One of the highlights of a new Doctor is when Character Options presents a brand new action figure of that incarnation. For this Christmas, there’s a new present to be given to the avid Doctor Who fan collector.
Character Options solicited an online exclusive two-figure set featuring Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday.
Living in these United States, with exorbitant shipping prices across the pond, and only wanting the Doctor and not the current companion, I opted to wait for the company to sell the Fifteenth Doctor on his own.
It seemed unusual to me that they waited so long to get these figures out there in the first place, months after Season 1/14/40/flapdoodle ended, but once the set came out, the single figures were close behind, so I purchased the Ncuti Gatwa Doctor figure.
The detail is wonderful, much like the set that featured David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor and Jodie Whitaker’s Thirteenth Doctor dressed in her Power of the Doctor multi-Doctor clothing ensemble. Although as nice and detailed as they were, Ncuti seems another slight level up as far as detail and likeness goes. His facial features, his necklace, rings, his jumper, coat, trainers: all incredibly detailed.
I’m forced to conclude that Character Options has either started doing the full body computer scan of the actors to transmogrify said 3D image into the detailed action figures, or, if they were already scanning past actors, it feels like they’ve upgraded the equipment because they especially capture the Fifteenth Doctor perfectly.
As far as pose-ability, he’s as limited as most Character Options figures. The long coat prohibits a full running position, and you can’t go too crazy on arm movement but for my purposes, merely displaying him along with all the past incarnations, it works wonderfully.
I suppose my only real critique would be his expression. He’s got a somewhat neutral expression—really, the neutral expression you might have if you were in a full body scanner! Which presents a slight dilemma.
For the vast majority of viewers, Ncuti hardly ever has a neutral expression on his face. He’s either smiling or crying. And although having him crying would be appropriate enough, in all fairness, he should be smiling. So, slight gaff there. Still, overall, a very nice figure that I can recommend heartily if you are a completist with this hobby as I am.
Not that I get each and every figure Character Options comes out with — that way lies financial ruin and insanity, at least for me. But I do have each and every version of the Doctor that’s been on the show… and that’s enough for me!
