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Review : Walter Peck Ghostbusters Select (Diamond Select Toys) Wave/Series : Series 4 Released : January 2017
£23.99
Pros : Great head sculpt. Very articulated for a guy in a suit Cons : zero accessories. The top coat of paint flakes off the suit far too easily
Outside of the Ghostbusters themselves, Louis, Janine and Dana - the only other key human character of any note from the 1984 classic is everyone''s favourite Environment Protection Agency Inspector, Walter Peck.
Walter arrives in Diamond's' 7" range of Ghostbusters figures as part of Series 4 - alongside Slimed Peter Venkman and Gozer.
Peck comes in the usual Select style packaging with the card-back and wrap around side panel that holds an oversized blister in place. The card design is based on an illustrated image of the Ghostbusters crossing the streams and transitions from a dark back at the base up to a bright green. The Ghostbusters logo is positioned sideways across the wrap around with a triangular shoot off from this crossing the base of the blister. Here we see an image of Walter Peck from the movie and the confirmation of the Character Name.
Like all Select figures, the whole left spine is given over to an image of Walter Peck. And for good measure there is a Ghostbusters logo placed at the bottom of the image.
You can see more of the artwork on the card back with the four Ghostbusters silhouetted on a dark green background. Over the top of this is an image of the actual figure and the usual bio sits to the side of this and talks about Peck's role as a secondary antagonist in the movie. Under here is the Also Available insert showing Peter (Slimed) and Gozer. The rooftop image is floating around Peck's feet and the text to the side confirms the need to collect all 15 figures to build the rooftop.
With the blister opened we find Peck strapped by twisty ties into the inner tray. Behind him is a large piece of the rooftop diorama. Peck comes with no accessories or swap out parts.
The first thing that struck me as I unpacked Peck was how expressive his facial sculpt was. Usually we only see NECA capture expressions on characters while Diamond and others often stick to neutral head sculpts. With Peck (and Slimed Peter) the Gentle Giant sculptors have move away from the neutrality of a head and in Peck's case have perfectly captured that sneer that he carries through a lot of the movie.
The head is a very good likeness all round for William Atherton and a solid paint job supports this. The skin is one tone but with high cheekbones and that sneered mouth, the light helps bring out the likeness. The eyes are neat, and not the usual heavy handed almost cartoon eyes we sometimes see from Diamond. The hair may be a shade too bright - more so as it is a flat strawberry blonde tone. Add in a wash of a darker shade and it would look perfect.
I must admit when I saw the suit that Peck was wearing I suspected it may have been a re-use from Diamond's Gotham range - not that reuse is a bad thing if there is an opportunity to do so. Having compared Peck to my suited Gotham figures (Penguin, James Gordon, Mr Zsasz and Alfred) I can confirm that there are no obvious shared parts - Walter Peck is a brand new sculpt from head to toe.
The suit is nicely done with decent creases and folds where you would expect them on a three piece suit. The coat is a rubber over piece that is added to the sculpted torso. Beneath this is a hard sculpted waistcoat, shirt and tie. Each is painted neatly with the stripes on the tie particularly neat. There is a hint of paint bleed where the shirt meets the waistcoat, but only on the very edge.
The trousers are quite plain, but look and flow like you would expect. We then get a glossy pair of shoes with lace detail sculpted on top and a clearly defined sole.
The suit has a nice paint effect where there is a blue colour underneath, washed over with black quite thickly. That gives the suit some definition and depth as a blue / black colour depending what angle you are viewing it and depending on the light.
This paint method has one huge flaw sadly and the black top coat is extremely flakey. As you can see in the image above, my Peck came out of the box with a chunk of paint missing on his knee where the twisty tie had rubbed. You get similar issues when the joints are moved - particularly at the knees.
An EPA Inspector doesn't need too much articulation - he just needs to stand and look important. Having said that, Diamond have included the usual suit of articulation with Peck - so he can do quite a bit in terms of posing. The ball joint head rotates fully and can look up, and down, and also it can be cocked to the side which further adds to the expressive nature of that head. Arms are ball jointed shoulders with rotating elbows that bend to 90 degrees. The hands then rotate, and all this allows for some nice gesturing reflective of Peck's mannerisms in the film. The only missing thing for me is a pointing hand so he can annoy your Peter Venkman figure by pointing at his chest and demanding access to the containment unit. Would one extra hand accessory have been too much to ask?
The legs bend fully at the double jointed knees. So if you want to move outside of the movie and create some scenes where Peck is kneeling then no problem. The legs also include T-jointed hips, a thigh swivel and a nice tight ankle swivel. Peck is therefore one of the few Ghostbusters figures to date that has zero problem standing and staying stood up.
With no other accessories or parts to talk about, this moves us onto the diorama pieces packed with Peck. There are two of them and like the others these are a hard styrene type plastic and painted in grey with some washed weathering.
Walter Peck was a figure I really didn't want to start with, and he was bought for the sole intention of allowing me to complete the rooftop diorama. With him in hand my opinion has now reversed completely and if anyone is on the fence over this figure then I would say buy him now before he rockets up in price. Not only will he complete your diorama, he will enhance your collection - his promo shots do him no justice.
Aside from not having any additional accessories or hand options, the only issue is the paint - so please handle Peck with care. Who knows what court injunction he will bring down on you otherwise.... I score Walter Peck a 4 out of 5.
Checkout the Diamond Select figures available at Toys in the Attic