Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who History of the Daleks #2 Set

Release Date: July 2020

RRP: £19.99

After the release of The Daleks in 1963, the UK quickly entered the phase Doctor Who fans affectionately know as Dalekmania. Given their popularity it's no surprise that the BBC quickly made plans for a follow up in the show's second series. That of course is 1964's The Dalek Invasion of Earth, a six-part story that truly cemented the Daleks' place in the series. The story is also notable for being the first Doctor Who serial to make extensive use of location filming, as well as being the last appearance of companion Susan Foreman. Now The Dalek Invasion of Earth is being celebrated by Character Options in their second History of The Daleks set, released as part of the 2020 B&M store exclusive assortment. This set features both a standard silver Dalek and the black Supreme Dalek as they appeared in the story, complete with enlarged fenders and energy collection discs on their backs.

Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who Dalek Collector Set #2 (Dalek Invasion of Earth)

In the late 80s through to the 90s and early 00s, Doctor Who toys were produced by a company by the name of Dapol. They drew criticism for some easily avoidable inaccuracies (a six-sided TARDIS console, two-handed Davros and green K-9 - although the latter two were fixed in later rereleases), but released the widest spectrum of Who figures until Character Options took over with the relaunch of the series. One thing Dapol were particularly good at was milking their Dalek mould - in addition to the usual colour schemes they produced red, green, blue and even glittery versions over the years. Imagination certainly wasn't something they were short of.

This short history seems especially appropriate when talking about the second of Character's new range of Toys R Us exclusive 3.75" Dalek Collector sets, as it's the first the company have produced where they show a similar amount of imagination. Admittedly it has a bit more sense to it than Dapol's - taking inspiration from the iconic 1964 story The Dalek Invasion of Earth, but it's still very excited territory for them.

Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who Enemies of the First Doctor Collectors' Set

With the 5" classic Doctor Who line now limited to one or two releases a year, now is the perfect time to start raiding the back catalogue of previous releases. I recently received the Enemies of the First Doctor set as Christmas gift from the wonderful admin guys at Tokunation, which was perfect as it was a set I've been longing to get since it was released back in 2011. Unfortunately the "Enemies of..." sets never really took off, with only a Third Doctor version being released not long later.Still, this set features some of the iconic villains from the First Doctor's run - a Cyberman, a Roboman and of course, a Dalek.

ROBOMAN

Moving along these First Doctor enemies in chronological order, our first stop is the set's only brand new figure - a roboman from the 1964 serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth. I use the term "new figure" lightly, as in reality this is in fact a re-purposed Primeval figure with new colouring and some fashionable Dalek zombification headgear. It's a bit of a lazy move on Character Option's part, but at the same time it's not something that is at all noticeable unless you happen to compare the two figures (I myself only know because it was plastered all over the internet upon release.

While a roboman was never going to be the most detailed of figures, it's a fantastic representation of the very first set of Dalek slaves. Not only that, but the articulation is among the best the 5" Who line has to offer. Altogether there's a turning head, bicep/upper leg swivels, hinged arms/knees,t-joint hips and even rotating hands. The vacant headsculpt may just be due to Character Option's varied sculpting, but if there was any figure that kind of expression was going to be appreciated on it was this one.

DALEK with flame arm

Our next stop takes us to 1965-66 and the fourth appearance of the Doctor's oldest enemies - The Daleks' Masterplan. At an impressive 12 parts it is currently the longest Dalek story ever produced, but unfortunately only three episodes (two, five and ten) are held in the BBC archive with the remaining nine still missing.Still, the audio for the story still remains in its entirety, as does a popular clip from the second episode which inspired this particular Dalek variant.

The Master Plan Dalek uses the same base mould as the Chase version also released back in 2011 (so silver with light blue hemispheres, vertical slats, and orange dome lights), but with a brand new appendage in place of the standard sucker arm - the flamethrower arm or "pyro flame" as it was referred to in the story. Despite only still existing in the 10 second clip, this alternate appendage has gone down as somewhat of a fan favourite and previously saw release in Dapol's classic Dalek figure set. Not only does the Character Options version have the edge in terms of accuracy, but the flame piece is also fully removable from the arm itself. Articulation-wise there isn't a whole lot to say...it has everything you'd expect a Dalek to have.

CYBERMAN

Finally we reach October 1966 and the First Doctor's final story, The Tenth Planet. Of course this story was also famous for being the first appearance of the Doctor's second most famous enemy - the Cybermen. And while the Cybermen have changed rather drastically over Doctor Who's 50 year history, the original Tenth Planet are still by far the creepiest in terms of passing the race of as humans that have had their bodies slowly replaced by prosthetics.

The Tenth Planet Cyberman had previously seen release as part of the Collect & Build Cyberman wave, however this version features slightly revised paint apps with darker hands and face mark (see comparison image above/below). Other than that it's the same old Cyberman figure, which is still a nicely articulated figure despite the bulky chestplate with protruding tubes. Despite being the original silver giant the Cyberman has a little bit of colour variation,so the overall silver finish is complimented with clear plastic and black detailing. Articulation is the same as the Roboman, save for the lack of an upper leg swivel. My one complaint is that I'd have liked to have maybe see this version of the Cyberman come with a black cloak, just to differentiate it even more from the original release. Omega got one, so why not this?

So is this set worth it? Well, there are a number of factors to take into consideration. Its about two years old now and still in reasonable supply, so in many cases sports a lower price tag than it did on initial release (which was £35...perhaps a bit TOO much). At the same time, this set is made up of a re-purposed "new" figure, a variant re-release and a Dalek a new appendage...not the most appetising selection for existing collectors. It is however a very nice set and a great way to pick up a long-discontinued Cyberman, a popular Dalek variant and perhaps the only Dalek henchman we'll ever get in the 5" range (can't say I'm holding my breath for Ogrons anymore). The variety is certainly divisive, but at the very least you can be certain each figure included is of great quality.

Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" Sound FX Dalek

While Character Options may have relegated the majority of their classic Doctor Who releases to Forbidden Planet exclusives, every so often a few slip through the net and manage to get a mass release. The 11 Doctors box set was one example, and now a wave of talking Dalek figures has been released.  The first wave features a total of six Daleks from various periods of the show's history, with representations from the following stories;

• The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964)
• Power of the Daleks (1966)
• Planet of the Daleks (1973)
• Death to the Daleks (1974)
• Revelation of the Daleks (1985)
• Bronze Dalek (2005 relaunch)

With my Dalek collection continuing to fill my room, I've chosen to only pick up the varities which are seeing release for the first time in this wave. First up is the The Dalek Invasion of Earth variant. While the Saucer commander and pilot ranks have been released in the past, this is the first time for the standard drone variant.

The packaging is a fairly standard blister, but a nice little touch is that the backing card is in the shape of a Dalek dome/neck. There's a hole in the blister for the Dalek's "try-me" function, which is activated by pushing down on one of the skirt spheres. The talking feature can be turned off via a switch on the base once opened.

While the Dalek design is very similar to the one seen in the race's debut story The Daleks, there are a number of aesthetic changes. The most obvious of all is the larger bumper which storywise was to make the Daleks more mobile on Earth's terrain (remember, they were pretty primitive back in the 60s). Smaller changes are the rounder, silver/black eyestalk and the dish on their backs (to draw in power from their saucers). Its a very unique design in that not only does it have elements that wouldn't be seen in the Daleks again, but its also from the story that cemented them as a reoccurring part of Doctor Who at the height of Dalekmania. As usual the level of articulation isn't much, but it has everything you'd expect from a Dalek - the head can rotate 360 degrees, the eye move up and down and appendages move about. An extendable plunger would be nice, but no Dalek toy in general has been managed to pull that off yet.

But this is the important section, just how good is the voice? The packaging boasts that the Daleks have era-specific sound effects and speech, and as great as this sounds its only half true. While the Daleks do have era-specific speech, they aren't story specific and the lines have been re-recorded. There's no "We are the masters of Earth!" or "We are the masters of India!", but instead "Daleks conquer and destroy!", which is in fact from Power of the Daleks.

While I appreciate the (somewhat half-assed) era-specific lines, the effect is completely lost without the original audio (or atleast something close to it). Not every Dalek speaks like they do now - the ones from Dalek Invasion of Earth, as well as the ones from Revelation of the Daleks, have very specific speech styles that could have easily been recreated. A video of the various voice clips can be viewed below (the Dalek also makes a gun SFX noise, but the toy just didn't want to make the noise on camera).

So the verdict? It's a great toy that lives up to Character Options usual standards, but the speech element leaves a lot to be desired. Without the proper voice or story-specific speech, the promise of era-specific voice clips is pretty empty. Regardless of this, its nice to see more Dalek variants released as Character Options draw ever closer to releasing them all.