The Doctor Who Earthshock Set was released in the Winter of 2021, produced by Character Toys, and sold exclusively in B&M Stores in the UK. It was one of the newer format 3-packs from the Character line that focused on a particular story, in this case the 1982 5th Doctor Story of Earthshock.
The packaging is a squared-off window box with deep blue borders and a silver secondary tone used on the Doctor Who logo in the top left and across the rest of the box where it acts as a backdrop for some TARDIS illustrations. The window wraps the top and right side of the box and displays all three figures along with a story-appropriate backdrop. The front of the box carries simply the story name, while the figures themselves are named on the right-hand spine and on the back of the box. Unlike other sets, there is no extensive write-up of the story on the box reverse.
The internal card back is an illustration of the cave we find ourselves in during the first few scenes of the Earthshock serial, complete with the TARDIS standing off to one side and the secret cave entrance being utilised by the Androids under the Cybermen's control.
We start with the figure of the Fifth Doctor included. This uses the base head sculpt and body first introduced into the line in 2008 when the Classic figures were first released. The decor is essentially identical to the first Peter Davison release from 2010 but with the celery added to his lapel - something that caused an uproar at the time when it was missing, and that would later come in the Timecrash Exclusive set. The figure is cast in light tones plastic with the red trim added to the jacket, red & black to the cricket jumper, and orange and beige striping added to the trousers. In this 2021 version, we do get some added weathering to the cricket shoes and up the trousers and jacket, which would be episode specific considering the Doctor spends a good amount of time at the start of the story traipsing around in a cave.
The head is a good likeness to Davison, as it was back in 2008, and remains factory painted with the simplistic application of eyes, eyebrows, and lips. The hair is given some definition with the use of two tones of brown to bring out more details.
The other two figures in the set are the Androids employed by the Cybermen to do their dirty work at the start of the story. They continue the recent trend of using the very simple body from Sharaz Jek and the Axon and adding a new head and hands - in this instance, no new feet are required. This is arguably a good solution to create the Android in figure form as on-screen they were nothing more than a black jumpsuit with a face-less helmet.
The helmet is shared with the Raston Warrior Robot released in the Five Doctors Set at the same time, the Raston was in itself a repaint of the Android for the show. The figure is cast in the base colour with the only paint added to the faceplate of the helmet where a gloss black is used to create some variation and to define the front of the headpiece.
The pair of Androids do get kitted out with some extra parts for this set, which is unusual in itself as the B&M releases are often quite spartan. We get a recreation of the Cyber-bomb used by the Androids. This is a very detailed piece, cast in silver and with added black details and red buttons. They have even added the countdown clocks on the two front faces.
The Androids also each get a second pair of hands to replicate the firing position and mechanism they use as a defense mechanism in the episode. Like all Who figures, these are simply plug and rotate hands without any pivot but does allow some differentiation of display.
The articulation of the three figures is consistent with the rest of the Who line with 16 points of articulation. These are all simplistic in design and are either pinned bending joints like the elbows or shoulders, or simple rotations like the neck and waist. The Androids do benefit from the shoulders having a ball joint that allows the arms to be moved out away from the body and not just rotated around it on single access as we see with the 5th Doctor.
Posing, therefore, is limited with the option of some arm gestures or wider stances. The Androids can and do carry the bomb or can be posed with their arms out in a firing position.
As a £20 set, the Earthshock 2021 release does bring us a new figure in the shape of the Android and a variant 5th Doctor. The question posed around the set is why an Earthshock Cyberman could not have been included - either in place of the Doctor or in place of one of the Androids which would then make this an army building set of sorts with collectors wanting two Androids- and you can never have enough Cybermen.
Out of all the 2021 Winter Sets, the Earthshock release looks to be selling the slowest, but it should certainly not be overlooked and is a solid addition to the long-running Who line.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...