Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who History of the Daleks #11 Set

Release Date: December 2022

RRP: £24.99

For many Doctor Who fans, Genesis of the Daleks is one of (if not the) greatest stories of all time. The origin of the Doctor's greatest adversary set against a war-torn Skaro, the story introduced the Daleks' creator Davros and subsequent Dalek encounters arguably struggled to live up to this level of quality. Its place in Doctor Who history has clearly been recognised by Character Options, who released not one, but TWO Genesis of the Daleks-themed sets as part of their final wave of B&M exclusive figures in 2022. Complimenting the Creation of the Daleks set is the eleventh entry in the History of the Daleks assortment, adding a further two standard gunmetal grey Daleks to the line.

History of the Daleks #11 comes in the same revised packaging that was introduced with the ninth entry – removing the plastic window from the front of the box as well as the plastic tray and cardboard diorama, replacing the latter elements with a fixed bubble and standard backdrop. The artwork is the same blue/off-white TARDIS pieces seen across the current Doctor Who toy line, however it is interesting that this is labelled as "Genesis of the Daleks (Set 2)" – recognising the companionship between this and the Creation of the Daleks set. On the back of the box you'll find a rather lengthy bit of text covering both the synopsis and behind the scenes of Genesis of the Daleks, and then to remove the toys themselves you will need to pry the plastic bubble off of its backing card.

Although one Dalek drone may have also been released as part of the Creation of the Daleks set, the two included here are unique in that they aren't quite identical - giving fans the opportunity to own Drones A, B and C from the story. It is worth noting however that these two figures use the standard Dalek mould, so unfortunately lack the (more easily) removable ball joints of the Creation version. A shame because it would have worked wonderfully on all of them, but I suppose it does make the Creation set that little bit more special. Both Daleks included here use the same screen-accurate grey colouring as well as having the fender sport a worn-deco, but key differences on this first variant include only a partially silver eyestalk and a black gunstick.

While on first glance the second Dalek may seem similar, on closer inspection there are some key differences between the two. This variant uses the same ribbed dome lamps seen on older Dalek models, sports a dark grey ball joint on the plunger arm (matching the base colour of the Dalek) and lacks the raised oval on the midsection. They may only be subtle differences, but they're enough to make the two feel reasonably separate as well as highlight the differences between the props themselves. Other than some slightly misaligned paint on the eyestalk of my copy the paintwork on this variant is also very good - again using a considerably better shade of grey than the previous Genesis releases that is both screen-accurate and stands apart from the other 70s era Daleks.

Articulation on the Daleks is business as usual, which I seem to have written on this blog so many times now but there's always the chance this is the first review someone is checking out. In which case each figure features a 360-degree rotating dome, pivoting eyestalk and ball jointed appendages. The base has three wheels installed to glide across smooth surfaces in proper Dalek fashion. It's pretty much everything you could want out of a classic Dalek figure, because it's pretty much everything the props themselves were capable of.

History of the Daleks #11 is an interesting little set. While the differences between the two Daleks (and in turn, the one included in the Creation of the Daleks set) are the kind of thing Dalek fanatics will adore, to many others it's just another set of gunmetal grey Daleks. Perfect for army building, but not the most exciting set out there even with said differences between them. It's also a shame that these Daleks couldn't share the same tooling as the Creation set Dalek, allowing you to have multiple weapon-less Daleks without the hassle of pulling ball joints out. Another fun set from History of the Daleks, but perhaps not the range at its best.