Art Asylum announced today that it had been awarded the license to create Star Trek toys based on the various Star Trek series and movies.  The first series of Art Asylum Star Trek toys will be seven-inch action figures based on the new Star Trek: Enterprise series and should be out by fall of 2002.  If the new Star Trek: The Next Generation film Nemesis stays on track, Art Asylum plans to have toys based on the film available in the time for the film's opening in the fourth quarter of 2002.  Playmate, the previous Star Trek toy, let its option on the license lapse in 1999.  The fact that the license has lain fallow for almost two years testifies both to the sagging market for licensed goods and the decline of the Star Trek franchise, which has been given a shot in the arm by the performance of the new Enterprise television series (see 'Enterprise and Buffy Ratings Strong'). In the interim Palisades Marketing produced a limited edition (35,000) set of figures of Captain Kirk and series creator Gene Roddenberry (see 'Palisades Gets Star Trek License').  Art Asylum managed to wangle the toy license away from Palisades in spite of the fact that the Palisades figure set has sold very well.

 

Art Asylum is no stranger to the Star Trek pantheon.  The Art Asylum sculptors created two spectacular nine-inch figures for the final series of Playmates Star Trek figures, a Borg Drone and a Klingon Warrior.  In addition, Art Asylum also sculpted one set of 5-inch figures featuring Species 8472 and Ensign Harry Kim. 

 

Art Asylum is known for its highly detailed figures.  Expanding from a highly sought-after design studio into the world of manufacturing, the company has created collector-oriented figures based on properties ranging from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (see 'Art Asylum Unveils Crouching Tiger Figures') to Eminem to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but nothing the company has ever manufactured in the past is as well-known or as mainstream as Star Trek.  Granting the license to Art Asylum indicates that Paramount Pictures realizes that the state of the Star Trek franchise is such that the best move is to find a company that will produce figures that will appeal to collectors rather than to the mass audience.  Conversely, even though it will be creating relatively high-priced, collector-oriented figures, Art Asylum can use the Star Trek license as an entr?e into new, larger retailing venues.  The question is whether Art Asylum can repress its penchant for grotesquerie enough to create figures that will appeal to Star Trek fans, or will the Art Asylum Star Trek figures be too 'arty' for the tech-oriented Trek audience?