Oct 18 2011

Doctor Who: Sontaran Officer Linx Helmet (LE 500) by Weta

It’s been a little while since WETA released their line of helmets from Doctor Who. The line ran the gamut from the amazing Earthshock Cyberman, which I featured here on FigureFan, to the bewildering welders mask from the NuWho episode “42” that begged the question, “Who the hell would want that?” Anyway, there were some pretty cool and iconic helmets inbetween, including the one we’re looking at today: Behold the helmet of The Sontaran General Linx from the Jon Pertwee episode “The Time Warrior.”

The package is the same style as the one used for the Earthshock Cyberman. It’s a Classic Who collectible, but it uses the artwork and logo from the 2005-2009 Series. Nothing fancy here. You get a simple box packed with styrofoam inserts to hold the stand and helmet safe and secure. You also get a pamphlet showing other Doctor Who items by WETA. The package shows off photos of the collectible in question and you get some good summaries about Doctor Who as a series and the episode in particular. “The Time Warrior” was a good choice for the subject, since it was the story that first introduced us to the Sontarans as an enemy of the good Doctor.
The Cyberman helmet was permanently attached to the display stand, whereas the Sontaran helmet is actually removable and merely rests on top of it. The stand uses a generic mannequin style human head sculpt, which, granted, is a little out of place for a Sontaran helmet, but it supports the helmet just fine, so I won’t harp about it too much. As with the Cybermen helmet, this one is limited to only 500 pieces and hand numbered on the bottom of the display stand along with the other production information.
The helmet itself is all one piece and fashioned entirely from metal so it has a mighty fine heft to it. By design, the Sontaran helmets aren’t nearly as detailed as the Cybermen or many of the other helmets in this line, but make no mistake, this is a faithful scaled recreation of the prop from the episode, “The Time Warrior,” including the sinister eye slits, the ventilation holes, the mohawk-style crest, and of course, the probic vent in the back of the helmet’s collar. It’s certainly a cool and iconic looking piece of Doctor Who history.
These WETA helmets originally retailed for about fifty bucks. I picked up the Sontaran helmet from an online e-tailer on clearance for half off. Considering what you get and the limitation of production, it’s certainly a good deal. While I’m certainly not intending to assemble a complete collection of this line, I’m happy enough with the two that I have that I’d like to hunt down a few more.
Oct 17 2011

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Skallox and Nite-Lik by Mattel

[So, I wound up having to take a little impromtu vacation-slash-break this past weekend. A few things came up and it couldn’t be helped. I’m going to do my best to get back on track for the rest of the week. -FF]

If you stopped by a coupla days ago, you know that I wasn’t exactly impressed by the Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi combo. It’s a passable figure and it certainly serves to fill out my Green Lantern Corps quite nicely, but I don’t think it lived up to the first wave’s similarly gimmicked Low and Maash, and it certainly doesn’t live up to today’s featured figure: Skallox and Nite-Lik, our first figures from the Red Lanterns.
Here’s the Green Lantern Classics packaging again. Just like last time, you can buy this figure packaged as either Skallox or Nite-Lik. If you buy him as Skallox, you’ll note that half the bubble is dominated by parts for the conversion to Nite-Lik and that this isn’t some simple head swap. The back of the card is the same no matter what and only the name printed on the insert is different. Great looking stuff.
Unlike the last pair where I could just describe both incarnations of the figure in one go, these guys really each deserve their own treatment. So let’s start with the simpler of the two, and that’s Skallox. Skallox features a simple Red Lantern colored buck that is pretty close in line with the ones used for the Sinestro Corps combo-figure. The only new pieces of sculpting worth mentioning are the arm bracers. I would have liked a bit more of a vibrant red for the uniform, but the current paint job still looks good. Skallox’s head looks like a goat skull with a terrifying rictus and his hands are both balled up into fists. So, yes, this is a simple figure, but the sculpt on the head is excellent and the whole ensemble looks great.
To change him to Nite-Lik, you pop off the head and hands. Next, pop on the new hands, place the cowl over his shoulders, pop on the new head, wrap the skeletal trophies around his chest, and you’re good to go. Wow, what a difference! Nite-Lik’s got a face even a mother wouldn’t love. It’s like a wad of chewed gum with beady eyes and a big set of choppers. The left side of his face is spattered with what I’m guessing is green blood. Two pink tendrils come out from the back of his head and wrap around his torso, displaying his collection of alien bones. His blue claw hands have smaller tongue-like tendrils protrudring from his palms and ending in forked pincers. Awesome.
Skallox and Nite-Lik comes with one of the legs needed to build the Collect & Connect Stel figure.
I really felt no inclination to pick up doubles of Low/Maash or Medphyll/Naut Kei Loi in order to display them together. These Red Lanterns, on the other hand, are a different matter. The transformation uses a lot more pieces and thus makes for two far more distinctive looking figures, both of which are absolutely badass. I’ll definitely be grabbing up another one so both of them can be displayed on my shelf. Besides, with my Infinite Earth’s Club Subscription, I know that I’ll be getting Atrocitous sometime next year, and I need to start building his troops. Either way, between Stel’s leg and all the Nite-Lik parts, it really fees like you’re getting your money’s worth on this figure.
Oct 14 2011

Ten Random Thoughts From My Toys R Us Excursion:

Some of you may know that I live in a Toys R Us dead zone. There was actually one that opened literally around the corner from my home. Think about how dangerous to my finances that was! Apparently it didn’t do so well because it was converted over to a Babies R Us within a couple of years. That left two more, one north and one south, and each almost an hour’s drive away. Needless to say, I don’t go as often as I’d like, but I do try to make it up there once a month. This time, however, its been quite a few months, so I was excited to see what was hanging around the action figure aisles.

WALKING DEAD by McFarlane… My first thought? Holy shit, these things are tiny. Given the pricetag of $17.99 a pop, I was expecting these guys to be about six or seven inches, instead they’re closer to four inches. On the upside, they look nice and appear to be really well articulated. But there’s no way I’m buying these when they’re priced so high.

REAL STEEL by Jakks… If you aren’t up on your shitty looking movies, Real Steel is the name given to what is essentially Knock-Em, Sock-Em Robots: The Movie. I am literally stunned by the fact that this movie isn’t being instantly received as a giant heap of crap and that a number of people I know are actually going to see it. Jeez. Anyway, Jakks has gone full guns with figures in different scales and whatnot. Between this line, Green Lantern and the piles of Star Trek and Terminator figures that are STILL hanging around from years ago, Toys R Us is going to have to put up a new wing on their stores just for all the clearance.

TRANSFORMERS by Hasbro… The epiphany hit me this week, that I’m done with Transformers until the Prime figures come out. TRU has a rediculous amount of space devoted to the brand and yet nothing was even tempting for me. It’s ironic that when Revenge of the Fallen was out, I planned on buying little and wound up buying a lot. Dark of the Moon was the opposite. Overall, I’ve been happy with the DotM toys I got, but I don’t have the enthusiasm for picking up new figures like I did for Generations.

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS by Diamond Select… I had high hopes for these figures when I saw the first teaser shots online and I was surprised to find them already on the pegs this trip. I probably would have picked up a couple if not for two stumbling blocks. $17.99 is too much and the ariculation sucks. Seriously, unless I’m buying a statue, I’m done buying figures with shit articulation.

GEARS OF WAR by NECA… I’m possibly one of the only 360 owners that hasn’t completely lost his shit over this franchise. I’ve only played the first one. I enjoyed it a lot. I will play the others, but I don’t think it’s the second coming of shooters or anything. Nonetheless, every time I see NECA’s GoW figures on the pegs I I spend a good ten minutes marveling at how awesome they are. They’re big, decently articulated, beautifully sculpted, and priced pretty reasonably. If I was more caught up on the focus points of my collection and had a lot more room to display stuff, I would be all over this line.

GHOSTBUSTERS II GIFTSET by Mattel… Damn, it’s still not on clearance yet.

GREEN LANTERN by Mattel… This stuff is going to be hanging out at TRU on clearance long after we are all dead and gone. Seriously, they have a TON of this stuff. Maybe they’ll get a little boost in sales this weekend when the Blu-Ray/DVD come out, but that’s probably it for this line. It’s kind of sad, because I really do enjoy the movie aesthetic even though I didn’t enjoy the movie. Maybe I’ll start grabbing up some of these when they hit the clearance pile.

GI JOE by Hasbro… The Renegades figures were on the pegs. I think these look terrible, but at least the price has come down to $7.99. That means if you do like the designs, they’re probably among the best deals in 3 3/4″ figures around. I thought it was just Target and Walmart that have cut down the GI JOE stuff to a bare minimum, but there isn’t much Joe real estate at TRU either. I’m really thinking that this line is on its last leg at retail. That’s a shame too, even though I don’t buy much of it anymore, the Pursuit of Cobra and 30th Anniversary stuff really have been quality products. It’s ironic because just yesterday I pre-ordered my Slaughter’s Marauders and Drednoks sets from BBTS.

X-MEN GIANT SIZED 35th ANNIVERSARY GIFT SET by Hasbro… I almost bought this and I probably will buy it if its still there on my next trip. So long as I can get it at TRU for the reasonable $35 price point as opposed to what it goes for online, it seems like a good deal. The only figures here that are doubles for me are Wolverine and Colossus. Storm looks awesome. Either way, this is a really tempting set.

GREMLINS by NECA… I dig this stuff a lot, but I have way too many other collections going right now to start anything new. I accidently knocked one of the plush Gizmo’s off the shelf and it started singing. That was pretty cool. Anyway, the nostalgia factor here is high for me because one of my favorite toys as a kid was that huge Stripe action figure. It was epic. Maybe if NECA releases something like that again, I’d be on board.
Oct 13 2011

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi by Mattel

I’m a little short on time today as I’m building some furniture for my den and seeing as how I’ll probably be putting it together while drunk, it’ll likely take me most of the evening. So I’m stopping by with a real quickie today. I made an excursion to TRU today and picked up a bag of goodies, and I’m going to start with one of the figures that I can do justice without having to spill too much electronic ink. Is it Medphyll? Is it Naut Kei Loi? It’s both!!!

Green Lantern Classics package. It’s been a little while since I’ve seen this. I picked up the first wave in one shot and I’ve been dragging my feet on picking up this second wave. I love the packaging, as its basically the DC Universe Classics dipped in a lime slushee. The back panel has the ubiquitous bio blurb and the publication stats for the characters. I consider myself pretty up on my DC Comics trivia, but I was actually surprised to learn that these guys went back so far. Anyway, you’ll note that the package says Medphyll on it and that’s the head that comes attached to the figure. You could also buy this figure with the Naut Kei Loi head attached and with his name on the insert. Yep, just like Low & Maash from the first wave.
The body used here is an absolutely standard and generic Green Lantern buck, with the exception of the forked toes on his feet. The paint is ok and his power ring is sculpted onto his finger. Medphyll’s head is basically a brown cyclopoid stalk of broccoli. Wow, I’m pretty sure I’ve never typed those words in one sentence before! It’s goofy, but it really shows the crazy and creative concepts that DC tries to drum up to convey the diversity of the Green Lantern Corps. Naut Kei Loi’s head is far more complex as you get the head, the cowl and the dome, all of which are three separate pieces. It looks great, and is my favorite of the two, but I have been unable to actually get the head to peg in, which is really disappointing. I’m actually tempted to try to buy the figure packaged to get one with the head already attached.
Unless you count the extra head, the only other thing you get in the package is one of the leg pieces to build the Collect & Connect figure Stel.

Unlike Low and Maash, which had swappable hands as well as heads, Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi’s only have the swappable heads. It still works, but it’s not as impressive or dramatic a change as we saw with Low and Maash. If you’re one of those collectors that wasn’t crazy about this two-figures-in-one concept to begin with I don’t think this one is going to make you any happier about the idea. Next time we’ll check out another one of these combo-style figures that really takes this conceptual gimmick to the next level.
Oct 12 2011

Vintage Vault: X-Men X-Force Warpath by Toy Biz

I’ve been sitting on a whole box full of unopened Toy Biz X-Men figures for a while now and since things have been slow here at FigureFan, I decided to bust some of these open and take a look. I’ll start peppering them throughout the next couple of weeks. If you weren’t collecting toys in the 90’s or perhaps you just collect Toy Biz’s Marvel figures with the Marvel Legends line, then these guys are going to be quite a departure for you.

One thing I’ve always loved about Toy Biz’s Marvel figures from this era? The packaging. I mean, just look at that. It takes all the colorful and exciting qualities of a comic book cover and transfers them onto the cardback. You get some awesome character art, Just check that out. The Marvel Universe package art is often good, sometimes mediocre, but this image of Warpath is capital stuff. Not to mention the exposition explosion that tells you what the figure’s special play gimmick was. In this case? “SMASHING POWER PUNCH!” Hell, there’s even a sticker advertising a T-shirt. The front of the card is just bursting with activity. The back of the card has a little bit about the character and photos of some of the other figures in this line.
If your only action figure experience with Warpath is the Marvel Universe version then this guy is likely to shock. His design is deliciously comic book inspired and he’s certainly got that wonderful bright and obnoxious 90’s toy motif that meshes so well with comic book and animated inspired figures. There isn’t even a remote attempt to go for realism here. Warpath is a brick wall of a mutant with a neckline that nearly matches his waistline. The glossy, retina-burning red and blue paint job is just stellar. There’s no way this guy is going to appear in any multi-million dollar live action movie treatment. Nope, he’s straight from the panel of a funnybook.
For a 90’s era figure, Toy Biz’s Warpath sports some pretty decent articulation. The arms rotate at the shoulders and he has hinged elbows. His legs rotate at the hips and he has hinged knees. His roast beef sized neck doesn’t move at all, but this is still better than the standard 5-points I’m used to seeing in figures of this era. Warpath also swivels at the waist, but that’s more a part of his “Smashing Power Punch” gimmick. Swivel him at the waist and his right arm goes up. Let him go and he springs back and his arm comes down. It’s an ok gimmick in that it really doesn’t screw up the figure or mar his articulation.
I’m not knocking the more realistic approach that Hasbro takes with their Marvel Universe line, but from package to figure, Toy Biz’s Warpath represents everything that is awesome about comic books and their characters, distills it, and pours it into action figure form. Granted, as we’ll see in the coming weeks, these X-Men figures could be hit and miss (just check out the fright face on Rogue down there), but when they were great, like Warpath, they were really great. What’s better is you can usually buy these guys carded for next to nothing. Certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but I absolutely love this guy.
Oct 11 2011

Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collection: Darth Vader’s Sith Starfighter by Hasbro

Holy hell, folks, we’re actually going to talk some Star Wars this week. It doesn’t happen that often here on FigureFan. Why not? Well, I hit overload on Star Wars a few years back and stopped collecting it with any real gusto. I even wound up unloading about three-quarters of my ludicrously huge collection to make room and generate a little extra cash. Obviously, I still pick up a Star Wars figure or ship here and there when it strikes my fancy, but I sure don’t focus on it like I used to. Nonetheless, I was taking a pass through my toy closet this week, looking for things to feature here during this slow week, and I thought I’d give Star Wars some much needed love. Let’s start out with Darth Vader’s Jedi Starfighter.

The ship came out boxed as part of the 30th Anniversary Collection. The packaging is ok, but it followed after the Original Trilogy Collection, which featured some amazing vintage-style packages that I don’t think can ever be outdone. The deco here gets the job done, but I think the best thing about it is the amazing artwork of the ship on the front. Look familiar? Sure it does! This Sith Starfighter is just another in a looong line of repaints of this heavily reused Jedi Starfighter toy. I first bought this style of ship back when it was originally released as Obi Wan’s Starfighter in the Revenge of the Sith line. I didn’t have any desire to own the slew or other repaints until this one came out. It’s pretty much an Expanded Universe ship as Vader never actually piloted it in the movies, but it seems logical enough that he would have made use of this design in the years before the Tie Fighter came into service. Despite being named as Darth Vader’s personal fighter, I actually use this as a general Sith fighter and wound up giving it to my Galen Malek figure.
I absolutely love the design of this ship. It’s intended to be a transitional design between the Jedi Starfighters seen in Attack of the Clones and the Tie Fighters that would appear in A New Hope. I really dig the segmented front window on the cockpit that would become the iconic Tie Fighter windshield, as well as the way the wings deploy to hint at the solar panel wings of the subsequent Imperial fighter design. There are dual barreled wing-mounted cannons as well as a firing torpedo on each of the wings. Underneith you get retractable landing gear, which supports the ship nicely, but only when the wings are folded up. The ship supports an Astromech droid and actually comes with a convincing enough dummy droid head that can be removed to reveal a socket that holds an actual Astromech figure. I always thought that was a cool option. The cockpit flips open and is roomy enough to hold most figures, but as I mentioned above, mine is reserved for Galen Malek.
Beyond the design of the ship, what really grabbed me about this particular release was the fab repaint. The ship is two-tone black and gunmetal grey, which just looks badass on this design. What’s more there’s some brilliant weathering done on the wing symbols and along the paintwork on the front of the hull. Granted, I don’t buy a lot of Star Wars ships these days, but I’ll still say that Hasbro could benefit from checking out some of this work and implementing it on their newer releases. Naturally, you also get a sticker sheet, which is great for me because applying stickers is something I always love to do. It lets me bond with my new toy.
The Sith Starfighter set ran me $20 back in the day. I don’t think it’s been re-released, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find on Ebay. Nowadays vehicles in this size class go for between $25-30, so even if the price is inflated, you’ve got some wiggle room before you’re paying more than it would be on the shelf today. It’s a great looking piece and loads of fun to display and play with. If you want a great little starfighter with an amazingly cool deco, this is definitely a ship you want in your collection. And screw Vader, I’m sure you’ve got a couple of other Sith figures kicking around that would like a ride of their own.
Oct 10 2011

Doctor Who: Lady Cassandra by Character Options

Folks, it’s been a slow, slow week for new acquisitions here on FigureFan these past couple of weeks. I’ve been diverting funds to some improvements around the house, but I am planning an excursion to TRU this week to get some new toys. Nonetheless, I didn’t want to let things flounder here, so I dug into some unsorted and unopened figures sitting in a tote in my closet and this is what I came up with… a Series 1 Doctor Who figure: Cassandra.

Here’s a blast from the past… the old style Doctor Who packaging. It wasn’t all that special, but it was functional and being a regular card and bubble, it was much easier to get into than those pesky clamshells. The cardback was generic with the swirly orange vortex from the earlier series openers. There’s an insert in the bubble with the Doctor Who logo used on the series a the time and a photo of Cassandra to personalize the packaging with the figure. The bubblie is huge and vaguely shaped like the TARDIS.
Cassandra was certainly one of the most memorable aliens from Series 1. Oh, wait, she wasn’t really an alien was she? In fact, she was the last human. A single trampoline of skin stretched out over a metal frame with a eyes and a mouth. I don’t know that you can really call her plastic version an action figure, since apart form her wheels she has no articulation whatsoever, but she’s definitely a great recreation of her onscreen counterpart. Everything is reproduced here, right down to her little brain in the jar on the base. If you put her up to the light, you can even see the veins running through her. Cool!
In addition to Cassandra, you also get three of the robot spiders that she used as spies in the episodes “The End of the World” and “New Earth” These spiders were also bundled with the single carded version of Rose Tyler. Sure, they’re simple little PVC figures, but they’re decently sculpted and very cool to have scattered around my display shelves.
I missed out on Cassandra when she was first released, but I got a second chance at her recently when the fine folks at Who North America allowed me to tack her on my order for an extra five bucks. She’s a really cool addition to the the earliy NuWho figures on my shelf.
Oct 9 2011

Transformers Encore: Sky Lynx by Takara

I had a whole lot of Transformers when I was a wee lad, but there were still some G1 toys that never wound up in my collection. Sky Lynx was one of those figures. I had ample occasions to ask for him for a birthday or for Christmas, but it seemed like there was always another figure I wanted more. Sure, he was a pretty prominant character in the cartoon, but even at that young age, I couldn’t wrap my head around how bizarre a toy he was. Thanks to Takara’s Encore series, I was able to add him to my collection last year. I never got around to featuring him here, and now that I’m caught up on all the new stuff that’s been pouring in, I thought I’d throw out some Transformers loving.

I really like the Encore Collection boxes because they try to mimic the pure nostalgic goodness of the original G1 packaging that we really haven’t seen outside of the TRU exclusive reissues. And even then it was heavily revised and modernized.  Sure, the writing on the Encore box is all in Japanese, it is a Takara product afterall, but I still get a warm, fuzzy feeling from this box. There’s no fancy velcro flap revealing a window or anything like that. It’s just a good old fashioned box containing a tray and the toy. Besides the deco, you get a ton of pictures of the toy itself.
While the cartoon version of Sky Lynx was mostly depicted as one entity, the figure itself is designed as two components that turns into two robots. The space shuttle portion changes into his bird mode and the undercarriage turns into the cat. Of course, then you can combine the two, into some kind of bizarre cat-bird creature, which is the version most often shown in the cartoon. As if trying to up the ante on strangeness, the Sunbow cartoon had him talk with a highbrow british accent.
Sky Lynx doesn’t feature a lot of paint apps, but he does have a good old fashioned sticker sheet for your applying pleasure and/or frustration. A lot of these are foil stickers, which are hard to find still fresh on the surviving vintage toys. It also means they’re doubly hard to get on without screwing them up. Particularly the enormous Autobot emblems for his wings. That having been said, once they’re all in place, they do look nice.

The Encore version still has all the electronics from the original toy. That means if you load this thing up with batteries, it’ll slowly lumber across the floor. Not terribly exciting, but cool all the same.
                               
When Encore Sky Lynx was first released, he was a bit pricey to import. As in over $100 kind of pricey. He didn’t sell quite as well as some of the other Encore editions because he was eventually clearanced down to around $40-50 at many online retailers. Nowadays he tends to split the difference between $50-75. Is he worth it? Sort of. He’s definitely a creatively designed toy, and extremely faithful to the original toy. It’s a lot of money for what he actually is, but if you’re actively looking for him, you should definitely check this version out. Considering the original toy can be tough to come across without yellowing to the shuttle, worn out stickers, or crapped out electronics, this reissue is a decent alternative.

Best of all, this original mold is extremely faithful to Sky Lynx’s animated counterpart, and since there’s probably zero chance that he’ll ever make it into the Classics/Universe/Generations line, it’s nice that he displays well with those figures.
Oct 7 2011

The Real Ghostbusters: Retro-Action Janine Melnitz and Samhain 2-pack by Mattel, Part 2

Ok, we mulled about with the packaging on this set long enough. Let’s get to the goods inside and we’ll kick it off with Janine Melnitz.

As a Mego-style figure, we’re mainly concerned here with the head sculpt and the outfit. Overall, I’m fairly happy with the head sculpt. I don’t think she quite stands up to the likenesses achieved by the rest of the Ghostbusters, but there’s no doubt who this is supposed to be. The glasses are similar to Egons, in that they are soft plastic and permanently attached to her head behind the ears. Some folks have been reporting issues of the paint on her hair rubbing against the package, but mine seems to have weathered it ok. The body is what it is and while loose joints are often a concern with these style figures, Janine can stand fine on her own. I think what upsets me the most is that the hands aren’t sculpted to work well with her accessories. In fact, she can barely hold her proton stream properly. If you have any of those clear rubber bands left lying around, you may want to avail yourself of them.
Janine comes in a completely new orange jumpsuit. It’s close to the jumpsuits worn by the guys, but there are some subtle differences. There aren’t any cuffs on the legs of her pants. She still has the foamy elbow pads and the Ghostbusters emblem on her shoulder. It fits the figure quite well and looks good when displayed with the rest of the team.
And then there’s Samhain. If you’re not familiar, he’s a dude with a jack-o-lantern for a head. He sports a typical Mego-style body with flowing purple robes over it. The pumpkin head is large and decently sculpted, but it still feels kind of cheap. There’s not a heck of a lot else to say about him. His joints are a lot looser than Janine’s, but he can still stand up pretty well. Don’t get me wrong, I do like him a lot and it’s very cool to have a ghost in this style for the team to fight, especially one as popular as Samhain.
In addition to the figures, this set comes with every piece of busting equipment that was issued with the other figures. You get Janine’s proton pack, a ghost trap, a PKE meter, and the ghost sniffer. There’s nothing new here, and it’s a lot of gear for Janine on her own, but it’s great to have to hand out to the rest of the team and it certainly pads out the set nicely. And then there’s Slimer. He’s a cool little sculpt with some arm articulation and pretty faithful to the animation design, but he’s way too small to be of any use with these figures.
This 2-pack rounds out my Real Ghostbusters collection really nicely. I’m glad we finally got a Janine figure, especially since she was pictured on the back of the carded figures and it’s certainly nice to have at least one baddie for the Real Ghostbusters to fight. Now the bad news. The set is a TRU exclusive and retails for $50. Now, I’m not prepared to call that highway robbery, since the other figures sold for $20 each and the extra $10 for this set can easily be tallied up to include all the extra accessories, Slimer, and the Firehouse backdrop. There’s certainly a sense of sticker shock, but I can’t say I feel ripped off with the set in hand. I wanted to make sure to get it, so I jumped at it pretty quickly, but some may be better served waiting for sales or clearance prices.
Oct 6 2011

The Real Ghostbusters: Retro-Action Janine Melnitz and Samhain 2-pack by Mattel, Part 1

Mattel really gave Ghostbusters fans the shaft last month. The 2012 Ecto-1 subscription has been cancelled, and noone seemed to even know it was in danger. Nonetheless, fans of the Retro-Action line got a nice little bone with the release of this special TRU exclusive 2-pack of Janine Melnitz and Samhain. Maybe it’s really a 2 1/4 pack since it also includes Slimer. I’ll confess it’s been a while since I picked up any Ghostbusters figures, but the moment I came across this set I knew that I had to have it. Today we’re just going to look at the packaging and the something special the packaging turns into. I’ll get to the actual figures tomorrow in Part 2.

Now, I haven’t seen The Real Ghostbusters cartoon since I was a kid, but I certainly remember Samhain as being one of the better baddies, and I can even vaguely remember the episode where Janine insists she wants to go bust ghosts and dons the jumpsuit and proton pack. I didn’t think both were part of the same episode, but the package seems to suggest they were.
The set comes in a nice, big window box that does a great job of showing off everything that you get inside. The top corner proclaims it to be a “Retro-Action” set, along with The Real Ghosbusters logo. The bottom edge has the animated portraits of both characters as well as Slimer and the firehouse backdrop. But wait, what’s this? There’s some kind of snowflake pattern running along the edge of the window as if to suggest this set is some kind of Christmas release. And here I was just thinking Mattel was clever to get this set out for Halloween. Not sure where Christmas fits in. But… anywho… the back panel shows more illustrations of the characters and the Retro-Action Ray and Egon figures standing by the “GIANT” 22-inch Firehouse display. All in all, I think the packaging suits the line pretty well.

The Firehouse backdrop will likely delight some and disappoint others. It really depends on what you were expecting out of it. I didn’t give it much thought until I got it out of the package, so it was a rather nice surprise for me.
On the plus side, it’s really tall, well illustrated, and even has a bit of depth to it. When assembled, it’s just an inch or so thick, but the ledges pop out of the front as does the Ghostbusters sign, all to give it depth. The front doors also open to show the Ecto-1 parked inside. On the downside, it is rather flimsy and you can easily see that it doesn’t want to stay erect in the middle, even when it’s propped up against a wall. The middle ledges also came out of the box a little smooshed.
If I were planning on keeping the Firehouse on display, I’d likely wrap it around a piece of styrofoam board, and I think that would make for a pretty nice and sturdy piece, but chances are I’ll be folding it up and putting it back in the box for storage. Also worth noting, despite being an impressive 22-inches tall, it’s still way too small for The Real Ghostbusters figures. The regular 5-inch movie figures work a lot better, and if I were keeping this thing on display, I would definitely use it as a backdrop for these guys.

Cool stuff, so far. Tomorrow I’ll be back with Part 2 to look at the figures and the other goodies in the package.