Now, as many of you may know, or have at the very least worked out, I'm kinda keen on Doctor Who. Pretty good stuff. Love the programme.
And action figures, oh my goodness, they are so good. The action figures that Character Options have released over the last few years have been getting better and better, and looking so fantastic it's not funny. The series four figures are absolutely brilliant. When I was a kid, this was exactly the kind of situation that I wished Doctor Who had been in. I have the desperate urge to create He-Man stories, but not so much Doctor Who stories, even though I love Doctor Who more, and my theory is that it was because I had He-Man action figures. If I had Doctor Who figures, I'd be doing exactly the same thing with the time traveller.
So as a result, when I got wind of the fact that CO were going to release a series of classic series Doctor Who figures, I got more than just a little excited. It took me about five minutes to pre-order my classic series figures, mainly because I couldn't immediately find my wallet. And then they arrived...
OK, so I'm gonna gush about these figures for a long while, but first I will gripe. WHY THE HELL DOESN'T DAVISON HAVE HIS CELERY???? Yes, the fifth Doctor doesn't have his typical stick of celery stuck to his lapel. And I know the reason - the designer didn't like it, and he showed the prototype to Davison and the BBC Execs and they all approved. But seriously, did he say "Here's Peter's figure. I didn't sculpt on the celery, and I hope no one minds", OR did he say "Here's Peter's figure," and all the time thinking 'If I don't mention it, they won't talk about it.' Meanwhile Davison's thinking 'If I don't mention it, they won't talk about it.' OK, so the celery on the lapel is a pretty daft idea, but here's the thing - that's the figure. Now, quite frankly I think Colin Baker's costume would have been much better in blue - as the CDs have suggested. But the action figure needs to represent the character and his costume was the multi-coloured nightmare, so that's what he should have on. Davison's costume included the celery, like it or not. It sucks big balls that they didn't include it.
OK, so let's gush. Firstly there are eight figures in this range and a Classic Dalek collection. The classic collection has a Dalek from "The Daleks" and one from "Genesis Of The Daleks", while the third Dalek is the Dalek Supreme from "Planet Of The Daleks". These Daleks look fantastic, and when you stick them beside a new series Dalek they don't actually look that crap, which is pretty cool.
Now, onto the eight main figures. We get three Doctors - Tom Baker, Davison and Colin Baker, and aside from no celery they are fantastic figures. The heights have all been pretty well matched, with T Baker towerering over, not only his fifth and sixth selves, but also his ninth and tenth. I was mildly surprised that Davison was taller than C Baker, as I didn't think that was the case, but I'll let it pass. The fourth and fifth Doctors both come with sonic screwdrivers, while the sixth Doctor comes with the sonic lance he used in Attack Of the Cybermen. Perhaps more impressively is the fact that the fourth Doctor comes with exchangable heads, so you can have moody Baker and "more teeth than braincells" Baker. They are great figures, although I'm not sure Colin Baker was ever as thin as his action figure suggests he was.
There are five other figures - a Sea Devil with heat weapon; a Zygon with Skarasen recall unit (really the dumbest accessory for any character); SV7; D84 (with Voc disabler) and Magnus Greel, who comes with Mr Sin, and an exchangable head so you can replace the mask with the horrible face. Again, all figures are brilliantly sculpted - indeed the Zygon even has the microphone in the top of his chest which was wear it was on the original costume - and all are given wonderful height. I had forgetten the Sea Devil towered over every other monster there was. If I had to fault the figures then the two things I would single out would be the lack of identification mark on D84, and the fact that several of the characters find it hard to stand up without hassle.
Finally, and this is a biggie, this wave of figures comes with a build-a-figure; in this instance the might K1 robot from the story "Robot" (oh the imagination!). Standing at 18 cm, it towers over nearly all the other figures (although still not quite as impressive as the werewolf). The funny thing about this figure is that he has to look pretty lopsided in order to stand up properly. Now, most people may think that is crap, but it really does look like the thing on television which had the most bizarre lolloping gait I've ever seen. It looks fantastic!
Apparently these figures have sold out now, so I can only hope that this will convince the CO bigwigs that another wave is needed soon. More Doctors!
"A+"
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