EGON SPENGLER

GHOSTBUSTERS: CLASSIC (MATTEL)

“If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?” Well, the song would have you believe it’s the Ghostbusters, but in reality, you’d probably call the cops. At least, that’s what I’d do. But, let’s be honest here, the Ghostbusters are the far more exciting choice. Also, they make for better toys, and that’s the most important part to me! For the last several years, Mattel has held the main toy-license for the Ghostbusters franchise (though Diamond Select has been a pretty steady contributor of products as well). While the license has been a bit dead the last few years, it’s finally returned, like some sort of…ghost. Weird. Actually, it’s not weird at all, seeing as there’s a movie titled Ghostbusters coming out next month and Mattel obviously wants to get on the marketing bandwagon for it. In addition to the stuff based on the new movie, there’s also a decent amount of merch based on the original films, including today’s focus, Egon Spengler!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Egon is figure number 3 in Mattel’s recently released Ghostbusters: Classic line. It would appear that this particular set of figures is exclusive to Walmart, but time will tell if they remain that way. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. Egon is based on his appearance in the first Ghostbusters, which is kind of the obvious choice, really. Structurally, Egon is mostly re-used pieces from Mattel’s previous Ghostbusters line. The head is taken straight from their original Egon, and while it’s not a perfect likeness of Ramis, it’s pretty close. The legs and upper arms are also from the first Egon (and by extension, the Ray and Winston figures as well). The lower arms and hands are from Mattel’s Venkman figure to give him the gloves that the prior Egon figures lacked. The torso is the one new piece here, as it’s been re-sculpted to include a removable proton pack (all previous figures had the packs permanently affixed). While the new pack obviously isn’t as snug a fit as prior figures, it’s fairly decent for the scale. The pieces all mesh together fairly cohesively, which is good, I guess. The level of detail is a little low for a figure based on a real person, but that’s pretty typical for a figure from Mattel. Points for consistency. The biggest flaw with the sculpt is that the body wasn’t sculpted with Egon in mind. Since the same basic body pieces are being used for all of the ‘busters, the body has to be sort of an amalgamation of all four of their body types, which robs them all of some of their individuality. Egon in particular should really be a little taller and skinnier than this figure is. The paintwork on Egon is passable. There’s not really anything to write home about, but it’s mostly pretty clean. I do wish his name tag were just a little better placed. In addition to the removable proton pack, Egon also includes the, uhh… Yeah, there’s really no other way to say this: he comes with the butt of the logo ghost. I guess that would be cooler if I had the other three pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Egon was something of an impulse buy. I was at Walmart with my family and noticed they had several pegs worth of these figures. I knew they existed, sort of, but hadn’t really sought them out, mostly due to never being very much impressed by the prior figures Mattel had done. Egon’s always been the ‘buster I most closely identified with, and they only had the one of him, so I bought him. I must admit, I’m pleasantly surprised by this figure. He’s not perfect, but he’s far better than I’d expected him to be. Take this candy bar Mattel. You–you’ve earned it.