Rewrites: NONE YET
I will take a quick break from the Eaglemoss' Standard Edition line of models to take a look at the next "Bonus Edition" issue or as I like to call them, "The Extras". The next model that they chose to give us was the Assimilated USS Voyager.
In the episode "Scorpion, Part II", Voyager was partially assimilated, given augmented weapon systems, a series of Borg alcoves in Cargo Bay 2, and numerous other pieces of Borg tech both inside and outside the ship with which to combat Species 8472. After Voyager successfully escaped both the Borg and their fluidic space foes, the crew began the task of removing the Borg components as seen in "The Gift". However, they quickly discovered that certain Borg technology functioned better than the native Starfleet hardware and Captain Janeway ordered the components be left in place.
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Intrepid-class starship was a Federation design that entered service in the later half of the 24th century. The Intrepid-class was designed for long-term exploration missions. At less than half the size of a Galaxy-class starship, it was considered "quick and smart.""" these sites go on to say this about the USS Voyager, "The USS Voyager (NCC-74656) was a 24th century Federation Intrepid-class starship operated by Starfleet. The vessel was famous for completing an unscheduled seven-year journey across the Delta Quadrant between 2371 and 2378, which was the first successful exploration of that quadrant by the Federation."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Intrepid Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
[Ship Name] Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
From a distance, the model looks kind of cool, especially when lined up along side of all the other Eaglemoss models of USS Voyager.
However, once you go in for the closer look and actually handle the model, then you get a real feel for what you just spent your money on.
First of all, the bottom of the model is missing a heck of a lot of Borg modifications. I can not, for the life of me, find any reference pictures of USS Voyager that shows the technology on the bottom of the ship so technically, I guess the model is screen accurate? The problem is, I am assuming that the Borg would not have added their modifications to just the top of the ship. One could assume that the Borg would be intelligent enough to realize that the ship could use a little assistance on the bottom as well. It's not in their nature, and Eaglemoss should have looked into this further and addressed it in their magazine and model.
Since we are already on the topic of the Borg modifications, let us look at these some more.
While there is certainly texture and color applied to the model for these new parts of the ship, they just don't come off looking fantastic.
In fact, in my opinion, the Borg "upgrades" look like bits of burned and melted marshmallow (or even plastic) that was drizzled across the top of the model.
If there ever was a Eaglemoss model to demonstrate my Eaglemoss Melted Marshmallow Syndrome (or EMMS for short) theory, then this model takes a gold medal. If you have never heard me talk about EMMS in the past, there is a definition of it at the bottom of this article.
And while we are on the topic of the EMMS, it almost looks like Eaglemoss used the original mold from Issue number 6. You can read my review of that model at THIS LINK. Yup, Eaglemoss did a total backslide with this model and produced something that has nice clear definition in it sculpt and mold work for its plastic underbelly, but less defined details for it's metal top section. And since the top is what shows off the Borg parts, as well as being the side of the ship that most people will see when looking at your collection, the EMMS just muddles up the overall look of everything.
Let us talk about the paintwork next. For this part of the review, I'm going to ask that you use your imagination and peel away the Borg implants and think about what this model would look like without them. Like Issue number 6, the model is missing a lot of detail. Without the Borg stuff, the model would be rather plain and dull when compared to other Starfleet vessels. While the bottom of the model has a lot of grey panels painted on, that is really all that it had going for it. And when compared to the top of the model, all the Borg stuff makes the overall paintwork look unbalanced.
The worst offense though is the fact that Eaglemoss DID NOT paint the bussard collectors!
One of the good things that the model has going for it is the clear blue plastics used for the nacelle warp grills.
The join seams are very noticeable, not only on the underside of the saucer section, but also along the hull where the primary and secondary sections come together. The model almost looks slapped together.
Whenever I review a Starfleet ship, I like to hyper-focus on the deflector dish, or in the case of the Intrepid Class starship, deflector dishes, as it usually gives me a good idea of the level of attention to details that a manufacturer puts into their models. Let's face it, this is a very important part of the ship and should be accurately represented.
I went back and looked at the other renditions of the USS Voyager that Eaglemoss has done, and every time, except for the armored version, they have done an excellent job with the main deflector dish. And this time around, they did not swerve from that excellence mark.
While the paint work on the secondary dish is a little messier than the original model, I think I still prefer the look of this model. That black "ladder" give the dish a little more definition over the Issue number 6 dish.
And that brings all the closeup examinations to a close and leaves us with the last part of my review...
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 writing (June 2020).
Eaglemoss = $62
NOTE: Prices were researched last on June 12th, 2020. As of the writing of this article, you can also currently order the Eaglemoss model right from the company's US WebStore for around $30 (shipping unknown).
Given all the flaws that I felt that the Eaglemoss model had, I certainly would not recommend buying it at that $62 price mark, and in all honesty, I would have to say that Eaglesmoss probably doesn't deserve the $30 asking price that they are flaunting on their website. Unless you are an absolute collection, or USS Voyager completionist, I would say, pass on this one. Knowing what I know know, I certainly would not have spent any money on it based off the facts I stated earlier on.
BONUS ROUND!!!
Every once in a while, I'll have a little extra stuff to share with you that sort of fits in with my comparison articles. I mentioned early on in this article about how nice it looked when lined up with all the other Eaglemoss Voyager Models... so... here you go.
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!!!"
Definitions
EMMS = Eaglemoss Melted Marshmallow Syndrome. This is best described as a softening of details where they appear more rounded, less edgy and a bit out of focus. Sort of what happens to a marshmallow as you heat it up to it's melting point on a camp fire.
Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:
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