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I’ve been collecting Doctor Who action figures from Character Options since their first releases. I didn’t get the very first items they produced. Posed, limited articulation figures of the 9th Doctor and Rose were included with Daleks as accessories, basically, at the launch of the series.
But once the full series of figures with more articulation appeared, I imported a lot of them or got them from Who North America, along with the original 9th Doctor TARDIS console. Fast forward 17 years(!) later and Character Options is still making action figures. They just released a regeneration set in the UK featuring the 13th Doctor and 14th Doctor! Sadly, distribution in the US fell through again, so import is the only way to get most of these sets. WhoNA.com does import some, too, but of course there are added costs there they have to pass on.
Hopefully, with the 60th Anniversary and the 15th Doctor there will be a new push and we’ll get distribution in the US again. The line has experienced ups and downs. After the heyday of the 10th Doctor and 11th Doctor, sales started to crater (partly do to some store closures in the UK) and Character attempted a 3.75” line for the 12th Doctor.
I have a ton of those, and they were pretty nicely done, but not very popular in general with the collector base who had all these 5” figures already, and didn’t seem to take off in the general market.
For the 60th Anniversary, I wanted to break out all my Character Options figures for the first time in a long time. I put them all on display… well, most of them. I still have a small tote full of variants and some army builders I just couldn’t fit. But they were fun to put out and take a look at again. It’s an impressive lineup of figures:
I’m getting the Regeneration set via a friend in the UK. It’s exciting to know the line is moving forward, and hopefully the 60th Anniversary brings more fun surprises!
