Hey, everybody! It's 2016, and there's a new Ghostbusters movie, and it's such a great franchise that I...
...Wait, what?
...Oh.
Okay, time to discuss the elephant in the room. The movie is not out yet, but people have been fighting about it for months now. The trailer is the most-disliked ever, and the battles over this film are almost as vicious as the 2016 Presidential race. So, I guess I've gotta give my opinions. grumble grumble.
Okay, first off, I have no problem with the premise. Ghostbusters was funny because of the actors in it, and scary because of the ghosts. If the actresses in the new movie are funny, then woohoo, awesome. It'll be nice to have a movie with female leads who aren't there purely for sex appeal, though it would be nicer if we could have this without them being there purely for politics, and the sad thing is that even though that's not what was intended, people have turned it into such. In most of the internet debating, liking the movie makes you an evil commie SJW, and disliking it makes you a woman-hating rapenazi. That's a false dichotomy. plenty of people love or hate it because of ideology, but plenty of others do not. I for one would be happy if the movie turned out great. But if not, no skin off my back. It's not like it's "ruining my childhood." If one movie can somehow ruin the original film, the sequel, the cartoon, the toyline, the comics, the recent video games, or Hell, Filmation's weird talking-pe-sorta-knockoff (long story), then I've got problems.
Based on the trailer, I can say this. The jokes seemed funny enough (I loved the wig one), the ghosts looked cool, I really apreciated how Melissa McCarthy wasn't the butt of fat jokes, and... I am not happy with the racist humor. Seriously, Winston Zeddemore wasn't a caricature. He was treated with dignity. So why does Patty Tolan have to be bugging out her eyes, screaming "She got da DEVIL in her!!!" and otherwise acting like somethign out of a minstrel show? For a movie claiming to be progressive, this is shameful. Hopefully, it won't be as bad in the actual film, and the trailer just showed us most of it.
And as for the leaked plot on Reddit - eh, I'll judge it when I see it. The person reporting that clearly had an "it sucks!" bias, because he complained about things which he seemed to have enjoyed in the original movie. And if you do that - hate and complain about things you praise in the orginal GB - then you are a hypocrite, and nobody should listen to you.
Anyway, I hope the movie is good. So let's talk about the toys! Mattel has released 6" figures and a bunch of 1" minis, all of which have been hitting store shelves for the last week or so. I picked up a full set of packaged minis - not the blind-bagged ones, the three-to-a-pack figures - and two of the ghosts, Stay-Puft and Mayhem. So, let's take a look!
Here's Abby Yates, played by melissa McCarthy. Again, I noticed that the movi doesn't seem to go HAHAHA FAT FAT FATTY HAHAHA, which I appreciate. She seems like a good actress, just often stuck with sucky material. The figure doesn't really look like her. I mean, you can tell that it's her, but these seem to be the Animated versions of the charactrs - the old cartoon didn't have the likeness rights to the actors, so it turned everybody into nearly-unrecognizable (and yet totall recognizable) caricatures.
This is Jillian Holtzmann, played by Kate McKinnon - and her hairstyle is out-Egoning Egon. Seriously, she looks more like a classic cartoon character than some of the classic cartoon characters.
Kristin Wiig plays Erin Gilbert, and this figure looks nothing like her.
And finally, we have Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan. Please, movie, don't be racist.
Next up is Slimer, aka Onion Head, aka The Ghost of John Belushi, beause what would Ghostbusters be without him? This mini is hard plastic, like the other ghosts - all the ghosts contain translucent skeletons, but in exchange feel cheap and fragile. Up to you if it's worth it or not.
Slimer, those hot dogs were for everyone!
This is Rowan, aka The Logo Ghost, aka the villain of the movie. Not gonna judge until I see it, since the riginal film made a giant marshmallow man look awesome.
And here is Rowan being busted!
This one, an unnamed split-faced ghost, has shown up in some other merchandise as well. I wnder what role it plays in the movie.
Here's the librarian. She was in the original, and she's back now!
This ghost is a giant bug. Most of these look like they fit into the cartoon - and hey, that's not a bad thing. A bug is pretty basic, though.
This rat ghost looks so much like a baboon that I have dubbed it the monkey-ghost. It's also easily the creepiest of the group.
Well, the material of the ghosts is kind of disappointing, though the humans fare better in soft PVC. I like the minis, but they feel like they just aren't where they need to be. Close, though - if only they went an extra step in imitating the old companion ghosts, these would be flawless.
Next we have Menace, in the 5" line. Menace, aka The Concert Ghost, looks to be one of the antagonists of the movie. My personal guess is that busting him is what gives the Ghostbusters fame for a while. You actually see a tiny glimpse of him in the trailer, but it's not enough to check the likeness. Still, this figure is more detailed than others in the line.
Note the skull-like head, the multiple horns and fangs - so, is this guy a "ghost," or some sort of demon? I get the feeling this is what people thought Gozer would be before it turned into a marshmallow.
That said, he is made up of the same hard plastic as those minis, and a lot of details are lost. Note the button in his chest, too - it's tied to an action feature!
The ghost figures all have light-up features - press the buddon in their stomach, and they light up! Menace has a green light, which does look good... the only problem is, the moment you release the button, he light goes out. So any photos involve my thumb.
His articulation is uneven, but not bad. The legs are pretty stiff, but his arms have a great range of motion. Gotta love the multiple fingers, too!
Overall, Menace is very close to being a good figure, but the type of translucent plastic hinders him by muddying his details. It's too bad, too - he's a creepy demon!
And now we have the Stay-Puft Balloon Ghost, which... wait, say what? Stay-Puft BALLOON? I guess in the movie, it's a parade float that comes to life, but... he's still a marshmallow mascot, right? Right? Oh boy.
Anyway, Mattel's first attempt at ole' Stay-Puft was a massive, $100 figure made out of a special tetured foam... that rotted on its own, even in-package. Maybe it was a chemical reaction to paint, maybe it was oxygen, but this was a terribly hilarious fiasco. And thus, this guy is hard plastic. Hollow, too. And with limited articulation. It can take some great poses, but it's honestly not much better out of package than in.
Stay-Puft's light-up feature is red, and though it looks great on him... well, see the thumb? The light needs a delay before going out, just saying.
So, what to say overall? These larger figures feel cheap. With each one, it's like it could have been fantastic, but just barely missed the mark. Make no mistake, I love how Stay-Puft looks, but will it be able to stand up to a kid's treatment? Hard to tell. But at least it doesn't rot, right? Haha.
Hey, everybody! It's 2016, and there's a new Ghostbusters movie, and it's such a great franchise that I...
...Wait, what?
...Oh.
Okay, time to discuss the elephant in the room. The movie is not out yet, but people have been fighting about it for months now. The trailer is the most-disliked ever, and the battles over this film are almost as vicious as the 2016 Presidential race. So, I guess I've gotta give my opinions. grumble grumble.
Okay, first off, I have no problem with the premise. Ghostbusters was funny because of the actors in it, and scary because of the ghosts. If the actresses in the new movie are funny, then woohoo, awesome. It'll be nice to have a movie with female leads who aren't there purely for sex appeal, though it would be nicer if we could have this without them being there purely for politics, and the sad thing is that even though that's not what was intended, people have turned it into such. In most of the internet debating, liking the movie makes you an evil commie SJW, and disliking it makes you a woman-hating rapenazi. That's a false dichotomy. plenty of people love or hate it because of ideology, but plenty of others do not. I for one would be happy if the movie turned out great. But if not, no skin off my back. It's not like it's "ruining my childhood." If one movie can somehow ruin the original film, the sequel, the cartoon, the toyline, the comics, the recent video games, or Hell, Filmation's weird talking-pe-sorta-knockoff (long story), then I've got problems.
Based on the trailer, I can say this. The jokes seemed funny enough (I loved the wig one), the ghosts looked cool, I really apreciated how Melissa McCarthy wasn't the butt of fat jokes, and... I am not happy with the racist humor. Seriously, Winston Zeddemore wasn't a caricature. He was treated with dignity. So why does Patty Tolan have to be bugging out her eyes, screaming "She got da DEVIL in her!!!" and otherwise acting like somethign out of a minstrel show? For a movie claiming to be progressive, this is shameful. Hopefully, it won't be as bad in the actual film, and the trailer just showed us most of it.
And as for the leaked plot on Reddit - eh, I'll judge it when I see it. The person reporting that clearly had an "it sucks!" bias, because he complained about things which he seemed to have enjoyed in the original movie. And if you do that - hate and complain about things you praise in the orginal GB - then you are a hypocrite, and nobody should listen to you.
Anyway, I hope the movie is good. So let's talk about the toys! Mattel has released 6" figures and a bunch of 1" minis, all of which have been hitting store shelves for the last week or so. I picked up a full set of packaged minis - not the blind-bagged ones, the three-to-a-pack figures - and two of the ghosts, Stay-Puft and Mayhem. So, let's take a look!
Here's Abby Yates, played by melissa McCarthy. Again, I noticed that the movi doesn't seem to go HAHAHA FAT FAT FATTY HAHAHA, which I appreciate. She seems like a good actress, just often stuck with sucky material. The figure doesn't really look like her. I mean, you can tell that it's her, but these seem to be the Animated versions of the charactrs - the old cartoon didn't have the likeness rights to the actors, so it turned everybody into nearly-unrecognizable (and yet totall recognizable) caricatures.
This is Jillian Holtzmann, played by Kate McKinnon - and her hairstyle is out-Egoning Egon. Seriously, she looks more like a classic cartoon character than some of the classic cartoon characters.
Kristin Wiig plays Erin Gilbert, and this figure looks nothing like her.
And finally, we have Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan. Please, movie, don't be racist.
Next up is Slimer, aka Onion Head, aka The Ghost of John Belushi, beause what would Ghostbusters be without him? This mini is hard plastic, like the other ghosts - all the ghosts contain translucent skeletons, but in exchange feel cheap and fragile. Up to you if it's worth it or not.
Slimer, those hot dogs were for everyone!
This is Rowan, aka The Logo Ghost, aka the villain of the movie. Not gonna judge until I see it, since the riginal film made a giant marshmallow man look awesome.
And here is Rowan being busted!
This one, an unnamed split-faced ghost, has shown up in some other merchandise as well. I wnder what role it plays in the movie.
Here's the librarian. She was in the original, and she's back now!
This ghost is a giant bug. Most of these look like they fit into the cartoon - and hey, that's not a bad thing. A bug is pretty basic, though.
This rat ghost looks so much like a baboon that I have dubbed it the monkey-ghost. It's also easily the creepiest of the group.
Well, the material of the ghosts is kind of disappointing, though the humans fare better in soft PVC. I like the minis, but they feel like they just aren't where they need to be. Close, though - if only they went an extra step in imitating the old companion ghosts, these would be flawless.
Next we have Menace, in the 5" line. Menace, aka The Concert Ghost, looks to be one of the antagonists of the movie. My personal guess is that busting him is what gives the Ghostbusters fame for a while. You actually see a tiny glimpse of him in the trailer, but it's not enough to check the likeness. Still, this figure is more detailed than others in the line.
Note the skull-like head, the multiple horns and fangs - so, is this guy a "ghost," or some sort of demon? I get the feeling this is what people thought Gozer would be before it turned into a marshmallow.
That said, he is made up of the same hard plastic as those minis, and a lot of details are lost. Note the button in his chest, too - it's tied to an action feature!
The ghost figures all have light-up features - press the buddon in their stomach, and they light up! Menace has a green light, which does look good... the only problem is, the moment you release the button, he light goes out. So any photos involve my thumb.
His articulation is uneven, but not bad. The legs are pretty stiff, but his arms have a great range of motion. Gotta love the multiple fingers, too!
Overall, Menace is very close to being a good figure, but the type of translucent plastic hinders him by muddying his details. It's too bad, too - he's a creepy demon!
And now we have the Stay-Puft Balloon Ghost, which... wait, say what? Stay-Puft BALLOON? I guess in the movie, it's a parade float that comes to life, but... he's still a marshmallow mascot, right? Right? Oh boy.
Anyway, Mattel's first attempt at ole' Stay-Puft was a massive, $100 figure made out of a special tetured foam... that rotted on its own, even in-package. Maybe it was a chemical reaction to paint, maybe it was oxygen, but this was a terribly hilarious fiasco. And thus, this guy is hard plastic. Hollow, too. And with limited articulation. It can take some great poses, but it's honestly not much better out of package than in.
Stay-Puft's light-up feature is red, and though it looks great on him... well, see the thumb? The light needs a delay before going out, just saying.
So, what to say overall? These larger figures feel cheap. With each one, it's like it could have been fantastic, but just barely missed the mark. Make no mistake, I love how Stay-Puft looks, but will it be able to stand up to a kid's treatment? Hard to tell. But at least it doesn't rot, right? Haha.
