I finally got around to hanging the Enterprise in my collection room AKA The Sci-Fi Room. I am increasing my rating from 3 to 4 stars. I have got to say, this ship has grown on me. It looks great hanging in the center between the motorized solar system and all of the Star Wars ships in my collection. Star Trek finally gets represented in my overwhelmingly Star Wars ship collection. I FINALLY have a decent sized ship that can stand it's own, even next to my 7 foot long store display Naboo Fighter and 6" action figure Black Series Tie Fighter. I bought a 20 foot long USB A to USB C cable and ran it to a remote control outlet. I can turn on all of the lights and collectibles remotely in my collection room, and the Enterprise is part of that system. Here is what I like about the ship now: The app is pretty cool. I will only ever use the "Command Functions" where you can control sound functions, like Kirk and Spock's voice messages, photon torpedos, red alert, warp drive, etc. I probably won't ever use the other apps. I thought I'd HAVE to use the app to turn the ship on and off, but I don't have to. Plug in the USB C cable, and the ship turns on. When I turn on my remote control electrical outlet, the ship powers up automatically. This is a very good feature is you are going to hang your Enterprise. Having to reach up to push the power button would suck. The ship runs for only 3 minutes if you are using batteries, but with a USB C cable it runs for 120 minutes. I have to say, the nacelles look REALLY cool and the sound effects are awesome! What I really DO NOT LIKE: The location for the USB C cable might be good if you are displaying the ship on the included stand, but when it's hung from the ceiling, well, it looks pretty bad. There is a door / hatch that has to stay open, and the cable exits the ship from the right side of the ship. See the pics. Not pretty. There ABSOLUTELY should be another USB C port on the top of the saucer, where the rear suspension cable is. The power cord could run parallel to that cable. It would be visible of course, but it would look A LOT better. I might do some modifications and route that USB C cable up to the saucer. We'll see. Speaking of the hanging suspension system, I really do not like the big plastic gold Trek logo hanger they came up with. HOWEVER, I see why they did it. Other than having to get on a ladder, taking the ship down and putting it back up is very easy. Just unhook the loops on the cables. Assembling the ship was fun. Yes, there are a lot of stickers to apply. Just get a pair of good tweezers, good lighting, grab a beer, put on some good music, and spend an hour apply the stickers. The stickers are forgiving. If you get one placed incorrectly you can pull it up and reapply it. I used a small metal pick tool when I had to remove one. The plastic that the stickers are made from is perfect. There are no creases, folds, or any sign that a decal was removed and reapplied. Durable. I would give this 5 stars IF: 1) It wasn't overpriced. 2) That USB C cable wasn't sticking out of the side of the ship. It is a BAD location. I almost forgot. As far as this being a children's toy, I tested that theory yesterday. I have three grandchilden. An 11 year old boy, and 11 year old girl, and a 6 year old girl. We had a family BBQ at my house yesterday. I had this sitting on a workbench in my garage / shop. I was excited to show the kids. Well, the 11 year olds said it looked "cool" and the 6 year old said "It looks like my Ghostbuster's toys" (she has the entire Playmobil Ghostbuster's collection). Well, the 11 year olds took off after spending 60 seconds looking at it and the 6 year old said "What does it do?" I showed her the features, the app, the figures, the bridge, engineering, etc. All of it. She wasn't impressed with the features and left after about five minutes. Oh well. As I thought, not a great children's toy. I can tell you that the "kids" in their 30's, 40's, and 50's liked it a lot! Here is my original review: Like I said in the headline: ABSOLUTELY NOT worth 500 dollars. It's worth MAYBE 300, and that's pushing it. Okay, so when this came out I was impressed with the SIZE of it. It's not the best representation of the Enterprise, but we really don't have very many options if we want an Enterprise collectible in this scale, do we? I said collectible. There is no way that this is a toy. Maybe some use it as a toy, but I have kids and a grandchild, and well, I don't see this lasting long OR keeping their attention long... However, I have a HUGE sci-fi collection. I have some really big Star Wars ships, like the 7 foot long Naboo Fighter, the really big Star Wars Black Series First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter, a Millenium Falcon, an X-Wing, Troop Transport, etc. I want TREK to be represented in the collection. THAT is why I wanted this. I am going to hang it from the ceiling in my Sci-Fi room with all of the other LARGE models. I will NEVER use the figures. I will never use the features. It's going to be assembled and hung from the ceiling. That's it. The ONLY reason I bought this is that I got it on sale for UNDER 300.00 shipped. I would NOT spend a penny over 300. I still think that I overpaid at that price. I really think that these will drop into the low to mid-two hundred dollar range at some point. They are just way too overpriced for what you get. I don't think that they are selling well, as you can routinely buy this for under 350.00. So that's it. I bought it. Am I happy? Yes. Happy-ish. Thrilled at the price? No. Not at all. Do I recommend it? Maybe. It's a terrible value, an okay representation, a great size (for my purpose), and not a good toy IMHO. Oh yeah, I am going to hang it, but not with that ridiculous hanging system that comes with the ship. What were they thinking? It looks horrible. I know that this is kind of a harsh review. Some won't agree. People tend to defend their purchases, even when they're not great. I am just being honest. Just my .02
