Rustin's Spoils of the Week #222

Well... say it once, say it twice... third time's a charm: we're back with a very special all-Ghostbusters Spoils for Halloween for third year in a row (I guess this makes it an official tradition!)! Few things have made me lament the loss of Toys R Us more than DST's Ghostbusters Select line. Getting just the figures and accessories for ~$15 was such a dream, especially for a "wants doubles" junkie like myself! But with that option now gone I'm stuck with the Direct Market and ultimately had to order the figures online at a bit of a markup just to ensure I got them. But hey, I also scored some minimates and some new Playmobil too! So, jibber jabbers - lets jab some jib and get right on to it!

DST - Real Ghostbusters (Minimates): Series 2 Box Set
I FINALLY managed to track down this Box set which was the one hole in my Ghostbusters Minimates collection. These boxsets combined with the Toys R Us exclusive two packs were a perfect way to release all of these, at least for my tastes. Venkman and Zeddemore are the same as the two-pack from TRU and I'm happy to get a second pair to have one team with the extra torso pieces with the proton packs on them, and one set removed since the torsos have the jumpsuit painted on them as well. Stay Puft is a fine addition, and while just another repaint at least he's translucent to make him a bit more special. The real anchor of this set, though, is Louis Tully in his regular clothes, since the TRU version was wearing the GB outfit. This may not be the most exciting set, but I love it and it really caps off the Minimate Real Ghostbusters collection nicely!

DST - Ghostbusters: "Real Ghostbusters" Egon Spengler
For some reason, Egon here is suuuuper rare! The rest of the Real Ghostbusters figures can still be found for or near SRP but I saw Egon going for as much as $120 alone! Not sure if he was shortpacked or something, or if it's just that he the most iconic of the RGB characters, but I'm just thankful I found a reasonably priced set of the whole Series 9 (Egon, Winston, Slimer). The figure is nice, and pretty much everything we've come to expect from the line - ample articulation with decent range of motion and reasonably clean paint. The heads are all unique sculpts and DST really knocked them out of the park - they're a beautiful 75% cartoony and 25% realistic aesthetic that just totally rocks ye olde socks off, and Egon is just gorgeous. They nailed his bizarre pompadour and the separate, though non-removable, glasses really complete the look. The colors match the cartoon really well, and... man these are just pretty much exactly what I wanted from DST tackling RGB!

DST - Ghostbusters: "Real Ghostbusters" Winston Zeddemore
I'm sure it had dawned on me before, but it struck me as I opened these that the team is basically two blue jumpsuits and two brown jumpsuits, even though each is a unique hue. All these four Ghostbusters share the same sculpt from the neck down, but these different colored jumpsuits really help make them feel more unique. I'm not sure if this is just a fully reused body from the mainline or is maybe parts (the upper torso/chest?) is new, but it works fine for me. One bummer here, though, is that these guys are really prone to fall over and no stand is included. The balance is definitely off and I'm not sure if it's a result of the somewhat larger proton packs or the actual figures themselves. I guess I'll just have to track down from NECA stands or something for these guys. I'm sure the loss of TRU really took a huge bite out of their budget so I'm just happy to get these - and, again, the unique heads are just plain gorgeous!

DST - Ghostbusters: "Real Ghostbusters" Slimer
This is a real fun addition to the collection! Slimer is bright green and they REALLY knocked his three swappable faces out of the park! We get "smiling," "angry" and "open mouth" and all are remarkably on model and look excellent! They also sculpted him new arms which are MUCH more correctly proportioned and look great. Weirdly and annoyingly, though, they reused the torso from the movie figure, which means that while the face is nice and smooth while the body and, subsequently, the arms are weirdly bumpy and textured... it's just super distracting and looks pretty bad. Also, very sadly, they reused the terrible "flight stand" from the movie figures which is just so astoundingly poorly engineered... it's really tough to find a pose for it where Slimer doesn't just collapse the stand and/or fall over. But... his faces are just dynamite, so at least he's got that going for him!

DST - Ghostbusters: "Real Ghostbusters" Peter Venkman
Peter gets my second favorite head in the line, which may well be due to his elaborate hair with large "combover" (or whatever it's called). It's super dynamic and cool! From the neck down, he's the same as the others though, and the bodies aren't the only thing these figures share - all the accessories are the same too. Each of the guys comes sporting ungloved hands but also get two pairs of alternate gloved hands with different degrees of grip poses - all reused from the movie figures. Each figure comes with a cartoon version of a PKE meter, ghost trap and proton pack/wand. Those all are really nice sculpts with fun bright colors. The wand and the trap suffer the same issue of the entire line of DST struggle to find a good tubing that is both flexible and looks right; both sort of have a mind of their own here, and the trap one is super kinked and warped from being wrapped around the traps. The pack has a little hook that holds the wand, and while it's better than that awful wedge thing on the movie versions the clip is really soft plastic so it's a hassle to get the wand in it, and it doesn't hold the wand in place all that well. The packs do seem removable so between that and the gloved hands I would have LOVED to double up on these but I just can't afford it on Select/Direct Market prices. Another big reason I'd love to have a set fully geared up is because each of the figures comes with a uniquely colored proton stream!!! That is sssoooo awesome! And i believe this is the only time since the original Kenner line that has happened!

DST - Ghostbusters: "Real Ghostbusters" Ray Stantz
Each of the figures come with a piece of the build-a-firehouse display, which... I'm just not into. I "get" it but it's just such a big and impractical diorama which takes up a ton of vertical space while not offering any vertical display place. But if you're into it, then it seems like they're doing it pretty well. One neat touch is that you can swap between the GB1 and GB2 looks with alternate GB signs are some "Hook & Ladder" inserts for the top. These two series' complete with diorama by providing the three base plates and the three topmost pieces. I suppose that works out okay for since I now have full horizontal levels, but since I'm not trying to complete the diorama it's just one more reason I wish there was a "no diorama piece" option for these.

DST - Ghostbusters: "Real Ghostbusters" Mr. Stay-Puft
This was a surprise and a bummer. I mean, I get it - Stay Puft is a signature character of him and after all the peg warmers in the line he's a much safer bet... but I was really hoping for a Samhain or other cartoon ghost for these guys to fight. But that just wasn't in the cards, alas. The sculpt here is pretty good from the neck down. There is a weird gap between his collar and bandana/tie that keeps grabbing my eye and his neck is... well really poseable but the engineering is kind of clunky and the articulation for the neck is super visible unless the head is centered right on top of the torso (the articulation is designed to mainly allow him to tilt his head back presumably to look up the apartment building to the roof - and odd choice given the scale here). What is surprising is how articulated he is! There seem to be balljoints at every segment of his limbs, and the hips, shoulders and ankles have a pretty decent range of motion. It takes some genuine fiddling with to just everything lined up but I once you do this guy stands much more solidly than the boys. This figure is, ultimately, better than I expected or gave him credit for, but I still struggle for find him exciting (and man that neck joint is ugly and super noticeable/distracting).

DST - Ghostbusters: "Real Ghostbusters" Spectral GB Box Set
For SDCC this year, DST had this giant $120 six-pack (also shared with GameStop), and I just absolutely had to have it... I'm a sucker for Real Ghostbusters and I really dig the Spectral versions of the guys! All six figures are repaints, the one exception being Mr. Stay Puft who gets a new head with angry eyes. That, I can kinda roll with, but I have zero interest in the translucent Terror Dog... but at least it's something a little different for the set (and it does come with the swappable horns, but I almost missed them in the package and chucked them by accident). The real draw are the Spectral Ghostbusters which are straight repaints of the regular figures but with the heads, hands and necks (upper torsos?) cast in a great translucent dark green. Each then gets some light lime green ectoplasm painted on which adds a lot to the translucent skin, but is barely noticeable on the jumpsuits. That shade of green looks like it should be glow-in-the-dark, but alas it isn't. Impressively each figure gets totally unique variations of the ectoplasm designs which is a great touch. That deco continues on to their backs as well as their proton packs and ghost traps! They even come with a unique set of proton streams all in translucent green! (And if these could be done translucent then why are all the others in the line painted!?) All in all, it's a pretty fun set - not great, but not bad.

Playmobil - Ghostbusters: 70170 Ghostbusters Ecto-1A
It seemed like last year's "hologram" packs were all we were gonna get from Ghostbusters 2 so this release came as a big surprise! Here they've taken the Ecto-1 and redeco-ed it to match the look in the second film, complete with all new roof electronics that include the added gear in the second movie, like the satellite dish and the scrolling word light words (captured surprisingly effectively with lenticular stickers here). There are a lot of stickers to apply once again, but thankfully none are too complicated - it just took my two passes through the instruction manual to get everything. This set comes with all four Ghostbusters in their gray GB2 duds and, very nicely, make some tweaks from the hologram sets - Egon is now slime-free and Ray gets his own blower! (No, not the hotel ghost from the first movie.) The set comes with one of the hologram pyramids, further negating the need for those single releases. There is only one real problem - where the hell is Vigo!?!? This set is one figure away from being perfect - as is it's nice, but if they included a Vigo it would be perfect and arguably a must-have.

Playmobil - Ghostbusters: 70174 Ghostbusters Collection Figure R. Stantz
This is super weird... I guess it's Playmobil trying to test out the larger scale that Funko utterly belly-flopped on, but the price is soooo outrageous there is zero reason even to test these out. They want $50 U.S. for each of these... the mind genuinely boggles. The figure itself is surprisingly nice - very much up to the Playmobil standards and appears to be effectively identical to a standard Kickie, just scaled up to 5⅝" tall. The deco is cleanly printed and nice, and sculpturally this looks identical to the Klickie. He bends at the hips and swivels at the shoulders, wrists and neck - and the hair even pops off, too! All the accessories are identical to the standard releases two, he comes with a proton pack and wand, connected by a rubber hose, and the goggles headgear. For as much as a purist as I am, I am surprised by how much i do like this figure... but when we can get blindbagged Fi?ures for $4, this feels like it should $15 - $20 at the absolute ceiling. $50 basically is outrageous and I only got this because a friend sold it to me for cheap secondhand.

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7 Responses to Rustin's Spoils of the Week #222

  1. yo go re says:

    Hey, I'll take all the firehouse pieces off your hands. It's a much more interesting Build-A-Scene than the rooftop was (even if I'm not getting any of these figures).

    That oversized Klickie seems like a dumb, dumb idea...

  2. Black Arbor says:

    I think Slimer has the same arms, they look about as poorly scaled as the last ones haha

  3. Louche says:

    Yes, the stay puft and slimer are very disappointing when those slots could have been filled by samhain or janine

  4. Tom G. Wolf says:

    Great to have you back Ghostbusters!

  5. Ramos says:

    Rustin, you still getting some of the blind bag Klickies? There have been quite a few neat ones and was hoping to see some spotlight on them as I enjoyed those past reviews.

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