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This figure
was one of the first wave of the 1994
"7th Season" series of Playmates TNG
figures. These figures featured revised
artwork on the backer cards (still
similar to the original cards) and were
a continuation of the large 6070
assortment of the previous year. They
were designated "Collector Series 7th
Season" on a foil sticker on the front
of the card presumably because they
were released during the seventh season
of TNG's first run. The figures in the
assortment draw from the entire TNG run
and there is no particular emphasis on
characters from the seventh season. A
lame "Space Cap" pog was included as a
pack-in premium. Whoo-hoo. This wave
did seem to feature a "characters in
disguise theme" for four of the eight
figures. Two, Picard and Data disguised
as Romulans, would seem very sensible.
Romulans are (were?) the enemy and
there's a lot of play potential there
for kids. The other two are
head-scratchers. One is Riker disguised
as a Malcorian (a never-again-seen race
from a forgettable TNG episode in which
"First Contact" with the Malcorians
goes badly and further contact is put
on hold indefinitely; not much reason
to go back in disguise, is there?) and
the other is our current feature. What
on Earth were they
thinking...
- I can see
the brainstorming session
now:
- "Hey,
remember the TNG episode where
Geordi turns into the invisible
alien that can only be seen in
ultraviolet light?"
- "Sure.
That was a really cool
episode!"
- "Let's
make a figure of that."
- "Uhh..
How do we make an invisible figure?
We could just produce empty
packaging. That would really cut
back on costs and the head office
would love it. We're screwed if
anyone actually opens it,
though."
- "Don't
be stupid. He's visible on the
transporter pad for like half a
second and they get to see him with
the UV lights later."
- "OK.
What color should he be? I mean,
when he's not under the UV
lights?"
- "I
don't know. Make him brown. Levar
Burton's brown, right?"
Yeah, I like
the episode "Identity Crisis", but
c'mon. Unless Geordi's got a chronic
condition that recurs every so often,
do we really need a figure of this.
Well, apparently I do, but most people
don't.
And,
apparently, that's how most people
felt. For quite a while this figure
defined "peg-warmer" and was described
in a least one forum as a "brown turd".
Not surprisingly, the figure has not
skyrocketed in value. Unopened, this
figure will now fetch an average of
$12.00 on the secondary market. Opened
and intact, the figure will average
$5.00. Tarchannen Geordi features
standard articulation at the neck,
shoulders, biceps, elbows, waist, hips
and knees. To its credit, the figure
appears to be a pretty good likeness of
the make-up job (it looks quite a bit
like the production stills from the
show). My figure was purchased at a 3rd
Ave. comic shop in Cedar Rapids, IA
that's no longer there. It was on sale
for less than the initial retail price
(i.e. It was so lame that even a comic
shop couldn't unload it for a
profit.)
In an effort
to make an improved figure (or perhaps
just to milk more money out of existing
figure molds), Playmates later produced
an exclusive translucent blue version
of this figure for Toyfare magazine.
This second figure was initially
reported as a part of the regular
assortment of figures (probably as a
limited edition "chase" figure), but
was soon changed to a Toyfare exclusive
most likely to avoid more collector
backlash about LE figures. The new
version, while being a much better
figure than this one, is still somewhat
useless. I think they missed out on
both of these figures by not using
glow-in-the-dark paint to outline the
veins, eyes, etc. If they'd done that,
this could have been an extremely cool
figure. Turn out the lights; Presto!
Just like using the UV flashlight. Oh
well. They never asked me for an
opinion. That's why I write
these.
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