Tag Archives: Doctor Who

#0301: Marvel’s Death’s Head

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MARVEL’S DEATH’S HEAD

AVENGERS INFINITE

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Would you believe me if I told you that I had definitive proof that Transformers and Doctor Who share the same universe with just about every Marvel Comics super hero? Because they do, thanks to a set of appearances by one character: Death’s Head. As you clearly see in the title, he’s Marvel’s Death’s Head (which has two possessives. If I want to talk about the clasp on his cape, I’m talking about Marvel’s Death’s Head’s cape’s clasp. Think about that for a while…). Death’s Head was created for a Transformers comic while Marvel held the license. Not wanting to potentially lose a unique character to Hasbro, they quickly created a short strip featuring the character that was published in several of the comics in their UK line. Marvel also happened to be publishing a Doctor Who comic at the time, which also saw an appearance from Death’s Head before he finally made his way to the main Marvel universe. Now, 27 years after his original appearance, he’s finally gotten his very own action figure made by…. Hasbro. How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DeathsHeadWilsonDeath’s Head was part of the second series of Hasbro’s Avengers Infinite, the line which serves as a replacement for Marvel Universe. He was long rumored to be an upcoming figure in the MU line, so following that line’s cancellation, the figure’s fate was uncertain. Fortunately, he found a home in AI, so everybody still has a chance to have a toy of their favorite tri-dimensional bounty hunter. He stands just over 4 inches in height and features 27 points of articulation. Death’s Head makes use of the MU Colossus body as a starting point, reusing the arms, upper and lower torso, and legs from the boot up. Given that both characters are larger in stature and both feature a similar banded metal patter, the choice of re-use is inspired. In addition to these pieces, the figure also has brand new pieces for his head, hands, shins, and feet, as well as add-ons for the cape/shoulder-pads and the belt/loincloth/waist armor. The new pieces are really great sculpts. The head sculpt looks to have been lifted directly from the character’s comic appearances, and the armor pieces have some really wonderful denting and weathering. My only complaint is how loose the cape add-on is, as it causes it to sit incorrectly if you aren’t careful. The paintwork on Death’s Head is nice and clean for the most part. There’s a bit of bleed over here and there, but nothing too distracting. The metallic blues in particular make the figure really pop. Death’s Head is armed with an axe, a mace, and a shield, all of which are new pieces that look pretty great and fit the figure’s hands well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Deathlok and Valkyrie, Death’s Head was picked up from my local comicbook store, Cosmic Comix. Like Valkyrie, Death’s Head is a figure that I’ve wanted since the initial rumors of his release started cropping up. I’m not entirely sure why I’m so interested in the figure. I’ve read maybe two or three of Death’s Head’s comic appearances. I guess something about the character’s design just resonates with me. Unsurprisingly for a character designed for a toyline-tie-in, Death’s Head translates really well to the action figure format and makes for a pretty neat toy.

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#0286: Tenth Doctor’s Companions

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

ROSE TYLER, SARAH JANE, MARTHA JONES, DONNA NOBLE, ASTRID & K-9

DOCTOR WHO

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After yesterday’s brief break, we return to the Birthday Reviews with Part 6! I’ve wrapped up my Power Rangers (well, the ones I received as gifts, anyway…) so I’ll be moving on to some of the other gifts I got this year. This time around it’s Doctor Who themed, which is something I’ve looked at only once before on this blog. This time I’m not looking at the Doctor himself, but rather several of his companions.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These six were released as a boxed set, based on the companions of the Tenth incarnation of the Doctor. All of them were previously released on their own, but this is the first time I’ve seen any of them, so I’ll be treating them as new.

ROSE TYLER

10Companions6Rose is the new Doctor’s first companion, a hold-over from the Ninth Doctor’s time. The figure is about 5 inches tall and features 11 points of articulation. She’s based on Rose from the Tenth Doctor’s first season, specifically from the episode where he fights Satan in space. Yeah. The sculpt is all new, as far as I can tell, and it’s pretty good. The body seems well proportioned, and the face is a pretty great likeness of Billie Piper, so that’s cool. The hair is a bit chunky, but it’s not terrible. The arms lack elbow articulation, I assume to prevent the sculpt of the bare arms from being interrupted. It looks nice, but it does mean the arms are very limited in what you can do with them. The paint work is nice and clean, no bleed over or slop, which is all pretty good.

SARAH JANE

10Companions2Sarah Jane is only one of Ten’s companions in the loosest sense of the term. She appeared in a few episodes of his tenure, but she was never his sole companion. She was, however, a long-time companion to the Fourth incarnation of the Doctor. She stands about 5 inches tall and features 13 points of articulation. She’s based on her appearance on the show during Ten’s first season, which seems sensible for the set. The figure’s sculpt is pretty good overall, though she may actually be a little too young looking for the actress at the time of her appearance with Ten. That seems preferable to the opposite, so I can’t complain too much. The body sculpt looks pretty reasonably proportioned and detailed, and her hair looks more accurate than Rose, so that’s good. The paint work on Sarah is pretty clean, nothing amazingly impressive, but not bad by any means.

MARTHA JONES

10Companions7Martha was Ten’s first major companion following Rose (Donna showed up first, but she was only in the one episode). She only lasted a season, but she continued to appear for the following season, and also made a few appearances in spin-off series Torchwood. The figure sports 13 points of articulation and stands 5 inches tall. Martha’s sculpt is really quite good, probably the most accurate in this set. The likeness is definitely there, the proportions look great, the detail work is nice, and the articulation doesn’t interrupt too much. That makes for a really good figure. The paint is nice and clean, and accents the sculpt very well, and I like the differences in the finishes on different materials.

DONNA NOBLE

10Companions5Donna first appeared in the episode following Rose’s departure, originally meant as a one episode character before Martha appeared. However, the producers liked Catherine Tate’s performance, and decided to bring her in following Martha leaving as full-time companion at the end of the season. The figure is about 5 inches tall and features 13 points of articulation. She’s based on Donna’s appearance in her first episode as full time companion, which may not have been the best idea. Purely viewed through the window of show accuracy, it’s not a bad sculpt. She looks quite a bit like Tate, and the outfit she wore has been transferred pretty well. The issue at hand is that it’s not very flattering. Under the coat, they’ve accurately conveyed her build, but you can’t tell thanks to the bulky coat. It’s really a shame. The paint work on the figure is pretty good. Everything is cleanly applied, and there aren’t any issues of slop or bleed over.

ASTRID

10Companions8Astrid is the companion in this set with the shortest tenure on the show. Her only appearance is in the Christmas special following Martha’s departure. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 16 points of articulation. She’s in the only outfit that Astrid ever wore, so I suppose that’s fair. Her sculpt is okay, though not phenomenal. She looks a tad too old to be Astrid, and the proportions seem slightly off. In contrast to Rose, she has elbow joints. Functionally, it’s better, but aesthetically, I’m uncertain. I wonder if there might be some middle ground. The paint work on Astrid is pretty good overall, but the legs do show a little bit of slop.

K-9

10Companions3K-9 is kind of a joint-companion with Sarah Jane. He has pretty much the same amount of interaction with the Tenth Doctor, and was also a long-time companion to the Fourth Doctor. K-9 is about 3 inches tall and 2 inches long, with no articulation. It would have been nice to get some neck articulation, but otherwise, the lack thereof is understandable. The figure is based on K-9’s more beaten up appearance in the first season of Ten’s run. The sculpt is pretty good, and looks to be about spot-on to the prop from the show, so that’s cool. K-9 10Companions4features a removable plate on his right side, allowing a glimpse of his inner workings. The plate can be popped off by pressing the button at the top of his body. The paint work on K-9 is okay. I do wish that some of the scuffs and rust spots were a bit more subtle, but the rest of the paint seems to pretty cleanly applied, which is pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Companions set was a super awesome gift from my super awesome girlfriend, given to me for my birthday. She got them for me to compliment the set she gave me for Christmas, and she couldn’t have done a better job picking them out. She was very excited to give them to me, and I was absolutely thrilled to get them! Like the Doctor figure, a lot of these figures have little minor flaws, but as a whole they’re pretty great, and I’m glad my Doctor’s not lonely anymore!

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#0097: Doctor Who – Doomsday Set

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

THE TENTH DOCTOR, CYBERMAN & DALEK SEC

DOCTOR WHO

So, apparently, there’s a part 13 to my “post-Christmas review.”  It came as a surprise to me as well.  Good surprise, though.

So yeah, this time around it’s a first for me.  I’ll be reviewing a set of Doctor Who figures, which are my very first set of Doctor Who figures ever.  So, on to the review!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The figures in this set were released as part of the Doomsday set.  It’s a three-pack based on the second series finale, “Doomsday,” and I believe it was released in 2012.

THE DOCTOR

First up, it’s the titular Doctor.  This is the Tenth Doctor, which means he’s based on David Tennant’s version of the character.  He’s shown here in his usual pinstriped suit, and he’s also wearing his 3-D glasses which are important to the plot of the episode.  The Doctor stands about 5 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  The articulation is actually pretty decent over all, though I di kind of wish he had more than simple cut joints on his shoulders.  However, the rest of the articulation works really well, which makes up for the somewhat limited shoulders.  The sculpt is pretty decent over all, but the head is where this figure really shines.  I’ve seen pictures of some of the earlier Tens and the likeness to Tennant is only passable at best, but this figure seems to have really improved in that area.  The 3D glasses are a separate piece, which is really well scaled to the figure, which is super cool.  The body sculpt is pretty good too, if not quite as good as the head sculpt.  The separate piece used for the suit jacket is a little bit too bulky, but not too terrible.  The paint is all really sharp, with no noticeable slop or bleed.  Of note is just how well handled the pinstripes on the suit, which are all very small and evenly spaced.  The Doctor includes one accessory, his trusty sonic screwdriver.  It’s a decently done piece, and matches the quality of the figure, and fits perfectly into his hand.

CYBERMAN

Next up is one of the Doctor’s recurring foes, the Cybermen.  This is just one of the basic Cyberman drones, based on the revamped design from the Russell T Davis era.  The Cyberman stands a little over 5 inches tall and features 16 points of articulation.  The articulation is actually a bit better here than on the Doctor, as he’s got a ball jointed neck and shoulders, which really adds to the posing options.  The sculpt looks fairly spot on to the design of the character on the show.  The detailing of the wires under the armor plating looks particularly interesting and gives the figure some nice dimension.  The paint is decent, though, due to the nature of the design, it is a bit simpler than the Doctor’s.  It’s all very cleanly done and nothing is out of line or sloppy.  There’s also a bit of airbrushing to help bring out the details of the sculpt.

DALEK SEC

Last up is one the Doctor’s greatest enemies, the Daleks.   In particular, it’s Dalek Sec, the leader of a group of individual-ized Daleks created to better fight the Doctor.  The group was introduced in the two-part second series finale where they proved quite pivotal to its plot, so the inclusion of Sec in the set makes a lot of sense.  Sec stands about 4 ½ inches tall and features 4 points of articulation (9 if you count the wheels on the bottom, I suppose).  Obviously, he’s nowhere near as articulated as the other two figures in the set, but that’s totally understandable, since the real Dalek props only had a few moving parts.  The sculpt is pretty much just one of the Daleks shrunk down, with pretty much all of the details handled exactly the way they should be.  The paint is really cool.  It replicates Sec’s unique color scheme, which is super awesome.  He’s all black, but the figure has paint of various different finishes, which really adds some neat detail to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was kinda late to the whole Doctor Who thing.  I’ve only in the last 3-4 months really started watching the show, but I’ve gotten pretty well hooked.  I’m most of the way caught up, and Tennant was definitely my favorite, so I wanted to track down one of the many figures released based on his interpretation of the character.

While I was visiting her this weekend, my super awesome girlfriend presented me with a wrapped package containing these guys and informed me it was a slightly late Christmas gift. I was super excited to get these, and they’re one of the best gifts I received in an already pretty awesome selection of gifts.  The Doctor is my favorite in the set, even with his minor flaws, just because of how much fun he is to mess around with.  However, the other two are pretty awesome too, and really neat additions to the Doctor figure.  My Doctor Who collection just went from 0 to 3 super fast, which is really nifty.