Ghostbusters Select Peter, Ray, and Stay Puft
With the release of Ghostbusters Select series 10, two major milestones have been achieved: the Real Ghostbusters team (at least the four ‘busters) is now complete, and the giant Firehouse façade diorama has also reached its full form. No matter how you shake it, both of these are a pretty big deal, so let’s take a look at how Peter, Ray, and Stay Puft have turned out.
I have said before that I am a big Real Ghostbusters fan. I loved the cartoon and the original Kenner toy line was a staple of my childhood. So, while I was absolutely thrilled to get movie accurate Ghostbusters, getting into RGB is a big deal to me because past attempts have stumbled, and there really has not been any action figure representation (Mattel did do some throwback “Mego” style figures that missed the mark with most collectors) since the 1990s. So, my hype level for putting the team together, plus Slimer and Stay Puft, is pretty high, even though my excitement for the overall execution of the figures is significantly lower, but I will get to that in a minute. Despite being torn overall on these figures, I DO hope this is just the start in terms of RGB offerings, but we did not see anything new at Toy Fair back in February, so the waiting game continues.
Before I get to the figures, though, I want to say that the Firehouse façade is pretty awesome, and getting that done is cool. I don’t think it has been received as well as the roof top base, but it is a neat back drop for your figures, even if it is not quite as interactive as the previous build. I am not going to cover this off in this review simply because I don’t have all of the pieces for it because I am certainly not a completist with the line. That said, it is pretty massive in terms of scale, so getting it out and complete is a major accomplishment that deserves kudos. From what I can tell, all of the QC checks out okay and the whole things comes together in pretty straightforward fashion, so that is good because that is always a concern when something like this is spread over so many different releases. I might go back and look into completing this at some point, but for now, even though I won’t be focusing on it here, bravo for getting this done. Hopefully we will see more.
Now, for the figures, I shared a lot of my thoughts on the RGB figures and their execution in my look at Series 9. Much of my thoughts hold over to this series, especially when it comes to the final quality of the figures. In short, I wish the final product was better, and I will get into some specific examples of this as we move to each figure. From a philosophical standpoint, I still wish each of the ‘busters had a unique build, and that the accessories were more meaningful. I won’t go back over that here, but while I have softened a bit on the body types (though, like Egon, the inaccuracy with Ray’s physique is really apparent in this series), the accessories are still a total bummer because I have another pile of gloved hands and PKE Meters that aren’t really appropriate for these characters. Again, I get it, with the façade, other sacrifices have to be made, but for people like me, the figures themselves (and their accessories) are more important than a backdrop.
I will start with Pete and Ray, since they were my most anticipated prior to release. While I consider Egon to be the best figure of series 9, I was hope that, at least in terms of the Ghostbusters themselves, that Peter would beat him in terms of overall execution, because he looked like he would be in a good spot to do so. This “standard” GB body lends itself to Peter better than it does Egon, so he had that going for him going in, but, unfortunately, the overall finished product is not as good. The paint applications really suffer on this figure, and the zippers and color transitions on the suit are very hit or miss in terms of being clean. Additionally, the “No Ghost” logo print on the sleeve is so messy, it can be seen with the naked eye, and the hair paint has a lot of slop around the edges, so the neck bleeds into the hair sculpt, and there is a pretty large “bald spot” on top his head, and my OCD will NOT let that one go, so it will need to be touched up. Pete’s head sculpt is good, and I really like the shape of the hair, so if there paint issues were not present, I would be pretty happy with this figure overall. I am really happy to be getting the uniquely colored proto stream with these guys, and the green works GREAT for Peter, but that leads me to Ray’s…
*Insert clapping hand emoji after every word of the following sentence*
RAY’S PROTON STREAM BROKE RIGHT OUT OF THE PACKAGE AND IT IS INFURIATING.
It was right at the end where it attached to the wand, too, so while I was able to glue it, I already know it is not going to hold long term because it bears the full weight of the stream. You know, I had it all planned to display these guys with their proton packs at the ready and firing the streams, but that is probably out of the question now due to this. The plastic is so brittle on the stream and the piece is so thin in that spot, I guess this was bound to happen, but the poor engineering and the oversight of the likely issue is really lame. I mean, I had to straighten out both proton wands because they were so disfigured in the packaging, and the ghost trap cords are pretty terrible, but I can correct those kinds of things, even though I shouldn’t have to do so. This proton stream thing has me really annoyed, though.
As I mentioned, Ray’s body type is not perfect here because he needs a bit of a belly to be cartoon and vintage toy accurate, but he does look a little shorter than the rest, so that is good, I suppose. His head sculpt is good, though, the expression is a bit goofy, but that is not completely out of place for Ray. For my figures, Ray looks to make out better in terms of the paint applications on the costume, and since his matches the movie versions the closest, and he doesn’t have a unique base body, you could potentially get four of him and do head swaps to get the RGB looks from the first episode. Speaking of cartoon and vintage toy accuracy, the GBs rarely, if ever wore gloves, so I am inclined to display mine with bare hands, but I REALLY wish the hands were shaped better to hold the wands. I mean, it works okay, but the grippy glove hand is definitely better, at least for the handle. Overall, I would probably rank the GBs with Egon being the best, then Winston, Rya, and Peter (due to the terrible paint on mine). Your mileage may vary there, though.
That said… Mr. Stay Puft is BY FAR the best RGB figure in the line so far. Honestly, it is not even close, and he almost stands on his own in terms of being such a level higher than the rest of the figures. I mean, his inclusion made it mandatory that sculpting and design for him had to be completely unique because there has not been a Stay Puft figure released at this scale (vintage toy accurate), so he benefits from having all of his needs seen to immediately. His sculpt is really nice, for sure, and while it doesn’t match the vintage figure right down the line (needing a shorter torso, etc.), it still reflects Stay Puft accurately, and I like it. The paint is actually really nice here, too, and that is something I have consistently harped on with the other figures. Heck, not only is everything clean, but there is some nice airbrushing elements on the body, and it looks great.
Now, Stay Puft is not going to win any yoga competitions, but the movement that he DOES need to make can easily be pulled off, and then some, with the articulation scheme he has been given. The dude can even balance on one leg, which is pretty good for a portly mascot made out of marshmallow goo. The neck and shoulder articulation is particularly nice, and I daresay he has a better range of movement in the former than his busting counterparts. I admit, the “neck” looks a bit odd when the head is tilted all the way back, seeing as he doesn’t really have a neck, there isn’t really a better way for it, and I do appreciate the movement.
I admit, I am quite pleased to have modern Real Ghostbusters representation on my shelf, and I kind of cannot believe it has taken this long. That said, the fact that these are finally here does not make them immune from critique, because I wish the final product would have turned out better overall. Except for Stay Puft, of course, he is pretty damned awesome. Like I said, Egon is the best for me, and Peter is probably the most disappointing due to the numerous QC issues. So yeah, it is conflicting, and I do want to see more RGB figures, but seriously, the quality needs to be shored up.
If you are a die-hard GB fan, you will want to get these, so do so HERE. Use caution though, especially with those damned proton streams, they are pretty fragile.
