live for this highly-anticipated product — but with finished builds coming off the assembly line, it’s likely that The Wand Company will finally start taking fan orders for their Original Series tricorder quite soon.
Longtime Star Trek comic publisher IDW this week announced a trio of new limited-run tales set in different eras of the final frontier.
July brings Star Trek: Red Shirts, a five-issue story centered around a group of Original Series-era security officers, written by Christopher Cantwell and illustrated by Megan Levens.
Variant cover art by Chris Shehan, J.J. Lendl, and Declan Shalvey. (IDW)
From IDW’s announcement:
Led by an experienced officer embedded on the snow-ridden planet Arkonia 89, the crew of the U.S.S. Warren has a small window in which to pin down spies seeking to steal classified secrets and keep Starfleet data out of their nefarious hands.
They face threats not only from their faceless enemies but from the brutalizing elements and wildlife of a planet far from home. The red shirts’ lives and Starfleet’s sanctity are on the line…and no one is safe.
“STAR TREK: RED SHIRTS is in honor of the nameless vaporized, incinerated, and otherwise blown apart, where they’re the main characters of a STAR TREK-style suicide mission unlike any other. We will get to know these ensigns and lieutenants intimately before they are likewise crushed, disrupter’d, and sucked into space. Who will survive? Will any? And what is the true nature of their planetside mission to hunt down mysterious spies? This is a major melody Original Series-era story in the key of Death, one I’ve wanted to tell for years, equal parts fun and harrowing, subversive and celebratory of the boldest tunic color one can wear in Starfleet—security red.” – Christopher Cantwell
“STAR TREK: RED SHIRTS is a dream project for me, offering the opportunity to draw an entirely new cast of Starfleet officers… and then to kill them off in delightfully horrific ways! From crusty veterans to fresh-faced (not for long!) ensigns, these new heroes are charging headfirst into strange new worlds, and finding that sometimes they’re just full of strange new ways to die.” – Megan Levens
Cover art by Travis Mercer and JP Jordan. (IDW)
Next is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Destruction, a five-issue series which begins in August, which is written by Robbie Thompson and illustrated by Travis Mercer.
From IDW’s announcement:
It’s classic adventure tale with plenty of twists and turns as the crew explore an ice-covered planet and the scary secrets that are lurking deep beneath the surface…. Featuring beloved characters First Officer Una Chin-Riley, Security Officer La’An Noonien-Singh, Science Officer Spock, and Nurse Christine Chapel – plus, a new adorable robot sidekick named D6!
“As a lifelong fan of Star Trek (TOS forever!), I was absolutely thrilled to get the call from editor extraordinaire Heather Antos to pitch on a Strange New Worlds miniseries,” shares Robbie Thompson. “Working on the fourth season of the Paramount+ series has been a dream come true and I’m so excited to play in this sandbox further and be a part of the amazing line of TREK comics IDW has created. I’ve been a fan of Travis Mercer’s storytelling from afar, and it’s been a blast working with him and the rest of the team. We’re taking the SNW crew to one of the scariest and coldest corners of the universe, and I can’t wait for Trek fans everywhere to see the cosmic horrors we’ve cooked up!”
“After reading what Robbie has in store for the Enterprise crew, there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity!” said Travis Mercer. “The entire team is bringing you a story that’s about to make Strange New Worlds a lot stranger! Strap in folks!”
Cover art by Angel Hernandez and Charlie Kirchoff (left). (IDW)
Finally, September brings Star Trek: Voyager – Homecoming, a five-issue series celebrating the Kate Mulgrew-led series’ 30th anniversary. Written by Tilly and Susan Bridges and illustrated by Angel Hernandez, this story takes place just after the closing moments of the Voyager series finale “Endgame.”
From IDW’s announcement:
Captain Janeway and the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager are back for one final mission before they head home. The limited comic series aims to offer the final resolution that fans have been waiting decades to witness.
This story picks up just moments after the final shot of the series! The final shot of the Emmy award-winning series featured the iconic ship approaching Earth before the screen goes dark… But what if just moments after that, there was one last emergency?
“We’re so incredibly excited to be writing STAR TREK: VOYAGER – HOMECOMING,” says co-writers Tilly and Susan Bridges. “As lifelong Trekkies, we’re delighted to be part of Voyager’s 30th anniversary celebration. We can’t wait to give Janeway and crew one last adventure… will everything go smoothly? Well, this is Voyager… who’s to say (we are, but we’re not gonna spoil it, where’s the fun in that?). We all spent seven years getting to know and love this crew, and it’s an absolute honor to be part of the team that brings them home.”
“I’ve been working on STAR TREK projects for many years and I’ve had the opportunity of participating in incredible stories and being part of exciting adventures,” adds Angel Hernandez. “I’m sure this is going to be one of those special moments that will be part of the wonderful history of Voyager, and it is an honor for me to be part of it.”
The three Star Trek comic stories will be available in comic book shops around the United States, online, and through the IDW app beginning in July. They will be the second half of 2025’s primary Trek comic offerings, following May’s Star Trek: Omega one-shot which will conclude the currently-running Star Trek: Defiant and Star Trek monthly series.
Keep checking back to TrekCore for the latest in Star Trek franchise news!
For the first time, fans of the original Star Trek series can obtain a full-sized replica of the famous gold-colored dedication plaque from Captain Kirk’s starship Enterprise!
Master Replicas this week unveiled their next Trek product, a 15-inch full-scale recreation of the bridge-based dedication plaque for the Constitution-class USS Enterprise seen throughout the Original Series. Of course, the ship was labeled as Starship-class on the plaque itself, as the Constitution-class designator was not introduced until years later.
The new 15″ plaque replica. (Master Replicas)
While fans for many years were able to buy a smaller-scale 9-inch version of the plaque produced by the now-defunct Eaglemoss company, this new edition is the first time a full-sized replica has been produced for general purchase.
The specifications, typeface, and layout of the plaque replica was determined by longtime Trek artist Mike Okuda, for both the smaller Eaglemoss edition and the new Master Replicas 15″ reproduction.
The plaque on display behind Captain Kirk. (CBS Studios)
In addition, stick around to hear Ross’s predictions for upcoming Star Trek action figures included in Nacelle Company’s second wave of releases, and Alex’s opinion that — despite a rumble that William Shatner may return to Star Trek from the man himself — we probably shouldn’t get our hopes up.
WeeklyTrek is available to subscribe and download each week on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify— and we’ll be sharing the details of each new episode right here on TrekCore each week if you’re simply just looking to listen in from the web.
Do you have a wish or theory you’d like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!
Master Replicas’ new earthenware mug replica is a more durable take on the painted-grey Styrofoam cups used on the Original Series sets, perhaps most notably seen in “The Trouble With Tribbles” where Captain Kirk receives his lunch with a Tribble in his cup — and of course the company is including a Tribble with this mug if you’d like to recreate that well-known moment.
But the company made a surprise reveal at January’s Star Trek convention in San Francisco, now available online: their new “IYKYK” Spaceport mug, a replica of the familiar blue raktajino mug seen at Replimat tables aboard space station Deep Space 9.
While Highwave’s Hotjo mug made frequent appearances around DS9, mainly in Quark’s Bar, these smaller, 8-ounce mugs were seen throughout all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — and even made a brief appearance at the beginning of the Star Trek: The Next Generation crossover episode “Birthright, Part I.”
“Second Skin” (CBS Studios)“The Die is Cast” (CBS Studios)“The Homecoming” (CBS Studios)“Birthright, Part I” (CBS Studios)
A representative from CherryTree told us about the mugs, which are based upon another manufacturer’s original design:
Spaceport “IYKYK” Mug is a replica product emulating the mugs that were seen in the replimat on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The mugs were originally designed by the folks from the Feltman Langer Company in the early 80s — they had a design patent on them, which expired in 1999. The original mugs were actually never sold in blue, and [the DS9 propmaster] just painted them that color.
We have been looking for a long time to see if anyone still makes these, but couldn’t find any; the only ones we found were original white mugs from the 80s that were glazed blue — and those go for about $300 on eBay, which we thought was a bit much for a mug.
We are all huge DS9 fans here and were a bit bummed out that you couldn’t get those mugs, so eventually we took the plunge and decided to have them made.
(Photo: CherryTree Computers)
While not a completely faithful replica — the CherryTree version arrives with the Quark’s Bar jingle printed on the bottom surface rather than the original rubberized bottom — it’s certainly more affordable then a vintage original mug, and much easier for Deep Space Nine fans to bring home.
The Fanhome team running the new Official Star Trek Starships Collection are about to relaunch subscriptions (and begin single-ship order availability to fans who aren’t inclined to join the ongoing subscription program), so we thought it was time to bring you a good look at the two newest starship models arriving to collectors!
We examined the first Fanhome starship back in November — Star Trek: Picard Season 3’s hero ship USS Titan-A — and now it’s time to get up close and personal with the second and third ship in the model program.
(Photo: TrekCore.com)
Fanhome’s second Star Trek ship is the new USS Stargazer (NCC-82893), which was briefly commanded by Captain Cristobal Rios in the opening and closing episodes of Star Trek: Picard’s second season. The Stargazer measures in a 7.5″ in length, and as with most of these ship models, it’s constructed as a mix of die-cast metal and plastic.
A successor to the Constellation-class Stargazer seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s first season (“The Battle”), the four-nacelled design is relatively unique in Starfleet’s design language — and this gives the model four opportunities to be fit with translucent red and blue plastic, highlighting the warp nacelles when placed in front of a light source.
(Photo: TrekCore.com)
The model is a fantastic build, for a complicated design — two pairs of nacelle assemblies, which means twice the opportunity for alignment problems and construction issues. Our Stargazer arrived in perfect shape, without any oddly-angled engines or similar concerns.
Consistent with the other Picard ships, the hull has a great amount of detail and color, with blues and yellows popping against the neutral hull coloration, and the red ring around the saucer and under-saucer phaser strips are nice connections to the Sovereign-class Enterprise-E.
Fanhome Official Starship Collection — USS Stargazer
Fanhome’s first entry into Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives with the Bellerophon-class USS Farragut (NCC-1647), as seen in the Season 1 finale “A Quality of Mercy” — where the starship was commanded by an alternate-timeline James T. Kirk — and later in the main timeline docked at Starbase 1 in “The Broken Circle.”
(Photo: TrekCore.com)
Designed by Strange New Worlds artist William Budge, the Farragut design is a pretty singular concept — it was originally conceived with strong nods to the Miranda-class USS Reliant from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, complete with a rounded roll bar above the dorsal hull.
Through the design process, the roll bar — which completed the circular curve between the lower nacelle struts — was eliminated, leaving a starship design that looks like it was created with leftover pieces of a Constitution-class vessel… just like how the Reliant appeared to be produced with Constitution-refit elements.
(Photo: TrekCore.com)
It’s a small ship that’s mostly made up of an unremarkable saucer, but the nacelles themselves are nice and detailed — complete with TOS-era ‘grills’ at the back of each engine, and red Starfleet pennants along each cylinder.
The Farragut also has an unusually-extended deflector dish, which Budge first used on his USS Archer starship in the Strange New Worlds pilot episode — it gives the Farragut model a real personality, though like the curve-strut nacelles, it makes a potential point for collector damage if the model is dropped or falls off its stand.
Fanhome Official Starship Collection — USS Farragut
The next Fanhome ships, after the Farragut, are slowly making their way to early Official Starship Collector subscribers — the Enterprise-F and SS Eleos from Star Trek: Picard are the fourth and fifth ships in the series, followed by the deadly Shrike warship as well.
As we reported last month, those will then be followed by the Luna-class USS Titan, the Enterprise-G, the Excelsior from Picard Season 2, and the USS Dauntless from Star Trek: Prodigy’s first season.
They’ve been paused for a few months while the company replenished inventory, but this week Fanhome will be re-opening the Official Starships Collection subscription program to new subscribers on Monday, March 10.
* * *
Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest in Star Trek collectible news!
We still don’t quite know when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be arriving — though Season 4 is already in production — but it’s sure to be relatively soon, as today Paramount+ is kicking off their Season 3 promotional campaign with a set of character portraits from the upcoming year of episodes!
These twelve photographic portraits shared by the streamer today were taken by photographer Pari Dukovic, who used “a completely darkened room in order to accomplish this effect [using] a standard digital projector mixed with strobe to amplify the actors skin and eyes with images of star nebulas and distant universes.”
Along with Strange New Worlds’ series regulars Anson Mount (Pike), Rebecca Romijn (Number One), Ethan Peck (Spock), Celia Rosa Gooding (Uhura), Jess Bush (Chapel), Melissa Navia (Ortegas), Christina Chong (La’an), Babs Olusanmokun (M’Benga), and Martin Quinn (Scotty), the artwork also features Carol Kane (Pelia), Paul Wesley (Kirk), and Melanie Scrofano (Batel).
Most of our characters resemble their Season 1 and Season 2 looks, but you can see a change in hairstyle for both Uhura and Chapel for the show’s third year of adventures.
Anson Mount as Captain Pike. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Rebecca Romijn as Number One. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Ethan Peck as Spock. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Jess Bush as Chapel. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Melissa Navia as Ortegas. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Christina Chong as La’an. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Babs Olusanmokun as M’Benga. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Martin Quinn as Scotty. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Carol Kane as Pelia. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Paul Wesley as Kirk. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)Melanie Scrofano as Batel. (Pari Dukovic / Paramount+)
Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds news!
On this week’s episode of WeeklyTrek — TrekCore’s news podcast — host Alex Perry is joined by Brian Volk-Weiss from The Nacelle Company for a supplemental interview special.
We discuss the figures available for pre-order right now at the Nacelle Store, the first reveal for Wave 2 (Generations Kirk!), that full waves of bridge crew characters in regular duty uniforms are forthcoming beginning with Wave 3, and Brian’s hopes and dreams for the line.
TREKCORE: You’re a big collector of Star Trek action figures and memorabilia — let’s start with just being a fan and collector: why do you love Star Trek action figures?
BRIAN VOLK-WEISS (Founder & CEO, The Nacelle Company): I love Star Trek action figures because I love Star Trek! John Tenuto [the noted Star Trek historian] in the Star Trek episode of Toys That Made Us said it best. It was so brilliant the way he put it, but the gist of what he said was that toys and action figures are like a totem. In most major religions, there’s a symbol that shows your devotion to that religion. And if you’re a Trekkie, that’s Star Trek toys.
I just had to move because of the fires in Los Angeles, and 99.9% of my entire collection is going into storage while I live in a temporary place. But what did I bring with me to my new temporary space? I brought two items that really mean a lot to me: I brought my Ertl USS Enterprise model from The Motion Picture — where I hand painted the impulse engine and the running lights and the photon torpedo launchers. I’ve brought this ship to every single place I have lived since freshman year of college. And I also brought the Hallmark ornament of Captain Kirk sitting in the captain’s chair, where I removed Kirk so it’s just the chair.
And those are two of just a tiny handful of my 4,500+ piece toy collection, including well over 1,000 Star Trek items, that I brought with me. And it’s because that represents Star Trek to me, and I love Star Trek. So I love Star Trek toys.
Brian Volk-Weiss at New York Toy Fair 2025. (Photo: The Nacelle Company)
TREKCORE: With your work standing up the Nacelle Company as a toy producer, and now expanding to produce Star Trek action figures, when you think about all the companies that have worked on Trek toys over the years, who do you most want Nacelle to be like?
VOLK-WEISS: As a business — for the size of their line and the passion they put into it –I want to emulate Playmates, because there were so many action figures released! There were so many, and the Playmates Star Trek toy line was clearly made by fans. So that’s what I’m hoping to do here.
But creatively, I want to emulate Diamond Select Toys. We want to do the level of detail that you found on the Art Asylum and Diamond Select action figures with modern toy technology that makes sculpts and likenesses so much more accurate today than even Diamond could accomplish in the 2000s, and they were one of the best in the business for their time. At the time, the Diamond Select action figures were amazing likenesses. Today, with the technology that we have, we can do much better.
So for Star Trek action figures: volume-wise, fan-worship-wise, I want to be Playmates. For aesthetics, I want to be the modern day Diamond.
TREKCORE: Nacelle made a real splash with its announcement of the Wave 1 Star Trek figures. These are some unexpected, deep-cut character choices —what’s your philosophy behind who you’re choosing for inclusion in the new figure line?
VOLK-WEISS: I learned a very valuable lesson from watching other recent attempts to launch Star Trek action figures. I am not saying anything bad about Playmates, because I respect them too much. But I’m a huge Trekkie — I named my company after a term I learned on Star Trek. And when I saw the news that Playmates was doing Star Trek again, it was one of the greatest days of my fandom.
And then when I saw the figures they were making… let’s just say I only bought one. And the only reason I bought Spock [from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan] was because he came with gloves. So that is the main lesson – I’m one of the biggest Star Trek toy collectors around, and I’m not motivated to get another Kirk and Picard.
The ‘Captain Jellico’ figure, with several character-specific accessories. (The Nacelle Company)
I’m friends with the owners of toy companies. I know the high up executives. And I was talking to them as a fan saying, “Please do Star Trek. And if you do Star Trek, for the love of God, don’t just do Kirk and Picard!” The example I always gave them was: don’t do Picard, do Jellico and Rachel Garrett. How on earth did Playmates never do Garrett in the 90s? How on earth did they not do Jellico? And they had their reasons. And it’s all understandable. But my favorite episode is “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” and it’s a lot of other fans’ favorite episode too! So why isn’t there an action figure of Rachel Garrett?
Well, luckily for me, no one did it, so now I can. And so, as a reaction to what happened to me with Playmates 2022 releases and how I didn’t buy any, I wanted to send a message with Wave 1 of our Star Trek action figure line to the community: I am one of you. I don’t need another Picard. I don’t need another Spock. I don’t need another Data. I need the things that inspire me. I need a totem for Jellico.
TREKCORE: But what about the regular bridge crew characters — Janeway, Worf, Dax, Chekov, and so forth — will you be making those?
VOLK-WEISS: When we announced Wave 1, we heard loud and clear from fans: thank you so much for doing these, but I can’t buy those and not have them next to Captain Kirk, Dr. Crusher, Captain Sisko etc. We got tons and tons and tons of comments; you must to do the bridge crews.
So I am excited to let you know that we are going to stagger the waves, and include the traditional Star Trek bridge crews in their regular uniforms. Wave 1is, we’ll call it the “Valkris wave,” because she’s the one with the least amount of screen time.
TREKCORE: The ‘big swing’ wave!
VOLK-WEISS: Yeah. But I will say this. I hedged my bets. She comes with not just the Genesis device, but she also comes with the Genesis device control panel.
And Wave 2 will also feature a lot of cool deep cut characters. We’ve shown Generations Kirk today at Toy Fair, and we’ve got 9 more cool characters to be announced later. Yes, 9 characters — where the first wave that’s available for pre-order today is 8 characters, the waves moving forward will be 10 characters each.
And then Wave 3 will be a bridge crew — a whole bridge crew. We’re going to go bridge crew by bridge crew, until we’ve gone from TOS to Enterprise, which at the moment is all we have the rights for. And then Wave 4 will be a random assortment wave, followed by another bridge crew in Wave 5.
Valkris from STAR TREK III, with a complete Genesis Device accessory set. (The Nacelle Company)
TREKCORE: Will those come in sequence — TOS, then the Animated Series versions, then TNG, etc. — or will you mix it up a bit?
VOLK-WEISS: I don’t know what order we’re going in yet. And just to clarify; the bridge crew waves will be in their regular duty uniforms. And because it’s 10 characters per wave, where most of the bridge crews are just 7 characters, we can also include other show-specific characters in that wave — like doing a TNG Miles O’Brien or Nurse Ogawa with the TNG bridge crew wave.
So you’ll get your main characters in those waves, but still a few deep cuts as well.
TREKCORE: That’s really exciting! I assume your ability to get deeper into the line is all dependent on sales, right? Because Playmates talked a big game… but they ultimately didn’t sell enough to get to another set of characters.
VOLK-WEISS: Yes, but I’ll tell you a secret about Nacelle that makes us different from all the other toy companies that have tried Star Trek before us. For all of those companies, 100% of their business is toys. Whereas my company is my company. If I want to do Star Trek — and I want to do Star Trek! — I can do Star Trek. All I need is 0.5% profit.
As long as I’m not losing money, I can go and make more and more. I can go forever as long as Paramount will let us. So I don’t have to look at a spreadsheet. I love Playmates. I know the people that work there. They’re great people, but they have to make money purely from toys. It’s just a business for them. They have to care about spreadsheets in a way that I don’t have to… and that allows me to make Valkris!
So we’re doing this, we’re feeling good about it, and our price point is going to be under $30 a figure. Look, I love money — it allows me to buy more toys and, you know, pay for my kids’ clothing and whatever — but what really makes me so happy is to know tens of thousands of people have our Biker MiceFrom Mars or our Roboforce toys on their shelves. And we’re a diversified company; we have a TV business, a book business, a podcast business, a record label.
We’ve got plenty of money coming in every week, every month, every quarter, and so for me the toys are a passion project. It’s not a coincidence our only studio licenses in toys are for The Expanse and Star Trek. I turn down a lot of requests to do more because I don’t have the passion for those projects. But I do for Star Trek. And because I am really passionate about it, I know we need to be under $30 per figure.
I want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy what we make.
Weyoun from DEEP SPACE NINE. (The Nacelle Company)
TREKCORE: What’s the hardest part of making Star Trek action figures?
VOLK-WEISS: I’ll be honest, man. I really have to dig to think what’s hard. I’m living the dream. But, you know, by complete coincidence, and I cannot stress to you enough how much this is a gift from God, one of our best sculptors is at least equal to me as a Trekkie. So we’re constantly nerding out over what we’re doing, and he’s just as passionate about getting these figures right as I am.
My life right now is texting about Captain Sulu’s teacup at 5 AM in the morning. How did this happen? I don’t even believe it. It’s great!
TREKCORE: So where can fans get the Wave 1 figures — and when do you expect them to start shipping out?
VOLK-WEISS: Initially, the only place you can go is to nacellestore.com.We’re doing everything humanly possible — and right now there is absolutely no reason why we can’t do this — to make sure they are here before the holidays 2025. The factory is already working on the molds.
Anything can go wrong, but we’re moving forward with that expected timeline. I was adamant the figures had to be under $30 and delivered before January. And unless there’s a curveball, we should absolutely be able to deliver that.
TREKCORE: And after Wave 1, when do you think Wave 2 will go up for preorder?
VOLK-WEISS: We are going for a bare minimum of one wave a year — eight figures in Wave 1, ten figures in subsequent waves. If I feel comfortable that the community can support 20 figures a year, we’ll do two waves a year. I would like to do two waves a year.
When we announced Wave 1, we also told fans to submit their feedback and character ideas to startrekideas@nacellecompany.com. And I probably get a couple of dozen emails a day from fans, and one of the most common things we hear is about price, price, price, price, price, price, price. So we’re shooting for at least a wave a year, and if the community’s down for it, two waves a year.
The prototype GENERATIONS Kirk figure, showcased at NY Toy Fair. (Photo: The Nacelle Company)
TREKCORE: How else has the feedback you’ve received changed your plans?
VOLK-WEISS: One of the reasons why we unveiled Generations Kirk today at New York Toy Fair was to show people, we hear you. We’re not only making Valkris. We are doing Captain Kirk, but we’re staying within our lines. It’s a Kirk that’s never been made before. He’s going to come with an axe, some wood for chopping, and even that dill weed from his kitchen!
TREKCORE: You’re really stacking these figures with accessories!
VOLK-WEISS: We want to load these figures up with accessories so that fans know they’re getting the value that they deserve. We’re going all out with the accessories. I told you Valkris comes with the Genesis device and the Genesis control. The knobs turn just like they did in the movie. Sulu, obviously, with the coffee cup, comes from Star Trek VI — but we’re also including the Star Trek II phaser and communicator. So even though the rank stuff on his wrist won’t be accurate to VI, I think if people want that to be their Sulu from Wrath of Khan, they can. It adds value.
TREKCORE: What does success look like to you for Nacelle Company’s Star Trek action figure toy line? If everything goes right, what does it look like in ten years?
VOLK-WEISS: I’ll stop when there are no more interesting Star Trek action figures to make, and nobody wants to buy them anymore. I don’t want to do 50 different Geordi La Forge action figures, you know?
I’m excited by what we’re doing, and the moment when we’ve put out enough that I’m not excited about it anymore, that’s when we’ll stop.
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With the end of Star Trek animation for the foreseeable future, we’ve got a great giveaway courtesy of the folks at Paramount Home Entertainment!
