Movies
Toy Fair: First Look at Mattel’s ‘Ghostbusters’ Action Figures!!
Live from the 2009 New York Comic Con, Mattel brings die-hard film fans figures based on the classic 1984 comedy Ghostbusters! Figures on display include Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond Stantz, Dr. Egon Spengler and the mischievous apparition Slimer! The only thing I’m wondering is where the hell is Winston and if they’re making 12 inch figures, how big will the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man be!? Either way, the figures look incredible and are highly detailed (when did Mattel get their sh*t together?). Read on for a look and start talking about what you think should be next.
Figures.com reports: Mattel elaborated on their new Ghostbusters action figures at a MattyCollector.com panel today at New York Comic-Con. The toy line, which will be exclusive to the website, will be based on the motion pictures (classic), animated series AND the upcoming Atari video game. These will begin to see release this summer, one figure released every other month, in the following sizes:
* 6-inch Action Figures – each including multiple accessories and a pack-in ghost. These will retail for $20 each.
* 12-inch Action Figures – Ghostbusters will kick off a new line called 12″ Movie Masters. This opens the door for other movie licenses in the 12 inch format. Each Ghostbuster character will include light-up proton packs, real cloth uniforms and tons of operating equipment, such as traps that open and close. These will cost $60 each.
Click any image to see it larger and then head over to Figures.com for LOADS of images:
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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