Dear Eaglemoss: You’re Simply Not Good Enough

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

We’ve recently received several messages on social media asking why we no longer cover Eaglemoss’ Doctor Who Figurine Collection. After some deliberation, I decided to revive and complete a partially-written post from late summer which should answer the question perfectly..

You, like me, may have been spending money on the Doctor Who Figurine Collection. Well, following the arrival of a fourth poorly-painted Dalek, I decided to stop.

Note: this is, I’m sorry to say, a bit of a rant. I’ve kept faith with this partwork since it launched in 2013, but after 19 issues in (plus one special that doesn’t fit in the binder) I decided to cancel my subscription. I may be emotive in the following sentences, but hopefully you’ll understand why as you vew the gallery of stills and video of the figures I’ve received in the collection.

Over the months, you may have heard me discuss the Doctor Who Figurine Collection on the podKast. You may even have followed various snaps and video clips on the Kasterborous Instragram feed. It genuinely pains me to say, that after several months of investment in this collection (for completion and admiration rather than anything financial) I decided to cut my losses. It’s not that the moulds or the designs weren’t up to scratch – they were rather nice, and displayed a consistency in artisitic style – but the paint jobs were shoddy at best on humanoid figures and monsters alike (although usually on the Dalek figurines.)

Below is a short film of several Daleks, none of which is perfect.

I’m sorry to say this, but BBC Worldwide should immediately rethink their relationship with Eaglemoss. The popular partwork company is making a mockery of its Doctor Who fan customers, and poorly serving the licence.

Below is a Dalek from the original Dalek serial from 1963. You’ll notice that as well as a wonky plunger arm, the paint job looks as if it was applied by an amateur (or someone asleep on the job). The silver finish is rough, and the hemispheres patchy.

 

Not all figures are poor. This Judoon was one of my favourites, with absolutely nothing to complain about. The detail is excellent, as is the finish. But why would I display this alongside a shoddy Dalek or Davros?

Here’s a more in-depth look at the collection, again focusing on the Daleks.

Some of the superior humanoid figurines now, where you can see considerable improvements over the pepper pots.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of all was the realisation of the Dalek Emperor from 2005’s The Parting of the Ways. While it would seem audacious and rather excellent that a company should finally get around to producing a replica, the excitement soon wears off when you discover just how basic the design is. What was a huge, intimidating presence on screen fails to translate into figuringe status, largely due to the design reducing the detail of the original.

It has been several weeks since I parted company with my collection. Incomplete purely due to the fact that the magazine is still running and issuing figurines, it did at least reach something like 60% of the purchase price. Small mercies and all that.

Reports online suggest that the quality of the painting in the Doctor Who Figurine Collection continues to disappoint. I can only sympathise. However I would draw attention to the point I made in a podKast. Eaglemoss run a lot of licensed partworks. My wife collects the Disney Cakes and Sweets partwork, which contains a lot of custom-made moulds, tools and icings, all styled in the House of Mouse.

Do you think Disney would be satisfied with poor quality character reproductions? Of course they wouldn’t. There’s no reason, therefore, for BBC Worldwide to allow this, and certainly no reason for Doctor Who fans to accept it. Not in this day and age.

It pains me to say that my experience with the Doctor Who Figurine Collection puts it on a par with the Dapol range of action figures in the 1980s. Since Doctor Who returned nine years ago all manner of merchandise has been licenced, some good, some utter crap.

Eaglemoss’ Doctor Who Figurine Collection promises so much but fails to deliver, and at £7 a fortnightly issue, this simply isn’t acceptable.

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