Hasbro were confirmed as the new licensee for Ghostbusters in 2019, and would be the fourth major figure company to cover the line after NECA, Mattel and Diamond Select. The first wave of the Plasma Series was announced as the four Ghostbusters and figures of Dana Barrett and Gozer. In a similar process to the Marvel Legends line, Hasbro have included a Build-A-Figure, or more accurately a Build-A-Ghost, in the wave in the shape of the Vinz Clortho Terror Dog.
There are 6 parts required to build your Terror Dog, spread across the 6 figures in the wave.
The torso acts as the main point for assembly and includes the four sockets for the limbs to plug into and a fifth connection point at the neck that is presented as an articulated ball topped peg.
The head is the hardest to get into position as this articulation wants to move as you apply pressure to click the head into place.
The legs are easier to locate and click into place, you will just need to be mindful of which are left/right and which are front/hind if you did what I did and throw all the parts in a drawer as you bought them for assembly at a later stage.
The Terror Dogs from the original 1984 movie were puppets or maquettes, animated with either stop motion or on set puppetry, with some variances between them depending on the angle of the shot and the prop used. The Hasbro version is a good likeness to Vinz Clortho as seen on screen, particularly in the head sculpt which includes the drooping draw and the same run of teeth within the jaw itself as we see on screen.
The body includes a skin texture that feels a bit like a Rhino or an Elephant, again as seen on screen, and this is cast in a base grey colour but is missing a wash to darken the body and bring out this ridged, rough skin texture.
Oddly we get a silver colouring on the ridge of the Terror Dog running from the head to the tail. I don't recall this being really visible on screen, nor was it seen on other variations of the Terror Dog from NECA, Diamond or even high end makers like Chronicle. My only thought is that this is trying to give the dog a spectral look - but it really doesn't work and detracts from the figure overall.
The other paint apps across the figure include the yellow nails on each foot and the same colour used on the horns and teeth. The 'male' Vinz Clortho Terror Dog is depicted as having longer horns than Zuul, and these are represented on the figure.
3.0
We jump straight into articulation now, with no accessories included in the set. The Terror Dog has a total articulation count of 15 joints which break down as follows
Head : articulated neck peg, ball joint head peg, articulated jaw
Front Legs : ball joint shoulder, single joint rotating knee, ankle rocker
Hind Legs : ball joint shoulder, ankle joint, ankle rocker
The front legs work really well and can be moved to have the Dog stood upright, or more into a crouched pose ready to pounce. Sadly, this is not backed up by the hind legs which seem to be missing a knee joint to allow the dog to crouch further towards the floor as we see them do on screen. It also takes away any ability to lay down without sprawling out the hind legs to the back.
The head movement is not restricted by the skin folds of the neck that sit well back from the joint and line up with the main body, and movement of the head is quite extensive although gaps can be left while the head is being posed and the neck section is pushed out from the torso - particularly if the dog is looking from side to side.
The jaw opens a good way to give you variations of open and closed mouth posing for your display. As the jaw is opened, an inner mouth section has been sculpted to move with he jaw so not to spoil the aesthetics.
3.5
The Build-a-Ghost principle for the Hasbro Ghostbusters line is a clever one, as it will do a similar job to the Marvel Legends BAF by ensuring collectors pick up the full line to complete the larger "ghost" figure. The Vinz Clortho Terror Dog is certainly a good piece to include in this format due to the size and how desirable it would be to collectors of the line to display with Gozer or to face off against the Ghostbusters.
Size and assembly are fine on the figure, and the overall sculpt - including skin texture - is very good. The figure is lacking from a darker paint wash to bring out that skin texture detail, and suffers from the silver paint they did apply.
Front end articulation works well, including the articulated jaw. But the hind legs are not as expressive and held in a more upright pose with a missing joint around the knee area which would have given more scope for posing.
The Vinz Clortho Terror scores a mid-range 3.5 from me, and it will be interesting to see if the 2nd version released with the Hasbro Pulse Con set with Luis Tully brings any improvements or fairs any better when I get that onto the review table.
About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
action figures, reviews, review, articulation, ghostbusters, plasma series, vinz clortho, terror dog, build a ghost, hasbro