Tag Archives: doctor who

Jan 9 2012

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Retro-Style Figure by Bif Bang Pow

[The sheer insanity of Classic Doctor Who figure releases continues, as Character Options has announced two new sets of 5-inch figures this week. Both are two-packs. One is based off of “Attack of the Cyberman” featuring yet another variant of the lovely Ms Perpugillium Brown and what appears to be a rogue Cyberman. The other, based off of “Remembrance of the Daleks” features Davros as the Dalek Emperor and a destroyed Imperial Dalek. Photos have also surfaced of a “Seeds of Doom” set with another 4th Doctor and a Krynoid, but that one has yet to be officially confirmed. But today, we’re actually looking at some Classic Who figures that were not churned out by Character Options. In fact, these guys were licensed and made by an American company! Ok, enough preamble… on with the figure!]

I can’t tell you how many times I waffled back and forth over buying these figures. On the one hand, they’re retro-style figures based on an episode from the 70’s and that’s pretty nifty because this style of toy matches so well with the vintage characters. On the other hand, I don’t collect a lot of the Mego style figures. I like them well enough when the style fits the license. The Real Ghostbusters figures worked well with the style, and I still have a hankering to pick up the ones BBP did of Flash Gordon and The Dude from The Big Lebowski, but generally speaking these guys aren’t really my thing.

I’ve also been iffy on the prototypes BBP showed off from the beginning and I haven’t exactly been impressed with the few Bif Bang Pow toys that I own. I guess I’m still bitter over my Ming the Merciless’ arm falling off right out of the package. Nonetheless, when I saw the in-package shots of the finished products, I simply had to have these. Thus came my second dilemma. I really intended on buying these and not opening them because they looked so good in the packages. On the other hand, I hardly ever buy toys without the intent of opening them. The obvious solution was to buy two sets, but at $20 a pop, I wasn’t about to do that. So I opted to let fate decide. If the figures arrived with the packaging in excellent condition, I would leave them carded. If they arrived with the packages all miffed, I would open them. And the results are…
Holy Hell!!! Well, the shipping gods were pretty definitive in their answer. These figures are without a doubt in the worst condition I’ve ever had toys shipped to me. Not only are the cards warped, the edges look like they’ve been chewed on by a small dog, and they were taped together with the kind of postage tape that takes all the print off the card when you try to remove it. There was clearly maliciousness at work here. They were shipped for free, though, so I guess I can’t complain too much, plus I guess I’ll be saving some money on clamshells from zoloworld. Let’s take a look at the packages and then rip these bitches open.
In the traditional Mego style, The Doctor come in a coffin-shaped bubble and mounted offset on a simple cardback. The usual practice with the Mego-style is to just let the figures rattle around loose in the bubble, but The Doctor is cradled on a partial inner tray with a twisty tie holding his neck in place and another tray holding his Sonic Screwdriver accessory. His hat is off and at the bottom of the bubble, which was a good choice because, as we’ll see in a bit, the hat would have been better left out. There’s a small hologram sticker on the back of the package that identifies the figure number in a series of 3000 produced. Considering how easy these figures are to get, that limitation seems kind of suspicious.

So, I’m particularly fascinated by the packaging BBP used because it’s identical in design to the new retro style packages adopted by Character Options for their 5″ action figure line. I’ve never seen two different companies produce their own toy lines based off the same license and use an identical style of packaging, and yet here it is. It even uses the same little Timeline of Doctors down on the bottom of the card. It’s weird, but I’m very glad they did it, because I adore this new deco and it works really well with the Mego-style cardback.
Once out of the package, I’ve got to admit that The Doctor looks pretty good. BBP frequently showed off a prototype with a horribly oversized head, and while we shouldn’t expect perfect proportions out of this style of figure, the final result is pretty close. The head is soft and squishy, but the sculpt is a fine likeness to actor Tom Baker. Granted, anything would have been better than the prototype shown at the expos, but I can genuinely say that I’m happy with the final result.
BBP also did a fine job with The Doctor’s iconic outfit. He has a brown jacket, complete with elbow patches, a checkered vest, a necktie and a white shirt, plain kakhi trousers and plastic boots. The clothing fits him very well and everything is nicely stitched. The scarf is without a doubt a big win for this figure. Afterall, the mile long scarf is The 4th Doctor’s most iconic accessory and to be able to do it in real cloth is pretty cool, and it looks great on the figure.
As mentioned, The Doctor comes with a plastic fedora. The sculpt is good, it just doesn’t fit right on his head, thanks to the sculpted mop of curly hair. I’m not going to blame BBP for this snafu, since we’ve seen plenty of problems with toy companies trying to get Indiana Jones’ fedora right on larger scale figures. Either way, the hat isn’t a must, so I’m happy to just have him holding it, or setting it aside all together. The other accessory is the Sonic Screwdriver, which is a nice little sculpt and he can hold it well in either hand.
More than anything else, I bought this figure out of a sense of obligation. Sure, I already have shelves and totes bursting with Doctor Who figures and toys, but here was a Fourth Doctor figure actually licensed and sold by an American toy company. There was never any doubt that I had to have it. In the end, I was a lot more impressed than I thought I would be and I can genuinely say I’m extremely pleased with the way the figure turned out. I should even note that the joints are pretty solid for a Mego style figure and The Good Doctor doesn’t have much difficulty standing up on his own. As for the price, twenty bucks seems like a lot for a Mego style figure, but I’d dare say that the sculpting and clothing on this figure goes above and beyond what we’ve seen on a lot of figures in this style. BBP really hit a homerun on this one.

I was going to look at both The Doctor and Sontaran Field Major Styre together, but I’ve ran kind of long with this one, so I’ll be back tomorrow to check out The Sontaran.
Jan 5 2012

Doctor Who: “The Keeper of Traken” Collectors Set by Character Options

The rain of Classic Who figure sets from CO continues and this time we’re checking out a decent sized set of three figures, plus some cool accessories, all based on the 4th Doctor story, “The Keeper of Traken.” Overall, I’ve always found this one to be a fairly mediocre episode, albeit heightened by the fact that it introduces companion Nyssa to the series and also sees the return of The Master as a major player and in his new incarnation as played by the late, great Anthony Ainley.

The set comes in an oblong window box with the new Classics retro-style deco and logo. Once again, let me say that I’m loving this new deco and the fact that we don’t have to see the 2005 logo on the Classics packaging anymore. The back of the box has a little synopsis of the story and features various stills featuring the characters. The set includes another variant of The 4th Doctor, another variant of the decayed Master, The Melkur, which is actually The Master’s TARDIS, and a grandfather clock, which is also actually The Master’s TARDIS. As usual, we get the figures mounted beside each other against a backdrop photo from the episode, in this case a shot of The Grove where both The Doctor’s and The Master’s TARDIS landed on Traken. Off to the side you can even see The Source chamber where The Keeper manifests, although it’s hidden behind the grandfather clock.
Let’s kick things off with The Doctor. Yes, it’s yet another 4th Doctor variant. I’ve already got three 4th Doctors in my collection and I’ve been pretty nitpicky about buying them so chances are a lot of people have more like five or six. Granted, this one is one of the better variants out there, as it features The Doctor in his vest and shirtsleeves and not his coat and scarf. The figure also features the new ball jointed shoulders so that’s a big bonus. I’m a lot more pleased with this figure than I thought I would be. He looks really good, except the paintwork on his eyes gives him a bit of a zombie-like expression. Since he uses the same head sculpt as the figures designed to wear the scarf, he also suffers from a bit of giraffe neck, but all in all not a bad figure at all. The Doctor comes with a scaled version of The Source manipulator as seen in the episode and a Sonic Screwdriver.
Next up is The Master in his second emaciated incarnation. A long while back I looked at the figure of the decaying Master from the episode“The Deadly Assassin” but his appearance (not to mention the actor) changed a bit to this appearance in “The Keeper of Traken.” The figure reuses just about everything from the last release (minus the Sash of Rassilon), but does feature a new head sculpt that really nails the way The Master looked in this episode. The robes are also darker this time around, being more of a proper black whereas the last release was a charcoal color. I probably could have gotten by without this version of The Master in my collection, but he’s still an excellent figure, so I’m not complaining.
The last figure we have is the Melkur, which is actually The Master’s TARDIS. I really had no idea what to expect from this one and was preparing myself for the likelihood that it would just be another static rotocast piece. As it turns out I was only partly right. The torso is rotocast, but the rest of the figure is regular molded plastic and Melkur has a nice amount of articulation for what was essentially a statue in the episode. The head swivels and the arms swivel at the shoulders. The legs actually have lateral movement at the hips too. This may not be the most exciting figure out there, but once again, CO really turned out a great sculpt of this very distinctive looking design.
Finally, you have the grandfather clock, which is as expected just a rotocast piece with stickers used for the detail in the clockface and front glass. This was the form The Master’s TARDIS took when he used it to trap Tremas and take over his body at the end of the story. I always thought it was kind of silly to have such an ordinary Earth clock be a part of the decor on a totally alien planet, but I try not to read too much into this stuff. In any event, it’s a good little replica of the on screen counterpart and its kind of cool that we now have three different versions of The Master’s TARDIS. Can a rotocast “Planet of Fire” column be far behind? At this point anything is possible.
As with most of the recent Collector Sets, this one retails for right around fifty bucks, and I’ll admit this one really is for the more hardcore collectors with deep pockets. Yes, this Doctor figure is a lot different than previous ones and has the extra articulation, but even the more casual collectors may be getting weary of 4th Doctor variants by now. The Master is also a variant of a previous release, and the grandfather clock and the Melkur, while very cool, probably aren’t considered “must haves” by a lot of people who are budgeting for the influx of so many new Doctor Who figures and toys. If you are on a budget, you may want to save your pennies for the sets that released this week. But if you have no problem pouring money into the deludge of awesome Doctor Who figures, you should like this set just fine.
Dec 30 2011

Doctor Who: “Image of the Fendahl” Collector Set

I warned y’all last week that there was a ton of Doctor Who Classics releases coming out from Character Options. I just got done covering the “Invasion of Time” and “Caves of Androzani” 2-Packs. Last week saw the release of the larger “Image of the Fendahl” and“Keeper of Traken” Collector Sets, and there’s three more coming out next week with the “Enemies of the 1st Doctor,” “Enemies of the 3rd Doctor,” and “The Chase” Collector Sets. Sheesh! Today we’re looking at this big boxed set based off the 4th Doctor story, “Image of the Fendahl”. I’ll be honest, this episode has never been one of my “go to” episodes when I’m looking for a Doctor Who to watch, but between the time I ordered this set and the time it got to my door (which was only two days thanks to Who North America’s amazing shipping and service), I made some time to rewatch it. It’s a solid episode, albeit pretty slow to get going.

If you own either of the Sontaran boxed sets, you’ll have an idea of the size of this set. The window style box is similar in design, but it incorporates the new retro deco and logo that we’ve been seeing on the recent Classics releases. I love the new look, as the use of the 2005 logo on the Classics toys never felt right to me. CO has been making it a practice to include printed stills from the episode sets as inserts to create a little display diorama in the box. They’ve slowly been getting more elaborate, and this one is really impressive with some 3D elements that include a table to support the accessories, and an open door to serve as a cardback for the Leela figure. What’s more, everything is secured in a way that you can easily get everything out without mangling the insert. On the downside, if you’re a mint-in-box collector, the adult Fendahleen completely obscures the skull and the embryo Fendahleen accessoreies in the backdrop.
Let’s start with Leela. Oh my. I spent decades wishing for a Leela figure and now I have three of them. It’s such a great time to be a Doctor Who fan! Some may cry foul at having to get yet another variant of the sexy warrior of the Sevateem, but I’m getting pretty full up on 4th Doctor figures, so I’m glad CO went with Leela instead. Granted, this version isn’t as new as the last one, it does feature some new sculpting and, as far as I’m concerned, it does represent the best Leela figure to date. From the neck down, this is the exact same figure we got in the “Invasion of Time” set. The head, however, is a new sculpt with her hair up, which finally gives us a Leela with workable neck articulation. I should also note that from a Quality Control standpoint, this figure is perfect. The paint is crisp and sharp, the joints are tight. It’s a far cry from the sloppy first release that felt more like a custom. As always, Leela comes with her little knife and a working sheath to store it in.
Since this is a reuse of the last Leela’s body, you get the exact same points of articulation. I’ll refrain from ticking them all off again, but suffice it to say it means you get the new awesome ball joints in the shoulders, and the same not-so-awesome ball joints in the hips. The hip joints feel a little tighter this time around, which means Leela’s legs don’t constantly pop off in my hand, but they’ll still come off if you play around with her long enough.
The adult Fendahleen is pretty damn big and dominates the set. If you haven’t seen the episode, it’s basically a giant worm that looks like something out of HP Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos. As with some of the other set pieces CO has put out like the Master’s TARDIS and the Sontaran spaceships, the Fendahleen is rotocast, making it more of a statue than anything else, but given what it is, the figure lends itself well to this type of toy. That having been said, the sculpt and paintwork are both excellent. I tend to expect sculpting to be somewhat softer on rotocast statues, but this one is packed with textured detail and uses some additonal plastic pieces to add the cobra-like hood and the tendrils that spill out of the mouth. There is even a wee bit of articulation in the tail, as it will swivel on a cut joint.
The accessories include the skull and stand and an adorable little embryo Fendahleen. The amount of detail CO worked into the tiny skull is just ridiculous. It’s cast in an orange translucent plastic, but partially washed over with a grey paint spray. The result is a nice light piping effect if you hold it up to the light. They even carved the pentagram into the top of it. Amazing. The embryo Fendahleen is a tiny copy of the bigger version and represents my only real gripe with this set. Considering the price tag, would it have killed CO to throw three or four of these tiny Fendahleen in here? Maybe they’re planning a carded 20 pack like they did with the Cybermats and Adipose. Go ahead, CO, I’d buy it.
The set retails for about fifty bucks. If you willingly shelled out the fifty bucks for either (or both) of the Sontaran sets, than I think you’ll probably be happy with the value here. True, you got two figures in those sets, whereas here you just get Leela. But the rotocast Fendahleen’s sculpt and paintwork is a lot more impressive than the Sontaran ship and while I don’t want to knock CO’s willingness to give us a toy Sontaran spaceship, I think the Fendahleen is a much better display piece. It may not be a bargain, but I’m really thrilled with this set and it’s obvious that CO put a lot of love and care into it, from the packaging right down to the sculpt and paintwork. I suppose I could bitch about having to buy three Leela figures before getting one that I am totally satisfied with, but honestly, I probably would have bought all three variants anyway.
Dec 22 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Doctor Who: Lady Cassandra by Character Options

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Doctor Who: Junk TARDIS Playset by Character Options

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

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