If there’s one thing you Nerds should know about me by now, it is my absolute love for Doctor Who. I could not have been happier when I recently opened another package from my favorite toy company, Underground Toys.
Once I got the package open, I was staring down at the top of one of the Doctor’s most menacing enemies. Its domed top with extended optical arm was staring blankly out of the shipping box. At first I thought the contraption was just loosely placed in the shipping box. But upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was packaged within what I can honestly say was by far the best packaging for a collectable I have yet seen (more on this in a second).
So you can guess the excitement I was feeling as I turned the 7-inch tall package holding the 4-inch Dalek safely inside. In what must have been a world-record leap from my seated position on my recliner, I crossed the room, and landed at a drawer holding scissors that I could use to break the seal on the clear PVC packaging. I removed the Dalek as gently as a doctor in the delivery room would handle a baby. I now held in my hand, attached by screws to a cardboard show base, as accurate a depiction of a Dalek as I could ever dream of.
Its body is a fire engine red, it has the black knobs on its side, the vent area directly under the domed portion is there, and each of the appendages are well represented. When I ordered it, I was expecting nothing more than another lame representation of a Dalek, I was however not expecting this small item to be as amazingly detailed as it was.
I removed the screw holding it to the display base and read the instructions. I unscrewed the access door, oddly enough, which is the upper 3rd of the toy, and inserted the 3 AAA batteries into their slot. I then turned it on and placed it onto my coffee table for it to patrol. It instantly started roaming around the table, bumping into a few items that were shorter than the sensor was able to read, which was anything under half an inch. Anything over that it can sense, however, and does not even hit it but instead instantly turns away from it and belches out my favorite live from any Doctor Who episode, “EXTERMINATE!”
I can’t explain how elated I was listening to it run around the table declaring that it wanted to “Exterminate!” everything it ran into. Then when it approached the edge of the table, just when I thought it was going to fall off, it sensed the edge and instantly turned away from it, again demanding the edge’s extermination.
This toy is no more a toy than any of the statuettes from Kotobukiya are just action figures. It is a display piece with an interactive capability. It is a collector’s piece designed for a desk, that when bored you can turn it on and revel at the joys of watching it move around. It is to enjoy, to look at, to brag about, and to show off. I can not say how many times people have come over and just sat and turned it on and just loved watching it run around the table. It is an addictive toy as well; you will keep watching it until the batteries run out.
This is now one of my most coveted pieces, besides the Flight Control TARDIS, which oddly enough is also from Underground Toys. I have stated before that the toys from Underground Toys are extremely high quality, however I cannot express it enough. From the quality of the plastics used, to the durability of the toy itself, and the attention to detail are all unparalleled. I am personally going to continue to keep purchasing Underground Toys, as they truly care not just for playability of their products, they also care enough to make sure their products are as accurate as possible.
You can get your very own Desktop Patrol Dalek Here at Entertainment Earth.
