I’ve just received word from ToysRUs.com that my series 1 Ghostbusters sets are shipping. It seems they’ve sorted out whatever problems they were having the other day with availability, so that means that those with preorders in can probably expect these by early next week (depending on the holiday’s impact on shipping).

Those combing store shelves should be on the lookout, since the online store’s availability usually mirrors in store availability.

In today’s Outside the Box, we tear into the newly released 1st Ghostbusters box set.

Peter Venkman

Peter bears a strong resemblance to the 1984 Bill Murray. His jumpsuit is intricately detailed, right down to the name tag on the chest and ghost emblem on the shoulder. Sculpted to the belt are various pouches and cables. Also attached to the belt is a miniature radio that can be removed. Attached to the back is the removable proton pack, which has been expertly crafted. All the various tubes, cables, and lights have been crammed onto the small piece of plastic and they look quite nice. The neutrona wand is attached to the proton pack via a thin tube of plastic, rather than the previously considered nylon string. Rounding out the look is a particle stream that attaches to the neutrona wand. Cast in a transparent orange plastic with blue veins circling the entire piece.

Egon Spengler

Egon is almost spot on in likeness to 1984 Harold Ramis. Outside of the facial details, not much can be said about Egon that hasn’t already been covered by Peter. The jumpsuit is very similar in detail, with one exception (other than the nametag). Rather than a radio, Egon carries his trusty PKE meter, which looks very much like the one from the movie. Egon also has a removable proton pack, with particle stream attachment.

Dana Barrett

Dana looks like 1984 Sigourney Weaver. Based on the character’s appearance near the end of the film, Dana is heavily made up with eye shadow and lipstick. Her gold dress looks nice, though the gold detailing under her left arm seems to drop lower than the detail line slightly. And worry not, guys, Dana remembered to leave the house with her underpants on.

Terror Dog

The Terror Dog is expertly sculpted to look like the ferocious monster that terrorizes poor Louis. Yes, a regular Minimate body is buried under all those parts. The Terror Dog comes with an extra set of arms, hands, feet, and a hairpiece to transform the nasty beastie (with some difficulty) into…

Louis Tully

Louis really captures the look of 1984 Rick Moranis. Based on his appearance at the end of the film, Louis is covered in soot. Under the dark splotches are some nicely detailed clothes, in tatters of course. Even his glasses are crooked.

So, I just got back from the comic shop, and to my surprise they had ordered the Ghostbusters box set. Back at my desk, I’ve had a chance to open them up and take a look. Sadly, I have no camera nearby, but I can still tell you what you might can expect.

Packaging

The card features an open trap with green light coming out. The light spills over to the front of the package where the logo is. The Ghostbusters emblem on the package is done in the Minimate style. The back features the poster, plus a shot of the four figures, plus the “Terrifying Gozer Dog”. On top of the bar code, the company logos, and the usual legal stuff, they have the quote from the Ghostbusters commercial used in the movie.

Peter

Maybe restricted to my figure, but Peter’s head comes off very easily. Proton pack is removable. The wand is attached by a thin string of plastic, rather than regular nylon string. Basically, it’s one sculpted piece. The name tag is hard to read, but it does have his name. The GB emblem on his arm looks great. Underneath the bulky jumpsuit piece is a regular black torso with flesh tones at the neck. He comes with an energy stream for the neutrona wand.

Egon

Really looks like movie Egon. Again, nametag and emblem look great. Removable proton pack and PKE meter. Same black torso. Comes with an energy stream for the neutrona wand.

Dana

Hair and dress look new. Metallic paint used on dress to better match the source material. Paint apps for the gold dress seem to swoop down further on one side than the detail line. Might be restricted to my figure though. Yes, Dana remembered underpants.

Louis

Gozer/Terror Dog gear is very hard to remove. Well sculpted though. Louis is covered in soot. Really good likeness. Louis comes with an added hairpiece, arms, and shoes to transform from the dog to the person.

Pack in

There’s a little pamplet packed in. It features the Ghostbusters shot from the AA website with the exploding Stay Puft. Inside, it shows both box sets, plus Peter and Slimer (TRU exclusive). On the back, is shows the MM poster again, plus some Slimer and Stay Puft banks, Ecto 1 plate, and a GB emblem bank.

Overall, I’m really happy with this set. I can hopefully get some pictures up later today.

Excited about the upcoming Ghostbusters Minimates from Toys R Us? You can probably take that down a notch or two. A lot of people who ordered these from the website are getting word that one of the five exclusive sets are shipping. So, if you’re a Winston fan, rejoice. Otherwise, I guess you’ll just have to be patient.

The puzzling thing is that all but the Slimer & Slimed Peter 2-pack are showing in stock. Don’t all the sets ship in a case? Unless the Slimer/Peter set is short packed, there’s really no excuse for the lack of availability for some of these sets. And if the other sets are showing in stock, why is the Winston/Terror Dog set the only one shipping? More confusion from Toys R Us, who should be praised for their continued and growing support for Minimates, but ashamed for their continued fumbling regarding consistent releases.

On the bright side, the first box set is expected to hit the specialty market today, so if you’re fortunate enough to be near a store that carries all brands of Minimates, then you can satisfy your need that way.

On a regular basis, the gang over at Art Asylum compile questions from their fans and present them to DSTChuck in a segment they call Ask DST.

In their 44th installment, the focus is on all things Minimates.

• Marvel series 25 & 26 are selling very quickly.
• Toys R Us is closing in on carrying Minimates chain wide, meaning all stores (Ed - this likely means all US stores)
• No word from Underground Toys regarding Doctor Who ‘mates for over a year now.
• The Amazon exclusive Ghostbusters set was canceled due to shipping issues. The set will become available eventually though.
• A large deal with Paramount has the door open for Minimates, though James Bond is a no-go.
• If BSG mini-flyers do well, there’s a chance for more vehicles from other licenses.
• Some talk of doing some sort of collector’s guide, though it’ll likely be restricted to the website.

Also, the following were said to be “considered” for licensing: Alien v Predator, Universal Monsters, Godfather 2

The following were said to be unavailable: LEGO Bionicle, James Bond, more Platoon, Rock & Roll, Who Wants to be a Super Hero?, more BSG Razor, Capcom, Sarah Connor Chronicles, past Marvel movies

With Randymarsh’s Wizard World Philadelphia report still fresh in our minds, Multiverse member Samwise Gamgee brings word of more news from the show, in the form of an Action Figure Insider forum post by Mrjasontodd. The former Robin brings a second point of view to the Ask DST session that was held on site of the event. Amongst what we already know, there were a few interesting tidbits worth noting. I’d also recommend reading the entire report.

• Godfather 2 is possible in some form, depending on sales for the Godfather 1 box set.
• DST no longer holds the Ghost Rider movie license. Series 15 is now officially dead.
• Minimates based on the Runaways were considered when Joss Whedon was attached to the book. They still remain a possibility.
• Minimates based on Angel and Buffy are within the realm of possibility, there’s just a question of whether the market is there.
• A complete box set of Battlestar Galactica will come with exclusive Minimates. No indication of which character(s).
• DC Direct has no interest in making more Minimates, despite decent sales.
• An X-Men Origins: Wolverine box set may be in the works, featuring Gambit and Wraith, amongst others.
• TRU exclusive Dark Avengers box set came together due to TRU wanting an exclusive for SDCC based on the biggest and latest happenings in comics.
• The TRU 10-pack of years past had the highest production run of all things Minimates.
• The generic playsets we learned about previously will come with two Minimates.

Thanks again to all of our “reporters on the scene”. Special thanks to HQ reader hellpop for giving us a name drop over at AFI.

It’s time for another edition of Outside the Box, where we take a look inside the packaging of the latest Minimate releases. This time, we pop open the Battle-Damaged T-800 and T-1000 from the first series of Terminator 2 Minimates.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Battle-Damaged T-800 & T-1000

Once again, the packaging shows off the wicked awesome T-800 art from the poster, as well as giving a nice profile shot of the control art for these figures. I really like the art vs. final result that you get looking at these.

Would you look at that. That’s one massive blob in the middle there, huh? They’ve jam packed this set, essentially giving you two different T-1000 figures. Of course, then initial excitement fades and you realize that Arnold has no legs that aren’t on fire. Of course, if you bought two of the SWAT Officer set like a good army builder would, then that’s not really a problem.

Battle-Damaged T-800

So, Arnold is back, though this time he has seen better days. The figure really captures his look from the end of the movie. He’s a bit mangled from having his arm jammed in some gears and taking a steel girder to the face. It would have been easy for the designers to just reuse most of the parts from one of the other T-800 figures, but they went all out here. The jacket is a reuse, sure, but the ammo belt around his torso is empty this time. The hairpiece is also altered to reflect the damage done to the character’s head (though still a bit too uniform to really reflect having part of the face and scalp ripped off, in my opinion). And of course, you have a wicked stump where his left arm used to be. Finishing up the look is a rather nice transparent orange pair of legs, presumably capturing the scene where Arnold’s character is lowered into the molten steel at the end of the film (SPOILER!). And rounding out the ensemble is the T-800’s grenade launcher. The detail on this accessory is a bit sparse, but it still fits the look.

T-1000

With a face that only a mother could love, Robert Patrick joins the 2-inch rank of Minimates. Right off the bat, you notice the massive hole in his head. Kudos to Art Asylum for not just painting a hole on his head, but actually drilling on in there. Though my mediocre picture does it no justice, it goes all the way through to the back. The almost angry look on his face really mirrors the look of the character throughout the film too. The cop uniform is greatly detailed too, and really does the character justice. Completing the look is the extended finger that the T-1000 uses to intimidate Sarah Connor during the climax of the film. It looks great here (and wouldn’t be out of place in a Ghost Rider movie box set).

“Wolfie’s fine, honey.” (T-1000 didn’t really have a lot of lines in the movie, so sue me.)

Oh, snap! Probably the most memorable moment in the movie and we get it in Minimate form. This is what happens when you jam a grenade into a 2-inch tall piece of plastic. To compliment the look, we get the face with the rather surprised look that the T-1000 had when he went boom. We also get another hand, since the ol’ boy doesn’t have much to point at here. My only real complaint with this unique accessory is that it doesn’t seem tall enough to really fit the head in there properly. That likely comes from space issues in fitting the thing in the box, and it still looks just fine, so that’s not really an argument against it. It’s still, by far, the best accessory ever.

(I’ve still got a couple more T2 packs, the T2 singles, Marvel 25 and 26, and BSG TRU 1 sitting in the queue, so hopefully we’ll find something that interests everyone before its all said and done.)

Reports have been coming in that not only are the first series of Toys R Us exclusive Battlestar Galactica Minimates shipping from the online store, but they’re showing up on shelves across the country (which means it’ll be another two months before they hit my local store).

Confirming these reports, Multiverse member Groundhog7s wins the cookie by posting pictures of the new ‘mates in all their 2-inch glory.

Multiverse member Randymarsh was in attendance at this year’s Wizard World Philadelphia and was able to bring back some notes from the Q&A session that DSTChuck held at the event. Some interesting information to be had in Randy’s report, so I recommend you read the whole thing, but here’s a couple highlights:

• The canceled Amazon exclusive Ghostbusters video game set is just looking for the right store shelf to stock them. Walmart was mentioned as a possibility.
• X-Men Origins ‘mates may not be finished just yet.
• DST knows the final line-up for the Secret Wars set and will be announcing it in the near future. The set will feature box art similar to the Giant Size X-Men set.
• A Minimate playset is in the works. It will apparently be fashioned out of cardboard, which should hopefully keep the price down in the affordable range, compared to the resin display that was solicited a few years back.
• A new Marvel Minimate pairing was announced: Black Bolt and Captain Marvel.

Special thanks, once again, to Randymarsh for sharing the news for those not in attendance.

An extra tidbit to go with the Marvel news:

I just got email confirmation that my order for Battlestar Galactica series 1 is being processed, meaning that these will be shipping relatively soon.

So, start checking your inboxes and keep an eye out on store shelves. Yet more Minimate goodness, yet more financial ruin.