This particular Doctor/Dalek set is unique in that it isn’t based on any scene or episode from the long-running TV series. The 8th Doctor, played by the always awesome Paul McGann, was featured in just the made-for-TV movie in 1996, so there isn’t a ton of televised material to draw from that features this incarnation of the Doctor. There were no Daleks in the movie, and the Doctor spent the entire runtime matching wits with the Master, played by Eric Roberts. In order to include the 8th Doctor in this series of Doctor and Dalek 2-packs, Character Options needed to look elsewhere for an effective 8th Doctor/Dalek pairing.
Thankfully, the 8th Doctor has enjoyed a rather robust existence outside of the TV series. He’s thrived in BBC audio dramas and in comics published in Doctor Who Magazine, all of which are very worth tracking down if you’re at all a fan of this Doctor. “Children of the Revolution,” one of the comics featured in the magazine and later collected with other 8th Doctor stories in collectable volumes by Panini Books, is the basis for these two figures, and Character Options did a nice job in capturing both the Doctor’s and the Alpha Dalek’s comic looks.
In the story, the Doctor and his companion Izzy discover a hidden, secret society of Daleks led by the Alpha Dalek. These Daleks are actually the product of an experiment conducted by the 2nd Doctor in which the Daleks were infused with a “human element.” These Daleks are more peaceful than what we’re used to, and pose no threat to the Doctor and Izzy — at least at first. The Doctor even teams up with the Alpha Dalek for an exploratory mission for a good portion of the story, so pairing the two together in this set makes perfect sense.
Like all the 2-packs, the packaging does a fine job of displaying the two figures contained within. The Alpha Dalek’s red pops like crazy in the packaging, and it stands out just as vibrantly in a larger Dalek collection.
Even though this Doctor’s appearance is based on a comic rather than the show, it’s still quite tempting to use this as the collection’s “default” 8th Doctor due to the awesome paint apps. The paint on his head is especially well done. The softer tones used look much more life-like than what we saw on the figure from the 11-Doctor box set. Even his hair looks better. it still has a “plastic” look to it, but it’s still more convincing. It’s too bad the highlights are gray rather than brown because that would thoroughly seal his comic accuracy. It still looks good, but it ever so slightly misses perfection because of this.
The purplish shade of blue used for the Doctor’s coat is a great match to the color of his coat in the comic. It’s reasonable to believe his coat is intended to be black, but due to color limitations of this particular comics medium, the coat often comes across as, well, blue. Character Options decision to run with the blue coat is testament to their willingness to maintain accuracy to the character’s appearance in the comic, and it’s just plain fun.
I still prefer the darker color palette of the figure from the 11-Doctor set because I love the black coat and the gray suit, but having this one based on a comic appearance is more than a worthy variation to add to the collection. And it looks as though the Titans vinyl figure is also based on a comic appearance as well (I did some Doctor Who comic shopping this weekend and had a few epiphanies). I can now only hope we see more figures based on characters from the comics — c’mon, Character Options, we need an Izzy!
The Alpha Dalek’s color scheme is razor sharp and gorgeous. There’s something about red and silver that absolutely arrests the eye. it’s stunning. There isn’t much to the figure’s general design that we haven’t seen many times before, but the alpha symbol to the left of his eye stalk is a simple embellishment that does a lot to add character and personality to the character.
Now, most Daleks are pretty much the same when it comes to “character” — you know, “EX-TER-MIN-ATE!” and all that — that’s why it was such a shock to learn that this Dalek really isn’t the Doctor’s enemy, so to speak. And given the flexibility of the comics medium, the two characters are actually able to have a conversation. In fact, as I read the Alpha Dalek’s bits, I wasn’t imagining the standard Dalek voice at all, rather something much more human. That certainly deviates from the standard Dalek and wasn’t what I was expecting at all, but it was a welcome surprise. 
This set is definitely, by far and away, the most in-demand set from all three waves of the 2-packs. It sold out in a matter of minutes on three separate occasions when WhoNA had it available, and many stores will only sell the wave as a set because of the demand for this 8th Doctor set.
Part of the sets popularity can be attributed to the fact that this is the first time the 8th Doctor has been available outside the giant 11-Doctor set, so many fans are gobbling it up just to be able to add an 8th Doctor to their collections. And then some are snatching it up for the novelty of having a set of figures based on the comics, some are grabbing it for the Alpha Dalek because it’s gorgeous, and some are completists who just need it to finish their sets. Regardless of the reason, this has become one very difficult set to track down.
It’s definitely worth the trouble, though. It gets my vote for best of the 2-packs, just barely edging out the 3rd Doctor set for that distinction.