December 17th, 2021 176 comments

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Doctor Who B&M 2022 Robot Set

Character Options is excited to announce its first new Doctor Who line for 2022, scheduled to land in B&M stores in mid January 2022.

A single remarkable new set will mark a year in which nine new lines have been delivered to B&M. Titled ROBOT, fans can look forward to a classic era figure set based on the debut 1974 episode featuring the ‘new’ Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker. The set comprises two figures: The Fourth Doctor in his original shabby red jacket, long stripy scarf and fedora and the K1 Robot. Created in 5.5” collector scale, each has multiple points of articulation and comes packaged in the familiar ‘heritage’ style Doctor Who collector packs with specially created insert artwork.

The back story and inspiration for the set:

In the episode, someone or something has broken into a secret research facility and stolen plans for an advanced disintegrator gun. The Brigadier immediately involves the newly regenerated Fourth Doctor, and it’s decided that they should protect the different facilities where parts for the gun are manufactured. It is all to no avail, as soon, all the components for the weapon have been stolen and not just by a common thief!… As The Doctor himself notes: “…According to my estimation of the resistance to pressure of vegetable fibre, it was stepped on by something that weighed a ¼ of a ton!’

The culprit is in fact a huge robot, which is well over seven feet tall, named after its creator and called The Kettlewell K1 Experimental Robot. Sarah is the first to discover the Robot’s existence and she feels great pity for it when it is asked to go directly against its programming and seems to be in pain. It soon turns out that there is a huge conspiracy and, at the centre, there is a group of scientific reformers who are thinking the unthinkable, and intend to hold the world to ransom with the disintegrator gun or, if their demands are not met, destroy everything and “start again!”.

The scientists, including Sarah as hostage plus the Robot, retreat to an underground bunker to realise their plan. U.N.I.T. attack the bunker and, in the confusion, the already conflicted Robot accidently kills its creator Kettlewell.

The death of its creator drives it insane and, as U.N.I.T. forces move in, the Robot attacks. This prompts the Brigadier to fire the disintegrator at the Robot which grows to an enormous size. The enormous Robot now seeks to protect Sarah and grabs her. The situation ends with The Doctor remembering having created a metal virus which is thrown onto the robot, destroying it.

Al Dewar, Creative Director of Character Options says of the set: “This one is very personal to me. This is one of my formative Doctor Who memories of the then brand new Fourth Doctor and the Robot. I absolutely love this story with Tom Baker in his original and, I still feel, most iconic outfit, and the Robot, which is a lovely piece of design and looks terrific onscreen.

“The figures may have been realised before, but the eagle-eyed will notice one or two subtle and some not-so-subtle changes. On the Robot figure I was keen to get the details right and add one or two little ‘tweaks’, so we now have a ‘slim’ version of the claw hand along with a complete deco makeover. The aim was first to get a more ‘shiny’ correct silver on the body and then adjust the original red colour on the body and clear lenses of the face to a more authentic purple tint.

On the Fourth Doctor figure we have managed to closer match the hue of the red of the jacket, which many thought was too dark on the first release, plus his head and hat have been reworked.
Whether new to the brand or an established collector, there is something new for everyone in this set. It is my belief that your action figure collection will never be complete without a K1 Robot and Doctor set! There, I’ve said it!!“

Fans will be able to collect this brand-new set in-store from Mid January 2022.

Categorised under: Doctor Who 5" scale figures, Toys