The Master and Axon

Series: Doctor Who Classics

Release Date: 8/2010

The Doctor Who Classics line continues with its newest Exclusive release; a Jon Pertwee era 2-pack featuring Roger Delgado’s Master and an Axon.  This two-pack comes boxed and runs $40, typical of the Doctor Who Classic releases.  Underground Toys has been on a roll with the classics line up as of late and these two figures show why this is quickly becoming my favorite toy line.  Lets get into the good and the bad of this set.

The Good:

• The package – Putting these figures in a box instead of blister carding them was fantastic.  The ‘diorama’ background with the Axon spaceship really works well with the figures.  The graphic artist did a fantastic job on this one.  If you’re a non-opener, this set will look fantastic on your shelf.
• The Master – I may be showing bias here, but the Master makes this 2-pack with the coin.  This is the Master as he was first introduced, and at his finest.  The sculpt is fantastic and the likeness among the best that Underground Toys has produced.  The figure is adequately articulated and includes his TCE.  A fantastic figure and will serve well as the 3rd Doctor’s #1 villian.

The Not-as-Good:

• The Axon – Don’t get me wrong, the Axon isn’t a bad figure.  It just isn’t great.  Or really an Axon.  The Axon started out as a build-a-figure for Wave 2 of Doctor Who Classics; but he wasn’t an Axon.  He was a Krynoid, from a 4th Doctor series.  When the build-a-figure was dropped from Wave 2, the Krynoid went on the shelf (the prototype picture was featured on AwesomeToyBlog some months ago).  Now, in real life, the Krynoid costume was derived from an Axon costume in storage – and this gave Underground Toys the opportunity to pull the Krynoid figure off the shelf; deco it orangey-pink a nd call it an Axon and release it with the Master.  Unfortunately, there are 2 drawbacks with this.  The head looks off; looks too Krynoid and not enough Axon; you can counter some of this by turning his head around…but then it looks like his neck has been broken.  Also the figure doesn’t feature and knee or elbow articulation; likely an artifiact of being a build-a-figure with a smaller budget per part.

Summary:  What the Axon figure lacks in awesome (I mean its a good figure, just not great) the Master more than makes up for.  He’s really fantastic.  As such, this set is really fantastic and is another great addition to the line.  Some fans are unhappy with the line being “exclusive” and carrying a higher price point; but if the releases continue to be of this caliber and quality I won’t be joining them.  This set is still available from Entertainment Earth (or Forbidden Planet if in the UK) and is well worth picking up.