Review : Winston Zeddemore
Ghostbusters Select (Diamond Select)
Wave/Series : Series 1
Released : February 2016
Price : £19.95
Winston Zeddemore is the third figure of Diamond's wave 1 Ghostbuster Select Figures, the others being Ray Stanz and Louis Tully whom we have also reviewed in our Ghostbuster section.
Winston arrives,in the green supernatural packaging complete with full side panel image of Ernie Hudson and an overview of his character and place within the plot of the 1984 movie on the cardback alongside a full size image of the figure and a checklist of the other two figures in wave 1.
Out of the box, and like Ray, Winston stands 7 1/2 inches high. My eye is not perfect, but by my reckoning the Winston body is identical to that of Ray - with the exception of the top half of the Torso which looks a bit wider and has a different neck piece to link in to the Winston head sculpt.
Like Louis, the Winston head-sculpt is not perfect. It feels like a passable attempt, but like so many sculpts from DST it is too soft and isn't helped by a shiny look to the paint. Like the skin tone, the moustache and hair are also too glossy and that makes the moustache a focal point on the face and draws you away from the other elements that are done pretty well - particularly the eyes. Round the ears, the paint has bled or rather the black of the hair doesn't come down far enough to finish covering the last of the hair sculpt.
Like Ray, the uniform is spot on and includes all the same bits and bobs. The utility belt is practically identical although one of the straps is on the right hand side on Winston, where as it sat on the left on Ray. Weathering on the uniform is really good again and everything else is crisply painted, including the Zedemore name badge.
The Proton pack contains those tiny safety stickers again, but one on Winston is peeling and that could be a problem for the future as to how well these will last even while the figure sits on display let alone if it is being played with. The gubbins to hang the proton emitter to the proton pack fails again on Winston, so his wand will just end up in his hand on display - or if you are careful you can drape it around the pack to hang to one side. This is how we captured some of our images of the emitter holstered.
I feel like I am not doing Winston any justice at this point in the review as I am already about to talk about Articulation - but the fact is, this is pretty much the same figure as Ray. Winston's articulation includes the ball jointed head and shoulders, bend and swivel elbows and those swappable hands - again 5 pairs, 2 of which are gloved with those clever rubber pieces. The torso is joined as are the hips and then we drop down to a thigh swivel, double jointed knee and rocker on the ankle.
Unlike Ray, Winston stands much better. There is no logical reason why he should with it being the same figure, but I suspect his ankles are a bit stronger.
Where Ray came with the goggles, Winston comes with a Ghost Trap. This is a two part affair with a thin tube in between. It looks the part, but is too light to sit on the floor in a display as the tension on the tube pulls it to either side. A bit more weight would help. There is also no way, that I have found at least, of hanging the trap from Winston's belt.
Also included, the same as Ray, are the walkie talkie and that proton stream. Having inspected Winston as closely as I did with Ray there is still no obvious way of inserting the stream into the Proton Emitter so this piece is of little use.
The third piece of the Diorama jigsaw comes with Winston, and it is the central plinth that we see Dana draped across in the film. This arrives in two parts, with the stone table slotting into the base section. Like the two side panels from Ray & Louis, this is decorated nicely with a rough texture and a granite décor. The piece doesn't immediately lock into anything else from wave 3, and because the base is stepped on the bottom it also won't stand flat unless you prop it up. That being said, even with these 3 pieces you have the start of a pretty impressive display - a big one at that.
Ray is obviously the star of wave 1, and Louis gets the short end of the stick with some dialled back articulation and paint job. Winston falls somewhere in between and this is where I find my 5 star point scoring has limitations as ideally Winston is probably around a 3.5. I am going to give Winston the benefit of the doubt and give him 4 stars, even though that head sculpt isn't perfect, everything else is as good as Ray. I am now excited for wave 2 and adding Peter and Egon as well as that Dana figure.
