Last month, when I was down in Miami for the PBS Annual Meeting, the folks from Hasbro beamed an assortment of their new STAR TREK KRE-O sets to Rock Father HQ back in Illinois. For the few days that I was out-of-town, and a few days after I got back… a white crate with the familiar “STAR TREK” logo was sitting in my office, taunting my oldest daughter, Addie – who just couldn’t wait to dig in. I never expected it to happen so early, but Addie and I also had to have the talk…
I had to explain the difference between STAR WARS and STAR TREK.
“Did you make it clear that this is a STAR WARS household?,” asked my wife. In reality, I left the “VS.” out of it and open for future decision, because, while I was a STAR WARS kid through-and-through, I’ve always liked ‘TREK. I mean, Addie already asked about DC and MARVEL, so she’s reached the age of asking difficult questions. It’s part of her growth as a human being. And as for the KRE-O sets?
Kre-O Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise | Buy it from Entertainment Earth
Build and play with the U.S.S. Enterprise, the classic ship from Star Trek. The ship has an opening lid to reveal the command bridge illuminated by light-up LightTech technology. The LightTech feature also lights up the deflector dish and the engines. A spaceship needs a crew, so there are 5 Kreons included with the set including Captain Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy and two additional Kreon figures. The ship has a missile that you can fire when the ship is attacked by enemies during its voyage through space. Includes 430-piece building kit to create the U.S.S. Enterprise, 5 Kreon figures and an instructional guide.
Kre-O Star Trek Klingon Bird-of-Prey | Buy it from Entertainment Earth
Build a Klingon Bird-of-Prey ship that your 2 Klingon Kreon figures can “fly.” Will your Captain Kirk and Uhura Kreon figures be taken hostage by their Klingon enemies? This incredible set features Lighttech technology, so the ship’s cockpit not only opens but glows for extra-amazing Star Trek action. Position the wings and fire the ship’s missiles as it blasts through “outer space.” Build boldly with the Klingon Bird-of-Prey construction set! Set includes 236 pieces, 4 Kreon figures and instructions.
Kre-O Star Trek Transporter Trouble | Buy it from Entertainment Earth
Build a transporter for your Scotty Kreon figure to transport your Klingon Kreon figure away. The transporter’s Lighttech technology makes parts of the transporter glow for extra-amazing Star Trek action. Build boldly with the Transporter Trouble construction set! Set includes 65 pieces, 2 Kreon figures and instructions.
Some Assembly Required…
We had a method to our KRE-O madness, starting with the smallest set (the Transporter) and gradually increasing our piece count for an afternoon of building fun. The Transporter (nothing to do with Jason Statham) only took ten minutes to build. Beam me up, Scotty!
And onto the Klingon Bird of Prey… followed by the pinnacle of STAR TREK building sets… the U.S.S. Enterprise:
Building the STAR TREK collection with Addie made for a great afternoon. She loves ’em (just look at that face to the left!) – and I really enjoyed putting these together, too. Now, I’ve had a few folks as me about the quality of the KRE-O bricks, including some other writers that received sets and noted some difficulty in assembling here and there. Honestly, we have not experienced any problems with our KRE-O sets, and we have others here in the house (like the TRANSFORMERS sets) that are also fine. It is true that there are differences in plastic texture and such, but the KRE-O bricks are, indeed compatible with comparable sets from LEGO and MEGA BLOKS.
A couple of weeks after the initial build…
We’re taking a STAR TREK into our backyard… which reminds me a lot of the way I used to play as a kid back in the 80s.
Nothing beats a backyard adventure…
As you can see, a few weeks into owning these sets and the play value is there. The two most important factors in a toy are durability (does it last?) and playability (do the kids actually like playing with it?)… and the STAR TREK KRE-O sets hit on both here at Rock Father HQ.
These have also opened up another can of worms here, in that Addie might be a completist like Daddy. “Where is the red guy with the fire?” she asks. “They show him on the box.” Ohhhh… that’s Spock’s Volcano Mission and it’s sold separately. “We need to buy that one, Daddy.”
FTC Disclosure: If not made abundantly clear at the start of this article, an assortment of STAR TREK KRE-O sets were provided to The Rock Father for the purpose of review consideration. All opinions and ramblings are that of James Zahn with input from his children. Agree with them… they’re usually right. Seriously. Just ask them.
For more rock delivered daily, including the latest in great music, cool toys, and fun for the whole family – “like” The Rock Father on Facebook.
