You know, if someone were to ask Winston Zeddemore if he were a god, I can assure you he would say “YES”! Well, now he is also an action figure in the Ghostbusters Classics line courtesy of Mattel and the Four Horsemen. While he was the perpetual “Fourth ‘Buster” in the movies, he is the THIRD ‘Buster to debut in the ongoing line – upgrade, baby! For today, he is a First Look so you can have the scoop on the figure of the guy that was almost played by Eddie Murphy (but we are all glad the it was Ernie Hudson after all) before he goes on sale on December 15th.
You know, for a character that doesn’t make his entrance until about 2/3rds of the way through the first Ghost Busters movie and about 1/3rd (for the most part) of the way through the second, he sure did get some of the best lines and scene-stealing performances. Credit the great Ernie Hudson for that but man, do I love telling people that “I have seen $#!% that will turn you WHITE!”, and I live by the advice from above about telling people that I am a god, when the bother to ask. Great stuff, but I am sure that most people that are reading this have most of the GB movies memorized by this point.
So what about the Twinkie (okay, that was Peter), I mean figure? Well, here is the thing, from a parts standpoint Winston is the same as previous paranormal investigators Egon and Ray from collar bone to toe – so you know what you are getting there. I know people have been commenting on the reuse, but I have said it before, they are all built similarly enough that it works for me. The importance comes in the difference though, and, of course, it is in his head sculpt.
I was thinking that I was a fan of the head sculpt when I saw the hand-painted prototype at SDCC and the early press pictures, and now that I have him in hand, my suspicions were correct. In fact, I think he is the best representation of any of the actors so far in the line. The 4H really caught the look of a young Hudson in my opinion and the paint on his face is great (as well as the rest of the figure), especially in the clean lines on his thin mustache. Some might disagree with the likeness, but I think it works really well.
Also, for his Proton Pack, while it looks the same as the other two guys’, it is much closer to Ray’s in terms of plastic. The cord and wand are both still soft enough that you can pose them in Winston’s hands without fearing breakage, but they are certainly not as soft as Egon’s.
Another place this figure takes a departure from the previous is in the accessories. Gone are the ghost pack-ins from before, Winston here has the ever so essential piece of ‘busting equipment – the ghost trap. Woo! I am glad to finally have this! The sculpt is really quite detailed for being so small and the cord is nice and flexible so it can be wound up for storage, though I wish it was longer. The pedal is also very nice too in terms of detail and I like the way Winston’s foot was posed on it in the packaging. The trap doors open and close to accommodate the blue energy burst via hinges on either side. The hinges work well and look just fine while they are open but when the trap is closed they look a little bulky. Granted, they are still small, probably as small as Mattel was able to make them and still function, but it is a minor aesthetic nit I have with it.
The trap also comes with the aforementioned energy bust to simulate the light it emits (don’t look directly at it!) when it is open and it is shaped in such a way that it looks like it wrapping around a ghost (in this case Slimer), a nice touch. Oh, and it is, of course removable.
So three down and one to go to finish off the Busters team, and Slimed Peter is not due until May 2010. So it will be a gang of three for awhile. I cannot wait until we have the whole team assembled in (un-slimed) decos. The scummy Walter Peck is up next in March (we get a freakin’ Walter Peck here) and he comes with the front of the containment unit to boot.
Overall, I think Winston is my favorite Ghostbusters figure so far. His likeness is quite good and he is beefed up a bit by the inclusion of the very cool ghost trap accessory. So, be on Matty Collector on the 15th to pick him – if you have a job with a steady paycheck in it you can swing him, your team won’t be complete without him!
*Thanks for reading and thanks to Toy Guru for sending Winston along for review!
Additional Links
