Tag Archives: classic who

Sep 11 2010

Doctor Who: Earthshock Cyberman Leader Helmet (LE 500) by Weta

I never thought a Weta product would ever land in my blog. It’s not that I don’t appreciate their products, quite the contrary, I love drooling over their new product images each time they come out. I especially love their line of trippy retro-style ray guns, but not to the point that I could justify their $500+ price tags. It’s just not in my budget, and the smaller scaled ones don’t interest me. Weta has been securing the rights to doing other licensed products. Recently, they’ve acquired the license to make products based off the District 9 movie, and they’ve had licensing agreements with the Beeb to do Doctor Who related items for a little while now.

One of Weta’s newest lines of Doctor Who based products is a series of limited edition scaled helmets. These have included a Sontaran helmet, an Ice Warrior, a Time Lord headpiece and cowl, and the Cyberman Leader head that we’re going to look at today.

The helmet comes in a very nice illustrated box with a decor similar to what Character Options has been using for their Classic style figures. There’s a blue swirly background with the Doctor Who logo from the 2005-2009 series. Every panel of the box shows a photo of the helmet from a different angle, so you definitely can see what you’re getting despite it not being a window-type package. The back panel has a couple of paragraphs about Doctor Who in general and the side panel has a blurb about the episode, Earthshock and the Cyber Leader.

The first thing I noticed about this box is how freaking heavy it is. Before I could even get it all the way out of the shipping box, I began feeling a sense of satisfaction with my purchase. Inside the box, the helmet rests safely encased in two styrofoam trays with a QC sticker seal attached.

The helmet itself is cast in metal with a silver painted finish and encases the black, matte polystone stand from which it cannot be removed. The only seam that’s present is on the sides of the neck, which I believe is a detail copied from the actual prop and not part of the manufacture process. Either way there are no other visible seams in the sculpt, which is something I am particularly happy about. The mesh screen in the eyeholes is nicely reproduced, as is the segmentation on his “ears” and handlebars. The chin plate is transparent plastic revealing the black stand underneith. The appropriate rubber hosing protrudes from each side of the helmet and runs back to a socket on the stand, since the lower portion of the Cyberman where these would plug in is not recreated here.

The stand itself has a hexagonal base and the matte black finish really contrasts nicely against the silver finish of the helmet. The base stands on four protective rubber grommets and the bottom contains the production information, including the signature of sculptor, David Tremont and the production number, in this case 487 of 500.

The Cyber Leader helmet set me back sixty bucks. It is admittedly quite an extravagance for me since I’m not usually into statues or busts, and this piece definitely falls into both of those categories. Nonetheless, the Earthshock Cyberman has always been my favorite of all the Cyberman designs and considering the limitation of this piece to only 500, the price seemed like a good deal. Still, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what to expect, but now that I have it, I can’t say as I have any buyer’s remorse. It’s a beautiful, well-crafted piece which will get a prominant place in my display case.

 

Sep 1 2010

Doctor Who: The Master and Axon by Character Options

Having barely recovered from holding in my hand an action figure based on The Master as played by Anthony Ainley, Character Options delivered the rapid one-two punch by leaking photos of another Classic Master figure, this time the original as played by Roger Delgado. In a bewilderingly fast turnaround, leaked photos turned into finished product and scarcely a month later I now hold in my hands The Claws of Axos set, which is comprised of the aforementioned Master and a Krynoid… no, wait… I mean an Axon.

No standard clamshell package this time. The Axos set comes in a cool, compact little window box, featuring the blue background from the newer Series 5 packages, but still retaining the Doctor Who logo used for Series 1 through 4. Yeah, part of me wishes they would release these Classic figures with one of the original series logos, but then again, I toss the packages so what do I care? The rear and side panels feature photos of Roger Delgado as The Master and the Axon creature and there is a synopsis of the episode on the back panel as well. The box is totally collector friendly and the insert can come out and double as a nifty little diorama depicting the Axon spaceship.

The Master and the previously released Ainley Master represent the first two non-Doctor figures from the Classic series based on actor’s likenesses (ie. not heavily costumed aliens). This is a big deal, because CO went on record a while back saying that this would probably never happen. Granted, they were speaking more about Classic companions than anything else, but I’m buoyed in my optimism that if we can get figures based on Ainley and Delgado, then Classic companions can’t be too far behind. I realize a lot factors into it, especially differences between securing the likeness rights between living and deceased actors, but I’ve never been more confident than right now that we will see Classic companion figures.

But besides being a milestone release, the Delgado Master is also an absolutely fantastic figure. The likeness in the headsculpt is excellent, even for CO, a company that has been known for producing very good likenesses. The paint apps on the face are extremely well done, with just a tiny bit of slop along the hairline. I especially like the darker pigments around his eyes and the streaks of grey in his goatee. Even the skintone is perfect for Delgado.

The body does not feature a lot of paint apps or sculpted details, but it is a great likeness of The Master’s iconic black suit. In fact, the only place below The Master’s neck that isn’t black is the little bit of white on his cuffs that peek out from under his sleeves. He’s even wearing black gloves. It may not be the most visually stunning outfit, but it is totally in character for The Master’s wardrobe. He comes with his Tissue Compression Eliminator, a ghoulish device that basically shrinks its targets, killing them in the process. The sculpt here seems a little too cylindrical, more like a black and silver Sonic Screwdriver, but I’ll take what I can get.

The Master’s articulation is on par with the current waves of Doctor Who figures. He has a rotating neck, rotating shoulders, hinged elbows and knees, universal leg movement in the hips, and swivel cuts in the biceps, thighs and wrists.

The Axon figure has a bit of a history to it, as it started life as a Krynoid and was even originally leaked as a possible Build-A-Figure for a forthcoming wave of Classic figures. It’s certainly big enough for a BAF, but in the end the idea was nixed and it was unknown whether we’d ever actually see this figure released in any form until now. And so, the Krynoid figure was retooled and repainted to be an Axon as a companion figure needed for a Classic Master release. It’s only fitting, though, since the Krynoid suit worn in the Seeds of Doom was a modified version of an old existing Axon costume. In other words, the fact that this Axon started out as a Krynoid does not bother me one bit. On the other hand, they could have bundled the Delgado Master with just about anything and I still would have bought it.

Regardless of his origins, the Axon is a very cool looking figure. There’s a ton of sculpted details on his copious body. In fact, there simply isn’t a spot on this figure that isn’t elaborately textured in some way. The tendrils are made of bendy rubbery plastic and protrude off of his body at various points. The main complaint here isn’t likely to be the amount of effort that went into him, but that the detail makes him look more like a plant than anything else. It’s also worth noting that the tendrils on the Axon costume were a lot thinner and more stringy. Still, we can blame that partly on the similarities of the costume, and partly on CO wanting to cut costs by reusing a mold. Hey, Hasbro and Mattel do it all the time, so I’m willing to let CO get away with it now and then. And either way, I’ll be happy to buy this figure again when CO inevitably repaints him green and releases him as a Krynoid.

The Axon’s articulation is a lot more limited than most other Doctor Who figures, but I blame this more on his body type than any lack of effort on CO’s part. He has a rotating head, universal joints in the shoulders and hips, and swivel cuts in the wrists and ankles. His waist looks like it contains a joint of some kind, but mine doesn’t move at all there. I’m guessing this seam may be a holdover from the figure’s BAF origins.

The Claws of Axos set retails at around $39.99, which I think is pretty good considering the size of the Axon figure and the fact that we are getting two completely new figures in the set. CO could have easily bundled The Master with another Dalek and put it out at the same price. Needless to say I am absolutely thrilled (and still just a little bit stunned) to finally own a figure based on this version of The Master, especially one that is so wonderfully executed. Now to let my wallet recoup a bit before the release of the newly revealed Revenge of the Cybermen set.

Aug 7 2010

Doctor Who: Planet of Fire 5th Doctor and The Master (SDCC Exclusive) by Character Options

For a while now, Character Options has been dancing around giving us certain characters from the classic show. We’ve gotten all The Doctors, and our share of aliens, but the “human” characters have been off limits. With the release of this set, we’re one step closer to breaking that unfortunate lock out. The “Deadly Assassin” Master previously released was all well and good, but I, like many fans, were waiting to get a figure based on one of the proper incarnations of this evil Time Lord, and now we have it. The Planet of Fire set gives us another version of the 5th Doctor plus The Master as portrayed by the late, great actor Anthony Ainley.

The packaging here is the same type we’ve been seeing on all the classic style two-packs. The logo and artwork is based on the 2005-2010 series and the figure is sealed in a clamshell. An insert on the bottom shows off images of The Doctor and The Master and the back panel has a blurb about the episode and The Master. The 2010 SDCC logo is printed in the upper right hand of the card. Planet of Fire has never been one of my favorite episodes, but it does introduce the appealing companion, Peri, and it is a pretty good final showdown between The 5th Doctor and The Master. Ainley would also reprise his role to face off against both the 6th and the 7th Doctors in future episodes. Oh yeah, Planet of Fire also sees the departure of Turlough… good riddance!

Before getting started, here’s a quick and possibly unnecessary disclaimer on The Master as he is portrayed in this set. Technically, this is not The Master, but rather the shape-shifting android, Kamelion, assuming the form of The Master, who was in actuality stranded in his TARDIS in a… um… diminished state. Its only really relevant because The Master never actually wore a suit like this and this was an opportunity for CO to create an Ainley Master while reusing some parts from the John Simm Master. Do I care? Nope. If CO sees fit to release a proper Master figure later on down the road, I will pick it up, if not, I’m perfectly happy with this one. Its amazing how easy I am to please when dealing with a figure I thought I’d never get.

At first glance, many thought that this Master’s body was a complete reuse of the body used for the John Simm Master, but that’s not entirely the case. The arms and legs are the same, but the torso has significant differences. The details on this new figure’s jacket are much better sculpted, he’s wearing a vest under the jacket, and the wrinkles sculpted into the back are more pronounced. The sculpting on the Simm Master’s coat looks really soft when compared to the crisp detail on this one. The head sculpt is obviously new and quite excellent. CO did a fine job capturing Ainley’s slightly evil smirk and his mesmerizing, piercing eyes. There’s a tad of paint slop on the goatee, but nothing that is unacceptable. All in all, this is an excellent figure.

The Master’s articulation includes a rotating head. His arms rotate at the shoulders, are hinged at the elbows and have swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists. His legs have universal joints at the hips and hinged knees. He is, however, missing the swivel cuts in the thighs that many fo CO’s Doctor Who figures have.

The Doctor is also a fantastic figure, although he features far less original sculpting than The Master. The body sculpt is virtually identical to the one used for the previous single carded release, with the only difference being the celery on his lapel. I suspect it is identical to the Doctor released in the SDCC exclusive Time Crash set, released a few years back, and it may be the same body used on the one in the recent Eleven Doctors Set, both of which also feature the ornamental vegetable.

The head on this figure is a resculpt, changed just enough to accomodate the hat, which is not removable. The paint on this figure is very crisp, with the only flaw I can see being a small red dot of paint on the left shoulder of his coat. I’m not someone really interested in collecting a lot of variants of each Doctor, but I was glad to get this one because of the celery and I think the hat looks quite good on him. Right now, this one is replacing my other 5th Doctor as my main display piece. That’s how much I like him.

The Doctor features the exact same articulation as his previous releases. He has a rotating head. His arms rotate at the shoulders, are hinged at the elbows and have swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists. His legs have universal joints at the hips, hinged knees and swivel cuts in the thighs.

The set only comes with one accessory and that’s a sonic screwdriver for The Doctor. The obvious miss here is the lack of a Tissue Compression Eliminator for The Master. Oh well!

The Planet of Fire set retailed at $39.99, which is exactly what we’ve come to expect to pay for these limited issue two-packs. Sure, some might complain about the reuse of parts on The Master, or that he’s actually Kamelion and not The Master at all. Others might complain that they have to buy another Doctor just to get him. Me? I’m thrilled with this set. Its actually the one SDCC exclusive that I decided I couldn’t live without. As it turned out, it was a pretty easy set to get and many e-tailers still have it available at the original MSRP.

Jul 23 2010

Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis Cyberleader and Cyberman by Character Options

Silver Nemesis was one of the very last episodes of Doctor Who to air before the show got shitcanned by the BBC in 1989. While impressions of its quality varies from fan to fan (The Doctor was up against 16th century time travellers, Cybermen and Neo Nazis!), it did give us the absolute final incarnation of the Cybermen until they were later recreated in 2006 for the modern series. This final version, though based heavily on the model that appeared back in the episode Earthshock and later Attack of the Cybermen, featured a number of key changes, well worthy of a brand new figure… or in this case, two!

The Silver Nemesis Cybermen come in a two-pack, mounted in a blister pack very similar to other recent classic-era figures. The front insert shows a photo of the characters and the back gives a brief synopsis of the episode, along with a timeline of all The Doctors. Actually, the timeline cheats a bit since it doesn’t have Sylvester McCoy retiring as Doctor #7 until his regeneration in the 1996 Fox TV movie. I don’t have much else to say about the packaging, we’ve seen it many times before, and it still works just fine. It is interesting that Character Options is still using the 2005-2009 logo for the Classic figures and have yet to adopt the current one from the Mat Smith era.


The figures represent a standard Cyberman soldier and a Cyberleader. They’re actually the same exact figure, except for the black paint on the Leader’s handlebars. They also both come with the same terrible, terrible weapon, which is basically a hunk of soft rubber that neither one can hold very well. Compared to the amazing detail that went into the Earthshock Cybie’s gun, I’m really not impressed with these accessories. But then the prop used in Silver Nemesis was vastly inferior to the Earthshock one as well.

So what’s different on these guys from the Earthshock figure? The biggest difference is in the body, which is a completely new sculpt. Gone is the chainmail style of the Earthshock Cybie (seen below on the left), and in its place are coils of wires on the arms and legs. The former Cybie’s big ski boots are replaced with smaller boots, but the newer versions have much, much bigger hands. Both figures have a nice level of detail, although the new version includes some wash over the paint, which makes the foil jumpsuit look more textured and realistic.

The cowl that hangs over their shoulders and chests are mostly identical, with the main difference being the black plate in the center of theEarthshock version’s chest. Obviously, the Cybermen got tired of people grinding up gold into these cheesegrater plates and did away with them. There’s also an extra helping of clear tubing that runs into the back of the Silver  Nemesis Cybies. As for the head sculpts, the only major difference there is the weapon or sensor cluster sculpted into the top of their heads and the fact that the chin plate on the older model is more transparent.

The articulation on the Silver Nemesis Cybies adds just two swivel cuts in the thighs that were unfortunately missing from the Earthshockfigure. Otherwise, you get rotating shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps, wrists, and waist, hinged elbows and knees and universal movement in the hips. The heads do not turn, but then I’m pretty sure they couldn’t turn their heads in the show either. Basically, this is the level of articulation we’ve come to expect from this line of figures, and while ball jointed shoulders would be nice, what’s here isn’t at all bad.

While the overal 80’s Cyberman is still my favorite design, I don’t have a huge preference over the differences here. I will, however, say that the overall quality on my Earthshock Cyberman is a notch above these new guys. The sculpt seems a bit more detailed and crisper, and I think the detail in the body just pops more on the older figure. The new Cybies’ hands are a bit soft and I’ve already expressed my dismay over their reluctance to hold their weapons. Although, I will say that the added tubing on the new figures is very nicely done. In the end, its almost a toss up, but I’ll give the Earthshock figure the nod. I was considering buying a second set of these, but now I think I’ll just invest in two more of theEarthshock figures. Either way, Character Options did an amazing job incorporating every little detail of the differences into these figures.

While previous classic-era two packs have sold for $49.99, these Cybermen were released at only $34.99, which really isn’t that bad. Granted the previous fifty dollar sets all included a version of The Doctor. But considering the Earthshock Cybermen sell for around $15-18 each, this set seems to be priced just right. And army builders will be happy to know that just a few dabs of silver paint can turn your leaders into warriors. Now, all Character Options really needs to do is give us the model from Revenge of the Cybermen and we’ll be all set.

 

May 23 2010

Doctor Who: The 7th Doctor with Electronic TARDIS by Character Options

Last week was busy for Doctor Who collectors, and for many it was also a disappointing one. In one day we were hit with the 7th Doctor & TARDIS set, the 4th Doctor & TARDIS set, and a brand new version of the 1st Doctor from the pilot episode, An Unearthly Child. Besides dealing with the cost, these toys were issued in pretty limited supplies Stateside and as such unless you were lucky enough to pre-order what you wanted, chances are you missed the tiny window in which these remained on e-tailers’ websites. In many ways it was a similar experience to what Masters of the Universe fans face on Matty Collector’s site just about every month, only we Who fans didn’t even have a specific time as to when these would be available for purchase.

I was lucky enough to get a pre-order in for this, the 7th Doctor set, the one I wanted the most, but I would have liked to have picked up theUnearthly Child figure as well and I’ll have to bite the bullet and hunt him down somewhere. The 4th Doctor & TARDIS set is pretty cool, but I just couldn’t justify dropping $100 on two TARDIS sets in one month, so I went with the 7th Doctor, mainly because he’s a new version (albeit just a repaint), whereas the 4th Doctor is the exact same figure I already own.

Let’s get the figure out of the way first.

The 7th Doctor’s early stories were pretty flippant and silly, but as time wore on, they took on a much darker style and his outfit evolved to portray that change. His jacket went from cream to dark brown, his paisely scarf got darker, even his tie got darker. This repainted figure reflects those changes really well and the quality of the paint job is excellent. Unfortunately, CO didn’t take the opportunity to give us a new head sculpt, and while a smiling Sylvester McCoy may have been appropriate in the outfit from his more whimsical days, its pretty out of place in this darker attire. This figure should have definitely been issued with a more serious and somber head sculpt. Apart from that everything is the same as the previous release. He has the same articulation and the same umbrella accessory. Its a great figure, and I think the repaint makes him well worth owning in addition to the previous release.

And now… the TARDIS.

Casual and newer fans of the show may be surprised to learn that the iconic Police Box, the one constant throughout the entire series, wasn’t so constant. Sure, the TARDIS remained a Police Box, but the prop saw a number of variations over the years. You can actually go mad studying the slight (and some not so slight) differences in the TARDIS props. The package says this is supposed to be the TARDIS from the episode The Curse of Fenric, but it actually better matches the one used for the 7th Doctor’s earlier stories, or even the later 6th Doctor stories. Either way, its significantly different than the one used in the 2005 series as its slightly shorter, considerably narrower, has much smaller windows, and the sign on the door is blue instead of white.

One thing you should know about this toy is that it is not just a redesigned version of CO’s previously released Flight Control TARDIS. Its a much simpler and somewhat lesser quality toy with fewer features. There are no interior lights, which actually makes sense, since the windows on the classic TARDISes didn’t have that interior glow like the ones in the current series do. It still has the take off and landing sounds, activated by picking it up or setting it down, and a flashing lamp on top, but there’s no more vortex sound or humming when its at rest. Consider this, a stripped down version of the Flight Control TARDIS.

The doors on this model are designed to work in a similar manner to the Flight Control TARDIS, but they don’t. There is still an opening cubby for the phone, but its bigger on this model, and so that door won’t open in very far at all. The other door is designed to lock in an open position and can be released by pushing a button on the floor. Unfortunately, the door usually won’t stay open at all, instead it just springs closed. I’ve gotten it to stick open a few times, but its not as solid as my other TARDIS.

Probably the most frustrating thing about this TARDIS is that Character Option chose to leave the interior completely unfinished. Open the door and look in and its just an empty box. It would have been easy for them to include an insert of the classic console room to brighten things up.

All things being equal, its a bit tough to justify the $50 price tag on this set. Unfortunately, it had a very limited production run and even fewer than those came Stateside, so if you missed out on the initial offering, you’ll probably have to pay a premium. Some may seriously regret dropping more than fifty bucks on this set once they get it in hand. Don’t get me wrong. There was a time when this set would have been like a dream come true and I probably would have paid double to own it. But since then, Character Options has given us a huge number of fantastic Doctor Who figures and toys and now I’ve come to expect better. It just goes to show how far we’ve come that we can be so discriminating about a set of Doctor Who toys.

Mar 24 2010

Doctor Who: The 7th Doctor and Imperial Dalek by Character Options

Well, it took a while, but we finally have them all. With the release of the 7th Doctor (played by Sylvester McCoy), Character Options has finally given us figures of all the original Doctors from the classic series. In fact, if you toss out Peter Cushing from the old American feature films (which no Who fan considers canon anyway) the only Doctor that has not yet been released is Number 8 (Paul McGann) from the largely unsuccessful 1996 Fox TV film.

Sylvester McCoy had the dubious position of playing The Doctor when the show got shitcanned back in 1988. While his early stories were pretty rough, he really shined in the role and ultimately made it his own. The 7th Doctor went from being a comedic bumbler to one of the craftiest and darkest of all The Doctors. His episodes spanned everything from sharp political commentary to sinister stories that pointed to The Doctor having a dark and mysterious past. Episodes like “The Curse of Fenric,” “Silver Nemesis,” “Ghost Light,” and yes, even “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy” rank among my favorites. Of course, he also had some real stinkers like “Delta and the Bannermen,” which to this day I still find completely unwatchable. But nobody’s perfect… not even Time Lords.

Just like the first three Doctors, the 7th Doctor comes in a two figure blisterpack, bundled with one of his foes: In this case it is a white and gold Imperial Dalek from the episode “Remembrance of the Daleks.” The packaging is identical to the first three Doctors with a personalized insert in the bubble and blurbs about the 7th Doctor and the episode on the back. If I were a MOC collector, I would have much rather the classic Doctors all be carded alone, but considering I ripped this baby open the second I got it, it really doesn’t matter to me.

Before getting on to all the good stuff, let me start out with what I consider to be this figure’s biggest stumbling block… the goofy smile. The head sculpt is actually a very good likeness, but when CO released the 4th Doctor, they gave him two interchangeable heads. One had him grinning his big toothy (and batshit insane) grin while wearing his fedora, the other was a hatless and more serious look. I really, really wish CO had gone the same route with the 7th Doctor. I don’t mind the hat, since he wore it enough, but there really should have been an alternate head if they were going to have him smiling like that. Yeah, I know that during the opening credits, he winks and grins, but the truth is that the 7th Doctor spent most of his time scowling at enemies and administering stern lectures to his companion Ace. I just don’t think the smile fits all that well.

Ok, so that having been said, the rest of the figure is fantastic. CO really nailed his outfit perfectly. He’s got his cream colored jacket and matching hat. The paint apps on his plaid slacks, question mark sweater, pocket hanky and paisley scarf are all excellent. A big part of each Doctor has always been their iconic choice of outfits and the 7th Doctor’s outfit is reproduced here meticulously. His height is also perfect. Sylvester McCoy is a pretty short guy and this figure reflects that pretty well.

The articulation is exactly what we’ve been getting on the previous classic Doctors. He’s got a swivel neck, rotating shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps, hinged elbows and hinged wrists. His legs have universal joints in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs and hinged knees. Not bad.

The Doctor comes with one accessory, and this time its actually not a Sonic Screwdriver. No, the 7th Doctor comes with his trusty question-mark handled umbrella, which he not only used to keep the rain off of him, but to zip line down cables, snatch weapons out of enemy hands and all sorts of other clever improvisations. Its molded in soft plastic and fits nicely in his hand.

The Dalek is a repaint and slight remold of the classic Dalek sculpt that CO has been turning out for a while now, but that’s not to say it isn’t a welcome addition. The color scheme here has always been one of my favorites and not only matches the pattern used in “Remembrance of the Daleks” but can also double for the Imperial Daleks seen in the 6th Doctor episode, “Revelation of the Daleks.” Either way I’m always happy to add another variant Dalek to my army. The main difference in the sculpt is in the “ear” lights which are new sculpts for this design. The Dalek has ball jointed blaster and suction arm, a swivel head, and the eye stalk can move up and down.

As with the first three Doctors, this two pack retails for $39.99. Sure, $20 a figure is pretty steep, but if I can pay that much for Matty’s Masters of the Universe Classics, I’ll certainly pay it for figures based on my favorite TV show of all time. Another version of the 7th Doctor, in brown coat and hopefully sans smile, will be released in a few months and bundled with a classic version of the Flight Control TARDIS. I’ve already got mine on pre-order!

Oh yeah, and its just about another week and a half until Series 5 starts. And man, I can’t wait!

Feb 20 2010

Doctor Who Figures, Classics Wave 2, Part 3

I saved the best for last in this final part of my look at the second wave of Doctor Who Classics figures The pair we’re looking at today are no doubt fan favorites and awesome army builders to add to your collection. These are also the only two figures in the wave that are not tied to Fourth Doctor stories. The Ice Warrior hardly needs any introduction, although since they haven’t been seen in Doctor Who since the early 70s, maybe they do. Only encountered by the Second and Third Doctors, they were at least mentioned in the recent Tenth Doctor episode, “The Waters of Mars.” The Cyberman is the last one we need to complete the major changes in the Mondan race throughout the series. This model first appeared in the Fifth Doctor episode, “Earthshock” and was used with minor changes throughout the rest of the classic series. It is without a doubt my favorite of all the Cyberman designs and one of my Top Five Who figures released thus far. Let’s check these bad boys out…

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The Ice Warrior is a fantastic recreation of the monster from the series, although as such he’s bound to look a little primitive to newcomers to the series. Reptillian, slow moving, and not to bright, the Ice Warriors were the fighters, while the Ice Lords were the thinkers. The sculpt here is really faithful to the old costume. The bulbous, turtoise armor is spot on, with tons of fine detailing to the sculpt, and I love the retro look of his simple claws. The only real flaw in this sculpt is that the head seems like it should sit lower into his shell than it does. Nonetheless, he looks fantastic standing next to my Second Doctor figure.
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Articulation on the Ice Warrior is pretty good, although there are some things about his design that hamper it. The head rotates, there are ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows and his claws swivel. From the waist down things get a bit more restricted. He has good joints in his upper legs, but the rubbery lower part of his shell make these all but useless. He maintains a permanent wide stance and can only move each leg a small amount forward and back. He does have swivel cuts in his thighs and ankles and his knees are hinged. I’m not blaiming Character Options for the articulation in the legs, its clearly there, but it’s just at odds with the design
Fair enough. Besides, Ice Warriors aren’t exactly ninjas, they lumber around like robots.
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The Cyberman is in a word, awesome. Granted, I’m a bit biased, since this remains my favorite Cyberman design of them all, but the fact of the matter is that this is one of Character Options best sculpts and it is so accurate its downright freaky. The use of the clear plastic for his chest plate and chin guard is really cool, as is the fact that his entire chest and shoulder assembly is molded as a separate piece. But what really makes this figure shine is the perfect head sculpt and the crazy amount of work that went into the detail of the suit. Every wire and hose and patch of chainmail has been recreated with painstaking care. Simply amazing.
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The Cyberman is missing some of the usual articulation found on the current CO releases, but a lot of this has to do with the character’s design. The head does not move, but then it didn’t in the show either. His shoulders swivel, and while I would have preferred ball joints, CO doesn’t tend to use them very often in the shoulders. Either way, I think the omission of ball joints in the shoulder is really the figure’s only flaw. There are swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. He can swivel at the waist, his upper legs move both up and down and laterally, his knees are hingd and he has swivel cuts at his boots. He is missing the swivel cuts in his upper legs. The articulation in this figure is by no means bad, its just a bit lacking when compared to some others in the line.
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The Cyberman comes with his gun accessory, which looks to be a pretty accurate sculpt. The gun features a shoulder strap, which works so long as you tuck it in under his shoulder armor. He can also hold the gun quite well in one hand or both.
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It’s hard to put into words how cool it is to have such great figures of these two iconic Doctor Who baddies. I would love to pick up at least one more Ice Warrior and two more of these Cybies, but I doubt that’s going to be possible. They sold out crazy fast and the only way I was able to get these, was because I ordered the entire assortment. I suspect these are going to be two figures that sell for a lot on the resale circuits because everyone is going to want to army build them, particularly the Cyberman. Maybe we’ll get lucky and CO will do some minor retooling to the Cybermen and release “Attack of the Cyberman” and “Silver Nemesis” versions. As for the Ice Warrior, he won’t be truly complete until we get an Ice Lord to stand by his side!
Feb 19 2010

Doctor Who Figures, Classics Wave 2, Part 2

As promised, I’m back to check out the next two figures from Classics Wave 2 and these guys have a couple things in common. They are both villains from the Fourth Doctor’s (Tom Baker) era and they are both evil Time Lords with regeneration problems. Morbius from “The Brain of Morbius” was a Time Lord criminal who, unable to regenerate, kept his brain alive on a planet while harvesting alien body parts to build himself a new body. It was a complete rip off of loving tribute to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and when I first saw it as a kid it scared the shit out of me. To this day it’s still one of my favorite Doctor Who stories. The Master is from “The Deadly Aassassin,” aother favorite of mine, and it features The Doctor’s greatest enemy as he existed between his Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley incarnations. Both are interesting choices from landmark episodes and both figures, as we’ll see, are fantastic.

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The Master is a good news, bad news kind of figure. The good news is that the sculpting is superb. The bad news is that because he’s wearing a robe he has some seriously limited articulation. Fortunately, in this case the good outweighs the bad by a long shot. CO put a ridiculous amount of detail in The Master’s tattered black robes. There are patches where it looks charred and threadbare and you can see its all tattered at the edges. It really is an uncanny match for the costume used in the show. The head sculpt is equally impressive, showing off what is essentially a decaying zombie face, complete with The Masters two fried-egg eyes and the sickening glossy sheen. I don’t know why, but I find it unbelievably cool to get action figures based on retro sci-fi costumes and make up.

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I mentioned the limited articulation, and in fairness to CO, this figure is actually articulated quite well, its just that the robes prevent you from using much of it. The arms rotate at the shoulders, have hinged elbows and swivel cuts in the wrists. The neck is immobilized by the hood and you can move his legs around as much as the cloak will allow, but there’s no point. So, basically this figure suffers from teepee syndrome. Technically, CO could have left the legs off completely and unless you picked up the figure and looked at him from the bottom, you’d never know it. In this case the articulation doesn’t bother me. The Master in this incarnation was a withered wreck of a man, so he doesn’t need to be busting out any dynamic action poses.

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The Master comes with two accessories: A staser gun and the Sash of Rassilon. The Sash is a separate piece, although I’m not sure it can be easily removed so its probably more a part of his outfit than a bonafide accessory. It looks just like it did in the episodes “The Deadly Assassin” and “Invasion of Time” and its cool to own such an important artifact of Time Lord history in the 5″ scale. The staser is a pretty simple little black gun, which he can hold in either hand.

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Next up is Morbius. If you never saw “The Brain of Morbius,” this guy is going to be a pretty wacky looking figure. As mentioned above, he’s supposed to be pieced together from a bunch of different alien bodies with his goldfish-bowl brain support system tacked on for a head. Yeah, he’s ridiculous, but he’s amazingly accurate to the monster from the show, and once again he scared the shit out of me the first time I saw the episode as a kid. This figure was also rumored for a while to be a BAF in this wave, but we got him complete and carded instead.

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The head is really well done on this figure. Its a clear sphere displaying Morbius’ brain with all kinds of wires coming out of it and two eye stalks protruding from the front. The body is full of sculpted detail from fur to stapled and sutured scars and disgusting patches of exposed muscle. His left hand is the only thing humanoid about him, an appenge stolen from poor Condo. His right arm is a giant claw that features articulation, so you can use it to grab your Tom Baker figure by the throat. Early pictures of this figure really didn’t do it justice and I’m just beside myself with glee to actually own an action figure of the terrible Morbius!

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So, that’s four down and two more to go. Next time we look at what are probably two of the most popular figures in this wave and both of them are “army builders.” Its an Ice Warrior and 80’s era Cyberman and both are figures that have been on my wish list ever since I was a small child… and no Dapol’s versions don’t count!

Feb 18 2010

Doctor Who Figures, Classics Wave 2, Part 1

The second official wave of Doctor Who Classics figures has been a long time coming. Granted, since the first Classics wave, we’ve had a number of special releases based on the original series, including the first three Doctors, a couple of Dalek sets, and an entire wave of Cybermen, all but one of which was from the original series. But that hasn’t stopped the endless speculation and anticipation over what would constitute the next official wave. Well, finally they’re here… six figures and this time CO abandoned the Build-A-Figure gimmick. The figures include The un-regenerated Master from “The Deadly Assassin,” An Ice Warrior, an “Earthshock” Cyberman, Morbius from “The Brain of Morbius” and the two figures we’re looking at today: The Servo Robot Mummy from “The Pyramids of Mars” and the Green Voc Robot from “The Robots of Death.” Both of these figures are based on characters from Tom Baker’s tenure as the Doctor, and they are the only two figures in this wave to have been previously released. Both the Mummy and the Voc Robot were available in the Fourth Doctor Adventure Set, which also included a repack Tom Baker Doctor and a Suicide Dalek. I passed on that set because it was more than I wanted to spend when I already had a Fourth Doctor figure, and it was being strongly hinted at that at least two of these figures would get carded releases somewhere down the line.

Sorry, no in-package shots. I greedily ripped these open before I had access to my camera. The packages featured the fourth series NuWho logo on printed paper sandwiched in a clamshell. There’s an insert in the bubble to personalize it, while the back panel is generic, showing all the figures in this wave. Make sure you have a good pair of scissors or a blade to open these bastards, and get ready to contend with some twist ties once you get it open.

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The Servo Robot Mummy is a very simple sculpt, but that’s not really a fault of the figure, but rather the character design that its based on. Its basically just sculpted bandages with a gray paint wash and very little else, save for the small control pyramid sticking out the back. The contours of the mummy’s face and chest are distinctively recreated from the show, but overall this figure holds very few surprises.

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The articulation on this figure is not bad, especially for what it is. From the waist down you get everything you could ask for. The upper legs rotate and have lateral movement for wider stances. The knees are hinged and there are cut swivel joints in the thighs and ankles. The arms rotate at the shoulders are hinged at the elbows and have swivel cuts in the wrists. He also swivels at the waist. We’re used to getting ball joints in a lot of the Character Options figures’ shoulders these days, but not here and the head has no articulation. I think it says enough to point out that this figue is capable of a much greater range of movement than the robots in the story.

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The Mummy Robot comes a coptic jar that opens to reveal a removable silver cylinder. If I remember the episode correctly, the cylinder was a power cell for a force shield. The detailing on the coptic jar is really nice, and I’m told this is a variant from the one included in the Fourth Doctor Adventure Set. Its weathered to look antique and the sculpting on the top piece as well as the cylinder is great. A lot of toy companies would have considered this a throwaway accessory, but it’s clear that CO put some love into it.

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While it may sound like I’m unimpressed with the Mummy’s sculpt, the truth is I like it a lot and it’s certainly a great representation of the character. I have to give CO props for making this figure at all as I had just about given up hope for many more classic-themed but somewhat minor aliens. I will just add that I was a little disappointed with the Mummy’s size. He doesn’t stand much taller than the 4th Doctor himself, so the figure really needed to be a bit taller and a lot more bulkier to be accurate. At one point it was suggested this guy might be a BAF, and perhaps that would have seen him in a better scale. Right now, these are running around $15 each, but if they drop in price, I may grab one more so I can recreate the classic two-mummy-chest-crushing-action from the episode.

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And that brings us to the Voc Robot. I’m not going to go on for too long about this guy, because its a repaint of a figure I’ve already reviewed twice a long time ago when it was released in both a silver and a black version in the first Classics wave. This is the same great sculpt, and one of my favorites in a long line of great Who figures from CO. The “Robots of Death” are an awesome design, with an cool art deco look about them. Between these and the clockwork men from “The Girl in the Fireplace” its tough to decide which robot design is cooler. Anyway, the figure really captures the head and the outfit perfectly and CO has even included a sheet of V-designation stickers to apply to his chest. I’m not a huge fan of repaints, but considering how great a sculpt this figure is and the fact that it represents the three different types of robots in the episode, I was glad to pick it up.

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There is actually one new thing about this figure and that’s located in the head sculpt. This Voc’s head has light piping in the eyes to make them glow red just like the robots’ eyes glowed in the episode when they got taken over and turned into murderers. Its a really cool effect, even if the red plug in the top of the head is a little unsightly. Its also something that wasn’t included in the Voc Robot released in the Fourth Doctor Adventure Set.

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I mainly reviewed these two figures together because they were both already released, but it’s also worth mentioning that they were the two figures that I was the least excited about in this wave. Don’t get me wrong, they are both really cool figures, but they are kind of overshadowed by the sheer awesomeness of the remainder of the wave. Nonetheless, getting them both in hand I was really happy with the way they turned out.

Next time, we’ll take a look at Morbius and The Master.