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About. Damn. Time!
When Danny Ketch crosses paths with a cursed motorcycle, he is transformed into the Spirit of Vengeance, wielding supernatural powers as Ghost Rider.
Danny Ketch was one of the first Marvel Legends Hasbro made when they came back to the 6" scale after their dalliance with the 4" Marvel universe. It, unfortunately, was a weird design no one recognized or cared about. (Even with a more classically-colored variant.) Since then, we've had three functionally identical versions of Johnny Blaze, all dressed, and would have had Robbie Reyes if Hasbro were smart enough to know that electronics aren't actually an enticement to buying a toy. So if you wanted the good Ghost Rider, you had to go all the way back to 2003 and the third series of ToyBiz's Marvel Legends to get one. But finally - FINALLY - we get the figure we've deserved.
This Ghost Rider's head is the same as the three Johnnies, which is a little annoying, but a flaming skull is a flaming skull - do you really expect them to look distinctly different? The important thing is the body is entirely new: Marvel may have done everything in its power
to turn Johnny Blaze into Danny Ketch, including giving him Danny's (superior) costume, but there are enough differences between biker leathers and a stuntman's jumpsuit that making new molds was the right choice. His jacket has padded segments over the shoulders and a flap across the chest, while his pants no longer have the big jodhpur flaps on the thighs. Really capturing the look, he's got spikes on top of his shoulders, spiked bands around the forearms, and even more on the back of the right hand and around the top of the left boot. There's a spiky belt with a short chain dangling on the right side, and even the chain he wears looped around his chest is a different mold than the prior Riders have had. They absolutely did not halfass this one!
In addition to having the same head, this Ghost Rider also has the same flaming chain-whip - a choice that makes sense, since it was Danny who first had that as a power, not Johnny. (Originally, Ghost Rider was just kind of invulnerable and could use his hellfire to make a motorcycle out of nothing.) We get two pairs of hands, but it would have been nice if they'd included the "transformation" parts Retro Collection Ghost Rider had. Or maybe some kind of new part that could plug into the skull's eyes to represent his Penance Stare? That'd be neat.
But the most important inclusion is his bike, so let's get to it!
The ToyBiz Ghost Rider bike had the right look, but it was a single piece and was kind of squished down to fit inside a standard clamshell. This figure may be part of the 85th Anniversary Collection, but the motorcycle is done in the same style as the Ultimate Legends from a few years ago: a full-sized ride with various features and moving parts. It's got the distinct angular look introduced in the '90s, and real rolling flame-wheels.
The most iconic part of the design is the big shield on the front of the bike. You could make the case that it's a stylized skull, but if so it's been pushed nearly to the point of unrecognizability. It
definitely has two eyes (hollow here, but solid headlights in the comics) and slopes down to a narrow "nose," but someone could just as easily tell you it was meant to be a bat or a fox, and you could believe them. It's sculpted with a few deep scrapes in the surface, which makes sense: it had the ability to flip down and act as a battering ram, a feature this toy can surprisingly duplicate to an extent. The shield is just one of several separate pieces that needs to be assembled after you open the toy, and it gets assembled by fitting into a slot on the front of the bike; the slot is longer than the tab that fits in there, allowing you to either display it at the top, for normal driving, or slide it all the way down for "armor" mode. Awesome!
The other parts that need to be assembled are the handlebars and the foot pegs. The handlebars are printed with three gauges and can turn a bit, but they don't actually turn the front fork. The footrests
can be attached in either of two spots, directly under the bike or closer to the front. Sadly, they don't have any actual foot pegs, no way for the feet of the action figure to attach securely to the pegs on the toy motorcycle. The bike is black with a brown seat and silver struts holding the translucent orange wheels in place, and his Medallion of Power is painted right there on the gas cap.
You may notice there's no kickstand to hold the bike upright, but Hasbro has come up with a better way of doing that. The set includes two gouts of translucent orange flame that are shaped to fit around
the tires, specific ones for the front and back wheels, and they fit so nicely that despite not having any sort of physical connection to the tires, they keep it standing upright while looking awesome. Superb! If that wasn't enough, there's also a little flame stand that can plug into the underside of the bike and lift it up, like Ghost Rider is popping a wheelie. This really is a ton of fun and both styles of display look great in both theory and practice.
Every time Hasbro released a Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider, it improved incrementally: the first one was the base line, the second one gave him the whip and bike, the third one had no bike but did have the whip and the chest chain and a bunch of human parts... you get the idea. So while there are some changes that could be made to improve this Danny Ketch Ghost Rider, it's awesome that they got so much of it so right on the very first try. The only bad thing here is that we've had to wait until 2024 to get it. Otherwise? Outstanding!
-- 11/04/24
Agree or disagree: now Hasbro should make the cowboy Ghost Rider with his horse? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
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