Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

 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.

Tantive IV Hallway Playset

 Tantive IV Hallway Playset

Hasbro - The Vintage Collection

I've been sitting on this one for a while...over half a year. There are a couple of reasons why.  Tantive IV (the Rebel Blockade Runner) has been one of my most wanted Star Wars ships since the beginning of my collecting days.  Yes, scale would always be an issue, but Kenner/Hasbro used to be masters of adapting large concepts to maximum playability and affordability.  Even if it only fit three to five figures, like the not-too-long-ago unearthed Kenner mock-up, I wanted it.  I get that Hasbro is a money making company that likes to maximize their profits as much as the rest, but I'm never going to be convinced that the market doesn't exist for a scale between Haslab's crowdfunded behemoths (Sail Barge, Razor Crest) and "bite-sized Vintage" (aka - Mission Series).  Maybe the designers honestly feel it shouldn't be done any other way?  Choosing to go the route of playset form for the size-problematic Death Star, and not the goofy-but-fun Star Destroyer?

Any which way, after all this time, we have to settle for a hallway.  It's a nice looking hallway.  But this is nothing I could not have already had from 3D printers.  It's nothing special, but I suppose it saves one a little money ($50 for a good chunk) and time (no painting, gluing, or sanding) packaging it up this way.  You can buy multiple sets to make more hallways...or longer hallways...but that's about it.  The questionably angled design on the right end pretty much says "link four together for a square."  Wow...the possibilities are endless!

The back side isn't detailed at all, but does have these "metal" sections seen in the parts where Princess Leia gives R2-D2 the Death Star Plans and gets "stunned."  An updated escape pod would have been nice here.  Or maybe sections and seats of the conference room from Revenge of the Sith?  Hasbro: "Nah...good enuff for 'em.  They got opening and closing doors, after all."

Yoda: "In your solitude on Tattooine, 3D printing job I have for you."

The pack-in bonus is a Rebel Trooper.  Army building is great and all, but this is the exact same figure that I think has been released to the vintage series twice now?  They aren't clones...how about a different head or multiple heads?  The only change here is that they are featured in vintage packaging within the boxed set.  Why would anyone be buying this not to take it out of the box?  I suppose there are sad people out their that don't play with their toys...but can they resist opening a box to be able to display the figure inside in it's box?  Maybe that's why Hasbro went with "Rogue One" packaging on the figure....only dopes would believe anything was worth keeping pristine about that turd of a movie.  What a slap in the face to vintage collector's wanting any representation of this ship, thinking that it needs current Star Wars garbage to sell it.  Packaging is trash, just like Rogue One.

Darth Vader would like to add: "No ignited lightsabers necessary, nay, allowed on this playset!"

Even with all this negativity, I did have a good time positioning the 15 or so Rebel Troopers I have (who have been oh-so patiently awaiting their demise aboard the Star Tours speeder for many years) on this "playset".  I am enjoying it for what it is, coming to terms with this being all there is for the Tantive IV.  At least, I'm hoping that a coffee table sized Haslab behemoth isn't coming...but considering the success of the others, I wouldn't be surprised.  And I wouldn't be surprised to see Hasbro pushing that dollar sign even higher...$700?  $800?  Make it an even grand?  

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey

Fig Biz, Incendium

Did we need another toy company throwing their hat in the ring with yet another scale of figure?  No.  Did we need more Bill and Ted?  Well, if we’re talking “Face the Music”, no...yes...maybe?  The second sequel was a bright spot during the height of Covid-19 hysteria. (Up to this point, it was my last trip to the theater.) The movie itself was so-so, but seeing Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves as the older-but-still-most excellent duo was worth the trip.  If you like the characters, it will be hard not to smile watching it.  Though it’s more in-line thematically with the original, Bogus Journey is still the better sequel.  One that is kinda forgotten...at least when it comes to merch.

Most excellent throwbacks to Toy Biz figures in the 90s!

Still having my old Kenner figures in the 5-inch scale, I didnt feel the need to update them with Fig Biz’s first movie offerings.  However, I could not pass up Bill and Ted in their Bogus Journey attire.  They look okay.  A bit soft or cartoony in the likenesses...they probably could have done better in the 6 or 7 inch scale.  

They are more articulated than most 5-inch figures, but they do have some major issues.  They have double-hinged knees, but only one cut and a swivel for elbows.  The shoulder joints have ugly, exposed pins.  Worst of all the crotch areas are large and hamper any natural sitting or bending poses.  Even getting them to rock out on their knees is difficult.  Also, what I thought was waist articulation turned out to be a strange design flaw?  

Accessories included are unique guitars, interchangeable hands with guitar picks, clear display stands and...best of all...interchangeable, evil robot Bill and Ted heads!  There would be temptation to buy two sets here, if they weren’t so expensive for the scale/size.  

They are $30 a figure...$30!!!  Each!!!  I know they are kind of an oddity, but $25 would be pushing it.  Most insulting of all is that they tried to save some tooling by reusing parts from the waist down, thus making Bill roughly the same height as Ted!  Ugh...

Anyway...$45 more if you want the signature vehicle. It’s very bare bones.  The door has a magnet feature to keep it open/closed, but no slide track, so its a bit loosey-goosey.  They phone is static/non-removable, and the antennae doesn’t even rotate. I wasn’t expecting any Kenner-like action features, but for that much, I was hoping for a little more imagination.  The “phone” signs glow in the dark, but even cheap knock off toys from China and Mexico throw in cheap LED lights.  Or maybe a removable top to make it more like the booth in Bogus Journey?  With Rufus’ grapnel guitar?

 

 

I’m being pretty harsh on these...they do look alright sitting on a display shelf.  Playability and value is where the excellent adventure takes a dive into a bogus journey.  I hope the Grim Reaper (coming out at a later date) fares better.  At least he’s not a skeleton this time (comics, Kenner figure) and he comes with a mini Twister mat.  And even with their shortcomings, I would welcome Station, Good Robot Bill and Ted, and Rufus, before Fiz Big calls it quits with this line.

  

Take a trip back in time with a look at Bill and Ted trading cards and Kenner figures:

https://terribletoyman.blogspot.com/2018/05/bill-and-ted-trading-cards.html

Retro Kenner Real Ghostbusters

Retro Kenner Real Ghostbusters

Hasbro

Covid-19 may have delayed the new Ghostbusters movie, but it was too slow to stop some product from leaking out.  Announced at Toy Fair in February, the first wave of Kenner Real Ghostbusters is back as a Walmart exclusive line, and hitting full force now (post-mass hysteria.)

I still have some of my original toys, so I was going to pass on these...until I saw them on the shelf, in-person.  The nostalgia of that purple card and blister pack was just too much to resist.  Plus, along with all the paint scrapes from being well played with, most of my original accessories have been lost to time.  All those great translucent ghosts are back in my hands!  And now I have proton packs without stress marks and broken streams, and can fit on the Busters without the aid of sticky tack.

Gone is the Ghost Zapper, but they fixed Winston’s name! 

There are some noticeable differences when compared to the few originals I still have.  They look a bit puffy...not as crisp in some of the lines.  Just look at Egon’s glasses and hands.  Not a terrible difference.  Definitely nowhere near bootleg recasting nightmares.  Winston’s head seems to have a slightly tilted back look that I don’t remember from the first run.  Other than that, paint is comparable and the GB logo looks great.

The proton packs feature a much less fragile porting system.  Just a straight peg that fits firmly in a round hole, with two little grooves on opposite sides to keep it from rotating.  Hey, if it works for Transformers right, Hasbro?  The plastic used on the packs feels much more durable and less likely to  stress mark/fracture or crack.  The stream system is the same, and feels no less fragile.  While the action gimmick is fun, even as a kid, I wished these were removable.  I mean, the Ghostbusters holster their wands upside down AND in fire mode?  I also wish they had the traps that plugged into the sides of the pack like the toon, but nostalgia beats upgrade and effort, I guess.

The no-ghost logo isn't as clean on the wand compared to the original

The ghosts are more or less the same as I remember.  Gulper and Grabber ghost are my favorites, but that may just have something to do with their colors.  Chomper ghost has the only noticeable difference to the original:  he’s now hollow inside.  Gotta save a few pennies where you can, huh?

Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man have also returned to menace the boys in gray...er...multicolor jumpsuits.  I skipped on Puft, as I still have my original in pretty good shape (and he doesn’t have any accessories).  My Slimer has long since gone, and his rubber food ages before him, so he was worth a double-dip.  I actually found him before all the others and was going to stop there (famous last words).  He’s pretty spot on with the original, maybe even more so than the other figures.  The engraved date stamp is really noticeable on one part of his hinder.

"Slimer!  You're eating my "world's largest" pizza and watermelon!"

Nostalgia will cost you $15 a piece if these float your boat.  I did enjoy cracking these open (I kept the beautiful cards) with my kids and trying them out on the firehouse playset and Ecto-1.  I have fond memories of my Dad bringing me my first figure, Ray, as a surprise.  (My sister got a tea set...her loss.)  My Stay Puft was a gift from a cousin for being a ring-bearer at her wedding.  These truly were some of the greatest action figures of all time.  I mean, where else can you get a good guy, all of his gear, an action feature, and a mini-baddie all in one package?
   









See you next time, when Hasbro rereleases the "Rad Rapin' Ghosts" wave: