So Transformers aren't the only toys I've been buying lately -- I've also been ordering the occasional Doctor Who figure from Who North America. I've had the 10th Doctor figure on the far right for a while, but the other Tenant and two Ecclestons are relatively recent acquisitions. I didn't really want all of them, mind you -- I would've been satisfied with just one Doctor -- but I ended up getting the other ones because Character Options just kept rereleasing and remaking Doctors. Bastards!

See, first I just wanted a Doctor -- any Doctor. Had the 9th Doctor been widely available at that point, I would've gotten him and called it a day -- but he wasn't, so I ended up with the trenchcoat-wearing 10th Doctor. But then they finally released the 9th Doctor figure, which up until that point had only been available in a limited-release "regeneration" two-pack and a fairly pricey remote-controlled Dalek battle set, on a single-card in the US. And while I intended to get that, I waited too long and Who NA sold out of it, so I hastily jumped on the concurrent US rerelease of the regeneration set in order to get a 9th Doctor. It left me with an extra Tennant -- which I certainly could've done without, considering that I really could've done without the first one -- but I was willing to put up with him for Eccleston. At the very least, given the decidedly darker outfit, I could use him in a sort of early Valeyard capacity.

Incidentally, a week and a half after I received the regeneration two-pack, Who NA received another shipment of the single-carded 9th Doctor figures. I scowled, but at least I had one now.

But looking at the picture of the regeneration figures, you might have noticed that while the 10th Doctor has a fair amount of articulation, the 9th Doctor is comparatively static. He's got shoulder movement, hinged elbows, a swiveling neck, and limited waist movement, but from the waist down he's a brick. Not ideal, but it was something I could live with... until, just a couple of weeks ago, Who NA received a shipment of another 9th Doctor figure -- this time with a heck of a lot more articulation. In fact, they pretty much stuck the head of the 9th Doctor onto the body of the regenerated 10th Doctor and threw in a couple of bicep swivels for good measure. And blast it, I had to get it.

So now I have two versions of both the 9th and 10th Doctors. And guess what else? Apparently starting in January 2008, Character Options will be releasing figures based on the classic "Doctor Who" series, including the fourth through sixth Doctors -- to say nothing of the upcoming "Torchwood" and "The Sarah Jane Adventures" merchandise. Suffice it to say that Who NA is pretty much guaranteed to get some of my business in the year to come! But luckily -- insofar as Character Options keeps rereleasing Daleks with stupid changes like missing slats and genetic handprints -- I won't be tempted to order the manifold Dalek variants as well.

In other news, I think I've finally perfected my Lego Dalek model (see previous versions here) -- or at least come as close as I'm going to get to it. I still haven't ordered the pieces to make one, namely because I've rightly assumed that I'd keep coming up with new improvements as I revisited the model over time. For example, in recent versions, I've embedded the eyestalk farther into the dome so it doesn't stick out quite so far and added some pieces to the front in order to improve the "slope" of the slats. I also completely redid the base so that it shows a lot fewer connecting pegs.

But by far, my favorite improvement is the use of hinged parts for the limb connectors, effectively giving the Dalek limited articulation. It also helps to fix the gun, as I'd been rather dissatisfied with the size and appearance of previous versions. I'm not all that keen on the new shade of grey -- the limited colors available for certain pieces in the Lego Digital Designer necessitated that I switch to a darker grey in order to pull it off (though, as you'll see, the piece is also available in red) -- and I'll likely switch the eye and the "ring" piece to white in keeping with the duller scheme of this Dalek, but that should do it... at least for this particular version.

Of course, there's also the problem of deciding which color scheme to order! The red one does look quite nice, but the darker grey one would be more in line with the Daleks' appearances in some of the classic black and white episodes. I definitely would've gone with the blue bumps before, but I don't think they quite work with the darker grey. Hmm.

Anyway, here are pictures of some of the other Lego Daleks that I've made -- holdovers from an old draft that I never posted.

I did this one for fun, but I'm totally tempted to order it too -- it's a special weapons Dalek as seen in "Remembrance of the Daleks". Same skirt design, but the torso and dome have been redone in keeping with the modified design of that Dalek. He's packing heavy-duty firepower.

This is the classic Dalek model that preceded the latest version. It has the redone base and the front slat changes, but I hadn't come up with the embedded eyestalk and new limb attachments yet. Actually, this was even before I decided to go with the classic torso rather than the newer one with the slats. I ultimately decided that even with the obvious simplifications to the design, the slat design just wasn't at all ideal for the Lego Daleks.

I was totally fooling around here -- I decided to make a Dalek with a McDonald's color scheme. I don't know what possessed me to do this, especially since I don't even particularly like McDonald's. In fact, every time that I've been there in the past few years has been way more frustrating than it needed to be, as it seems like roughly one in every four employees there speaks English now. (Incidentally, it was the same during my recent visit to Taco Bell -- which I found somewhat amusing since Taco Bell hardly qualifies as authentic Mexican food.) This means that at any given time there is only one English-speaking person handling all of the customers -- and since that person is almost always a manager, that person is frequently making trips to the back of the restaurant to deal with whatever happens back there as well.

That said, if Daleks came with Happy Meals, I'd be at McDonald's every other evening. Yo quiero Mickey-D's! 😀

Anyway, that's all for now! Next time (or not, but definitely at some point), I'll discuss my thoughts on television this season and whatnot. Until then, suffice it to say that I am not at all disappointed by the fact that the WGA strike has resulted in a truncated "Heroes" season! That show is sucking hardcore these days.