Review of Captain Pike - Star Trek Strange New Worlds
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

The newest television release in the Star Trek universe is Strange New Worlds, a show set with Captain Pike at the helm of the Enterprise, with characters like Spock, Uhura, and Chapel with him, along with a host of new personalities and aliens. While there isn't any Trek I don't enjoy, SNW has quickly become my second favorite series in the franhise, and considering the strength of the others that's saying quite a bit.

With EXO-6 working their way through the shows and movies, it is no surprise that they have finally made it to SNW. They have already announced - and had pre-orders - for Spock from the show, and now their first release, Captain Pike, is hitting doorsteps around the world.

This guy will run you around $225 at most retailers, and tomorrow - Tuesday, June 4th - he will start the immediate purchase window at the EXO-6 web store. Don't sleep on this one.

Packaging - ***1/2
The usual work, with the outer cardboard shipper, small plastic tabs to protect the art box corners, and doubled up plastic trays to ensure the safety of the figure and accessories inside. This overall packaging can take quite a beating and still get the contents to you in perfect shape.

It's also collector friendly of course, with no need to damage anything in removing the contents. I also found the plastic bags on the feet and hands much easier to slip off this time, a pet peeve of mine. When they are too tightly wrapped, you have to cut them free, and I'm not a fan of getting sharp blades anywhere near my figures.

Sculpting - ****
They've done an excellent job with the line overall, but this is one of their standouts. They've really nailed Anson Mount, both in expression and likeness.

Of course, it's got to be realistic first, and all their sculpts are at that level. They have the detailed skin texture, clear, sharp eyes, and age appropriate wrinkling to create a lifelike, realistic portrait.

But then they have to actually look like the character. From the outlandish hair to the facial shape, from the shape of the eyebrows and nose, it's all an excellent match. There's no doubt who it is, and not just because of the high top hair.

They've also got the expression down. It's not an extreme expression - no gasps, no screams, no raging anger.  He's somehow both serious and bemused, a good combination for both the character and the actor.

One of the coolest features is something I never noticed on screen - his sideburns. I went back and checked photos, and sure enough - they're accurate. Not surprisingly, I didn't notice them at first on the figure either, because the sculpting and paint work is so subtle.

Scale is good all around too - body to head, hands to body, etc. I will complain about the torso on the body later, but that's not for this category. I've included shots with a shorter and taller character later in the review for comparison as well.

Paint - ****
Great sculpts can be ruined by poor paint - mediocre sculpts can be elevated by great paint. When the two come together, it's divine.

The paint work here is excellent, particularly on the skin and eyes. The eyes are glossy and sharp, with no bleed coming in around the lids. The eyebrows are extremely realistic, and the lips have a perfect color, and avoid any lipstick effect.

The hair has to have a salt and pepper look, and they've used highlights to create the effect. In hand it looks even better than in macro photos. The amount of gray in his hair varies a lot on the show, and I'm happy with the final look the figure I received has. I'm betting it will vary a bit from figure to figure as well. They've also correctly made areas where the hair is finer and thinner - like the sideburns, and around the ears - more gray.

All of the accessories have immaculate paint jobs of course, including the weapons and communicator. There's no surprises there - they have always produced high end extras.

Articulation - ***
The underlying body has all the excellent articulation you'd expect, including butterfly shoulders and lots of double joints. However, there's two spots that pull the score down a bit.

First, there's the neck. There is always a compromise between a two piece and one piece head/neck sculpt. With a two piece design, you get better articulation, but it can have a negative effect on the realism of the sculpt. With the one piece design, you get a better sculpt, but a slightly less posable head.

Here the one piece design looks great, but you do have a slightly less range of movement with the head. It's not a major issue, but still affects this category.

The other area is the boots. These are one piece and hard plastic, and that means no real ankle articulation. No flat feet in deep stances with this guy, and even straight stances require some adjustments with the hips and knees to keep him stable.

Accessories - ***1/2
There's always some re-use with Star Trek characters, since those from the same shows carried the same equipment. That's going to be true here as well, but thankfully EXO-6 has done a terrific job with the base level pieces.

First, Pike comes with four sets of hands. There's a set of fists, and a set of relaxed grips, as well as sets of medium grips and specific grips. The sculpts and paint are solid all around, and they swap quite easily, yet remain in place when working with the figure.

He also has the communicator (with real metal mesh cover) and phaser from the show. These are similar to the STTOS versions of course. The Type One phaser can be disconnected from the Type Two phaser body, and the two are held together with a strong magnet.

They didn't have the cool velcro technology of STTOS yet though, so he comes with a belt and a holster for the phaser. He doesn't wear it very often on the show, but I love the old west look of the set up. The belt also snaps together tightly, much better than the usual post and hole arrangement. That's because the post is made from a harder plastic.

He has a phaser rifle as well, and if this looks familiar it's because it also came with the DISCO Burnham release. There's a folding handle on the front, and he can be displayed holding it in either one or two handed poses.

And of course, there's the transporter shaped base, with two different plastic covers, a figure support rod, and several small clips to hold the bases together, or put the autograph card - and there should also be one of those - on the base.

Outfit - ***
As with all the Trek uniforms produced by EXO-6, the level of detail on this outfit is nuts.

Look at the tiny emblems on the sleeves and shoulders, the perfect insignia on the chest, and the straight stripe on the leg. The boots might be hard on the ankle articulation, but they look terrific, matching the unique look from the show. The pants are tailored well...but the shirt does have a couple issues.

You're going to notice that the shoulders and arms look wonky. They are. They shoulders are very pointed, and stick out well beyond what would be a normal, human shoulder width. That's also true on the show, but here the arms are not padded out, and are too thin for the pointy shoulders. The combination is causing an issue, and throwing off the look for me. I think with some additional padding on the upper arms - not the shoulders - you should be able to get a more reasonable look, but it will take some experimenting.

I've also heard some people say he has man boobs. Uh, no, he has an actual male chest. The upper body is padded though to get the proportions, and that means if you let the tunic ride up on the chest, it will puff out at the pecs too much.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
This guy can go with the other captains in the display, or you can pair him up with Burnham for now. But have no fear, Spock is coming soon, and I'm hopeful we get at least a half dozen members of this crew, including both Uhura and Chapel.

Value - **1/2
At $225, he's one of the more expensive of the EXO-6 Trek figures so far, but there's a lot of new stuff here, including the outfit and key accessories. Considering that companies like Hot Toys are hitting $275 regularly now, this is still an amazingly good price for what you're getting.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. Everything was sturdy and well made, and I didn't have any worries about breakage while I was working with him.

Overall - ***1/2
This guy was really close to a four star overall figure for me. The sculpt and paintwork are excellent, and the assortment of extras is reasonable. While the articulation lacks in a couple spots, it's not a serious negative overall.

My only real complaint was with the upper arms, and the way they throw off the tailoring on the tunic. You can futz around with it, and from the right angle, get it to look good on the shelf. But I'm thinking a little extra padding around the upper arms will go a long way to making this guy look perfect.

We should be seeing Geordi and Neelix any day now!

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
The immediate purchase period starts tomorrow (6/4/24) for Pike at the EXO-6 site, so jump on it if you haven't preordered. He'll be $225 plus shipping. Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent EXO-6 reviews include Odo, Kira, and Data, although if you search my archive you should find reviews of all the releases.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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