It looks like September and October were nicer to me financially and I was able to add a couple more Eaglemoss ships to my fleet. Here is my current collection of the Altamid Swarm Ship that we are introduced to in the Star Trek: Beyond movie.
Eaglemoss vs. Snapco
One of my co-workers was admiring my Eaglemoss model when it came in and he pointed out that the ship looks a little like the Halo Energy Sword.
The way these things ripped through the Enterprise, maybe they are related. 😀
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. My collecting preferences is that the model be between 4 to 6 inches which is why I don't include certain manufacturers like HeroClix. The only reason I show MicroMachine from time to time is because I happen to have obtained the full collection of them years ago and want to show them off.
So now I present to you what I like to call "the gravy shot", a series of pictures I wished I had seen long ago, and the main reason I started this blog. Normally, I wouldn't include a MicroMachine or similarly sized model in this next set of pictures, but as you will soon read, I have a good reason for doing so.
The Eaglemoss model is from thier Special Edition line which makes it big already, which basically makes it dwarf the tiny MicroMachines sized Snapco model.
[Editor's Note: If you read my Franklin review (you can check that out at THIS LINK.), then a large part of the following Snapco section may seem like dejavu. Well, since I'm a REALLY lazy writer, I'll tell you, you are right. LOL)
So now I present to you what I like to call "the gravy shot", a series of pictures I wished I had seen long ago, and the main reason I started this blog. Normally, I wouldn't include a MicroMachine or similarly sized model in this next set of pictures, but as you will soon read, I have a good reason for doing so.
Eaglemoss vs. Snapco
Eaglemoss vs. Snapco
The Eaglemoss model is from thier Special Edition line which makes it big already, which basically makes it dwarf the tiny MicroMachines sized Snapco model.
[Editor's Note: If you read my Franklin review (you can check that out at THIS LINK.), then a large part of the following Snapco section may seem like dejavu. Well, since I'm a REALLY lazy writer, I'll tell you, you are right. LOL)
Snapco:
If you are a follower of my writings, you will know that I typically gloss over the MicroMachine models rather quickly as they are not really what I collect because of thier small size. HOWEVER, I'll make an exception here.
I acquired my Snapco model buy purchasing the Star Trek Beyond Giftset from Walmart.
I was pretty excited when I first saw this as the advertising pictures don't give you a lot to go on.
As the time grew near to me getting my set, I learned a little dark truth about the set of ships that came with this.
Apparently, Walmart used the same manufacturer (Snapco) that released the cup topper models that you could purchase in the theater.
And as you can see from the picture with the quarter in it, they are not all that big. This set comes with three different ships; an Altamid Swarm Ship, the original (NuTrek) USS Enterprise (no Bloody A), and the USS Franklin.
I'll make one observation from a collector's point of view.
If I was one of those lucky people who managed to buy a full set at the theater, I would probably be very upset right now because the collector's market has just been flooded with even more of these models, thus depreciating the value of what I currently have.
I on the other hand, was not one of those "lucky" people and as such, would probably have paid out the nose on eBay to get my hands on that set. So Walmart did me a big favor by re-releasing them. And if you do some simple math and compare prices on Walmart's site, the gift set is only $6 more than just buying the DVD by itself. That means the ships are only $2 a piece which is even cheaper than what I would have paid in the theater! Let's keep that $2 a ship in mind when looking at the Snapco model.
Of the three ships in the DVD set, I liked the Altamid model the most. That is probably because I had never seen another model of this type of ship before and I had nothing to compare it too. It was nice to be able to add a new type of ship to my alien collection, even if it was smaller than the rest of the fleet.
The sculpting and molding of this tiny model is really well done. Given the amount of area they had to work with, I feel like it makes a really good example of these ships.
It looks like the proportions on this model are accurate.
The paint job is pretty simple, yet does an excellent job of conveying the menacing nature of the vessel. Snapco even went as far as painting in the engines of thier model and this impressed me greatly, especially after I saw thier competition's model.
Because of the way it was molded as one piece, there are no joins or seams to find either.
In fact, the ONLY issue I can come up with for this model is the stamp on the inside of one of the protrusions. But that probably had to be there and if it really bothers someone, I bet it would sand right off.
Eaglemoss
As I pointed out earlier, Eaglemoss released thier swarm ship as part of thier Special Edition line-up, which means that it is big. The old adage about size mattering immediately popped into my mind. Size does matter, especially when it is WAY TO BIG!!!
Before I begin my ranting, let's just put things into my perspective. The Altamid swarm ship is basically a fighter. I would dare say that it is smaller than most shuttles.
In the past, when I have reviewed a small sized ship, like a shuttle, and Eagemoss decided to cover it in thier standard size, they typically did a great job because the larger format allowed them to showcase lots of details that would have been lost on a smaller "canvas". And the new shuttle sets from Eaglemoss have worked out well and given us eight (soon to be 12) very nice, if not much smaller, models of shuttles. This model should have been done in either thier normal size, or thier shuttle set size. I hate to set the tone for the rest of the Eaglemoss part of this reviews, but I feel the need to say this now... Making the model this big was a waste of materials and a waste of collector's money.
I have been told that Eaglemoss' hands are tied when it comes to doing NuTrek ships. Apparently, Paramount will only allow them to produce NuTrek stuff as a special edition model. That really sucks that they are forced into this predicament. If that truly is the case, then Eaglemoss should have skipped this particular ship and moved on with the collection.
The molding and sculpting is not too bad. The detailing is crisp enough to give the ship some surface details, however, the rear parts of the main body have a more organic and soft look to the details. If the magazine or the stuff I read online had led me to think that there were organic stuff associated with the ship, then I might be more flexible, however, no where does it say this, and that just leaves this "softer" section looking out of place.
For some reason, it feels like there isn't a lot of details though. I think that the size of the model is a contributing factor to this me. With the details so spread out, they are getting lost, so to speak.
I guess the painting is what really threw me. Although there are four colors used, they all just blend together and depending on which angle you look at the model from, you only see two of the colors.
(Sorry, a little Star Trek humor there.
The thought came to me during the final editing process of this article.)
The latticework paint on the wings tries to help with the bland look, but just seem out of place, and only help if you are looking at the bottom of the ship.
For how much this model cost, I would have appreciated some paint on the engine exhausts. If the cheap little Snapco model could be painted, then Eaglemoss surely could have taken care of this tiny detail. Or perhaps, they could have used thier trademark clear plastics here, say some blue or red plastics glued on.
The cockpit windows, although painted black, also just blend in with the rest of the ship.
I guess the size also made it more difficult when it came to joining the model together because the joins and seams are pretty noticeable, especially around the front end of the main body and even some noticeable splits on the back.
In the end, I came away very disappointed with this model. She was expensive for what I got, and what I got, i could only classify as being "ok". I felt that this model was NOT up to Eaglemoss' standards, especially when it comes to thier special editions.
Conclusion
And that is all I have to share with you of this type of ship. At this point in my articles, I like to do a quick check on eBay to get some prices of the ships I've shared with you. I will continue with the tradition of rounding up the most inexpensive Buy-It-Now prices (with shipping included in that price) from eBay at the time of this article's writing. Since this model is still fairly new in regards to it's release dates for all the respective companies, I did a little more digging for prices and have shared those as well.
Eaglemoss = $42 or directly from Eaglemoss for $45 + shipping
Snapco = $35 (Box Set) or directly from Wallmart for $55 + shipping)
In the case of Snapco, the price is for the Box Set which includes the DVD or BluRay disc. If you subtract the $15 that the movie costs by itself, then the actual cost for the Snapco models is $20 (from eBay) for the set of three. That breaks down to $6.66 a model, but we'll keep it simple and just value it at $35 for my the recommendation part of my review.
We now come to the part of my article where I like to 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 one to get, for the best price. To put this in a nutshell, when I write these, I am trying to give my opinion of which model is the best for the least cost.
Normally, a MicroMachine sized model is never considered by me because they are smaller than what I normally collect. However, the Snapco Swarm Ship is the best of the three that come in that Wallmart boxed set. When push came to shove, that model is the only reason I would buy that boxed set because thier USS Franklin and USS Enterprise all had some issues that I wasn't pleased about. Is the Swarm ship worth spending $35 in order to acquire it? Well, considering how unhappy I am with Eaglemoss' rendition of the ship and thier cost for thier model, then I would be forced to say "Yes.". If I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, then I would only buy the boxed set. I not only get the better Swarm Ship model, but I also get the DVD to watch. And for the first time in a long time of writing these comparative article, I'm surprised that Eaglemoss lost out to a $6.66 toy.
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:
Snapco Eaglemoss
Comparative Photos
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