Review of Ray Stantz, Vigo, Louis Tully
Ghostbusters 2 action figures

Introduction

Diamond Select Toys gave Ghostbusters fans a set of 15 action figures in a seven inch scale based on the original movie. Better yet, those figures came with the pieces to build the amazing rooftop diorama, as seen at the end of the film. It was quite the impressive feat, and while it took some time to get all those figures in your hands (waves only had three figures at a time), it was well worth the wait.

Collectors where happy to see them move on to Ghostbusters 2 as part of their 2018 plans.  The first wave is now hitting, and includes a Ray Stantz in the new colored suit, a Louis Tully dressed up in the old suit, and the big bad, Vigo the Carpathian. Each figure also includes a piece of the diorama, and once assembled, you'll have the front of the firehouse!

The figures will run you around $25 each, depending on the retailer. You might get a bit better pricing if you buy them as a set of three.

Packaging - ***
Nothing out of the ordinary for DST here. The book shelf style bubble/card package does show off the figure and accessories, but it also is most definitely not collector friendly. You'll have to destroy it to free the figure and accessories, and let's be honest - you're just trying to get to those diorama pieces.

Sculpting - Vigo, Ray ***; Louis **
This series has not been known for exceptional sculpts, but they are generally workable and recognizable.

The best of this bunch is probably Vigo, whose portrait is fairly accurate and sharply defined. The work on the unique costume includes surface details and textures, and the overall design allows the sculpt to look good while the joints work as they should. My biggest issue with him in this category is his hair, which is sculpted in a hard flip, looking an awful lot like a helmet. He's a big boy, coming in at the full 7" tall.

Ray looks updated to me, which is a plus. The smile is bigger, with more obvious and rounded cheeks thanks to the wider grin. It's still cartoony, more of a caricature of Ray than a realistic portrait, but you'll know who it is immediately. The costume and pack are the same sculpt as we had with the first wave, but with a new paint job.

Louis is the disappointment here. He's sculpted with the glasses and earmuffs permanently attached. If you were to pop this head off the body and hand it to me, I'd have no idea who this was supposed to be, even wearing the muffs.  The mouth has some of the trademark pouty-ness, but the rest of the face bears little resemblance to the actor or the character.

Louis' costume matches the original DST Ghostbusters, but everything is smaller. He's just under 6 1/4" tall, which seems about right, and even the various hands were scaled down properly. The only thing that wasn't is the glove cuffs - more on that in the Accessories section.

Paint - Vigo ***; Ray, Louis **
Slop city, baby. While the work on all three costumes is good, particularly on the packs and smaller details, the portraits are all lacking in this category.

Vigo has a decent wash to bring out the details on both the face and body. Smaller details are relatively clean, but nothing about the paint work is going to wow you.

Ray has some of the same issues we saw with earlier releases, including wonky eyebrows and eyes and a wavy hairline. However, the earliest Ray had a matte finish on the skin, and this one is much glossier. That's a big negative for me, and creates a much more plastic-y appearance.

Louis suffers from this same glossy look, and the thick, clumpy black glasses aren't doing him any favors. Bad eyebrows and general slop pull him down as well.

Articulation - Vigo, Louis ***; Ray *1/2
One of the areas where there was some trouble with earlier figures was the feet. The bottom of the boots was rounded on some releases, making it tough for them to stand even with all the articulation provided.

That's not an issue here. All three stand great, and while the articulation is very tight, there is a good range of movement in most of the joints.

All three have a rotating hinge neck. It works best for Louis and Ray, where there isn't any long, stiff hair to get in the way. They also have rotating hinge elbows, shoulders, and wrists, allowing for reasonable arm poses. The elbows can't close quite as far as I'd like, making some two handed wand poses tough, but you do have a couple imperfect pose options.

The torso leans and turns, the rotating hinge hips and ankles work well, and the cut thighs and double pin knees round out the legs.  You can get deep stances, and all three figures have a very good rocker movement in the foot and ankle.

Poor Ray takes a major hit here due to one of the wrists breaking almost immediately. It snapped with almost no pressure, and I didn't have anything handy to drill out the post from the wrist. I'll get around to that so I can swap on a different set, but you'll notice that in most of the photos he's missing his left hand. Breakage like this really annoys me, and always results in a stiff penalty in this category.

Accessories - Ray ***1/2; Louis ***; Vigo **1/2
Regular readers know that if a figure only comes with a BAF piece, they get a **1/2 here. That's the exact situation with Vito. The diorama pieces are huge and impressive - he has the Ghostbusters sign and one large corner of the facade - but he doesn't have anything to call his own.

Louis has a nice assortment of the usual extras, mostly re-used from past releases. There are eight hands in total: medium grip bare hands he comes wearing, tighter grip bare hands, tight grip gloved hands, and wand gripping gloved hands. They swap easily enough, and the hands themselves are properly scaled to the smaller figure.  The gloved hands aren't really sculpted gloves, but simply normal hands painted black.  The only piece not scaled down is the separate rubber cuff for each gloved hand, and they do look a little odd on the figure.

Louis also has a ghost trap, radio, and proton beam. The radio fits in a holster on his belt, while the beam attaches tightly to the end of the wand. Of course, he also has a diorama piece, one half of the opening front doors.

Ray has all that plus some. He has ten hands in total, and his cuffs are the right size. I've already mentioned the issue I had with breakage, but swapping was generally easy. He also has the radio, trap, and proton beam.

His extra additions include a PKE meter, as well as his Santa hat. The hat fits nicely, and is really his only specific and unique extra. Like Louis, he comes with one half of the large front double doors.

Fun Factor - **1/2
These would have been a three star grade, but for the breakage issue. The joints are very tight, and you'll want to spend some time with a heat source working them loose before you start using them too much.

This score is going to rise once we have all the figures and can complete the very cool diorama.

Value - ***
The $25 price tag is an above average value when you consider the number of extras and the sheer size of the diorama pieces.  While there's a lot of re-use, the larger pieces are all brand new, and they will end up creating a pretty sweet set up to display behind all the figures.

Things to Watch Out For -
Breakage, don't you know.  Be very careful with all the joints, since they are very tight, but pay particular attention to the hands and wrists. A little heat wouldn't hurt the first couple times you swap them, or even before you starting turning them.

Overall - Vigo ***; Ray, Louis **1/2
If you've been collecting this line, these figures won't be a big surprise in quality or style. They are in line with earlier releases, and will fit in nicely on the shelf. The paint quality needs to improve, and poor Louis can't seem to catch a break.

But the big draw here is the diorama.  I'm willing to buy a few stinkers to get the completed firehouse facade, and I'm hoping the end result will once again be worth the wait.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - Vigo, Ray ***; Louis **
Paint - Vigo ***; Ray, Louis **
Articulation - Vigo, Louis ***; Ray *1/2
Accessories - Ray ***1/2; Louis ***; Vigo **1/2
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value - ***
Overall - Vigo ***; Ray, Louis **1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth also have the set for $65.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
The last three figures in the Rooftop Diorama series were the Terror Dog, Taxi Ghost, and Librarian Ghost. Prior to that we had Walter Peck, Gozer, and a Slimed Peter. Earlier reviews include Quittin' Time Ray, Slimer, and Janine, with Ray, Louis, and Winston and Dana, Egon, and Peter.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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