Ghostbusters Plasma Series

Ghostbusters Plasma Series

Hasbro

Hasbro nabbing the Ghostbusters license last year came with some mixed emotions.  Sure, Hasbro is number one with action figure articulation, quality, and offerings (Marvel Legends, Power Rangers, GI Joe, Transformers) in a mass retail setting.  But on the other hand, GB fans have been through the ringer twice in the last decade and a half with figures.  Mattel botched giving us a complete lineup, and instead choked us with variants, crowdfunding nightmares, and blame for their failures.  Diamond Select delivered a robust lineup and some awesome dioramas, but quality control and character likenesses were all over the map.  That’s a lot for Hasbro to overcome.

Did they succeed?  Yes...well...sort of...I guess.  These are the best looking Ghostbusters movie figures so far...but they aren’t perfect.  The first wave consists of the main heroes, Dana/Zuul, Gozer, and a build-a-figure Terror Dog.  The inclusion of two big villains almost tops Mattel by default!

Let’ get a big criticism out of the way:  for a “6-inch” scale, these guys are short.  5.75 at best, and some of that gets a boost from hair lines!  Not that I need my Ghostbusters to mingle with Marvel Legends or the Power Rangers, but what an inconsistency from the same company!  They’re even short compared to the Star Wars Back Series.

But let’s make some lemonade:  at least they will scale better with the DST Temple Diorama and may have left the door open for a scale-and-cost-feasible Ecto-1.  These guys almost fit into the Kenner car.  You could possibly fudge everyone but Egon (with his tall hair), but I wasn’t going to risk any scuffs or paint wear jamming them in there.  See, Hasbro, Ecto-1 doesnt need bells, whistles, or even be totally accurate to be pleasing.  It certainly doesnt need to be over $200 and/or a crowdfunded shit-show.

Likeness-wise, the actors are there, but they make you work for it.  The photo-real head scans seem to be hit and miss depending on angles and lighting.  I can find them all, except for Venkman.  I think the shape of his head is just too round or large in some spots.  Mattel’s may have been a bit cartoony, but I think the proportions were at least right.  Here, I’ve heard “looks like - Ted Cruz, Al Bundy, Phil Connors Collins wearing a Bill Murray skin mask.“  Bill is the new Harrison Ford of action figure portraits.

You can find Dan, but more than often, you get Paul Riser.

Likenesses not being perfect on the third attempt really had me struggling to buy this line.  Promo shots and toy reviews online didn’t help.  In-hand, though, they work for the most part.  But, lets not get too positive just yet...I have more geek gripes!

The articulation and sculpt of the uniforms are great, but marred by lack of paint apps and a too-shiny plastic.  I’m waiting for someone to attempt a paint wash before I go to town on my set.

Another small victory for Mattel is the clear plastic leg hose and accurate looking connector.  Bright solid yellow?  Just toning down the shade would have been nice.

Solid black elbow pads?  Maybe a lil too dark, and no inner elbow black patch.

Logo is good with the lack of black border, but it might be a tad high on the arm.

Accessory wise, you get newly-sculpted proton packs and one extra piece of gear for each Buster.  The packs look great and are more to scale than the Mattel effort.  However, Mattel’s might have slightly mor paint apps here and there.  I don’t mind that they got a little creative with the cyclotron lights, painting a different circle red on each hero to simulate the circling effect.

The PKE meter that comes with Egon looks a bit undersized, and sloppy compared to Mattel’s paint apps.  C’mon, I could forgive the buttons, but the wings?  It has a small peg to slip it on to the hole on Egon’s (or Pete’s or Winston’s) belt.

Which left no room to figure out how to connect the trap to the belt?  The bottom is hollow, too?  Well, I guess your can slide it over the N-filter.  It doe size up to the Mattel trap well enough, but has a big honkin’ handle and no pedal/cord.

Ray, appropriately, has the Ecto-goggles.  They fit on his head and face it fine, even without the third strap that runs across the top.  Ray’s belt has a small hook to hang these on, but only for static, standing poses...too insecure for anything else.

Winston is the only one that gets a proton stream.  It’s pretty heavy duty, feeling that it won’t start to bend under its own weight/length.  It ports onto the wand pretty deep and secure, but in doing so, they sacrificed certain parts and accuracy.

Dana looks great and has a surprising amount of articulation for a unique sculpt of a character that lays around or walks slowly until she turns into a dog.  Someone finally got the makeup lines right!  Not worth mentioning Mattel’s Dana “statue”, but here’s a pic in case you forgot about it.  Woof!

You would think, since we got Dana, that they BAF Terror Dog would be her possessor...nope!  Vinz Clortho!  I guess they did that so Hasbro could say that, in a way, they took care of all of the main players right out of the gate?  The dog is okay at best.  Not as articulated as it should be, compared to the Diamond Select versions.  And the back legs are just on a swivel joint!  I don’t think you could get him in a seated position at the feet of Gozer if you tried.

 Speaking of the Goz...the Destructor has come!  An inclusion that gives Hasbro a default win over Mattel in line completion.  (I mean, c’mon...how do you not deliver the main bad guy...er...girl...er...whatever it wants to be?)  I dont think the head sculpt is as good as the sole NECA figure I have, but its not to bad.  She has a pretty good range of articulation, including the sole ab crunch in the wave.

















Nimble little minx, isn’t she?

All in all, I’m glad I didn’t let promo pics and early reviews scare me away from these.  Partnered with Walter Peck, Louis Tully,  and the other Mattel ghost pack-ins, Hasbro has given me a complete Ghostbusters assortment.  The likenesses aren’t terrible, and the scale has its advantages:  I had a lot of fun fiddling with them on the Kenner firehouse and Ecto-1.  I’m interested to see what a second wave might bring.  An almost identical build-a-figure to get Zuul doesnt sounds all that exciting on it’s own, so I’m anticipating some new blood with Ghostbusters Afterlife characters and gadgets.  Good thing these defied the Covid-19 delay to give us something to tide us over!

Ghostbusters UNO

Ghostbusters UNO

Mattel

Took 'em long enough to rectify the mistake...whoops, Mattel made Ghostbusters 2016 UNO cards before the one and only Ghostbusters!    It plays the same as the original, save for the new "Cross the Streams" card that I'm not sure adds that much to the game.  Oh, well...the pictures they selected look nice!

Even Janine gets some love here!  The Louis with coffeepot shot is my favorite. ("Yes, have some!") I like the "spooked" Ray on the "0" card, but feel that this number should have been reserved for Walter Peck.

The pictures selected for the special action cards are even better.  "Skip" turn on Gozer..."Reverse" on the librarian...hah!  The wild card, which I forgot to take a picture of, features the Ghostbusters "hands-in" after surviving Gozer's earthquake.  The cream of the crop though is the "Draw Four" card, with all four heroes in one of the best promotional shots ever.

I found this deck at Gamestop for about $6 (while buying an Ectotron/Ghostbusters t-shirt, I might add).  If you like UNO and Ghostbusters, you should have no problem justifying this checkout lane, impulse purchase.

Ghostbusters - Rooftop Temple Diorama

Ghostbusters

Diamond Select Toys 7-inch Figures

Rooftop Temple Diorama

The Destructor has come!  After close to a year in the making, the final wave of Diamond Select's Ghostbusters has arrived and the massive rooftop temple diorama is complete!  While the figures have been hit and miss as far as likenesses and execution, this playset makes it all worthwhile.  It's roughly 34 inches wide, 15 inches tall, and 18 inches deep!  I always hear fans on action figure boards use the excuse of "I don't have room for that" in dismissing playsets and such.  I suspect that there are other reasons to deny such awesomeness (such as a spouse that would "freak" *whip crack sound*). Whatever your lame reasons, just know that if you have collected any kind of GB merchandise over the years, your collection is nullified by this toy's absence, sub-creature.

We'll kick things off with a look at some of our favorite human supporting characters.  This is the third Walter Peck toy ever, after a Minimate and Mattel's release.  Mattel's 6-inch figure was one of the best likenesses in that line, and here I would say the same for Diamond.  Just look at that smirk!  Although Mattel might have this one beat with the accessory included:  a section of firehouse wall with the containment unit.  Here he only came with one of the more massive sections of the diorama.  Oh, well, the containment unit still looks good with this take!

There have been Janine figures in Real Ghostbusters form and Ghostbusters 2 slut-attire, but never before has there been a representation of her from the original film.  Aside from the glasses being a bit big, it's fantastic.  She also has some great accessories:  a phone, the bell signal button, and a couple boxes of "the last of the petty cash."

Louis Tully and Dana Barrett, or Vinz "The Keymaster" Clortho and Zuul "The Gatekeeper - The sculpt on Dana is either weak, or ruined by paint apps.  That, and she can't stand on her own.  Louis' sculpt is better, though Mattel's version had this one beat on accessories (pizza, popcorn, and Terror Dog headpiece...yes, have some!)  Mattel also gave us an alternate head with the colander hat/helmet, which is pretty iconic.  Here they are next to the Terror Dog statues that are pretty solid diorama pieces.




One weakness of the series is this pair of character variants. Mattel choked us and their line to death with them. Thankfully, Diamond only made us buy two to complete the diorama: Slimed Venkman and "Quittin' Time" Ray.  I like the dirty look for Ray, just like I enjoy battle damaged decos of superhero toys.  I just wish he came with a pack of cigarettes and one to put in his mouth, like the scene where they come into the firehouse complaining about a long day and hire Winston on the spot.  I actually got into an argument on a GB forum about this..."boo hoo, smoking is evil!" vs "I didn't say lack of cigarettes ruined the figure, I said it would have been nice!" Anyway, I reminded him that no one is keeping him from his safe space that is the relatively smoke (and joke) free Ghostbusters 2,  that these toys are labeled "adult collectibles," and that Neca already gave us a smoking Flasher Gremlin that could be purchased in Toys R Us.  It's not like I asked for an "Implied Ghost Blowjob" Ray variant.  What an asshole...:P

Slimed Venkman would make more sense, with a neutral "he slimed me" head rather than screaming.  I mean, to make the screaming head work, this is the fraction of the second Slimer passed through him?  Also, the head looks a little more like Will Forte to me.  All in all unnecessary, but decent character variants.

Slimer can carry us over to the ghosts.  In my opinion, these are all a step up from the Mattel figures, particularly with the Librarian and Taxi Driver:  great sculpts and paint.  The details of what you can see through the Librarian's tattered dress are truly frightening (side boob, weird tail tendrils), and the Taxi Driver gets fully fleshed out from the waist down for the first time ever.  Slimer has three different, interchangeable faces.  One looks a lil too GB 2 cartoony for my tastes, so I will be sticking with the standard or the mouth-full-of-hotdogs look.

For accessories, you get some symmetrically stacked books, the mangled steering wheel of a cab, and some "flight stands".  The stands are frustrating as they can barely support the figures weight, no matter how many sections you remove.  They may require some tightening with a screwdriver.  There is a spot to connect Slimer and his stand to the right side of the diorama, but I have yet to get him to stay in place.

The only ghost left in the cold by Diamond is the "Subway" ghost.  Mattel's fills in nicely if you've got one.

Gozer and Terror Dogs - The biggest failing of the Mattel line was the lack of these key, first movie villains.  NECA did a set (along with Slimer) back in the early part of this millennium, but those have been rendered unobtainable by over-inflated Ebay prices.

Being lucky enough to have the NECA Gozer, I can say that Diamond only has her beat in articulation.  NECA's, however, has a set of interchangeable lightning hands and a second scary, open-mouth headsculpt.  Diamond threw in an extra head, but I can't tell much difference other than a slightly open mouth.  It's almost as disappointing as if they hadn't included one at all.

I don't have the NECA Terror Dogs to compare these to, but I like what I got here.  Lots of appropriate articulation.  I especially like the hinged jaw.  You do have to buy two of these to make right by the movie, but to make it better, Diamond has thrown in another set of shorter horns so you can differentiate between Vinz and Zuul.

It's the boys in gray (or faded-gray, tan, khaki, or whichever color variation you get depending on which film transfers/saturation you're watching) here to bust some heads...in a spiritual sense, of course!  The detail on the fight suits is top-notch, and the articulation makes for some great poses where other versions have failed before.

The proton packs are separate pieces that also look fantastic.  The only downside is that they were not meant to be removable, but totally look like they should be.  You can carefully pop the little peg on the strap where the shoulder and waist straps meet, but this met with varied results.  On some, the peg or strap broke, other were just fine.  I suppose one could use little magnets to fix any mishaps and allow for easy on/off access.  This feature seems like a strange oversight (particularly with "quittin' time" Ray, who was not featured pack-on with that look) by Diamond.  Also, while the v-hook to connect the wand to the pack is accurate, it's way too small and flimsy to keep it connected for too long.

Likenesses are hit and miss.  Ray/Dan Aykroyd is probably the strongest.  Egon/Harold Ramis is almost there, but marred by over-large, wrong style glasses.  Peter/Bill Murray is a light suggestion that could be stronger with better paint apps. And Winston/Ernie Hudson is way off (while Mattel knocked this one out of the park.)  Just for comparison's sake, here's a look at some of the Mattel figures I recently found at a discount store (sans Egon - I really just bought these for the ghost logo.)

Overall, it's a mixed bag on the Ghostbusters themselves.  Nothing so bad that dissuaded me from buying them, of course.  They come with quite a number of accessories:  alternate gloved/bare hands, Motorola MT-500 walkie-talkies, a PKE meter (Egon), Ecto-goggles (Ray), ghost trap (Ray), and proton streams.

Aim for the flattop!

Some time back, in anticipation of this series and the diorama, I bought Diamond's 24-inch tall Stay Puft bank.  He's been waiting so patiently.  I...I couldn't help it...it just popped in there:

What just popped in there?

What did you do, Ray?!  Oh, Shit!

It may not have any articulation, but it's the biggest, most solid representation out there.  The paint apps are great, especially the blue hues they added here and there to give him some dimension.
There's an angry-faced version out there that might be preferable to some.  Buy both, just to be a completist?  They are kind of expensive for hollow banks, so one will do for me.  Hey, at least I didn't puss out with "I don't have space for two Stay Pufts."















Well, there you have it...quite an awesome set, if you ask me!  And there's just enough breathing room to take it all in before Diamond hits us with Ghostbusters 2 and Real Ghostbusters figures in the fall!  This time we're getting the facade of the firehouse HQ as a diorama.  Still no word on tackling GB 2016...(sarcasm) What a crime.