Havoc0213 wrote: And Mattel's re-use wasn't a cost-saving maneuver? If you think about it, Mattel had more of a reason to re-use molds in order to save money. Kenner launched their toy line in mid popularity and success of Ghostbusters where Mattel picked up the license 20 years later during a low point.
Oh it definitely was for Mattel... But one they went for right out of the gate unfortunately. Remember- Kenner didn't start re-using those molds until well into the life of the line. We had the original 4 sculpts, then Fright Features, then Screaming Heroes, and then Super Fright Features before they went back to those old molds. At that point, the line had started losing some steam and the re-use was one of the ways of cutting costs.
I wish we would have seen the same thing out of Mattel. I would have loved to see 4 unique sculpts to open the line, and then more re-use once sales dictated how much they could put into future figures. Like they did with their MOTUC line- Get a few "buck bodies" out when a line is fresh, new, and popular... Then have those bodies to mine from when the money isn't quite as flush for tooling new ones.
As it stands, the Mattel Ghostbusters line overall just doesn't have that many totally unique sculpts- Which is kinda crazy for an adult collector line that fans waited decades for & sold at a premium online. I think there were only 4 full unique bodies made for the whole line: The Buster body (which was adapted for many different releases), Vinz, Vigo, and Zuul. The Peck, Courtroom, and Labcoat bodies all borrow parts from the Movie Masters DC line (I believe), and you can't really count the ghosts since half the time they weren't even fully-formed figures. The Slimethrower and removable proton pack versions each have some new parts... but much of them still retain hat initial lone GB sculpt.
With all that parts-sharing, the overall look of the line just doesn't have the diversity of display that I think this property warrants.
All that being said... I do still love having them. I am sure quite a few of the figures they released won't ever get the DST treatment (and vice versa). To me, the more movie Busters toys I have in my collection, the happier I am.
Sallah