Topps Attax Doctor Who

Yes you heard correctly. Topps has finally produced a Doctor Who set of collectable cards. It may be in 'Attax' form but it is still The Doctor. Pity Topps couldn't produce some dalek relic or Rose Tyler DNA cards, those might be interesting to collect. The Topps Alien Attax coincides with the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who television show.
If your a fan of The Doctor, you would have already realised that this year is a special year in the Doctor Who calendar. On the 23rd of November 1963  the first Doctor Who episode 'The Unearthly Child' was broadcast, although eclipsed by other historic events, the show pulled in a decent audience.
In 1973, on the tenth anniversary of the show, a series of episodes called 'The Three Doctors' was made.
In 1983, on the twentieth anniversary, a special called 'The Five Doctors' was made.
In 1993, although Doctor Who series had been on temporary leave since 1989, a Children in Need special called 'Dimensions in Time' was broadcast.
Unfortunately in 2003, the Doctor was still off the air, so to speak, but roll on 2013 The Doctor has never been more popular, which means there is a flood of Doctor Who celebratory merchandise available - Royal Mail stamps (which are pretty cool even for a non stamp collector), cups, mugs T-shirts, miniature TARDISes, (is there a plural for TARDIS?), hats, figures, you name it.

The Alien Attax set contains 240 cards to collect which includes 16 rainbow foil cards and 32 mirror foil cards.

The collector pack comes with the collection folder, checklist, battle mat and a 'special' 3D Matt Smith card. 

The rest of the 240 cards are divided into groups of Aliens, Humans, Humanoids, Doctors, Companions, Robots, etc. Thankfully the set includes the very lovely new assistant Clara/Oswin Oswald played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.

There has never been a shortage of Aliens in the Doctors past, whether they were the creepy sort to keep you up in the night such as; Snowman, Weeping Angels or gas-masked children,

 Or just downright weird like the Face of Boe, The Ood or Sulirians

 Although there were some that would barely past the Alien screening process. Really- an alien made from Liquorice Allsorts.

I am pretty close to completing this set, so if you want to fill any empty spaces, just contact me. 



Doctor Who Monster Invasion limited edition.

We have to wait until Christmas to get the next 'fix' of the latest Doctor Who adventures. The last episode saw the departure of the Ponds, some might say finally.
There were some great episodes in Season 7, Daleks, dinosaurs, wild west gunslingers, and mysterious black cubes. The final episode was set in Manhattan starring the creepiest of recent protagonists, Weeping Angels. And yes the Statue of Liberty does feature as the ultimate Weeping Angel.
To keep the 'fanboys' happy, the lovely River Song 'Woozah' aka Melody Pond, also appears in the latest episode.

The cards shown are from a limited edition pack, only available with the Doctor Who Monster Invasion children's magazine.
Roll on Christmas.

Doctor Who Monster Invasion Extreme

 If you didn't already know, we are big Doctor Who fans in this household. My boys in particular watch the TV series repeatedly, collect the cards and the Lego like figures.
The second series of Monster Invasion was released in September to coincide with the second half of the new series. It finished a few weeks back and I was disappointed with the ending. The writers had excelled themselves with some terrific episodes all series. The Silence were particularly creepy. In the end though it failed to deliver a satisfying ending with his plot hole ridden climax.

There are 180 cards in total. 150 base cards, 18 rare cards (1in every pack), 6 Super Rare cards (3 in every 10 packs), 5 Ultra rare (1 in every 10 packs) and the Infinite card, which is 1 in every 1000packs so is limited to 1000 cards world wide. The Infinite card is a great looking 3D/hologram of the Silence creature and I have actually held this rare card in my hand. An interesting(ish) story with an unfortunate ending.

Knowing how rare these cards, a child at school announced that he had pulled one from a pack. I didn't know whether to believe him or not, you know what children are like trying to impress their friends. He went on about the card for a few days and I decided to call his bluff. He said his mother wouldn't let him. I left it at that.

A few days later the child in question informed my friend Dion and I that he bought the card and produced it from his coat pocket. A sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as to the condition of the Infinite card, but on first inspection it was in surprisingly good condition and the 3D/hologram was excellent.  We looked with some awe and Dion informs the child that a similar card was selling for £170 on e-bay, so I decided to place the card in a sleeve and top loader for extra protection. (I keep a little stock of these at school-you never know.)Now here comes the unfortunate part. While I am placing the card in the sleeve for extra protection I turn it over and there written across the back, I say written more like gouged, in black biro is the child's name rendering the card virtually worthless to serious collectors. 'Why did you write your name on it?' I ask. My mum thought someone  might take it.

I had to wonder if he would have done this anyway or only because I had asked to see it.  Was I the cause of the card disfigurement?

The cards continue in a similar vein to the last series divided into Doctors, Allies, Villians, Monsters, Gadgets and Adventures. Roll on Christmas for the Doctor special.