My Playmates Star Trek Figure Collection - R.P. Lauer

In 1995, I turned 18. On that birthday, I started my first shift at what I would call my first "regular" job; Toys R Us. This job would forever change me, forever corrupt me. In fact, my life would never be the same again. After all, it took only a couple months for me to begin collecting - gasp - toys.

Some of the earliest toys I began collecting were Playmates Star Trek action figures.

Those of course weren't the only toys I purchased and collected. I bought a Queen Alien playset, as well as some Predator vs. Aliens figures. I also bought some Micro Machines (wait for it), Star Trek ships. Eventually Kenner started selling all new Star Wars action figures and vehicles. I bought some of those as well.




But nothing struck me as hard as the Playmates Star Trek figures. And, nothing stuck with me as long. Over 30 years later and I am still adding to my collection, a collection that is actually nearly complete! At least, as complete as I plan on taking it; there are some rare (and therefore expensive) figures I do not plan to ever collect (I may be mad, but I'm not daft [maybe]).

I know that many will see this as dumb, maybe even childish. I also know that even among fellow collectors, the Playmates figures are seen as too "toy-ish" in design. I honestly don't care. I love these figures! I love the way they look! They bring me joy anytime I look at them sitting on my shelves.

I've even considered trying to put together some videos of my own to showcase them, individually and as a whole. Unfortunately I don't know the first thing about recording and/or editing video. I'm not a content creator. I'm not even really that creative in general. But I rarely see anyone talking about them.

Sure, there are some videos out there. There are some communities as well (though those are usually more about customizing them). But as a whole, there's just not that many people talking about them - that I have seen at least.

But, as I said, I have absolutely zero experience producing video content. So I don't know if that'll even be possible.




I have so many thoughts and opinions on these figures, Playmates (the company itself), and the decisions they've made over the years. I also have so many questions I'd love to ask those who are familiar with these figures, or even those just seeing them for the first time now.

I guess that time will tell whether or not this goes any further than this posting. For now I'll just leave a few photos of my collection.

P.S. Please forgive my photography skills (or lack thereof). I suck at photography. Also please forgive the dust and pet fur; these shelves are extremely difficult to keep clean.