Tag Archives: character options

Mar 12 2011

Doctor Who: The Face of Boe by Character Options

I’ve still got a buttload of new Tron and Lego stuff to look at, but in the interest of mixing things up for those of you who don’t care about either, I’m going to take the weekend off from Tron and Legos and feature something different for a change. Today, I thought I’d dive into my Doctor Who shelves and come up with an older figure that I haven’t looked at here yet. There are actually a lot of great figures on my Who shelves that I need to revisit for Figurefan, but let’s start today with one of my favorite of the deluxe style figures: The Face of Boe.

fob3

The package is long gone, and honestly I don’t even remember what it looked like, apart from featuring the orange swirly background and the 2005 series logo. The cool thing about Boe is he started out with what seemed like just a cameo of a big odd looking alien, and slowly he grew into this recurring mysterious character until ultimately it was intimated that Boe is none other than the impossibly old incarnation of the immortal Jack Harkness himself. It always seemed to me like Russell T. Davies left just enough wiggle room there to backpeddle on it if he had to, but honestly, if evolving into a big head in a tank is the cost of immortality, I think I’ll pass thank you.

fob1

Obviously, Boe isn’t so much a figure as he is… well, I don’t know what you’d call it other than just a toy. He’s a giant head in a tank and I think Character Options did a pretty impressive job recreating this extremely unconventional alien in toy form. The head inside the tank is a very remarkable sculpt and certainly captures the look on the screen, right down to all his tendrils. He even has a little action feature that opens and closes his mouth when you work the switch on the back of the tank. Obviously, the smokey atmosphere in Boe’s tank isn’t replicated here, although CO added some green ooze paint apps inside, which I’m not all that crazy about. They just look cheesy and not really accurate to what was seen in the show.

fob2

One thing I really like about this toy is the detailed sculpt of the life support and locomotive elements of Boe’s tank. I don’t recall ever seeing the sides of the tank in the show, but here we get to see what it looked like up close and personal. There are all sorts of tubes and tanks and controls and the entire thing rolls along on two simulated molded treads. In reality, the toy rolls along on two wheels and a ball bearing, all concealed under the toy.

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If you collect CO’s Doctor Who figures and you don’t already have The Face of Boe in your collection, I really recommend hunting him down. He’s not as easy to find these days as he once was, but he’s worth the effort. Not only is he a great looking toy, but he certainly turned out to be a pretty influencial character for both the 9th and 10th Doctor. And who knows? We may even see him again one day.

Feb 13 2011

Doctor Who: “The Sontaran Experiment” Collector Set by Character Options

So, in the past six months or so we Doctor Who fans got a lot of figures we didn’t think we were ever going to get. We got the Delgado and Ainley Masters, we got a Special Weapons Dalek [well, some bastards did, anyway -FF], classic Davros, our first classic Companion, and even our first figure from the 1996 Fox TV movie. And yet even with all of that, CO can still manage to surprise me. Today, I am holding in my hands the toy version of the Sontaran Spaceship from the 1975 episode, “The Sontaran Experiment.” It’s basically a big rubbery silver golf ball and it alone proves to me that there is nothing… nothing… in the world of Doctor Who that is completely out of the question when it comes to CO and their toys. If we can get this, anything is possible.

The package is huge and glorious and its existence seems to defy all reason. If you’ve picked up any of the Classic themed boxed sets over the last year, you’ll be familiar with the overall design and artwork. The box uses the blue swirly timefield introduced for the Series 5 toys and the Doctor Who logo introduced at the start of the 2005 series. The cardboard insert has a backdrop still from the episode, which includes a classic Doctor Who quarry representing future Earth and the robot used by Sontaran Field-Major Styre to capture and experiment on the human colonists in the episode. As with all of these sets, a little careful snipping and you can save the insert to use as a diorama to display your figures. The window shows off the contents: The Sontaran Spaceship, the 4th Doctor and Field-Major Styre himself. The back and side panels show off stills from the episode and include a short synopsis of the story. I may never display it again, but the package is so cool, I opted to save it.

I’m guessing that most collectors did not buy this set for The Doctor figure, so I’m going to get him out of the way first. I’m sure I’ve said before that I’m not big on collecting variants of each Doctor, but it’s become inevitable that I wind up with them in my collection, as they are frequently packed into these sets. I already have CO’s first 4th Doctor release as well as “The Warrior’s Gate” release, I could have done just fine without yet another 4th Doctor figure in my collection. [Yes, folks, I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone, as I’m complaining about owning too many Tom Baker Doctor Who figures. It’s not lost on me that 20 years ago I would have sacrificed kittens to the devil to have just one Doctor Who figure as awesome as this one. -FF] That having been said, I really like this one. This figure features a combination of reused parts, new paintwork and some new sculpting. The base figure is a repaint of CO’s first 4th Doctor figure, but the jacket is newly sculpted. The scarf is basically the same in both paint and sculpt, but unlike the original 4th Doc figure, which came with a serious hatless head and a grinning hatted head, this one has a serious face with a hat. It does, however, use the same peg, giving you some more mix and match options for your original 4th Doctor figure. He also comes with his Sonic Screwdriver. All in all, if I have to get stuck with a figure I didn’t want, this one is not too shabby.

Field-Major Styre is an amazing figure and CO managed to capture all the retro-awesomeness of the classic Sontarans in this guy. Don’t get me wrong, I like the modern series Sontarans enough to have purchased nearly a dozen of the figures, but I still have a special place in my heart for this original design. Collectors who are only familiar with New Who may be surprised to learn that the classic Sontarans weren’t so short, but their faces haven’t changed much at all. CO did a fine job reproducing the slight differences in the older version. I was actually about to cry foul on the figure’s fully formed fingers, but then I realized that there have been some changes to the Sontaran’s hands over the years and this figure’s digits are accurate to what was seen in the episode. The quilted leather armor is wonderfully recreated here as are all the little details like the silver belt with control box and even the tiny probic vent in the back of the neck armor. In addition to his removable helmet, Styre comes with a faithful reproduction of the infamous Sontaran ping-pong gun! Simply, awesome. If CO ever wants to release this figure on a single card, I would happily buy up a bunch of them.

And then there’s the Sontaran Spaceship. Outside of the various incarnations of the TARDIS, this is the first vehicle CO has delivered with the action figure line, although, in execution it’s more like a prop than an actual vehicle for the figures. The ship is sculpted in a dense rubbery plastic and it has some decent heft to it. The exterior is the spitting image of the design seen in the episode and if you pick it up there’s even sculpted engine thrusters inside the ring that it stands on. It’s mostly an even silver color, although there’s some paint spray along the bottom near the base to simulate mud splatter from its landing. The door opens, but there’s where things start to fall down a bit. Rather than make it a hollow like the TARDIS, there’s a slight indent with a poorly sculpted and completely non functional chair. CO really dropped the ball (har, har)on the interior of this ship. Not even a sticker with some controls or instruments or anything. I would have much rather the whole thing had just been hollow and unfinished, but I don’t want to come down on CO too hard. I’m still happy they made it, and it looks great on my shelf with Styre emerging from behind the door.

At about $60-65, this is indeed a “collectors’ set” as in you really need to be serious about your Who toy collecting to justify the price. It’s two figures and a big ball, and no matter how you break it down, it’s hard to see where the money went. It’s also worth noting that one of the two figures is one that most collectors don’t really need. I feel horrible complaining about the contents of a set that is this obscure and therefore so thoroughly awesome in its obscurity, but rather than give us another variant of the 4th Doctor, I would have much rather CO chose to pack a different figure into this set. Maybe that goes without saying, and I’ll confess to be totally surprised at how much I ended up loving this particular 4th Doctor figure, but there was so much more potential as a second pack-in figure for this set. Sarah-Jane, Harry Sullivan, a second Sontaran, even the robot, any of them would have made the price of this set a lot easier to swallow. But that’s ok, CO, I’m just really glad to have it.


Jan 30 2011

Doctor Who: “Vengeance on Varos” Peri and Sil by Character Options

A little while ago, when I looked at the “Claws of Axos” set, I commented that getting figures of the Ainley and Delgado Masters meant that classic companions couldn’t be far behind… and here we go. While those releases made me confident we’d see a classic companion at some point this year, I won’t sit here and tell you that I had any inkling the first would be Peri. Not that getting Peri is a bad thing, I just thought it odd that CO chose to base the first classic companion set on this particular episode. In a lot of ways “Vengeance on Varos”represented everything that critics said was wrong with Doctor Who in the mid 80s. The episode featured institutionalized torture, horrible medical experiments, and loads of gratuitous violence. But hey it also had Sean Connery’s son, so it wasn’t all bad.

The figures come in a window box very similar in size and design to the aforementioned “Claws of Axos” set. The figures are held in a tray with twist-ties and have a nice diorama backdrop that you can keep to display the figures in. The back panel has a nice blurb recounting the story of the episode. The package is very collector friendly too, should you decide to play around with them and then return them to the box for display purposes. The art and style is a mix between the blue deco introduced with Series 5 packaging and the older logo introduced with Series 1 back in 2005. Overall, it’s a nice compact little presentation that’s very pleasing on the eye and yet unassuming enough that it only just hints at the unending flood of classic companion figures that I hope are headed our way over the course of this year. Ok, so maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s look at the figures.

I’m going to start with Sil because I’m just as excited to get him as I am Peri. At a time when Doctor Who was still plagued by a lot of unconvincing rubber suit monsters, Sil was an amazingly convincing looking alien and a damn memorable character to boot. Hailing from the planet Thoros Beta, he’s sort of part humanoid and part slug. The sculpt that CO devised for Sil is right up there with some of their best work, and that’s saying a lot, as they captured his appearance perfectly right down to his insane stare and his tongue flicking out between his teeth. It’s just marvelous. On the downside, CO opted to make him just one big marvelously sculpted hunk of plastic with zero articulation. At first this disappointed me, but the more I think of it, the more I realize that there was really no way to keep him in scale with the 5″ figures and give him any useful articulation. Besides, at least he’s removable from his tank.

The tank is a nice piece on its own. It’s hollow, but completely enclosed and has various control panels sculpted into the sides. The liquid seen in the front of the tank is just a glossy sticker, which looks ok, although there are a few minor wrinkles in mine, and I’m afraid it might start peeling off over time. There’s also a small discrepency as the top of the fluid level is sculpted much higher than where the surface appears on the sticker. I’m really nit picking here, though, as the overall presentation is fine and Sil looks great sitting on it. Wow. I have a Sil figure. I can still hardly believe it. Then again, it’s still hard to believe I have an army of Cybermen, Daleks, and any number of other classic Who monsters and figures loading down my shelves. Man, it’s a great time to be a Doctor Who fan!

And then there’s the lovely Perpugilliam Brown. Say what you will about the reign of the Sixth Doctor, but I enjoyed it. And besides Colin Baker’s deliciously bombastic performance, a good part of that enjoyment came from his interplay with Nicola Bryant as Peri. I wasn’t a big fan of her fake American accent, but I sure as hell loved everything else about her. Obviously, the figure is modeled after her appearance in“Vengeance on Varos” wearing a low cut and very tight top with shorts, which apart from it being blue is pretty much what she wore in every episode, so CO should have a field day releasing repaints of this figure. Yeah, I would have preferred “Planet of Fire” bikini-clad “…could be platinum!” Peri, but then again I just got my Kiss-o-Gram Amy so I should probably quit while I’m ahead. Anyway, the sculpt is extremely well done and the likeness is definitely there, even if she does have a bit of a vacant stare.

It probably goes without saying that I’m absolutely thrilled to have this set. Besides getting two more outstanding classic Who figures, it’s also what this milestone release represents that gets me excited. The classic companion figures are here and more will no doubt be coming. I’m sure that CO will run into some snags here and there securing rights, and I’m also sure that some classic companions may remain off limits, but the floodgates are opened, and I can’t wait to see what pours through next. Leela? Lethbridge-Stewart? Romana I and II? Oh, it’s going to be a good year.



Jan 27 2011

Doctor Who: Paradigm Daleks by Character Options

Finally, the five New Paradigm Daleks that were introduced in last year’s Victory of the Daleks have been released in figure form… I mean widely released… sort of. All of these figures, except the white Supreme were already available as scattered releases, many of which were exclusives and really hard to get, ie. expensive. The orange Scientist Dalek was part of an SDCC exclusive two-pack, the blue Strategist and yellow Eternal Daleks were both originally released as store exclusives, and the red Drone was originally released as part of the six-figure Underhenge Set. I would have bet anything that these were going to come out together as a boxed set instead of a single carded wave, but then since both the Drone and Strategist Daleks have already been released in single carded versions, CO probably opted to go for a full wave of individual releases so as not to further piss off collectors. Afterall, I’m sure there are people who spent some cash getting the exclusives. But if you did take the time to track many of these down already, then it might come as some small comfort to know that even this wave was issued Stateside in pretty small allocations. I had the entire wave on pre-order even though I already own two of the Drones and the Strategist, and in the end I was mighty glad I did, because all my regular sources sold out pretty quickly.


The packaging is what has become standard for the Series 5 figures. It’s very similar to the packages that the previous Strategist and Drone Daleks came in. The big differences are the back of the card, which just shows the five Paradigm Daleks and has a blurb about them from the episode. The front of the card has a bubble that says, “The New Dalek Paradigm is Here!” and another that says, “5 To Collect!”

I’ve already reviewed this mold no less than three times, [actually, it’s four times if you count the Stone Dalek. -FF] so forgive me if I’m a little brief here. I do want to point out that while I’m still kind of iffy on this design on the small screen, I absolutely adore the way they translate into figure form. Maybe it didn’t help that they were only seen in a Dalek ship that looked like the boiler room of my old high school and that they were practically scraping the top of their domes on the ceiling. Toss some of these New Paradigm Daleks on a planet extreminating the crap out of inferior fools, and I might like them a lot more on the small screen. Either way, they make for brilliant looking toys.


I’ll also point out that the quality of the paint on these figures truly is outstanding, especially when compared to the dodgy paintwork on most of the classic Dalek releases. My Paradigms have virtually no slop, smudging or bleeding. Just beautiful glossy paint that really makes the newness of the designs stand out like brand new cars that just rolled off the floor of a dealership. Even the goofy organic eye in the stalk has grown on me quite a bit.

I’m really happy to finally own a full set of these Daleks. The total cost of the pre-order with shipping put these guys at about $17 a piece, which is defintely more than I like to pay for Who figures. Then again, if I can pay $28 with shipping for a Masters of the Universe Classics figure from Mattel, then $17 for an import figure from my all-time favorite show doesn’t seem so bad in comparison. It doesn’t bother me at all that I now own three of the Drones, since they’re just army builders anyway. I could probably have done without two Strategists, but I’m not going to pick nits. I do still think that CO should run off another batch of these, though. It isn’t every day the Daleks get completely new designs, and whether you love them or hate them, they’re some of the most important releases in the line of New Who figures and I really think they should be made accordingly available.

Jan 21 2011

Doctor Who: Christmas Adventure Set by Character Options

It’s no secret that CO missed a few opportunities for figures based off of last year’s Series 5. Lord knows I’ve spent my fair share of time bitching about it in a few of my posts. One of those figures that I wanted pretty badly was based on Amy Pond as we first meet her as an adult. Whether you call her “Police Outfit” Amy or “Kiss-o-Gram” Amy, after a few wave revisions it seemed pretty unlikely that we were going to get her. Then, CO did that thing they do that sometimes irks a lot of collectors. They released her as part of a larger set, instead of on a single card. And thus was born the Christmas Adventure Set. The set includes a repaint of the 11th Doctor, Amy Pond, and a stripped down version of the 11th Doctor’s Flight Control TARDIS. It’s a set that could have been attributed to last year’s “The Eleventh Hour” but thanks to Amy wearing her Kiss-o-Gram outfit on the starliner in last month’s “A Christmas Carol” it becomes pertenant as a more current release as well.

If you’ve purchased any of the classic TARDIS sets, you’ll be pretty familiar with the packaging here. It’s a window box showing off the TARDIS and the two figures. It’s pretty collector friendly, although you’ll need a philips screwdriver to get the TARDIS off of the cardboard base. The back panel of the package advertises the Paradigm Dalek wave of figures, which hopefully will be landing on my doorstep any day now. The package includes a star-backdrop that can be removed and used to display the figures against.

I have very little to say about The Doctor figure as it’s the same 11th Doctor I already own with a variant paintjob. The vertical stripes have been taken off his shirt and his jacket has been made lighter with horizontal stripes added. I don’t really like the new style of the jacket, and it’s kind of hard to see the stripes on any of the stills I’ve seen from the episode. It’s still an excellent sculpt, but this Doctor won’t be replacing the one I got in the Time Crash set as my favorite. At least CO tossed in a Sonic Screwdriver and if by some odd chance you don’t have an 11th Doctor yet, then here ya go.

For me, it was the Amy figure that was the big draw of this set, and I’m not disappointed. It’s hard to capture the raw awesomeness of the real Karen Gillan in a sexy police outfit, but CO did a pretty good job. The head sculpt is a complete reuse of the previous single carded Amy and the Underhenge set Amy, which is by no means a bad thing, since it’s a pretty good likeness. The police outfit is nicely replicated right down to the checkered front, short skirt and low hanging belt. Her legs were left flesh toned, rather than giving them a tinted look to represent her stockings, although if you turn her around CO did paint the seams of the stockings running up her legs. All in all, I’m very happy with how she turned out.

Both figures feature the same articulation. The heads turn, their arms rotate at the shoulders, have swivel cuts in the biceps and forearms and hinged elbows. The legs rotate at the hips, have swivel cuts in the thighs and hinged knees. The Doctor’s hips have lateral movment for the legs, and while I expect Amy does also, her skirt prevents the joints from really working.


The TARDIS is probably the most controversial piece in the set as it’s pretty redunant if you already purchased the 11th Doctor’s Flight Control TARDIS. This is the exact same toy, which is really just a repaint of the original Flight Control TARDIS, only with all the electronics stripped out of it. That having been said, it certainly is a beautiful toy. The paint is awesome, very bright and clean, and I love the St. John Ambulance crest. The doors open and the inside features an illustrated insert depicting the Series 5 console room.


Considering the $45-50 price of this set, I think CO should have just kept the electronics in the TARDIS, but I guess they need to do anything they can to keep costs down. I can understand why collectors will be miffed to have to buy all this just to get their police outfit Amy. Is it worth it? Well, that’s for you to decide. It wasn’t too much of a bitter pill for me to swallow because I never did get around to picking up the 11th Doctor’s Flight Control TARDIS, and I’m content to just have it without the electronics. The only thing I really got stuck with hear was the extra Doctor figure, and I’ve come to accept that accumulating variant Doctors is inevitable. Honestly, I’m just really happy that CO made the Amy figure and that it didn’t turn up as some impossible to find convention or store exclusive.

Dec 4 2010

Doctor Who: Silurian Warrior Alaya and General Restac by Character Options

Well, we had to suffer through a lot of backbencher figures to get here, but we finally got two of the figures I most wanted fromSeries 5: Silurians! While I would have had no problem with getting an entire wave of Silurians from the two-parter (Hungry Earth/Cold Blood), I’ll settle for the two ladies that CO decided to give us: Alaya and General Restac.


The packaging remains the standard for Series 5 figures. I’m actually surprised that they used the name Silurian on the package, since it was only used once or twice in the episodes. It seemed like Moffat wanted to make a connection for older fans, but not play it up all that much. The back panel shows off a lot of the same figures we just got in the last wave. The only completely new ones here are the two Silurians and the Underhenge Cyberman. Inexplicably, instead of giving us the remolded Cybermen included with the UK Argos Exclusive TARDIS playset, we just get a regular Cyberman with the same stone treatment that was given to the Dalek and Roman Auton in the Underhenge set. No thank you, CO, I’ll pass.

Warrior Alaya is the unfortunate Sillurian who got captured by the humans and was basically tortured to death with a taser gun by an angry mother. Yeah, the new Who can be pretty hardcore. This figure features a really nice sculpt that captures the character really well, particularly the detail in the head’s scales. Alaya’s tunic has sculpted plates, complete with paint apps showing off the intricacies of her stitched armor. Most of the outfit is grey with a nice wash to give it some depth. It’s possible the flesh tone could have been a lighter green, but now I’m really looking for things to nitpick.

Alaya comes with a nice little passel of accessories. She has her battle mask, which is sculpted in soft rubber and basically fits right over her face. I was worried it wasn’t going to stay in place, but it turns out that it holds on very well. It’s a nice little sculpt, painted in gloss silver and looks fantastic on the figure. Next up is her weapon, which is designed to be held in both hands. Like the mask, it’s got a glossy silver finish and a nice little sculpt. Alaya also comes wiht a flexible plastic chain that clips around her wrist. I appreciate the effort, but there’s not much you can do with this piece.


Moving on to General Restac. There’s obviously some reuse of parts between these two figures, which is probably why CO decided to go with two female Silurians. Still, when you get down to it, there are enough differences to make them each unique. Restac’s jacket is a resculpt of Alaya’s tunic, and it looks really nice. The head sculpt features the same intricately detailed scales, and some additional paint apps to give her skin more color. The legs are pretty much identical between the two figures, but the arms have a few differences. Restac is wearing gloves and she has coils around her wrists, whereas Alaya does not. Restac comes with the same gun as Alaya, but no other accessories.

Both figures feature the same level of articulation. Their heads turn; The arms have rotating sholders, swivels in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows; The legs rotate and have lateral movement in the hips, hinged knees and swivels in the lower legs. Their tunics are each slit up the sides, so they don’t inhibit the leg articulation all that much.

I think these figures were worth waiting for, and now that I have these and CO has revealed an entire wave of Paradigm Daleks, I’m pretty much at closure for Series 5 toys. I still think it’s a shame that we got more than twice as many figures out of The Beast Below than we did the two-parter Silurian story, but such is life. I’ve also come to terms with the fact that Liz Ten isn’t going to happen, and since River and Rory should be prominantly featured in Series 6, I’ll just go on believeing that we’ll get them in one form or another next year. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, 2010 was an incredible year for Classics figures, but I think CO could have handled the Series 5 figures much better than they did.

Nov 27 2010

Doctor Who: Regenerating Weeping Angel by Character Options

I was going to take a pass on this figure, but when the Dalek Strategist came out, I wanted to order at least one more figure to make the cost of shipping worthwhile. I’ve said before that I’m not a huge fan of the Weeping Angels. Maybe it’s because they were introduced in one of those lame Doctor-Lite stories. Either way, I’ll give credit where credit is due, The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone were pretty enjoyable episodes, albeit with an ultimately anti-climactic story.

Anyway… the Angels have been released in figure form before, but this time we get them all beaten up and regenerating as they absorb the radiation from the engines of the crashed starcruiser, Byzantium. I’m told this figure comes in two variants, one with a calm head, and the one we’re going to look at today, which has a screaming head. I think swappable heads would have been nice, especially since we’ve had to choke down a lot of mediocre figures in Series 5 this year. But I digress…

Yep, it’s the same packaging we saw last time with the Dalek Strategist. I don’t have much to add here.

If you like your figures to look like statues, Series 5 was a good year for you. We got a stone Dalek, a stone Roman Auton and now one of these guys. Steven Moffat seems to have some kind of masonry fetish when it comes to Doctor Who adversaries. The only difference is that the Angel is sculpted to be made out of stone from the get-go, whereas the Dalek and the Roman were just repaints with some texture added. The detailing here is very nice and the overall effect of weathering and cracking and general wear comes across strong. Still, the face is my favorite part of the sculpt, mainly because it’s downright scary and captures the countenance of its screen counterpart perfectly.

The Angel has pretty good articulation, although the molded skirt does inhibit quite a bit of its leg movement. At least you can still make use of the hinged knees and swivels in the ankles. The arms rotate at the shoulders, have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. The head also rotates. I was surprised to see that the wings can flap a little bit too and can also be removed completely, if you want to depict your Angel in a further state of decay.

I think CO did a pretty nice job on this figure and it’s probably worth your money even if you have one of the original Angel figures. It’s an impressive sculpt and I’m glad I picked this one up, even though I had my doubts beforehand. Of course, if you have a real Weeping Angel fetish, you can also pick up the Looping Angel, which is supposed to be the one projected out of the security vid that tried to possess Amy. I’m told that one is available in two variants as well. Happy hunting… just don’t blink!

Nov 26 2010

Doctor Who: Dalek Strategist by Character Options

Folks, I really didn’t expect to get anything posted today. Black Friday was a bitch and I just got off working a ten hour shift this morning at 7am. I slept for a few hours, ate some pizza, and now I’m just trying to stay up a little longer before getting myself back to sleep, hopefully for the night, so I can get up and do it all over again tomorrow at 6am… yeah. Nonetheless, the postman dropped off this Doctor Who figure today and since it’s only a recolor of a figure I’ve already reviewed (twice now), I just thought I’d throw it out there.

So, slowly but surely CO is shelling out the New Paradigm Daleks in figure form. The red Drone Dalek has been available on a single carded release or as part of the Underhenge figure set, and now the blue Strategist has found its way to the pegs in a single carded version. Right now the yellow (Eternal) and the orange (Scientist) Daleks have also been available as limited exclusives, although word is that CO will be making all of the new Daleks available as single carded releases in the near future.

The Dalek Strategist comes in the Series 5 packaging. Again, I like the card and while mint-on-card collectors may bemoan CO’s dropping of the clamshell format, frankly I love the fact that I can now get at my figure without needing a blowtorch. The back panel shows this wave of figures, which is I guess what we would call a revision rather than a full wave. We’ve seen all of these figures before, with the exception of the Looping Angel, which is just the same mold recast in translucent plastic and Professor Bracewell with his hand painted to be wearing a glove like he was seen for a few seconds in The Pandorica Opens. Seriously, CO? No Rory, no Liz Ten and no River Song, but you had to rerelease a new version of Bracewell by painting one of his hands? Alrighty then…


I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love this mold. I’m still not convinced that I want this design to be the Daleks used from now on in the show, but it sure makes for a great action figure. Once again, the paint used for this figure is amazing. It’s high gloss with very little slop or bleed and it looks absolutely fantastic when flanked by my two Drone Daleks. I still don’t like the organic eyeball at the end of the stalk, though, it just seems silly.

The articulation remains the same. You have three ball joints: One for the weapon, one for the sucker, and one for the eyestalk. He also rolls around on three wheels.

And, yeah, that’s all I really have to say about this guy. If you own the mold in one of the other colors, you know exactly what to expect here. He looks great and he’s tons of fun. E-tailers seem to be selling him for an average of $14.99, give or take a buck, which is not too bad seeing as it’s an import and considering how much some of the first wave of Series 5 figures retailed for. So, go get him!

Nov 20 2010

Doctor Who: Smiler, Francesco the Vampire and Dalek Drone by Character Options

It’s been a while, but we’re finally getting the next wave of carded Doctor Who figures from Series 5 in the States. As much as I love me my Doctor Who figures, I did some serious cherry picking on this assortment, opting out of buying The Roman Auton (already got him with the Underhenge set), The Looping Angel (I must be the only Who fan that doesn’t like the Weeping Angels all that much), The Progenitor Guardian Dalek (Got me enough regular Daleks, thank you), or Prisoner Zero (Seriously, CO? That’s an accessory, not an action figure!). Add to that, one of the figures I did buy, The Smiler, I mistaken thought was the forthcoming figure with both faces, so I probably could have skipped that one too. Plus, the Drone Dalek is a duplicate of the one I got in the Underhenge set, just because I wanted two. That leaves Francesco as the only figure I was really excited about. Yeah, so this wasn’t exactly a stellar assortment of figures.

The packaging is the same as we saw on the Wave 1 assortment from Series 5. The cards are a lot shorter and the bubbles are wider. The blue pattern more closely matches the vortex from the new opening credits, and of course it has the new series logo too. The back panel shows photos of the above mentioned figures. These cards are still something of a novelty to me, since I’ve only bought a handful of Series 5single carded figures this year. I still like it, especially since it’s a lot easier to get into than the clamshells that CO is still using for the Classics figures.

Let’s get the Dalek Drone out of the way first, since I’ve already reviewed this figure as part of the Underhenge Set and I don’t have a lot more to say other than he’s exactly the same and I still love him. Seriously, this figure has made me reconsider my whole distain for the New Paradigm Daleks. They may look kind of goofy on the screen, but they make awesome action figures. He’s just so pretty and his glossy paintjob looks amazing and there’s zero slop or bleeding. Seriously, CO, you should paint all your Dalek figures this well. Supposedly, CO has wised up and is bringing all the Power Ranger Daleks out in single carded versions, and I couldn’t be happy. I’ll take a case, please.

Next up is The Smiler from Episode 2, The Beast Below. Again, CO has a new version of this figure coming out in the next assortment that should have one face on each side, which is the one I really thought I was getting when I ordered it. My God, CO, you’ve released four figures from this episode (Hawthorne, Peter the Winder, Smiler #1 and Smiler #2) and still no Liz Ten. Wow. Just, wow. Plus, if this were the old days, you just know CO would have produced a deluxe version of this figure with a booth. But, I digress. The Smiler is a very nice figure for what it is. The head sculpt is excellent and he even has that little electrical component thing on the side. As expected, there isn’t a lot of detail to work with on the rest of the figure. He’s wearing soft plastic sculpted robes, so there isn’t a lot else to see on him.

The Smiler’s articulation is severely hampered by his robes. He has hinged knees and swivels in the thighs, but there’s not much you can do with his legs. His arms rotate at the shoulders and are hinged at the elbow and swivel at the wrist. His head rotates too. It’s not up to par with most of the DW figures released these days, but that’s more because of the figure’s design elements than fault on CO’s part.

Last up is Francesco the Vampire, as his name appears on the card. Kind of odd, since technically he wasn’t a vampire but actually an alien fishman from Saturn. But, seeing as how the episode was entitiled Vampires in Venice, I guess we get where CO was going with this one. At first, I was waffling on whether to get this one or not, but having him in hand, I’m really glad I did, because he looks absolutely great. CO spared no expense in their attention to the details of his Renaissance garb. I really like the attention to detail on his tunic and his sword belt. Original production shots of this figure showed him having a scabbard, but I guess this got taken out for the final figure. You can still slide his rapier into the belt, though, and it looks good. The head sculpt is excellent, and the paint apps are clean. I think the teeth could have been accentuated a bit more in the sculpt and paint just because they should have been more dominant looking.

Francesco has standard articulation for the current figures. His head rotates, his arms rotate at the shoulders, have hinged elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. His legs have universal joints in the hips, but his tunic inhibits most of the movement here. He does have swivels in the thighs and hinged knees.

With the exception of the Dalek Drone, I can’t say any of these figures are must-have additions to every collection. The Smiler is a solid figure, but he’s certainly not destined to be an iconic Doctor Who baddie. Francesco is an excellent figure, but being the one-off villain that he is, some collectors may want to pass on him. The good news is that these figures seem to be retailing for a lot less than the first Series 5 wave, which certainly may influence a lot of purchases.

Nov 6 2010

Doctor Who: Underhenge Six Figure Set by Character Options, Part 3

Ah, the new Daleks. Love em or hate em, they’re a fact that Who fans will have to come to terms with. Personally, I don’t think they’re as awful as some people think. They do have a certain 1970’s technocolor appeal to them that reminds me a bit fondly of the Peter Cushing Dr. Who feature films. On the other hand, the coppery Daleks created for the modern series were pretty much perfect updates to the originals, and as far as I’m concerned, I was sorry to see them go. Still, this is Doctor Who, where anything is possible, so who knows whether or not these new Daleks are here to stay. We’ll just have to wait and see. Either way, we’re here to talk about the figures and not debate the merits of the new design. [Haven’t watched the episode, Big Bang yet? Remember, as River says… Spoilers! -FF]


The “New Paradigm” Daleks are color coded according to their function, and the red Dalek included in this set is apparently your standard soldier or drone. I’m kind of surprised that CO didn’t decide to include the white Dalek in this set, since that’s the one that speaks. Anywho… whatever you think about the new design, I think you have to agree that Character Options did a wonderful job reproducing it for their action figure line. It’s much bigger than the previous modern series Daleks, mostly because of the thicker bumper on the skirt. The other distinctive part of the design is the hunchback and the indented black strip on the back. I’ve been told that this is a hatch designed to allow the Dalek to swap out and store spare weapons or appendages, but we haven’t seen this feature in action yet. The new Daleks also apparently have an organic eye in the stalk, which wasn’t quite so apparent in the series, but it is pretty obvious on the figure. I think this is really the only aspect of this figure that I don’t like.  

The paint job on the Dalek Drone is excellent, which is quite a relief since CO has had a lot of quality control issues on Dalek paint in the past. The red is high gloss and the blacks are matte. There’s very little slop or bleeding in the paint to speak of. I have to say, having this figure in hand has really improved my feelings toward the new Dalek design. It’s undoubtedly a great looking figure.

The petrified Dalek is identical in sculpt to the Drone. The stone finish is just like the one used on the petrified Roman. The surface is peppered with a realistic gritty texture that makes the faux stone appearance very convincing. Unlike the petrified Roman, this figure actually makes sense as it was featured pursuing The Doctor through most of the episode Big Bang.

The articulation on both figures is identical, and very similar to past Dalek figures. The Dalek still rolls around on three wheels. The energy gun and sucker arm are both positioned on ball joints, and both can be removed. The eye stalk is no longer just on an up and down hinge, but now it situated on a ball joint just like the Dalek’s arms.

And that wraps up my look at the Underhenge set. Most e-tailers have been selling it for around $60, which isn’t too bad at about ten bucks a figure. On the other hand, chances are you’re getting some figures in this box that you wouldn’t have bought on their own, so only you can decide whether it’s worth it in the end. I would certainly not hesitate to say that there isn’t a bad figure in the box, but then I still question CO’s logic of giving us Romans when we still haven’t gotten figures like Rory, Liz Ten or any of the Silurians.