I recently picked up a small lot (19 minis) of what appear to be 25mm Star Trek miniatures. They were listed as Heritage on eBay, but upon closer inspection, I don't think they are. Or at least they are not part of the Star Trek line released by Heritage. There are no base markings on any of these minis, and while there are similarities, there are also subtle differences that make me think they are not Heritage. Namely, the phasers and lack of Starfleet uniform crest, as well as the lack of a raised collar on the Fed minis.
UPDATE (5/24/21): These are Scruby miniatures! Thanks to Mike Taber who answered my recent Facebook post on these guys. Mike says that they are indeed Scruby castings, and they were only available in-store at The Soldier Factory. Please see Mike's comment in the comment section at the end of this post. It took a while to finally ID these minis, but I have found that this community of collectors usually comes through.
UPDATE (5/16/21): A couple of weeks ago I posted these guys on eBay. And then earlier this week, I was contacted by a former Wee Warriors employee who saw the listings and let me know that Wee Warriors did not make or sell their own line of Star Trek miniatures. He confirmed this with Pete Kerestan.
The Anshell Miniatures ad from issue 10 of Starlog Magazine (December 1977) that lists the 54mm and 25mm sets from Wee Warriors will remain an enigma, at least for now. Was the ad a simple oversight, as in they said Wee Warriors but meant Scruby?
Once again, thank you to everyone who has contributed to this ongoing Star Trek minis mystery.
UPDATE (2/25/16): I went back and took another look at each miniature, and what I discovered was that there are 12 different poses total. 6 human poses, and 6 alien poses. This would be consistent with the Wee Warriors entry on the LMW, which lists 2 sets of 6 miniatures each - Landing Party and Alien Set. So it appears I have 2 sets of Landing Party, and 1 set of Aliens, with an extra female Romulan for a total of 19 minis. Of course, I still don't have have any photographic evidence to back me up, so it's still just a theory at this point, although a better than average one in my opinion.
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| Kirk, Spock, Uhuru |
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| Redshirts |
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| More redshirts? |
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| Romulans? |
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| Aliens |
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| Looks Andorian to me. |
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| Mugato? |
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| I'd say Gorn, but the snout is rather long. |
13 comments:
Curious stuff, Tom. Definitely interested to see what you turn up, info-wise!
Allan.
The faces of the crew members remind me of Hinchliffe elves and female civilians sculpted by Peter Gilder....but at the same time I though "they could be Minot figures". Either way they are very nice and characterful.
@Grodog: Hi Allan, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, always a pleasure.
@Springinsfeld: Thanks for the keen observations. I looked at Gilder's Martian Science Fiction and Minot's The Perils of Flasher, and they do have certain features in common. I also looked at Scruby and Stan Johansen and other old-school brands, but still no luck. Hopefully someone recognizes them!
I wonder if they could be Wee Warriors? Never seen the actual sculpts (these are very Minot like I agree). Lost Minis have a listing; http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Star_Trek_%28Wee_Warriors%29
@David: Hi David, yeah, I saw that listing too, but it wasn't until I went back and took a closer look at each sculpt that makes me now lean towards them being Wee Warriors. I changed the post title and added an update that clarifies my position. Thanks as always for your input!
Pete Kerestan (sp?) from WW is in touch with Mike and Doug of the NTX convention (they reprinted several WW books over the years), and he should be able to confirm/deny based on your pics, I imagine.
Allan.
That would be great if he could get any info. I've never found anything on them over the years.
Ha, ha! So you're the one who bought this set. I was trying to bid on it too, but I did also buy another lot of the same type of figures (no different figures/poses). I've been trying to identify them myself, so I'm happy I found your post. I did previously buy one lot of Citadel miniatures, which included one of the Romulan soldiers. The appearance of these other figures just deepened the mystery for me.
I just noticed these images, and they are definitely Scruby castings from the mid- '70s. Wee Warriors may have marketed these since they were located in San Luis Obispo at this time, but it's unlikely that Scruby ever advertised them in his catalogs since there would undoubtedly be copyright issues with the obvious Star Trek designs.
@leodvin85 Thank you for stopping by and leaving your comment. I'm still searching for the elusive ads or pics (if they even exist) of the WW Star Trek 25mm line. But if they are indeed Scruby castings, that would definitely be one more piece of the puzzle confirmed.
Wee Warriors never produced any miniatures - Star Trek or otherwise. Pete Kerestan brought miniatures into his store (as any other merchant does/did) and sold them but he did not produce them.
I began gaming at Pete's store, worked at Pete's store and talk to him multiple time a week so I can say - categorically - these are not Wee Warriors products.
Finally, I asked Pete about them last week and he says he thinks he got them from Heritage.
These are or should be Scruby. Masters & molds on shelf in the shop. You won't find them 8n any catalog; they were a Soldier Factory, in store only offering.
Mike,
Any chance of these being cast up then?
Dave
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