Construction: Ghostbusters 2 Louis

The Ghostbusters are dead. The toyline from Mattel, at least. The third movie too, more than likely, which has a great deal to do with the toys no longer being produced. Mattel, no doubt, when they bought bought the rights to make toys, has assumed the new film would be well into production by now, if not out in cinemas. But it's not, so interest in the toys has been limited from the get-go.

The line died with a number of figures lacking being immortalised in plastic. People like Janine, there's not much I can do about, however there are a number of 'obvious' variants of existing figures that even someone like me could create using other figures as a base.

Last November Mattel heavily (and I mean heavily) reduced all their Ghostbusters stock and I bought up a bunch to potentially make variants. I sat on them (not literally) until SDCC this year in the off-chance that new figures would be announced (in which case I'd sell on the stuff I'd bought). There was nothing really announced at SDCC other than a confirmation that the line was 'on hold' indefinitely, and so I began working on my custom figures.

The first to be completed was this one: Louis Tulley as seen in Ghostbusters 2.

The figure looks a lot simpler than it actually is. The main body is that of Venkman (in order to get the gloved hands), but with the lower legs switched (with Egon, I think, although the other 4 'busters are all identical) to give the 'tucked in' trousers. I then removed the boots, sliced a chunk off the tops to make them shorter, and then reattached.

The head, of course, comes from the Louis figure Mattel released. I cut a groove in his head and sculpted the earmuffs to fit. The hair, while 'wrong', I've left because I very much doubt I'd have been able to sculpt very well into his GB2 hairstyle. I've seen a couple of attempts to sculpt 'correct' hair by various other people who are far better at customising than me, and if their attempts to sculpt it look a bit iffy, then I don't stand a chance. Honestly, I think it looks fine as it is.

Finally, I had to print out a tiny 'SPENGLER' label and GB2 logo for the uniform.

I'm really happy with how it turned out, and there's nothing about it that I think I could have done better.