It's Spockcation 2009!

While the Enterprise is being retrofitted for the new Movie, Captain Kirk has granted shore leave to some members of the crew. Spock is taking this opportunity to tour some of North America! Would you like to host Spock in your hometown? Maybe show him the sights, have a beer and some grub at your favorite diner, even hang out in your collection for a while. Keep it interesting, but keep it clean, we are somewhat a family blog here. Here's what you need to do.

1) Be willing to take Spock around to all the cool stuff in your town and shoot some photos and write down a short description of what's going on, nothing major.

2) When you are finished showing Spock around, email the photos to Eclectorama, pack Spock up and send him on to the next destination.

3) Spring for some postage to the next destination on the list, the closest and least expensive to you. Spock doesn't mind traveling coach.

4) Update: I'm adding one on a suggestion from Eric at Toyriffic, if Spock is staying with you around May, 8th (the release of the new Star Trek movie) then you have to take Spock on a date to the movies and snap some pics, so if he's still at home he'll be seeing the movie with me, if he's on the road he'll be seeing it with you!

That's pretty much it!

I really want to get as many States possible to participate, and as I said before that I would like at least to get the 48 Continental States before we start, reality will probably be four states if I'm lucky. Interested? Contact me here at Eclectorama with your name and address. The list will only be used for Spockcation and not to solicit.

Here's what States (and Country, I did mention that I wanted Spock to see Canada) that have stepped up so far:

Canada - host PlaidStallions
California - host Toyriffic
Texas - Spock's home state, this Spock anyway!

Interplanetary U.F.O.

Back in my modeling days, when I was a young lad. I came across a strange model that glowed in the dark and seemed for all intents and purposes to belong to the Star Trek line of space ship models making the rounds back in the day. My model was rather sloppily built and unpainted, see even then I new the value of glow in the dark plastic, it was best to leave its surface untouched so you could get the maximum glow effect, but it had glorious battles with the crew of the Starship Enterprise, and the lesser known Starship Lexington. My first encounter with this ship ended with its ultimate destruction in a summer of swimming and taking it in the water. It eventually lost it nose cone and wings, and the little ship that could be placed inside the working shuttle bay.

A few years later I made a friend named Randy who owned a copy of the very same ship. I was probably now on my 100th model Enterprise, another Lexington to be exact, that I would use whenever the group of us would play Starships. I was never that good at keeping them together long, but I feel I kept AMT model company in the black for a few summers buying starships, so they kept releasing the model which was good for me. Randy would use his Interplanetary U.F.O. Now Randy was fanatical about taking care not damage his model, and I will go on record as saying it was the finest example of a U.F.O. as ever was seen. We had a whole back story for this ship, it was a friend of the Federation, but no ship could get too close to it because it would melt right through the wandering ships haul. I had a horrible clump of pant on the bottom of the saucer section of the Lexington due to my inexperience with spray paint, so it was common knowledge that in a fierce battle with the Klingons, the Lexington and the Interplanetary U.F.O. outnumbered three to one, tried a flanking maneuver where that resulted in close proximity passing of the two ships. In case you are wondering three decks were lost that day on the Lexington, but the two ships were victorious in the battle known as Lemonwood Lane 324.

We spent a summer of recreating all these wonderful Starfleet engagements when the unspeakably happened, the little U.F.O. shuttle craft was lost, in my back yard. We spent two days and a night combing the area where it was lost before we gave up. Randy never seemed that much into Starship battles ever again after that. You see the kit was discontinued and had been out of circulation. I believe he even crafted a new little shuttle craft out of extra bits from other models, but it wasn't the same. I often thought about finding it on Ebay now, but it is one of the more rarer kits out there so it goes for a chunk of change if they even get posted at all. I've heard of this ship also being issued non glowing as the Lief Ericson, an exploration ship, but I refuse to see it as anything else but the Interplanetary U.F.O. Also I recently learned that Matt Jefferies was asked to designed the model for the AMT corporation, having designed the ships of Star Trek back in the day. What a great link to Trek!


click image to check out Round 2's U.F.O.

So where am I going with all this? Well, when I saw that my favorite Mr. Spock Kit was being re released, I started to wish for a few more kits, now I know the Interplanetary U.F.O. does not belong to the official Star Trek universe, but it was one that I was secretly wishing to make a come back. I'm not sure how I missed this the first time, but having read the article and posting about Mr. Spock, I thought a few days later I would see where I could maybe pre order the Mr. Spock Kit. I went back to the article source and followed the link they gave to a model store and there in front of me was none other than the Interplanetary U.F.O. just as I remembered it. Holy Crap! I quickly found Round 2's website to see if this was true, and low and behold it's going to be re released as well. First Spock and now this ship, how freaking good do I have to be this year now that the toy gods have smiled upon me. So now I'm looking at this a thinking I have to tell Randy, I ran into him about a year ago and we exchanged email addresses, he forwards jokes to me on occasion, but we really never email back and forth much. I knew that I have to send him the link, oh and look how convenient a "mail to a friend" link on the Round 2 page. So I'll have to keep you posted as I'm gathering up the images for this post and to email to a past friend, hoping he's still a geek at heart like me.

Eclectorama Musing

I've been remiss in my blogging duties, I have plenty to report on in the Eclectorama Collection, plus some goings on around the house, and some new Trek stuff I'm looking forward too, but I just haven't been motivated as of late, not sure what it is. True I've been extremely busy at work and I have a few projects going on at home, but no excuse I should be keeping the blog a rolling.

I've been thinking about a few projects for the blog and even bringing back a feature from year one to maybe get me going again. I just need to settle on what I want to accomplish this year and get going. I'm going to throw out a few ideas and see what sticks.

1) I'm thinking of sending an EMCE Spock on tour of America and possibly a location in Canada. Sort of a celebration of the new Star Trek Movie coming out. I'm working on how I can get this accomplished. I will only do it if I can get at least one host from all the continental states. I'm tentatively calling it Spock Tour 09'. My only requirements so far are photos of Spock in your home town, nothing obscene, just out and about at the landmarks, diners, and such sent back to Eclectorama for weekly or bi weekly posts, with short descriptions of the scene and possibly postage to the next destination, I haven't figured that part out. I would definitely start the ball rolling by sending him to the farthest point and then having him find his way back home. As I get this going I'll post an email link for volunteers and specifics.

2) My pal at Toyriffic sent me some really cool artist trading cards, that I'll be posting. I've been interested in doing some as well and posting and then sending some off first come first serve style. I hope to get these started soon. I would like to try new styles on this project as well as my cartoon style.

3) Stormtrooper of the Week, I really liked this feature and I've been thinking about brining it back as Troops of the Empire. I've been thinking of expanded it to Dark Lords, Bounty Hunters, Troopers and possibly the occasional Clone Trooper. Now I know that technically the Clone Troopers were the good guys for a while, but lets face it they all work for the Emperor. I'm just not sure my readership was digging it. Sometimes you just have to go with it, whether it was loved or not.

4) Toy, toys, toys and the fuzzy memories that go along with them. I'm thinking of going two routes with this, Feeling Vintage, were I talk about the fun times with classic toys and The Modern Maniac were I gush about the latest toy to find it's way into the collection.

5) Trek toys, models, and the Spocklection will be back. Once a Trekkie always a Trekkie.

6) Last but not least, I'm hoping to finally get a shot or two of the ever evolving Eclectorama Collection as I get it back on display. Plus some "Limelight" areas of the collection.

Just some ideas I've been kicking around... Stay tuned Eclectomaniacs!

Holy, Freaking, Green Blooded Aliens!

I've been thinking about what my first post should be upon my return, more specifically I've been thinking about collecting in general, but that's all besides the point right now, because of this...


click image to read story

You may remember the first post after last years Eclectorama Holiday Hiatus, I was gushing about Playmates Toys returning to the Trek market. I have seen the new Trek merchandise from Playmates Toys and I can honestly say good or bad, I am happy to see some new Trek on the pegs. Also recently my "brother-in-toys" Eric at Toyriffic clued me in to some Art Asylum Trek figures at TRU (that's Toys R Us in the biz), more on this later on. More importantly than all that, I ended that post with a wish of getting a re-release of one of my favorite AMT models from the Star Trek line.

I can't freaking believe this model is going to be re-released. The Trek Fairy has been listening and if I'm lucky come this December she'll tip off Santa and I'll have one of these under the tree. More than likely I will check the web daily till it's released and then pre order it, then I'll check daily until it ships...

Anyway it is truly a happy day to be a classic Trek fan, I'll have some more posts soon, I now return you to your regular scheduled programing, and most importantly... Live Long and Prosper!

Update: I also have my eye on that sweet NCC-1701 A model!

POPPIES 2008!

Hey everyone out there in Eclectorama Land! Happy New Year! Let me hear you holla!

I've been busy trying to come up with some new features and bring back some old ones, in the mean time I was asked by the Toy Review Guru himself, Michael Crawford from mwctoys.com to be an industry judge! I can't say enough about what an honor it is to be asked to participate and have my good friend Matt from Legions of Gotham recommend me. Thank you Michael and big thanks to Matt.

Anyway here's the official release, so go gets to some voting people and I'll see you soon, back here for some new posts!

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It’s time for the 2008 Poppies! The Poppies are the Pop Culture Collectibles Industry Awards developed in 2007 by Michael Crawford of mwctoys.com. Each year judges from all aspects of the industry – from the artists that create them, to the companies that make them, to the retailers that sell them, to the media outlets that report on them, and even to the collectors that buy them – come together to vote on their favorites in over a dozen categories. For 2008, those categories include:

Best Overall Company
Best Overall Line
Best Male or Female Figure 18” and above
Best Male Figure 12 – 18”
Best Male Figure 5 – 11”
Best Male Figure under 5”
Best Female Figure (any size under 18”)
Best Build A Figure
Best Vehicle or Playset
Best Statue
Best Bust
Best Designer/Vinyl Figure
Best Prop Replica
Best Misc

This year, there are 147 judges from within the industry, from every aspect of the business and from across the globe. They have begun their voting as of January 5th, and will complete the process on January 14th. The votes will then be compiled, and the final results announced on January 20th.

But there’s also a chance for readers to give their input! Once again this year, Michael will be running his People’s Picks awards, only this time the readers will be voting using the same categories and nominees as the Poppies Judges. You can vote now for your favorites by going to:

People's Picks 2008

Or by going to mwctoys.com and following the link from the main page. People’s Pick voting will be available during the same period (January 5th until January 14th), and the announcement of winners will also occur on January 20th. Vote for your favorite pop culture collectibles now!