Star Trek: Roleplay Toys!

[Crafty_Pat]

A buddy of mine designed this bad boy. It sounds awesome.

[Wolverine]

I do love those movie phasers. Any word on how much these are going to cost?

[Crafty_Pat]

I do love those movie phasers. Any word on how much these are going to cost?

I have no idea.

[Wolverine]

Helps if I scroll down the page a bit - they're currently available on Amazon. Not a bad price, either.

[Mister Andersen]

There's some nice stuff there, but this really bugged me:

...Additional bridge pieces will come with Galaxy Series figures* to build out the complete bridge playset. Collect them all to build it all.  *Some international territiories may not include additional pieces with the Galaxy Series figures.

That's some pretty big Fail right there.

I also think I'll call that they'll make less of the Uhura figures than any of the others and that the SylarSpock ones will be the first to go

[Crafty_Pat]

From the creator (Matt Forbeck)...

Last summer, Playmates Toys hired me to design the logic system and write the script for a Star Trek toy based on the latest film. It’s called the Starfleet Command Mission Utility Belt, and it comes with a phaser, a communicator, and a belt that sends the wearer on away-team missions for Starfleet. I just saw it on the shelves of our local Toys-R-Us last week, so apparently it’s available all over the place now.

When Playmates approached me about the project, they gave me all the parameters, which included a sound chip that could hold about 90 seconds worth of sound. As a parent, I knew that if I had to listen to the same 90 seconds of sounds over and over again I’d be tempted to find the toy making those noises a new home in the nearest trashcan. So, being a game designer, I decided to complicate things a bit by creating a random mission generator for the belt.

To activate the belt, you press either the Kirk or Spock button, and Starfleet Command greets you. You then wave the communicator over the belt to interact with it. (A magnet in the communicator trips a switch in the belt.)

There are four missions each for Kirk and Spock, each with a fixed starting and ending. To give you constantly new opportunities for play, the belt also selects three to five mission complications picked from a fairly substantial list. Once you play through these, you reach the end of your mission, and Starfleet Command picks you up.

As part of working on this project, I got to read the script for the new film in J. J. Abrams’s offices on the Paramount lot, right in the middle of Comic-Con 2008. I knew then what a great movie it was going to be, and I’m thrilled to have this toy I worked on be a part of that.

The Mission Utility Belt has already gotten a pair of excellent reviews at TrekMovie.com and Trek Nostalgia. I’m glad to hear people like it, but the biggest kick I got out of it so far was showing my kids how to play with it and then watching them have a blast pretending to be Captain Kirk and Mister Spock.

[Crafty_Alex]

Goddamn, that's cool.

I want to buy a set, JUST because when I do finally have my kids, I want to see them running around with an assisted imagination toy, saving the universe

[TheAuldGrump]

I really like the mission generator - you can see the machinations of a game designer's mind at work....

The Auld Grump

[Wolverine]

I’m glad to hear people like it, but the biggest kick I got out of it so far was showing my kids how to play with it and then watching them have a blast pretending to be Captain Kirk and Mister Spock.

I get a similar feeling when I watch my fiance's nephew playing with my sonic screwdriver. He doesn't know what it is exactly, but it makes noise and lights up, and that's what matters.

I'll have to check with the local toy stores to see if they'll be getting these in anytime soon.

[Morgenstern]

That is very cool. I admit I'm waiting with baited breath for the large Narada toy that is planned. I love that ship. It's beautiful. Every line and curve spells out one unmistakable message that transcends language - "I hate you." It just drips with antagonism .