Review: Custom Doctor Who Figures

Hi everybody! After a long hiatus (my life has been very busy lately), I'm back with a new review! Today I'll be doing something a little different, and looking at two of my custom made Doctor Who action figures.

The first I'll show you is my custom TV Movie 7th Doctor. This costume has always divided opinion amongst fans, but general consensus has always been that there should be an official figure made of it. Given the state that the 5 inch Doctor Who figure range is in, it seems unlikely that the TV Movie 7th Doctor will ever get his own official figure, so I decided to take matters into my own hands!

My custom is made from two different figures; a Classic Series Seventh Doctor and Series 5 Professor Bracewell. I started by boiling both figures in hot water to soften the plastic, and then disassembled the upper bodies, taking the lab coat and waistcoat pieces from the Bracewell figure. Using some scissors I then trimmed down Bracewell's lab coat to make it look more like the Doctor's jacket in the TV movie and painted it, along with the arms from the Seventh Doctor figure, dark brown. Taking the waistcoat piece, which was easily removed due to it being interchangeable with Bracewell's exposed robotic torso, I painted it a flat shade of red to match its on screen appearance. I then painted the shirt and tie white and black respectively. Technically this isn't 100% screen accurate, as the Doctor's tie was black with a striped pattern, but theres no way I'd have been able to recreate that at such a small scale! Finally, I painted the trousers of the Seventh Doctor figure grey; again this is not entirely screen accurate, but it seemed a much easier alternative to recreating the checked pattern seen on the actual costume. Topping off the look with black painted shoes, and his trusty umbrella, this new Seventh Doctor figure is a very welcome addition to my collection; especially considering the effort I put into making it!

The second custom I'm going to show you is another highly demanded figure; Doctor Who, as played by Peter Cushing!

This custom is based on the human character literally named Doctor Who, played by the one and only Peter Cushing in the two 'Dalek Movies' from the 1960s; 'Doctor Who and the Daleks' and 'Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD.' Given that the rights to these films are not owned by the BBC, figures of the characters will probably never be made. The closest we have is the Guard Dalek from 'The Chase' figure, the real life counterpart of which was a modified Movie Dalek. I personally love both of the Dalek Movies, and have longed for figures based on them to be released. I was thrilled when I got the Guard Dalek, but I want more than that! So, when I figured I could make a custom Doctor Who figure, thats exactly what I did!

Like the Seventh Doctor above, this figure started life as two separate figures; this time a Classic Series First Doctor figure and the head of a spare Seventh Doctor. I'm awful at sculpting details for custom figures, so I decided to do a simple straight repaint. The First Doctor's costume is somewhat similar to Cushing's in the films, so I painted the jacket brown, the cravat a very light blue, the waistcoat a very pale yellow and the shoes brown. The result was essentially an alternately-coloured First Doctor, which I initially liked but wanted to take further. I then painted the checked trousers a flat grey, to match the on screen costume. After removing the First Doctor's head, I then went about working out what to use as a replacement. As I said, I'm awful at sculpting, but I came to the realisation that with grey hair and a painted-on mustache, the Seventh Doctor head sculpt bears a passing resemblance to Peter Cushing. Better than nothing, I thought, so I painted it up and attached it to the body. The result is a custom figure that I am extremely pleased with! Pairing him off with the Guard Dalek, I now have something of a Dalek Movie figure collection, and I'm already planning on making a custom Movie Dalek to go with them!

So there you have it for this review! I hope you've enjoyed it, and stick around for more Doctor Who reviews coming in the near future!

Review: Doctor Who TRU Exclusive 3rd Doctor & Anti-reflecting Light Wave Dalek

Welcome one and all! Its time for another Doctor Who review! Continuing on from my last reviews we have another set from the third wave of Doctor/Dalek 2 packs: The 3rd Doctor and Anti-reflecting Light Wave Dalek (try saying that five times faster) from 'Planet of the Daleks!'

In keeping with tradition we'll start with the Doctor, seen here in his 3rd incarnation as played by Jon Pertwee.

The 3rd Doctor happens to be my favourite Doctor, so when I heard about this set I knew I'd be getting it no matter what the variants were! Needless to say I'm very happy with what we've got here! The 3rd Doctor had a wide variety of different coloured jackets, and while I personally would have loved to have seen a figure wearing his red jacket (c. 'Terror of the Autons'), I think CO made an excellent and very unexpected choice in the purple jacket! The previous 3rd Doctor figures have featured either his black, blue or green jackets, which makes the purple really stand out amongst those other colours.

As with many other Doctor Who figures, the details on the 3rd Doctor are absolutely fantastic! The face sculpt is an almost perfect likeness of Jon Pertwee, really capturing the character of his Doctor in his facial expression. Furthermore, CO have gone as far as to recreate the pattern details on the cravat. While this may not be entirely accurate (What Pertwee wore in PotD was more of a floppy bow tie than a cravat), I can't help but feel that the bow tie sculpt wouldn't have looked quite right with the rest of this costume. CO definitely made all the right choices here in my opinion!

Of course, like almost all the other Doctor/Dalek 2 packs, the 3rd Doctor is sadly lacking in any accessories. This to me is very unfortunate, as the 3rd Doctor was very rarely seen without his trusty Sonic Screwdriver! After all, he was the pioneer of the Sonic! Nevertheless though you can easily stick the Sonic from another 3rd Doctor figure into his hand (as seen above), which to me really seems to complete the figure.

And now we move on to what may well be one of the most unexpected Doctor Who figures ever; the Anti-reflecting Light Wave Dalek (more commonly known as the Invisible or Sprayed Dalek)!

Despite only appearing on screen for a matter of seconds, fans have been demanding a transparent/invisible dalek for as long as there have been Classic dalek figures available! While this isn't entirely what they were hoping for, its probably the best we're going to get for a long time!

This figure is certainly unique, but I have to say I'm in two minds about it. On one hand, I love the fact that we have a transparent dalek, and that they didn't simply go along the re-release path for this 2 pack. However, on the other hand I really wish this was simply a transparent dalek. My problem is that the black paint seems to take up too much of the figure. I know that in the story the Doctor did spray a good portion of the dalek to make it visible, but on the figure I just think it detracts too much from the "invisible" parts. I'm not saying I dislike this figure! I think its a great idea for this 2 pack, and I love that it is unique among the other Classic dalek figures. What I am saying however, is that I think this figure should have simply been an "invisible" dalek. No black paint, just an entirely transparent dalek, like the one seen at Toy Fair a few years ago. Hopefully we'll get to see that figure in the future, but with the way the 5 inch line is going, I unfortunately have my doubts.

So there we have it for this 2 pack. While I do like this set for its uniqueness, and for the fact that its a 3rd Doctor set, I do not think its 100% perfect. Don't get me wrong, I think the 3rd Doctor figure is a fantastic addition to my collection, and I'm never going to turn down a new Classic dalek variant! I just think that the choice of dalek variant wasn't executed in the best way. If CO hadn't put on that black paint, it would be so much better in my opinion! Regardless of that, this set is definitely worth the money, and a must have for any 3rd Doctor fans like myself!

I hope you've enjoyed this review, and remember to stay tuned for more Doctor Who reviews in the near future!

Review: Doctor Who TRU Exclusive 1st Doctor & Supreme Dalek

Hello there folks! I have returned for yet another Doctor Who review, and its another of the Doctor/Dalek 2 packs! In today's installment I shall be looking at the 1st Doctor and Supreme Dalek set, based on the 1965 12 part epic 'The Daleks' Master Plan!'

As is the norm, we begin with the 1st Doctor ("the original, you might say!"), played by the inimitable William Hartnell.

Unlike the other Doctor figures in wave 3, the 1st Doctor is virtually a straight re-release of the original 1st Doctor figure (I say "virtually" for reasons that I'll get on to in a minute). Believe it or not, I really don't mind this! I'm not exactly ecstatic about owning two of this figure, but I do appreciate that it gives collectors who missed out on the original release, from SDCC 2009, a chance to get their hands on it! Don't get me wrong though, I really do like this figure! When I bought the original release, it quickly became one of my favourite Classic Doctor who figures! The details are absolutely impeccable, and the likeness to William Hartnell is definitely one of the best likenesses in the entire Classic Series line!

Original release on left, new release on right

I said this was "virtually" a re-release of the SDCC 1st Doctor because of the paint details on his face. The newer version features much softer paint applications, such as a smaller amount of pink around the eyes, which in my opinion makes the likeness to William Hartnell look even more accurate!

My only complaint with this figure, like all the other Doctors from these 2 packs that I own, is the lack of any accessories; specifically his cane/walking stick. Now I haven't seen 'The Daleks' Master Plan' all the way through (as it no longer exists in its entirety), so I don't even know if he had his stick in that story! Nevertheless, those who missed out on the original release will no doubt be annoyed by this, as the stick was an iconic part of the 1st Doctor's costume. I can fully understand their annoyance, as I hate buying figures with missing accessories! Despite the missing stick, this really is a fantastic figure, and if you didn't get the original version, grab this one while you have the chance!

Now we come to what was for me the selling point of this set; the Supreme Dalek!

Ever since the release of the 'The Chase' figure set in 2011, I've wanted to see the 60's Supreme Dalek in figure form. You can imagine that I was extremely happy when I discovered it would be released as part of this set! Was it worth the wait? Damn right it was!

The figure looks absolutely fantastic, especially when one considers that Character Options have taken the time to add the right details to make it as accurate as possible to its on-screen appearance in 'The Daleks' Master Plan.'

Specifically I'm talking about the black eyestalk, the new yellow dome lights, and the darker blue hemispheres. At first glance both the Supreme Dalek seen in 'The Chase' and is Supreme Dalek appear to be identical. However, it is the details mentioned above that separate the former from the latter. CO could have easily gone down the route of taking the standard 'The Chase' dalek sculpt and painting the body black, so its fantastic that they've made the Supreme Dalek as accurate as possible to its on-screen counterpart. People have argued that the darker blue is incorrect, but if you look carefully at shots from 'The Daleks' Master Plan' you can see that the hemispheres on all of the daleks are slightly darker in colour to their previous appearances.

Overall, the Supreme Dalek is a very welcome addition to my collection! Its been a long time coming, but I'm so glad that I finally own one!

And so we come to the end of this review! This set is absolutely fantastic, and definitely one of my favourites of the Doctor/Dalek 2 packs. Although I'm not too happy about owning another 1st Doctor figure, I appreciate that for other collectors it will make up for missing out on the initial release. The Surpeme Dalek completely makes up for this though, as it is a dalek variant that I have been waiting for for ages (as have many other collectors)! Like the rest of wave 3, this set has become somewhat rare due to the high demand and low stocks, so if you find one in your local Toys R Us, grab it while you still can!

I hope you've enjoyed this review, and stay tuned for more Doctor Reviews in the near future!

Review: Doctor Who TRU Exclusive 8th Doctor & Dalek Alpha

Hi Everybody! Its time for another review! Today I'm going to be looking at one of the recently released Wave 3 Doctor/Dalek 2 packs, featuring the 8th Doctor and Dalek Alpha from the comic story 'Children of the Revolution!'

As with before, we'll start by looking at the 8th Doctor, as played by Paul McGann.

Like the other Doctor figures seen in these 2 packs, the 8th Doctor is a simple repaint of the previously released 8th Doctor figure found in the Eleven Doctors set. With very few repaint opportunities with the 8th Doctor, I have to say that I'm very glad that they chose to give us a figure featuring his costume seen in the comics! While the original figure featured the TV Movie's green coat, this new variant features a much more striking blue coat, which became the 8th Doctor's standard costume in the comics after the former was eventually phased out. The rest of the costume lacks some of the detail seen on the TV Movie variant, with the waistcoat now being plain brown instead of patterned grey, but its such a drastic change from the original that it really doesn't bother me! Besides, it makes it more accurate to the comics! Sadly he doesn't come with his Sonic Screwdriver, but I like this new variant so much that it really doesn't bother me!

One of the things that really strikes me with this figure is the face. The paint apps and detail on this newer version look so much better than the original, which in my case, as you can see from the picture, turned out slightly boss-eyed! In the case of the new variant it seems they have been much more careful with the paint apps, and also added some pink detailing around his eyes, which seems to make his face look a little more realistic. Additionally, the hair seems to be a little lighter than the previous version's, which may have been due to the colourful nature of some of the comics. Put those things together, and we have a phenomenal likeness of Paul McGann!

Now lets move on to the second part of this set; Dalek Alpha!

Now for those of you who don't know, heres a little info on this character. Dalek Alpha first appeared in the 2nd Doctor story 'The Evil of the Daleks,' in which the Doctor used something called the Human Factor to create 3 "humanized" daleks (Alpha, Beta and Omega). These daleks began to behave like humans, and eventually rebelled against the Emperor. They were thought to have been destroyed, but it is revealed in 'Children of the Revolution' that Dalek Alpha survived, and has been the leader of a colony of peaceful "humanized" daleks on the planet Kyrol for many years.

Dalek Alpha is a very unique figure, most notably for the fact that he is the only red classic dalek figure! I've always loved red daleks, so to finally have a figure of one is wonderful! However, I do have to point out that Dalek Alpha here is actually riddled with inaccuracies.

Firstly theres the eyestalk. In 'Children of the Revolution,' Dalek Alpha is shown to have a blank iris that glows orange. For some unknown reason, Character Options have given him a pupil-ed eye instead. Why they've done this is beyond me, but I'm sure a little orange paint can fix this!

Next is the gun, which as you can see is the type of gun seen on the daleks from the 1st Doctor's era. If one looks carefully at the panels of the comic, then one can see that Dalek Alpha actually features the more standard dalek gun, without the inner discs seen here. I will admit that it is growing on me on this figure, but it does beg the question, why did they use the wrong gun?

Finally we have the hemispheres. In the comic, Dalek Alpha's hemispheres are silver in colour, but CO have ended up colouring his hemispheres in black. In fairness I can excuse this mistake, as the way some of the panels in the comic are coloured do make it look like the hemispheres are black, but I would have much preferred the silver as red and silver is my absolute favourite dalek colour scheme!

Inaccuracies aside, I really do like the Dalek Alpha figure! Its great to finally have another figure to display with the 8th Doctor figures, and his colour scheme really makes him stand out among all the other Classic Series dalek figures! A word of warning though, many of the daleks in wave 3 have been reported as having eyestalks that droop downwards. My Dalek Alpha suffers from this, but it can easily be fixed by putting a little bit of blu-tack under the eyestalk.

So there you have it for this set! What do I think of it? I think its excellent! Obviously there were very few ways to go with this set, so I'm glad that CO chose to give the 8th Doctor comics recognition! I know lots of people would have rather seen a Dark Eyes version of the 8th Doctor, but that was never going to happen, and sadly I wonder if it ever will. Regardless of that, the 8th Doctor figure in this set looks superb, especially when stood next to his TV Movie counterpart, and Dalek Alpha is just a joy to behold, even despite the inaccuracies! I highly recommend you try to get this set, just be warned as apparently it is the rarest set in this wave, which when coupled with the high demand will mean that people will be selling them online for astronomical prices! Nevertheless, good luck to you all if you intend to go hunting for one! You'll certainly enjoy it when its yours!

I hope you've enjoyed this review, and stay tuned for more Doctor Who reviews in the near future!

Review: Doctor Who Character Building Wave 4 - The Eleven Doctors Micro-Figures

Hi everyone! I'm back for another Doctor Who review! Today I'm going to be looking at the 4th wave of the Doctor Who Character Building Micro-Figures, which features all 11 incarnations of the Doctor! Released to coincide with the upcoming 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, these micro-figures are all repaints of those found in the 1st CB Eleven Doctors set, albeit some with minor changes and all with excellent new decos!

I'll be going in numerical order, so I'll start with the First Doctor, as played by William Hartnell!

Searching tip: Feel for the cloak

The First Doctor micro-figure found in the original set featured the character's traditional Edwardian gentleman costume. This version however is much more specific, being based on the Doctor's appearance from stories such as An Unearthly Child and The Tenth Planet. Due to Hartnell's costume very rarely changing, this is one of very few variants that could be made of the First Doctor, but nonetheless it makes a very welcome addition to the collection! I've always been a fan of Hartnell's cloaked costume, especially on the 5" figure, and to own it as a micro-figure is very nice! It looks fantastic next to the original version, as well as among the other ten Doctors and their variants.

Up next is the Second Doctor, as played by Patrick Troughton!

Searching tip: A tricky one, but try feeling for the head & Sonic Screwdriver

The Second Doctor's first release featured his traditional costume. This variant however features quite a drastic change, in that the Second Doctor is jacketless (as seen in stories such as The Wheel in Space). Of the possible variants I think this is an unusual choice, given the popularity of the Second Doctor's fur coat costume, but in saying that it does seem very unique. For such a small figure, there is some very nice detail on the Second Doctor's braces, which include small flower, clover and crescent moon patterns. At this scale I'd have expected them to simply not do this, so props to Character for including this detail! Sadly it does not continue onto the figure's back, but who is going to be looking at his back anyway? Like the original release, the Second Doctor features a small accessory: the very first version of the Sonic Screwdriver! Only in Character Building has this accessory been released, and its nice to know that its being acknowledged! Due to its size, it actually fits in scale very well with the 5" Second Doctor figures, so if you feel inclined you can display him with it! Overall a very nice little micro-figure, its just a shame hes so difficult to find!

Moving on, we have my favourite incarnation of the Doctor! The Third Doctor, as played by Jon Pertwee!

Searching tip: Another tricky one, but try feeling for the head

Character had plenty choices when it came to this variant of the Third Doctor, and the choice they made is his costume from Invasion of the Dinosaurs (minus his cloak). I've always been a fan of this costume for the Third Doctor, so I'm very happy to see it get a release in figure form (although I would still love a 5" version). The detail on the costume is very good, particularly his frilly shirt. He also includes his iconic Sonic Screwdriver, though it is simply coloured silver; unfortunate considering the famous yellow & black stripes of the Third Doctor's Sonic, but forgivable considering it is very small! Being my favourite Doctor, I love this micro-figure, though I have to say that the colour blue seems to be a recurring theme in this wave of micro-figures, as we'll see later!

Next on the list is perhaps the most popular Doctor: the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker!

Searching tip: Feel for the curly hair and the scarf

The Fourth Doctor had quite a few costume variants for Character to base this micro-figure on. As you can see, they went with the costume worn by the Fourth Doctor during his final year (Season 18, The Leisure Hive-Logopolis). Although I am a fan of this costume, I do have to point out one major flaw with this micro-figure: the scarf. During Season 18, the Fourth Doctor wore his scarf with the loop down by his knees, while this figure has the loop of the scarf tight around his neck. This is due to the previous Fourth Doctor micro-figure being based on his Season 13 costume, which featured a shorter, and therefore tighter looped, scarf. I suppose Character simply didn't think it was worth the money to craft a new scarf simply for this release, which is unfortunate considering the popularity of this particular costume. Additionally, the scarf's paint apps on my version of this micro-figure have started to scrape off, so be warned! That being said though, I do still have a fondness for this micro-figure, as I'm a big fan of the Season 18 costume (not so much the season itself mind you, just the costume)! The Fourth Doctor also includes his trusty Sonic Screwdriver, although it remains unpainted and thus is identical to that of the Third Doctor micro-figure. Despite the scarf issue, this is definitely one of my favourite micro-figures from this wave!

Onto the next micro-figure! The Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison!

Searching tip: Feel for the smooth long hair

The Fifth Doctor's costume only really had two major variants during his tenure. As the first variant (Seasons 19-20) was released in the original set, it makes sense that this release is the second (Season 21)! Aside from the head and Sonic Screwdriver (which is just the same as those previously mentioned), virtually every aspect of this micro-figure is different. The jacket is now a much lighter beige, and the cricket jumper features the much more eye-catching black and red stripe pattern. The legs do not feature the striped pattern seen on the actual costume, but are coloured a very pale red in an attempt to replicate it at such a small scale. The shoes are also a darker shade of cream, although I don't believe the shoes of the actual costume ever changed! Being a much more obvious variant, I definitely recommend you try to seek out this micro-figure! With an extra Sixth Doctor you can even make a custom Caves of Androzani regeneration figure out of it!

Speaking of the Sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker, he is up next!

Searching tip: Feel for the curly hair and lack of accessories

This was the first micro-figure in this wave that caught my eye! He is such a drastic change from the original variant, being based on the Sixth Doctor's appearance in the online webcast Realtime. As I mentioned, blue seems to be a big theme in this wave, and nowhere is this more obvious than here! Virtually the entire costume is various shades of blue, and its also interesting that the pattern of the costume remains the same as the first, and more recognisable,  release. I do very much like the Realtime costume however, mainly due to it being such a radical departure from the Sixth Doctor's garishly coloured TV costume. No accessories are included with this micro-figure, but it doesn't bother me as I'm happy to see this costume being acknowledged! This micro-figure is well worth looking for, as its a very unique take on this Doctor's costume!

We now come to the Seventh Doctor, as played by Sylvester McCoy!

Searching tip: Feel for the hatted head and the umbrella

The Seventh Doctor's variant is another great departure from his original release. While the version from the original set featured his cream jacket (circa Seasons 24-25), this version features both his brown jacket and his long duffle coat (as seen in The Curse of Fenric). The Curse of Fenric is one of my favourite Doctor Who stories, so naturally I'm very happy to see this variant of the Seventh Doctor! His costume is not 100% accurate, due to the small number of stripes on his jumper, but I don't mind that due to the figure's small size! Accessory-wise he includes his trusty question mark umbrella, but sadly like the Sonic Screwdrivers, it is unpainted. However I'm sure this can be corrected with something as simple as a black Sharpie! A very welcome variant to this line, and I believe one of the rarer figures in this wave! Now can we please have a 5" version of this?!

Now we come to Paul McGann, AKA the Eighth Doctor!

Searching tip: Feel for the dip in the middle of the long hair

The Eighth Doctor sadly only had one TV appearance, so where could Character have possibly found another variant of his costume? In my opinion they did the right thing, and based this micro-figure on his costume from the pages of the Doctor Who comics. Personally I've always preferred the Eighth Doctor's blue coat to his TV costume (there we go with that blue again), and its just generally great to see the comics getting some recognition! I'm sure many people would have wanted to see the Eight Doctor in his dark Eyes costume, but without a newly sculpted head it just wouldn't have looked right! The Sonic Screwdriver is once again included, but guess what? Thats right, it isn't painted! This doesn't detract from the rest of the figure though, I still love it! This is definitely my favourite micro-figure in this wave (so naturally it was the last one I found)!

Time to enter the realms of the New Series! Here is the Ninth Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston!

Searching tip: A very tricky one, but try feeling for the smooth head

The Ninth's Doctor's variant is virtually identical to the 5" figure found in the recently released Toys R Us 2 pack that I've previously reviewed. If you've read my review, you'll know my thoughts on this costume variant! While I do like it, it does result in a very dull figure. The use of grey for the jumper instead black does add a tiny bit more visual appeal, but the Ninth Doctor still looks rather dull when compared to the other much more colourful micro-figures in this wave. Another unpainted Sonic Screwdriver is included with this micro-figure, however it is naturally the newer model that was first introduced with this incarnation of the Doctor; something he was never without! The Ninth Doctor may not be my favourite figure in this wave, but I have always been very fond of his character, and he is obviously essential to the completion of this collection!

Time for all the fangirls to rejoice! Its the Tenth Doctor, as played by David Tennant!

Searching tip: Feel for the hair, long coat and Sonic Screwdriver

Again, the Tenth Doctor had a fair few variants of his trademark suit for Character to base this micro-figure on. They kept things simple though, and released him in his brown suit and coat combination. I'm not very fond of the first micro-figure release of the Tenth Doctor, but this one I'm very much a fan of! Compared to the first release, this one seems much brighter due to the lighter shades of brown used. That sound like a silly thing, but it definitely makes this micro-figure superior to his previous release! Once again I have to repeat myself though, due to the inclusion of another unpainted Sonic Screwdriver! Although I'm not to fond of him as a character, I do like the Tenth Doctor as a microfigure! If you find him, you won't be disappointed!

Finally we have the most recent incarnation! The Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith!

Searching tip: Feel for the hair, but he is very common!

The Eleventh Doctor has had four different variants already, so I wasn't exactly thrilled to see that this one would simply be the tweed jacket costume again. However, upon closer inspection I was pleased to see that this is actually an entirely new variant! Obviously it resembles the Mirror newspaper exclusive version with the blue shirt and bow tie, but the jacket is a much lighter brown similar to the CB Series 2 variant. I would have much preferred this variant to be based on the Eleventh Doctor's most recent Series 7 costume rather than the tweed jacket costume, but a new variant is still much better than a straight rerelease! Do I really have to mention the whole unpainted Sonic Screwdriver again? Well its there, albeit its obviously the Eleventh Doctor's Sonic this time! I believe that this microfigure is the most common in the wave, so you'll probably have little trouble finding him! The fact that he is a new variant though means hes a very welcome figure to my collection!

So there you have it for the 4th wave of Doctor Who Character Building microfigures! So it was such a long review! Overall I love these little guys! They are a great bit of 50th anniversary merchandise, a great thing for collectors, and a great way to introduce kids to the older, Classic Doctors! If you can find these anywhere, then definitely pick a few up! Obviously they are blind bagged, so you won't know which one you're getting, but you won't be disappointed when you open them (unless you get a bunch of the same figure, that is)!

I hope you've all enjoyed this review! Feel free to leave you thoughts on these figures, and stay tuned for more Doctor Who reviews in the near future!

Review: Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Skylynx

Hi everyone! I'm back for another review; this time its the blog's first Transformer review! Today I'm gonna be looking at the Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Skylynx (wow, bit of a mouthful!).

Now when I found out there was going to be a new Skylynx figure, I could hardly believe it! One of my favourite G1 characters was going to get a new lease of life! I already knew it was going to be a repaint, but I didn't mind, I am a sucker for slavish G1-themed repaints after all! You can imagine my surprise though when I found out he was going to be a Predacon instead of an Autobot! Nevertheless I really liked the look of him, and as soon as I saw him I snapped him up! So did he live up to my expectations? Well, lets take a look!

Now Skylynx is a repaint of Beast Hunters Skystalker; a figure that I have any interest in buying, much like most of the other Beast Hunters toys (except for Predaking and Ultra Magnus). However I can safely say that I have grown to like this version of the Skystalker mold! Here we have him in his beast mode, which is easily my favourite of his two modes! Like the other Predacons in the Beast Hunters series, he transforms into a dragon-like creature, though I have no idea what it actually is! While Skystalker was coloured in various shades of blue, Skylynx here takes his colours directly from his G1 counterpart, being predominantly white and blue with gold and burgundy parts (substituting for the G1 counterpart's red). Despite him being the wrong faction, the colours suit this mold a lot better than Skystalker's colours did, and also give him a very skeletal appearance, which I love! Look at that head and tell me its not a skull!

In terms of features, all Skylynx has to offer (in both modes really) is that his wings double up as disc launchers. By rotating them forward and pushing on the white internal section of the wing, the gold disc will fire out. An interesting little feature, but very underwhelming as the discs do not fly very far. I can't help but feel that the lack of the discs is an improvement on the beast mode, helping to enhance the skeletal appearance.

Thats all for the beast mode! Now lets take a look at Skylynx in robot mode!

As I mentioned, Skylynx's robot mode is my less preferred of the two modes. However, that doesn't mean i don't like it! Its certainly growing on me! Again, the mold works much better in these colours than in Skystalker's, with the white, gold and blue presenting a much more visually appealing robot mode than the several shades of blue.

Skylynx has some excellent poseability in this mode, with ball joints at his shoulders and hips, and also hinged joints at his elbows and knees. His head is also mounted on a swivel joint (sadly not a ball joint), and his wings can be positioned in whatever way pleases you.

One thing I did intitially dislike but has now grown on me is his head. In a very unique way for a transformer, his head is mounted inside his beat mode's mouth, giving him the appearance that his face is being sicked up by a dragon skull. However, looking at it now it reminds me of a tribal headdress, where tribe member would wear animal skulls on their heads! Think the Ewok leader from Return of the Jedi!

Like I said before, the only action feature in this mode is the wing disc launchers. Sadly the transition from beast to robot doesn't enhance their power, so theres no point in mentioning them again! A small extra feature is that the tip of his beast mode's tail can detach to become a kind of spiked knuckle duster. A nice little feature, but for some bizarre reason the instructions don't mention it!

So thats about it for Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Skylynx. Do I like the figure? yes I do! Is it the G1 Skylynx homage that I wanted? Mostly, yes (all it needed was to be an Autobot). Finally, do I recommend this figure? Yes, especially if you haven't got the Skystalker version, this one looks much better! If you want to get this guy, he is exclusive to Tesco shops here in the UK where you can pick him up at a reduced price, along with most of the other Beast Hunters figures!

Thanks for checking out this review, I hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned to the blog for more Transformer reviews in the near future!