Tuesday 12 March 2013

Toybox REVIEW: Doctor Who "The Power of the Daleks" Sound FX Dalek

Character Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek 01

Unless you're into buying (overpriced) boxsets, classic Daleks have been rather hard to come by. Despite being Doctor Who's most popular enemy, they've never had any single card releases in the more and more scarce classic line. Until now that is. Character Options have finally released a wave of 5" classic Daleks, with one modern version thrown in for good measure. This review will look at the one that appeared in the (now sadly missing) 1966 story The Power of the Daleks, which was also the first appearance of second Doctor Patrick Troughton.

Character Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek Packaging FrontCharacter Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek Packaging Back

Like the rest of the wave, the packaging is the standard card/plastic blister combo with the card in the shape of a Dalek's top portion. The blister also has a hole cut into it to activate the "try me" feature and a small sticker explaining the instructions and that features "60s era Speech & SFX!"

Character Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek 02

Character Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek 03Character Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek 04

To the naked eye the Power of the Daleks variant Dalek may not seem any different to those already released in The Chase boxset, but for the keen Dalek enthusiasts among us there are a few differences. The eystalk is a slightly different shape, the dome lights are different and the gun is the more whisk-like style that the Daleks would have until 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks. Finally, the most obvious way to distinguish Hartnell and Troughton-era Daleks is the hemispheres - while those that appeared in the First Doctor stories had very light blue hemispheres, the ones in Power and Evil of the Daleks have noticeably darker ones. As usual, Dalek articulation is the ever-so-large range of a 360 rotating dome and moveable eyestalks and appendages. Its also on wheels so you can trundle it along surfaces as you shout "Exterminate!". Or since it's talking Dalek, let it do it itself.

Character Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek 05Character Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek 06

As for the voice clips, I decided to not shoot another video since its exactly the same voice-box as the one seen in The Dalek Invasion of Earth figure. Since then I've realised that you activate the gun SFX by pressing the button twice (note to self: read the box before making a blog post). The voice is much more fitting here, but the clips still come across as a bit generic. Despite being a lost story, Power of the Daleks is full of great Dalek quotes. "Daleks conquer and destroy!" is a given, but "I am your servant!" wouldn't have gone amiss either.

Character Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek 07Character Options Power of the Daleks Talking Dalek 08

Really, the biggest flaw with this figure (and this entire wave really) is that they're all essentially re-releases. There are minor changes to make this a Power of the Daleks Dalek, but the extra mile could have been gone with a scoop appendage (the mutant is optional). Personally, I'm resorting to taking out the gun since they spend a good portion of the story unarmed. This is a great figure but it's only for two types of people really - those that haven't bought any of the Classic Dalek boxsets and want a silver Dalek, or Dalek-variant obsessives.

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