Playmates Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Odo Action Figure Playmates, 1994
Day #2,005: July 17, 2018
Odo The First
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Wave 1
Item No.: Asst. 6200 No. 6202 Manufacturer:Playmates Includes:Trading card, Bajoran PADD, Bajoran Tricorder, Bucket Sleeping Chamber, Deep Space Nine Monitor, stand Action Feature:n/a Retail:$4.99 Availability: January 1994 Other: Sample #11,809
The Playmates Toys Star Trek: Deep Space Nine line was a gem, and I would have gotten to Odo sooner but I misplaced his bucket during a move around 2010 or 2011 - and I just found it last month while I was purging a lot of my old stuff. (I have a lot of stuff.) Quark and Odo were two of my favorite characters when the show was first on, so I was ecstatic to get their figures when they first came out. This one held up pretty well - Playmates had a hit on their hands back in the 1990s and the only thing that could bring the line down was their own hubris. Also Star Wars. Odo and his casemates were better than the competition, largely cheaper, and are something of a beacon as to what collector-centric kid toys could be at their very best.
I've had this figure all this time and it aged well - the no-collar uniform still looks good because you get to see his face and distinctive neck. Since they build him up with prosthetics, it's easier to get a more accurate figure face. His unfinished humanoid head has forehead lines as well as a nose and ears that betray his newbie shapeshifter status. The Bajoran pin has some black detailing, plus his boots seem on the mark - but reference photos are hard to find.
Odo has 12 points of articulation, with a glossy uniform that looks pretty gosh darned great. He stands well, and his v-crotch limits his sitting prowess. The hands are pretty good at gripping his gear, but that's probably the only area the Playmates line comes up short. That and weird, one-color accessories. The figures themselves are top-notch for the 1990s, or even today - especially when you consider the price.
The accessories aren't terrible. First and foremost, Odo's bucket is indeed buckets of fun - he can't do much with it, but I guess you can fill it with oatmeal and fling it at your Jake Sisko figure (sold separately.) Cast in red, it looks something like an incomplete drum or a fancy future spittoon. The Cardassian monitor is decent and has a sticker with the whole LCARS look, and the PADD isn't half bad. The screen isn't as fancy as the Starfleet models. The tricorder is even less fancy, looking more like a phaser with no real screen to speak of.
As I've mentioned before, Playmates Star Trek is a line I loved at the time and kind of regret not sticking with to the bitter end - I'd love to finish the collection some day. Or at least, all the Deep Space Nine stuff would be great. For the current asking price of $10 or so, roughly equal to inflation ($8.59) without considering China's increasing wages. Picking up this 4 1/2-inch figure, I can't imagine Hasbro or Mattel pumping out something individually numbered with this much gear and articulation for this price. Mattel's Jurassic World line comes pretty close at a half-inch shorter, though. Maybe we'll see something amazing happen to action figures again some day - I'm not hopeful. At least I can always go back and collect these guys.
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