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.
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!
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