Factory Entertainment, Inc. is an American manufacturer and distributor of collectibles, prop replicas, toys, novelties, and housewares. It was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Concord, California. Most of its founding staff consisted of former Master Replicas employees (which had just been absorbed by Corgi), such as current Creative Director Barry Eldridge and company owner Jordan Schwartz, who already had been the co-founder of the originating company. [1]
Under license, the company produces branded products featuring a wide range of entertainment franchises and properties, which included those from the Star Trek franchise.
Star Trek releases[]
Factory Entertainment's first Star Trek-branded merchandise premiered at the yearly San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019. [2] At this point in time their still mundane debut Star Trek merchandise consisted of mid-quality lower priced mass-market products aimed at a more generic, less discerning customer base.
High-end Star Trek collectible releases[]
Four years later, a handmade, high-end, studio quality line of Star Trek starship models was announced at the same ComicCon with three ships, the refit-USS Enterprise (with by William Shatner signed plaque), the USS Enterprise-D, and the USS Excelsior (with by George Takei signed plaque), [3] as the first outings in the company's new, high-priced exclusive "FE MasterWorks" line. [4] In essence, this was Factory intending to follow up with much more refined (and more expensive) models, where the first two models were concerned at least, of the similar ones which were released a decade earlier by Quantum Mechanix in their limited deluxe "Artisan Replicas" line.
Presented at the August 2023 Star Trek Las Vegas convention, Factory Entertainment announced on 8 September 2023 ("Star Trek Day") that a fourth model, that of the USS Enterprise-G, was added to the Masterworks line and that they have started to accept preorders – with the option to have the model executed in the USS Titan-A livery. [5]
In this the former Master Replicas staff was set to follow in the footsteps of their former employer's 2006 release of both its highly lauded USS Enterprise studio scale model as well as their 2003-2008 line of high-end 1:1 scale prop replicas, with for example Factory's new and improved rendition of the TR-590 Mark IX Tricorder replica, likewise introduced at the 2023 San Diego ComicCon, by catering to the very small, specific, affluent, and discerning collector's niche market. [6] In effect, the new MasterWorks line came on top of the company's second product line of 1:1 scaled, high-end quality prop replicas, they themselves launched in July 2020 with their two limited Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country teacup sets which engendered unexpected high demand from collectors, selling out within hours of release. [7]
