Just announced for exclusive release from Forbidden Planet are these two amazing Doctor Who action figures.

(announcement via TardisNewsroom)

When I first learned of a line of 5 inch tall toys based on the long-running series, I was somewhat baffled. Incredibly detailed and articulated, they were impressive, but as the characters on screen did little else but talk and run down corridors, wasn't an 'action figure' a bit of an odd thing to make of William Hartnell and the other actors who played the part of the time traveling man of mystery?

Of course now I own them all... so... yeah.

As testament to the enduring legacy of the TV program, these action figures by Character Options and Bif Bang Pow! are as much an important part of the Doctor Who mythos as the Target novelizations and the radio dramas. Not only are they replications of the characters as they appeared on screen, they capture iconic moments such as the regeneration of Tom Baker into Peter Davison in Logopolis and Castrovalva. A figure of Davison in the full coat has already been released, but this version is the new Doctor sans coat in shirt sleeves (a kit-bash of the recently released Keeper of Traken 4th Doctor with a retooled Davison head).

I do like that in addition to the Master's TARDIS, they have included a shrunken Logopolitan.

This marks the seventh version of the 5th Doctor in toy form by Character Options... and yet we still do not have a decent figure of the Anthony Ainley Master (the released figure features a breathtakingly accurate sculpt of Ainley's plugged onto a John Simm body).

Ah well... he's surely on the way.

Doctor Who Action Figure Collectors Set: 5th Doctor Castrovalva

The newly regenerated Fifth Doctor escapes with his companions back to the TARDIS. Suffering from post-regeneration trauma, he only narrowly manages to save the ship from destruction as it plunges back to Event One, the hydrogen in-rush that preceded the creation of the universe.

He then seeks sanctuary in the peaceful domain of Castrovalva, only to discover that it is an illusory, dimensionally paradoxical trap set for him by the Master with the unwilling aid of a kidnapped Adric. The Doctor eventually wins the day by enlisting the help of the Castrovalvan people who, although also part of the Master's creation, are nevertheless able to exercise free will.

The Master's TARDIS
Whilst on the planet Traken the Fourth Doctor discovers that the Master, his long time nemesis, is trying to take control of a complex Traken bio-electronic power known as 'The Source'. The Source would allow the Master unparalleled power, and the ability to regenerate his dying body. When the Master's TARDIS is destroyed by the power feedback of The Source it is revealed he has another and thus he escapes to encounter the Doctor again. Their next encounter finds the Master's TARDIS, with its fully functional Chameleon Circuit, disguised first as a Police Box and latterly on the planet Logopolis, as a sandstone Doric column. The Master's TARDIS stayed in this favoured form during several encounters with the Fifth Doctor, before changing once again.

Contents:
1 x Post-regeneration Fifth Doctor action figure.
1 x Shrunken figure accessory.
1 x Master's TARDIS as a Stone Column.

(click to pre-order in the UK)

I'm not a big fan of the Bif Bang Pow Master, Doctor and Sontaran figures, but this Dalek looks really great. The attention to detail is impressive and the larger scale is very attractive to me as well.

Doctor Who Retro Action Figures: Dalek

Daddy, where do Daleks come from?

Grounded in the "Genesis of the Daleks" serial of Doctor Who that marked the first appearance of Davros, the creator of these evil mutant cyborgs, this extraordinary Dalek Action Figure stands approximately 7" tall. It features wheels and "neck" articulation, along with Bif Bang Pow!'s famed retro styling that takes one back to the bestselling figures from the 1970s and 1980s. Order yours now... or face extermination!

Produced by the BBC, Doctor Who is the longest-running sci-fi TV series in the world. The award-winning show presents the adventures of a time traveler known simply as "the Doctor." Along with his companions, this mysterious Time Lord journeys through time and space using his TARDIS, which appears from the outside to be an ordinary police phone booth.

(click to pre-order in the UK)