Because this is primarily a toy blog, I don’t get to show off my love for Ghostbusters as often as I’d like. For years, my Ghostbusters needs had to be satiated with stickers, buttons, t-shirts, etc. Well, thanks to Mattel and Diamond Select, that’s starting to change. We’re getting figures and minimates this year and it feels like we’re at the beginning of two really solid Ghostbusters collections.

For minimates, not only have they released movie-based mates, but they delved into a few ghosts from the new video game as well. The game picks up a couple years after Ghostbusters II ended (and might bridge the gap to Ghostbusters III). Without spoiling too much, I’ll let you know that the game is heavily tied into the events of both films. If you haven’t played the game, you might not know exactly who these ghosts are, but you’ve seen some of their handiwork in the films…

Before I get into the individual video game ghosts, I did want to touch on a fifth minimate that made its way from the SDCC floor to my collection. When you collect minimates, it’s not always just about the licensed releases you might find in stores, it can also be about collecting “blanks”. A blank is typically molded in a solid color and will sometimes have a logo on their chest. In this case, the blank commemorates the 25th Anniversary of the original Ghostbusters film. I really like the 25th logo where the ghost is holding up two fingers on his right hand and then five fingers on his left to mark the 25th year. Around the logo it says, “Twenty Five Years of Paranormal Activity”. There’s not much to it, and I would have preferred a white base instead of black, but I’m still glad I managed to snag one. This blank was handed out with any minimate purchase at the DST Booth in SDCC.

Now that we have the blank out of the way, there’s a little history to this four pack everyone should know. Originally, it was slated to only be available through Amazon as part of a bundle of goodies that came with the video game. About a week before the release, Amazon dropped them from the bundle saying they were unavailable. Despite not having them in the bundle, DST went forth with production and brought them to SDCC. This course of events has caused the prices of the 4pk to skyrocket on eBay, but DST plans to solicit this 4pk in the August previews – so just hold tight and order it from your comic shop to save some cash.

Chef Demassi

The Chef is probably my second favorite out of the set. He has the taller head to accomodate his chef hat, a fatter torso piece, claw hands, a skirt, and instead of legs he sports a clear base. One of the things I like about him is something that may not be on purpose. He has the same base as Slimer, but his is angled more which makes his “floating” more believable. If you turn him on the stand, his angle changes and he can appear to be floating back or forward. It’s a nifty thing. If this was on purpose, I hope DST continues to use the more bent stand for the floating ghosts. There’s also another little plus, you can slide the skirt piece away from the upper body and angle it to look like he’s bending or twisting a little. For not having legs, the Chef is surprisingly poseable. As for paint, the Chef has got the most planned apps and the best execution. In addition to his checkerboard apron and post-mortem details, he even sports a stain on his chef’s uniform!

Black Slime Monster

The Black Slime Monster spoils a little bit about the game, in that they’re dealing with a black ectoplasm this time around. In addition to the basic body, the Slime Monster sports bigger feet, claw hands, a slipover piece for his lower torso and a hulking slipover piece for his upper torso. Oh, and he’s all mouth. He also gets one of the two accessories in the set, a hook attached to a metal chain. I like the Slime Monster well enough, but I would have been happier if he’d been molded in a translucent black with the other details painted on. That’s indicative of my only real problem with the set, I would’ve like to see more translucent plastic so they could fit in better with the previous releases. Despite that, I really enjoy the paint work on this one. The slime does look pretty goopy and that’s the most important part.

Architect

When you find out who the Architect is, you might be pleasantly surprised. At least if you know your Ghostbusters lore. But there’s really nothing about the figure itself that will clue you in. I wasn’t that excited by this figure at first, but once I knew who it was, I started to like it a more and more. The Architect has a normal mate body with a long skirt and long hair. He gets the other accessory, a fireball, that clips over either hand. The Architect also sports some nice paint details. He has a lava/magma scheme that runs in red/gold on his face and chest and then just red on his skirt to simulate a cooling effect. The gold is slightly metallic for a nice touch.

Azetlor

Azetlor is a strange one. Looking at the mate, I would say he’s a loose gathering of rocks. In the game, he’s more of a black slime guy with bits of broken furniture sticking out of him. I’m not sure why the disparity, but I do like both looks, so I’m not worried about it. Azetlor (let’s see if I can spell it right every time) is the only figure from the set in clear plastic, but his paint apps are solid so it’s more or less cancelled out. He’s my favorite figure in the set. The rock and face tampos are all clean and his tall head makes for a interesting finished look. That and I’m a sucker for clear plastic toys.

Overall, I’m happy to have these from SDCC instead of having to wait for the Previews edition. They’re great additions to the growing Ghostbusters Minimate universe and you can never have too many ghosts. And the blank, while not really canon of any sort, really gives me a “complete” feeling.

They’re all minimates so their articulation, paint, and everything is superb as usual. They’re the best block toys on the market and the fact that DST is making Ghostbusters now is just icing on the cake. I just hope that we hear an announcement about anything beyond Wave 2 soon. I know that Minimate licenses can come and go pretty quick, but hopefully the interest in Ghostbusters will get us a lot more minimates…

Click here for my Review of Ghostbusters Minimates Wave 1.