Companion Piece

As I had already decided that my next Doctor Who AAR, following on from the events in Day of the Master, would feature the third incarnation of the Doctor AND would also feature the classic grey Daleks, these figures had taken precedence in my painting queue, along with my scratch-built TARDIS.

However, what I failed to take into account was that the Doctor very rarely travels alone and I didn’t have any companions to accompany him on his next adventure.

Knowing that he would be facing the Daleks, who do have a tendency to exterminate those they consider enemies of the Daleks, I needed some companions who either had some martial prowess or could be considered ‘cannon fodder’. As I didn’t have half a dozen Adrics to act as human shields (the only companion whose death I actually cheered), I went with the former. But having already used UNIT, I decided to go with something a bit different.

So, here are the two companions who will be accompanying the Doctor on his next adventure:

The figure on the left is Pandora King from Crooked Dice, available from their webstore for £4.00, whilst the figure on the right is RSF 04 Pepperpot Hunter from Miniature Figurines Retro Sci-Fi range, costing £2.75.

Those with an extensive knowledge of Doctor Who will recognise that the ‘pepperpot hunter’ is a representation of Abslom Daak – Dalek Killer, who first appeared in a back-up strip in the Doctor Who Weekly comic book in 1980. A hardened criminal who, when caught, was offered a choice between vapourisation and a one-man suicide mission against a planet full of Daleks, he chose the latter – and turned out to be rather good at killing Daleks. Whilst Daak encountered the Seventh Doctor in the comic book, he has never met the Doctor on screen, but an image of his face was seen in the Twelfth Doctor episode ‘Time Heist’, which means he IS canon. Which is cool.

This figure was actually a gift from Simon Moore aka BLaxkleric of Fantorical fame, because he’s a thoroughly nice chap.

So, having already got a psychotic Dalek-killer, I decided that I needed a female companion, ideally one who had experience of the Daleks and combat training. My mind immediately latched on to Sara Kingdom, a character introduced in the 1965 First Doctor serial The Dalek’s Master Plan. She had the necessary skills and abilities, being a member of the Space Security Service, but was unfortunately dead. However, as the Space Security Service is a large organisation, surely they would have more than just one agent? Taking inspiration from this character and from my good friend, the lovely Tarot Hunt (with her permission, of course) of The Games Cupboard, thus was born Tara Hunt, Space Security Agent and second companion for my next Doctor Who AAR – once I’ve painted them, of course.

Now, as I realised that there existed the possibility that the Doctor may end up being “killed” by the Daleks, causing him to regenerate, I also decided to base up the Fourth Doctor. And, just in case, the Fifth Doctor too. As I still had some Milliput left after this, I also based up my second gift from Simon, Miniature Figurines ‘Chrononaut Grandfather’, which is a much better likeness of the movie version of the Doctor than Black Tree Designs one.

And there was still some putty left over, so Aggedor, the Monster of Peladon got based up too.

So, not a huge amount of progress, as post-Salute I’d lost my motivation/momentum due to various external factors, but I’ve got it back now, so expect more regular posts in future.

Normally, I’d sign off at this point, but I do need to make an announcement. It’s currently the 6th of May, which means that June is less than a month away. And in June, the madness that is Forgotten Heroes returns! Those of you who took part last year will know what this is all about, but for those of you that didn’t, follow the link to the official site, which explains everything. And also shows what everyone got up to last year.

If you want to take part this year, just let me know by commenting on this or subsequent posts before the 1st of June. My partner-in-crime, Roger Webb of Ranting from Under the Wargames Table, has agreed to update the FH site with all participants details and posts, because he’s nice like that.

So, the Doctor Who project will take a break during June, as Superhero madness will take over, but join me next time for more Who-related goodness.