Rewrites: March 2016 & August 2018
Before I go any further, I acknowledge that the NuTrek stuff has caused all sorts of controversy. I myself am on the fence about whether I like NuTrek or not. HOWEVER, this is not an article on NuTrek, but rather, the models, so please keep all comments to the designs and quality of the models.
My current collection of this ship consists of an Eaglemoss, a Hallmark, a Hot Wheels large model and a Hot Wheels small ship.
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Dreadnought-class was an experimental class of dreadnought warships designed by Section 31 of Starfleet with the help of Khan Noonien Singh. The only known vessel of this class, the USS Vengeance, was launched from a secret facility orbiting Io in 2259. Dreadnought-class starships were roughly twice the size of a Constitution-class starship. Ships of this class were designed to be operated by a minimal crew, one person if necessary. This class had advanced weapon and propulsion capabilities allowing it to engage other vessels while traveling at warp velocities."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Dreadnought Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Vengeance Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
This is one of the few ships that I have not collected a MicroMachine style version of so we can just skip over that part of my article.
Hot Wheels vs. Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels (Small) vs. Hot Wheels (Large)
Here they are on thier stands, looking like a big and little brother next to each other.
Hot Wheels (Small) vs. Hot Wheels (Large)
For those of you who are curious, here is the NuTrek Enterprise next to the Vengeance.
All Hot Wheels
All Hot Wheels
And although the next two pictures are not to true scale from the movie, having both sized ships allowed me to have a little fun.
"The Chase"
"The Face-Off"
Since my articles focus on larger scale pre-built and pre-painted models, I will not talk anymore about the small version of the Hot Wheels toy. Here are two last pictures of it.
Eaglemoss vs. Hallmark vs Hot Wheels
As I started getting into collecting and wanting to expand my collection, I found a serious lack of comparative data out there showing the various small scale pre-built and pre-painted ships available to the collector. And so I set out to provide this information myself and hopefully help someone make a wiser decision in which model to buy.
Now that I've addressed the potential confusion of Hot Wheels vs. Hot Wheels, let us move on the the "Gravy Shot" portion of my article where I give you some comparative pictures of the larger scale ships.
Eaglemoss vs. Hot Wheels vs. Hallmark
As you can see, the special Edition Eaglemoss model dwarfs the other two models.
Eaglemoss
I went on a rant in my last article about Eaglemoss focusing on all NuTrek ships for thier special edition line-ups. This is the one ship though that I will admit deserved to be in the special edition category. Given the size of the actual ship in the movie, it made sense to me to make it big in the collection. The next two ships being released are not that great or important to warrant making them special edition ships. We can expect a Klingon D4 Bird Of Prey and then after that, they are going to do the USS Kelvin. Both of those ships could be done in normal Eaglemoss size. It makes me wonder if they are getting a kickback from Abrams.
March 2016 Note: Now that I've written five of these articles for the Special Edition ships, I now have an answer as to why Eaglemoss went this route. We can thank the morons who produced NuTrek, Paramount, for this waste of special edition time and space. Apparently, Paramount would only grant Eaglemoss the license to reproduce the vessels if they were done as a Special Edition.
March 2016 Note: Now that I've written five of these articles for the Special Edition ships, I now have an answer as to why Eaglemoss went this route. We can thank the morons who produced NuTrek, Paramount, for this waste of special edition time and space. Apparently, Paramount would only grant Eaglemoss the license to reproduce the vessels if they were done as a Special Edition.
Although I am not a big USS Vengeance fan, I am a fan of this particular model. She's big, she's on the heavy side, and she looks the part of a ship that is meant to kick some butt.
Eaglemoss dis a great job of sculpting and molding in crisp details all over the ship. The bridge is particularly well done. They even managed to mold in windows on the inside of the saucer.
Their paint job is superb. They probably could have toned back the aztecing a little bit.
Their attention to the details though was astounding and they showed off aspects of the ship that my other models did not.
One big item they covered will be shown off when I take a closer look at the deflector dish.
Eaglemoss even managed to paint the fore mentioned windows on the inside of the saucer section.
There is not a lot of clear blue plastics on this model. I learned through my Eaglemoss magazine that the Vengeance had an extensive cowling system that covered up key areas of the ship to cut back on her sensor profile. These areas included the bussard collectors as well as the deflector dish. I believe that the lack of these blue pieces is by calculated design.
Their paint job is superb. They probably could have toned back the aztecing a little bit.
Their attention to the details though was astounding and they showed off aspects of the ship that my other models did not.
I Spy: Torpedo Tubes
One big item they covered will be shown off when I take a closer look at the deflector dish.
Eaglemoss even managed to paint the fore mentioned windows on the inside of the saucer section.
There is not a lot of clear blue plastics on this model. I learned through my Eaglemoss magazine that the Vengeance had an extensive cowling system that covered up key areas of the ship to cut back on her sensor profile. These areas included the bussard collectors as well as the deflector dish. I believe that the lack of these blue pieces is by calculated design.
One area that did benefit from the clear plastics was the impulse engines.
I do confess that I read a couple other people's reviews and takes take on the Eaglemoss' models. this allows me to get a feel for whether I missed something or to see if my model has something out of the ordinary.
My only gripe with this ship, and I at first did not notice it until one of those other reviewers pointed the issue out, is that the seams around the area where the nacelle struts meet the engineering hull are a little gaping. They could have done a slightly better job joining these two parts. The join seams are also noticeable on the inside of the saucer section.
Whenever I review a Starfleet ship, I like to hyper-focus on the deflector dish as it usually gives me a good idea of the level of attention to details that a manufacturer puts into thier models. Let's face it, this is a very important part of the ship and should be accurately represented.
I do confess that I read a couple other people's reviews and takes take on the Eaglemoss' models. this allows me to get a feel for whether I missed something or to see if my model has something out of the ordinary.
My only gripe with this ship, and I at first did not notice it until one of those other reviewers pointed the issue out, is that the seams around the area where the nacelle struts meet the engineering hull are a little gaping. They could have done a slightly better job joining these two parts. The join seams are also noticeable on the inside of the saucer section.
Whenever I review a Starfleet ship, I like to hyper-focus on the deflector dish as it usually gives me a good idea of the level of attention to details that a manufacturer puts into thier models. Let's face it, this is a very important part of the ship and should be accurately represented.
And Eaglemoss hit a home run on this. The clear blue plastic that they used is crsip and clear as far as the molding goes. The cowling that would slide over the deflector dish is present, but in a retracted state. And out of all of the manufacturers that produced this ship, Eaglemoss also did the best job of showing off the drone phaser balls of death.
This is one model that I keep picking up and admiring, it really is that good of a model.
Hallmark
In 2014, Hallmark released thier rendition of the USS Vengeance, and quite frankly, this is one of those Hallmark ornaments that just ticks me off. And I get into more arguments online with people when they start to say how great a model it is. And that is when I whip out my larger Hot Wheels ship and shut them up.
My first complaint is that of all the ships at Hallmark's fingertips, they chose to do yet another NuTrek ship. I might have been OK with thier choice, except I feel they dropped the ball and produced a lousy version of it.
The sculpted and molded details are fine on this ship. They detailed key important parts of the ship like the bridge.
The biggest problem is that there is a major lack of painted on details all over the model which leaves you with a blah taste after looking at it. Although I'm not a big fan of aztecing, this is one model that could have used a light dose of it.
And when looking at the bottom of the saucer, all that Hallmark stamping of text, detracts form the looks.
As you can see from the close-up, the molded details are pretty good here. The deflector dish, which lights up in powered mode, also has the protective cowling present.
Although they are present, I am slightly disappointed with the drone phaser balls of death. The look like a pair of boobs to me.
The mold work on the nacelles is not to bad, although the join seam is a bit noticeable.
When powered, the bussard collectors and the deflector dish light up. It is nice that the model is self powered via batteries. However, the lighted areas of the ship seem kind of lacking. This may be because of the fact that the ship is supposed to be heavily armored and maybe Hallmark was presenting thier model in "stealth mode".
When powered, the bussard collectors and the deflector dish light up. It is nice that the model is self powered via batteries. However, the lighted areas of the ship seem kind of lacking. This may be because of the fact that the ship is supposed to be heavily armored and maybe Hallmark was presenting thier model in "stealth mode".
Given what I paid for this ship when it came out in the store, I would have been less angry at it had Hallmark given it a slightly better paint job. And that really sums up my dislike for this ship. If it was the only Vengeance in my possession, I probably would not know any better and would be singing praises of the ship, but when I compare it to the others in my collection, it shows up lacking greatly.
Hot Wheels
WARNING: Before we get into the review of the model, I wan to give you one important note about the Hot Wheels ship. I used to think it was just an issue with one of my other Hot Wheels ships, but as time has gone by, it appears to be a manufacturer issue with all of thier different types of ships. The stand fits very snugly into the underside of the ship. I started noticing that my one of my ships was gradually tipping forward as the front of the ship was much heavier on the model. I would periodically re-adjust it. After the third time of removing the model for pictures, the stand snapped off, leaving the ball joint stuck in the ship. Obviously, these models are not meant to be "played" with and are for display purposes only. Given the shape of most ships, once the model breaks off the display stand, they will not look so graceful in your display case.
Although the larger Hot Wheels version is not perfect, I thought it was far better than its Hallmark cousin.
The sculpted and molded in details are good until you look at the deflector dish area.
The mold work is really well done on the nacelles.
Although this ship has a lot of painted details, their aztec pattern is very overwhelming. I do think that Hot Wheels could have toned the aztecing down a bit.
The ship is clearly lacking any clear plastic parts that all of the other Hot Wheels ships seem to sport. I believe the explanation for this though is the "Stealth Mode" capabilities.
In all honesty, I think this was a cheap way to cheat thier way out of certain manufacturing expenses.
When you take a close look at the deflector dish area, you can see what I mean about the protective cowlings being in place. The dreaded drone phaser balls of death are disappointing as well, looking more like a set of insect eyes on this model.
In all honesty, I'm glad I don't show close-ups of this area when I knock down the Hallmark lovers as this area is kind of lame when compared to the other manufacturer's ships.
Conclusion
And that wraps it up for the comparison and review part of my article. Which brings us to the pricing portion of my article. As usual, 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 (August 2018).
Eaglemoss = $78
Hallmark = $77
Hot Wheels (Big) = $60
Hot Wheels (Small) = $8
NOTE: Prices were researched last on August 1st, 2018. The cost of all the models (except the small Hot Wheels) has jumped by at least $20 since the last re-write. As of the writing of this article, the Eaglemoss web shop is out of stock on thier version of the ship, which leaves us at the mercy of eBay sellers.
This is the part of my article where I give you my opinion of which ship gives you the "best bang for the buck", which is my rough way of telling you which one is the best buy. In all honesty, when I write these, I am trying to give my opinion of which model is the best for the least cost.
This will mark the third time that I have to give an opinion on this ship. Each time, that choice changed due o price. In a way I am grateful that they are all the same price, r at least close enough that I can give a honest choice. And this time around, I'm happy to say that the Eaglemoss model, while being the more expensive version, is most definately worth the money. It's bigger, better rendered, and just looks fantastic on anyone's display shelf.
And I can now I can officially boycott the Hallmark model, like I do anytime someone tries to sing it's praises. Don't bother buying it, it's a load of garbage. If you are looking to save money and add the USS Vengeance to your fleet, go for the Eaglemoss model. It really is a nice looking toy that will be an impressive addition to your collection. It is by far, the most impressive of the three.
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 Hallmark
Hot Wheels (Big Small)
Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
Hot Wheels (Big Small)
Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
So, for you eaglemoss is the best representation of this ship?
ReplyDeleteBy default, I try to recomend the cheapest best option for people and at the time of this article, unfortunately, Hallmark was it. As I stated though, if you are willing to pay more, then yes, Eaglemoss is the best version you can get.
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