Review: Lego Ghostbusters Ecto-1

Ghostbusters turns 30 this year and you can speculate as to whether that had anything to do with this Lego Cuusoo (now Lego Ideas) becoming a reality. For those not in the know, Lego Ideas is a website where anyone can announce their idea for a new Lego set to the world. The ideas are voted on by the public and once it reaches 10,000 votes Lego take the set into consideration for making it into a 'real' set. There are a bunch of criteria as to whether this final step can be taken, for example it must be 'family friendly' and have no licensing issues.

Ecto-1 was one of those sets to make it through and a jolly nice set it is too.

Review: 24" Ghostbusters Stay Puft Bank

When it comes to Mr Stay Puft bigger is always better. First we had the NECA version, then we had the Mattel version, and now we have the Diamond Select 'bank' version.

...because it's definitely a bank, right? With Mattel still hold the action figure rights, it means the stuff put out by Diamond Select has to have a coin slot to avoid any annoying court action. Accordingly, Stay Puft is completely free of articulation, but then the articulation on Stay Puft would have been so limited its absence is completely unnoticeable.

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.

Review: MattyCollector Stay Puft

In 198...somethingorother Kenner released a toy of the largest ghost ever in the world ever. The original ghost was so big it could stand on churches (well, through churches, such are the restrictions when you stick a man in a large white suit). The Kenner toy was equally...well, okay, fine. It wasn't exactly the largest ghost toy ever in the world ever.

It was about the same size as the regular Ghostbuster figures.

Ever since that day when I had to hold the Marshmallow Man in the air in order to attempt to simulate his massive size while fighting the Ghostbusters, I dreamed of owning a proper Stay Puft. One that could be tall without me having to hold him up. One that could be tall and have its feet on the ground.

A few years ago NECA released a line of Ghostbusters toys. It was good. In fact I'd go so far as to say it was very good. There was a problem, however, in the fact that NECA couldn't get hold of the rights for the likenesses of the actors. This meant that after a single wave of ghost figures, the line died.

They did, however, manage to put a pretty darn big Marshmallow Man in that first wave. And for a while I was a happy person.

Then Mattel got the licence for Ghostbusters. They looked at the NECA figure and though, 'hmm, maybe this one isn't quite big enough...'


So they made a HUGE one.

Opinion/News: Mattel SDCC Exclusive Reveals part 2

So, the other day I talked about the He-Man exclusive for San Diego Comic Con and today I'll have a little chat about what I think of (some of) the others.

First up is the Ghostbusters figure, Dana Barrett as Zuul. When the Ghostbusters subscription was cancelled for 2012, Mattel said that four figures would be released this year - 'Ready to Believe You' Venkman, The Rookie (which was previously supposed to have been the subscription exclusive), Dana and a fourth unnamed figure. With Dana now moved to SDCC this leaves Ghostbusters fans in a quandary: is this the last figure Mattel are releasing? After all, no one has seen or knows anything about the promised fourth 2012 figure. Maybe they're dropping it altogether. Maybe moving Dana to SDCC means that there are still 2 'regular' release slots available, possibly to allow for the release of the two remaining courtroom figures?

At this point no one knows, and we probably won't know until SDCC when Mattel show - or don't - any new figures.

As to Dana herself, I find her a little disappointing. She has a neat feature where the top half of her body detaches, meaning she can either be placed on standing legs or sitting on sitting on a bench. The fact that she's an all-new sculpt is possibly why she was moved to SDCC, in a hope of maximising sales. She suffers, however, in that she's basically a statue. If the photos are accurate, there are no points of articulation at all on the figure which is a bit rubbish really.

DC fans don't do very well at all this year. The toys are a DCU Tiny Titans set, Polly Pocket DC Villains & a statue of Death (from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series). As a Sandman fan (and who isn't?) I find Death the most interesting, however, she's a statue. If this had been an action figure it'd have been an instant buy, but as it is I'll be saving my money.

News: Ghostbusters sale ends today!

The Matty Collector Ghostbusters Halloween Sale (aka 'end of line clearance sale') ends today. Buy now for what is probably your last chance to get hold of these figures before they're gone for good.

Update: Ghostbusters are now 60% off!

Is this the end of the line? Undoubtedly. I'm extremely doubtful there'll be anything released now in 2012.

The SDCC Haul

A couple of months ago I posted here about the San Diego Comic Con exclusive toys that I'd like to own. It's been a while now since the Con, so let's have a look at what I did and didn't manage to get hold of.

Review: Extreme Ghostbusters

The Real Ghostbusters cartoon ran for years and years. Most people know this. What a lot of people don't know/remember is the cartoon that was shown in the late 90s. Extreme Ghostbusters had Egon taking on some new, young recruits after the old team had disbanded - very similar to how the Ghostbusters 3 film is supposed to go, assuming it actually ever gets made.

And what's a cartoon without a toyline?

Review: Ghostbusters 2 action figure set

6" action figure set by Mattel.  $60 from Toys R Us (USA exclusive). Everywhere else in the world = ebay.