Review: Hero Collector’s Star Trek The Borg Cube Advent Calendar
Whether you plan to surprise the Trekkie in your life for twenty-four days straight or add a small cargo ship’s worth of Trek goodies in your home, the Borg Cube Advent Calendar is a nice gift set that, contrary to its ominous appearance, is actually full of joy. But is the hefty price tag worth the assimilation?
The Borg are my favorite battalion of bad guys in Star Trek. Their appearance screams peak the late eighties/early nineties cyberpunk. The richness of Borg species’ storytelling soil has birthed some of Trek’s best characters like the Borg Queen, Hugh, and Seven of Nine. Who can forget Sir Patrick Stewart as Locutus, the face of an iconic cliffhanger in television history? What Star Trek fan has not used the catchphrase “Resistance is futile!” in their lives?
Spoilers for the contents of the Borg Advent Calendar follow.
It’s disappointing then that very little of the Borg is actually represented in the Borg Cube Advent Calendar. When news broke about this gift set I couldn’t wait for my office desk to be slowly assimilated over the holidays. Yes, the cube itself, measuring an impressive 10.5 inches and having a decent amount of heft to it is fully Borg-ified. It’s thick cardboard and can survive a fall or two off of a table but please don’t hunt down starships with it. The pattern of the four shelves inside the cube and all twenty-four of the boxes and envelopes that hold the gifts is Borg circuitry. Even the wrapping paper is Borg-themed — which is such a subtle touch that goes a long way. But when it comes to the actual gifts, there’s only one that’s Borg-themed in the entire set. I’m not taking anything away from the other gifts but without full knowledge of everything in the cube, it feels a bit misleading — which is not how you want to start off with a product like this.
Before talking about what is included — credit where credit is due: combining the days of Christmas concept with Star Trek is another admirable idea from Hero Collector and Eaglemoss. The gift items cover multiple Star Trek series including The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Discovery. The gifts also come in diverse weights and sizes, with the lightest item: the Star Trek decal pair, the heaviest item: the Quark’s Bar wine bottle stopper, the smallest item: a TNG pencil sharpener, and the largest item: a Vashti art print all included within. Each gift comes in a numbered box and includes a notecard that has a fact about the gift within.
With a seasonal release like this, the novelty and experience tend to be the focus, putting less emphasis on the actual value of the items inside. Apart from a handful of the items, most of them don’t seem quite worth the price of the calendar. Other franchises’ calendars are marked in the $50–70 price range during this season — while this one is priced at $150. The most remarkable quality of the Calendar is the cube itself. If it was not made with paper/cardboard it could have inspired buyers to re-package it with their own gifts for future Christmas countdowns. Most of the items in the individual boxes also barely occupy any space inside them. The disappointment when opening the items after studying the boxes is comparable to ordering a dish at a restaurant and being underwhelmed when the actual surface area of the food on the plate is much lesser than you thought it would be.
There’s real potential in an annual Star Trek advent calendar but in my opinion, this isn’t quite it. At a time when prices are soaring and everyone’s looking to save money, it’s understandable if buyers choose to get their daily dose of holiday surprises from the Star Wars, Avengers, or Harry Potter calendars instead. At a third of its price, The Borg Advent Calendar would be a steal. Or possibly with ten more items similar to the Quark’s Bar stopper and a plastic outer shell — this would feel like a worthy investment. But with neither an affordable price nor a must-get array of gifts, this Borg Cube may not be worth engaging with.
Here’s a full list of the contents of the calendar:
- Star Trek Playing Cards
- James T. Kirk Pin Badge
- Quark’s Bar Bottle Stopper
- Vashti Art Print
- Starfleet HQ Tea Towel
- Jean-Luc Picard Pin Badge
- Enterprise Console Coasters and Tin
- Botany Bay Luggage Tag
- Mr. Spock “Logic” Fridge Magnet
- Delta Insignia Bottle Opener
- Kathyrn Janeway Pin Badge
- Star Trek Laptop Stickers (x2)
- Star Trek Discovery Glasses Case
- Vulcan IDIC Keyring
- Starfleet Command Pencil Sharpener
- Delta Insignia Paperweight
- Benjamin Sisko Pin Badge
- Star Trek Episode Art Postcard Set
- USS Enterprise Bookmark
- Communicator Travel Card Holder
- The Phoenix Commemorative Espresso Cup
- USS Enterprise-D Socks
- Jonathan Archer Pin Badge
- Borg Cube Metal Shadow Caster
For those interested, you can purchase the Star Trek Borg Cube Advent Calendar at the official Eaglemoss shop.
Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the news on Star Trek merchandise releases, along with the latest details on Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, and more.