Since I grew up when these Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures were new, I was keenly aware of the market for older toys for quite some time. Old Star Trek toys were pricey in the 1990s, but now that Commander Sela is almost as old as Megos were in the 1990s, nobody cares. You can get her for roughly the original retail price, which isn't half bad considering how inflation works.
The character had but four appearances on the show, but they were memorable. Sela is an alternate timeline Tasha Yar's daughter. After she went back in time. And was captured with and sexually abused by Romulans. The fact that this device was used to bring an actor back was creative as all heck, but it's also particularly grim compared to things like transporter clones or time-displaced duplicates.
The costume is normal Romulan. Boxy shoulders and a lack of form make this a kite-like alien/human hybrid with a vaguely checkered quilt-like appearance. The facial sculpting is fantastic and so is the paint job. It's all a little exaggerated, but at this scale it has to be. Eyes are a little bigger, make-up is a little more colorful, and compared to the muted work on the actress this is a few rungs below Barbie. The scale is great for showing off emotion and work a lot better than 3 3/4-inch for likeness and potentially articulation, but someone has to actually put the work in to make that happen. On the whole, Playmates made it work.
While the figure is gorgeous, the blue accessories are a mixed bag. The "Romulan" rifle looks a lot like a Federation weapon, and is too big for her tiny hands. The other weapons all fit in her hands fairly well, although only the right one is really any good at holding things. The PADD has a sticker and the Phaser has an orange blaster beam, but everything else is just dark blue. That's 1990s Playmates for you.
I'm pretty amazed she got a figure with so few appearances, but she was a memorable villain and arguably the highest-profile Romulan to get a figure. We got a generic Romulan, but we never got a Tamalak. I'd love to see more, but it doesn't seem likely that anybody is planning to revive this style of Star Trek action figure again. Lucky for you, there's an inexhaustible supply of mint-in-the-package figures from the 1990s, so go ahead and treat yourself to a $6 Sela. You're worth it.
16bit.com is best not viewed in Apple's Safari browser, we don't know why. All material on this site copyright their respective copyright holders. All materials appear hear for informative and entertainment purposes. 16bit.com is not to be held responsible for anything, ever. Photos taken by the 16bit.com staff. Site design, graphics, writing, and whatnot credited on the credits page. Be cool-- don't steal. We know where you live and we'll break your friggin' legs.
RSS 
