Doctor Who: A Collector's Guide To The 5.5 Character Options Action Figure Range

2018 - The Moment Was Prepared For

After no sign of any more incoming figures, B&M finally announced their wave for 2018 in May and was due for an August release. B&M were now the only company investing in Doctor Who action figures from Character, helping their line to stay alive and for more exciting figures to be released (albeit with many re-releases of figures). Other manufacturers rarely issued more figures. B&M specifically ordered these sets to come in for their stores exclusively Included in this 2018 range were 3 more 3-packs and the first Doctor and TARDIS release since 2010! The 3 figure sets (labelled as 294255) were for £16.99 and the TARDIS (337412) for £19.99.

The first of these was a 1970s-themed set containing a grey Auton from Terror Of The Autons (1st - reusing the model from Spearhead From Space), a Season 7 Brigadier (1st - reused from a Captain Jack body) and the 4th Doctor from The Talons Of Weng Chiang (1st). This figure uses the body of the Third Doctor and cloak but have sculpted a new shirt, tie and waistcoat piece for this figure. This original version of the figure uses the booted Pertwee lower legs but painted to look like trousers and the cuffs of his shirt painted the same as the jacket.

A set based on the 11th Doctor was released featuring Oswin from Asylum Of The Daleks (2nd), Amy from Let's Kill Hitler, and 11 from The Snowmen (1st, Victorian attire, no hat). This Eleventh Doctor figure is a repaint of the original Snowmen figure from 2014, however it now comes with the S7A headsculpt from the TRU Doctor and Dalek set (2013) and repainted in much darker browns. The Amy figure is a straight up repaint of the original sculpt from 2010 but painted to match the outfit worn in Let's Kill Hitler. This version is mostly identified by a pink-hued top and darker hair. Finally, the Clara figure has a darker colour to her dress.

The final 3 pack of the year was a 12th Doctor set. It featured 12 from Face The Raven (1st), Bill Potts from The Pilot (made from the sculpt of a yet to be released figure - only with yellow bow in hair), and Missy from Extremis (1st). This Twelfth Doctor figure in the set uses the Series 8 shirt and coat sculpts but the Series 9 boots and head sculpt. The Missy figure uses the standard sculpt with a fresh new paint and using the 'smiling' head sculpt. The most distinguishing features of this figure are the shirt painted to look like her tie and hands painted brown to look like gloves. Fans should be aware trying to stand this figure in their collection was difficult due to the small and imbalanced feet of the figure. The Bill figure uses the body of Abby from Primeval, inaccurately proportioned legs, new upper arm sculpts and a new head sculpt. This first variant is most distinctive by its orange hair bow and blue shoes with a dirt wash.

The TARDIS set for this release was a 3rd Doctor (in white cravat and red jacket) and a TARDIS based on The Time Monster (even though the black base would seem to suggest it from Season 7). These were the only releases of these figures and was the most popular release of the 2018 B&M wave. This Third Doctor is a re-release of The Three Doctors variant from the Thirteen Doctors Collector set but with a painted white cravat instead of a bow tie. This TARDIS was non-electronic, although it featured a battery compartment and sound placement around the back - which was not have been able to be altered on B&M budgets. The model for this TARDIS was based on the Planet Of Evil TARDIS set with new modifications to match the 3rd Doctor's era. TARDISs were held up in plastic and tape was needed to remove the plastic attached inside the doors of the TARDIS.

The official version of the Bill Potts figure, created specifically for the character, was released in August 2018 and this variant was based on Bill from Smile. It remained an Amazon exclusive, and was the last figure to be released separately under the 12th Doctor era style packaging. In November, B&M re-released the 3 pack sets from August based on huge demand for the figures for £16.99. These sets were re-released with slight tweaks to them. These newly tweaked 3 packs were the last sets to be released with under the 12th Doctor era style packaging and Pertwee/McGann logo. The 1970s set reused the same Auton with no change (2nd), the 4th Doctor now had white cuffs and a revised leg sculpt (2nd), whilst the Brigadier had a lighter paint job to his uniform (2nd).

The 11th Doctor set kept the same version of 11 (2nd), Oswin without her toolbelt (2nd), and Amy was released with a revised paint job (2nd). Amy had a white base coat instead of pink, Her dress is more purple blue than the darkish black on the original release. The jacket also looked lighter on the new figure in our box. For the 12th Doctor set, 12 and Missy were re-released unchanged. Bill, on the other hand, was re-released with a horizontal striped top and a red bow in her hair. She also had black converse boots, and black stripe added to side of jeans (correct to new reference of her pre credits sequence outfit).

2018 rounded off an incredibly successful year of Doctor Who 5.5 inch figures. The popularity of these figures would continue to grow in 2019 under a new style for the range with many more releases of TARDISs, 3 packs, and the first Dalek releases since 2015. The 3 pack figures would continue to appear in stores as many B&M figures would reduce in price over the years even better bargain deals. These 3 packs also appeared to be made available to search for their availability in stores through their online website (which unfortunately proved to be very unreliable - a similar case was repeated in 2022). The August 2018 wave was also made available as a bundle when purchased on Amazon, which was made available until 2021.

For many fans, the enduring agony of collecting B&M hunting for new figures would begin. Many a time, figures would be often impossible to find. Only selected stores would receive sets (and not everyone lives close to a B&M), as a result of patchy distribution with no way of finding out when or if stock of figures will be arriving. This was worsened with scalpers - buyers who clear entire shelves of stock and put the sets on second hand markets such as Ebay for double, triple, quadruple the price and more, to sell. These, for many, were the only way of acquiring sets even if they were for ridiculous prices. The problem of this was worsened by fans buying these highly inflated sets, which makes scalpers continue the work they set out to do.

As a result, buying toys by 2023 has become too expensive for many as a result of high costs. A third and final problem for fans to endure when collecting sets is when fans hoard all the sets for themselves. These may not even to be army build, say Daleks, but to just keep 10+ of each set and keep them boxed away. I understand why fans may buy 2 sets of each; 1 to keep in the box, and the other to open, play, and display with. B&M are powerless to prevent any of this to continue happening. These problems were only worsened with as the years rolled on for fans collecting an exciting new era of 5.5 inch figures...