Captain's Log: The Man Who Pitched Star Trek and the Woman Who Paid for It Are Getting Action Figures
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Nacelle's NYCC reveal of Star Trek Wave 3 includes a first-ever double set of Gene Roddenberry and Lucille Ball, plus Rand, Chapel, Scotty, Chekov, Sulu, Uhura, McCoy, Spock and Kirk. Preorders open November 20.
Captain's log, stardate 103937.4. In 1964 a television writer with a pitch about a ship in space needed someone to say yes. Sixty-two years later, the two of them are getting a matching set of action figures.
At New York Comic Con on October 8, Nacelle unveiled the third wave of its Star Trek: The Original Series 60th-anniversary figure line. Per The Pop Insider's convention report, with matching coverage from Mephitsu and Trek Central, the headline is not a crew member. It is Gene Roddenberry and Lucille Ball, sold as the line's first double set.
The Roddenberry and Ball set
According to Nacelle's reveal as reported by The Pop Insider:
- Gene Roddenberry comes with a typewriter, the original Star Trek script, a model of the U.S.S. Enterprise and an exclusive golden Captain's Chair. Trek Central adds interchangeable hands including the Vulcan salute.
- Lucille Ball comes with a script, a director's chair that reads "Ball," and a checkbook. The checkbook is a nod to her role as a financier of the original series, as the coverage describes it.
That is a very Trek piece of toy design. The checkbook is the joke and also the history: Ball ran Desilu, the studio behind the original series, and the show reached the screen with her company's backing. Most franchises would put the villain or the ship in the first two-pack. Nacelle put the person who wrote the pitch beside the person who paid for it.
The rest of Wave 3
The wave also includes figures of Janice Rand, Christine Chapel, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, Pavel Chekov, Hikaru Sulu, Nyota Uhura, Leonard McCoy, Spock and James T. Kirk. Sulu is reported to come with extra hands, a phaser, tricorder and communicator, an Alfa 177 canine and a plant named Gertrude, which Mephitsu describes as references to Original Series episodes. Pop Insider lists "Gertrude the plant" among them.
Preorders open November 20, 2026 at nacellestore.com. Prices were not disclosed in the coverage I found.
What Nacelle says is next
Company leadership told The Pop Insider that it plans to release two waves and two exclusives next year, for a total of 22 figures, with upcoming waves focused on the Original Series and its bridge crew. CEO Brian Volk-Weiss presented at the company's NYCC panel on October 8.
Why it works
Rand and Chapel getting figures in the same wave as Kirk and Spock matters. They have been supporting characters for sixty years, and this lineup treats them as part of the ship's identity rather than extras.
Trek's mythology has always been about the crew behind the captain. It makes sense that its 60th-anniversary merchandise includes the people behind the camera too.
Make it so.
Live long and prosper.
Sources: The Pop Insider, Mephitsu, Trek Central.
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