The newest, and last assortment, of Diamond Select Toys action figures based on the first Ghostbusters film are in stores now! Ghostbusters Select Series 5 brings fans three all-new figures and the final pieces to form the awesome rooftop diorama. Included in this wave are the Taxi Drive Zombie, the Library Ghost and the Terror Dog (aka the Demon Dog). These 7″ scale figures were released this week to comic and specialty shops. Fans who have collected the previous twelve figures can complete the Ghostbusters Rooftop Diorama, giving them a huge display area for their figures.
Diamond Select Toys sent along the figures for us to check out. We have 80 high resolution photos showcasing not only the series 5 figures, but the completed rooftop dio. Read on to check them out.
Ghostbusters Select Series 5 Figures
Pros
- Good sculpting work on all three figures
- Good paint work on all three figures
- Allowing fans two swap horns on Terror Dog is a nice touch
- Taxi Drive Zombie is gross looking in best way possible
- Terror Dog is one of the best additions to the line
- Clever way to attach lenticular backdrop
- The completed rooftop dio is amazing
Cons
- Hard to get Taxi Drive Zombie to stand
- Articulated stand with Library Ghost has a hard time holding figure
Overall
It’s been a fun ride with these figures. Five waves and hundreds of photos later, we finally come to the end of this series of figures. The main end goal for a lot of fans was putting together the rooftop dio, and it does not disappoint. But first, let’s talk figures. I’ve already talked at length about the packaging in reviews for previous waves, and these are the same. The Taxi Drive Zombie includes a steering wheel accessory, the Library Ghost includes a figures stand and a stack of books. The Terror Dog includes two sets of horns to display as the Gatekeeper or Keymaster versions.
The figures this wave are pretty good for this line. The winner is clearly the Terror Dog (for me), which looks great in hand and has a surprising amount of articulation available. The ability two swap out the two style of horns was a nice touch. Fans who don’t want two versions won’t have to pick up a second one and will be able to display the figure with the desired horns. The Taxi Driver Zombie looks good in hand, and will make good zombie fodder for other lines (I’m looking at you Walking Dead Color Tops). The sculpt is great here, but the paint job makes it even better. The rotting flesh is painted in a very heavy brown paint that looks quite gross in the best way. The only downside is he has one thin skeletal bone foot which makes it hard to get him to stand. The Library Ghost also looks pretty good here, but not quite as accurate to the screen version. It’s an apporpriately scary looking sculpt, but the face seems a bit more elongated. It didn’t bother me too much as the sculpt is detailed, and the paint work is strong. the included stand is nice, but I had a hard time getting it to hold the figure or balance correctly.
The rooftop dio, now completed, is just as good as I had hoped. The full dio is huge. If you plan on displaying it, you’ll need a lot of shelf space. Assembly is quite easy, and I barely glanced at the instructions to put it together. The alternate dimension backdrop is a great looking lenticular print out that snaps behind the doorway. Check out some photos below and the full gallery after that.
Ghostbusters Select Action Figures - Toyark Photo Shoot
Those look awesome!
The diorama rooftop looks amazing. I love the Real Ghostbusters but I would buy the Dio pieces alone without the figures (not my scale).
Likeness rankings:
Winston: Solid, but not perfect.
Ray Stantz: Pretty damn good, off by only a hair.
Egon Spengler: Pretty much perfect, but his glasses suck.
Peter Venkman: TERRIBLE. He looks like Archie Bunker!
Louis Tully: Very good.
Dana Barrett: Pretty bad, but if you look hard you can see a little Sigourney Weaver in there. But you could also easily confuse this figure with the chick from Blade Runner, IMO.
I've only got the Venkman and I like it. The likeness isn't the best but it's still Bill Murray. My big con is that the ankles on mine are ridiculously loose so he can't stand for shit on his own and then neither of his base pieces have pegs. I sorta feel like I could've waited for the non-select TRU version since I have no plans on finishing the roof display.
Winston: Solid, but not perfect.
Ray Stantz: Pretty damn good, off by only a hair.
Egon Spengler: Pretty much perfect, but his glasses suck.
Peter Venkman: TERRIBLE. He looks like Archie Bunker!
Louis Tully: Very good.
Dana Barrett: Pretty bad, but if you look hard you can see a little Sigourney Weaver in there. But you could also easily confuse this figure with the chick from Blade Runner, IMO.
I was so disappointed by these.
I waited until I had all 4 to open them..
Well, removing the hands was a chore, I broke 4 of them trying to remove them, I used heat to aid with three of them.. But no, and the pegs snapped off in the arm, so I literally had to dig them out. It's awful.
Then the wire for the trap broke almost immediately.. I hadn't even straightened it out, and bam.
Then the connection point for one of the streams broke off after one attempt at applying it. And it doesn't help at neither Ray nor Winston come with the connectors.
Then there's winstons proton pack, which after one attempt at connecting the wand to the back broke at the top of the ALICE frame. Ugh
And that brings me to the connections for the wand.. If they going to use those types of connectors, they better be really well sculpted and molded, but they're not. They all have a tough time slotting in, and a couple of them really don't want to stay.
Then we have the paint.. The paint in spots looks really rough and sort of messy. From a couple feet away they look fine, but up close they leave a lot to be desired.
Then we have the articulation.. No double jointed elbows?.. For figures whose main accessory is meant to be held with 2 hands?.. Anyone else see a problem with that?
Then there are the two black bases included with the TRU releases and the diorama pieces.. The black bases just don't work.. And the diorama pieces don't have pegs.
That brings me to another huge HUGE complaint. The sculpt of the feet.. My goodness, these have to be the worst feet I've ever seen. The bottoms are basically balls, you give a figure with a back pack round bottomed feet and it becomes a real pain in the ass to get them to stand. I REALLY REALLY don't understand it. I do not understand how anyone approved something like that.
I had really high hopes for these.. I was so excited for them. But now I'm just bleh about them. I'd love to see a company like figuarts or medicom get a license for these.. Maybe then we'd get some really great ghostbusters figures. I'd kill for 3 four packs.. One with the original suits, one with the dark grey suits, and a set of the real ghostbusters.. I'd also love to see a bogeyman for the real ghostbusters.
I doubt any of that will ever happen. Mattel couldn't do it right, DST couldn't do it right.. Will we ever get real collector quality ghostbusters? It doesn't seem like it, not in the near future anyways.
It's cool if you like these, but I just can't get behind them anymore.
Also.. I'm by no means the kind of person who is rough with their toys and breaks a lot of them.. I can count on one hand how many figures I've broken.. Hell, I can list them.. The lower leg of the masked berserker predator, the hip of the red predator and that's it.
The bottoms of their feet are rounded? Whaaat?
I can't bring myself to dislike the figure though because it is still a solid representation of one of Murray's best/iconic roles. Also knowing Mattel couldn't do any better makes me feel better, I think.
I can't bring myself to dislike the figure though because it is still a solid representation of one of Murray's best/iconic roles. Also knowing Mattel couldn't do any better makes me feel better, I think.
i didn't realize mattel was also rereleasing the classic ghostbusters in stores.. i would've LOVED for them to give them their real ghostbusters color schemes.. i may have bought them if that were the case. but no, they're the standard releases without any accessories and a BAF piece to complete the "no ghost" symbol.
right now i have the DST ghostbusters displayed in a detolf.. but winston and egon are leaning against 1/6 clone troopers, ray has recently started leaning against the door.. and peter is actually standing on his own, but who knows how long that'll last.
it'd be different if the little black base's included with the toys r us releases actually worked. but they don't.
i'm just disappointed. there's just so much potential. i really don't understand the elbow choice either. i mean, if they weren't going to give them double joints, they could've at least improved the range of motion, but no. it's frustrating.
in my dreams.. hot toys would give us perfect 1/6 scaled versions of each ghostbuster, and figuarts would give us the real ghostbusters plus the bogeyman.
My Egon and Peter arrived today. They both look great from a distance, but they each have a few visible issues up close. Egon has some sloppy paint, in particular his hair is unpainted in some noticeable areas. I almost broke the peg on his left hand trying to swap it out for the gloved version. And it kinda looks like someone has taken a crafting knife to the corner of his left eye (probably a moulding error and at least it's hidden by those awful glasses). Venkman looks OK in hand, but the likeness is not great and his eyes are extremely small/squinty. In my opinion Ray and Winston are better in both production quality and character/actor likeness. Still it's nice to have the four main heroes back in my collection after I sold off my Matty versions (a while back) in favour of this upcoming 7" line. My Ghostbusters figure collection is now complete again.
Ghostbusters Select Series 4 - Toyark Photo Shoot - The Toyark - News
The Peck likeness is amazing, probably the best of the line. Gozer looks good. But ones again, Venkman looks like dogshit. I guess that, like William Shatner, Bill Murray has one of those faces that are hard for sculptors to capture. *sigh*
I got the first wave of these, but the constant tipping over of the Ray and Winston figures put me off of them. They tip over even when using the peg stands. Also, for some reason, part of the proton pack on Ray broke and the wire on the neutrona wand snapped off in a place I hadn't even bent it.
At first I didn't mind the sculpt so much but it seems like it got worse starting with the second series. The faces are way too smooth and lacking in definition and lines.
Eh, I think the Mezco figures look good enough. I might get them sometime. Hot Toys collecting is too expensive a hobby for me.
Ghostbusters Select Series 5 and Rooftop Dio - Toyark Photo Shoot - The Toyark - News
"The ability two swap out the two style of horns was a nice touch. Fans who don’t want two versions won’t have to pick up a second one and will be able to display the figure with the desired horns."
What kind of fan wouldn't want BOTH versions of the Terror Dog?!? They're a pair! I guess you can get the second dog from TRU that does not come with a diorama piece so you don't get stuck with 2 pieces.
Speaking of which, which figure comes with the lenticular backdrop? Is it the Terror Dog? That lenticular backdrop looks really good.
What kind of fan wouldn't want BOTH versions of the Terror Dog?!? They're a pair! I guess you can get the second dog from TRU that does not come with a diorama piece so you don't get stuck with 2 pieces.
Speaking of which, which figure comes with the lenticular backdrop? Is it the Terror Dog? That lenticular backdrop looks really good.
People have complained, a lot, about variants coming with Rooftop pieces. So 2 of the exact same figure with slightly different horns probably wouldn't have gone over very well.
Even though I sold off my collection of these, because I was very disappointed by the figures inability to stay standing up, even with a stand, I picked up the ghost and zombie, because they are creepy enough to fit in with my horror stuff. The zombie can't stand at all, so I will probably cut him off at the waist & display him crawling.
Is anyone able to take some photos of the 'busters next to some NECA figures for a scale comparison? I'm realllllly tempted by the upcoming GBII Ray but I don't want him to tower over Reeve Superman or look Jason Voorhees in the eye haha
Luckily, I just picked one up solely for the Santa hat.
Keep reading: DST Ghostbusters - Toyark Galleries - Page 2
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