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

2020 - History Of The Daleks

The extraordinary year for Doctor Who figures began in March with new interim sets from B&M. This saw another rerelease of the Big Finish sets, plus with a new 3rd Doctor and TARDIS set based on The Monster Of Peladon. The sets all costed £19.99, and the product codes for the Doctor/Dalek sets were 357657, whereas the TARDIS set was 357656. The cover of the Doctor/Dalek sets remained virtually the same. 

A new variant was created for 7 (only), which featured the smiling face with hat head and a darker coat. The Dalek (3rd) was now featured with silver slats on. The 8th Doctor/Dalek (3rd) featured 8 with darker brown boots and stronger weathering on the jeans. Dalek Interrogator Prime with a darker blue paintjob with a hint of silver detailing. For the War Doctor/Dalek Scientist set, the War Doctor has no scarf and a red waistcoat (only). The Dalek Scientist has a dark silver paintjob with pewter blue dome and hemispheres (2nd). 

The 3rd Doctor and TARDIS (non-electronic) was the only release of this set. Compared to the previous 3rd Doctor + TARDIS set, this version of the TARDIS has the lower base and updated weathering, lamp, and signage used since the Robot set. The 3rd Doctor figure uses previous sculpts from earlier Jon Pertwee sets. Acquiring these sets directly from B&M became particularly challenging following the impending lockdown in the UK the month these figures came out.

In July, after a delay of the figures coming out sooner as a result of the pandemic, Character Options released another very well-received wave of figures based on the original series by basing sets on Daleks and companions. Each set costed £19.99 and all the sets were widely distributed well among B&M stores, for once, for fans to quickly complete their collection with less haste than other waves. Choosing to release figures based on companions means that fans can add popular characters to their collections, and by rereleasing Daleks allows fans to collect older releases for an accessible price. Daleks sets are proven to be one of the most popular figures among the 5.5 inch range, providing easy sales for Character.

The first of this wave was the Companions of the Fourth Doctor (357382), hot on the heels of 2019's Harry Sullivan figure, featuring the first classic Sarah Jane from Genesis Of The Daleks/Revenge Of The Cybermen, Romana I from The Pirate Planet, and Romana II from Destiny Of The Daleks (only). This set completes the set of figures based on the Fourth Doctor's main companions (Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan are usually more associated with 5's era). The mould for Sarah reuses a Martha Jones sculpt from Last Of The Time Lords, Romana I's sculpt was based on Character's body of Claudia Brown from Primeval, whereas Romana II uses the body of Sarah Jane from SJA with a new scarf.

The second 3 pack set was a 1971 UNIT The Claws Of Axos set (357875) featuring the Brigadier with pistol (2nd), and new sculpts of Captain Yates and Sergeant Benton with machine guns (only). The release of two UNIT soldiers means that Character could easily make two of the same bodies within their budget on two popular Third Doctor era characters. The Brigadier figures was a repaint of the 2014 release of the figure from the same story. The Mike Yates and the Benton figure both use the Brigadier body but with a PVC wrap around to torso and new heads. 

Two new Dalek sets were featured in this range, starting the famous History Of The Daleks range where Character releases a set from each Dalek story, rereleasing almost every variant of their Classic Daleks they have made. In each HOTD set, information would be relayed about the story they come from, the production, and the Dalek props, and a special diorama would be made for the HOTD sets from 2020 - 2021. These HOTD sets have proven to be some of Character's most popular sets, and perfect for Dalek collectors to army build from, or to collect as figures for the first time. The first two HOTD sets were based on The Daleks (HOTD 1) and The Dalek Invasion Of Earth (HOTD 2). The product codes for both Dalek sets were 357878.