Tag Archives: classic who

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 18 2011

Doctor Who: Sontaran Officer Linx Helmet (LE 500) by Weta

It’s been a little while since WETA released their line of helmets from Doctor Who. The line ran the gamut from the amazing Earthshock Cyberman, which I featured here on FigureFan, to the bewildering welders mask from the NuWho episode “42” that begged the question, “Who the hell would want that?” Anyway, there were some pretty cool and iconic helmets inbetween, including the one we’re looking at today: Behold the helmet of The Sontaran General Linx from the Jon Pertwee episode “The Time Warrior.”

The package is the same style as the one used for the Earthshock Cyberman. It’s a Classic Who collectible, but it uses the artwork and logo from the 2005-2009 Series. Nothing fancy here. You get a simple box packed with styrofoam inserts to hold the stand and helmet safe and secure. You also get a pamphlet showing other Doctor Who items by WETA. The package shows off photos of the collectible in question and you get some good summaries about Doctor Who as a series and the episode in particular. “The Time Warrior” was a good choice for the subject, since it was the story that first introduced us to the Sontarans as an enemy of the good Doctor.
The Cyberman helmet was permanently attached to the display stand, whereas the Sontaran helmet is actually removable and merely rests on top of it. The stand uses a generic mannequin style human head sculpt, which, granted, is a little out of place for a Sontaran helmet, but it supports the helmet just fine, so I won’t harp about it too much. As with the Cybermen helmet, this one is limited to only 500 pieces and hand numbered on the bottom of the display stand along with the other production information.
The helmet itself is all one piece and fashioned entirely from metal so it has a mighty fine heft to it. By design, the Sontaran helmets aren’t nearly as detailed as the Cybermen or many of the other helmets in this line, but make no mistake, this is a faithful scaled recreation of the prop from the episode, “The Time Warrior,” including the sinister eye slits, the ventilation holes, the mohawk-style crest, and of course, the probic vent in the back of the helmet’s collar. It’s certainly a cool and iconic looking piece of Doctor Who history.
These WETA helmets originally retailed for about fifty bucks. I picked up the Sontaran helmet from an online e-tailer on clearance for half off. Considering what you get and the limitation of production, it’s certainly a good deal. While I’m certainly not intending to assemble a complete collection of this line, I’m happy enough with the two that I have that I’d like to hunt down a few more.
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.
Jun 13 2011

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

Given the mileage they get out of their molds, it was pretty inevitable that once Character Options released the first classic Sonic Screwdriver that more would follow. The first release was based off of The Third Doctor’s trusty device, and now CO has followed suit with the Fourth Doctor’s version. Let’s see what we got…

The packaging is the same design used for the Third Doctor’s screwdriver with a different printed insert to suit the Fourth Doctor and a new lenticular collectible card. The back panel has a blurb about the screwdriver and the Doctor himself. There’s no “Try Me” feature or anything and the batteries actually come mounted in the tray beside the toy. Yes, you will need a small phillips head screwdriver to put the batteries in the scewdriver. I believe that’s called irony. While we’re on the subject, you’ll also need a good pair of scissors or a razor blade to get into the ironclad clamshell of a package.

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As you’ve probably already guessed, this Sonic Screwdriver is just a very minor resculpt of the Third Doctor’s issue. In fact the only difference in the sculpt is the elongted bit on the back of the head and the fact that the head sits a little higher in the shaft. Again, the head of the screwdriver is made of soft bendy rubber to prevent it from snapping off. As a result what really separates this one from the previous release is the color scheme. The yellow spiral stripe is gone as is the simulated duct tape wrapped around the bottom of the shaft. What you get is a mostly silver piece with some black accents and the red on the instrument’s head. While the Third Doctor’s version is certainly pretty screen accurate, I’m guessing this one will be the more desireable for lacking the yellow striping. The sounds are activated by pulling down on the shaft and the sound chip is identical to the Third Doctor version. Pull it down a little bit to hear the first sound and pull it down all the way to hear the one with more of a warble to it.

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The Fourth Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver retails for around $25. As with the first release, I think $20 would have been a more reasonable price, but I’m not going to complain. I’ve wanted one of these for a long, long time, and it sure beats paying the $200+ dollars for the metal prop versions that some companies have put out. I tend to be a bigger Jon Pertwee fan than Tom Baker (although I love them both) and yet I still prefer this Sonic Screwdriver over the one used by Pertwee’s Doctor. Sure, if you have the first release, this one is really redundant, but hey, if you’re a Who fan, you really should own both anyway.

May 30 2011

Doctor Who: “The Time Monster” Master and TARDIS by Character Options

In case you haven’t noticed, Character Options is striving to get a lot of mileage out of their classic figure sculpts. They’re doing this by making us buy the same figures or toys over and over again to get a new piece in our collections. Just look at the four Davros sets or the fact that they’re putting out another Sontaran set with the ship, and you’ll see what I mean. This Time Monster set is yet another example, where I’m buying a figure that I already own, in this case The Master, just to get his TARDIS and a few little accessories. Does this piss me off? Nope. Not in the slightest. If this is what CO needs to do to get a return on their investment and keep making figures, that’s fine by me. I’ve waited so long for these figures and toys and I’m so happy that CO is making them, I’ll gladly keep forking over the dough as long as CO keeps making them.

The package is a window box with the same deco that’s been used for sets like the Vengeance on Varos or The Sontaran Experiment. You get a blue deco with the 2005 series logo. The front of the package features a photo of Roger Delgado as The Master along with a shot of his TARDIS as it appeared in the episode. The back panel has a nice synopsis of the episode, The Time Monster, and more photos from the show. One of my favorite things about this set is the cardboard insert that is illustrated with roundels from inside the TARDIS and can be taken out and used as a backdrop to display the figures with. No doubt this backdrop will go a long way for folks looking to do custom TARDIS interiors.

I don’t have much to say about The Master, as he’s the exact same figure that was released with the Claws of Axos set. He’s a fantastic figure with a wonderful likeness of Roger Delgado, but I’ve got nothing new to say here. Feel free to take a look at my review of The Claws of Axosset for more on the figure itself.

The TARDIS is designed to look like a 1970’s era computer bank. Much to The Doctor’s chagrin, The Master’s TARDIS had a fully functional Chameleon Circuit. It’s sculpted in hollow plastic and feels kind of like a dog’s chewtoy. The sculpt and the paint apps are simple enough, but don’t expect anything else out of it other than a prop. It doesn’t open, nothing moves on it, it’s just a display piece for decoration. Some may find that disappointing, but then there’s this counter-argument. “Holy shit, they actually have a toy based on The Masters TARDIS from The Time Monster.” Who the hell thought we’d ever see something like this? Yeah, I’m willing to be pretty forgiving here.

There are also three accessories included in the set. First, you get The Master’s Tissue Compression Eliminator, which is the same one issued with The Claws of Axos Master. Next up, you get the Crystal of Kronos, which is actually a really nice little scaled replica of the artifact from the episode. Lastly, you get the Time Sensor that The Doctor built, which is also a pretty nice piece.

If you missed out on picking up The Claws of Axos set, and you’re in the market for this Master figure, this set is a nice pick-up. It’s especially a nice set if you passed on the Axos set out of bitterness that the Axon figure was actually just a repainted Krynoid. On the other hand, if you already have The Master in your collection, this set is by no means a must have. The TARDIS is cool enough and the accessories are nice, but it hardly justifies buying the set. On the other hand, with a retail of about $25-30, picking this one up isn’t going to break your bank like collecting all the Davros sets will. Personally, I’m trying to support this line as much as possible, so buying this set was a no brainer for me.

Mar 19 2011

Doctor Who: “Revelation of the Daleks” Collectors Set by Character Options

Always happy to turn a buck off of the insatiable popularity of the Daleks, CO has devised three episode-specific sets that will not only give collectors a chance to pick up some more Daleks, but also a Classic Series version of the Dalek creator himself, Davros. Each of these sets follow the same basic pattern and include a Doctor figure, Davros, and two Daleks from the episode in question. They already released the 5th Doctor set based off “Resurrection of the Daleks” and are planning a 4th Doctor “Genesis of the Daleks” set, but today we’re going to look at the one based off of the 6th Doctor story, “Revelation of the Daleks” from 1985. It’s the only one of the three sets I plan on buying, and soon you’ll see why. [CO has since revealed a pretty awesome looking “Destiny of the Daleks” set too, which may have me rethinking my only buy one of these decision. -FF]

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The package is similar to what we’ve seen in other recently released Classic sets. CO has become pretty formulaic about the package design with these sets, and that’s not at all a bad thing. It features a blue pattern and the logo introduced in the 2005 series. The back panel features stills from the episode as well as a blurb about the 6th Doctor and a little bit about the episode’s story. The figures are arranged side by side in a long tray and the cardboard insert has a montage of images from the episode, including Davros in his little head-tank, which is actually how he spent most of the episode. The package is perfectly collector friendly so you can remove the figures and return them to the box for display.

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The Doctor figure included is a variant of the same old 6th Doctor figure we’ve already seen numerous times, and that tends to be the sticking point in each of these sets. If you want to get Classic Davros and some Daleks, you have to get a variant of a Doctor figure you probably already have in your collection. The reason I went with the Revelation set is that unlike that 5th Doctor figure, this figure actually has some new tooling, in that he’s wearing the blue cape The Doctor wore when first arriving on the planet Necros in the first half of the story. Ok, so the figure itself is actually identical to the one released on a single card way back when, but it does have the cape, sculpted in soft plastic, which is also completely removable. Funny, I’ve seen this episode dozens of times, but I never noticed until now that the ornamental stitching by the cape’s buttons are actually question marks. Cool! If you don’t already have a 6th Doctor figure, here’s a great chance to get him and he is a great sculpt.

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The Daleks in the set include one Skaro Dalek and one Necros Dalek. The distinction was pretty important to the story as Davros was busy on Necros farming dead people and turning them into a new army of loyal Daleks. The episode ends with a mini Dalek Civil War as Daleks arrive from Skaro to take the fugitive Davros into custody. I’m always up for seeing Daleks blasting away at other Daleks, so it’s nice to get one from each opposing faction. Both of these Daleks should look pretty familiar, as we’ve seen the sculpt before. To be honest, I’ve been a Doctor Who fan for almost 30 years now and even I get bored trying to pinpoint all the subtle differences in the Dalek designs over the years. If you have the Dalek that was packaged a little while ago with the 7th Doctor (based on “Remembrance of the Daleks”), you’ll recognize the gold and white color scheme on the Necros Dalek, but there are significant differences in the sculpt. The Necros Dalek and the Skaro Dalek, however, are repaints of the same sculpt.

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And then there’s Classic Davros, which is probably the figure that collectors want the most out of this set. Davros is an entirely new sculpt from the figure based off his appearance in the modern series and a really awesome looking figure. He’s appropriately smaller and more primitive looking than the Modern Series figure. The wires and framework on his head are a bit chunkier than screen accurate, but it’s forgiveable as they’re certainly more durable. There’s a maintenance hatch on the side of his chair, which springs open by pressing one of the sensor globes. It wasn’t seen open in “Revelation of the Daleks”, but I’m sure it’s here because the mold was designed to work with the “Resurrection of the Daleks” set where a technician opened the hatch to service Davros before getting turned into a mindslave. You also get a swappable hand with this set as Davros’ hand was blown off toward the end of Revelation. The damaged hand is bandaged and oozing green goo. Make sure you get it out of the package before you throw it out!

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I’m really happy with the way this set turned out, although it’s worth stating the obvious that I would have much rather had the option to buy Classic Davros as a single carded figure. Getting new Daleks is never a bad thing, but it would have been more merciful to my wallet if CO had given us a carded Davros and then release all the Daleks from these sets in multipacks like they have in the past. Don’t get me wrong, the Necros 6th Doctor is a cool addition to my collection, and when you get down to it, $15 a piece for these figures (the set cost me about $60 with shipping) isn’t off the charts.

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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.



Oct 8 2010

Doctor Who: Warrior’s Gate Fourth Doctor and K9 by Character Options

Just about every Doctor made some kind of subtle change to his iconic outfit during the course of his tenure and CO has been doing a nice job getting all the different versions out, whether it be in these two-packs, exclusives, or in the massive Eleven Doctor set. This time around we get the long awaited Fourth Doctor donning his 18th Season outfit. CO chose the episode Warrior’s Gate as the basis for this set and bundled him with hit trusty tin dog K9. I could go on and point out that this was a missed opportunity to toss Romana in there too, but I guess CO isn’t quite ready for classic-era companions… yet.

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.

Sep 30 2010

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

In addition to a bewildering number of awesome Doctor Who action figures, CO has been dabbling in other Doctor Who toys from time to time. These are what we’ve come to call Roleplay Toys. But while toylines like Star Wars has its lightsabers and blasters, ever since his second incarnation, The Good Doctor wades into the danger with only his trusty Sonic Screwdriver. CO has put out a number of toys based on The Doctor’s trusty gadget, although today’s featured toy is the first time they’ve gone back to the Classic Series to produce one.

I don’t have any of CO’s Sonics from the modern series, so this one is my first. Why? I’m just not a fan of what the writers have done with the device in the modern series. Longtime fans may remember that the Fifth Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver appeared to be destroyed on screen by an angry Terileptil, but in reality it was destroyed by the producer who felt it was being used way too often as a crutch to get The Doctor out of a jam. Boy, could we use a trigger happy Terileptil in the new series, because in my opinion the Sonic Screwdriver has gotten way out of hand. What was originally a clever little device to open locks, vibrate screws, and detonate the occasional landmine, has become a device so ridiculously versatile, that they ought to start calling it the Sonic Swiss Army Knife. Seriously, once The Doctor started using it as a bio scanner, it was well past time to either retire the device, or reign in the way the writers’ use it. But I’m waaay off topic now. Rant over… let’s get back to the toy at hand.3rdsonic2

The Sonic comes sealed in a blister pack with an illustrated insert, similar to the way CO packages the figures. The artwork includes the blue swirly field introduced for the current line of figures, but retains the logo from the 2005-2009 series. It has nice blurbs on the front and back about the Third Doctor and his trusty device. One would expect a toy like this to be packaged with a Try Me feature, but that’s not the case here. In fact, the batteries are mounted right next to the toy. The package also displays an included hologram card, which shows the desolve from the title screen to The Doctor’s face as it appeared on the opening credits of the show. For a bonus pack-in, I think this is a really cool item. Oh, and make sure you have a trusty blade or a pair of scissors if you want to get this thing out.

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The first thing I noticed about this Sonic Screwdriver is that it isn’t ridiculously oversized, like I feared it would be. It’s definitely a bit bigger than the prop, but only enough to allow for the electronics. I was surprised to see that it strikes a nice balance between replica and toy. It has a nice metallic silver paint job with black trim. The trademark yellow and black swirl is there on the shaft, and the “head” is bright red with the silver nob in the middle. The “head” is made of rubbery plastic, which may feel cheap, but I’m guessing it was the better way to go since the connecting rod is so thin harder plastic would have been more susceptible to breakage.

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As in the show, the Screwdriver is activated by pulling down on the shaft with your thumb. It makes the head appear to be extending and it emits one of two sonic whirrrrs, depending on how far you push it down. The sound will continue as long as you have the shaft pressed down. I don’t really detect all that much difference between the two sounds, but what I do hear sounds pretty authentic to the show. The speaker is unfortunately located in the very base of the toy, which means it tends to get a little muffled if you hold it a certain way. I would have loved the sound to come out closer to the top, but from the Screwdriver’s design, I’m guessing that CO was forced to most of the electronics in the thicker base of the gadget.

The Sonic Screwdriver set me back $24.99. If this were a toy that was being sold off the pegs in the local toy aisle, I would call that a bit steep. But keeping in mind that this is an import, and an extremely niche item featured in a show from the early 1970s. I’m not going to complain. I would have adored this toy as a kid, as I tended to have to improvise a Sonic Screwdriver with various small tools from my Dad’s garage. I do remember seeing some toy Sonics when I went to a Whovent Doctor Who convention in NJ back in the late 80s, but they were just oversized, hollow molded plastic and nowhere as cool as this baby.