[christphern]

Vigo appears to be about 7 inches, or the same scale as the GBs. However, I'll be generous and go with 8". According to info I was able to find, the firehouse is 25' across. At a 6" scale, that equates to 25". If you tip Vigo on his side, he would likely span the base at most 3 times, giving a width of 24" at best, 1" shy of being in scale with the Matty figures at 6", and quite a few more shy of being in scale with the DST figures. Might not seem like much, but when you're posing your figures with it, believe me, it'll be noticeable. I noticed immediately how absurdly out of scale the rooftop was as soon as I started putting the figures in, especially when the 7" scale Neca Terror Dogs didn't even come anywhere close to fitting on their bases (I assume this is why the DST Terror Dogs are loaded with metric tons of ugly articulation, in order to actually be able to stand on bases that are scaled for figures nearly 2" smaller in scale).

Another good way of judging the scale would be to compare how big the sign is in the mockup compared to Vigo, versus how big the actual sign was compared to a person.



It's also worth noting in said comparison that they appear to have changed the shape of the windows on the larger outer doors in order to make them smaller so that the inner doors could actually be big enough for the figures.

As for the Mattel issues, I'm not arguing they're perfect, but, in my opinion, they're vastly superior to DST's offerings, which in my opinion are utter garbage.

[DSTZach]

We have customer service if you have a broken piece. BUT if you have a STUCK piece, I've sometimes suggested ways to try to free it, because if you don't TRY to free it, asking for a replacement seems a bit premature. Once it breaks, you have a customer service issue.

And yes, the rooftop is not in proportion. I don't think we EVER said it was. But it is a large diorama, big enough that people either have to buy furniture to put it on, or actually opt not to buy the deluxe figures because they simply don't have room. I don't know how much bigger we could have made it. We had to add three figures to the line just to accommodate all of the pieces. But I am certainly sorry it is not big enough for some people.

And if the firehouse doors are not 100% accurate, then I am again sorry, but we did the math, and it will take 15 figures just to build what you see there. We also need each piece to be able to fit in the package, which may have led to some slight modifications. To make more of the building, or to make what is there bigger, would be very, very difficult.

The 7" scale is our scale of choice since 2002, when Marvel Select started. 15 years of 7" scale figures. No reason to change now.

I would THINK most people would agree that an attempt at a likeness is better than a non-likeness that "captures the character," but I do actually think our likenesses are pretty good, and our articulation is better than most. Paint I haven't had a chance to really compare, but matching painted parts to cast parts can be difficult, so that might explain why a joint is painted a certain color, and not cast in that color.

And I would think that a full ghost figure is better than a scaled-down pack-in ghost, but I guess it depends on what value you place on that ghost. I think our Gozer is great, but there is no Mattel one to compare it to.

I think these comparison photos are pretty indicative of the improvements we've made:

[MagicMan666]

Great comparison shots. Calling the Diamond figures utter garbage is not only way over the top, it's pretty stupid. We can nit pick over figures all day long, but at the end of the day, we are getting amazing Ghostbusters figures!! That alone makes me happy

I didn't have any articulation problems with any of mine, in fact they are miles ahead of the mattel ones, allowing for better display opportunities.

Likeness and detail wise, diamond are again far better. Just compare Ray!! And at least Diamond are using their eyes when it comes to Vigo's hair colour. Diamond get more accessories including proton streams which is something so basic we should have got with all the mattel busters.

The diorama, whilst not to perfect scale, is an awesome addition. I don't recall ever seeing it say it is to scale so I don't see why it is an issue. It is still a great way to display the figures rather than just standing on a boring shelf. And lets be honest, the rooftop is still massive. I had real trouble fitting it anywhere!

My only complaint with Diamond would be the lack of proton stream connectors with the first two figures and I do find them a bit weak overall, but a quick email to their customer service and it was all sorted. You could argue that you shouldn't need to contact customer service about things like this, but compare contacting them to contacting Mattel. Mattel is without a doubt the worst customer service I have ever experienced, and I mean ever, and I had to try and deal with them frequently.

That's not to say the Mattel figures were terrible. They served their purpose at the time, but we have moved on and we now have something so superior from a decent company, with good customer service and better business practices. I mean what actually was Mattels deal with marking stuff as sold out then moaning they never sold enough to warrant more?

Well done Dimaond, I'm really looking forward to getting series 5 and finishing the rooftop, and seeing what the Ghostbusters 2 figures will be like. We dne Diamond Select

[ccv66]

Neither line is perfect. I'm not a fan of dst incredible Hulk slimmer arms and Egons head sculp. Id agree the dst joints were stiff, I set them up as display so it wasn't a big deal for me, but if they were bought for a kid to play with, I could see someone preferring Mattel. If you thinks Matty's figures were better, you were paying more for a smaller figure. End of the day it's preference. I wouldn't call either of them garbage. I prefer the DST, their Walter Peck and Louis Tully were top notch.
Dear Zack,
If the rest of the gb2s look as good as Vigo, you get me some 7" RGB and 1/10 ecto 1... let me know who to make the check out to and I'll let you fill in the amount

[Dr.D]

Overall, DST is striving for a higher level of accuracy that what I personally saw with Mattel's approach. Overall I'm very happy and think the dio is one of the coolest GB related things ever produced.

[DSTZach]

Slimer's arms are more accurate if you keep his upper arms at his sides. We kept the upper arms free to allow for more posing options and make up for the toy's lack of ectoplasmic stretchiness, but they do fit into shallow cavities on his sides. Maybe the forearms could have been smaller to account for the slightly smaller on-screen scale of Slimer, but they are regular human proportions, as they were in the film.

The rest of GB2 will look great, based on what I've seen. If these do well, maybe RGB is in our future. Not so sure about an in-scale Ecto-1, but the 1:15 electronic Ecto is still in the works.

[ccv66]

When I first took slimer out of the package i didn't care for it. But when he's pegged to the side of the diorama floating, straight on view and arms pinned to his side, it looks fine. Having gb1 and gb2 slimer heads was a nice touch

[christphern]

The joints aren't even close to molded in the correct colors, which is baffling to me, as the pegs that hold said joints together are a fairly close match. For example, the shoulder joints for Vinz are molded in flesh plastic, as opposed to blue, while the pegs are molded in a similar blue to the paint, not to mention that said flesh plastic was abandoned when it came to molding his flesh joints on his hands, which instead, are molded in white plastic. This continues across all of the figures in various ways. As I said, even that would be a non-issue if paint had been taken into account when designing the figures, but they weren't.

You can use my comparison pics all you want, but really, they look halfway decent in pics, but as soon as you start posing them, yeah, not so much. Considering that I had massive chunks of paint flying off my figures the first time I started posing them, yeah, the joint rub REALLY bothers me (heck, MATTEL solved the same issue on their reboot figures). You can shrug off all of these issues as "no big deal", but I feel that they ARE a big deal.

As for the scale, you may have never said it was in scale (not sure, I'd have to check), but if your figures don't fit in said diorama without really ugly articulation *cough*terrordogs*cough*, then it might be time to rethink some things. Again, you guys chose the scale, not me, but if you're trying to push yourself as the better line, it seems an odd choice to release a diorama for your competition's figures. You've put several figures in the same line that haven't included diorama pieces. That right there could have been your solution. Bigger diorama, more pieces, packed with the extra figures.

As for the ghosts, I'll be sticking with either the NECA or Mattel versions for those. NECA's Terror Dogs and Gozer are infinitely superior to DST's, which makes me very glad I got them instead. They may not be as poseable, but they're far better figures.

[Dr.D]

I mean...you cannot expect them to cater to your specific ideas as to what these figures should be. There's a difference between offering constructive criticism and sitting there and just kinda tearing these things apart. No, they're not perfect. But you just seem content to not only voice your displeasure, but also to try and invalidate other people's opinions.

Not sure if you're aware, but Zach doesn't have to come on here and talk to us and listen. Kinda rare, I can only think of a few companies who are so involved. At the end of the day, no one is forcing you to buy these. If you don't like them, then just don't.

[DSTZach]

I love your comparison shots, chris! They really show that our figures look more like the actors, and have more articulation. Thank you!

I am not trying to convince anyone that our toys are better than others, just dispel the idea that ours are somehow catastrophically bad. They are not, by any stretch of the imagination. But I realize that some people have very specific requirements for their toys, be they tight joints or no joints or more customizability or no customizability whatsoever. So while it's interesting to find out everyone's special needs, some needs are more specialized than others.

If you hate articulation, then this line is not for you. We're making more articulated figures, so you can re-create more poses. Sure, NECA's Gozer and Terror Dogs looked great, I bought them, but they didn't do much. Our Gozer can crawl, and our dog can leap, and it's up to the individual to decide if the articulation cuts are worth the added mobility. I think they are, but some clearly do not. We're all about marrying a nice sculpt with useful articulation, but we try not to let one supersede the other (no movement vs. too many breaks). I think our terror dog looks great. I won't comment on Mattel's ghosts, but if they give you what you need, that's great, too.

I'll look into our options for joint rub -- it's certainly something I've noticed, but at the end of the day I as a collector/displayer/photographer find I don't really care what color the joints are. I just know that they're usually made of a different type of more durable plastic, so the color is not always customizable for each and every joint in the body. We'd have to cast the joints in multiple colors, which I imagine is labor-intensive and cost-prohibitive. But maybe there is a solution that prevents a strip of paint from shearing off every time.

And saying that our diorama is for other figures... well, you all know that's not our objective, but if people buy all 15 figures just to put other figures on the diorama, it's all the same to us. We made what we could make, and if we had made it any bigger, fans would be buying more Peters and Rays to complete it and wondering what room it will fit in. Insisting it was a bad idea is fine, but I think most would disagree.

[ShiftyHenry]

Ultimately, these are toys. Anyone expecting a $25 figure to be perfect in every day, needs to manage their expectations. If you want absolute photo accurate perfection, there are Hot Toys and the like.

The DST figures objectively look better. Remembering that these are toys, the likenesses look great. Mattel may have gotten Ernie closer, but DST nailed Aykroyd. Two different companies will obviously have varying results.

People complain about slimer a lot. But it's accurate to the costume that Mark wore. If the arms are at the sides like Zach mentioned, it looks screen accurate. I've spent time with Mark Bryan Wilson. He doesn't have the scrawny arms like people want. I think the arms look smaller because of the optical effects used. But look at the BTS photos of mark wearing the rubber slimer arms over his own. It puzzles me that people in this community of all places don't see what they were going for. Maybe people want it based on the maquette and not the costumed actor. I really don't know.

And we won't even start on how much better the DST Stay Puft is then Mattel's.

Mattel also used the same buck for all four Ghostbusters. DST didn't do that. There is VERY LITTLE reuse and all the figures in the line are unique sculpts. Variants being the exception.

They are definitely a better value...I mean, $13.99 for these at Toys R Us without the base. There is NO OTHER company offering figures of this quality for under $20. Period. Paying a little extra gets you a sweet diorama. Again, no other company is giving us a build a playset like this.

This comes down to personal preference I guess. I've had no issue with the proton steams, or breakage on any of my figures. I felt that Venkmans eyes were a little wonky. I reached out to DST and had a replacement within a week. These are the GB figures I've wanted for years, and now I have them and will purchase whatever DST makes. Mattel figures were fine and I was happy to have them at the time, but once I saw these it wasn't long before I sold every mattel figure I had.

This is a little off topic...but literally my only issue with DST is that we still don't have awesome Back to the Future figures from them....Zach, make it happen! You guys cracked GB and pulp Fiction...you're our only hope!

[zeta otaku]

Is there a way we can order and buy extra accessories for the figures like more traps and PKE meters?

[Havoc0213]

The complaints about the diorama being too small compared to figures gave me a good chuckle. The rooftop diorama, and probably the upcoming firehouse as well, is already so big that it is almost stupid. You pretty much need a coffee table or a space similar in size to display it. Any bigger and it would be absolute nonsense!

People complain about slimer a lot. But it's accurate to the costume that Mark wore. If the arms are at the sides like Zach mentioned, it looks screen accurate. I've spent time with Mark Bryan Wilson. He doesn't have the scrawny arms like people want. I think the arms look smaller because of the optical effects used. But look at the BTS photos of mark wearing the rubber slimer arms over his own. It puzzles me that people in this community of all places don't see what they were going for. Maybe people want it based on the maquette and not the costumed actor. I really don't know.

So you've spent time with Mark Wilson. Cool, but how exactly does that make you knowledgeable on the subject of accuracy? Were you spending time with him during the filming of Ghostbusters 30 years ago? Did you see him in person wearing the Slimer suit? Honestly, I can look at photos of Mark in the Slimer suit all day (behind the scenes and in the film) and his arms still don't look that big sticking out of the suit. The size of the suit makes his forearms look rather stick-like. Speaking of forearms, one thing that really stands out on the figure is that Slimer's arms are too long. Marks forearms and elbows were all you saw sticking out of the suit. The Slimer suit was so fat, really, that only his hands hung below his body. On the figure, majority of his forearm does!




So how accurate is that figure again?! Perhaps if Diamond fattened Slimer's body up, because that suit looks pretty big, maybe then he would look a bit better. As for what people want, I think I've said it before. Movie (in film) accuracy! lol

Now one thing I'll hand to DST is the idea of adding multiple faces. Especially the one eating hotdogs! By far the best idea for a Slimer figure! I also like that they made him, and other Ghosts, standalone figures and not pack-ins like Mattel did. While I appreciate Mattel's method of giving us ghosts, I feel like we can get better quality and size from those that are sold individually like DST's.

[ShiftyHenry]

So you've spent time with Mark Wilson. Cool, but how exactly does that make you knowledgeable on the subject of accuracy?

Did I say knowledgeable? I don't think I did. I'm just illustrating that Mark has normal human arms. So does the Slimer figure...which is based on Mark in the suit. The arms look smaller in the film. Though I think you nailed the issue...the body is too small. The arms could be perfectly scaled...but they look massive because the figure isn't fat enough.

[Doctor Venkman]

I'd be curious if someone could take off the top section of his arms and just attach the bottom half to the shoulder...

[Croker]

If these do well, maybe RGB is in our future.

In that case I hope you sell truck loads. Would love some RGB figures.

[YHSCraig]

Hey guys, we sat down with Zach last night and talked DST toys for about an hour. Check it out if you like!
http://traffic.libsyn.com/yeshavesomec ... ode_48.mp3

[ccv66]

Seems like a rgb toyline would be a given, considering how popular it was and how many episodes still hold up, but thinking about it, once it went off the air it became rare. If you weren't old enough you might have not known it existed. But Seems like if they could profit from rgb minimates , it would justify a 7 inch line.

Zach said they don't have the rights to movie props, I wonder if they could do rgb props

[BigTime72]

I'm late to the party here, but the excitement for the GB2 figures pushed me over the edge and I just picked up the first wave of series 1. Blown away, these are great figures. I wonder how feasible a Build-A-Stay Puft might be!

Also hope the Rookie makes it into the GB2 line!

[DSTZach]

No plans for a Rookie in the GB2 line, but plans may change.

NO plans for a build-a-Stay Puft, since we released a 23" version of him in vinyl, and he's still available.

[Hairy Biker]

Aside from having problems with getting figures to stand, which isn't a biggie, I think DST figures are great! I haven't had a single issue with any off them. The size is perfect, the likeness and detail is great. These are far superior to Mattel and for a better price and much easier to get a hold of.
I can't wait to get my hands on every one.

[LordVigo82]

Zach, what accessories are Janosz and Vigo supposed to come with?

I'm really hoping for that alternate head for Vigo, and the Canvas/wheeled stepladder thing for Janosz to give a mini-recreation of the museum diorama.

[DSTZach]

Not sure of final accessories, but Janosz should come with the painting. And I believe he has been moved up to Series 1/Series 6!

Stepladder and other larger diorama-type accessories are unlikely, as each figure also needs to come with part of the firehouse. That is the diorama we went with.

Vigo's head may not be final, we'll see what happens there, not sure interchangeable heads are in the cards.

[LordVigo82]

If I may inquire then, what other accessories should we expect to see with Janosz and Vigo, that you are aware of, other than the painting with Janosz?

I simply ask, due to all the accessories that the other figures have come with thus far.

I appreciate it.

[LordVigo82]

The paint apps on my Matty figures were always clean, the accessories always top notch and undamaged, the ghosts were pack ins rather than a separate figure at the same price, the body sculpts were pretty good, I honestly prefer the head sculpts (while not realistic I think they capture the characters better, and for me, the DST heads aren't ever winning any lookalike contests), and Mattel at least had the common sense to mold the figures in their appropriate colors.

Every last one of the DST figures I've gotten has had sloppy paint apps (thanks to their crappy masking my Ray looks like Mr. Spock, pointy ears, arched eyebrow and all), bad molding issues, damaged accessories (at a spot where I've seen other's from them break, so it's likely a matter of time), fused joints (to which their reply was "Just stick it in the freezer!" You can scroll back several pages, believe me it's there), blast streams that have no way of working out of the box and are incredibly brittle (I've had 2 break on me and I never even did anything with them), I honestly could keep going.

The figures joints are also molded in some of the dumbest choices of plastic color I've ever seen, as well as having been designed by people who haven't the slightest clue what they're doing. Hey, Zach, since you work for DST I'll direct this at you. Do you know how you avoid joint rub? As the name implies, you remove the rub. If the arm and joint don't touch, you don't get rub. Another way to avoid it is to mold the joint in a color similar to what you're going to paint it. If you're going to paint it blue? Use a blue plastic instead of flesh tone, like you guys didn't do with Vinz. If it's going to be grey, mold it in grey, not black, etc. If you do it that way, it's a lot harder to tell that the paint's rubbed off.

Then you get the ghosts, of which nearly half at this point are an utter travesty. The Slimer's a joke, Gozer looks pretty goofy, and don't even get me started on the Terror Dogs, which have to be an unsightly mess in order to articulate enough to stand on the platforms designed for figures nearly 2" shorter than they are. Which brings me to the diorama which is horribly out of scale with the figures they come packed with. It's closer to scale with the Mattel figures, but even then it's too small for them. The firehouse diorama, despite Zach's insistence that they strived to have it in scale, looks even more horribly misproportioned than that, being smaller than it should be for even the Matty figures. I understand that a 3' wide facade firehouse wouldn't be feasible. But I'm also not the one who decided upon it, nor the one who decided on the figure scale.

Yeah, these figures are cheaper than the Mattel figures. But to me, they feel cheap, and when you start to actually look at them, the cracks become all to obvious, and they start to look it too.

Honestly, I think both the Mattel line and the DST lines have their good points and bad points.

First and foremost, 'far as I'm concerned, Mattel cleared the path regarding the license and likenesses for everyone to get in on it; just ask NECA, and with the limitations they had to work with.

I have all 4 guys and Vigo both carded, hanging on my wall, and on display on my shelf, of the Mattel line. I have Vinz Clortho as well, but I might consider parting with it, as I actually prefer DST's version of him.

I don't plan on buying two each of the DST ones as I did with the Mattel ones; just one of each (save for Vigo, must have two), so I can build the dioramas, and on top of that, I don't even want all the DST figures, as I don't think all the likenesses are particularly great (Winston Zeddemore, I'm lookin' at you), so I'll easily be parting with figures I don't want, since in some cases I just need them for the diorama pieces.

[DSTZach]

If I may inquire then, what other accessories should we expect to see with Janosz and Vigo, that you are aware of, other than the painting with Janosz?

I simply ask, due to all the accessories that the other figures have come with thus far.

I appreciate it.

Not every figure is going to have a bunch of accessories, or necessarily any, just as in Series 1-5. It depends on the character. Alternate hands are always possible, maybe even an alternate head here and there, but the specialty versions of these figures include large diorama parts, and the TRU versions are bare-bones by design, so accessories are not always a requirement, unless the accessories are inseparable from the character or seen as a necessity to promote sales of that character.

I CAN tell you that we are looking into giving the GB some extra gear that has been requested in the past. And they will have the lifeguards on their belts.

[LordVigo82]

If I may inquire then, what other accessories should we expect to see with Janosz and Vigo, that you are aware of, other than the painting with Janosz?

I simply ask, due to all the accessories that the other figures have come with thus far.

I appreciate it.

Not every figure is going to have a bunch of accessories, or necessarily any, just as in Series 1-5. It depends on the character. Alternate hands are always possible, maybe even an alternate head here and there, but the specialty versions of these figures include large diorama parts, and the TRU versions are bare-bones by design, so accessories are not always a requirement, unless the accessories are inseparable from the character or seen as a necessity to promote sales of that character.

I CAN tell you that we are looking into giving the GB some extra gear that has been requested in the past. And they will have the lifeguards on their belts.

Ok, I can live with that answer. Slightly off-topic, but what happened with the likenesses regarding the X-Files figures, and Barbara from Gotham? I don't collect the former, though I do the latter, but in all three instances they were REALLY off.

[DSTZach]

I disagree with that statement, but sorry you do not like them.

Of course, I also disagree with similar comments about our Winston, Dana, Louis and any likeness in our GB line. I think all three look better than previous companies' releases, but to each their own. Few likenesses at this scale are 100% accurate, simply due to manufacturing tolerances, and the variations in hand-painted features.

[rahum]

I know I would love to see a Demon Head Ray figure in this line, and possibly a demon head Vigo interchangeable head.

Cannot wait for Scoleri bros!!!

[LordVigo82]

I'd love to see done in this line what Titan did with the Vigo *Variant* figure