Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who Classics 'Silver Nemesis' Cyberleader and Cyberman

After a good few weeks of Daleks and 11 Doctor boxsets, its time to round up my current splurge on Doctor Who figures with 2 more additions to my Cyber army....the Cyberleader and Cyberman as seen in the 7th Doctor 1988 story Silver Nemesis. This set is particularly exciting as it is the first official release of a Classic Who Cyberleader. As the Cyberleader himself would put it, "EXCELLENT!"

First thing to mention would be that these figures lack the chrome finish on the helmet and chest pieces their TV counterparts do, and while this is a shame here they blend in a lot better with current Classic figures (I find chrome to be a bit of a hit or miss affair) and do have some other nice touches to offer in place of this. The sculpt is far more divergent from the earlier released Classic Earthshock Cyberman figure earlier released, so much that it does begin to feel a lot more like an entirely different sculpt altogether (some comparison pictures with the Earthshock version can be seen below). Both figures also include some very nice blue tinted piping on the chest area, which looks really good in certain lighting. Personally, I find this design to prove a far better figure than the Earthshock version.

Unfortunately the same can't be said for these Cybermen's weapon of choice. Admittedly this is more by way of design and accuracy to the TV version, but these Cyberguns are just plain awful. They are incredibly difficult for the Cybermen to hold, nigh impossible to pose in an aiming stance and not long enough for them to be stably held in both hands. The Earthshock weaponry beats this hands down.

So what does this mean for a rating? Well weapons aside these figures are fantastic and as far as I'm concerned worth the £24.99 price tag. However I will say that in reality these are really only for the hardcore Doctor Who fans and collectors. Casual collectors would be far better buying 2 Earthshock Cybermen (at around £7 each) and merely repainting the handlebars on one to create their own Cyberleader. Yes I said these figures feel different altogether to their Earthshock counterparts, but to casual collectors they'd not really feel that different. To summarise - great figures, but their place in your collection really depends on your stance as a collector.