If you were to back me into a corner and force me to pick my favorite television show of all time, I would have to say Doctor Who. Specifically, Classic Doctor Who. When I was a kid, there were countless Christmases where I would wish for Santa to magically deliver me a full lineup of Kenner-style 3 3/4-inch Doctor Who action figures, vehicles, and playsets. I would imagine exactly which characters I would want, what accessories would come with each figure, and even what the card art would look like. At some point, we discovered that a company called Dapol in the UK was releasing 3 3/4-inch Doctor Who figures, and my heart exploded with joy. We ordered a bunch from a mail-order catalog (Intergalactic Trading Post if I recall correctly) and over time I ended up with most of them. But if you've ever seen these figures in-person, you'll know that there's a lot to be desired in terms of sculpting, construction, paint application, durability, articulation, overall quality... you name it. (We have several on our site at the moment if you want to check those out for quick reference.) The face on the Time Lord is not much more than a smiley face painted on the head. It's great that they exist, and they hold a special place of nostalgia in vintage collectors' hearts (myself included), but it's truly hard to display them side-by-side with any modern figures. Over the past few years, I have been building custom 1:18 scale Doctor Who figures using parts available from Marauder Task Force, Dime Novel Legends, Boss Fight Studio, Zombie Lab, Hasbro, and other companies, along with some of the 1:18 scale Doctor Who figures from Character Options. (Such as the various Classic-era Daleks, the Ice Warrior, and Zygons.) The only Dapol figures I feel like hold their own in the lineup are K9, the Mk II Cyberman (which is basically a non-articulated statue but arguably the best figure Dapol ever sculpted), and of course the TARDIS console. The TARDIS console is a rant all of its own (inaccurate number of sides and base, incomplete construction with visible wires and protruding battery compartments, etc.) but none the less one of my all-time highest-ranking grail items. (And I now have two of them!) I also displayed the two different Dapol Silurian figures because I found them cheap and MOC at a local antique mall and just couldn't help adding them in for a dash of authentic flavor. All in all, my new modern DW collection spans all 8 of the classic Doctors plus the Peter Cushing films, but out of a hundred-plus figures, only a handful are official DW product. I didn't mean for this article to come down so harshly on Dapol. They did their best and they filled a void that existed at the time. Today, I feel like they fall into the category of "so ugly they're cute," and now after writing this I'm trying to think of ways to incorporate more into my modern lineup! But overall, the best available official product just isn't as good to me as custom-built "close enough" figures made from more generic parts and accessories.