Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a tradition in this house. Ever
y year for my birthday I watch it; sometimes multiple viewings. Aside from watching the movie I also dig out the toys. Back in 2009 Diamond Select produced a great prop replica/toy from Wrath of Khan. Check out this review I wrote for another site back in the day…
The people at Diamond Select have done an excellent job in recreating, in my opinion, one of the coolest phasers ever designed. The Wrath of Khan phaser is a 1:1 scale and is really made for an adult hand. Calling this the Wrath of Khan phaser doesn’t seem right since it was in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The scene was cut from the film but this phaser did make its screen debut in that film. According to the box, this phaser was in Star Trek: The Search for Spock, but the box is wrong. The phaser that was used in that movie has never been produced in toy form. So Diamond if you are listening get to work on that one. (We are still waiting…)
Though I am quite enamored this toy is not without flaws. First off the phaser is not very balanced. Since all of the electronics are in the front part of the phaser it has a hollow body. I would have preferred some weight in the handle area. Another thing I do like about the Wrath of Khan phaser is the “holographic” strip that runs down both sides of the unit. It looks cheesy and the one on mine does not go for the full length of the phaser as it should. The last thing I am not a fan of is the magnetic connector that holds phaser 1 to the phaser 2 unit. This is a cool feature but if I were to wear this with a costume I would be afraid that someone would bump into me and I would lose one part or another. It does seem to be quite snug so I would need to give a real test before I make a final judgment. (I still haven’t done that)
Speaking of the quality, overall I give the Wrath of Khan phaser very high marks. This is a very nice toy and a great addition to your Star Trek collection. A word of advice, if you plunk down your 30 Federation Credits for this bad boy; open the damn thing up and play with the damn thing. The Wrath of Khan phaser, despite the aforementioned flaws it really a piece of art. There is also an Entertainment Earth exclusive version that is based on the one from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The exclusive has different color lights. The exclusive is my favorite of the two. It is so hard picking one child over the other but it happens.
These are still available so do yourself a favor and get one. Who knows you may come across a Ceti Eel you will need to vaporize. You can pick one up from Entertainment Earth. While we are on the subject check out the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Communicator review here Once you have both of these you are ready for any alien planet (albeit Class “M”) and genetically engineered psychos.
