Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!
Right, I finally have time to write down my thoughts about this figure properly.
I totally eat my words on it - when you have it in hand you realise that it is worth every penny as a figure in its own right, and NOT just because I love the character, or Matt Smith's portrayal of him. Nor do I have money to burn - I was originally going to get Eleven and Amy, then had some unexpected bills, then had an unexpected ebay windfall - it was pure luck that I could get this figure, and boy, if I thought it wasn't worth it you'd be reading it now.
Basically, this is almost, almost a Hot Toys quality figure, when I ws expecting a Sideshow quality figure. I've owned and held hundreds of high quality figures and I've never had one that was so much better in hand than in pictures. The sculpt is perfect, the tailoring is excellent, the from-scratch body is well articulated with tight joints, the accessories and stand are all top quality. The paint job too is on the whole excellent; in fact, I prefer the eyework to Hot Toys, which can be somehow too perfect, with almost machine like precision. And it's also a puzzle because in photos the eyes have always looked slightly doll-like, yet they look great in hand, lifelike and yet with a hand painted quality. My one question mark is the skin tone. It is a little too dark anyway, but in addition the darker paint around the jawline appears to be present also on the cheekbones on my figure. I'm going to live with the figure for a few days before I contact BC, but I may not do so at all - depends how I feel about it in different lights. I would like a future release not to have such dark skin tone though, although I know oriental factories have a habit of producing oriental skin tones.
Which leads me to my main point - this figure is miraculous when you consider how hard it is to get factories in China to do excellent work and to do what you want. Hot Toys are the best because they're local and speak the language, so for BC to be almost, almost as good - on their first ****ing release - is just unbelieveable. It shows what a great company this is. Anyone who's heard the horror stories about PE and CO's first experiences with Chinese manufacturers will feel some sort of collective knighthood is in order for BC for managing to obtain work of this quality first time round. Companies as big as Hasbro can't always get their China factories to do what they want.
There are a few minor niggles, and you know what - they don't matter. Yeah, my figure came out of the box with a button missing on the sleeve. So what? It's a handmade figure. Yes, the neck is too short. Again, so what. 90% of high end figures need some kind of modding or can benefit from it. I haven't had a chance to check out the body properly yet but it's clearly on a par with the truetype. One thing I would say is that although it's thin it's been designed for a character with a conventionally heroic body shape but Matt doesn't have a 'heroic' chest with his shirt off or big muscles, and consequently the clothes are a tight fit on a muscular body whereas on Matt they're a tight fit on a skinny body! So they look slightly wrong. Perhaps BC need to remember that most of the Doctors didn't have conventionally heroic body shapes.
As I said, I completely take back what I said and I love this figure. The idea that I might one day own a Troughton figure of this quality... wow, just wow. These guys are going to legends and it's great to be in on it at the beginning. The icing on the cake for me was opening my figure then a few minutes later finding out that they appear to be doing Sherlock too!!! I hope BC maintain a British focus and carve out a niche for themselves there. All the Doctors obviously, Sherlock, maybe classic British film characters - like Michael Caine from the Italian Job! - classic telly- Regan from the Sweeney! - and Bond would be a natural for them. Perhaps they should do a Daniel Craig Layer Cake figure to help them win the licence. How about a Bobby Moore figure in his 1966 kit with Jules Rimet cup...?
This company has totally got me into action figures again, I can see I won't be able to afford most of their output but I am going to get what I can (9, 10 and Troughton are must buys for me) and I cannot recommend them highly enough based on 11. I also love the way they listen and respond to the comments we've been making. We should treat that response as the privilige it is, not as a right to be responded to.
As for what's been shown today the stetson dr looks great, although it'snot a look I'm interested in; Fez doctor, I don't know, I loved the wax sculpt but something about the characterisation on this head looks slightly off - he looks a bit too confident, or smug. But then again I wouldn't bet against it coming right in the final version. And for some reason everyone, including me, loves that mop!
