I have said
before that the Daleks are not my favorite. I don’t dislike
them; I just feel like I don’t get the full Dalek effect. The
concept is scary and the execution is well done. They just don’t
scare me like some other villains do. As I told somebody the other
night, I’d rather be exterminated by a Dalek than turned into a
Cyberman. Or kissed by a Zygon.
But I think
Davros is great and I love “Remembrance of the Daleks”. As
you can hear if you go and listen to Episode 47 of Earth Station Who.
I had been
eyeing this set for a while and I have to admit something to you –
I am not a very good Doctor Who toy collector. Well, not a good
supporter of the line, anyway. Anything more than a single-packed
figure gets prohibitively expensive for me. And even those are way
too pricey. But I buy them. Because Doctor Who.
What I tend to
do with the multi-packs, monster packs, and playsets is wait for the
prices to be reduced. I hate to admit that and I don’t like not
supporting the toy lien fully, but I simply can’t afford to pay the
original prices for this stuff. This set was first listed at $44.99
and that’s just fucking crazy. But a few weeks ago an Amazon seller
marked it down to $29.99 and while that’s not exactly great for two
5” scale figures, I thought it was probably the best I was going to
do.
It’s tough
waiting these out and I have had to accept that there are a number of
things I simply am not going to be able to get. Sometimes the prices
will drop and sometimes they won’t, but either way it seems like
everything that is released skyrockets in value at some point. The
Doctor/Dalek set I mentioned above is listed for around $100 now and
pretty much any of the older releases from the classic series are
very expensive. The Fifth Doctor figure I bought for Dragon Con was
forty-five bucks by itself (and yes – that obviously goes far above
my normal price limit, but I got it signed by Peter Davison).
Anyway, I wanted
this set because it is actually a very different Davros from other
releases. The character’s appearance changes all the time, but
never as much as it did for “Remembrance”. I refer to this look
as “DJ Davros Deadmaus” or something. I can’t remember now. Go
listen to that ESW episode.
First
Glance: The Dalek looks totally gross. I’m a little
surprised we haven’t seen more Dalek guts from Underground. Then
again, it’s much easier to release a standard Dalek and repaint it
from time to time. Davros looks great whether the front is open or
closed. I love this figure.
Side
Note: I am not bashing Underground/CO for their Daleks. I remain
thoroughly blown away by the fact that every single Dalek they
release from different eras has been a new sculpt in order to
properly represent the evolution of the design through the decades.
No matter how small the difference in detail, the company has always
produced an entirely new figure. If these had been made by Mattel we
would have many different colors on the exact same body.
Articulation:
I would appreciate it if at this point you would imagine Tom Baker’s
voice saying, “Well – how much articulation does a Dalek need,
really?”
Imperial
Dalek
Mutant Arm –
swivel
Manipulator Arm
and Gunstick – ball joint
Super DJ
Davros
Canopy - hinged
Head – swivel
There are
functional wheels underneath the both figure’s chassis – a
feature that has been common among all Dalek toys since the very
first ones produced in the 60s. These figures have two stationary
wheels and one on a swivel, which allows them to roll in any
direction. All three wheels move easily.
Sculpt:
DJ Magic Davros is an entirely new sculpt, though the lower portion
may resemble the other Imperial Daleks.
That lower
portion is the standard Dalek design, with cleanly sculpted spheres
and a small skirt at the bottom. The top portion is obviously quite
different from any Dalek. It is a large sphere with Davros’ head
situated inside in the midst of an astonishing number of wires. The
exterior looks very good closed. The moving portions line up nicely
and the translucent viewport in the front is a nice touch. You can
look in and see Davros’ creepy head leering out at you. Everything
is sculpted very precisely and accurately reproduces the look of
Davros’ shell from “Remembrance”.
Davros himself
is as disgusting as ever. The interior is covered in wires and
detail. The Daleks’ creator’s head is all pruny and angry and
cybernetic. The headset through which he controls his mad phat beats
has a lot of detail and looks great as a separately sculpted piece.
The exploded
Dalek is fairly standard from the neck down. It has the same precise
sculpt as all of the other Daleks the company has produced. The arms
look good and move well.
The upper
portion is even more revolting than Davros. The top and eye of a
Dalek mutant head is visible at the bottom of a little pit of slime.
Beside this is an articulated arm with a pincer at the end, just like
the one that grabbed the Doctor’s neck. There’s a ton of detail
in here and it looks great.
Coloring:
Once again, from the neck down the Imperial Dalek has the clean and
precise coloring of its brethren. The gold and ivory look great
together and this is still one of my favorite Dalek designs. There is
some well-done (pun intended!) scorching around the top that blends
into the neck and the panels.
The paint on the
inside matches the gross mess of the sculpt. The mutant is nicely
detailed and all of the green slime crap is… several shades of
green. The pincer looks especially good. The way the blackish
carapace blends into the arm is cool.
Davros’
exterior has the same clean ivory and gold paint job and looks great.
I can’t believe how clean the paint apps are on all of UT/CO’s
Daleks. They typically look flawless. I love the translucent window
on the front as well.
Inside, the
wires surrounding Davros are pretty heavy on primary colors, but for
the most part are individually painted and detailed and look good.
Davros himself is a gruesome deadish color with some nice blending
and tight detail on the cybernetic portions.
Accessories:
This is where I’m a tad let down by the set. For whatever reason,
I thought that the Dalek came with an alternate un-exploded head. And
for the price I feel like it could’ve. As things stand this set
came with no accessories, though to be honest I can’t think of
anything else that would have been appropriate. I mean, Daleks don’t
exactly carry handbags or anything.
Packaging:
This set came in the standard tight window box. I love the economy
and style of UT/CO’s packaging. The graphics are always nice and
retro-looking and they don’t waste space.
I love that UT/CO always includes a fairly thorough synopsis on these
classic sets.
Value:
I can’t really complain too much about thirty bucks for this set.
It’s too much, but I also feel that it was worth it. If that makes
any sense.
Overall:
I love these guys. This is a must-have whether you’re a fan of the
story, Daleks, or just the Seventh Doctor and Ace.
I really am
bothered by the fact that the exploded Dalek can’t be made
complete. There are other ways to build an army of Imperial Daleks,
but I would’ve liked to have the option to display this one intact.
As I have stated before, I’m not really a fan of battle damage. I
do get it in this instance, though, as this particular damage was a
key part of the narrative.
4
out of 5
Keep an eye out
for a good price on this set. I bet if you’re patient you might
catch a deal before it skyrockets.
-Phantom
Yes – Needless
Things is still in the midst of a Whoniversary!
My original plan
had been to take this week off, but there is more Who to be had. So
to speak. I had this review, my review of The
Day of the Doctor and the associated
specials and webisodes, and a very special post from Earth Station
Who’s own “Howdy” Mike Gordon. I think there might be a day
where nothing goes up due to the fact that I just didn’t have time
to write over the weekend, but the Whoniversary will go on for one
more week!
We had Guest
Posts, Toy Reviews, and more. We had a ton of content with lots of
different viewpoints and I think one of the better themed projects
we’ve done. Go back through and check everything out and share the
ones you like on the social media. And if you’re so inclined, throw
a few dollars at the Needless Things family. This is all out of
pocket for me, so anything I receive during this time will got to
site costs, hosting, and possibly new merchandise if I get really
ambitious. Blogger doesn’t facilitate any sort of fundraising, so GO HERE
and click the PayPal box to the right.
Also, you can buy
the Limited Edition NeedlessThingsSite.com Luchador vs. Owlbear
t-shirts here.
I can’t say they’re selling fast, but once this style is gone,
they’re gone forever.
And I do intend on being famous one day, so wouldn’t it be cool to
have the first shirt I ever designed?
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