Mini-Puft Surprise

Mini-Puft Surprise

Hasbro

Goo! Now you can get some "non-edible" play goo with a mystery mini-Puft figure!  There are six different figures to collect, and each can has an imprinted serial number on it to clue you in on which is inside.  You know...because the mystery gimmick is a sucky rip-off otherwise.

"That's for Camp Waconda!"

The goo is very gooey, requiring you to rapidly roll a bit into a ball to even begin to start removing it from everything it touches.  There's a good reason the figures are double-bagged inside the container:  the first gets ruined in cleaning/opening, and the second is to protect the figure.  I feel it would be a hassle to clean this off the Ghostbusters, so that's a no-go for me.  We'll have to wait for the return of Ectoplasm for that bit of fun.  

Aren't they cute?  While you're deciding if "cute" is what you're looking for in "Ghostbusters" (a bit too much in the vein of “Baby Yoda” success) , I'll tell you which are my favorites:  chocolate bar, puddle, and flames.  While they scale big with both 5 and 6 inch figures, they are still fun to bust when more ghosts are needed.  

There have already been pictures of several waves to come.  I hope the movie is good enough not to put the kibosh on these…and/or that they don’t get stuck on a barge in the California harbors too long after and get sent straight to Five Below stores.

James Bond Jr.

 James Bond Jr.

Hasbro

On the eve of the 25th James Bond film, and the end of the Daniel Craig era, let’s take it back 30 years…to a time when the franchise lay dormant, and producers were desperate to keep 007 alive.  Since the films were tied up in legal disputes and Timothy Dalton walked away, a new Bond would heed the call to action:  Bond…James Bond…Junior?

Yeah, it’s as stupid and confusing as it sounds.  Even if you can overlook the proactively neon, early 90s appeal, how can a long-time fan get past, “Um, wasn’t Bond and only child?”  Is this a weird honorary title?  A family friend of “Uncle James?”  Well I guess if stupid “Spectre” made Blofeld a foster brother, anything goes!  Wait…forget that…how is Dr. No alive?  AND WHY IS HE GREEN?!  Action figure appeal, I guess.  Or surviving his dip into hot, radioactive water had some repercussions?  Actually, he predates the same treatment Iron Man’s nemesis, Mandarin would get…avoiding Asian stereotypes by making them “alien” looking.  BUT HE STILL LOOKS LIKE A GREEN FU MANCHU!!!

Anyway, most changes can be chalked up to "James Bond for Kids" needed a brighter color palette.  Jaws’ suit is the brightest of blues.  And Oddjob…yikes…

 

They all have true “action features” appropriate to the characters.  Jaws, has exaggerated, ratcheting teeth, and Oddjob can throw his Run DMC hat.  Dr. No has a killer grip AND an arsenal of interchangeable weapon hands.

There are a few “original”figures in the line…like Dr. Derange.  He has a Jekyll/Hyde thing going on with his gimmick. With that grin and monocle, I prefer to think of him as the new incarnation of Dr. Carl Mortner, ex-Nazi scientist and Max Zorin’s test-tube daddy from “A View to a Kill.”  Hey, if Dr. No and Oddjob survived, this guy could have Robocop-ed himself back together after that blimp explosion, right?  And maybe the suave, younger turn is actually a bit of Max that survived?!  Crazy, right?  Just wait til I try and explain the only figure I am missing:  a mohawked, pirate/biker themed character, Captain Walker D. Plank.

Resurrecting villains works, but they went full-on “Muppet Babies” for the good guys.  Horace “IQ” Boothroyd, the grandson of Q, and Gordo Leiter, son of CIA agent, Felix Leiter.  Wait…fussy Q had a very private home life?  Was Felix married  before his newly wedded wife, Della was killed by South American drug lords in “License to Kill?”  

When your world looks kinda weird
and you wish you weren't there,
close your eyes and make believe
that you could be anywhere

Did you also imagine James Bond with a half-mullet and having some sort of gym coach named Buddy Mitchell?  Whatever…At least they all pack the appropriate gadgets, chops, and kicks.

 

The line included a couple of goofy variants for Junior (Scuba gear, flight gear, and, of course, *BARF* ninja gear) and a couple of vehicles.  The sports car is the biggest and best of them.  Not too far off from an actual 80s model car, save for the lame stickers on the sides and back.  You know what’s probably not a good idea for  a “secret” agent?  GETTING CUSTOM DECALS WITH YOUR NAME AND VISAGE PLASTERED ALL OVER YOUR CAR!

Aside from that, IQ has packed it with deadly features.  Extending machine guns and barbed, battering ram grill an.  Exhaust port missiles.  Raising, bullet-proof spoiler shield.  Buzz-saw extending rims.  Plus the old favorite, passenger side ejector seat!

 

 

I’ve had a lot of fun at the expense of this silly concept, but at least the figures are unique and a blast to play with.  Until Barbara Broccoli gets over herself and the idea that 007 merchandise needs to be high-end, adult only, this line and the Sideshow Collectibles dolls from the early 2000s are as good as it gets for comprehensive Bond figures.  I am holding out hope that a “made-to-order” concept, like Super 7 does with Ninja Turtles, Thundercats, Disney, etc, can talk some sense into her and get us some James Bond “Ultimates.”  6-7 inch articulated Bond figures with accessories, character selection from across the entire film library…sigh…

Muppet Babies!
They make their dreams come true
Muppet Babies!
They'll do the same for you!

Ghostbusters Fright Features and Ecto-1

 Ghostbusters Fright Features and Ecto-1

Hasbro

Please don't dismiss these as the "kiddie" line.  Yes, they are the smaller, less-detailed, less-articulated Ghostbusters figures hitting the pegs right now, but that term is too often used to dismiss any value whatsoever.  Wanna talk value?  $10 for a figure with accessories AND a mini-villain all is one pack is unheard of these days.  Heck, it was rare in any day, save for the original Kenner Real Ghostbusters line.  Well here it is folks, the spiritual successor to one of the greatest toy lines of all time!

And what's more, it delivers something that line could not:  actor likenesses!  Sure, they've been "tooned", but there's no mistaking who these caricatures are supposed to represent.  This should be enough for full buy in...an opportunity to make a "Get Real" crossover a reality!

The sculpts are great, but do suffer from some cost-saving measures.  All four Ghostbusters share the same basic body, so there are some physical discrepancies (height differences being a big one...suck in the guts, guys?)  With the real Ghostbusters, we got four unique sculpts and body types. I could overlook this, if I didn't know that the new kid Ghostbusters (Afterlife) are getting better treatment with different sculpts.  At the least, I wish they had given Peter his lazy, untucked pantlegs.

Paint is minimal, but appropriate.  I didn't see any paint slop or misapplied paint on this batch.  The GB logo is applied crisp and clean.  With minimal application, and for the fact that they already have gray in their palette,  Hasbro really should have painted the elbow pads.  

The proton packs, while thin, have decently sculpted detail.  They are molded in a flexible black plastic, and they have no paint detail.  Real Ghostbusters packs didn't either, so I guess that can slide.  I feel that the wand needed a different material for the connector hose, or needed to be a little longer, for it to properly hang on the pack.  You can holster them upside down easily, like RGB, but these are the "real" Ghostbusters, man.  Getting them to hang properly requires a bit of work, and often leaves the handle looking as warped as the hose.  Since the action gimmick has been incorporated into the ghosts, these really needed a clip on energy stream effect...dust off the old imagination, I guess.

The ghosts are about the size of the old pack-ins, and are primarily one or two colored in paint scheme.  They each have a push button action feature that reveals a more grotesque second form.  The pastry looking tots I have dubbed "Sin-abons", and the gelatinous creatures with tentacles, well...I'm working on that, because everything that comes to mind is too close to "shubs" or "Slurm".  I ended up with two of each because there was a running change with Peter and Winston to include a Terror Dog and Slimer.  Not sure of the reasoning behind that.  Too bad it didnt include some variance on the busters...would have been an easy add-on to make one "slimed" and the other "marshmallow gooed."

I have managed to pick up one deluxe ghost so far, Afterlife's "Muncher."  I gather he eats only metal things, as a way to distinguish him from Slimer?  The "metal" ball of junk that protrudes in and out of his mouth with the movement of his arms contains the Ecto-1's license plate, and his moving stomach feature has a stop sign and fire hydrant that push in and out with separate buttons.  Gonna have to wait for the movie for context on this one.  He looks neat, if not a little close to "A Bug's Life's" Heimlich.

Finally we come to the Ghostbusters' signature ride, the Ecto-1.  It scales close to the old Kenner model, if not just a little less wide.  There are no opening doors on the driver's side, as they must have used up their door budget incorporating the suicide door gunner's seat from the new movie.

 

  

Other than the swing open gunner seat, there a a couple other action features.  There is a removable ecto-cannon with firing projectile that can be ported onto the roof or the gunner seat.  Opening the back hatch deploys the RC Ghost Trap.  It’s a bit oversized…reminds me of Roller coming out of Optimus Prime.  Even more so because you can plug the canon onto it as well.  They’re gonna let kid Ghostbusters out with that?!

The stickers are kind of a nightmare.  You have to white-wall your own tires!  The green tank on the roof is multiple stickers, and mine seemed to be cut too big to fit in the individual sections.  I had to trim a little here and there to keep them from peeling up.  Other than the stickers, this is a great update.  I like the roof rack details, and the inclusion of the ladder and blue hoses.  

If you loved the Real Ghostbusters of yesteryear, you gotta have these.  I’ll be tracking down Slimer, Stay Puft, and the wave two Junior Ghostbusters soon!