'Augmented reality' for collector pins? Yes, and more out now from FanSets—aka my old buddy Dan Madsen!

Some of just the first offerings from Fan Sets

It's the 50th! Everyone is looking for a new way to show and celebrate their Trekness... and now here's a cutting-edge spin on an old favorite from none other than my buddy and colleague Dan Madsen.

His new company FanSets just launched with Dan, founder of the former longtime Official Star Trek Fan Club and my boss-publisher for the late great Communicator mag, and two partners in a great new enterprise: combining official and beloved 2-inch Star Trek character and ship pens in a bunch of new ideas for wearing and display—including a blow-your-mind way to see and enjoy pins in a whole new way!

Wait, what? you're saying by now:  Pins are kinda retro, old-school —and yet still fun for when you can’t cosplay and just want to wear a favorite ship or character. But what's cutting-edge about a pin?

My annual catch-up with Dan at San Diego Comic-Con

"It’s the Augmented Reality pins," Dan told me in an exclusive chat. "We are working with a company out of Indonesia that is one of the top three Augmented Reality companies in the world. Essentially, what this is, is—let’s take the Enterprise pin: You'll be able to take an app that we’ll provide and, when you see that pin on anyone, hold your smartphone or your tablet up to it for a second–and suddenly the Enterprise will come alive, out of the pin: it will literally be 3-D and move—shoot off into warp drive, with music and sound effects."
 
Or, say, point your app'd smartphone at one or more certain characters on a transporter pad and get a 3-D holographic beam-out effect, with voices and music. Or stand your Enterprise pin next to your buddy with her Klingon ship, and point again:  "The Enterprise will come out of the pin, the Klingon will come out of the pin, and they’ll have a space battle right there on your phone! Firing back and forth at each other."

Dan says he and FanSet partners Lew Halboth (28 years in the video game industry) and John Garrison(his industrial background backed by comics fandom) expect to have the first AR pin out by Christmas, and to demo the system for fans at "STLV"—Creation Vegas Khaann. But long before then, there are lots of other lines coming—and an ever-growing batch of the basic pins are up at the FanSets.com website right now."The fun thing is, not only can you wear them, you can display them," Dan says. "If you decide today you feel like wearing Sisko, then you put Sisko on and wear him— then you come home and you put him back in your display."

They have "tons" of these pins planned—from basic character and ship pins by the "hundreds" of styles, where minor characters like M'Ress are just the start (she's in the first 50). "She's one of the coolest pins, to me," Dan says. "That’s just an example of how we’re going into more of the minor characters that you don’t see turning up on most merchandise, if at all."

But you can also look for everything from pins with moveable parts, to autograph pins (to get and wear your favorite actor's inking), to "alphabet" pins sporting a notable of that letter (S with a Spock!) ... to the AR pins and app. The autograph pins are slightly larger, but "not so heavy they weigh down your jacket!"—and take any pen used for signing regular photos.

"By Vegas in August, we will probably have 50-70 different ships and characters, and probably have some of the first autograph pins there for the actors who are appearing," Dan says. He's especially proud of the vibrant colors and the enameling on even the basic pins: "The website does not do these colors justice! The little Chakotay pin—it's only two inches tall, but you can see in detail the little tattoo on his forehead."

"And by the end of the year we're going to be launching a collector’s club, so that people can not only get exclusive pins but get access to order first on our limited- edition pins—like a run of 1701 pins, and once they’re gone, they’re gone."

Look for a special FanSets display case coming, too. "The fun thing is, not only can you wear them, you can display them," he notes. "If you decide today you feel like wearing, you know, Sisko, then you put Sisko on and wear him— then you come home and you put him back in your display." You can collect them all, he adds—or maybe just the original series. Or Next Generation or Voyager, or just the ships, or the captains...and so on.

Dan was most enthused and insistent that his partners all came together with a business plan that took over three years to design and capitalize and, in a word, is not flimsy. They fully intend to "pump out" hundreds of pins, go deep into the Star Trek bench of characters, ships, and gear—and not be dependent on early sales to make the full line come to pass, including the high-end AR pins. "No, we're not launching with just a bare-bones line—that’s the reason it’s taken so long," he says. "None of us wanted to get involved if it was gonna be hanging by a thread, at first. We wanted to make sure we had all our ducks in a row, so as to have the biggest launch and rollout we could."

"We’re gonna have a huge collection in Vegas—our very first appearance at a convention, " he adds. "We hope to have an augmented reality demonstration there to show, and we’ll have a ton of pins there to buy. And at Mission New York a month later, and at Destination Star Trek Europe." The license includes many countries globally and covers all Prime Trek, with the Kelvin Timeline movies about to be added and the new Bryan Fuller TV Trek series dealt for as soon as possible.
 
FanSets also has a license for the same ideas with Harry Potter and DC Comics, and will be adding more franchises soon. "But I wanted to start with Star Trek because that’s where I started, with the Official Fan Club," Dan says, "and it’s still the closest to my heart. And to get them launched in time for the 50^th anniversary!"

Timing did not allow FanSets to get a booth at massive San Diego Comic-Con—but Dan says they'll have a presence with two exclusives, available from either the Stylin' Online at the Official Star Trek booth or at the Stan Lee Comikazi booths at SDCC. One of the pins is a tribute to Nimoy, Doohan and Kelley on the transporter pad, the other is an Enterprise inscribed with the SDCC 2016 line—and both to be sold for that weekend only for $12.95.

Otherwise, the regular character pins sell for $8.95, the ships are $12.95, and the Augmented-Reality pins are $12.95 as well. The line of the moveable-part and larger autograph pins are not set yet, but everything the company sells will be under $20.

And, he proudly adds, no consultants were used in the choosing of these pins.

"We’re all Star Trek fans—we sat down and thought, who should we do?" Dan recalls. "We have to do the main guys, but once past that—who are the ones we don’t see very often that we ought to do? We don’t have to sell a million of each one—we’re selling to collectors, so we can do a smaller run and do pins that appeal to a smaller number."

Sure, that's great talk, I tell him—but have you thought about a Tellarite?

Dan knows me well: “I am absolutely proud to tell you that we have a Tellarite!"

I can't wait to see it.



FanSets also has a Facebook page.

One candle on the birthday cake for the Trekland Trunk!

It seems as if we can't get through a week without at least one or two fun anniversaries around Trekland from somewhere... but today marks one pretty close to home.

We announced it in October, but It was just a year ago on Nov. 20 that we actually opened the Trekland Trunk up to lighten our home storage load and share a whole spectrum of Trek goodies, mostly in-house and studio items, with an unaware fandom out there. (There's a pre-holiday big, varied batch up this week, in fact.)

We use the T-Trunk Facebook page to notify those interested, along with the Trunk's Twitter, and —as I'd hoped—it's mostly allowed me not to have to be Mr. Snake Oil Salesman about getting the word out. You can always just subscribe on the treklandtrunk page at eBay, too...

But just knowthat without Facebook  you'll miss out on  the "local" bids we do right on my message threads. Those go just 4-6 hours, usually on Sunday afternoons, with anyone who signs on...and we even have a core group of regular Trunkers who have a lot of fun with the banter. It's hardly a standard auction...but we do get newcomers all the time, depending on the item.

And hey—the Trunk is not just for hard-core collectors, unless you want to be one: A lot of items go for around $50 or less. Of course if you like all things about one given series, or you like scripts most, or crew gifts in general, you can always check in just for that.

If fact, don't get cozy about WHAT to expect. You might guess you'd see the draft scripts and set plans, the cool graphics, even the crew gifts...

But stay alert for the oddball things, like special event show T-shirts ...



















 --or  wrap party table decorations ...

...or even really obscure promo items.

My thanks: The Trekland Trunk has been open six months!

With everything else going on at such a crazed pace this year, I realized today I needed to stop and say something.

THANK YOU.

It's been about six months since I first opened the Trekland Trunk for my mostly studio archival pieces... and for something that is supposed to be so cut-and-dried simple, I just wanted to say thanks to all who have bid or bought a piece. Unfortunately for me, I think everyone has found things to wind up being pretty affordable!

Actually, I was never one who enjoyed the whole huckster vibe, as I proclaimed when I started this ... and so, set up the Facebook page and Twitter lists... not random posts and emails, ack... as the way to let those interested (and only them) know. Forgive me for when I sometimes try to cast a wider net, but if I do so it's for good reason.

It's not a page for the hard-core collectors—almost no big-ticket items. In fact, I think it's more for fans of a given show, or character, or ship... who'd like a really unique or rare  memento of their passion when one pops up .... than about collecting for it's own sake.

So, given that, the response has been gratifying — and especially from those of you who are able to come back as regulars. And a special shout-out to those various "aliens" who chime in on our weekly "local" non-Ebay sessions on Facebook group message thread. I'm just glad to see things get a good home...even if it is to a Breen, Borg, Ferengi or what-have-you.

Right now, in this calm between April and June-July con madness when the Trunk had gotten bare, I'll be restocking with more of the pieces and trying to keep the variety up as well. Right now, there's FIVE items up —the most since the holidays.

There's plenty more to go—and, shock the Prophets, there's even a STAR WARS studio gift up! With a couple more fun and old things of theirs coming soon.

But no worries—I work in Trekland, and that's where the Trunk's heart will stay.  If you are new to this realm, why not go Like the Facebook page to keep up, or follow the Twitter? And, of course, share with your buds who might be interested.

I've still got the info and/or pics archived, believe me... but the real stuff taking up space is now out and in good homes.  Thanks again for being good adopters!

Or—maybe it's time for that first visit? C'mon, take a peek ... :-)

Trek collectors, buffs: come peek in the Trekland Trunk

Are you a collector who loves the nuts-and-bolts of Star Trek's modern TV era? Well, listen up.

A lot of my Trek archives are pretty bulky, and now can be easily digitized. I care about the information, not the collectible value. I'd like to find good homes for it all. Major Trek auctions are far less common than they used to be. And most of all, I detest feeling like a huckster.

And so, voila—welcome to The Trekland Trunk. It's really just a Facebook page—go there right now and "Like" it!

It's one reason why I've been so distracted since the summer cons—and so quiet the last few weeks when there's been plenty to talk about.

Very simply, The Trunk is a new Facebook page of mine for any Trekfans interested in owning rare draft scripts, set plans, call sheets, paper graphics, memos, and occasionally some 3-D props or even an autograph or the odd commercial item. It's simply a notification alert system: "Like" the page, and YOU will hear when I have something new up on eBay—or even, collecting names for a small-scale auction in a private group message thread, if we can get it to work. Follow the Twitter account for @treklandtrunk for the same reason, same parameters.

I won't post these on my personal page or even my regular Trekland page—I hate being the barker, and hawking things even some Trekfans may not care about. THE TREKLAND TRUNK will be the only place where we'll list the notice and link. Just a handful of items every week or two.

So if you are a collector, or even a writer or a super fan of a particular series or even episode—these kinds of Trek collectibles and their insights may be right up your alley. If not, no one will bug you about it anywhere else.

No extra fees, no promise to buy, no being peppered with FOR SALE ads unless you WANT them... not even a thumbprint on Quark's Ferengi PADD. No muss, no fuss.

It's just 3T.

So "Join" the page list and jump in when the first items go up in the next week.

Deal? Deal.




And thanks again to my old bud and graphic artist extraordinaire, Kevin Hopkins.

Don't miss! Saturday's online Trek auction—with “visual technobabble”?

After all the big pioneering Trek auctions of recent years, let’s hope new bid-fests have not become passé.

Especially one THIS Saturday—tomorrow—that may have somehow flown low under your radar! It deserves better, because there’s a whole class of cool collectible that’s never really been out in public before. And if you are new to Trek auctions, you have to check this out.

Propworx, partnering now with LiveAuctioneers.com for the online mechanics, is offering a huge new catalog of 257 various Trek goodies in an online-only, 21-hour auction opening at 1 pm ET/10 am PT (links below). My buddy Alec Peters, collectors’ guru blogger and founder of Propworx, points out there’s a raft of reasonable items in the $100-$200 range—all the way up to, amazingly, an actual original Star Trek series matte painting—on glass!—of Starbase 11 from “The Menagerie.”

But what caught my eye are a few bid items that should appeal to both art lovers as well as the graphics techheads—we know who we are!—and anyone who appreciates true Trek history.

Most of all— I bet you’ve never seen anything quite like them in a major auction before! Don't let them get away.

I’m talking about the original artboard paste-ups for what we lovingly call “Okudagrams,” after Mike O. himself—not just sketches, and not the final colorful translight controls and readouts as used on-set, but the ROOT of what made them: original paper black-and-white paste-ups on heavy stock, used to shoot film that was then gelled with cut-to-fit colored plastic sheet.

Eventually, about midway through DS9, tech finally evolved to allow a direct output from the art department’s Macs to a large, continuous-sheet renderer—ending the time-consuming paper paste-up, film shoot, and then cookie-cutter gelling of clear film. As with fully-formed filming miniatures, it was yet another hands-on analog process made outmoded by the CGI and digital tech evolution revolution.

But those artboard paste-ups—with a lot of fine type and in-jokes galore, for you eagle-eyed out there—actually are original works of art, too, when you think about it, and deserve to be framed and treated as such. Some of them are truly iconic and one-timers—like the Kirk and Spock personal log and daily schedules text panels from their quarters in Star Trek VI (above—apologies for the low-res image), or the animation board for the Klingon's sighting in to shoot Voyager 1. Others are like the oft-seen DS9 station cutaway chart with IDs, used everywhere—but this is the original! … or even the periodic table of the "elements" from TNG and DS9, or the DS9 Replimat menu and greeting signs, chock-full of a zillion small-type in-jokes.

What’s more, most of them even come with their own “certificate of authenticity” by way of scrawled handwritten notes to the camera operator, like “Please Shoot 150%."

Can you tell I love these things?  I have several, and they are a techheads' dream. Talk about touching the real thing... ! And being able to READ it, finally? C'mon, you text geeks—you know who you are.

All you need to do for bidding is to register on Live Auctioneers here—and you can also download the full color 158-page catalog for free at Propworx' site; it's as easy as Ebay to bid, and will stay open 21 hours. Alec's premiere Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction blog has been going since the Christie's auction in 2006 at startrekprops.com.

Saturday’s auction has tons of high- (and low-) profile costumes, props and paper goods like scripts and call sheets, too—and this session even has “rainbow pages” final scripts with the companion first-draft versions, itself a rare offering for those who love script evolution (but not well illustrated in the photos).

But wow—just don’t let the simple, underrated descriptions of the “artboard” artwork pass you by.

It’s like owning your own real piece of visual technobabble—suitable for framing!

ST: Experience fans: a piece of history from Suzi P.

Lots of fans are still mourning the loss of the beloved Star Trek: The Experience rides/museum/stores and Quark's Bar in Las Vegas ...and the apparent lack of forward momentum on a successor site.

But for now, fan fave Suzie Plakson—K'ehleyr and Mrs. Q to you!— is offering a bit of history and nostalgia on eBay: the heavy metallic combadge she was given to wear as emcee and hostess of the Experience's entire closing ceremony at the LV Hilton on Sept. 1, 2008.

Hurry, if interested: it just went up, but the sale ends Jan. 3, and she's also throwing in a signed, two-page letter about her memories of that weekend (see photos on the eBay page).

If you just can't quite let go of the time-space vortex that was STTE, here's a great collectible or gift memento for a fellow mourner.