“Death is but a door. Time is but a window. I’ll be back”. He wasn’t lying! Is Vigo! You are like the buzzing of flies to him! But now really YOU (as in YOU) can actually be like the buzzing of flies to Vigo because for the first time ever, Vigo the Carpathian finally has an action figure. Can you believe we have had to wait this long? Sure, getting movie-accurate figures of the actual Ghostbusters took longer than I ever imagined, but now that I have Dr. Spengler, Dr. Venkman and the others, Vigo has been my most wanted character from the property. Well, he is (appropriately) making his arrival to your collection at the end of the year, just in time to bring about the end of the world on New Year’s Eve, but thanks to the GB team at Mattel, we have a First Look for you right now to whet your appetite and drive you crazy until December. Call us Fwoosh the Cruel, Fwoosh the Torturer, Fwoosh the Despised (we hear that one a lot) and Fwoosh the Unholy (that one not so much, really). Now is the season of EVIL!
I am pretty sure that I have made it clear in the past that I like Ghostbusters II. Sure, overall it falls short when you compare it to the near-perfect first movie, but a lot of things pale in comparison. But what it lacks in overall panache, it makes up for with lots of Peter Venkman, hairless pets, Moon Slime and Vigo! Seriously, I can watch the scenes with Vigo and his equally awesome possessed lack Janosz over and over again. Since the first movie has an antagonist in the form of a giant marshmallow man (even though Peck is the REAL bad guy), there is nothing too far out there about the villain of the second film being a deposed despot from the 16th century whose spirit now inhabits a painting. It works, right? You bet it does and now I can relive all the action of Vigo the Butch here trying to inhabit the body of a poor kid named after a hotdog.
I think the Ghostbusters line had a very good showing overall at SDCC this year, with Stay Puft, Mr. Vigo, Zuul (there was no Dana, only Zuul) and the Rookie showing that the line is branching out into more than just variations on the Ghostbusters theme. I talked with several people and the showing of Vigo alone was instrumental in upping that enthusiasm. That is good because I think there is still a lot to do in this line and if I don’t get my Janine, Janosz and leisure suit Louis Tully, I will feel incomplete. But Vigo here fills the biggest void on my shelf and he is going to be one of the instant centerpieces of the display. Vigo demands it.
The Sorrow of Moldavia here was played by the imposing Wilhelm von Homburg in the movie (but voiced by Max Von Sydow) and the movie designers did a good job of giving him a very ethereal feel. Translated into plastic, I am glad that Vigo is taller than the rest of the figures in the line because he needs to be an imposing dude. His costume is accurately rendered here (from what I can tell) and the paint is very clean on the body, even with all of the little studs and spikes on his tunic thingee. He is clad mostly in the leather (befitting of the style of the time) and even though he prefers to go about almost exclusively in brow, there is actually a wide variety of hues in his costume to keep it looking interesting.
Vigo has most of the same basic articulation that is common to the majority of the figures in the line. I mean, let’s face it – Vigo stood around in his painting (looking as though he was suffering from Carpathian Kitten Loss) for most of the movie and when he finally got out there at the end, he was pretty stiff. He can certainly be posed as though he is holding a baby he is about to possess, and the figure can recreate the butch pose from the painting. He does not have any double joints or anything like that, but I can’t imagine why he would need to be posed as though he was doing the high jump or playing a sitar. Okay, actually, that would be pretty damned cool.
The likeness in the head sculpt is pretty solid, even though it is not 100% spot on to the actor. He is definitely translated the same way everyone else has been rendered so far in the line, there is a touch of stylization in all of the likenesses. I mean, he looks like Vigo, but the shape of the face could have been a little more round to get closer to the reference point. He certainly looks appropriately sullen and he has the dark circles under his sunken eyes to give him that brooding vibe. He has the right receding long hair look, but his hair is darker than it appears in the movie. I have heard arguments that his hair is actually BLONDE, but I think of it as being a grayish-blonde (I might be, ahem, splitting hairs here). But the darker hair on the figure actually makes his skin tone look lighter so it appears more sallow and almost ghostly in nature. It is a give and take, but I am overall pretty satisfied with Vigo’s toy likeness.
The figure come with one accessory but man, I absolutely LOVE it. It is, of course, a lenticular version of Vigo’s painting. Yep, one minute he is in the painting, the next he is not! AWESOME! Now, I was first tempted to put the picture behind the figure in my display to recreate the scene when he finally goes steppin’ out, but I think I am actually going to buy a little frame and hang it on a wall somewhere. I crack up at stuff like this and most of the people I associate with on any kind of a regular basis would be very appreciative of such a thing. A big time kudos to Rhobyn and her team for thinking this item up, it was such an obvious choice for the painting, but the lenticular effect was totally unexpected but most welcome. I guess I could have asked for a little baby Oscar to be included with the figure too, but maybe that will be more appropriate for the Nurse Janosz spirit. I do hope we get to see his alternate “demon” head at some point, but it should be handled in the form of a mask (think the Terror Dog head for Vinz) so you can put in on Vigs or Ray.
Yay! Vigo! I finally have Vigo! This is one of those things, like getting a toy of Arnim Zola, or George the Gremlin that just transcends toy cool. He is a long time coming and while I am very happy to take the figure on its own terms, I hope he really represents a new wave of unique characters coming to the GB line. The movie-verse is a lot richer than one would think and we still have quite a few characters out there that I consider essential. Yes, I want a figure of Mayor Lenny. Vigo is one of those figures that I celebrate but at the same time feel sad about though because now I MUST have my Janosz figure. I mean, he was half the reason Vigo was so great in the movies anyway. Hopefully 2012 will bring the good and crazy Dr. Poha.
*Thanks to Rhobyn and the GB team for sending this very powerful magician, we cannot tell you how much we appreciate Vigo.
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