Tag Archives: character options

Dec 22 2011

Doctor Who: “Invasion of Time” 2-Pack by Character Options

Yuppers, it’s time for more Classic Who with yet another 2-Pack where Character Options has given us a variant of a Companion partnered with the chief baddie from the episode. “Invasion of Time” is a great episode for a bunch of reasons. The whole thing takes place on Gallifrey so we get to see a lot more of the Time Lords then ever before, and we also get to see a lot more of the TARDIS interior then ever before. It also begs the question, of all The Doctor’s enemies including the Cybermen and the Daleks, it turns out to be the Sontarans that first invade Gallifrey? Really? Wow! Well, hey, at least it wasn’t the Rutans.

Just like the “Caves of Androzani” set, this one comes on in a clamshell package with the new retro style logo and deco. The back panel shows some images of Leela and Stor in stills from the episode and does an admirable job of chronicling the rather convaluted story in just a couple of paragraphs. Get yourself a pair of scissors or a blade to cut this baby open.
So, let’s start with Leela. Let me go on record by saying that I’ve always preferred Leela’s original, darker outfit to this one, but I was still excited to get this variant since my other Leela figure had some nagging paint issues. I was hoping for better with this release, and I certainly got a quality paint job this time. Apart from a little dot on one of her legs, this figure is free of all the dirty scarring that is present on my single carded Leela.
Leela shares the same legs and head with the last figure, but also sports a lot of new sculpting to make this figure unique. The outfit sculpt is entirely new, as is her neckless, and the armbands on her biceps. She still features a sculpted sheath on her belt that can hold her tiny little knife, and she can still hold the knife fairly well in her right hand. I mentioned that the head is the same sculpt, but its amazing the differences paint can make, and while I didn’t have any issues with the figure’s head, I’ll concede that this one turned out looking a little better. Considering the quality control issues on the last Leela, I’m really amazed at how well this figure turned out, and I’ll likely be displaying her as my primary version until I can get a better example of the darker outfitted Leela.
Leela features the exact same articulation as the original release. That’s good, because it means she has the ball jointed shoulders. That’s bad, because it means she has those terrible, funky ball jointed hips. This figure’s legs don’t seem to pop out as easily as the original’s, but they’re also harder to pose. Leela’s head is technically equipped with a swivel cut, but her sculpted hair prevents much head movement. The Leela coming with the Fendahl set should fix that as she has her hair tied back. Other articulation includes swivels in the biceps and wrists, swivel in the waist, hinges in the elbows and knees, and swivels just above the boots.
And then you have Commander Stor. One of the downsides of this episode is that Stor’s makeup looked absolutely dreadful. The Sontarans had a strange habit of looking worse as the show went on, so I tend to like the ones seen in “The Time Warrior” and “The Sontaran Experiment” better than the ones seen in this episode or even “The Two Doctors.” Nonetheless, for good or for ill, the figure recreates Stor’s face with remarkable accuracy, right down to the grease paint around the eyes to conceal the eyeholes of the mask. It’s easy to do a comparison with the on screen counterpart, since Stor spends a good amount of the episode mugging right for the camera. Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to like this figure’s head sculpt at all, but it actually looks pretty good. I still prefer the one on Styre, though.
Commander Stor’s basic body is the same as the one used for the Field Major Styre figure, but he has a brand new helmet and cowl, a newly sculpted belt, and a little loop sculpted into his right leg to hold his gun. You can see some minor evolutions in the outfit design here, and I definitely like the bulkier helmet with the pronounced ring running around it. Sculpted detail includes the probic vent in the back of the cowl, which of course is every Sontaran’s weak spot. The helmet is also much easier to put on than Styre’s. Overall, the paintwork is good, but my figure actually has some silver rubbing along one of his boots. I don’t think it’s intentional, but it looks like battle wear to his armor, so I’m not too concerned about it. In addition to the armor evolving, the Sontarans themselves underwent some biological changes. Stor has the screen accurate fat-fingered claws as opposed to the regular hands seen on the Styre figure.
Stor’s articulation is identical to previous Sontaran figures. The head turns; The arms rotate at the shoulders, have swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the elbows; The legs rotate at the hips and have lateral hinges, the knees are hinged, and there are swivel cuts in the thighs.
Apart from Stor’s tiny little gun, you do get one big accessory in the set, and that’s the very awesome De-Mat gun. Built by the Time Lady Rodan while under hypnosis, the De-Mat gun was a Time Lord weapon powered by The Key of Rassilon that wipes its target completely out of time and space. The sculpt is pretty nice, although it would have been cool if CO had painted the key onto the side where it plugged into the prop.
As with the “Caves of Androzani” 2-Pack, this one will set you back between $35-40. As far as the Companion figure goes, I’d rank this one as the same value as Peri. Yes, it’s a variant of a figure you may already own, but it’s not a quick cash-grab repaint. You get significantly new sculpting for your money, and in the case of my experience, better quality control this time around. I’m guessing Stor from this set will be more desireable than Jek from the last set, especially since Jek was just a one-off baddie and the Sontarans are an ongoing presence in Doctor Who. I guess what I’m saying is if you didn’t balk at paying the forty bucks for the “Androzani” set, than this one would be a no brainer. If you can only fit one of the two sets in your budget, I’d consider going for this one.
Dec 20 2011

Doctor Who: “The Caves of Androzani” 2-Pack by Character Options

Woo Hoo for more Who! Character Options has gone positively apeshit with their Classic Who reveals as of late. In addition to this set, the “Invasion of Time” set and the already released “City of Death” set, they have shown off pictures for 3-packs based on the enemies of the First Doctor, enemies of the Third Doctor, a set based on First Doctor serial, “The Chase” and two more based on the Fourth Doctor stories, “Image of the Fendahl” and “The Keeper of Traaken.” Holy crap that’s a lot of stuff and who knows what else they’re waiting to spring on us.

“The Caves of Androzani” set is based on one of my all time favorite episodes of Classic Who. Its well written, well acted, only has one goofy rubber-suited monster in it, and is ultimately a pretty deep story with a baddie, Sharaz Jek, that actually comes across as being sympathetic. It also ends with what I consider to be hands down the best regeneration of the show’s history as The Fifth Doctor lays down one of his lives to save Peri, a girl he hardly even knew. The set includes Peri (who last saw figure form as part of the “Vengeance on Varos” set) and her misguided and insane captor, Jek.
If you’ve picked up the previous Classics 2-packs then you’re in for a surprise with the packaging here. CO has deep sixed the compact little window boxes and went with a sealed clamshell similar to the single carded figure packaging that lasted up through “The End of Time” wave. While I will miss the little diorama inserts that came in the boxed sets, I am happy to see that CO has abandoned the 2005 logo in favor of a logo and overall deco that serves the Classic Series a lot better. It’s essentially the same style that was introduced with the single carded Leela figure, so make sure you have a pair of scissors or a razor blade handy if you want to get to the figures inside.
Obviously, CO has been squeezing every buck they can get out of their molds in order to make these relatively limited demand sets cost effective, and that means we have to buy variants of certain characters in order to get new ones. But Peri here is a prime example that CO isn’t always satisfied with a simple repaint, and is willing to do what they can to make a previously used mold as distinct as possible. Sure’ it’s Peri again, but there’s a lot of new work that’s been done on this figure to make her unique. In fact, while the lower half of this figure is merely a repaint, everything from the waist up has been resculpted in one way or another.
Below the belt, Peri featured repainted shoes and shorts. Above the belt, she’s got a brand new sculpted blouse, with longer sleeves, that’s tied around her waist. The checkered pattern is nicely painted and very clean. About the only complaint here is that the new outfit covers up too much of her, umm… assets. The head sculpt is also brand new, and while I had no problems with the previous figures’ likeness to Nicola Bryant, I think this one turned out even better. The hair sculpt is a vast improvement, now covering the ears, and the face itself is less gaunt.

Peri’s articulation is identical to the previous version. The head rotates at the neck; The arms rotate at the shoulders, have swivel cuts in the biceps, and hinged elbows; The legs rotate at the hips and have lateral hinges as well, hinged knees, and swivels in the thighs.
And then there’s the other figure, which requires me to take a moment and say. “Holy shit, someone made a figure of Sharaz Jek from “The Caves of Androzani”!!” Seriously, folks, can we now agree that nothing is off limits? There is a figure of Sharaz Jek. Who the hell knows what else CO has up its sleeve for 2012! This line never ceases to amaze me. Ok… moving on… Sharaz Jek led the  android-based resistance on Androzani Minor and was betrayed and badly burned by a mudburst on the planet, hence the reason for his stylish S&M mask. There isn’t a hell of a lot of detail on this figure, as Jek is just a thin guy in a leather jumpsuit, but the sculpt is certainly accurate to the character on screen, right down to the sculpting and paintwork on the mask.
Jek comes with a swappable head revealing his horribly burned face. Granted in the episode his real face was just a lump of melted flesh, I’m not overly impressed with the way the exposed face came out. Much like the additional head that came with the Weng Chiang figure, I doubt I’ll ever be using this one for display. Still, it’s a nice extra.
In addition to Jek’s swappable head, you get one other accessory in the set and that’s the android head. It’s kind of an odd accessory, as there isn’t a lot you can do with it, but Jek’s androids did play a pretty big role in the episode, so I guess it’s understandable.

Generally speaking, these 2-Packs have been running around $35-40, depending on where you get them. I paid just over $40 for mine with shipping figured into the price. Yes, $20 a pop is a premium for a 5″ figure, but when you consider that they’re Classic Doctor Who figures being purchased in the United States, I think the extra padding in the price is worthwhile. It’s certainly no less justifiable than the $20 a pop that people will be paying for the 3 3/4″ subscription figures from the GI JOE Fan Club. I’m certainly plenty satisfied with this set, particularly since Peri featured a lot more new tooling than I expected.

Only five more days until the Doctor Who Christmas Special, so I’ll be keeping the Who love going in just a couple of days with a look at that other Classics 2-Pack based on the “Invasion of Time”!
Oct 10 2011

Doctor Who: Lady Cassandra by Character Options

Folks, it’s been a slow, slow week for new acquisitions here on FigureFan these past couple of weeks. I’ve been diverting funds to some improvements around the house, but I am planning an excursion to TRU this week to get some new toys. Nonetheless, I didn’t want to let things flounder here, so I dug into some unsorted and unopened figures sitting in a tote in my closet and this is what I came up with… a Series 1 Doctor Who figure: Cassandra.

Here’s a blast from the past… the old style Doctor Who packaging. It wasn’t all that special, but it was functional and being a regular card and bubble, it was much easier to get into than those pesky clamshells. The cardback was generic with the swirly orange vortex from the earlier series openers. There’s an insert in the bubble with the Doctor Who logo used on the series a the time and a photo of Cassandra to personalize the packaging with the figure. The bubblie is huge and vaguely shaped like the TARDIS.
Cassandra was certainly one of the most memorable aliens from Series 1. Oh, wait, she wasn’t really an alien was she? In fact, she was the last human. A single trampoline of skin stretched out over a metal frame with a eyes and a mouth. I don’t know that you can really call her plastic version an action figure, since apart form her wheels she has no articulation whatsoever, but she’s definitely a great recreation of her onscreen counterpart. Everything is reproduced here, right down to her little brain in the jar on the base. If you put her up to the light, you can even see the veins running through her. Cool!
In addition to Cassandra, you also get three of the robot spiders that she used as spies in the episodes “The End of the World” and “New Earth” These spiders were also bundled with the single carded version of Rose Tyler. Sure, they’re simple little PVC figures, but they’re decently sculpted and very cool to have scattered around my display shelves.
I missed out on Cassandra when she was first released, but I got a second chance at her recently when the fine folks at Who North America allowed me to tack her on my order for an extra five bucks. She’s a really cool addition to the the earliy NuWho figures on my shelf.
Sep 27 2011

Doctor Who: Series 6, Wave 2: Idris by Character Options

Last time we looked at Uncle, one of CO’s newest Doctor Who figures and from one of my personal favorite Series 6 episodes,“The Doctor’s Wife” and this time we’re checking out what is probably one of the most anticipated figures from this assortment: Idris. We don’t know a lot about who Idris was before the malevolent entity, House, decided to empty the consciousness of the TARDIS into her body, but once that deed was done, she became the TARDIS personified, which opened up one of the coolest dynamics Doctor Who has seen in possibly forever. The Doctor was finally able to converse with his oldest of companions: His stolen timeship itself.

Idris comes in the same package we saw with Uncle. Again, I really dig the design. It’s functional, easy to get into, and still looks pretty good. Also like Uncle, Idris’ package makes a big fuss about the fact that it comes with all the extra “Flesh” crap. The back panel shows off the rest of the figures in this assortment.
As with Uncle, Idris’ sculpt is pretty solid, although I don’t think the likeness is really spot on. Character Options has gone on record saying that they haven’t mixed things up with their sculptors, but I can’t help but think the likenesses were just a bit better a few years back. Unlike River Song, the strongest point of Idris’ likeness is actually her hair. The face isn’t bad, just not the epitome of actress Suranne Jones, and there’s a bit of ugly seaming around her neck. The rest of the figure is pretty standard, with the dress bearing a good resemblance to the character’s onscreen attire. Not the most exciting looking figure around, but then she’s the TARDIS… and a woman. She’s a woman and she’s the TARDIS.
                     
Once again, the articulation seems to have taken a step back in the shoulders, as Idris has no ball joints in her arms. We’re back to last year’s style of articulation, which honestly in a figure like Idris doesn’t bother me too much. It’s not like I need her to be an action hero. Of course, the sculpted dress does inhibit whatever leg articulation she has. You can get a little bit of repositioning out of her legs, and it’s a bit tough to get her to stand up properly without falling over backwards. Once nice surprise, is that she can swivel at the waist.
I won’t bother talking about the “Flesh” stuff again. If you like bags of “Goo” you get another one with Idris as well as another pointless “Flesh Mask.” Apart from those treats, we do get one tiny little accessory with Idris that is really cool: A Time Lord Psychic Container. Yeah, it’s just a tiny cube with what looks like Elmer’s Glue squirted in it, but it’s still a much welcomed addition when compared to all the “Flesh” crap.
Just like Uncle, Idris set me back $15 plus shipping. Yep, it’s a little steep, but again, this is an import, so I’m not going to complain. Idris is one of those characters in Series 6 that I absolutely wanted to get in figure form, so I’m very glad CO gave her the plastic treatment. I still think they should have just included her with the Junk TARDIS Playset, but either way at least I have her in my collection. Besides, which, in the world of Doctor Who, anything is possible. Maybe we’ll see Idris again.
Sep 25 2011

Doctor Who: Series 6, Wave 2: Uncle by Character Options

If you harken back to my look at the Junk TARDIS Playset then you may remember me saying how much I loved the Series 6 episode, “The Doctors Wife.” Good thing too, since it was the basis for a fair number of figures in addition to that awesome playset. Today we’re going to look at one of the figures produced from this episode, Uncle, an eccentric survivor patchworked together from various parts harvested by unfortunate aliens and at least a few Time Lords. I loved the character in the episode (“I’m Uncle… I’m everybody’s Uncle”), but considering he didn’t last too long before dying, I’ll concede that he’s an odd choice for a figure. But hey, I was glad to get him and I’m sure more fans wanted a figure of Uncle then Rory anyway.

There’s that Series 5 & 6 figure packaging. I’m still pretty fond of it. It’s simple, much easier to get into than those annoying clamshells used on older figures and it looks nice. The only change worth noting is that there’s a baggie of “Flesh” stuck on the card behind each figure in this wave, which the card proudly announces along with the inclusion of a “Flesh Mask.” Ok, we’ll get to that stuff in a bit. The back panel of the card shows other figures in this assortment. It’s a little better than the last assortment.
As mentioned, Uncle is a patchwork guy in a patchwork uniform. We don’t know a lot about who he was, but he was lured to the asteroid-entity called House and kept alive by replacing his organs and parts with stuff scavenged from less fortunate beings. His uniform looks like it’s a hodge-podge from armies from different time periods, which is what I think is the coolest thing about his whole appearance. His outfit basically looks like something out of Time Bandits, which certainly fits a character from Doctor Who very well. The sculpting of the uniform is quite good and faithful to his on screen appearance. In fact, CO actually remembered to sculpt him with two left feet. Cool! The head sculpt, on the other hand is really just passable. Not bad, not great, but passable. Uncle does come with a second head that has the hat removed to reveal the stitches in his skin as well as his alien ear.
Uncle’s articulation takes a slight step back from the last batch of Who figures we looked at. If you were expecting ball jointed shoulders like we got with Leela, River Song, and even The Silents, you’ll be disappointed. Uncle has the same old rotating shoulder joints and all the other articulation seen in the Series 5 figures and before. His head rotates side to side; His arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists as well as hinged elbows; His legs have universal joints in the hips, hinged knees, and swivels above each boot. It’s not bad as far as articulation goes, but it’s frustrating to go back to the shoulders sans any lateral movement.
In addition to the extra head, Uncle comes with… eh… Ok, I have no idea what the hell it is. I vaguely remember him holding it in the episode. It might just be a walking stick he cobbled together from trash, but it really does look like it might be some kind of device. Either way, it’s pretty big and he looks cool holding it. As for the rest of Uncle’s accessories… I’m not usually one to bitch about extra accessories. If you don’t like them, just toss them, right? But for some reason CO’s decision to include a baggie of “Goo” and a “Flesh Mask” with each figure in this wave is just stupid, especially since almost none of these characters have anything to do with that story. The “Flesh Mask” is particularly stupid as it doesn’t even fit on the figures, and even if it did, what’s the point? Or is the final episode of Series 6 going to reveal that everyone is a Ganger? Bah!
Uncle set me back about $15 plus shipping. Yeah, the Who figures have been creeping up there a bit lately, although I’ve certainly paid more for some in the past. Taking into account that these are imports, I’m not going to complain too much, but the prices are making me more selective about the ones I buy these days and I suppose I could understand Uncle not being high on some collectors’ lists. Nonetheless, I liked him and the episode a lot and he makes for a very distinctive figure to stand on my ever increasing Doctor Who display shelves.
Sep 1 2011

Doctor Who: Junk TARDIS Playset by Character Options

The Doctor’s Wife was easily my favorite episode of Doctor Who from part one of Season Six, and certainly ranks up there as one of my all time favorites of the 11th Doctor’s adventures. It was a wonderfully sentimental nod back to the Doctor’s relationship with his oldest and longest travelling companion, The TARDIS itself. We also once again got to see the console room used by the 9th and 10th Doctors and for the first time since Doctor Who returned in 2005, we got to see some more of the TARDIS’ labrynthine interior. If that wasn’t enough, the episode was also cool as it had The Doctor cobbling together a working console room out of the scavenged remains of an untold number of crashed, derilect TARDISes. The resulting Junk TARDIS design was even based on the winner of a Blue Peter contest. What’s better than getting your TARDIS design used in an episode of Doctor Who? Getting a toy made out of it as well!

The playset comes in a regular box with the Series 5/6 blue deco and logo. It’s covered with images of the playset and points out the various features. Unlike most boxed Doctor Who toys, there’s no window or anything to see inside, and that’s because most of the box is filled with a bunch of parts of plastic and a baggie of cardboard walls. I suppose CO could have put a window in the box to show the console itself, which comes completely assembled, but the box is certainly attractive enough the way it is. Unfortunately, the set up is not at all collector friendly. The set is definitely not designed to be taken apart once its assembled, so it’s never going back into the box again. The box makes several points of stating that there are no action figures included, and that’s one of the biggest wasted opportunities with this set. But we’ll get to that later on.
Building the set is pretty straightforward, but you definitely want to read the instructions because there are some steps that need to be done in the right order and once you snap some of this stuff together, there’s no going back. If you put together the 11th Doctor’s Console Room Playset, then you’ll be familiar with what its like to put the printed cardboard walls into the plastic framework. It’s actually easier this time around because none of them are curved or as large. The plastic is pretty good quality, although it was really tough for me to get the console plugged into the floor and once I did, it was clear it wasn’t going to come out again. I was hoping it would be removable like the console on the regular TARDIS playset, but I’m not about to risk taking it out and breaking the tabs.
Once everything is together, the set looks great. I’m normally not a proponent of using cardboard in playsets, but it worked fine in the regular TARDIS playset and it works even better here. The cardboard walls cover both the interior and the back exterior of the playset, and are very well secured in the framework, making the whole playset is very sturdy. Granted, a lot of that has to do with the set’s compact size. It seems to be scaled pretty closely to the on screen version, but it’s still designed to only accomodate two figures.
The console itself is mostly sculpted in one piece, although the Time Rotor can be removed and one of the hexpanels can be removed as well. The combination of junk controls and the overall look of the console and Time Rotor really make this feel like a fusion between the 11th Doctor’s console and one of the Classic Consoles. Once again, I really wish the console could come out easily, since it’s tough to appreciate the segments of the console up against the back wall.
The Junkyard TARDIS set me back $36, which would be an outrageous amount if this were a domestic release. It looks great, and has a few nice gimmicks, but it still feels like it’s missing something and that’s where the missed opportunity comes in. Call me crazy, but I really think CO should have included the Idris figure with this set, either instead of, or in addition to the single carded release. In the end, though, I think the real appeal of this playset will be the fact that it really does have a lot of characteristics of a Classic Console Room, and right now it’s the closest thing we’ve got. Either way, it’s a really cool display piece.
Aug 29 2011

Doctor Who: Silent (With Open Mouth) by Character Options

Once again, I find myself a little underwhelmed by CO’s choices of figures for the current series of Who and that’s why you aren’t likely to see all the figures in the recent waves featured here on FigureFan. I know, it’s a crazy concept that I’m cherry picking Doctor Who figures, but I really don’t need an 11th Doctor in Stetson, or the 11th Doctor in Straight Jacket, of Young Amelia Pond. Seriously CO? No Black Spot Pirates? No Kovarian? And still no Rory? Jeez. Nonetheless, there are some worthy and good looking figures in the mix and I was pretty excited to pick up one of super creepy Silents in their new action figure form.

      
The figure comes packaged in the same style as the Series 5 figures. I still really dig these cards. They look great and their much easier to get into than the clamshells used prior to the Series 5 package changes. The back panel shows just how weak this wave of figures is. The five figures include: Two Silents, Young Amelia who isn’t even from Series 6 [Ok, fair enough, she turned up in the most recent episode. -FF], 11th Doctor in his Stetson and Nephew the Ood. I’m only planning to pick up Nephew and a couple more Silents. Luckily the next wave looks a little better.
So, the one thing I was iffy about when I first saw the pics of The Silent figure was the proportions. The Silents just didn’t look this tall and oddly proportioned on the screen, but now that I have the figure in hand, I really don’t care if it isn’t accurate because the elongated proportions of the figure looks so damn creepy and unsettling that I’m completely won over. The sculpt is simple enough, as the body is just a wrinkled black suit, but the bublous head is just awesome and I’m very happy with the open mouth variant. The skin tone looks more like the color of silly puddy, whereas I remember the screen versions being more grey, but accurate or not, it looks fine.
The Silent’s articulation includes the new ball jointed shoulders that I first saw used with River Song and Leela. In addition to the ball jointed shoulders, the arms feature swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists and hinges in the elbows. The legs feature universal movement in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs, and hinges in the knees. The neck has a swivel cut, but the head really barely turns at all.
After a huge buildup (“Silence will fall!”) I can’t say The Silents have turned out to be the best Who villains introduced in the new series, but then we haven’t seen the last of them yet, so I’ll reserve final judgement for a little while longer. They were, however, definitely creepy and the figure conveys every bit of that creepiness. Are they screen accurate? Not entirely, but I’m still so very happy with this figure, that I will definitely be buying the other variant, as well as a couple more.
Aug 2 2011

Doctor Who: River Song with The Pandorica Chair by Character Options

In addition to satisfying the Classic Whovians with their Leela figure, CO also delivered on a modern companion at the SDCC this year. Alas, no, not Rory, but the enigmatic River Song. Yes, we’ve had a River figure before, way back from her debut episode Silence in the Library, but she’s been back on the show quite a bit since and a new figure was certainly overdue. Much to some collectors’ chagrin, CO decided that instead of her being a single carded release, she would be bundled with the chair from The Pandorica. So is the set worthwhile? Let’s take a look…

The set comes in a nice window box with the 11th Doctor’s logo and a blue swirly spacey-waycey deco. The Pandorica chair and base takes up a good portion of the package with River standing off beside it. I like the overall packaging, but it’s kind of an odd display since the chair seems out of place without its walls (more on that later) and it’s just empty with River standing next to it. I don’t suppose I should complain, because CO could have just as easily repacked another 11th Doctor figure in the chair and charged us another $10. So, yeah, I’ll shut up now. I’ve been saving a lot of the packaging from my Doctor Who sets, but I’m not compelled to keep this one.

Let’s start off with River, as there’s a lot to like and a few things to dislike about the figure. From the neck down I’ll say she’s pretty darn marvelous. She’s sculpted with the garb she wore throughout most of The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang episodes, and it’s a great choice, as it’s a sort of generic space swashbuckling outfit. She has a sculpted jacket, a belt with some pouches, and a working holster on her leg. While I still wouldn’t mind getting a River in her “church” fatigues from The Time of Angels, I think if there’s a chance we only get one River figure, than this is the one I would want.

It’s the head sculpt that’s really caused a lot of fuss. I think the likeness is ok, although some have taken issue over her smiling quite so much. I don’t have a big problem with it. The likeness is there, the paint is clean, and hey, she tends to smile a lot on the show, so no biggie. And then there’s the hair. CO opted to sculpt the hair separately from the head, so what you get is a sort of hair helmet effect. I’m hoping they did this to make it easier to produce some variants, but it does create an unfortunate gap between head and hairline. I do think the figure looks better in hand than it did in the initial photos, but there’s no doubt that this method of sculpt isn’t optimal.

What is pretty optimal is the articulation. As with Leela, River has the additional lateral movement in the shoulders, which is new to the Doctor Who figure line. She also keeps the sturdier and better designed swivel/hinge joints in the hips that give her legs a good range of movement. Other articulation includes swivel cuts in the neck, biceps, wrists, and above the boots; And hinges in the elbows and knees. She also comes with her blaster gun.

And then there’s the Pandorica chair, a piece that I’m still pretty mixed on. The chair itself is nicely done and includes articulated restraints for the wrists and torso and shoulders that will fit many Doctor Who figures. The problem is that it looks very incomplete without the walls. As it turns out the walls that were issued with each figure in the wave based on The Pandorica Opens work with this piece, so if you want it complete you have to buy those figures too. Problem is, it wasn’t exactly a “must-own” assortment of figures, but rather a wave stacked with variants and re-issues. The original release of the figures came with walls that doubled as CD holders for CDs with audio adventures. CO has since re-released the wave without the CDs and with walls that are simply sculpted plastic. Either way, you really need at least a few of these walls to make your Pandorica chair complete, and even then, they aren’t designed to open or slide apart or anything.

No doubt, I would have preferred to get River as a single carded figure. The Pandorica chair is ok, but I didn’t feel that it was missing from my collection, and since I don’t have the walls for it, it’s even less relevant. It’s probably the only piece in my Doctor Who collection that will be relegated to a box in the bottomless pit of my toy closet rather than be displayed. On the other hand, the whole set was only about $30, so it could have been worse. If you weren’t able to pick this up, you shouldn’t pay a premium for it. I think we’ll be seeing River again in some variant or another, and possibly bundled with something (or someone) better. On the other hand, if you did pick up the Pandorica wave and have the walls, than the value of this set increases quite a bit.

Jul 31 2011

Doctor Who: Leela by Character Options

Character Options kept us waiting a long time to find out what the big Doctor Who Classics reveal was going to be at the SDCC this year. Turned out I wasn’t disappointed as it was everybody’s favorite sexy savage and my favorite companion of all time, Leela. Not only was she tops on my list of figures I wanted to be produced, but she comes to us introducing a brand new level of articulation for the Doctor Who line.

There are two important things worth noting about the packaging. First off, it’s brand new and obviously designed expressly for Classics figures. You get the retro-style logo, which fits much better than the 2005 logo that CO has been using on the Classics stuff. Some may note that the packaging bears a passing resemblance to the cardbacks used by DAPOL on their craptacular Doctor Who figures from way back when. The other thing worth noting is that Leela isn’t a two-pack. It’s been some time since we’ve seen a newly sculpted Classics figure released without a repack figure or something else packed in to inflate the price. Could all of this point to a new strategy or push for the Classics line? Well, I can hope. Apart from all that, the figure still comes sealed in a clamshell with an illustrated insert inside. The back panel of the insert features a brief synopsis of the episode, The Face of Evil. Overall, the presentation here is really nice, although it’s worth noting that there is no indication anywhere that this release is an SDCC Exclusive.

I wasn’t sure about this sculpt when I saw the first pictures. Now that I have the figure in hand, I think it’s much better than I gave it credit for. It’s not quite one hundred percent percent Louise Jameson to me, but it’s close enough. Of course, I’m talking about the face here, the rest of the body and outfit is totally on target. There have been a lot of QC issues reported with this figure, particularly where the paint is concerned. Mine is overall decent, but Leela does have a couple of scratches on her arms and legs. I’m still deciding whether or not they’re even worth fixing. Either way, she isn’t up to the QC standards I’ve seen in most of my Doctor Who figures, and that’s a shame.

As mentioned, Leela features brand new articulation, which results in a lot of good, and a little bit of bad. On the bad side, CO went with a new style of ball joint for the hips. Nice idea, in theory, but I pulled one of her legs off just trying to remove her from the package, and I know that I wasn’t alone. Sure, they’re ball joints and they just pop right back on, but having them come off while posing her is more than a little annoying. Considering the old style hip joints gave us better articulation than these new ball joints, I don’t think this was a worthy or even logical trade off at all.

On the other hand, the new hinge/pin ball joint used for the shoulders, is much better than the standard swivel we’ve been getting in the past. You can debate whether Leela or River Song is the first to introduce this, but Leela’s the first of the two I’m looking at so it’s new to me. The introduction of lateral movement to the shoulders in the Doctor Who line is a most welcome addition to the line’s articulation. Leela also features swivel cuts in the neck, waist, biceps, wrists, and just above the boots. She also has hinged elbows and knees. It’s worth noting, however, that her sculpted hair does interfere with her neck articulation.

As a fierce warrior, Leela certainly loved her weapons and CO packed her with a mini arsenal. She comes with a crossbow with an arrow, a Tesh gun, and of course her trusty knife. What? No Janus Thorn? Probably too small to sculpt. [Actually, on closer examination, I’m pretty sure it’s sculpted in a pouch on her belt. – FF] The crossbow is nicely sculpted, although it seems rather oversized compared to the one she carried in the episode. The arrow is also kind of useless and easy to lose. The gun, on the other hand, is pretty spot on and a very welcome accessory. Her knife if good too, and it fits nicely into the sheath on her belt.

Leela the action figure has about 25 years of my anticipation to live up to, so it’s only understandable that she may fall a little short. Unfortunately, the QC issues with the figure’s hip joints and scarring to the flesh paint are issues that make the figure feel a bit more like a custom than a professionally finished product. I applaud the addition of the lateral arm movement in the shoulder hips, but CO really needs to deepsix these new ball joints in the hips and go back to the solid swivel and hinge system they’ve been using. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… and definitely don’t replace it with something worse. Knowing CO, I’m betting she’ll turn up again in a repack of some sort, so there’s always a good chance they’ll clean up some of the QC issues on a later release. Until then, I’m still happy to finally have a Leela figure in my collection, flaws and all.
Jul 6 2011

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver by Character Options

I’ve slowly been building my collection of Sonic Screwdrivers from Character Options, starting with the Classic ones and working my way up. I’ve looked at the 3rd and 4th Doctor’s trusty audible tools here already, now its time to jump ahead and take a look at the 10th Doctor’s sonic. Yes, technically, this could be considered the 9th or 10th Doctor’s screwdriver, but in this case, it’s been reissued in a very specific package to commemorate the regeneration of Doctor number 10 into Doctor number 11. And the 11th Doctor did afterall still carry it throughout most of his premier episode “The Eleventh Hour” so the packaging is pretty appropriate.

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The aforementioned package is similar to the two Classic sonic releases as it’s basically a plastic clamshell with an illustrated insert. You practically need your own real sonic screwdriver to get into it, although a pair of scissors or a boxcutter works fine too. The illustrated insert is very attractive, with a foil image of both the 10th and 11th Doctors flanking an image of the exploding TARDIS. The back panel has a blurb about the device along with a helpful schematic to show you how to put the batteries inside, which is not as easy as you might suspect and will require a small philips screwdriver. Oh, the irony. You really need to take a good deal of the toy apart and be careful not to loose the cap for the thumb lever. Yes, the batteries come mounted beside the screwdriver in the package, so there’s no Try Me feature as found in many electronic toys these days.

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There’s a lot to love about this sonic, but there’s also a fair number of things that bug me about it, so let’s get those out of the way first. For starters, this one doubles as a ballpoint pen with two interchangeable tips. One writes in normal ink, and the other writes in invisible UV ink that can only be read when the light is directed at it. That’s cool, I guess, but not really relevant to the device at hand. Kids may have fun with hit, but it doesn’t do anything for me. Fortunately, the pen is hidden in the butt of the screwdriver, so it doesn’t detract from its qualities as a toy-prop, but it does occasionally fall off. If you’re like me and don’t care about the pen gimmick, this problem is easily solved with a couple dabs of Gorilla Glue.

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The other thing that bugs me a bit about this sonic is the way the buttons and electronics are situated. You can activate the emitter with the device extended or retracted, which is fine. But, there’s a separate slider to extend the device, which means there’s no fluid way to extend it and activate it at the same time. You have to extend it, take your thumb off the lever and reposition it on another button. Yes, there are two activation buttons, one for when the emitter is extended and one for when its retracted. It makes the operation overly clumsy. Lastly, the sound chip in this one is nowhere near as loud as the ones found in the Classic sonic screwdrivers. Even with brand new batteries, you have to strain to hear it.

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But this little guy isn’t all bad, not by a long shot. In fact, it really looks fantastic. The textured grip looks suitably old and the parts above and below the grip have a shiny silver finish that make for a pretty convincing faux metal look. When the device is extended, the exposed part of the shaft is transparent with a cool twisting core inside just like the real prop. The emitter tip glows a nice bright purplish-blue, which is vibrant enough to almost make up for the muffled sound chip. Most importantly, the sonic is nicely sized when compared to the onscreen prop. I was seriously afraid it would be oversized like a children’s toy, but it actually feels comfortable in my hand and properly scaled.

Despite being a lot more complex than the Classic sonic toys by CO, and doubling as a pen, this version of the 10th Doctor’s screwdriver tends to retail about five bucks less than the Classic ones. It might be because the Classic ones are considered more of a niche item, or maybe I just lucked out and got this one on sale, but either way at just under $20, it’s easy to overlook some of this toy-prop’s shortcomings and overall I’m very happy with the purchase.