And we now move on to my tenth "Eaglemoss vs. The World" review and this will be one of the shortest reviews I've written to date. Let's take a look at the Borg Sphere. We are first introduced to this ship in the movie, "Star Trek: First Contact".
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Borg long-range tactical vessel, commonly referred to by the Federation as a Borg sphere, was a sphere-shaped starship used by the Borg Collective during the late 24th century. Borg spheres were used by the Borg as scout ships or long-range tactical vessels. Borg spheres were also embedded into some Borg cubes, and were used as auxiliary craft."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Borg Sphere Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
There is also an interesting article about the filming model. You can read that article at the Memory Alpha LINK.
Even though I only have two models, my readers seem to like when I give the up-close side by side "gravy shot" picture, sooo... not wanting to disappoint my readers, here you go.
Eaglemoss vs. Furuta
With that out of the way, we can now dive right into the closer look at each of them.
Eaglemoss
It's really hard to give you different views of a sphere. The top of this ship is just like the bottom so I'm guessing that there is not a right or wrong way to display this model. The Eaglemoss model has some weight to it with it's metal core. This Borg Sphere seems like it would fly true and do some serious damage if you threw it at other models in your fleet.
This is the first Eaglemoss model to not come in a Standard Sized box which initially makes you feel like you are not getting your money's worth. However, upon close inspection, this is actually a very interesting model.
My initial beef with this model was the hole on the top and bottom where the stand goes into it. It just does not look like it belongs with the way the rest of the model is done up. However, when I do a search for screen appearances, it appears that there are indeed these hole areas on both ends so kudos to Eaglemoss for making sure they were screen accurate.
While I initially was unsure of how I would feel about this model, the truth is, Eaglemoss did a phenomenal job detailing this out.
The sculpt work and molded details are crisp. And the thing that really amazes me is the fact that those details are not repetitive around the main part of the sphere.
The paint work is simple, yet effective and successfully gives the air of a dark and foreboding ship with those spooky green lights
To sum it up, it's a sphere, that has been detailed out very nicely.
Furuta
I have made it a habit now, that when I review a Furuta model, I point out that Furuta is a Japanese company that produced a series of gashapon toys. Gashapon toys are meant to be nothing more than cheap little $1 to $5 bubble gum machine prizes. I want to remind my readers of this fact so that they can take any critical reviews I may make in the spirit it is given. I am in no way expecting these toys to be on the level of a Hallmark, Eaglemoss or Hot Wheels toy. I found a neat video about these types of toys and you can check that out at THIS LINK.
Furuta's Borg Sphere ship is actually part of a two ship set. The cube is a light up cube that for some reason, they chose to use a red light instead of a green one.
The Furuta sphere is quite small, being the size of a ping pong ball. It will not do much damage to your fleet when you throw it at those ships.
For a cheap little toy, the molding is decent and gives the ship that Borg feel to it.
I am not pleased with the paint work though. Furuta chose to go with an all silver paint job which detracts from the look and just ruins the whole thing. If they wanted to go all one color to save on money, the should have gone with a dull grey.
By itself, the Furuta sphere is kind of lame. As part of it's two ship set, it is less lame, but at least has value then as part of a set.
Conclusion
And that is all the pictures and comparisons that I have to share at this point. I told you it was going to be a short article. As for pricing, I will continue with the tradition of rounding up the most inexpensive Buy-It-Now prices from eBay at the time of this article's (re)writing (March 2018). Also, please note that the Furuta price is for the two ship set as you can't normally buy thier sphere as a separate ship.
Furuta = $25
NOTE: Prices were researched last on March 5th, 2018. As of the writing of this article, you can also currently order the Eaglemoss model right from the company themselves for around $23 (shipping unknown).
We now come to the part of my article where I suggest which model is the best buy. As for which one I would recommend, it's quite simply a matter of a lack of choices. If you want a superb quality sphere, go for the Eaglemoss ship.At the prices you can get it for, you will be adding quite an interesting looking and well made model to your fleet.
As always, I hope you found this article useful and informative. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to comment below.
So for now, "Live long and prosper!!!"
Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:
Eaglemoss Furuta
Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
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