Despite there being some great History of the Daleks sets released in 2022, all of which have PLENTY of potential for custom fodder, I didn't quite get as many customs produced as I had hoped. Blame the scarcity of seeing them in B&M Stores (I rarely saw enough sets on shelves to buy spares for customs) or just a lack of time and funds, but productivity was definitely at a low. That said, at the end of the year I started on a pretty simple project that would hopefully kickstart a more productive 2023. So without further ado I present my first Doctor Who custom figure for the year, hailing from a place which (second only to the TV21 Dalek comics ) has always been one of my favourite places to scour for inspiration - the ever-growing audio adventures of Big Finish .

Like many I’ve suddenly found myself with a lot more free time over the past few weeks thanks to this Coronavirus lockdown business, and one thing I really wanted to dip my hand back into was the world of custom Dalek figures. It’s been some years since my last project, and the increasing scarcity/price of classic Daleks on the aftermarket hasn’t made getting back into it any easier. However luckily I was able to get my hands on a Classic Dalek Set #2 on eBay, so had three new canvases to work with. My first instinct is to always trawl through all the various Big Finish audios to find variants I hadn’t tackled yet, and this time my eyes turned toward the excellent Brotherhood of the Daleks by Alan Barnes. The cover for the story features a distinct red Dalek, revealed to a particularly special case as it’s not just a Dalek - it’s a Thalek.

Release Date: August 2019 RRP: £19.99 The War Doctor is perhaps one of the boldest concepts to have come out of Doctor Who since its 2005 relaunch, second only behind that of the Time War itself. An incarnation of the Doctor kept completely secret to viewers, willing to do the things that his previous incarnations weren’t and an instrumental part in the Time Lords ’ war against the Daleks . Though he only properly appeared on screen in the 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor , prior to actor John Hurt ’s death in 2017 Big Finish brought the character back for four special audio adventure sets that expanded on his exploits in the Time War. As another of their extremely significant contributions to Doctor Who lore, it’s only fitting that the War Doctor joins the Seventh and Eighth Doctors in Character Options B&M exclusive figure sets. The War Doctor & Dalek Scientist set is based upon the story A Thing of Guile , the second story of the War Doctor’s ...

Release Date: August 2019 RRP: £19.99 Although after the 1996 TV   movie the Eighth Doctor wouldn't be seen again until 2013's The Night of the Doctor mini-episode, that doesn't mean that he was completely forgotten during Doctor Who 's wilderness years. While he was initially expanded upon through novels and comics, arguably it wouldn't be until Big Finish came along that that he was truly defined. From his main range adventures to boxsets like Dark Eyes, Doom Coalition and Ravenous,  Big Finish have made a huge contribution to developing a Doctor that has only ever had two onscreen appearances. So much so, that the direct namedropping of his companions in The Night of the Doctor has even made them canon for the most part. So when Character Options announced that they would be producing three Doctor/Dalek two-pack figure sets as part of their 2019 B&M Stores exclusive range, of course the Eighth Doctor would be included. Say hello to the Eighth D...

Release Date: August 2019 RRP: £19.99 The 2019 assortment of B&M store exclusive   Doctor Who action figures   was teased to be the most exciting yet, and all Character Options needed to do to confirm that as being true was utter two simple words - Big Finish. For the last 20 years Big Finish have been the company behind Doctor Who audio adventures, expanding the mythos for all of the classic Doctors as well as producing a number of spin-off series and pressing forward with more unexplored concepts from the relaunched series such as the Time War . As part of their offerings for this year Character have announced three sets based on popular Big Finish adventures, pairing an incarnation of the Doctor up with his deadliest enemy - the Daleks . This also marks the first time that the Dalek figure mould has appeared among the B&M exclusive assortments. The first of these sets we'll be looking at is the Seventh Doctor & Axis Strike Squad Dalek set, b...

"Did you not see the markings on their casings? Dalek Scientists." From the Dalek Time Controller to the “benevolent” Daleks from a parallel dimension, Big Finish’s expansive Doctor Who audios have always been a wonderful source for interesting and obscure Dalek variants. Sometimes these simply have to be left to interpretation, but those that manage to grace the CD artwork the perfect inspiration for custom figures. And with the release of Infernal Devices , the second box set in the new War Doctor range, another has joined them. Appearing on the cover of its second part A Thing of Guile is a new version of a Dalek Scientist , specifically the ones that appeared during the last great Time War between the Daleks and the Time Lords.

  If you're a fan of the classic Doctor Who series and haven't heard any of Big Finish 's audio adventures, then you really need to do something about that. Not only have they been able to flesh out Paul McGann's 8th Doctor incarnation into a really good character, but since they aren't limited by the budget of the TV series they've been able to pull off some really ambitious and large-scale stories. The Dalek stories have particularly benefited from this (mostly thanks to the brilliant writing of Nicholas Briggs ) and have recently been hinting at events that may lead to the infamous Time War. Starring in the audios Patient Zero, Lucie Miller/To The Death  and the more recent Dark Eyes  set, I give you the Dalek Time Controller .... The Dalek Time Controller is a Dalek from the far future which was created with an evolved mind that allowed it to perceive time in a more advanced manner than a standard Dalek, as well its mind existing outside of time (...