Reviews
Action Figures
Review by GREG MARTIN
Character Options The First Doctor & Electronic
TARDIS RRP £32.99
Creation
of
the
Daleks
RRP £24.99 all other sets RRP £21.99
‘The Ninth Doctor’ set includes a ‘TARDIS emergency hologram’ Doctor, and new variants of Rose and the Doctor.
W collectorfigure sets so soon after the batch released in September (see issue 582), but any new release from Character Options is welcome. At the time of writing, the five new sets we’re reviewing this issue were scheduled for November, and should be available in selected branches of B&M by the time you read this.
‘The First Doctor & Electronic TARDIS’ might be the most inventive example of all the collector sets that Character have revised and regenerated in recent years. The First Doctor’s ‘Light & Sound FX’ TARDIS has been available before, although there are subtle variations in the decoration of this version that make it look rather different. In common with the First Doctor released in the 2010 figure/TARDIS package, this one has grey-and-black check trousers and an Astrakhan hat to keep him warm on those foggy nights in Totter’s Lane. The scarf is in a new colour scheme, but there are none of the accessories that were included 12 years ago. The biggest innovation with the 2022 figure is an entirely new head sculpt – this is the first time Character have created a First Doctor figure based on David Bradley’s portrayal of the original Doctor. Introduced in An Adventure in Space and Time (2013), Bradley’s Doctor was granted canonical status in 2017’s Twice Upon a Time. His belated entry to the action-figure range seals the deal. Of course, he was dressed rather differently in The Power of the Doctor (2022), and we can only hope that figures of the past incarnations from that story are somewhere on Character’s drawing board.