This is an article that I wrote for Criticalmess.net on New Years Eve 2009 on the initial phase of Character Options remarkable Doctor Who line.
Whilst it's still on that site I wanted to move it over here. I hope those of you that haven't already read it enjoy it and those of you who haver already read it enjoy reading it again.
One of the greatest successes this past decade was the hugely anticipated relaunch (or regeneration perhaps?) of the BBC’s very own Doctor Who.
After being off air for 16 years, bar a 90 minute TV Movie in 1996 fans of the long running series were beginning to think that all was lost when on 23rd September 2003 the BBC announced that the series would return in 2005 with Russell T. Davies at the helm and starring Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor.
On 26th March 2005 after a month of build up the first episode ‘Rose’ debuted to a huge audience. Doctor Who was back in a BIG way.
However, whilst hopeful of the show’s success the BBC hadn’t seen fit to look at any merchandise with which to launch the show and it wasn’t until October 2005 that Character Options released their first Who products kick-starting a massively successful product and revenue line for them.
The first products to hit the shelves were the Role Play Sonic Screwdriver, a TARDIS Moneybox and two Radio Control Dalek Battle Packs, each pack containing 2 remote controlled Daleks and either Rose of The Doctor in the seemingly strange choice of 5” scale.
These initial sculpts, whilst certainly better than the Dapol figures of the late 80’s, belied to amazing sculpting that was to come leading the two Character Figures to be, perhaps unfairly, christened as ‘Miss Piggy’ and ‘Disco Doc’.
It was testament to the not inconsiderable talents of Character Options and their sculpting and engineering partners, Design Works that these few items were prototyped, tooled and manufactured in the space of 6 months.
Personally, one of my biggest toy-buying thrills ever was to walk into the now defunct Woolworths in Altrincham on the day of release to a display of goodies and walk out with my own personal Sonic Screwdriver (a long held dream) and an arm full of the rest of the line.
The next items to be released were a pair of walkie talkies in 12 inch scale featuring The Doctor and a Slitheen as the characters of choice.
The initial waves of products were rumoured to be rife with quality control problems in respect of the electronics on the Battle Packs and Walkie Talkies but this, like most other toy rumors, were confined to a very small batch of the run.
In February 2006, after the initial debut of David Tennant as the 10th incarnation of The Doctor the line finally delivered on the promise hinted at by the Battle Pack figures and the first wave of Doctor Who figures hit the shelves in full force featuring the 10th Doctor (Coated and Non-Coated), Re-packed Rose, A Slitheen and the Moxx of Balhoon these were the beginning of a line that would dominate UK Toy Shelves for the next 3 years shifting a massive amounts of units.
The UK Chain Argos were the first to obtain a Who exclusive with the Regeneration pack featuring a repacked ‘Disco Doc’ with a newly sculpted 10th Doctor figure in a better articulated vanilla sculpt leading to many multiple purchases and headswaps giving everyone a better articulated 9th Doctor.
The line continued into the couple next seasons with a mixture of new sculpts, repaints and re-releases combined with Box Sets for both the exclusive and general market giving us a chance at limited runs of exclusive characters.
The sculpting on the 5” scale figures was nothing short of remarkable and some of the basic figures for the line were massively detailed, prime examples being the Judoon Trooper, Cyber Controller, Clockwork Droid and The Ood.
It was in mid 2006 that the 12 inch line proper was unleashed as part of the domination of the Toy shelves having the 10th Doctor join a Cyberman and a Clockwork Droid as the initial wave of releases.
Using a simple buck, decent tailoring and great sculpts this 12 inch line very swiftly became the definitive line at this price point providing us with some amazing mixed media toys.
Unfortunately, the market for these figures was not enough to support the continuation of this element of the product line and the 12” scale was cancelled but not before it had given us one of the greatest female figures ever produced, the Martha Jones 12” figure.
Not only was the buck amazingly scaled and articulated but the tailoring was simply out of this world.
I remain hopeful that the 12 inch line will be seen again in some form for Character Options maybe as a run of exclusive figures for a Website or Internet Retailer. Perhaps the 11th Doctor will be immortalised in 1/6 form, who can tell…
As part of the 12” line but not in 1/6 scale and the must have toy of Christmas 2006 for any self respecting Who fan was the remote control talking Dalek issued in Gold, Sec, Thay and TRU exclusive Assault Dalek variants.
As part of the celebration of K-9’s return to the series in the Season Two episode ‘School Reunion’ everyone’s favourite tin dog was released in a remote control two-pack with the 10th Doctor and as a HUGE ¼ scale remote control, talking box of fun featuring twirling ears, the voice of John Leeson and an extending/retracting laser.
Part of the attraction for this line has also been the roleplaying items that have been steadily released throughout the line, the Sonic and Laser Screwdrivers (packaged with Psychic Paper no less…), the Fob Watch, the Journal of Impossible Things and Captain Jack’s Wristband.
The license for the show, whilst focused on the ‘new series’ also covered what is known as the ‘classic series’ and a press release in late 2007 announced Character Options intention to release a line focused on the earlier incarnations of The Doctor. Fan reception to this news was, understandably, rabid. A line of Doctors, in scale with the two that had already been released, with the superb sculpting of the figures was, to be frank, a Who Fan’s dream.
Personally, the mere thought of a figure of the 8th incarnation was all a bit too much…more on this later.
February 2008 rolled around and the UK Toyfair opened it’s doors with Character Options displaying their planned output for 2008 and beyond. Within 6 hours of the doors opening a hastily taken photograph of the figures had made it’s way onto the Doctor Who toy forums and it was there that the initial glimpses of Wave One of the Doctor Who Classics were revealed.
It was to be a very long wait until the official images were revealed in July of that year. The figures were eventually released in a ‘conservative’ run in August 2008 and disappeared from shelves within a very short space of time as fans eagerly picked up the line enthusing about the possibilities for the range.
However, whilst much praise was, rightfully, heaped upon the Classic Wave the New Series figures got better and better with the release of the Flight Control Tardis, figures for Series Four of the show and a mixed wave for the first three seasons it seemed that the sculpting hit new heights with the extremely detailed ‘Old’ Doctor figure from ‘The Last of the Timelords’ episode and the truly awesome Davros from the Season Four finale ‘Journey’s End’.
Then, as with all things, the world went to hell…
David Tennant had announced that he was leaving the role after a ‘gap’ year featuring 4 specials and no series, the financial situation in the real world got worse and news escaped that after the release of a ‘Age of Steel’ Cyberman wave in February 2009 there would be no new Who product until Series Five in 2010.
The Cyberman wave arrived and was greeted with enthusiasm mixed with sadness as these were potentially the last Who figures ever after a post by one of the ‘higher-ups’ on a Doctor Who Forum indicated that this may be it for the line.
The re-release of the last wave of Season 4 figures with a ‘build a figure’ Wasp and the re-release of many figures in the Mixed Wave with a ‘build a figure’ Gelth Spirit seemed to signal the end of the line. The cloister bell was ringing…
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the US distributor of the Who Line, Underground Toys in a Partnership with Forbidden Planet made a surprising move that took the community by surprise. As the SDCC exclusives for 2009 Character Option in association with the companies would be releasing four two packs and a single carded figure, this time at a ‘collector’ price point.
The First and Second incarnations of The Doctor were released packaged with a new Dalek and a Cyberman respectively. There was also an option to purchase the standard colour figures and a much smaller run of the same figures in a Black and White paint format. Also released was an ‘expanded universe’ Sixth Doctor figure in a striking blue repaint from the adventure ‘Real Time’.
Hot on the heels of this came the news of two different 3rd Doctor Figures available with another new Dalek and a repainted Sea Devil in Two-Pack form in October 2009, then a brand new Fourth Doctor adventure pack featuring 3 new figures and re-release of a Fourth Doctor from the Classic Wave alongside the second Dalek Collectors Set..
As the Third Doctor figures were dispatched to collectors hands news broke of a third Third Doctor set, this time packaged with the Maggots from ‘The Green Death’
Underground toys had become, for the ‘Collectors’ of the line, the Saviours. Despite grumbles in respect of the availability and the price point the figures sold out of their entire run.
A year that had seen the likelihood of no new figures ended with a substantial amount of merchandise being available, albeit in a limited format.
2009 ended with a bang with the release of a newly sculpted extremely limited UK only release of a Fourth Doctor figure from the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ story. Produced in, to quote an employee of a company very closely associated with the line, ‘the smallest run I have ever seen for an action figure’.
In addition to he figures released under the main Doctor Who umberella there were also figures generated from the spin off series’ ‘Sarah Jane Adventures’ and ‘Torchwood’ the former being a victim of toy shelf placement in the market place (ie. it was consigned to the girls toys shelves) and the latter to the fact that the majority of the audience for the show were not of the age where they would buy action figures of the characters. However, both lines featured some very well designed and sculpted figures.
Overall, and certainly in my opinion, the Doctor Who line are some of the most amazing action figures produced combining the play factor with very detailed sculpting and just the right amount of articulation.
There have some hits and some misses (Destroyed Cassandra and Laslo I’m looking at you) but every single release has the same very high level of detail and care and the only issue in respect of quality control aside from the initial electronic hiccups) was a very early issue with some of the plastic used discolouring upon contact with the air (similar to the problems experience by Mattel with Wave Three of DCUC).
Whilst not as universally revered as the, perhaps over-articulated and somewhat spottily painted, Marvel Legends this line, in the UK, has been a home run with children and adult fans alike. A family line for a family show.
So…what does the future bring?
Already we know of Doctor-less Wave Two of the Classic Line to be released in mid January 2010 at the same time as an ‘End of Time’ themed wave featuring a newly sculpted Tenth Doctor and a ‘Hoodie’ Master alongside two other figures strongly rumoured to be Timothy Dalton’s character and the 11th Doctor regeneration figure.
We know that they’ll be a range of new figures for the new series. I’ve already seen them as part of a recent visit to the Designworks studio and whilst I can’t reveal specifics I can confirm that I wasn’t disappointed and they will fit in perfectly with the existing figures in our collections.
Also strongly rumoured, chief in part to an early Amazon leak is an 11 Doctors Box Set.
As the rumour mills continue to grind the same things keep floating to the top, a Classic Tardis packaged with 7th Doctor, a 2009 Specials Box Set, a third Dalek set and a second ‘Ages of Steel’ Cyberman wave. I cannot comment on any of this having signed an NDA with Designworks but what I will say is the future is so bright for this line I’ve got to wear shades.
Here’s to the continued success of the line and whatever new developments it brings..
