Back in the early part of 2008 I heard that Character were going to be producing some Classic Who figures to add to their extensive 5" range. I have to say that I was utterly delighted to hear the news! Then, in August 2008 the first wave of Classic figs hit the shelves. Whilst the enemies were fantastic (Zygon, Sea Devil, Magnus Greel and Mr Sin etc), what we were really wanting to see were the Doctors. And THREE released in the same wavae - WOW!! I bought them as soon as I saw them in a shop, and I wasn't disappointed. It got me talking to a good mate of mine (check out his blog at www.supermania78.com) about where we thought the Classic range would go next.
We began to imagine who Character would do and who would be next. Who would we most like to see? If we were making the decisions, what would we do? After idly reminiscing over epic moments we would like to see lovingly recreated in five inches of plastic, we came up with a far-fetched idea. An unlikely pipedream. What if... What if they were to release ALL of the Doctors as a set?! It was a lovely thought, but we came to the conclusion that it would never happen. Indeed, we didn't even think that there would be a second wave of Classics at all (as there seemed to be limited interest in them at the time).
However, over the next few months Character periodically released more and more Doctor figures. William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, John Pertwee; Alternative Tom Bakers, Colin Bakers and Peter Davisons; all beautiful. And all Extortionately priced! £25 - £30 for two 52 figs?! Craziness! Well, that was the end of it, as far as I was concerned. If Character could continue to sell Classic figs at such daft prices, there was no chance we would see a set of all the Doctors. And if we did, would it be remotely affordable? Even less likely.
But then, Character only went and did it! Made all of my Who-toy-collector dreams come true. An Eleven Doctors Set! For £50! That's like £4.50 a Doctor! Not only a must-have set, but a bargain too! Character - I salute you!
I was lucky enough to receive this fantastic box set for my birthday recently, from my long suffering partner, Gem. And wow, what a present it was! I couldn't help but get them out and picture them all next to my flight-control TARDIS! So, without further babble - here they are, all eleven Docs, and my thoughts on each one;
NB - please forgive the picture quality - all pics taken on my phone!
Firstly - WHAT A SCULPT! In my opinion the best sculpt of them all. The face is beautifully done. This version of Bill has him in his well-known suit, without his hat or cloak. I really really like this. The detailing is as near-perfect as anyone could hope for. They even remembered to sculpt his rings! It comes in the set with his walking stick, and altogether he looks entirely the English gent. Fabulous. Well done Character!
Another lovely sculpt! The likeness is fantastic again. This version of Pat has him dressed in his familiar, scruffy ensemble of baggy trousers, shirt, floppy bow-tie and jacket. He is even complete with hankie poking out of his top pocket. The figure comes in the set with his trusty recorder - a beautiful touch too! Unfortunately there are two criticisms I have for this particular figure, despite all of its good points. Firstly, it's a shame that, knowing they were going to provide the 2nd Doctor with a recorder, Character didn't give slightly more thought to articulating this doctor slightly differently with a view to making him able to play it! Maybe I'm nitpicking but I was disappointed I couldn't pose him with the thing in/near his mouth! Secondly (and this is very personal to me!) I feel that I would have preferred him to look a little less serious! This incarnation of the Doctor was described as a 'clown' on many occasions, and whilst the facial sculpt is excellent, I think the whole thing would look so much nicer if he was wearing one of his cheeky grins!
Well, firstly, I should say that Pertwee has always been my favourite Doctor, so by extension is my favourite Doctor in the set. I have literally been waiting for him for years! The sculpt is nice, and upon taking Jon out of the box, I noticed for the first time that the new figures were in scale with themselves! Jon is considerable taller than his two predecessors above. Again this attention to detail (in a world where it would be so much easier to churn out another 5" plastic model) is very much appreciated, at least by fanboys like me! And even more excellent is the fact that the his travelling cloak is removable! He comes with his trusty sonic screwdriver (to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow) and has an expression of non-amusement, just as I remember him! If I could change one thing.... I'd have him in his red jacket, but that's just me. Now, Character, if you're listening, I need a Bessie and a Jo Grant please....
Sad to say it, but this one was a disappointment to me. The sculpt is nice, but was let down (in my set anyway) by a very shoddy paint job. I was looking forward to getting my hands on this version of Peter, as it would be the first one I had complete with celery on his lapel. But to my dismay, the celery fell off in my hands when I was removing him from the packaging! I hope this poor level of quality control was a one-off and I have just been unlucky. Or are Character possibly making the same mistake many have made before and not giving Peter the credit he deserved... I will be gluing the celery back on an will possibly touch up the paint on him a bit. If I do I'll post my version later...
An improvement on their previous attempt (with more accurate colouring on his costume and more attention to detail on bits such as the cat badge), however the best version of Colin is still in my opinion the one where they have him in his blue costume. I find with all of the Colin sculpts I have seen, that his hair is too dark. I think I'll highlight this on at some stage to try and better represent how bright Colin's hair really was! Also worth noting, this is the only Doctor in the set not to have an accessory. Poor Colin!
So, on to my least favourite Doctor. I don't think it was Sylvester's portrayal though, more some of the poor stories he ended up with.Some of the audio adventures and books he was in were amongst the best Who stories I've seen/heard (Lungbarrow = AWESOME!) This sculpt is probably the least like the real person, facially, although they have done a great job on his costume, the detailing is especially good on his jumper! He comes with his famous umbrella, and is the shortest of all the figures, standing about an inch shorter than Pertwee. I'm really glad to have him, but I think that Character could have done better for him, sadly.
Mcgann is, in my opinion, the most underrated of all the Doctors. Partly because he didn't get a fair shake of the stick and was lumbered with a poor (and unashamedly Americanised) storyline. Oh the wasted potential.... Oh well, doesn't do to dwell on these things! The figure is lovely, costume detailing is great, and they even gave him his own sonic screwdriver too. Thanks for this one Character - you could easily have dropped this one. I for one am very glad you didn't!
Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor.
Just the 'vanilla' version of Chris' Doctor, although, to be fair to Character having only one season to play with they can't really do too many variations on this one! Came with his Sonic screwdriver. Still love the massive ears on this sculpt!!!
David Tenant as the Tenth Doctor.
A new face sculpt for this version, and I have to say it looks truer to David than any of the previous ones (especially the hair). He has removable glasses and comes with the sonic screwdriver. My only criticism...I HATE the moulded coats on the Tenant figures!
Very much another 'vanilla' version. Interesting to point out that out of all the models, Matt was the only actor to be 3d scanned in the making of his model, which is odd, as I think he has one of the poorer sculpts! Take that technology! Also supplied with the latest Sonic Screwdriver. The legs on this one are a little odd, I had a job getting him to stand! Hopefully though, Character will have time to improve on Matt, as I for one hope he sticks around for little while...
So, my final vote on this set.....
I have marked this set out of 15, one potential point for each Doc, one for the Price, one for Packaging and one for Pure Fanboy Goodness!
This set scores.... a massive 14! Only losing one point for the poor quality Davison model, something which I think I'll always be disappointed with. But even though it's shy of full marks, it is without a doubt, in my opinion, the best Character Option buy.
Thanks for reading, please feel free to let me know what you think!
Bye bye for now!
Dan
