12th Doctor SFX Touch Control Sonic Screwdriver.

I have seen these on the web recently and they were supposed to be released in August however seem to not yet arrived in the US. Does anyone have one yet? If so, would you mind reviewing? These seem pretty cool.

http://www.doctorwhotoys.net/twelfthdoctortouchcontrolsonicscrewdriver.htm

Hello! Bump

Anyone have one yet?

I have one! I came across one at Barnes & Noble tonight, couldn't resist. It's the cheapest place around here to get Doctor Who stuff anyways, $24.95 per screwdriver (Amazon's price is $29.99, and Newbury Comics overcharges at $33-34.

Definitely an improvement over the 11th Doctor's screwdriver.

Please excuse the bad lighting, I was shooting with my iPhone.

The packaging:




The battery panel/compartment is now right on the side of the screwdriver, no extending the screwdriver and pulling apart to get at it:




The 11th Doctor's Screwdriver (DS) on top, 12th on the bottom. As you can see, very similar in looks. There's no lower (lights/FX) button on the 12th DS anymore. The black section on the 11th DS is noticeable shinier, the black on the 12th DS is very matte.




Remember how the activation button on the 11th DS is visible after extending the screwdriver? Not on the 12th DS!



Very easy to activate: just have a finger on either side (thumb and index is all you need). The sound chip is noticeable quieter in the 12th DS though.



Being able to activate the screwdriver from the black handle extended or closed means they nixed that big red button on the bottom and the flmsy flip cap (yay!). What is there instead is the removable power core. Bit of a gimmick, sure, but better than the red button.

I just picked up two yesterday. Awesome sonic. Much better than the 11th

Hot Topic has a sale right now- everything in the store is buy one get one 50% off! So the $30 sonic was $47 (with tax) for two. I was able to get one for a friend, and have mine for $23

I don't know how much longer their sale is, if it's limited to that one mall, etc. But that's a deal.

I really don't like what they did to the white handle section. That screw and removable plate a rather ugly compared to the 11th or the non-touch 12th

With a lot of modding we could probably put the battery where the "power core" is and sand/putty the old compartment smooth and repaint it

I've heard before that there are a few inaccuracies with this 12th Dr's Sonic. I know the placement of the battery compartment does kinda ruin the look if you're going for an inexpensive display piece, and the fact that the company still didn't make in flick-openable was kinda disappointing, but other than those issues what other "inaccuracies" exist on this version of the Sonic?

If you want the sonic to open with a flick of the wrist, you could do a sleight-of-hand and just flick your wrist at the same time as you press the button. Does anyone know if this is out in UK toy stores? I've seen it on Amazon UK but I haven't seen it in any of the shops so far.

The14thDr said:

If you want the sonic to open with a flick of the wrist, you could do a sleight-of-hand and just flick your wrist at the same time as you press the button. Does anyone know if this is out in UK toy stores? I've seen it on Amazon UK but I haven't seen it in any of the shops so far.

Click to expand...

That's exactly how I plan to use mine when I get it. I know it's not as accurate as it would be if it were modded with magnets, like some RPF'ers have done, but I'd be too worried about ruining it by trying to modify it. When I can afford a second one I might take it apart and try to recreate duplicate parts in the materials they look like (copper, aluminum, leather, transparent resin, etc) and modify that so that it flicks, and so that it uses AAA size batteries instead of the L1154 batteries. I'd also like to end up with one that has a battery compartment at the bottom, possibly in place of the "removable" power core, so that the look of the handle isn't ruined.

If I manage to find it any of the shops, I'll be buying one this week and modding my Matt Smith sonic into the sonic cane from Let's Kill Hitler.

It is a massive improvement over the original toy replica. And it is a great, cheap alternative if you do not want to buy or cannot afford to buy the official Rubbertoe replica. No, it is not 100% screen accurate (i.e., the battery compartment), but this negative is outweighed by the other improvements and the cheap price.

The touch control is surprisingly easy to operate.

The replica has the two standard sonic sounds, plus two other sounds; a wavering/flickering sound and an alternating pitch sound. These are activated by quickly treble pressing the touch control with the thumb and forefinger.

Hey, this may seem a little stupid, but I'm having a little trouble with changing the batteries on my sonic. The button batteries are really stuck in there, and I'm kind of scared to force them out.
Any suggestions?