Review : Janine Melnitz, Ghostbusters Select Series 3 (Diamond Select Toys)

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Review : Janine Melnitz Ghostbusters Select (Diamond Select Toys) Wave/Series : Series 3 Released : October 2016

£22.99

Pros : Another piece closer to the Rooftop scene. Some decent accessories Cons : Articulation is limited. Figure is difficult to stand

Series 3 of the Diamond Select Ghostbusters range was where the series as a whole took a bit of a wobble. Granted we got Slimer but we also got this Janine figure and a rehash of the series 1 Ray Stantz figure. The makeup of the wave did cause it to be the one that stuck around for a good while at retail and is the only wave I saw on clearance at several stores. While the makeup of the wave is in question in terms of overall desirability, I am certainly glad that DST went that extra step past what Mattel had previously offered and gave us secondary characters like Janine (and of course Louis and Dana).

Janine arrives in the standard large Diamond packaging with a large blister on top of a card back that then wraps round the left hand side as you look. The overall background is a dark base that fades to a eerie green glow at the top of the packaging. While not obvious from the front, this background also includes a silhouette image of the Ghostbusters crossing the streams on the rooftop.

The "I aint fraid" logo is prominently displayed within the Ghostbusters text on the wrap around section. A further triangular insert then carries the character name as well as an image of Annie Potts taken directly for the movie.

This same image is blown up on the large left spine and is overlaid again with the Ghostbusters logo. Weirdly the image Diamond have chosen is not one of Janine in the outfit she is wearing in figure form?

Round the back we get the same dark to green backdrop with some proton streams added and lightning around the top where the Ghostbusters logo sits. Under this we have a large image of the figure alongside a character bio for Janine. An insert confirms the other figures in the series as Slimer and "Quittin Time" Ray. There is also a small image of the completed Rooftop Diorama and the corrected text to confirm you need to collect all 15 figures to build the scene (the packaging on the first two waves still said 12 figures). Out of the box you find Janine strapped into her plastic tray. She is surrounded by alternative hands, the desk buzzer, phone and some take out containers. Behind this insert sits the piece of the rooftop.

Thanks to kids TV whenever I think of Janine in terms of Ghostbusters I always picture the Real Ghostbusters version with her shocking red hair and angular glasses. It is really hard to visualise Annie Potts from the movie (sorry Annie) and to that end Janine is possibly not as recognisable as the other characters released to date or planned. To help with the review I spent quite a bit of time comparing the figure to images of Janine from the movie, and re-watched (any excuse) the movie itself. It is fair to say that the actual scult for Janine is not a bad likeness for Annie Potts. This is enhanced with the painting of her eyes, which are very large and expressive in the movie. What they haven't done is give her any make up so she is missing some darker mascara and her cheeks would benefit from a tone of blusher. The lips are also probably too red and need taking back a tone. The hair is a flat brown with some dry brushing on top. Sadly the colour is all too samey and while there is depth in the sculpt, it is lost in the flat brown tones.

Without this make up Janine does probably look older than she should and the fact they've then put on hugely oversized rimmed glasses on top has not helped. The glasses are the biggest issue with her head and are not consistent with what she wore in the film. The glasses need to be larger but with less intrusive rimms - they should also be a more neutral colour, not shocking pink which stands out a mile.

The outfit Diamond have chosen is reasonably accurate to the movie. It is the one she is wearing when Walter Peck arrives and orders the containment unit to be shut down. The cardigan is accurate with its grey colouring and black stripes. Her blouse, which is flat red on the figure, should really have some pin striping but I can forgive not tackling that on a 7" figure.

The skirt is plain grey and the stockings are also a flat red. None of the clothing carries any paint applications other than the base coat and a few buttons on the blouse.

The cardigan has been designed so it can be removed and that gives you the option of having Janine in her skirt and red blouse for your display.

Articulation is pretty poor overall, a particular disappointment as you don't need Janine doing action shots - but I would like to replicate some of her mannerisms from the film.

The head is a ball joint and rotates just fine and while it is blocked from looking up by the hair, it can look down. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and here they have a large range of movement out to the side and above the head. It is the elbows that are disappointing as they barely bend at all despite the rotating joint. If you watch the movie, Janine is often seen adjusting her glasses and holding her hands together in front of her - you can't do either with the figure.

There is both a waist joint and a torso joint. The waist doesn't really move at all. The torso does rotate slightly but doesn't give much forward and backward movement. And of course due to the line of the blouse any movement of the torso does ruin the lines of the clothing.

The legs are ball jointed but are trapped within the skirt so will not move at all. That leaves the double jointed knees and ankle rockers as the moving part of the legs. The knees are not really useful at all because of that skirt and won't get much use. This also means that Janine can't sit down - something I thought some fans would want? The ankle rockers are tight and stiff but with Janine sculpted with high heels there is an art to get her to stand up for any length of time.

While Janine has disappointed in her articulation, she does come with an awesome array of accessories. There are two take out food cartons - one closed and one open with chopsticks. We then get a cream phone (1984 style) with flexible cord that allows the receiver to be removed. She also comes with her desk buzzer "We Got One". Each of these are nicely sculpted and painted - with painted noodles and vegetables in the take out container, and a red button on top of the buzzer.

The pedantic part of me looks at all these accessories and then says "so what". While they are all nicely designed, what we don;t have is a desk to put them all on - and the ability to sit Janine down behind said desk. My advice is to track down the X-Files figures from Diamond for the desk and chair accessories (or the Gotham Ed Nygma for the desk). Janine will look awesome posed behind said furniture.

Janine comes with an alternative set of hands, but like the Dana figure I don't quite understand why. The hands pop in and out quite easily but there is very little difference between the two sets of hands and you question why they were included at all? Alternative hands are about replicating a gesture or being able to hold an accessory - and neither of these seem to apply?

Janine comes with another part of this epic 15 piece rooftop diorama build. This is one of the side pieces and is cast in grey hard plastic with some nice dry brushing and washes to make it appear to be aged stone work. We will be doing a full review of the diorama once we get to the end of building it - it will be interesting to see if the colouration and the engineering on how it fits together all works.

Janine is a figure that doesn't really deliver in a lot of areas. While the sculpt is nice, it's ruined by some comedy pink glasses. Her articulation also means she is limited to that very basic neutral pose of hands down by her side. With the legs locked in by the skirt I'd have much preferred a decision to make the legs fixed and give her a wider range of hand and arm movement? Painting is good, but there is no weathering or shading at any point other than the hair, and these tones are so similar it is difficult to see - Janine is just all flat colourings. The accessories are brilliant and a nice touch, but we need a desk to go with them - which I do appreciate is difficult while maintaining value for money AND including a diorama piece. Thankfully there are desk options out there and where you find Janine on display I suspect she may be behind that X-Files desk. I score Janine a 2 out of 5.

Checkout the Diamond Select figures available at Toys in the Attic