Hot on the heels of the marshmallowy goodness that is Mister Stay Puft, we have a look into the not so distant future for our next offering in the form of Slime Blower Ray Stantz. He is the Club Ecto-1 subscription figure for October of this year and he just cannot come soon enough as his recently-released partner in slime, Winston, just debuted this month. Between the aforementioned Stay Puft exclusive and a ton of reveals, I would say it was a great Con for fans of the Ghostbusters. We are starting to see more of a departure from just variants of the original four showing up in the line, and Vigo is finally returning to dominate our toy shelves. We have some nice information from Mattel’s top Ghostbuster, Rhobyn DeJesus, coming in our Comic Con Conversation soon so be sure to stay tuned for that. In the meantime though, have a look at Slime Blower Ray, complete with the Theatre Ghost!
You know, when the Ghostbusters line was announced, I never really thought of variants such as the Lab Coats and Courtroom suits were possible. I suppose I did not yet have a handle on what the line would be as such, but I knew that the Slime Blower versions of Ray and Winston were musts. GB II introduced us to a lot of new gadgetry for the Boys in Gray and the packs the literally blew positively-charges mood slime were at the forefront. While this implement could not really be used to bust ghosts per se, it made the freaking Statue of Liberty walk, so that is saying something. I know that we got all four of the boys in their dark gray movie two suits at Toys R Us last year, but my primary display for them will now incorporate both of the Slime Blower figures. I cannot wait to set them up ready to know Vigo back into his painting. Fun!
Essentially, most of the story of the Slime Blower figures was told as it happened with the Winston figure. The Slime Blowers were originally not very impressive, but Mattel went back and made them right in the end and as you can image, save for the head, Ray pretty much shares all of his parts with Winston. I am not going to complain about that as it is appropriate for the design. All of the parts are the same and Ray made it through production with clean paint and tight joints. I think those two things are what you want to see in a figure that is 90% reuse. The figure does feature the same Ray head that we have gotten in all of the releases so far and while it is not bad, Ray is the next GB I will nominate for a new head sculpt. Egon and Peter great, both of the Winston sculpts are fantastic but Ray leaves a little something away from a spot on likeness. I’ve a feeling that Dan A. has one of those likenesses that is hard to nail down in toy form (see: Viggo Mortenson, Harrison Ford, etc) but even so, the current head seems little pinched to me. The good news is that each release of Ray seems to have better paint applications than the last and I, even thought I know it is the same head, I think this one does look better than the original Ray. Go figure.
Ray does come with a “Theatre Ghost” that is featured very briefly during a montage when ghosts around NYC start running amok. This has actually been a pretty popular request amongst the die-hard fans so it is nice to get a ghost, and a wanted one at that. The sculpt is very nice with a lot of detailing, especially in the head. It is cast in an appropriate milky pink plastic and features about six point of articulation. While I like the figure for what it is, in the movie, this ghost DOES have wings, even though they are hard to spot. After this figure debuted at Wonder-Con back in April, sharp-eyed fans pointed out the inaccuracy, but it was too late for Mattel to go back and retool. It’s a bit of shame, really because if they wings were there, this would be one of the strongest ghost figures released thus far. As it stands, it is still a nice ghost, especially if you use it as one even more generic as a “theatre” ghost. He does have the requisite clear stand to keep his status as a free-floating apparition.
Overall, I am glad to have this figure as it completes the Slime Blower set, though I am surprised we got him so fast. He is not as nice as the Winston figure due to the softer likeness, but the production quality on this head is the strongest of any Ray we have gotten thus far. The Theatre Ghost has one of the strongest ghost sculpts yet, but since he is missing his wings, I still prefer the Subway ghost and Nunzio more. I am not sure how Mattel would refresh the Slime Blower figures (removable packs, maybe?) but I would love to see a purple slime stream akin to the proton streams that have been coming out of late. Maybe they could pack a couple in with Janoz. Remember, SB Ray comes out in October, which is AFTER Lab Coat Egon set for August. We have not gotten a sample of the latter yet, but perhaps in the next round. The future is looking bright with all of the offering coming our way as we close out the year and move into 2012. Vigo and Dana are two biggies, but this Ray is a definite requirement and he looks great standing with Winston.
*Thanks so much to Rhobyn and her team of Busters for making this possible – it was great seeing you all at Comic Con!
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