Review of Peter Venkman - Ghostbusters
One:12 Collective

Introduction

Kids who saw and loved the original Ghostbusters are now at an age where they are a) nostalgic and b) have disposable cash. What does that mean? That means the license suddenly gets hot after years of languishing on the sideline. Over the last several years, we've seen a renewed interest into everything Ghostbuster thanks to the aging of the fans, and higher priced collectibles have become more common.

Mezco has been hitting it out of the park with their terrific One:12 Collective series of action figures. The concept is simple - bring the level of quality and craftsmanship that we are seeing in many high end sixth scale figures down to a 1/12 scale. Their figures cover a huge range of licenses, from the immensely popular to the lesser known.

Their latest to ship is all four Ghostbusters based on the original film. You can only buy them as a set of Venkman, Zeddemore, Stantz, and Egon Spengler, and the full set will run you around $300.

Packaging - ****
I love when they do the metal tins, and this one is HUGE. It contains all four figures plus all their accessories in two layers of plastic trays. The embossed logo on the front looks great, and it's one of those rare packages that you'd keep no matter what you do with the figures.

I will say I'd like some better instructions. While the included sheet covers swapping batteries, I had an issue with the accessories that I'll have to figure out from others. I'd rather a simple explanation right in the box.

Because each of these guys has unique accessories and head sculpts, I'm going to break them up into four reviews. Tonight I'll start with Pete, the cornerstone of the team.

Sculpting - **
I'm a huge fan of this line, and of the amazing work they've been doing in this scale. Remember, Peter is only about 6 1/2" tall. But I have to say he's off, and it's enough to be an issue for me.

There are two heads, as usual. One is 'normal', while the other is 'scared'. The hair sculpt on both is great, with lots of tiny detail in the stranding and an appropriate style. Realism is decent as well, with some subtle skin texture and variation between the eyebrows, lips, and skin itself.

But the likeness isn't there. The prototype of Venkman wasn't perfect, but it was slightly better than this final result. The nose is off, and the cheeks and jawline are too smooth, too tight. Murray has a slightly 'doughy' look to his cheeks, even as a younger man, and that's been completely slimmed down and removed in this final version.

Of course, part of this issue may be with the paint work, and a re-paint from a skilled artist could make a big difference. But out of the box, he's the worst likeness of the four Ghostbusters, and one of the worst in the entire One:12 series so far.

The scared head isn't any real improvement, although I do like the expression. I'm not seeing Bill Murray in it, and if you popped them off and handed them to the average person, i suspect they'd have a hard time placing who this is supposed to be.

Paint - ***
One of the areas they've really excelled at is the production paint work at this scale. The quality is still strong here, but I did have a few more issues than usual.

I'm not loving the washed out skin tone, something we saw with a couple of their earliest figures. The teeth are a bit gloppy too, but the eyes, eyebrows, and lips are clean and neat. The lips are a smidge dark, bordering on a lipstick appearance, but they are cleanly applied.

There's an itty bitty amount of black bleeding into the skin at the hairline, but it's quite minor. The work on the accessories - especially the pack - is terrific across the board, with lots of tiny, clean details.

Articulation - ***1/2
No surprises with the underlying body, and the outfit isn't particularly restrictive.

The neck has plenty of lean and tilt, and the heads swap easily. The tight costume and elbow pads restrict some of the arm mobility, but I was still able to get decent two handed wand poses.  The torso turns and leans, and the hips, knees, and ankles can take flowing short to deep stances.

The two piece boots allow for some rocker movement, but not quite as much as we've seen with some other figures. He can stand great on his own though, even with the pack in place. You should be able to find a reasonable center of gravity and still create life-like poses.

Accessories - ***1/2
He doesn't have a ton of extras, but a couple are quite intricate. And while there's re-use across the four figures, each has some very important specifics.

He has extra hands of course. He comes wearing fists, and there's two additional sets of varying grips. These swap easily and remained attached while I was posing him.

There's also that extra head. Every One:12 figure should have at least one extra head.

Every figure also comes with a radio that fits in a holster on the belt, as well as his super detailed proton pack. The pack lights up - more on that in the next section - and has all the wires, knobs, and doo-dads you'd expect. The 'hose' attaching the wand to the pack is a heavy duty wire, which allows you to pose it in just about any fashion you'd like.

Every figure also comes with a proton stream. Here's where some instructions would have been handy. It appears as though we should have some sort of short, small peg to insert into both the tip of the wand and the end of the stream to attach the two. I'm not seeing any, and I'm not seeing any other way to make it work. I'm sure someone reading this will be happy to tell me how they attach, but this is an example where a brief sentence or two in the instructions would have been...well...instructive.

Along with the second head, Venkman has another unique accessory. He comes with the Bacharach Sniffer 300, which he used in Dana's apartment. It's very detailed, although thin wires in the two hoses would have been useful.

Oh, and every figure has his own display stand of course. It can be used with a simple foot peg, or with the included clear translucent support rod.

Light Feature - ***1/2
The pack lights up of course, and the necessary batteries - three for each pack - are included. Unscrew a small panel on the back, pop the batteries in, and press on one of the large silver 'canisters' on the front of the pack to illuminate. Easy peasy!

The pack has two lights. There's a red light for the lower cylinder, where four spots glow, and a white/blue light for the upper left side. These lights don't blink, rotate, or alter in anyway, but steadily glow.

The feature works great, and the lights are easy to see in an well lit room. Swapping batteries is pretty easy, and the switch is located in a very easy spot to reach. It's a feature you'll be able to use regularly thanks to all this ease. I do wish the red lights alternated or blinked, but that's a minor nit overall.

Outfit - ***1/2
Remember, this guy is only 6 1/2" tall, yet these suits fit as well as most sixth scale costumes.

The quality of the stitching and the overall construction are excellent. The collars are properly scaled - often an issue - and the pockets and patches look great. The jump suit has only one problem...the zipper is just a little oversized.

Like the hose on the pack, the 'pee' hose on the suit is a sturdy wire, which allows you to pose it and get it to hang neatly out of the way. The belt has a ton of great detail, with all the extras you expect. The two piece boot sculpt looks great, and while the rocker movement isn't perfect, they do allow for some. And the elbow pads are separate pieces, allowing you to adjust them a bit to get deeper elbow bends.

There are no bare hands with these figures. All of the hands are painted black, and the top half of the glove fits over the cuffs of the suit.

Fun Factor - ****
All buy himself, Venkman is fun. Put him with the team, and he's way more than that.  These guys were meant to be posed together, and I can't wait to get out my old huge Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!

Value - ***
While $300 might seem like a lot (and believe me, it is), when you compare it to buying four regular One:12 figures, you'll see you're actually getting a slight price break. The average figure these days is $80 each. That would be $320 for four regular releases, and these four are anything but. Even with the re-use, they went the extra mile to give every character at least one unique accessory and an extra portrait, not to mention the inclusion of Slimer.

Things to Watch Out For -
I am a little worried about the long term health of the wire 'hose' that runs from the wand to the pack. I didn't have any issues yet, but I'm hoping it's extremely well connected to the pack, where the most tension and pressure occur.

Overall - ***
I love a great Ghostbuster. I have all the Mattel figures. I have all the DST figures. I have all the Blitzway figures. And yes, I have the sixth scale Ecto-1 on pre-order.

Considering how much I love the overall One:12 line, picking up this set of four was an absolute no-brainer for me. And while the portrait on Venkman is one of the overall lines weakest to date, I'm still very happy with the quality of the costume, accessories, and underlying body. I'm also happy to report that of the four, this is the only one with a truly disappointing portrait.

Even with a face that doesn't quite capture Venkman, the other aspects of the figure are good enough to save him from a really bad Overall score. Standing with the other three, facing off against the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, he's going to blend in just fine.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - **
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***1/2
Light Feature - ***1/2
Outfit - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - ***
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
I picked mine up through the Mezco direct store for Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth was also at $300.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other 1/12 Ghostbusters include those done by Diamond Select Toys, as well as those released by Mattel.  Mattel also did some cheaper sixth scale figures, and Blitzway did some terrific but costly versions as well.

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

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!