Review: Doctor Who Vortex Edition Fifteenth Doctor Set with Mr. Ring-a-Ding and Dugga-Doo, part of the Yeti Collect-and-Build Wave for 2026
- Mephitsu
- 1 hour ago
- 10 min read
"Do you know how lonely you are? You live in a great, big, giant spaceship and there aren't any chairs!..."
The second of the 2026 Doctor Who sets from Character Toys, and featuring their collect-and-build Yeti, also focuses on the New Who era, the same as the Dark Water Cyberman 2-Pack released as set 1. This second set moved to the 15th Doctor era and included a new version of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor alongside new figures of Mr. Ring-a-Ding and Dugga-Doo, as seen in Gatwa’s second season in 2025. The set went up for ordering on the 3rd of August for those who had purchased Set 1, and on the 4th of August as a general release. It was dispatched the same week, with most collectors who ordered on the first two days receiving the set by the weekend.
The set is packed into the Vortex Edition packaging, established when the line launched in 2024 with the 15th Doctor and Ruby Sunday releases. The base colour of the main box is white, and it uses a TARDIS image in the bottom left corner and the 60th Anniversary diamond Doctor Who logo to the top left. The figures are displayed in the large front window, and surrounding this is a Vortex design that, on each set, is colour-coded to that particular Doctor - a design theme that is also being used on the B&M line. For the 15th Doctor, we have a pink-hued design.
Around the Vortex border of the window, we have multiple diamond-shaped callouts that confirm the set as featuring “High Deco Vortex Edition Figures,” as well as the 5.5-inch scale and that the set includes Dugga-Doo and Mr. Ring-a-Ding. The Yeti collect-and-build feature is called out in the bottom right, illustrating that this set contains the torso. And under this is the full set name as “The Fifteenth Doctor Set” from 2023 to 2025 and also including Dugga-Doo and Mr. Ring-a-Ding. This year range is based on the 15th Doctor’s tenure, with the three characters in the set all taken from the 2024/25 outings.
As per the other Vortex sets, the top right corner of the box is cut out to create an angle, and set into this folded-in corner is another Doctor Who logo. This and the left-hand side are white in colour, with BBC and Doctor Who branding, with the longer left-hand side also containing a wrap-around of the pink Vortex and classification of the set as from the Fifteenth Doctor era. Round the back we have two-thirds in white dedicated to some plot details for all three included figures and their episodes - namely the Doctor from Joy to the World (which is incorrectly listed as a 2025 episode rather than 2024), Dugga-Doo from the Intergalactic Song Contest, and Mr. Ring-a-Ding from Lux. Under this sit details for the collect-and-build element with a look at the full Yeti, and details about the 1967 story, The Abominable Snowman.
Inside the box, all three figures and accessories are set into a plastic clear tray with both the Doctor and Mr. Ring-a-Ding secured with the white paper ties. This tray sits in an enclosed cardback that is illustrated to look like the animated movie scene that Mr. Ring-a-Ding steps out of in his episode, Lux.
We will start with Mr. Ring-a-Ding, who is a brand new figure not only in terms of the character, but also in terms of execution. He stands a head or so shorter than the Doctor, and is cast in a rubbery plastic painted to match his screen animation style with a purple-hued suit, yellow waistcoat, red bow-tie, and white and yellow exaggerated shoes.
The hands, neck, and head are the light blue skin tone we see on screen, with a sculpted mouth with exposed white smiling teeth. The eyes are similarly exaggerated to large white ovals, into which is a painted black pupil with cut in white triangle as reflected light. The nose is pink, while the hair and antennae are coloured black. The look is completed with his yellow and black striped hat.
An alternative head is included, the sinister version, executed in the same way and with the same colouring but with the expression adjusted to an evil smile with the eyes narrowed and angled at the top to add a more sinister look.
The two heads are swapped out by a ball joint - the sole traditional joint on the figure. And there is a significant warning here that this joint does have a weakness, particularly with the sinister head in place, with a lot of collectors reporting a snapped neck peg when they try to turn this head. Our version, purchased on Day 1 from Character, worked fine in terms of the neutral head, but you can feel a tightness on the other version, and we have not pushed that into any movement just in case.
In the 20+ years of the Character Toys line, this is the first figure to use a wired armature for articulation. The arms and legs, slim as they are, include an internal wire and rubberised plastic, allowing both of them to be moved into a variety of positions. This allows Mr. Ring-a-Ding to be set walking, waving, gesturing, or even dancing. While the fingers are a similar material, the armature does not extend here, so while these can be bent, they don’t hold and spring back to their base position. To allow the wired armature articulation, the figure includes three sets of open holes to ensure airflow and to manage pressure when the joints are posed. The one on the back of the torso and the back of the legs are not overly problematic being hidden around the back, but the ones on the wrists are unsightly in certain poses.
Mr. Ring-A-Ding has no accessories as such but does come with a stand that connects to plugs on the stand to two sockets on the feet. While he can stand on his own as seen in our images, this stand gives him a more solid base and therefore wider articulation positions.
Up next is Dugga-Doo, the annoying yet iconic alien from Grimbald who is seen in 2025’s Intergalactic Song Contest. Dugga-Doo is somewhere between figure and accessory, standing about 2 inches tall and cast in orange with a fur texture throughout the round body and extended neck and tail. Stripes are painted on the neck in black, while their small feet, which protrude from the body on short legs, are painted in yellow.
The head is a similarly orange ball shape with two tiny eyes in black, and brown mohawk-styled hair that sits between two antennae, also black with yellow ends. These same black & yellow contrasting colours are used on Dugga-Doo’s triangular ears, and on the iconic trumpet beak/mouth, with the black centre of the trumpet also featuring (like Mr. Ring-a-Ding) a white ‘reflection’ marking.
Dugga-Doo has one point of articulation at the neck, a simple rotation allowing the head to rotate. While a ball joint was feasible, this has not been employed, so the turn of the head is one-dimensional. Everything else is fixed. Dugga-Doo sits on an orange oval stand, which is an odd choice considering Mr. Ring-A-Ding’s stand is clear.
Initially I was pleased to see this was removable, connecting via two pegs on the stand to two sockets on each of Dugga-Doo’s feet. Sadly, the way that Dugga-Doo’s body is proportioned and the small footprint of the two feet makes them impossible to stand on their own. There are some positives, though, that Dugga-Doo is light enough that just a small amount of Tac or Museum Putty can hold them upright.
And so to the Fifteenth Doctor, the main figure of the set and designed around his first appearance in the 2024 Christmas episode, Joy to the World. The costume is very detailed, starting with an open-neck yellow shirt with white and black stripes and painted bronze braces that connect to the hem of the trousers. These trousers are a brown check design that flow down to a ruffled hem over some tan and off-white trainers.
Over the shirt and pants, the Doctor is wearing his leather brown trench coat with sculpted buttons, pockets, and belt. The base brown of the coat is washed to give it a leather look, while the buttons are painted, as is the silver of the belt buckle around the back.
The Doctor’s hands are cast in skin tone, with sculpted and painted rings, which is a neat detail at this scale. Similarly, we have a couple of necklaces around the neck and visible through the open collar of the shirt. The head likeness is accurate to Ncuti Gatwa, albeit quite stoic and lacking much emotion. The eyes and mouth are painted realistically, while the trimmed short hair is a paint job rather than sculpted. The head has a nasty plastic seam running around from the neck, around the back of the ears, and over the head.
The entire figure is identical and fully re-used from the two other Ncuti Gatwa figures from 2024 when the Vortex collection launched. So while this is simply a repaint, the costume remains pretty accurate to Joy to the World and therefore is nothing new in a line that has repainted multiple Doctors over the years.
2026 Vortex (left) 2025 General (centre) 2025 Vortex (right)
Also re-used from the first Vortex release is the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, the organic figure 8 shape cast in silver and with defined red, pink, and gold controls. This slips into the shaped right hand and is pretty secure in the grip.
The articulation for this 15th Doctor body is about as advanced as the Doctor Who line has got since its 2005 launch. There are 16 points in total, all now pinless. These start with ankle rockers to help stand The Doctor securely. We then have knee joints, a thigh swivel, and a hip joint. These allow the Doctor to be posed standing, walking, or with legs apart - but the coat does present a blocker for sitting down or kneeling. Our figure also seems to have a slightly longer right leg - a problem I had noted on other versions of this figure - and that can make standing problematic.
The waist is a rotation, while the neck is a ball joint which allows for a broader range of gestures. The arms start with ball joint shoulders that can rotate and move out from the body, allowing a good level of positions with or without the sonic screwdriver. There are no bicep swivels, with rotation done at the elbow, which also bends, but sadly less than 90 degrees, which can be frustrating. The last of the joints are at the wrists, with a plug-in peg that rotates the hands in the cuff of the coat sleeve.
The Doctor, as seen in Joy to the World, is replicated very well in the set even though the entire figure is on its third repainted outing. Articulation is much improved from the older figures, but the lack of a full bend in the elbow is problematic at times. The Sonic is a good accessory, appropriate to the episode, and ensures the shaped right hand doesn’t look out of place.
Dugga-Doo as a posed accessory is OK, but is very much a marmite character that some may not even warrant a space for on display. If you do choose to display them, I think Character made a poor choice with the stand, which should have been clear, but thankfully they did make this stand removable, allowing you some aftermarket solutions.
Mr. Ring-a-Ding is arguably the star of the set, a cartoon brought to life both in the show and in this figure form with an intriguing articulation solution through the wired armature legs and arms. The two heads are subtle in their differences, but enough to depict Mr. Ring-a-Ding as happy or sinister. It is just a pity that there is some obvious design or quality issue with the second head and the neck peg.
The set also features the Yeti collect-and-build torso piece, like the head, cast in brown plastic with fur effect decor. The head - which we have not yet connected - clips in through a ball joint, but we will look more in-depth at the Yeti once all parts are in hand.
Yeti head (not connected fully) from the Dark Water Cyberman Set (right)
For £44.99, there are a lot of questions around the value for money over this set. The single-carded 15th Doctor figures from 2024 retailed around £18, so we are probably talking a single figure now would sit at £22. That would fit with the Cyberman set with two Cybermen, but here we are equating half of the cost of this set to a small Dugga-Doo accessory and Mr. Ring-a-Ding. You do also get the collect-and-build set, so the wider value is the contribution to that Yeti figure when we finally have all the pieces. As with the Cyberman set, there are issues around including New Who with a Classic collect-and-build, so it is likely we will see more Doctors, Dugga-Doos and Mr. Ring-a-Dings on the secondary market than the Yeti piece, with classic collectors securing the set and then selling on the contents, just keeping the part.
Our attention now moves to Set 3 for September and the switch into Classic Doctor Who with the Season 7 set of Liz Shaw and the Primord from Inferno.
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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...
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