Review-A-Palooza chugs on with a short review on a much-anticipated addition to Mattel’s Ghostbusters line, Vigo! I’ve put this off review because I wasn’t sure what tone to take with it. Do I get hung up on its limitations? Focus on what I like? Ideally, this review falls somewhere in between.
Mattel’s Ghostbusters sometimes feel like a noose around my neck. It’s a property that I’ve loved since I was a wee tot. I love both the movies, the cartoon, the old toys, t-shirts, stickers, buttons, there’s even a “vintage” Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man notepad (granted, I never use it) is my desk drawer just beneath this keyboard. I love Ghostbusters. And, so, Ghostbusters figures should be a foregone conclusion.
They were at first, and then I escaped until Stay-Puft drew me back in. I got caught up again late last year, but the last figure I snagged was Louis/Vinz and, let me tell ya, that figure will leave a bad taste in your mouth. Combine that Vigo not being quite up to my expectations and the cancellation of the Club Ecto-1 Subscription and a good dose of dissatisfaction has re-entered my feelings on this line. In fact, I almost didn’t order RTBY Peter after I saw the shipping. I finally caved and spent $30 for him and the upper half of the Taxi Cab Ghost (review coming soon), but I’m still not convinced I’ll be buying Dana, but that’s a discussion for a later date.
See, I’m a couple paragraphs in and still I’m not talking about Vigo. Everything I just said is stuff I’m thinking about when I look at him. There are some specific criticisms which I’ll get to, but I can’t help but feel this figure has issues with the line hanging on it like an albatross. There are collectors happy with it – are they crazy? There are collectors dismissive of it – are they crazy? I don’t know, but I do know I’m somewhere in between (and surely crazy).
Vigo is a wholly new sculpt – which hasn’t been a good thing for the line since the Horsemen were moved to ‘greener’ pastures. For the most part the line is reuses a lot of the 4H-sculpted pieces, which I do think has helped the line. The first foray into using in-house sculptors resulted in Vinz Clortho and that is a fairly bad figure. The likeness is mild and the torso is just crappy. Granted, when I compare Vigo to one of the better Ghostbuster figures like Egon or Winston, he doesn’t measure up as nicely – but compared to Vinz? Mattel’s learning curve is pretty steep.
For the body of the figure, I’m happy with the sculpt. The hands are a little soft, but there’s some great layering with the softer plastics and the armor, laces, rivets, and general texturing are good throughout. It does feel like there should be some more texturing on the torso – or maybe it should just be beefed up a little, but I think the figure looks fine as a whole. I really love the height he has over the other figures. In terms of sculpt, I think the main complaint for is going to be the head.
First a confession, I don’t really care about the head sculpt. I know that it doesn’t look like Vigo from the painting. I also know that it doesn’t look like Wilhelm von Homburg. But the thing is, the painting from the movie doesn’t look like Wilhelm von Homburg either. It looks like the sculptor worked off the painting and made some guesses about von Homburg face that just weren’t right in three dimensions. I can lament that the sculptor didn’t call me up and ask to borrow Diggstown or In the Mouth of Madness from me to get a more realistic depiction of Homburg, but I’m not really going to. It’s a clean sculpt and the figure is undeniably Vigo.
I’m mostly good with the piece except, if you remember the movie, Venkman made more than a couple comments about Vigo’s hair? You know, blonde jokes? I can forgive a sculptor for not quite being able to hit a likeness, but since when did Vigo have gray hair? Continue to Page 2…
A couple of thoughts first of I think all your though sabot the line the figure are pretty much right on. I personally think that the figure look fine, if it came at a much lower price point. Not to bag on Mattel we all have our opinions, but the cost of the figure (and yes I consider shipping part of the price) makes you just need more. Second, Ghostbusters is what we get from a “dream line” and makes me glad that we never got that Breakfast Club line. But great review.
Side note: Ghostbusters 2 was a turning point in my childhood it came out the summer of my freshman year. I still had that kid thing were I never saw a bad movie. That was why I was baffled when exiting Ghostbusters 2; I knew I did like it. I pretended that I did with bunch of friends I was it with, but deep down I was like mood slime WTF???
I was young enough that I still enjoyed GB2 unquestioningly! As an adult, I know GB1 is vastly superior, but I still enjoy both. Even the mood slime!
The cost of shipping Venkman brought the figure to $33. I finally did it, but it hurt.
I would like to buy JUST the painting! He should have come with a baby!
Haha Oscar would’ve been a great accessory!
I wish Mattel had handled Ghostbusters with more care. One of my favorite properties of all time…and the whole effort has been mediocre.
That said, I like Vigo for what he is…and because any Vigo is better than no Vigo.
I know that Mattel will have a million and one explanations, but ultimately it does just come down to the fact that it doesn’t feel like anyone at Mattel ‘loves’ this line. It’s the same feeling that DCUC gave off in that last year.
It’s a decent enough figure for a villain who spent much of his time trapped in a painting. Had they included the Demon head that turned up on the ‘bay, it would have been better. they were able to cost the second head for Vinz, but not Vigo? BULL.
Still wish we had gotten a Janosz figure to complement him. He would have been a great complement to Vigo and slimed Ray. Is it too much to hope he’s the “mystery surprise” that Matty is teasing? I would rather hope for Janine, but he’ll do.
As for the painting, I can’t seem to get the angle right to show as much of Vigo as you do in your pic. Bill looks weird and I just realized there’s a small hole in Egon’s hair above his right eye on my poster?
(And Danny had NEVER been that buff, even back in the SNL days! even his face looks like a bad photoshop! LOL)
I don’t know what’s up with that demon head. Vigo’s head is not intended to be removed…
I’m not sure what the surprise is, but I don’t have that much faith in it being cool (I’ll happily eat my words on that though). That business decision by Mattel ultimately could cost me up to $50 in double shipping.
Ironically, I can’t get my Vigo to completely disappear…
Vigo… Vigo… Vigo… When this line was first announced he was one of the figures I knew I wanted. Then the line actually happened. When Vigo went up for sale I was already logging onto Matty to buy my Wind Raider, so the questions was whether or not I wanted to pick up Vigo. I was on the fence but I went ahead with it… and now that I’ve had him I can’t decide if I just want to leave him MOC in box or open him up. He looks like a fine figure. The soft facial sculpt is actually kind of forgivable – let me put it this way, is it a perfect likeness of Wilhelm von Homburg? No, but it is kind of how I see Vigo in my mind’s eye.
I would’ve been super happy with a Homburg head (though it wouldn’t have looked like the painting), but I do think this is close enough for horseshoes. My wife and friends knew it was Vigo.
Man, looks like this guy’s suffering from more than just Carpathian Kitten Loss. A figure befitting Vigo the Butch should have at least ball elbows.
More and more, it looks like the only possible dip I’d make into this line would be to catch the TRU 4 pack on clearance.
dude, if they’d included a little cat w/ him, i think the easter egg effect alone would have bought them a lot of leeway… and had they included both heads, and then two lenticulars, the one we got, and a bonus lenticular w/ the cat “painted” into the image, and then the giant head “talking” all the paint ops and soft sculpts could be forgiven. this was a chance for them to really get it right, and they botched, completely.
Dana’s really the one I’m on the fence about. The few-and-far-between ghosts have been what’s kept me tagging along. I didn’t really spend $33 on RTBY Venkman so much as the Taxi Cab Ghost. I’ll buy the Rookie for the gear alone. Dana’s not got much going for here unless they deliver a really nice figure…
Man, that elbow thing really makes me sad. He should have been awesome, and yet, he remains only mediocre. So sad how downhill Mattel seems to be travelling, really. I’m sure the next “cost saving action” Matty pulls will be Rocker ankles from MOTUC or H-hips from DCUC…. “we’ll find a way to get this item to you Fans”….grrrr…
Taking out the ball-elbows, or designing it without them was a boneheaded decision. No two logistical ways about it.
Does Lewis have ball joints in his elbows? It looks like he does. That’s major fail.
He does. The suit body doesn’t feature ball-joints, but Louis got them. Louis actually got a lot of articulation, but his sculpt is poor. It’s like they improved in one area at the cost of another… y’know, logistics?
Cool review.
Arggh, Mattels’ Ghostbusters.
Like a lot of you, this was my childhood obsession.
Like a lot of you, I want to love this line.
Mattel don’t half make it hard though.
At this stage, I can’t work out why I’m buying these.
Vigo’s headsculpt is shite (no, sorry it is.)
Stay-Puft’s turning yellow (not impressed after paying around £80 for him with shipping).
I hate the Ready to Believe you figures, but I buy ’em for the ghosts (and justify it by saying “it’s only four figures a year).
Ditto Courtroom.
Dana’s gonna look bad I bet.
The Rookie is a piss-take but the joke’s on me, because I want those damned Ecto goggles for Ray (and where the Hell was Egon’s stethoscope Mattel?).
Still no second Scoleri Brother, either movie Janine, “Human style Librarian”, Terror Dogs, Gozer, Janosz or Oscar announced and even though Mattel swears the line’s not dead, we all know that’s crap.
Luckily I managed to find a cheap Neca Gozer, but I doubt I’ll ever get the dogs at the aftermarket prices these days.
Not even a way to get four proton streams without buying four Venkman’s (classic Mattel).
I will say though that I didn’t mind the Vinz figure at all though..
I’ll keep buying them though, I know…a sucker and his money.