Ghost Trap

Ghost Trap

Ghostbusters - Spirit Halloween

A year after Spirit Halloween introduced it's affordable, deluxe proton pack, they're following up with a gaggle of new Ghostbusters accessories.  Like the proton pack, they may not be 100% screen-accurate, but close enough to fool the ordinary man on the street and please kids of any age with their "fake, electronic light shows."  This year they unveiled a PKE meter, Ecto Goggles, and the Ghost Trap!

While I am a GB fan and costume/prop guy (I refuse to use the term "cosplayer"), I did not buy into Mattel's (read "greedy, line-bunglers") $130 ghost trap years back.  While it did look nice, I would never put an expensive toy/prop on my belt when going out to conventions, pub crawls, birthday parties, etc.  I made two, decent looking stunt traps from one, $5 sheet of plywood (pics below) for that public nonsense!   Anyway, Spirit has provided a happy medium for $50, complete with lights, sounds, and play features.

The Spirit ghost trap does not include a pedal or cable...you'll have to make one yourself or just tell everyone its a "fast" trap from Ghostbusters: The Video Game.  It is missing a few label details, though that is a quick-fix.  Other than that, it could use some more paint apps and weathering.  

It does have a belt clip, but I would hesitate to use it.  While the trap isn't all that heavy, it wouldn't take much to snap that plastic clip.  I imagine customizers will dremel it off and install a proper, more accurate belt connector.  It has rolling wheels and zooms pretty quick!

There is an "on/off" switch where a toggle switch should be that activates the lights and sounds.  With a push of the button on the handle, the doors open up and activate green lights inside and one of two different ghost-trapping sfx:  one standard, the other like you are trapping a burping Slimer!

Size-wise, I think it is a little longer than it should be for screen accuracy, but not so much that it's a "no-sale."  Again, it's fun and affordable for kids and fans of any age and will still display purdy for collector and costumer alike with a few simple modifications.

NECA Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

NECA - 7-inch figures

SDCC exclusive

 

It's that special time of year again.  Every July, collectors in the fly-over states collectively scream at their computer monitors and pull their hair out over the slim chance to snag convention exclusive figures.  Some I can live without.  The worst are character exclusives that can leave a hole in your collection.  And some are so damn awesome looking, you would do anything to get.  I was somewhere in-between on these Turtles based on the 1990 live-action movie.  These are definitely as good as it gets, especially compared to Playmates' recent offerings and the original line's "real-feel" movie star turtles.  NECA started by releasing 1/4 scale movie turtles, a scale I do not collect.  They looked great, but I held out, knowing that a smaller scale would make it out.  They say the license deal with Nickelodeon/Playmates puts a stranglehold on them, keeping things like this from mass release.  I would rather they not do them at all if every fan does not have a fair shot at them.  I wasn't getting my hopes up.

 

NECA made a small amount of this box set available as preorders before San Diego Comic-con, releasing a few batches over a three day period.  Each day they sold out in about 30 seconds.  No joke.  I missed em the first day, getting as far as having them in my "cart" and getting tripped up waiting to log in to Paypal.  30 SECONDS. You can watch some pretty sad Youtube videos that document the experience.  Raphael has something to say about that...

 

For the second day, I was prepared.  I had logged into NECA early, logged into Paypal early, and was on the product page hitting F4 to refresh the screen as the clock ticked down.  Other exclusives offered popped in one at a time with each refesh, then...Bam!  Add to cart, checkout, payment...wait...breathe and cross fingers...SUCCESS!  Again, I prepared as much as I could, but I was also very, very lucky.  I heard it was just as bad on the final day.  Now scalpers are selling sets for four times the sticker price.  So disgusting that practice comes with this type of transaction.

 

Anyway, they're here and they're spectacular!  They look like they stepped right off the screen of the 1990 film (one of the best comic book adaptations of all time) and they have as good a range of articulation as actors wearing the 70 plus pound, rubber suits with animatronics running down their backs could expect!

 

You get some additional sets of hands to help convey different expressions, a cardstock pizza box (Tile Game Pizza...copyright law is fun!), a full pizza cut into slices, and the TCRI mutagen ooze canister.

 

As against keeping toys in packaging as one could get, this box is one I will be keeping.  It is designed to look like the old VHS tape box!  Radical!

 

I'm glad to have these, but I cant help but think of what comes next.  NECA is doing a 1/4 Foot Soldier and I assume the Shredder isn't too far behind.  The battle is won, but the war is far from over.  We'll meet again, awful convention-exclusive game!

 

 



Walmart Shopping Cart and Chattering Teeth

Walmart Shopping Cart and Chattering Teeth

Walmart Museum Curios from Bentonville, AR

Road trip!  The wife and I took a day's vacation down to Bentonville, AR recently to see the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (they've got a whole Frank Lloyd Wright house and a Buckminster Fuller dome), but we also stopped downtown to see the birthplace of Walmart and it's museum.  Lots of cool artifacts and history about the word's best mega-chain store.  Sam Walton's entire office as it looked the last time he was in, his pick-up truck, memorabilia out the wahzoo...they even had vintage WM ads plastered on the borders of the bathrooms!    The museum is free and definitely worth the time.  The best part is that the storefront entrance looks just like the old five-and-dime and features some era-appropriate souvenirs like these wind-up, chattering teeth.  And even though it is a little big for 6-inch figures, I had to have the mini-metal shopping cart!  "New and improved Joker products!"

 



Doctor Octopus

Doctor Octopus

Hasbro Marvel Legends

 

Toy Biz set the standard for superhero figures, from the 5-inch scale in the 90s to the 6-inch scale in the 00s.  I try hard to resist replacing their figures on the shelf with modern attempts by Hasbro, but sometimes the improvements are too hard to pass up.  Like with Doc Ock here.  They have created something right-off-the-page perfect.  The size, the colors, the haircut...this one is tough to beat.  He's also one of Marvel's top-tier villains (alongside Dr. Doom and Magneto) so who am I to resist?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are some minor gripes.  In true "legends" style his glasses should be blue.  Also, the one area Toy Biz has him beat is the tentacles.  These are better "classics", but they aren't bendable.  You can detach them and swap them around, but your really only have 2 tentacle poses.  One of my favorite things about the bendy tentacles was that they could support the figure's weight so he could "walk" on them.  I think one set of these new tentacles is going for that, but you would need some sort of stand to make it work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doc is a totally new sculpt and takes up quite a bit of packaging.  I guess that's why he doesn't come with a build-a-figure part in the SP//dr wave (What the %&*@ is that ugly thing?! Pass!).  I picked him up along with Cloak and Dagger.  It's actually nice that SP//dr came along to give the wallet a break.  Hasbro has been putting out Legends waves at breakneck speed all year!  The news talks about these "dark times"...there's certainly not a cloud over the action figure market!