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The current
figure is another one of the seemingly
endless supply of dead characters from
the Star Trek universe. It seemed
somehow appropriate in light of the
apparent demise of the Playmates line
(although Playmates officials continue
to make cryptic announcements that hint
at a resurrection while simultaneously
issuing statements confirming the death
of the line). The dead character in
question is Gowron, the former leader
of the Klingon Empire who was raised to
(and removed from) power by a
bat'leth-wielding Worf. Gowron fared
better than many Star Trek b-characters
and survived from the third season of
the Next Generation through to (almost)
the end of the DS9 final season. During
this time he achieved action figure
status twice. This is the first of
those figures and comes from the first
series of Playmates Star Trek (TNG)
figures produced in 1992. Gowron comes
complete with a pet Targ and a molded
holster on his leg that fits his
disruptor pistol.
The Gowron
figure (and all of the other first
series TNG figures) came on a backer
card which had a tab that needed to be
punched out in order to hang it on the
"peg" (see the Christine Chapel -
Standard Duty Uniform notes). Some
collectors will pay more for a figure
with this "punch tab" intact, but most
aren't that anal. The original Gowron
figure also features one of the few
recognized paint variations in the
Playmates line. For all of their
faults, Playmates has been very good
about keeping the Star Trek lines free
of variations. Hasbro (Star Wars)
constantly changes packaging, corrects
typos on packaging, changes paint
colors, etc. producing endless varients
of the EXACT SAME FIGURE. Secondary
market prices often skyrocket on these
variations based upon how many of each
variation were produced (or were
believed produced). A "red card Ben
Kenobi with short saber in long packing
tray" figure (so rare, if it's not a
fake, that most people didn't even
think it existed) recently sold on-line
for over $1,000.00 dollars. I am not
making this up. Really. You could find
the same figure with the same saber for
three or four bucks somewhere, but
somebody paid over a thousand dollars
for a plastic packing insert.
Playmates, on the other hand makes many
mistakes on packaging, paint
operations, etc., but they hardly ever
correct them which means all the
figures of a certain type have the same
error. I guess that's a good thing.
There's always an exception to the
rule, however. Some of the first Gowron
figures lacked gold paint trim on the
uniform. This was soon corrected and
the majority of them included the gold
trim, generally making the ones without
it more highly valued. My Gowron in
Klingon Warrior Uniform figure was
purchased at the Wal-Mart in Prairie du
Chein, WI long before I knew much about
this variation nonsense.
While the
figure doesn't look a whole lot like
Gowron the character, it does make a
nice, generic "angry Klingon." Like
several of the early Playmates figures,
it suffers from the "action pose"
problem. While better off than the
first series Riker or Worf, Gowron is
pretty much confined to his
hunched-over-holding-his-pain-stick
"action pose" when you try to stand him
up. Unopened, this figure will now
fetch an average of $20.00 on the
secondary market. Opened and intact,
the figure will average $7.00. The
non-gold trim variation goes for $35.00
unopened and $16.00 when opened. Gowron
features standard articulation at the
neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, waist,
hips, and knees.
Gowron in his
Klingon Warrior Uniform has had his
head recycled once for the Gowron in
Klingon Ritual Attire figure (a figure
I'm still missing - curses), but that's
it! Amazingly the body has not been
reused at all. Many of the accessories,
of course, have been used repeatedly
for other Klingon figures. I wouldn't
want you to think Playmates was getting
wasteful.
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