customizing mattel's ghostbusters 12" figure

[agliarept]

Hi guys,

i just got my 12" ghostbusters ray yesterday and i have to say the detail is AMAZING. however the head has to go, i think it can grow on me but its too cartoony for me. I might even have to use another body, the one they used is very rigid and weird to pose since the proton pack weighs down the figure as well.

my question is for the customizers, what head sculpt for Dan Aykroyd have you or will you use to replace the stock one? I know there are like 4 different head sculpts that I have seen but im not sure which would be the "best" aykroyd head to use. any thoughts or recommendations? im still unsure about even doing it.

since the head and neck are separate, would i even have to cut it off to use a more traditional head that comes with the neck included? lol questions question! lol.

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[CAZAFANTASMA]

My advice would be.. go to VARTAL's one... looks cool! Like the Aycroyd from GBI, not too thin and not too skinny.. here is a pic, not mine, but from a fellow freak member

By spv11
here is the real Ray

By spv11

 

[agliarept]

hey thats pretty good! i was waiting for someone to set one up! I wonder what body he used! It looks great! thanks!

 

[CAZAFANTASMA]

Is the original body that bad??? I was planning on keeping it... mine hasn't arrived yet. but i'm gessing it will come next week.. hopefully. There is another alternative but to me, tthat head is too skinny... here is a pic.. but you can choose .. these are spencer's head, just do a search on spencer's ghostbusters heads and they will pop up.


By spv11

About what body he used for the first figure on the pic... you can ask him, he's chalkyYT you can find him in this thread...

https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49166&highlight=ghostbusters&page=169
Hope this helps, and please post pics of your Ray,\

Sal

 

[Astro_zombie]

I did a side by side comparison of the blues brothers head, mattels, Vartal, and Spencers Ray.

While Vartal did an outstanding sculpt, I feel the face itself isn't defined well enough. It looks a little more GB II to me. It all comes down to personal preference though.

 

[CAZAFANTASMA]

Yeah, def GbII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[teabelly83]

yeah it is, well vartal did say himself when he posted them he had studied the look from a group shot from gb2.

i like the look of this sculpt but for some reason the hair bugs me, and there isnt enough detail really i guess, esp when you compare it to spencers. still both good tho.

 

[CAZAFANTASMA]

either way, it's MUCH better than the one Mattel did. Even the one from the blues brother's Looks more like Ayckroid than the one that comes with the figure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[teabelly83]

either way, it's MUCH better than the one Mattel did. Even the one from the blues brother's Looks more like Ayckroid than the one that comes with the figure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeha itotaly agree!! i jst cannot see much of dan in the mattel head at all.

 

[Indiana Fett]

...While Vartal did an outstanding sculpt, I feel the face itself isn't defined well enough. It looks a little more GB II to me. It all comes down to personal preference though.

Yeah, def GbII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah it is, well vartal did say himself when he posted them he had studied the look from a group shot from gb2.

i like the look of this sculpt but for some reason the hair bugs me, and there isnt enough detail really i guess, esp when you compare it to spencers. still both good tho.

I've been a bit back & forth myself. After seeing the shots posted of Vartal's unpainted and painted head with the Mattel gear, I thought it was a really good Dan sculpt...maybe a bit closer than Spensers? Of course something still seemed a bit off to me. It looks great with the goggles on the forehead, but not as good without IMO. The face seems a bit puffier and the hair not high enough. Seems a little more 'CONEHEADS' era Dan to me. So Vartal saying the GB II study for sculpting reference seems a bit more accurate to me, although I personally feel that Spenser nailed the 'high-hair' and 'arched-eyebrows' that really make it "Ray Stantz" to me. We also have to remember that GB era Dan is closer to the 'trimmer' Dan of 'Trading Places'. Compare...

GHOSTBUSTERS:

GHOSTBUSTERS II:

 

[CAZAFANTASMA]

Well i got my Figure Ray 12 inch on friday... the canada post man came with a smile on his face, it was a huge package... afther paying customs fees, i opened him and it's breath taking... i've never seen or felt like this , kind of like an 8 year old boy!!!!!!!!!!!!

And yes, the head CAN grow on you!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, looks so cool and neat that you can of make an effor to see Dan in there.... and at some point i kind of did!!!! I see him and there is a litle voice in my head that says "Yah see, he doesn't look that bad!"
Any ways, i added hair on Vartal's head, and painted it.. you be the judge.... I will put the cigar on his mouth... but there is no way i can put this head in Mattel's body!