Thursday 5 September 2013

The Quest for the Regeneration 4th Doctor

If there's one thing that irritates me, it is exclusive figures. It is one of the curses of being an action figure collector. You know that sometimes you will never own a particular figure. I know I will never get hold of the original SDCC King Grayskull in the electronic packaging. I know I'll never own that 200X Keldor. Now the Doctor Who classic line seems hit by that same curse. With this guy:


The Regeneration Fourth Doctor. Even the name fills me with annoyance. Originally spotted on 'the Big Picture' featuring prototypes of as yet (and in some case never to be) released figures, this chappy later popped up on ebay, leading to much speculation as to what sort of set this figure would be in or whether it was the SDCC 2013 release. 

Sadly it was neither. Instead it was a BBC exclusive, limited to 5000 pieces in a Fourth Doctor Time Capsule Set. Now normally that would be just dandy. I'd just go, "Oooh nice, I'll get that". But sadly the contents of this particular set are about as desirable as an empty box of chocolates. Now I am aware that some people are fans of this set, and yes I can  understand the appeal if you are in the right circumstances. Unfortunately I am not in those circumstances and I think a lot of collectors probably aren't either, and for a set that retails at around £54.99 it seems madness to contemplate buying x amount of items we already have bought. Allow me to elaborate further by talking you through the contents of this set:

  • Regeneration Fourth Doctor Figure - an odd choice of outfit considering this set celebrates the Fourth Doctor, but regardless I want the figure. The sculpt doesn't look much like Tom, but I'm one of those completist nut jobs. 
  • Sonic Screwdriver - Now this is where it all goes downhill. It's bad enough that I paid £24.99 when it was released and now they've re-released it at £9.99, but to include it here too! Why in heaven's name would I want it a second time?
  • Terror of the Zygons Vanilla DVD - This is the main stupid thing in this set. Firstly, why in the name of the bowels of Hell would you want this when a fully restored version, complete with special features and lost footage, is out later this year? To make matters worse they stick it in a stupid box that cannot be displayed with the other DVDs. Now if they just included the DVD that's being released later in the year in the actual box I would have bought this set. I'd excuse the Screwdriver because I'd be getting this DVD anyhow. But no, they took away the only other part of this set that would have made it desirable to myself and many other collectors. They missed a trick here.
  • An Interview with Tom Baker - Now I have no idea what the run time is on this, but I can only assume its not overly long. Nice, but not enough to warrant me buying the set.
  • Audio version of 'Genesis of the Daleks' - Now this is again somewhat baffling considering I can just turn to my left at this very second and pick the DVD off the shelf and watch it with moving images. Now I know people like the audio books, but I have this particular one on cassette from back in the day and I don't listen to that either. So this would sit in the box.
  • Tomb of Valdemar novel - Much like the CD this would more than likely never get read and stay in the box. I don't have an issue with it's inclusion, it's just something that would never see daylight in this house.
  • Art Cards of the Doctor's Companions - Again, just something of nothing. Nice if you want to get them signed I suppose, otherwise they're just going to sit in the box.
  • A Letter from Tom Baker - A nice touch, but again not enough to make me want to hand over £54.99
You can probably tell that this box set gets right on my nerves. Now I'll be honest, I like the way it is presented. I like the casket that is akin to the Black Scrolls of Rassilon casket in 'The Five Doctors'. I like the roundel design with the Seal of Rassilon on the DVDs and CDs (excluding the Zygons), and the little decoder thing is another nice touch. But just because it's presented nicely doesn't mean I want the contents. 

Now I immediately assumed that scalpers would be buying this set and selling the separate contents left right and centre. But no. I have seen a grand total of one Fourth Doctor figure on ebay since this set was released. That was from the US and the price went up and up and up to stupid money. I have pretty much searched the interwebs day and night looking for a loose figure... but alas no. So I am left with an ultimatum. I either keep looking until one day I find something, or I wait for the cost of the set to go down or get one second hand, something I can't see happening for a long time.

I hope this never happens again. It'll drive me mad. 

Are you getting or have got this set? What do you think about it? Do you have the Regeneration Fourth Doctor and are willing to part company with it for a reasonable price? If so then please, please, please get in touch! 

3 comments:

  1. Oh, I loved this set! The letter was great, it felt as though Tom was in the room with you! The interview is about 25 minutes and the figure looks great! Definitely worth it!

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  2. The figure is terrible but exclusive and I wouldn't mind parting with it

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    1. Thats very kind! If you're a member of my Facebook group, pop me over a quick personal message and we'll have a chat!

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