WonderCon 2025: Nacelle Announces A ‘Star Trek: TAS’ Bem Action Figure And More
by Erik Amaya
It feels like fate. Nacelle Company head Brian Volk-Weiss began his journey to toy maker by creating the documentary series The Toys That Made Us. One of its initial episodes centered on the hilarious inconsistency of Star Trek toys across the decades. And now, his company (named after the outboard engine elements on Starfleet vessels) is gearing up to release its first wave of Star Trek action figures. Volk-Weiss, along with Bryan W. Adams and Savannah Goss of Nacelle — and special guest Nicholas Meyer — took to the WonderCon stage over the weekend to not only give potential buyers a better look at the new figures, but announce the Wave 2 characters.
Enough burying the lede, though. Ari bn Bem is getting an action figure! The character debuted in an episode Star Trek: The Animated Series, proving to be one of the more unusual characters to appear in Star Trek. As an observer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise to determine if the Federation is sufficiently advanced, he demonstrates a truly alien outlook and a unique physiology that allows him to split off parts of his body. Volk-Weiss joked there may be a shortage of magnets next year as they plan to make Bem’s segmented body detectable.
The new wave will also include Captain Kirk from Star Trek: Generations with screen-appropriate axe, stump, firewood, jar of dill weed, eggs, and even a horse! Although the latter will not be articulated, Volk-Weiss promised Kirk will be able to ride it. He also admitted to loving accessories. As such, he also enjoys finding the right sort of extras to include with each figure — like wave one’s Valkris, which will come with a properly scaled Genesis Device, a travel case for the torpedo, and the device control panel. Nacelle is even trying to engineer it so the panel will have its unique turn-and-lock operation as a play feature.
While no other accessories were announce for the wave 2 figures, the other characters may leave Star Trek fans speculating about what other plastic might be included with the following: Captain Janeway from the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Year of Hell”, Worf from his Star Trek: Generations promotion ceremony — the first of a mini-wave featuring the characters from that scene in those nautical uniforms — Geordi La Forge in that same Generations promotion scene costume, T’Pol in her Star Trek: Enterprise Seasons 3 & 4 uniform, Lt. Valeris from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the Romulan Commander from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Balance of Terror”, Carol Marcus from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Nog from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Favor the Bold.”
The character choices from those specific Star Trek stories reflects Volk-Weiss’s mindset for the line: to produce very specific versions of characters who have never received toy attention before. Even characters like Kirk, Janeway, and Geordi are getting very unique designs for this line, with their more classic looks reserved for later. And as the curator, Volk-Weiss is looking for reactions like the genuine surprised gasp the audience gave him when the Bem figure was revealed. And although Worf from that Generations scene has been made into a toy before, there will be added value as the figure will come with the complete costume and not just the dressed down elements right before Worf goes into the water.
Wave One of the line features Captain Jellico from the TNG episode “Chain of Command”, Weyoun from DS9; Captain Garrett from TNG‘s “Yesterday’s Enterprise”, Captain Sulu from The Undiscovered Country, Midshipman Peter Preston from The Wrath of Khan, Tuvix from Voyager‘s infamous “Tuvix”, the aforementioned Valkris from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and Mirror Archer from the Enterprise episode “In A Mirror, Darkly.” That wave is available for pre-order now and will see release sometime in October. Per Volk-Weiss’s comments at the panel, expect wave two in 2026.
During the panel, Meyer regaled the audience with tales of making his two Star Trek films. Although some of these may be familiar to devoted Trekkies, he also revealed the way Star Trek VI‘s Valeris maps to Richard Wagner‘s Brunhilde from The Ring cycle. With Kirk standing in for Wotan in this analogy, both women misunderstand when they hear the person in power say “let them die.” In the case of Valeris, it leads to a failure of logic that, seemingly, ends her career and standing within Vulcan society. Of course, that won’t stop Volk-Weiss from making a figure of her!
