Ghost Bobbleheads

Normally, I just don't care for bobble-heads, and to be perfectly honest, there's nothing particularly good about these, save for the fact that they are the Hitchhiking Ghosts. Of course, as per the seeming mandate of non-authenticity that runs through all the Mansion merchandise, these are not the ghosts as we know them from the ride, but rather cute, cartoony versions. Despite this fact the sculptural detail is pretty strong, particularly on the Skeleton (a.k.a. Ezra) and Prisoner's (a.k.a. Gus) heads. The main problem is, though, that the guys are sculpted into hunched poses, which makes them difficult to "appreciate" from anything higher than looking at them head-on. Paint is simple but nice. The ghosts themselves are various shades of blue with white for their shirts and hair. The clothes and hair have a gray wash that works exceedingly well at what washes are meant to do: adding depth and highlighting detail. Similarly the light blue skin has a blue wash, which achieves the same effect. Finally, the eyes and Ezra's smile are painted with that infamous glow-in-the-dark yellow, which A) works with the over all color scheme and B) adds a quaint little feature to generally lackluster piece. All three figures all securely stuck to a single, 9 1/4" long base (that is 2" wide and 1/2" tall, for those wondering) made to look like brick. Obviously on the ride the three Hitchhikers are standing on cobblestone, which would have worked just fine here, but the choice to go with brick brings in a nice color-counterbalance to the blues of the ghosts themselves, ha-cha-cha-cha. The base is cast in - what else - brick red, with gray and then light orange washes over it for detail. As for the figures... Phineas stands about 4 3/4" tall with his bobble-ness manifesting itself at the neck and right shoulder (so his hitchin' hand jiggles). Ezra is about 5 1/2" tall, including his raised hat, and he bobbles at the neck and left shoulder (meaning the hat-holdin' hand). Finally, lil' ol' Gus stands a whopping 4" tall with bobble-ocity at the neck and right shoulder (same as Phineas). The chain between Gus's leg shackle and ball is also painted metal, so that's cool. Oh, and everything is cast in resin, making this a nice collectable and quite heavy. I suppose it should be noted that there is a pseudo-companion piece, the Caretaker Bobble-head. He comes with a little graveyard base with a light-up lamp and his trusty, yet scrawny, dog and I must sadly admit that I do not own it... Forgive me... So, ye wants a recommendation does ye? I say buy this piece, it's actually pretty decent, if not cool, when you get it home and really look at it. The heads aren't ridiculously oversized like on NECA's Head Knockers, so this piece can easily double as a statue or whatever. However, I don't remember the price on this thing but I'm sure it's more than it should be. But hey, it's Disney; like we'd expect anything less! Do you get this whole bobblehead fad? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.

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