Dr. Venkman arrived at my doorstep this week with Slimer and PhDs in Psychology and Parapsychology in tow.  The Ghostbusters Classics line is just under one year old and has finally provided collectors with figures of all four of the Ghostbusters themselves.   Click through for more pics and a brief review!

Accessories

Peter comes with a pack in ghost Slimer and a flight stand.

Slimer is very similar to the version that came with Egon at San Diego Comic-Con last year except with a new ‘licking’ facial expression.  The tongue is pretty highly detailed and disgustingly glossy for that wet look.

Considering that we already received a Slimer figure before, this pack feels a little light on accessories.  It seems even lighter coming off of last month with the mother of all accessories, the containment unit.  I would have liked to see at least a walkie-talkie included or maybe a proton stream attachment or another ghost trap.  Fortunately Veebee pointed out a great walkie-talkie on a plan B figure I already had, so I’m using that.

Sculpt

The likeness to Murray is good.  I think it works better when viewed from angles other than just straight on.  The eyes seem a tad too large and the nose a bit too small, but otherwise it’s a very nice likeness.  He’s got a bit of a bemused grin on his face and a slightly cocked eyebrow that is perfect for Venkman’s smartass personality.  His hair is also sculpted to look a bit messed up from the slime.

If you have any of the other Ghostbusters, you’ve seen the proton pack,  upper arms, torso and most of the legs before.  There is a new belt sculpt and lower arms as Peter is wearing his gloves and they aren’t hanging off his belt like the other busters.  I like the new glove sculpt a lot and kind of wish the rest of the ghostbusters had the gloves.  I think they just look cooler with them on.

He’s also got some new lower legs because Venkman doesn’t tuck the jumpsuit pantlegs into his boots as the other guys do.  The sculpt looks good and blends in with the existing parts well.

Articulation

Venkman has the standard Ghostbuster figure articulation – Ball jointed neck, swivel/hinged shoulders, elbows, and wrists, a DCUC style hip-hinge and thigh cuts, and knee and ankle hinges.

The articulation doesn’t have much range of motion in the neck or the ankles.  The hair sculpt prevents Venkman from looking up much and I can only get a very slight tilt side to side or looking down.  The ankle hinge range of motion is impeded by the pant sculpt and this does make walking poses a bit more difficult to balance, but it can be done.

Paint

Most of the figure parts (uniform, head and boots) are molded in the correct color flat plastic, so the paint is reserved for the details.  The paint is cleanly applied where it is supposed to be (I love the paint ops on the proton pack) and the ‘slime’ paint is haphazardly applied, which seems appropriate. 

My Venkman has a pretty heavy coat of slime, with much on his uniform, cheeks and hair, and the slime is a little lighter green than what we saw on Egon.  From what I’m hearing on the forums, the amount of slime per figure varies pretty wildly, so I’m glad to be happy with the amount I have on my Venkman.

I also wonder if my feeling that the eyes are a little overlarge has more to do with the paint op on the eyes than the sculpt.

The plastic used for Venkman’s head sculpt is a really pale color.  I think a wash or a darker plastic would have shown of the sculpt off a bit better.  As it is, the details look a little washed out in many lighting situations.  I also would have liked to have seen a 5 O’Clock shadow paint op similar to Egon’s.

I think Venkman could have used a little bit more attention in the paint and accessories department, but overall, I’m very pleased with this figure.  I’m not sure I even need an unslimed version when they release that (mattel has announced that it’s coming eventually) unless they come up with a really good pack-in or the expression on his face is wildly different.  It is really cool have the four Ghostbusters posed on my shelf, though I want to see more ghosts (other than slimer, please) and secondary characters from Mattel in the future.