[Toys] Doctor Who Series 1: Dalek With Mutant Reveal

Have I ever mentioned that Jazz is fantastic? The latest thing I've been fanboying over is the adventures of Doctor Who, the British sci-fi series about a man who uses a ship disguised as an old police box to travel through time and space. It's been ever-so popular with multiple friends lately so I decided to finally give it a shot and have been watching it with Jazz. She saw how much I loved a certain episode with the 9th Doctor and bought me something nice, since I helped her out with a donation drive. Really thankful for it~

This particular figure comes from the Series 1 wave, which is based around events in the 9th Doctor.

That said, let's get on with the review of METALTRON.

Ah, the Daleks... The iconic race of cyborgs which have become iconic to the franchise for their silly design and their constant shouting of the word "EX-TER-MI-NATE!" - The toyline features MANY toy Daleks, and this is but one of them.

The first thing of note is that this guy is pretty decently sized. It's about 5" tall, which for you action figure enthusiasts means he's just big enough to be in scale with your superheroes and/or Kamen Riders. He's got a nice coat of gold paint on him and while his eggbeater arm may be molded oddly, he's more or less spot-on with the Series 1 designs. The only nitpick I have with paint is, his eye lens is black and lifeless, whereas when Daleks speak a blue light emits from it. Later releases apparently fix this by painting the lens with light blue paint, but it's a shame I was not so lucky. Apart from that, nothing seems unpainted.

As far as articulation goes... This guy is essentially a round brick. So you wouldn't expect much from him, right? WRONG. The "head" can rotate a full 360 degrees. The eye stalk can also move up and down. While I am disappointed that the torso does not rotate around (it did in one episode, but I'm told this is not the norm for them), his arms are both on balljoints. So, while not much happens articulation-wise with the Dalek design... this toy manages to capture  all that it CAN do. Which I appreciate.

As this guy looks to be a block, I will point out he has wheels in order to move around, and boy they work fantastically. He can roll around with the greatest of ease. Also, funny thing; while one would normally expect to see the date in which the toy was made, on the bottom it gives the date in which the Dalek was created, in 1963. Funny little detail I noticed.

Every Dalek toy has a gimmick of some kind! The front part of the torso is removable, and inside you see the mutant remains of the once-lively alien lifeform. It's a nice detail that takes me back to that one episode of the 9th Doctor. The little lifeform here is painted in a nice shiny coat of paint and is a gross shade of pink and red, bringing out all kinds of brain-line texture. Also featured is a few tentacles grasping onto a little console, with plastic goop clinging to the edges of the inner cockpit. It's a deliciously disturbing piece that adds character to an otherwise robotic exterior.

And while I do treat this as my own personal "Metaltron," there is a variation of Dalek in this toyline which has a certain hand imprint on it... You guys in the know should get what I mean.

Overall, hard to say. If you like Daleks a lot, get one, because these figures have what you're looking for in a Dalek. They have all the articulation that one would have, they're of decent scale, and basically all have some kind of gimmick to them.

However, as a PSA: I would not recommend buying them on Amazon.com, just sayin'. Those prices are why Amazon is a tricky place to purchase things from sometimes...