2019 see's the biggest ever range of 5 inch Doctor Who figures as B&M Stores exclusives, and also includes the first collaboration with Big Finish to produce three Doctor & Dalek 2-packs based on the Big Finish audio series.
Packaging 4/5
The 2019 B&M sets carry a new packaging design that is essentially a deep blue box intersected with silver inserts that are illustrated as the TARDIS. The sets use the new Who logo, but in a silver colour. The figures themselves are presented in a window that wraps the top and right flaps of the box. The window is perhaps a little undersized and the Dalek is partially obscured by the left hand wrap of the box. Under the window sits the character names as the Seventh Doctor and the Axis Strike Squad Dalek.
The Big Finish sets go further still with an image on the right of the box front of the 7th Doctor from his opening title sequence - and to the side of this on the left hand spine is a gorgeous art panel from the Big Finish audio CD cover. The Big FInish logo sits aside the Character Toys logo and the Big Finish website is promoted on the top of the box.
The back of the box gives you more details of the Big FInish tie-in with the cover artwork repeated and an extensive background for the Doctor included in the pack and the Big Finish story.
"GALLIFREY SERIES VI - EXTERMINATION"
"Towards the end of his seventh incarnation, the Doctor embraced his Time Lord heritage, and agreed to work as a special agent for Lord President Romana, including the capture of renegade Time Lord the Eleven and collecting the remains of the Master from Skaro...
During the Doctor's absence, Gallifrey has fallen victim to the Dogma Virus, a mysterious infection created by the Free Time movement, that lies dormant in Time Lords until they regenerate. When they do, they mutate into zombies.
To find a cure, Romana and her friends Leela, Chancellor Braxiatel, K9 and CIA Co-ordinator Narvin escape to the Axis, a point which allows access to broken or terminated time lines.
The friends venture to various parallel worlds, until they become trapped on a Gallifrey populated by the Regenerators - Gallifreyans who are yet to discover time travel.
Romana locates a signal from the Axis and is able to make contact with it - until a familiar looking creature emerges... a Dalek! They have taken control of the Axis, and now nowhere is safe!"
The figures are accessed via the top or bottom flap and slide out in an inner plastic tray that is then sat into a cardboard insert. This cardboard insert carries an impressive space battle from the Time War featuring Dalek ships attacking a planet. The figures are held in with cotton white twisty straps - and the Dalek appendages are taped into place, causing warping to the sucker arm on the figure we are reviewing.
Paint & Sculpt 4/5
Starting with the Dalek, and this is a New Series Dalek sculpt - and thankfully it is the correct proportioned version from 2011 and not the earlier "fat" base version used on the majority of Bronze New Series Daleks.
The shape and sculpt is very good with crisp panels and rivets around the centre and sculpted panel lines round the dome. The dome itself is painted a matt black and we have a Dalek symbol under the eye stalk - a feature of all modern Daleks since their return in 2005. The lower skirt is complete with the roundels and each of these are also painted neatly in a matt black.
The eye stalk carries the blue eye piece and the gun and sucker arm are the smaller 2011 versions. Sadly the sucker arm is badly warped on the set we got, and on a lot of others I have seen thanks to the way it is secured in the box and then taped into position.
The 7th Doctor is the same sculpt and body as previous releases, but has now been painted to resemble his outfit in the TV Movie. The accuracy of course is wanting, but as this is a Big Finish based figure you have no direct visuals to work from other than the CD artwork.
The head sculpt is a passing one to Sylvester McCoy and is painted neatly, with the hair now having been greyed to add age to the Doctor. The costume is well coloured with neat painting throughout and some quite intricate patterns on the Doctor's tie and trousers.
Accessories N/A
There are no accessories included in the set. While the Doctor has a posed right hand for a sonic screwdriver, this is not included.
Articulation 3/5
The Doctor has the standard 16 points of articulation for a Who figure. These do remain the basic plug and socket joints with the joints clearly visible around the knees and elbows.
Head : neck post swivel
Body : waist post swivel
Arms : shoulder post swivel, bicep swivel, jointed elbow, peg wrist
Legs : T-Joint hips, thigh swivel, jointed knee
Posing is limited with neutral stances only. And like all 7th Doctors from this mould, the feet are turned in and you will need to swing out the thigh swivel - throwing the pattern of the trousers - to have him stand.
The Dalek weighs in with a ball joint sucker arm and weapon. The eye-stalk is a pivot and moves up and down. There is no other articulation as such on the Dalek - not that it needs anything else - and it moves freely via two fixed wheels and a rotating wheel on the base.
Summary
For £20 this set delivers two repaints and the value is a little bit reduced from the three packs that are being sold at the same price. The Dalek is the selling point on this one, and the Axis Dalek is pretty striking with the black accents and is a nice variant to a standard new series bronze Dalek.
The Doctor is a good repaint, and is probably as close as we will ever get to a TV movie 7th Doctor. It is a shame the set couldn't stretch to a sonic screwdriver - especially as that was a key part of his TV movie appearance.
I score the B&M Exclusive 7th Doctor and Axis Strike Dalek a score of 4 out of 5.
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