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This was one
of the first series of Star Trek
figures produced by Playmates. There
were ten figures in this series and as
many as 350,000 were produced of each
figure. That's a far cry from the
measly numbers that we'll see produced
of each of the current crop of 4.5"
figures for 1999. These figures all
came on backer cards with "punch tabs"
which needed to be removed in order to
be hung on the pegs as opposed to the
"J"-shaped hooks that are currently
used. There were no trading cards or
other "pack-ins" with this series of
figures. My first series Borg Drone was
purchased at the Coralville, Iowa
Target which has probably been consumed
by the new Coralville "MEGA-MALL." The
"MEGA-MALL" is OK, but it's no
MOA.
The packaging
on this Borg figure features one widely
recognized variation. The photo on the
back of some the original Borg packages
is reversed (left / right). The
packaging with the reversed photo is
much more uncommon than the corrected
version. An easy way to check for this
is to examine the eyes of the Borg in
the photo. The reversed photo makes it
look like the Borg's "ocular implant"
is in his right eye instead his left.
Unopened, this figure will now fetch an
average of $45.00 on the secondary
market for the "reversed" version and
$18.00 for the "standard" version.
Opened and intact, the figure will
average $9.00. The original Borg Drone
features articulation at the neck,
shoulders, left bicep, elbows, right
forearm (where his different "arms"
attach), waist, hips and knees. The
interchangable arms were a fairly
entertaining feature and allowed for a
variety of looks for the same figure.
If you were a real geek you could buy
three figures, put a different arm on
each one and have a mini-army of
slightly different looking Borg. No, I
did not do this.
As with all
of the first series of figures, this
was an entirely new sculpt, but it has
been recycled two times and will
reappear again this year (along with
Locutus) in a Target exclusive "Borg
Twin Pack". The first repaint of this
figure appeared in the second series of
TNG figures and included newly sculpted
"chrome" arms to attach. The figure was
later repainted again and reissued as
the "Interstellar Action" Borg. This
second repaint came with a permanently
attached weapon arm that actually fired
a plastic "phaser bolt".
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