I've been a fan of Ghostbusters since I first saw it in the theater in 1984 (!). The sequel, not so much, but the first film is just about as perfect as movies get, IMO. I can still remember the surprise of seeing the Stay-Puft Man lumbering down the street like a squishy Godzilla, and laughing my head off.I always wanted a Marshmallow Man figure, and now after over 30 years I've finally got one. Diamond Select just released a Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Technically it's not an action figure, it's actually a bank. But I won't tell if you won't.
There have been quite a few Marshmallow Man figures released over the years. The earliest was probably in the Real Ghostbusters toy line (based on the cartoon series). There was one released a couple of years ago by a small toy company called NECA, but it was never distributed in regular stores, so I could never get my hands on one.
This is one of the best Marshmallow Man sculpts I've seen. His features and proportions look spot on. I can't think of a single thing I'd change. He's fairly big, clocking in at 11" from his feet to the top of his jaunty cap.
The paint work is neat and clean, with no sloppy lines that I can see (although there's really not that much to paint on him other than his face and kerchief). The lettering on his cap is nice and crisp as well. They included some bluish shading on him as well, which helps bring out some details and keeps him from looking like a dull hunk of white plastic.
He's not much in the articulation department though. The only part of him that moves is his head, and even that only moves from side to side a few millimeters. I'm fine with that though, he looks pretty good in his frozen pose. Adding articulation to a rounded figure like this would only kill the excellent sculpt. He'll look just fine on the toy shelf as is.There's supposedly an alternate version with an "angry" face out there somewhere, but I've not seen it. I think it might be an online exclusive.
Being a bank, he has the requisite slot on his back. For the life of me though I can't see any way to get the money back out, other than shaking it out through the slot. It's possible that you're supposed to pop his head off to retrieve your change. Maybe that's why his head turns. I didn't feel like risking popping his head off and then not being able to get it back on.
While studying the figure, I noticed something very cool about the Marshmallow Man. In all the years I've been watching the movie, I never noticed that his fingers are actually marshmallows! That's a pretty cool detail! Obviously his head is a big marshmallow, but how did I miss his hands? Did anyone else ever notice this?The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is available at Toys R Us for a fairly reasonable $19.99, if you want one. Act fast though, as Xmas is approaching and soon all the stores will look like a swarm of locusts descended on them.
