Wednesday 26 February 2014

Attack of the Variants Episode 3



Now on video! Ken and I discuss the upcoming 3.75" Doctor Who figures, the imminent release of the Other Doctor, the future of the classics line, Star Wars Black, MotUC and DC's upcoming Batman: The Animated Series line.

Tuesday 25 February 2014

Doctor Who's Expanded Universe in Action Figures

Doctor Who's expanded universe is something of an untapped area for the 5" action figure line. At the time of writing there are only three figures in the line from this expanded, non-screen, universe. Firstly there's the Real Time sixth Doctor from the audio play/BBCi webcast of the same name, and the 8th Doctor in his comic book colours along with Dalek Alpha from the comic, Children of the Revolution. All three figures are repaints, which is nice and cost effective for Character Options/Underground Toys. So I'm going to discuss what else we could get from the 'expanded universe' using the same formula. Repaints and minor tweaks to existing sculpts. No new figures, so don't expect to see Charlie, Lucy, Viyrans, The Flood Cybermen or any other monster/companion that would need an entirely new sculpt. Ain't gonna happen! So let's begin...

Sword of Orion


A nice and easy two-pack/three-pack using existing parts. If we refer to the comic panels featured in Doctor Who Magazine, the 8th Doctor is depicted in an orange spacesuit. Why not release the 8th Doctor in the orange spacesuit worn by the 10th Doctor from The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit? Remove some of the decals, or change them for something else, and we have a new and interesting 8th Doctor variant. 

Next we have the Cybermen, depicted on the cover and in DWM as being The Invasion models. Re-releasing this particular Cyber-variant would certainly please army builders, but again looking to DWM we have a Cyber Leader, something not featured in The Invasion. A quick repaint of black and blue, and we have a new variant for our Cyber armies.

Terror Firma


Another easy one. Re-release the TVM 8th Doctor with a 60s Dalek (which I'd be happy to have some more of) and then package it with the Emperor Davros from Remembrance of the Daleks, repainted in a silver and blue livery. Now according to the cover art this version of Davros has a few extra bits, alluding to the Emperor Dalek seen in Evil of the Daleks. I doubt a couple of strips of plastic glued to an existing mould would break the bank, and if not, well the repaint would be fun. I'm sure a re-imagined version of this Davros would be appreciated by all those collectors who missed out on the original release. 

The Juggernauts


More Daleks! This would make for a fun set, a re-release Mechanoid (yes, please!), an Imperial Dalek re-release (yes, please!) and a tweaked Revelation of the Daleks Davros. Simply repaint the chair in white and gold and give him a robotic hand. If they wanted to be really cheap about it, remove the robot hand off the New Series Davros, paint it gold and stick it on the classic Davros. Not exactly to the cover, but it would work. 

Blood of the Daleks

No pictures for this one, but apparently the Supreme Dalek is described as being crimson and gold, and that sounds like a very nice colour scheme for a figure. Re-released with the TVM 8th Doctor, or better still, give us Lucie! 

Emperor Dalek, Supreme Dalek and Renegade Special Weapons - Comics


Yeah, I know I said there'd be no 100% new tools, but come on, how cool is this guy? Definitely needs an action figure. Now I believe this version reappeared in later McCoy strips alongside a purple and gold Supreme Dalek. I cannot find any pictures of the damned thing, but people have done customs. Metallic purple with gold hemispheres, and he looks great! Alongside that is the renegade Dalek equivalent of Special Weapons Dalek (sorry, can't find a colour reference), so we can assume its a grungy SW Dalek in a renegade grey and black livery. 

Dalek Time Controller


Oh alright, another Dalek that would need some tooling. A new neck bin/shoulder section, but otherwise not too different. Having become such a prominent figure in the 8th Doctor audio adventures, this fascinating Dalek is a must. 

Doctor Variants 


Well a Big Finish 6th Doctor is a must, and no I do not mean Real Time, I mean dark blue, with all the patterns still on the coat. Why this version? Well the bloody thing was planned for release in the 2nd Eleven Doctors set that never materialised. Such a pity. 




With this it's worth noting the 8th Doctor as depicted in the pages of DWM, representing the Doctor's appearance in Invaders of Mars and Seasons of Fear. In the former, 8 is depicted wearing a feodra, and in the latter, he's shown to be waering the 5th Doctor's panama hat. Surely these tweaks would be possible? After all, it's just altering the head. 

Repackage

A nice way to get those older figures out there in new ways. Should we ever see the release of a 70s Silurian, packaged with the 6th Doctor would make an easy Bloodtide pack. Repaint the Silurian in a different deco would make for even greater value. That, or give us a Two Doctors 6th Doctor!

Other candidates come in the form of Ice Warriors, who could be packaged in a range of shades of green and with a variety of Doctors from Red Dawn to Deimos. Stick a repainted Krynoid with an 8th Doctor and we have a Hothouse set. The same can be said for Sontarans, Cybermen, and any other classic monster that has made an appearance in Big Finish. A slight tweak, a new shade of paint, and a new set awaits the toy shelves!

Any ideas for other possible repaints? Let me know in the comments! 


Wednesday 19 February 2014

New Batman: The Animated Series Figure Images


DC have released a series of new images from their upcoming 6" line based on Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. As a huge Batman fan who grew up with the animated series, this is the Holy Grail. This is what DC had to say about the line:

Let’s start with Batman. As long-time fans of the show know, when we say Batman: The Animated Series, we’re really talking about two different shows—the original Batman: The Animated Series which debuted in 1992 and ran through 1995, and 1997’s The New Batman Adventures, which featured a redesign of the characters and a greater emphasis on Batman’s support team, but for all accounts and purposes was a continuation of the 1992 show. We love both series equally, but since the characters did get a redesign, we wanted to reflect that with this line. Therefore, some of the action figures released will be based on the 1992 designs while others, like this first Batman figure, will be based on the 1997 redesign.
All of these figures are true 1/12th, six-inch scale and all of the figures will be in scale with Batman. We’re using the original character lineup sheets that were used by the animators to ensure that all characters are in scale with one another. We’re also using the original animation turn art during the art direction process to make sure the figures (and our turn art) are as authentic as possible.

As mentioned on the latest episode of DC All Access, this first wave is made up of four figures, and three of them are based on the 1997 designs. The only figure so far that’s based on the 1992 original design is our favorite ferocious fatale, Catwoman.

All of the figures will come with multiple accessories and Catwoman’s certainly no exception. She’ll arrive with all of the weapons and devices that are featured in the two-part episode, “The Cat and the Claw”—whip, cat stars, camera and necklace. As far as articulation goes, Catwoman features 25 unique points.
And what are the second two first-wave figures? Well, if you missed the reveal on DC All Access, they’re Mr. Freeze and Two-Face! Look for us to release images of them a bit later on. As for future figures, we don’t want to give too much away, but you can expect figures of multiple characters from both animated runs. The second wave will feature three action figures based on the 1992 designs and one based on the later redesign. In other words, the opposite of the first wave!

Very pleased to hear about the range of accessories for Catwoman, this will certainly make her worth the £15+ point. Hopefully Batman will have just as many gadgets to pose with him. I cannot wait to see Two-Face and Mr Freeze, and the fact that Wave Two will have more designs from the original series is very exciting! More news as it develops! 

11th Doctor Dynamix Figure Revealed - Big Chief Studios


Hot on the heels of their recently released 10th Doctor Dynamix figure, Big Chief have unveiled the finished 11th Doctor version! It seems that the figure will have an interchangeable Fez head, much like the 10th Doctor version had with a spectacles/no spectacles head. 

Looks like a rather fun piece, and Matt Smith's likeness is spot-on, even in this 'animated' style. No word on when it's up for pre-order, but I'm sure it won't be long. 


Tuesday 18 February 2014

New York Toy Fair - Top Reveals

Yes, another New York Toy Fair has been and gone. Compared to the rather pitiful displays we get at London Toy Fair, NYTF is always a hive of wonderful new toys, licences and surprises. It's almost like a teaser for when the real good stuff takes place at SDCC in July. But for now, thanks to images provided by The Fwoosh, Toy News International, Toy Ark and Awesome Toy Blog, here are my stand out reveals from over the weekend.

Underground Toys - Doctor Who


Normally Underground Toys have nothing special on display when it comes to Doctor Who, the Classics are a closely guarded secret, the New Series items is just the merchandise we've seen at London Toy Fair. However, this year was different because a production/packaged version of the upcoming John Hurt Other (War) Doctor was on display. What can I say, it's marvellous! A spot-on likeness and some lovely paint apps. Although it's not a classic figure, it does, strangely, come with a spare 8th Doctor head that looks suspiciously based on McGann's Dark Eyes photoshoot, and this is of course another incarnation of the Doctor so who can say no to a 5" version on the shelf? Expect a review when he hits the UK. 


Now this is all very well and good, but the real excitement comes from MattG over at Awesome Toy Blog who was able to speak to Underground Toys about upcoming products. This is what he reported: 

  • While there was nothing new shown, Classics will continue, albeit sporadically. They will be continuing in the 5″ scale.
  • There will be a SDCC exclusive from Underground Toys – in the 5″ scale. Might even be a 2-pack if we’re lucky!
Yes, 5" classic Who is not dead yet! Thank goodness! I'm sure many will be pleased to hear this directly from the license holders, and I'm sure many will be pleased that the releases are "sporadic" as opposed to the huge bombardment of releases in one go. Fingers crossed that the SDCC will be something Classic and exciting! MattG also added on Whona that it won't be a 5" Capaldi. Pity.

To round off Underground Toys reveals, they also have plush 11th and 4th Doctor toys coming out... Expect the 4th Doctor to murder you in your sleep...


Hasbro 

Hasbro had plenty going on this year. A ton of Marvel movie products from Captain America: Winter Soldier, Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as the smaller 3.75" comic inspired figures and the larger 6" Marvel Legends. Nothing here that really took my fancy, I've never been too impressed with Hasbro's Marvel figures. There was also a big boom in Transformers toys, especially with the 4th movie coming out. I'll be honest, I've not really looked at much here. The movie figures don't interest me, and some of them looked a bit cheap and tacky. However, the real star for Hasbro was Star Wars. Now their 3.75" line is basically churning out the same old crap. Wait until Episode VII hits, the stores will be flooded. There was also some interesting items coming out of the Star Wars: Rebels series, but for me the really cool stuff came in the 6" Black Series. 




I've not bought Star Wars figures since 2005, but that Speeder Bike looks amazing! Jabba the Hutt was also a cool surprise. Darth Vader's pretty good, but the use of cloth capes does nothing for me at all. Not a line I'll invest in (that's not to say I'm not tempted), but it's nice to see so many cool things coming out of this 6" scale. 

Playmates

Not much to say here as I have no interest in the current CG TV series of the Turtles, but the Classics line of 1990 movie inspired figures are cool. Again, not a line I buy, but 6" highly articulated Turtles and Bebop and Rocksteady are tempting. 





Mattel

Well Mattel stole the show without a shadow of a doubt. First of their DC line is coming to an end on Mattycollector, which is a pity. The line had gone through so many iterations, DC Superheroes/Universe Classics/Unlimited/Infinite Earths, that it's sad to see it lose the fight. Unfortunately I was priced out of this line years ago, but it still made me excited to see what was out there. Of the final figures, 90s Aquaman takes my fancy. I always loved the redesign, made him look more badass, and it makes for a truly cool looking figure. 


To round off the fact that this line was over, Mattel revealed that they would be releasing some key characters in vintage decos based on the 1980s Super Powers Collection in honour of it's 30th Anniversary. Sadly, I wasn't around when the vintage line was released, but I was captivated by pictures of the line and thanks to ebay I now own a few. The really lovely thing about this line is the packaging. They've recreated the old cards and are releasing the figures on them. Now I'm not a mint on card collector, but in this case I would make an exception. They look beautiful in the boxes. The line is exclusive to Mattycollector, and at $30 a figure it's not something I could afford. Especially for a figure that would stay MoC. Each figure will also come with a piece of a build-a-figure Kalibak (like the DC Universe Classics line) repainted in Super Powers colours. Very nice to look at, and I love that they have used the Hal Jordan Green Lantern as the base for the Riddler figure, just like the vintage Argentinian/European release. The added Mr Mxyzptlk figure is also very cool. Not sure where he comes into things, but he looks great! 



Moving onto their new stylised Total Heroes 6" line (which I have no interest in at all), they had a really cool Batman Beyond figure on display which comes with alternate Terry McGinnis and old Bruce Wayne heads, as well as the cowl, batarang and a teeny figure of the Atom. Really cool, but it's a pity that it's in this line. 


Next we have a total miss from Mattel with their 4" DC Multiverse line. Now these figures span videogames such as Arkham City and DC movies like Superman/Superman II, Batman and Batman Returns. Now for me, the movie figures was where it was at. I don't collect movie lines except Hot Toys, but the chance to have 4" highly detailed versions of Keaton, Reeve and Devito could not be missed. At least until Forbidden Planet retailed them at £14.99. Madness! That much for a 4" figure!? A tenner at least! But judging from the production images, the figures suck anyway. Reeve Superman looks terrible, and the S on his chest is huge! Keaton looks passable, but the sloppy paint apps on his chest symbol and the softness of the sculpts just make them look cheap. Suddenly I'm glad that I don't have to consider getting these. Poor production, insane prices. It was the same with the Batman TV Series line. Sloppy production and far too expensive. £80 for a 6" scale Batmobile and the doors don't even open?! Pfff, mental. 





Finally we have Masters of the Universe Classics. For the main subscription line that I buy, there wasn't much going on. Rio-Blast was revealed and he looks amazing! Such a cool looking figure with tons going on! Figures like him make the line worth the expense. Sadly the same can't be said of the new chase figures, Kowl and Loo-Kee. $20 for two figures that are nearly staction figures? You must be having a laugh. It's bad enough trying to be online when the little sods are on sale, but at the price it's not worth the effort. Hopefully these two will pop up loose on ebay for cheap. Also teased was Eldor's spell book, which suggests that Eldor, the unproduced figure from The Powers of Grayskull line in the 80s, will be released towards the end of the year.





Also announced was a new mini-subscription. Much like last year's Filmation line, this contains 6 figures based on Princess of Power. Thankfully I'm not too interested with the PoP stuff, so it's an easy miss. Presently the only figure I have my eye out for is Madame Razz and Broom, which I'll hopefully be able to get on the day of sale. However, to make matters more annoying they revealed that the sub would have a 'subscription only' figure, much like the main sub. Now this really pisses me off, because the figure is Light Hope and he looks bloody awesome. The pinky translucent plastic, the gold Crystal Castle/She-Ra inspired armour, it's all lovely. Sadly trying to get this guy on the secondary market will be nigh on impossible without serious expense. Damn you Mattel. 



DC Collectibles - Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures


Okay, so although DC had a ton of cool figures on display, this is where my attention was focused. 6" highly articulated figures from the 90s animated shows Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. This was like a dream come true. As a child I loved the shows, and as an adult I still love those shows. As much as I enjoyed the 4" figures from Kenner when I was a little boy, the lack of articulation became more irritating as I got older. They just looked stiff and awkward. But now that's all gone! I can get an excellent representation of my favourite characters and put them in dynamic poses! All that was on display was Catwoman from B:TAS and Batman from TNBA. Both look excellent, but no sign of any accessories. Yet. These are very early prototypes, so I'm sure we'll get something. I hope so, given the $25 price tag! Other figures announced are Two-Face and Mr Freeze, both from TNBA. I'd prefer to see more designs from B:TAS, as I was never as keen on the sharper designs in the later series. Probably not something I'll collect religiously, I can't afford it, but Batman will definitely be mine! 


Monday 17 February 2014

Salvage Mission - Revisited

Daleks are a bugger to write. Now this isn't the case for some people, but I've always found them tricky. However, for this story I didn't want it to be about the Daleks. I wanted it to be more focused on Davros. Now before we go on I must admit my love for Davros. He is one of my favourite Doctor Who villains. Big Finish's I, Davros certainly added to my love for this character as it fleshed out his history and revealed the disturbing lengths this loopy scientist would go to insure the success of his experiments. Along with that I was always impressed by Davros and the performances given by both Terry Molloy and Colin Baker. For whatever reason, the Sixth Doctor and Davros seem to have a very good rapport, and I loved the idea of having a Davros story where the Daleks aren't key. Many fans will argue that where Davros is involved, the Daleks become nothing more than tin-can foot soldiers, lacking personality and guile. I can understand this, but I can understand why writers like Eric Saward put more focus on Davros simply because he's a more interesting character. Although I wanted to keep Daleks to a minimum, I wanted to make sure that the Daleks weren't just foot soldiers and that they were just as crafty and manipulative as ever. When I started out with this idea I had no intentions of showing how Davros created his Imperial Daleks as seen in Remembrance of the Daleks. That just sort of evolved from the story as I planned it (ignoring Big Finish's The Juggernauts, simply because my stuff didn't consider their tales to be canon. But it's definitely worth a listen).

I have no idea where the deadly nebula and the salvage crew concept came from, but I like the idea of the Renegade Dalek shuttle from Revelation of the Daleks being caught there, with Davros a prisoner of his creations. I also wanted Davros to be terrified of these Daleks, after all they were experimenting on the Daleks he had created on Necros. The idea was that the Daleks were going to new levels of horror that even he was unaware that they were capable of. And that scared the pants off him. Then in true Dalek fashion, not unlike Power of the Daleks and Victory of the Daleks, the Renegade Daleks pretended to be nice, with only Davros, the Doctor and Peri aware of their true nature. Davros would finally get his own back by experimenting on the Renegade Dalek captor, ultimately turning him into the Special Weapons Dalek. This was inspired by what I had heard of the Special Weapons Dalek from Ben Aaronovitch's novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks, that this Dalek was insane and feared by all the others. I think it had something to do with radiation or something, but instead I decided that if Davros was to mutate a Dalek that hated his guts into his personal bodyguard, that would drive said Dalek even more around the bend. Trapped in his casing, unable to do nothing but follow orders. After all, he never speaks on TV.

Another element to this story was Davros' claw hand. This was taken from one of the comics, Nemesis of the Daleks perhaps? Not sure. Never read it. I just remember seeing Davros with the claw of a movie Dalek and thinking "What a cool idea", so I nicked it! The claw was quite tricky to make out of Milliput, it didn't want to retain the shape and trying to get it flat like the movie claws was nigh n impossible. So what I ended up with was a claw that kind of resembled the one from the comic/movie. I added a few lines and dots to make it look more mechanical and painted it silver. The whole thing was constructed around a cocktail stick ,which was trimmed down and secured with blu tack in Davros' wrist socket.

This was a really fun story to write and perform, especially the Davros bits, and the Sixth Doctor is always a real pleasure to write. It's also the first story to feature Kat! The first of many appearances! Charlotte returned as Peri, who still impresses me with her impersonation of Nicola Bryant, and Cameron Robb and Jonathan made up the rest of the salvage crew. I was overjoyed with the response this story received and continues to receive. Certainly a favourite of mine. If I'm not mistaken there is now a Big Finish story out which has a similar theme to this story, a rescue ship picking up lost ships... Who's been watching my videos, eh?

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Dark Eyes 2 - Out Now!

Today sees the release of the sequel to the award winning Dark Eyes, starring Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor.

Doctor Who: Dark Eyes 2 continues the adventures of the Eighth Doctor, played once more by Paul McGann, as he fights the good fight past, present and future against a host of deadly enemies.

When the Doctor defeated the Dalek Time Controller and its Time Lord ally, the timelines shifted and events changed... but the danger is far from over. And new threats to the continued safety of the universe are emerging.

Molly O'Sullivan carried on with her life as a nursing assistant in World War One. She probably thought she would never see the Doctor in his 'Tardy-box' again...

From the Dalek occupied planet Nixyce VII through Earth's history and to the very edge of the universe, the Doctor's footprints across eternity are being tracked by foes old and new. But when did it all begin and when will it end? Living his life through the complexities of time travel, the Doctor can never be quite sure if he's experiencing his life in the most helpful order. The only certainty appears to be the advance of the powers of evil and the oncoming threat of a fight to the death against forces that would destroy everything the Doctor holds dear.

Monday 10 February 2014

Billy Garratt-John's 'A Natural History of Fear: The Cultural Success of Doctor Who'

Last December I was approached by Billy Garratt-John to discuss Doctor Who as part of his upcoming documentary, A Natural History of Fear: The Cultural Success of Doctor Who. I said yes, and you can see a brief clip for the finished piece below!

The full documentary will be released via Vimeo later this month. I'll post the rest when released!

Sunday 9 February 2014

Hell on Earth - Revisited

Whenever I'm asked "What's your favourite story out of the ones you've made?" it's always Hell on Earth. This story came into my head in an instant, which is a rarity. Usually I'll come up with a basic idea or scenario and then structure out scenes in my head before typing, but this hit me like a cricket ball to the groin. I wanted to do another Peter Davison story, but I didn't want to do anything with the Daleks or the Cybermen, which is a problem when you look at the Davison era of the toy shelf!

I make no reservations in admitting this story was based on The Woman in Black (the play, not the film with Daniel Radcliffe), which I had gone to see in London with two friends. I've always been freaked out by the paranormal and that sense of otherness, and this play was full of shocks and scares galore. So it was from that I decided I wanted to do a haunted house story. Other than the setting I plucked two things from that play, the first was the blood curdling shriek of a woman (which I think only happens once or twice in my story) and the name Mr Kipps. Come on, that's a great name for a butler.

So what of the Master and the return of the Mara? Where did that come from? Well I wanted to use the Anthony Ainley figure, and although it grinds my gears he's in that ruddy tux it actually works here. He was always popping up in Davison stories in some pointless disguise, so it fit. The Mara on the other hand, well I'm not sure. I guess I knew I wanted to do something paranormal and creepy, and Kinda has some really mad, creepy, what-the-hell-is-happening moments to it, and so that's what I wanted to replicate. All of this came to me as we were walking from the theatre. The bare bones were there and then I went home and wrote it. There wasn't much to think about, it just sort of flowed and wrote itself within about a week. Very fun to write, and even more fun when you imagine the real actors and the real settings. I've never written a script and thought how it would look with toys. I cross the toy bridge when I have to film it!

If you watch Part One its mainly just "weird stuff is happening", and that's what I was after. I wanted the people watching to be scratching their head's going "What the frig is going on?", but I wanted them to want to know what's going on and tune in next week, and I think the Master cliffhanger added to that. The scenes set within the Darkness of the Inside were shot to resemble the scenes in Kinda as much as possible. Although Snakedance gets mentioned and the crystal link idea is used, I wanted to keep it closer to Kinda as that is the best of the two Mara stories. I was also keen to work Adric (which was needed for The Honour of War, which was produced not long after) as well as some other monsters to reflect the Doctor's fears and inner demons.

This story also featured a few new customs, namely Turlough, which was fashioned out of the head of an Auton on a Primeval figure's body, and Tegan, which used my original Peri custom. New hair, destroy the old Milliput and repaint! Yes, painting her dress did take ages. Another special addition was the Mara. Now when I wrote this story I just assumed I'd find a decent looking snake toy online and use that... well if I still had the original rushes with the snake toy you would see it looked worse than the Kinda snake! I don't think any footage of the rubber snake made it into the story, or if it did the real Mara from Snakedance overlays it. Yes, it was so horrendously awful that I had to rotoscope footage of the real Mara puppet onto a green background and chroma key it into the footage. Not ideal, and I don't think it looks too bad. Certainly better than that rubber toy.

Overall, this was an enjoyable story to film, but by Jove it was a fun story to write and edit. This story got a really lovely response when it went out, and I was thrilled. Sadly, the BBC took umbrage to my use of the title sequence and took a lot of the episodes down, and with it those lovely comments. So when you see the title as 'Copy of Doctor Who...', that's because it is. And for those wondering why I used Davison's console for the Master's TARDIS rather than the one made by AFT, well that's simply because it's what the BBC used to do!

Matt

Friday 7 February 2014

Farewell Hickok, hello Dark Eyes: Filming Wraps on First Half of 8th Doctor Season 3


After filming 6 hours a week for the last three weeks on The Treasure of Mars, filming has finally concluded on the first half of the season. Huzzah! But unfortunately for me there's still three episodes to be edited, so I'm just swapping one form of production for another.

Filming will recommence as the editing on Treasure comes to a close, which will be roughly March/April if I stay on top of things. The first thing to be shot is a huge sequence that will barely get any screentime, but it's an absolute necessity! This will take several evenings to shoot before I can get into the real nitty gritty again, and I'm telling you now, the hard stuff hasn't even begun. Lot's of hard work ahead producing the final six episodes.

Finally, as the title suggests, I have now completed filming using the TV Movie 8th Doctor figure. After several episodes produced using this figure over the last three or so years it seems odd to just plonk him in the cabinet, but that's the way the story goes...

3.75" Wave Two - New images - Released March

Character have released a series of new images from the second wave of that Marmite range that is the 3.75" line.

Having seen more pictures, I think Capaldi and the Daleks look great. The Angel, well that's alright, although I'm not sure on those weird scratch lines. Clara and Smith aren't looking too great, and that Zygon... Those eyes look as if it's begging you to put him out of his misery, "Please... Kill me now, I beg of you". The annoying thing is that part of me wanted to get these figures... but nah. My pennies can go elsewhere. Oh, and don't get me started on that "Heritage" stuff. Yuck. Just brand it as Doctor Who and be done with it.

Let me know what you think!