Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Fright Features, Ecto Collection, Goo Jitsu
Blame the 2020 pandemic all you want, but Hasbro did their fair share in judging the demand for new Ghostbusters products. Several successful GB-related Haslab crowdfunds and one successful movie relaunch later, they are getting another chance with Frozen Empire heading toward theaters in March. With only a couple month away, how has Hasbro done with the toy aisles? Well, about as good as they did with Indiana Jones: not much. And what little there is out there is mainly available at Target and online retailers. Sigh...post 2008 movie launches...
So far its all been geared toward younger audiences with the continuation of the Real Ghostbusters inspired "Fright Features" movie line. I dig them for what they are: toon representations of the actors along with their signature gear. They do get away with some body reuse, but they have added a few more paint apps (name tags, undershirts, elbow pads). Best part about these, just like the original RGB figures, you get a hero and a ghost in one pack.
Gone are the action feature ghost gimmick from last time. Now we have hollow rubber ghosts intended to be stretched over our Busters. I feel they cheaped out on this plastic-wise, but the sculpts on the ghosts are pretty good. Slimer in particular. He looks just like the real deal! Ghostbusters prime, even! Since he was omitted from the 6-inch figure line, he makes a great stand-in.
Speaking of the 6-inch "Plasma Series" line...no word yet if we're getting anything new. Maybe just because of the risk of spoiling the movie? I would like to believe that, but we've seen how behind Hasbro gets in delivering demand waaaay into the cooling off period of a property (BABY YODA, anyone?). Still holding out hope for some GB II in this scale. Hope, but not my breath.
Beyond action figures, Hasbro has skipped the marshmallow goo gimmick and has gone with pure blind box gimmicks for their Slimer and mini-Puft Ecto Collection. They are more substantial hunks of plastic than the previous pufts, but get off cheap by swapping out varying face plates, heads, and apps. 12 figures here, but really only 6 unique sculpts. If they are your thing, there is a letter code faintly stamped on one side of the box to help you determine which figure you're getting.
What else...a revamped play proton wand...redecoed car...some sort of interactive Slimer doll things...oh, and a stretchy Stay Puft. Good for stress relief if anything else, especially while we wait to see if Hasbro, and the movie itself, drops the ball this time.
