If you’ve picked up any of the recent Classics two-packs, then you know what the packaging looks like by now. It’s the same old clamshell with illustrated insert. It features a blue swirly pattern, the figure is mounted against an orange backdrop and the package uses the 2005-2009 series logo. The back panel has a little blurb about The Fourth Doctor’s final days and K9. Of course, K9 doesn’t take up as much space as a regular figure, so there’s a lot of empty space in the bubble. I’m thinking CO maybe would have been better off mounting K9 higher up in the bubble to even out the presentation. Either way, I don’t really care, as I’m just ripping this thing open.
  The Fourth Doctor is not a mere repaint, but a completely new figure from he previous releases. He sports the long burgandy trench coat, buccaneer boots, and a brand new scarf, which this time is easily removable without having to pop off the Doc’s head like the original release. Alas, his shirt lapels are not sculpted over his coat, so he’s not showing off the question marks on his collar. I would have liked that. His head sculpt is completely new too. It’s leaner than the past release, which I suppose depicts the older Tom Baker in an accurate fashion. I definitely like this head sculpt better, and that’s saying a lot since the old one was pretty good too. Apart from the scarf, there isn’t a whole lot of dynamic paint work going on here, but what’s here is good. All in all, this is another excellent figure that really captures The Doctor perfectly.

The Doctor’s articulation is almost the same level we’ve been getting for a while now. You have a rotating head, arms that rotate at the shoulders, hinged at the elbows and swivel at the wrist. His legs have universal movement in the hips, hinges in the knees, but no swivels in the thighs. It’s an odd little omission, but I don’t think it hurts the figure all that much.

The Doctor comes with… no accessories. Seriously, CO? Seriously? You can’t throw a tiny little Sonic Screwdriver in this set? You’ve already got it sculpted, and yet you couldn’t just stamp out a bunch of them for this set? Yeah, it’s disappointing and almost insulting that the tiny little plastic rod wasn’t included in this package. Still, he can always borrow the one off my other Fourth Doctor, I suppose.

Ok, so I suppose K9 is more an accessory than an actual figure. He’s the exact same one that was released with Rose Tyler several years back, which is fine by me since it’s an excellent little plastic version of the tin dog. There’s really no articulation here, although you can press down on the computer bank on his back and his side panel pops off revealing his inner workings. His tail and ears are made out of bendy plastic to avoid breakage. I can’t think of much more CO could do to improve on this design, except maybe include a tiny little extended blaster to plug into his nose, but then it’d have to be so small, I’d probably lose it in a second. K9 also features the same pull back and go feature as the previous release. I really don’t mind owning two of these, since I can race them now! And besides, considering how badly I wanted to own a little K9 figure when I was a kid, it seems only fitting that I should have two now. [three, actually, if you count the rusty R/C version -FF.]

The Warrior’s Gate set sells for around $29.99 at most e-tailers. It’s nice that CO recognizes that K9 doesn’t weigh in at the same cost of a regular figure, and so this set was ten bucks less than the past Classic two-packs. On the other hand, he was a repack of an older figure, so they might have gone the extra mile and shaved off another five bucks, especially with all the money they saved not including the tiny Sonic Screwdriver. I don’t mean to sound bitter, I really love this set, and if you don’t already have K9 he’s a really great pick up. I can certainly imagine that there may be collectors out there only buying the Classic figures and if that’s the case, K9 would be new to them.

On a parting note, the Warrior’s Gate set was released simultaneously with another Classic two-pack based on Attack of the Cybermen. You won’t be seeing that one reviewed here, as it’s the first Classic figure release that I won’t be buying. I think it’s cool that CO produced it, but I already have that version of the Sixth Doctor, and I’m not so keen on owning the variant Cyberman that I’d spend $40 on the set. CO has also revealed Classic sets based on Revenge of the Cybermen and Remembrance of the Daleks, although confirmation of a US releases of these sets is still pending.