Courtroom Peter Venkman

When I was a kid, I loved Ghostbusters. Not the films, mind you - they scared the crap out of me - but the Real Ghostbusters series, and the awesome toys. The cartoon was just surreal and scary enough to keep me hooked without having me run screaming for my parents, and the toys were incredibly fun. They were designed with imagination and play in mind: one of the single best, most ingenius features with those action figures was having the Proton Streams playable, with the original four 'busters - you could actually play with them and mimick what they did in the show, and it was sweet. What's more, the Ghostbusters were supplemented with a ton of great, fun ghost figures for them to bust, and life was good. It's nostalgia for all of this that puts me today's predicament, reviewing this disappointing piece of crap from those assholes at Mattel. They're the best, they're the beautiful, they're the Ghostbusters - and you can trap one for your very own with our film-accurate 6" Peter Venkman figure from the Ghostbusters II courtroom scene! The first official release in our 2011 Club Ecto series, Peter comes with convicted murderer Nunzio Scoleri. Naughty Nunzio's back from the dead with interchangeable standard feet and "flying" feet, while Peter wears his jacket from the courtroom scene. Peter is unslimed and features authentic details like the diamond pattern on his tie. Case closed, boys - this pair is a must-have for every Ghostbusters collection! Y'know, I love Ghostbusters II and think it's unfairly maligned ("Because one time, I turned into a dog and they helped me. Thank you." "Very good, Louis. Short, but pointless.") but even I think no one in their right mind would want a "Peter Venkman from the Ghostbusters II courtroom scene" action figure. No one. But for what it is, it's okay - Venkman shares the same decent headsculpt with his other non-jizzed release, and features a similar suit to Walter Peck with the addition of the Proton Pack. The articulation is again excellent, with the same balljointed neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows and wrists, H-hips, hinges at the knees and ankles, and swivels at the waist, lower thighs, and the top of the boot that allows all of these figures to do gymnastics. (Did anyone see that amazing scene in Final Destination 5, by the way? Wasn't that something?) Customizers could easily rip the head off it and make their own Ghostbuster, if they so felt like it. But they don't. No, everyone came here for one half of the Scoleri brothers, and for good reason - big, floating, transculent ghosts are awesome and the perfect throwback to the beloved Real Ghostbusters. They're what you need for your Ghostbusters to fight against, and as usual Matty screws the pooch on what could have been something special. Let's start with the obvious - we get one Scoleri brother here, and Mattel is never going to make the other. A two-pack of the ghosts would have been perfect and would have made sense, but instead we get one throw-away Venkman and the actual toy that we want. Second: the articulation. While the ghost is nicely detailed, with a pretty accurate sculpt to the onscreen specter, he has very limited movement at the shoulders and neck. No balljoints here! Third: Nunzio Scoleri has interchangeable feet, so you can either have him standing on the ground - something he never does and makes no sense - or falling on his ass because there's no stand to make him float. His "flying" feet are complimented by having no clear plastic stand like the other ghosts in the line, nor any pegs or holes on his body to allow you to use another stand. This sucks ass. The photos you see are using a clear twisty-tie around his midsection tying him to a Marvel Legends stand. Like that, it looks fine, and with some ingenuity you could probably come up with something better, but you shouldn't have to. The whole effect is disappointing and frustrating. Somehow Mattel always manages to do this - take what should and could have been a great product, something we're looking forward to, and bollocks it up. I bought this on the slim chance that we might get his other brother sometime in the future, but now it's all but certain that'll never happen - be thankful you probably didn't make the same mistake. -- 10/23/11

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