Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who Classics ' Revelation of the Daleks' boxset

Another classics release, another Dalek boxset based on a Davros story. This time its 1985 2-part story ' Revelation of the Daleks' starring 6th Doctor Colin Baker. This boxset includes the 6th Doctor (with removable cape), Davros (with alternate hand), a Necros Dalek and a Skaro Dalek. Thoughts on each figure can be found below.

First off is the Doctor. Once again he is nothing more than a re-release of the Classics Wave 1 6th Doctor, which makes it the third release of the figure (the second being the 6th Doctor included in the 'Attack of the Cyberman' 2-pack, and as such I shall not be making any new comments about the figure as it has been previously reviewed). His new accessory comes in the form of the blue cape which he wore in the episode. The cape is made of PVC and is both light and dark blue, with gold trimmings. Its a pretty good likeness, and fits snugly on the Doctor (but isn't actually fixed in any way to him). As I already own the figure, I plan to keep the cape and sell the figure itself on.

Davros is much the same as his 'Resurrection' release, but bears a few little differences. While the spring loaded panel remains on the wheelchair base of the figure, but the mic on the head is on the opposite side (to reflect the difference in the episode itself) and the console panel has different paint apps. If this wasn't enough for people to consider him variant-worthy, he also comes with an alternate 'stump' hand, from when his hand is blown off by Orcini towards the end of the story. The hand is easily changeable, and the stump itself is a nice touch as looks as good as any bloody stump possibly could.

Next comes the Necros Dalek. Admittedly this is the main reason I bought the set, and I'm not disappointed with it. While its not completely accurate to the show version (the neck bin is raised up in the story) its still a very good likeness to it and accurately illustrates the differences between the Necros Dalek and the Imperial Daleks in 'Remembrance of the Daleks'.

Finally the Skaro Dalek, is actually the biggest surprise of the set. This version is easily the best 80s style Dalek that has been released by Character Options thus far (a much deeper and more appealing grey than the 'Resurrection' version, and far better mesh detailing than the 'Remembrance' one). The only downside is that once again the packaging managed to bend the eyestalk, making my Skaro Dalek suffer from the same problem as the 'Resurrection' drone.

Given the amount of alternatives this set held (such as the 'Great Healer' Davros decoy and glass Dalek) the variation in this set is relatively poor, but the figures themselves are still pretty great representations of the characters nonetheless. It is admittedly one of the weaker (if not weakest) Dalek story figure sets released thus far, but that Necros Dalek is too sweet of a prize to miss out on. The somewhat high price tag might mean it only catches the eye of the most hardcore Doctor Who/Dalek figure collector, but if it means filling in some of those crucial gaps in the lineup arguably that's the price we have to pay. 

Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who Classics 6th Doctor/Stealth Cyberman 2-pack

Character Options have really been churning out the Forbidden Planet exclusive classic Doctor Who figures. Not really sure why, because if anything they should be focusing on the new series 5 figures (which so far have been less than impressive on the whole), but then I'm not going to complain. One of the more cost effective figures in their recent releases is 6th Doctor/Stealth Cyberman (or Cyberscout if you prefer) set from the story Attack of the Cybermen. Not much really to say about the figures on the whole so I'll let the pictures do the talking, but I still have a few words on the subject.

The 6th Doctor (as played by Colin Baker) is a straight re-release of the figure included in the very first wave of Doctor Who classic figures, albeit with a brand new accessory (which sadly isn't the Sonic Lance that was prominent in so much of the story). Despite the fact that many buyers will probably already own the figure, it remains a great likeness of Colin Baker's Doctor with a fair bit of articulation (not spectacular, but no Who figure is).

There's not much to say about the Cyberman I didn't cover in my earlier review of the Earthshock Cyberman....except that it's black. In fact, if you want to get technical, this isn't even an Attack style Cyberman. The show Cyberscout didn't wear moon boots and the mouth piece was solid black rather than clear. Nevertheless these slight inaccuracies don't detract from how good the Cyberman looks, and the solid black makes a nice variation in a display of what will be primarily silver giants.

So basically the worth of the set comes down to what figures you already own, because essentially you're paying £25 for a re-release and a (slightly inaccurate) repaint. I happen to not own a (loose) 6th Doctor and can't get enough of Cybermen, so this was an instant buy for me. On the whole though, as far as classic Who figures go it's pretty average and perhaps one that the less hardcore collectors can avoid.