I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Doctor Who TARDIS Mini Set

For the past four or five years British toy company Character Options has been producing an excellent line of Doctor Who action figures. They just recently started up a new line of Doctor Who Micro-Figures. These new toys are exactly like Lego mini-figures in look and size (about 1.75" tall) and should be compatible with all Lego systems. I've never really been a Lego fan (we had some kind of knockoff brick toys when I was a kid), but God help me, I just couldn't resist them. Sorry wallet. Sucks to be you!

Today I'm reviewing the TARDIS Mini Set.

The TARDIS Mini Set comes complete with a TARDIS (natch) and figures of the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond.

The mini TARDIS is about 3" tall (3.5" if you count the beacon on top) and is a perfect little cartoonish representation of everyone's favorite Police Box.Thr Doctor and Amy can even fit inside (although sadly, the interior of the mini TARDIS is not larger than the exterior).

Building the mini TARDIS was pretty straightforward and fairly easy, although the smaller your hands the better. A word of caution: be extremely careful when attaching the doors. You have to line up and fit these incredibly thin little pins into corresponding holes in the top and bottom of the door frame. When I say thin, I do mean thin. Think pencil lead diameter. Why they would make the pins so thin and fragile, I have no idea. A kid will have them snapped off in no time, leading to fits and tears.

I meant to take pre-assembly photos of the mini TARDIS, but unfortunately I forgot. To make up for it I'll help you imagine how it looked in your mind. Imagine a small pile of blue Lego-like bricks. That's pretty much what it looked like before I put it together.

Once you've built it there's a small sheet of stickers to help complete it, consisting of the windows, Police Box graphics and front door signs.There's even a small card printed with the TARDIS interior to place inside it, so you can see it through the open doors.

As for the two mini figures, the Doctor appears to be the same one that was included in the Eleven Doctors Micro-Figure Set. He doesn't look all that much like Matt Smith, but I'm not really expecting a perfect likeness in a Lego format. Besides, it's obvious who he's supposed to be, what with his trademark hairdo and bowtie. He also comes with his trusty sonic screwdriver, which fits securely in his hand so it won't fall out and become lost forever in the shag carpet.

It's good to finally have Amy in this line, but again her figure doesn't look much like Karen Gillan. I know from trying to draw her myself that hers is an incredibly difficult likeness to capture, so I'll give them a pass. Amy appears to be wearing her grandmother's orthopedic shoes. Not much to be done about that though; it's just the way the figures are sculpted.

Despite these small shortcomings, it's a fun little set and I'm happy to finally have it. I never dreamed I'd ever see a Lego-like Doctor Who line or a Lego-esque TARDIS. You won't find one in any brick and mortar store though (at least not in America), so if you want one you'll have to look online for you Who fix.