Review: Doctor Who Vortex Edition Tegan Jovanka & Destroyed Dalek from Resurrection of the Daleks
- Mephitsu
- 49 minutes ago
- 7 min read
"Brave heart, Tegan."
The Vortex Edition line is the new Character-Exclusive format for Doctor Who premium releases, allowing them to extend and build on the long-running Doctor Who 5-inch collector line with new characters or updated figures with improved decor and articulation. Character Toys had five Vortex Edition releases planned for 2025, but pushed one of these back into 2026, which gave us a great start to the new year with the reveal of this Resurrection of the Daleks Tegan Jovanka and a Destroyed Dalek. The set marks the debut of Tegan in the long-running line, while it also brought with it another Dalek variant and some world-building accessories for the 1984 story.
The set is a Character Toys exclusive, sold only on their website. It arrives in an outer cardboard sleeve, protecting the main packaging, which is a large-format window box with the left-hand top corner angled, as it has been on all of the previous Vortex releases. The box uses a white background with blue vortex decor around the window, and on the callout diamonds, the colour assigned to the Fifth Doctor era. A TARDIS image sits in the bottom left corner, while the top left corner and the two sides carry the current, 60th Anniversary, Doctor Who diamond logo.
The bottom rail of the box front confirms the included figures as Tegan Jovanka and Destroyed Dalek without directly referencing the story itself. The blue call-out panels, trimmed in yellow, confirm this is a Vortex release and the accessories. The rear of the box is text only, and now references Resurrection of the Daleks, but rather than provide the usual overview of the story and the props/costumes, it goes more into the history of Tegan and her time with the Doctor.
The set is easiest to open from the bottom flap and by cutting the tape sealing it. Inside, we have a cardboard insert and a plastic tray containing the figures. Character have finally abandoned nearly all the white ties on this set, which improves the aesthetic of the boxed set, and makes the figures easier to remove from the tra,y which is moulded to hold them. The fit is quite tight, and be careful of the Dalek Trooper gun, which is inserted into a slot and needs angling outward. There is a solitary tie holding in the Movellan Viros Capsule.
The inserted cardboard piece features a printed diorama of the TARDIS on board the Prison Station, including illustrated lighting and reflections on the metallic floor. This is usable for display, but will need work as the reverse side of the piece remains plain brown cardboard with visible taped joints.
We start with Tegan, a brand new figure, and as seen in Resurrection of the Daleks, albeit before she took a bump to the head, as Character have not included her bandage on the forehead that she sports across both episodes and up to the point where she leaves the Doctor. Tegan is wearing a plain with black and red printed design. The shirt is a softer plastic sleeve over the waist and upper legs, cast in black and with a sculpted belt picked out in silver trim. The arms and legs are cast in a skin tone, with a simple pair of patent black gloss shoes with a slight heal.
The head sculpt is both a good likeness to actor Janet Fielding while also remaining consistent to the long-running Character Toys line in terms of the decor. The facial features remain painted rather than printed, with the hair sculpted into the head and then coloured with a dark brown base and a lighter brown on the raised pieces to add depth.
Articulation is the big change vs older figures, with the figure now devoid of pinned joints, which makes a huge difference on a figure like Tegan, who has bare arms and legs. This also represents the Vortex Edition commitment to developing new figures and parts rather than borrowing from existing sculpts - Tegan’s legs, for example, could have been taken from the existing Peri figure. We have 14 points of articulation, including a new addition in the shape of ankle joints. The other joints remain as they were, minus the pins, with both knees and elbows bending to a near 90-degree position.
The shoulders can rotate and extend outward, while the head sits on a ball joint, enabling the head to rotate and hold some movement for Tegan to tilt her head. Despite the heeled feet, the ankle joints come into their own in allowing Tegan to stand upward. Its not as stable as a flat-footed figure, so be mindful that any knocks or nudges may see her fall over.
Moving to the Dalek, and this takes the existing Resurrection Dalek last seen in the 2024 B&M History of the Daleks 2-Pack. The model does not include the neck rings or dome, and instead, the gap above the shoulder section has an inserted ‘destroyed’ section featuring the Dalek Mutant. This is not strictly accurate to the Dalek Drones we see destroyed towards the end of episode 2, where the domes and neck rings were seen on the Dalek but blown up and with the mutant oozing out. However, this is a reasonable compromise compared to the complexity of creating an upper exploded dome section.
The lower half of the Dalek is grey with black base trim, hemispheres, and slatting. The ‘battle damage’ is extended to the base with some darker ‘scorching’ added to parts of the lower skirt. The sucker and gun arms are cast in black, with a red barrel painted into the gun section. The Dalek’s articulation is solely in these two attachments, with both sucker and gun ball jointed to rotate and move within the confines of the front emplacement. While ‘destroyed’, the Dalek still retains the wheels on the base, allowing it to be pushed around if needed and also giving it a slight lift off a surface.
The exposed mutant is a green ‘brain’ piece sitting into a darker, more vibrant green ooze with its tentacles reaching outward. There are also a couple of visible internal pipes, painted white and featuring a corrugated texture. Some of the vibrant green paint is painted over the edge and shown as dripping on the casing. Looking closer, you can see this is the same inserted ‘Dalek mutant’ piece as used on the Rememberance of the Daleks set from way back in 2012. While this new set doesn’t use the claw piece from that set, you can still see the Dalek eye within the brain section, although this is not painted in an attempt to disguise it.
The set features two further accessories which expand the story telling elements available to us as collectors, while not necessarily being interacted with from either Tegan or the destroyed dalek. The first of these is the Dalek Trooper Gun, worn predominantly by the Dalek Troopers led by Commander Lytton. It is cast in silver, with a red emitter at one end and with an internal opening at the hand end. Built into this socket is an internal grip which allows a Doctor Who figure's hand to be inserted to hold the gun.
Tegan can hold this with either hand, the left being the better suited, and despite the size of the weapon, she remains well balanced while holding the weapon. The inclusion of the weapon is more of a build for the existing Fifth Doctor figure from Resurrection, allowing the scene where he is confronting Davros. Like Tegan, the weapon fits fine onto the Doctor’s arms.
Fifth Doctor Not Included
The second accessory is the Movellan Virus Cylinder, as seen in the first episode when the Army uncovers them in a London Docklands warehouse. This is a cast piece in blue plastic, with a green, almost moss like weathering is lined in around the fins of the piece. Like the gun, Tegan can hold this, but it is essentially a prop piece to expand a Resurrection of the Daleks display.
The Resurrection of the Daleks Tegan Jovanka and Destroyed Dalek Vortex Edition set retails for £44.99. With such a variation of releases and their contents so far in the Vortex Ediion line the value for money of this set is difficult to define. It is the set (to date) with the lowest number of included parts apart from the 3rd Doctor with the roleplay screwdriver. The Meep set got extra heads and hands, while the Master set featured an alternative head and a few more accessories. It is therefore reasonable to ask whether an alternative Tegan head with bandage was possible, or a slightly more accurate Destroyed Dalek?
With the existing Resurrection of the Daleks figures (not included)
These aside, it is great to finally add another Classic Companion to the range while also expanding the display for Resurrection beyond the Doctor, Daleks and Davros. The Tegan figure is also designed in such a way that there are certainly options for future female companions from parts of Tegan, perhaps a Barbara or a Victoria? The Janet Fielding head also provides future options for other Tegan figures, the flight attendant version might be a nice addition.
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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...