"Well I just saved the world, the whole planet, for about the millionth time, free of charge, so yeah, shoot me...I kept the clothes."

Well...the new series of Doctor Who has come to an end and the 11th Doctor Matt Smith has saved the day. Luckily for the articulated plastic loving fools out there like myself, a whole slew of NEW Doctor Who toys has finally made it's way over to the States.


This is truly a great time to be a Doctor Who fanboy. We have been treated to a pile of San Diego Comic Con Exclusives as well as our getting our hands on the 1st wave of Series 5 figures and lots of new Classics.


Over the last 4 years, Doctor Who action figure collecting has finally reached it's golden age. We are getting figures and playsets we never thought possible and characters that have never been done in any toy format.


It all started when Mego was commissioned by Denys Fisher over in England to make an action figure line for the Tom Baker era of the show in late 70's. These figures were 1" taller than their American Mego pals, which makes replacement parts a little more difficult to come by on the secondary market. There were 6 figures in the line and the very 1st Tardis playset!


The figures had some scale issues and are more akin to dolls than action figures. These are very collectible today and command hundreds of dollars apiece. Mint and complete version are becoming very hard to find.


Many a year passed and Doctor Who fans had to limp through the beginning of the John Nathan Turner era with no new action figures to represent the Doctor and his friends seen on the screen in the early to mid '80s.


With the demise of Colin Baker and the cancellation of the series looming, a small toy company in Wales called Dapol released a whole line of action figures based on the 7th carnation of the Doctor, his enemies, and friends. In contrast to the old 9" Denys Fisher/Mego figures, these were scaled to down to a more 80's acceptable 3 3/4" scale. The bad news: the sculpts on the figures in this scale are lame and a bit freakish. The good news: the world's 1st classic Tardis interior playset for the 25th anniversary of the series!!!


They made a few classic Doctors, Tom Baker and John Pertwee, and a few classic villians, but sadly, the show went off the air in 1989 and the toy line died with it.



16 years passed with only a cheesy FOX made for TV movie to satiate the rapid Whovian fan base. Dapol re-released some of their old toys to specialty shops in the late 90's and early 2000's. But, this did little to cultivate a new toy based Who collecting frenzy.


Lucky for us, thanks to this brilliant man, the Series returned in 2005 with high quality in all aspects of the production. Whether you like Russell Davies or not, he brought back the fun, wonder, and intrigue of Doctor Who and created a fury of excitement in all corners of the globe.


I watched the Series as a kid and loved Tom Baker and he was my Doctor until Chris Eccleston and David Tennant stole my heart away. I think the new series of Doctor Who, that has been running continuously since 2005, is one of the finest programs made for TV in the world today. It has everything lacking in modern television: heart, enchantment, excitement, and a fantastic perspective on humanity. The torch has now been passed to a new staff and a new Doctor. There have been a few bumps along the road with the new season, but it tries to keep up with all of the ideals set forth in the new branding of the series in 2005.


And if you haven't watched Matt Smith's Doctor, you are in for a treat.



So...toys, toys, toys.



As you know, with the new series came a ton of new toys.


There have been hundreds of figures and variants put out over the last 5 years and Character Options keeps surprising us with a line full of depth and attention to detail.

So having attend SDCC yet again this year, I was able to see all the new figures first hand.

The figures were a bit pricey, but it is too hard to say no to these lovely little toys.


The exclusive I was most excited about was the
11th Doctor with the new style of Dalek from the current series.

The Doctor comes in casual mode sans his lovely professor coat and Dalek comes in nice burnt orange, the 1st of the new "Rainbow" colored Daleks toys. At $20 bucks a figure...these were hardly a bargin. But, the sculpting on these figures perfectly represent their TV counterparts.


The full body real scan is used for the new line of toys and it really
brings an accuracy not seen in many TV based action figure lines.


The Dalek looks to have gained a little height and weight in the new series as you can see compared to the Russell Davies and classic Daleks.


The new pure blood Dalek puts that old human based Dalek to shame.


Also released during the con...


were two variants of the 5th Doctor, Peter Davison.


The two pack has the 5th Doctor with a new hat (woo hoo!!) and his arch nemesis the Master.


The 80's Anthony Ainley Master has a nice, if not vacuous looking, new head on the old John Simm Master body from 2008.

The Peter Davison Doctor has his celery on his lapel and a new non-removable hat. It looks big and dorky atop his head. This along with the regeneration 5th Doctor marks the 5th variant to use parts from the original 5th Doctor sculpt.


The single pack regeneration Peter Davison has the clothes from the final episode of Tom Baker's reign. The outfit is well tooled and is a fine addition to the regeneration set of figures. Is a new variant Tom Baker from his final season in the works...me thinks so!


Speaking of Doctor Who Classics...SDCC was the 1st time a couple of the new Classic Boxed Sets were released in the US.



This is the Tardis I have been waiting for with baited breath. This is the 1st Doctor and Tardis Box Set from the very 1st DW epsiode. How can any self respecting Who fan not be interested in this toy? This Doctor was previously released by himself...but I waited the long months to get him with his very own Classic Tardis.


This Tardis was emulated in the new series of Doctor Who. As you can see, the 11th Doctor's Tardis is a bit bigger than the classic one. The 1st Doctor Tardis is much like the other Classic Tardis' with no interior and very weak lights and sounds.


This is still a well made toy. Who ever thought we would have this many Tardis' to play with when Character Options 1st got the license to produce toys based on all incarnations of Doctor Who.


Also released was the long anticipated 11 Doctors Box Set.


This has variants of all 11 Doctors and the 1st time we get a 8th Doctor figure from the 1996 movie.


Some of the variants are better than others. The Good: Tom Baker and the 8th Doctor. The Bad: the 7th Doctor has a giant head that barely fits on his body.


Lastly, underground toys brought a handful of cases of the new Series 5 Wave 1 figures. The Doctor's new companion, Amy Pond, sold out each morning of the show very quickly.


The sculpt on Amy was done just like the Matt Smith figure using real scan technology. I always thought the basic Matt Smith 11th Doctor figure was the best Character Options figure to date...but now that his companion has show up...she is giving Matt a run for his money.


Amy is sculpted with a neutral face and stance. Is almost perfect to the quizzical look she gets on the show when trying to live up to the high acting standards of her co-stars.
She has knobby knees that look a bit weird on such a realistic figure,
but I am very happy to have the articulation.


Her head doesn't move to much because of her beautifully sculpted hair.


My Matt Smith figures finally feels complete.

I will soon be getting the rest of the figures in this wave
and will update this when they arrive.

If you are looking to buy these guys right now check out these sites:

whona.com

impulsecreations.com

drwhomerch.com

Also, a great resource for all kinds of Doctor Who Toys is doctorwhotoys.net.