{"id":6549,"date":"2010-06-18T03:29:49","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T08:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=6549"},"modified":"2010-07-04T20:35:34","modified_gmt":"2010-07-05T01:35:34","slug":"truetorial-who-ya-gonna-call-he-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=6549","title":{"rendered":"Truetorial: Has Mattel
Crossed the Streams?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Normally, I get to express my opinions on toys in the form of reviews. If I have thoughts about a particular line or the job a certain company is doing, I usually work them in there. But I can only do that if I\u2019m buying the toys and in the case of Mattel’s Ghostbusters line, I\u2019ve stopped doing just that.<\/P><\/p>\n

Somewhere between how the line\u2019s been handled and how the figures turned out, I\u2019ve grown really bored with the line.<\/p>\n

Sharp-eyed viewers no doubt noticed the lack of an IAT feature on Walter Peck this past month. A couple fans e-mailed in asking when we\u2019d be getting to him. As I told them, we couldn\u2019t. Not only did I pass on Gozer\u2019s unwitting accomplice, so too did everyone here at IAT. Similarly, none of us picked up slimed Peter this week either.<\/p>\n

As a Ghostbusters fan, it feels odd to pass on the figures. I love Ghostbusters. Like many other fans, I watched the first film as a kid and I\u2019ve carried an appreciation for the franchise to today. I like both movies. I like the cartoon. I loved the old toys. I wanted to buy Neca\u2019s offerings a few years ago, and did buy their giant Marshmallow Man, but not being able to get the guys left me cold. When Mattel announced their acquisition of the license, I was excited. Finally, I thought, finally<\/em>. <\/p>\n

But it hasn\u2019t been what I expected. First, there are the delays and gaps in the schedule. Mattel announced the Ghostbusters line back in February 2009. And in the last sixteen months, there have been five figures total, two of which were released in the last four weeks. Sixteen months after the announcement of DC Classics fives waves had been released. Sixteen months after the announcement of MOTU Classics is a little more complicated, we were teased with the He-Man at SDCC 2007, but the official announcement was made the following spring and sixteen months after that, there were a dozen figures in the line. To be fair, these delays have likely been something that Mattel could do little about, but it has hurt my interest in the line. Between Winston in December and Peck in April, the line was basically on the shelf collecting dust. <\/p>\n

What’s really bothered me, though, is that the toys just aren\u2019t as good as they could be. I\u2019m a fan of the \u201cbuck system\u201d. Sometimes, it can be a letdown like with Evil Lyn and her blue Teela dress or the upcoming pinhead Sinestro in the GL 5pk, but when done right – with the appropriate add-on pieces – it can create a great line that looks great together. I definitely feel that way about both MOTUC and DCUC on my shelves. <\/p>\n

But it hasn\u2019t worked as well for Ghostbusters. If you\u2019ve laid down $100 plus shipping for that line, this is what you\u2019ve received: three figures with entirely the same body and only new heads, a fourth figure with a new head and lower arms and legs, and one non-jumpsuit figure in the form of Walter Peck. Now, Peck getting the suit treatment gives me hope that the line has more life to it than just slimed versions and dark repaints of the uniforms, but the suit body is also an early warning for the eventual Lab Coat trio, and possibly suited versions of the figures. Casual Winston anyone?<\/p>\n

Honestly, I\u2019d probably buy that Winston. Winston is my favorite Ghostbuster. I loved his toy most as a kid and I like Mattel\u2019s version too. I think it’s a good figure. That\u2019s what bugs me about the toys. They\u2019re good, they\u2019re just not good enough. And while Walter Peck\u2019s new buck may offer some relief, Mattel still made that jumpsuit buck for Egon, and then finished off the team with only twelve new pieces \u2013 nine of them are on Venkman. That’s not that impressive.<\/p>\n

Now, there were pack-ins too. Two Slimers, a Logo ghost, a trap w\/ effects, and the wall unit. If I picture it all together, it looks good. But was it worth $100 plus shipping? Even with today\u2019s prices in my mind, I have to say no. <\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m not saying that Mattel is fleecing Ghostbusters collectors. We don\u2019t know the arrangement between Mattel and Sony. We don\u2019t know production numbers and the associated costs. There doesn\u2019t seem to be a huge outcry after the items sell out, so they seem to be meeting demand too. That\u2019s good for the health of the line, but it also means that Mattel might not feel the need to do more. But they need to do more. The line needs more diversity in the bucks. It needs more non-Ghostbusters. It needs more ghosts. It needs extra accessories instead of using one new accessory to help push a mostly reused figure.<\/p>\n

My feeling letdown began with Ray. I liked the figure, even with his peanut head, but I didn\u2019t like that he was $20 when he was only a new head on the Egon body and a new ghost. And that ghost was a sign of problems to come. There are a lot of ghosts in the movie and right out of the gate, Mattel was essentially making one up. There are likely some fans out there who wanted Buster and I didn\u2019t mind getting him either, but then Winston came with a trap instead of a ghost. That seemed cheap. The Containment Wall was nice, some might even see that Walter Peck came with it instead of the other way around. Slimed Venkman included a second version of Slimer. If I\u2019d bought everything, I\u2019d only have two legitimate movie ghosts. And they\u2019d be two versions of the same one. <\/p>\n

The upcoming Lab coat Ray finally gives collectors a second movie spirit, the subway ghost. I do kinda want it. I felt the same way about the containment unit. But another $20 for a figure with only two or three new pieces (the coat, torso, and accessory)? I don\u2019t think so. <\/p>\n

And what\u2019s beyond him? The speculation is that we’ll soon see a clean Egon with a PKE meter. And a clean Peter is probably a lock for this year. Toy Guru mentioned the possibility of a \u201cSedgewick Hotel\u201d Ray that could presumably be achieved with Slimed Peter\u2019s arms and one new piece \u2013 the Ecto-Goggles. Those three figures will hopefully all get engaging pack-in ghosts, but that\u2019s another $60 with very few new pieces on Mattel\u2019s part. After that? Lab coat Peter? Egon? Mattel has said they\u2019ll have at least the head of one non-Ghostbuster at SDCC. But if just the head is sculpted, then how long will it be until we see the final product? We saw Slimed Peter\u2019s head at SDCC last year and he just went on sale this week.<\/p>\n

Basically, I think we\u2019re the one\u2019s getting slimed. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what Mattel wants out of Ghostbusters. Do they simply have the license in anticipation of the third film? Is this line just a bonus to build some excitement towards the movie release in 2012 and make some money while they\u2019re at it? It really seems to be. The new tooling is sparse and crucial accessories are treated as incentives to buy new figures. The trap shouldn\u2019t have been a pack-in. It should\u2019ve been with every Ghostbuster. I mean, if they expect us to buy Casual Winston someday, he\u2019ll need a bundle of traps to hold, right? Or will that be his incentive accessory like clean Egon will come with the PKE meter or the proposed hotel Ray with goggles? And what of clip-on proton streams? That was a big missed opportunity. <\/p>\n

This line, as it is, may be all Mattel wants out of the license right now, but it\u2019s not all I want. The figures they\u2019re offering right now just don\u2019t interest me. And I don’t think I’m the only one.<\/p>\n

Having not bought a Walter Peck, I turned to my favorite review sites. All of them had reviewed at least two of three previous Ghostbusters releases and yet I couldn\u2019t find a Walter Peck Review on any of them. Their reasons might be different than mine and it could just be that he’s Walter Peck. But it\u2019s not a good sign that he wasn\u2019t covered on so many of the sites that had covered the first three figures. After a Google search, I did find a nice review at Tomopop<\/a> and I\u2019ll be adding an offsite review link to it on our Ghostbusters Resource<\/a>. For now, we’ve moved the link for the Ghostbusters guide to its new home in the dropdown menu for the Checklist Index. We\u2019ll let you know when we add an offsite review link for slimed Venkman and we\u2019ll continue to keep it updated as new announcements rollout.<\/p>\n

Overall, I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m totally out of the line. I did sell Egon and Ray and didn\u2019t buy Peck or Peter, but Winston is still here. He\u2019s my favorite Ghostbuster after all. And if an exciting figure comes along, I wouldn\u2019t be opposed to buying it. If the Ghostbuster 4pk turns out to be the dark grey uniforms, my resolve would be tested. But the days of expecting a nice set of movie characters to come out of this line are over. This isn\u2019t the Ghostbusters line that I thought Mattel was going to make. It\u2019s very far from being the definitive line the way that MOTUC and DCUC are for their properties. <\/p>\n

Nothing about the line asks collectors to be completists. They\u2019re pricey, heavy on reuse, and light on accessories or sensible pack-ins. I don\u2019t know what San Diego will reveal for the future of Mattel\u2019s Ghostbusters, but I\u2019ll be looking on as an observer and not a potential buyer.<\/p>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Normally, I get to express my opinions on toys in the form of reviews. If I have thoughts about a particular line or the job a certain company is doing, I usually work them in there. But I can only do that if I\u2019m buying the toys and in the case of Mattel’s Ghostbusters line, I\u2019ve stopped doing just that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[10,201],"tags":[2561,20],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/noisyTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-1HD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16222,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16222","url_meta":{"origin":6549,"position":0},"title":"Checklist Updates: Marvel, Ghostbusters, & Four Horsemen","date":"January 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve got more updates ready to go. Some checklists have undergone some minor tweaks while others required a bit more elbow grease to get up to speed. I\u2019m still working on a DCClassics.Com update, but Marvel Universe 2011-2012, Ghostbusters, and the Four Horsemen checklist get the spotlight today. Here's more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":81,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=81","url_meta":{"origin":6549,"position":1},"title":"Ghostbusters Classics Resource Page","date":"July 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Ghostbusters"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2890,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=2890","url_meta":{"origin":6549,"position":2},"title":"Most Requested Year-End Poll: Choose Your Own","date":"December 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This year, we've featured eighteen Most Requested articles. And although we really wanted each and everything we asked for, we also want to know which of the Most Requested Figures really is the most requested. And the best part is, you get to decide. Before we get into the nominess,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Requests"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17905,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=17905","url_meta":{"origin":6549,"position":3},"title":"Truetorial: Mattel Rips off the DC All-Stars Band-Aid (Updated)","date":"April 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"News of the (ideally temporary) demise of DC comic-based figures at retail has been circulating for a few days. With Young Justice canned, the DC Classics line moved almost entirely online, and DC Comics\u2019 basic inability to market their wares, it\u2019s not the best time to be a DC collector\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Truetorial"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":785,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=785","url_meta":{"origin":6549,"position":4},"title":"Checklists for DC, MOTU, and Ghostbusters Classics!","date":"August 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This is sort of a grand opening for ItsAllTrue.Net. When we conceived what this site would be, one of the things we wanted were checklists\/resources for some of the lines we were collecting. Truthfully, we just really like making lists and this way we get to share them. Right out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31061,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=31061","url_meta":{"origin":6549,"position":5},"title":"Mattel Announces MOTU Classics & Ghostbusters SDCC Exclusives","date":"May 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Ghostbusters"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6549"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6549"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7321,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6549\/revisions\/7321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}