Review: Character Options Doctor Who Ruby Sunday

"Wait! No. Is it safe? What if I change history by stepping on a butterfly or summat?"

In late 2024, Character Toys relaunched their Doctor Who 5.5-inch action figure line with two new figures of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday. These newer figures featured improved articulation, sculpting, and paintwork and would be offered across two formats. The Vortex Collection would be a Character Toys exclusive line, collector boxed and featuring enhanced decor or accessories. The standard line would then feature the basic figures, limited or no accessories, and be blister-carded for general sale at selected retailers. 

The General release figures utilise the same design principles as the slightly larger Vortex Collection boxes and as established through the BBC. The cardback starts of as a white base at the top left and bottom right corners, with a larger pink-purple hued vortex design then running through the centre and acting as the cardback for the figure itself. This colour scheme is being established by Character as Doctor-specific and is being applied across this line and the B&M series. This purple/pink colour is assigned to the 15th Doctor seasons. The blister itself houses a side wrap and front insert, and it is in here that we find the current Doctor Who logo, the TARDIS image, and the character's name. The same diamond-shaped callouts seen on the B&M packaging over the past few years are also repeated within the blister insert, confirming this as an articulated figure release, the 5.5-inch scale, and the era from which it is taken - although not the story. The back of the card is spacious with lots of white space with a diamond cut out image of Ruby and a short paragraph about Ruby’s role with the Doctor and how she started her adventures. 

This version of Ruby Sunday is not actually episode-specific and is based on the early promotional images for the character. The figure is the same base as the Vortex Edition, but with updated decor. This includes a white patterned sweater with printed blue, red and black patterning and over this a denim effect jacket with fur trim picked out in white at the collar and at the sleeve cuffs. In the original promo shot, Ruby was wearing shorts - but on the figure, the same soft plastic skirt is still used, cast in a dark blue plastic. The outfit concludes with dak brown leggings/tights and a pair of sculpted black boots which include lace detail, but these are unpainted (the Vortex release did paint these details)

vs Vortex Edition (2024) right

Ruby’s headsculpt is an enhancement on earlier style figures but remains broadly in keeping with the long-running Doctor Who line, a relatively good likeness to actor Millie Gibson while simplistic in its approach to painting at a time where many companies are applying more realistic printed solutions. The hair is an individual piece, which means a neat hairline where it meets the skin tone of the head. It uses a single blonde colour and the depth of sculpt to create a wider definition. Her hands include sculpted and painted ring details in silver and painted fingernails in a black finish.

Ruby has no accessories at all included. The handbag and mobile accessories remain exclusive to the Vortex release, but as this is the same base figure, you can swap them across if you own both versions. This does leave Ruby with a pointing finger on her right hand that was probably intended for her to use scrolling through her phone. Without the phone accessory, it does look a bit out of place unless you pose Ruby pointing at something in her general vicinity.

Articulation is upgraded from order figures, the main difference being the move away from pinned joints, which helps the overall look of the figure no end. There are 16 points of articulation in total, with rotating 90-degree elbow bends negating the need for the ugly bicep cut seen on older releases. The shoulders also move up and outward, so they have a wider range of motion. As do the hips, within the limitations of the shirt, with 90-degree knee bends. Both the waist joint and neck joints are enhanced from simple swivels to a ball joint, providing extra movement for both upper body and head. While the Doctor figure got ankle rockers, Ruby only gets a boot cut swivel, so it is a little bit trickier to stand with both feet flat to the floor unless a very neutral stance is adopted. 

Compared to the Vortex release of Ruby Sunday, this general release only really differs in terms of included accessories. It has the same sculpt and articulation, and while the Vortex Edition is listed as including improved decor, this standard version does a pretty good job of the sweater and the coat while the Vortex edition only really leant into the patterning on the skirt and detailing on the boots. At a £17.99 RRP this is higher than we may be used to paying at B&M for multipacks of 2 or 3 figures, but is about right against other similar lines and still £7 cheaper than the Hasbro collector lines - albeit with the differences taken into account in terms of articulation, accessories and the use of face printing decor. The niggles on the figure are the inaccurate skirt and the outfit choice overall which is not episode specific. The lack of accessories isn’t too much of an issue, but the pointy hand needed changing once the mobile phone accessory was excluded.

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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...

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