i'm writing this series of 3 reviews to give my honest opinions of the 3 baf waves that i have just recieved. these are my experiences and my opinions. others may have better or worse opinions/experiences. my main motivation is to be honest and precise. after writing a review for the torchwood figures, i got the feeling that some people felt i was biased towards character options, and too hard on scifi collector. well, here is my unbiased reviews of character options 3 latest baf waves.
i was surprisingly pleased with the vespiform baf set. i knew there was a reason i didn't purchase the series 4 figures when they first came out, and this is it. i have never purchased a series when they first come out, instead waiting for a box set, or in this case, a baf set. this baf set gets a 75/100 score from me. if you don't have the series 4 figures already, it provides an excellent start, and the vespiform is a good figure, with some issues, but overall, a nice collection.
the vespiform comes in too many parts in my opinion, but that was so they could sell all 12 figures again. the parts fit together nicely, except for the wings. these are the same "cheap" joints that i mentioned in the gelth wave, except instead of breaking, the wings just don't go in all the way, so you can't move them around without them falling off. the figure itself is big(show accurate), and actually has a fair amount of articulation, which surprised me. i liked the episode, so this figure is good to go along with my collection, and i actually think it has a nice paint job, articulation, and looks just like it did in the show. barring the "cheap" joints, this figure is a good addition to you're collection, and unlike the gelth "statue", this is an actual figure that can interact with the other figures.
now onto the individual figure reviews for this set
first up, the 25 adipose. they are just awesome. i'm honestly thinking about buying another figure or two so i can have a mini army of adipose. they have different poses, smiles, etc. the paint jobs are good, and they look just like they did in the show. they have no articulation, but neither do any of the smaller figures produced in the show(dobby doctor, empty child, moxx).
donna is the same that they released before. while she did have on this jacket for the planet of the ood episode, she didn't wear it for any of the other episodes. since we won't get any new rose figures, i would really like some alternate donna's to this one. the face is good, but the body needs a new mold. it doesn't do her justice.
davros. what can one say. i put it next to my old dapol davros, and laughed. i would really like to custom davros so he would be a classic version, but i have a feeling character options might do that themselves. he has a good sculpt, and paint job. i have two problems with him. one, his mouth is shut. i think he would have looked more terrifying screaming, or just with an open mout talking(teeth or no teeth, i can't decide). my second problem, when i try to move his arm around, it feels like it's going to break off, so poseability is limited with him.
hath peck is one that really surprised me. i didn't really like the doctor's daughter, or the hath in the episode. this figure of hath peck looks better than they did in the episode. they have a great breathing aparatus in front of his face, and the sculpt is great. he comes with a gun, but per doctor's orders, mine's not using it. an overall great figure. this is where character options baffles me, making a side character like this great, and messing up on some of the main ones.
ood sigma. a good figure. a different face from the original ood. a great addition if you're a fan of the ood like i am.
natural ood. my only problem with ol natural is that i think the brain is too small. every time mine tries to hold it, it keeps falling out of his hand. a small gripe to an otherwise great figure.
vashta nerada. the best, and i mean best, skull i have ever seen on a figure this size. i really want to use it to make a custom ghost rider. terrifying. the only thing character options could have done is to make a button to push to have a blue led light up on the inside of the mask(that would be neat in a 12 inch version if they ever kept making the dolls).
river song. didn't really like the character/actress. i know the figure sells out every time they come in, and i just don't understand why. she comes with the squareness gun and the future sonic screwdriver(not many figures come with two accessories). my problem with her, or mine, is the fact that the bottom of her visor is cutting off the bottom of her face. i've had to bend her head back, push her hair over the back part of her helmet, so you can even see her face. every photo online show's her head clearly out of the helmet, and yet mine's face is half taken up. i think it's another case of taking a proto picture, and releasing a subpar figure. i don't think the face looks that great either. other than that it has the same space suit that the vashta nerada has, which is a bit bulky and hard to stand up.
supreme dalek. a great figure. i have a ton of dalek's now, and this one will be in controll. my major problem with this figure is not the sculpt, but the twisty ties that they put through him(and i mean through him), to keep him in his package. you shouldn't have to play mission impossible, sweating buckets, carefully taking out 5 twisty ties so they don't break the plastic figure you just bought. i think character options needs to go the way the torchwood figures went, and no twisty ties. the plastic they put all these figures in is already like fort knox(i cut myself a couple of times cutting open all 3 of these baf sets).
pyroville preistess is another figure that really surprised me. you can take off her hood, so her stone head peeks out of her robe. it is a great likeness to the show. a great figure of an otherwise forgettable side character.
onto the sontarans. this will be a dual review, since they are almost the same figure, with just different heads. i don't like the swivel feature the figures have in the midlle of their bodies. i don't know why character options made them like that, sontarans aren't dancers. my problem comes from the feet. when i took general stahl out of his package, his foot popped right off(thanks to the twisty ties). i tried putting it back on, but it was loose. i took skorr's foot off, and put it on stahl and it worked, but now skorr has a loose foot. that's a big error on a production baf set like this, where you have to get every figure.
one additional note. this covered most of the indidvidual figures from series 4, except for the timelord(he was not part of the baf set). i did order the timelord, so here is his review. the timelord is exceptional. i almost consider him part of the classics line. it makes me wish they would use the same sculpt and put it out in different colors than red. they could even just change the head out and make a female timelord. everything from the paint to the sculpt on the timelord is perfect. i'm almost tempted to take the head off, and make an eric robert's master figure(dressed for the occasion).
that is part 2 of my 3 part reviews. this in my opinion is the second best baf wave out right now. i thought it would be the gelth one, but as my review said, i was disapointed in the baf itself. the vespiform is surprisingly good, and if you don't have any of the series 4 figures it gives you a chance to catch up on them. unlike the classic series set, this set has hits and misses in my opinion. and just like i knocked the torcwood figures for being more accurate on the monsters than the people, that's the same thing i say about character options this time around. they take episodes and characters that are forgettable, and make jewels of them. however, the human characters, notably donna and davros, should have had more attention to detail.
