Figures of the Month - November

A bit late again (real life getting in the way!), but here are my top purchases for November. Doctor Who has been a bit quiet on the toy front for November, which is ironic considering the show was celebrating its big birthday! But that’s not to say there are no Doctor Who products on the list, in fact the Doctor is in at number one…

Big Chief 1:6 Scale 4th Doctor Figure

When Big Chief first announced they wanted to do Classic Doctors, my ears pricked up! Now I’d love to own their 11th and 10th Doctors, simply because they’re just so bloody good and having all 13 Doctors on the shelf in 1:6 scale would be amazing! Unfortunately I can never hope to own the whole lot, but I can at least own my favourite Doctor! Now if you’ve watched my video review (see below if not) then you’ll know how much I love this figure and I apologise for repeating myself, but it is fantastic! My favourite costume for the 4th Doctor which has been beautifully recreated. The plethora of accessories are beautifully realised and work with the figure a treat. The interchangeable hands have excellent paint apps and they can be swapped with ease, so much better than Hot Toys.

The portrait is excellent, incredibly life like with various wrinkles and realistic skin tones. The swappable hair also works a treat and the removable hat shows of the impressive details within. Now there are a few nit-picks, namely the pinched/elongated look to the Doctor’s head and the 5 o’clock shadow being just a bit too much, but otherwise it’s a wonderful figure. It’s hard not to keep repositioning him in new poses all of the time because he’s so much fun!

If you have 11 and 10 to put with this chappy, then I’m insanely jealous. Having seen the prototype 1st Doctor sculpt on display at Excel, I cannot wait to see the finished figure. I’m sorely tempted to get one, but at roughly £170 I’m afraid I’ll have to hold off until a 3rd Doctor... maybe an 8th too. A must for any fan of the 4th Doctor - the Doctor.

            

Mantenna

Masters of the Universe Classics take up the last spots, an invasion by the Evil Horde no less! Starting us off is Mantenna, one of my favourite members of the Horde and now one of my favourite MotUC figures. Just look at the face! The sculpting is wonderful! It captures the essence of the vintage toy with the frightening look of the 200X update. How best to describe Mantenna… well I guess he looks like a bold Mogwai with bulging eyes and a mouth that looks like an anus with teeth. Delightful.

The original toy had a telescopic pop out eye feature, which has been recreated here with interchangeable eyes. You have to remove the mouth section to remove the eyes, which is incredibly fiddly, but the final effect is a fun one! However, I must say I prefer the sucked in eyes. The figure also boasts four legs, a first for the line. They work very well and feature all of the same articulation as a standard figure. Very impressive!

The paint apps are very good, with lots of metallic blues and reds that really stand out from the rest of the figure. The shading on his flesh and on the eyes, along with the fine veins, is very nice indeed. Finally the figure comes with his trademark Horde Crossbow, the trademark weapon for a member of the Evil Horde.

Horde Troopers 2-Pack

Finally the Horde Troopers! Foot soldiers to the Evil Horde and long awaited releases! This 2-pack features the same basic figure but one has a clean suit of armour and the other one is battle damaged. Well, I say battle damaged, he has a couple of black smudges on his suit. Honestly, I know they’re only robots but you’d think they could use a bit of Mr Sheen to tidy themselves up a bit!

The sculpts are totally new, no reused parts here which is nice to see (not that reused parts bother me). The sculpts update the vintage figures extremely well, and although the grey armour does look a bit plastic-y they still look very cool on the shelf! The circuitry beneath the armour is also very well done, and I look forward to seeing how it will be reused later in the line.

The heads have come under some criticism because you can’t quite get the vintage look without making the figures look constantly down. It wouldn’t be a problem if not for the backs of their helmets popping up at the back. As ever the heads are removable and as such you can place Hordak’s or He-Man’s head on the body to recreate your favourite scenes from The Secret of the Sword. A fun feature!

Finally these guys come with a ton of accessories! The each come with: a shield, a crossbow, a large staff and an electro-prod thing straight out of the 80s cartoon. The fact that they each have the same accessories allows for multiple display options together, you can put them together as a proper pair. Overall an excellent set! They look perfect flanking Hordak or Horde Prime and as a set of two, it makes them great for army building. It’s no wonder they sold out so quickly! Fingers crossed we’ll get some form of foot soldier for Skeletor in the new year…

That’s it for this month! Join me next time as I take a look at the top acquired figures for December! Hopefully something a bit different will arrive in time for Christmas… Thanks for reading! Until next time!