Review: Ghostbusters WWE Action Figures by Mattel

For the new Ghostbusters sequel coming next year, Hasbro is taking over master toy rights for the franchise. Mattel, however, have managed to squeeze out one last set, and it’s a rather unusual one. Combining molds from another toy line they manufacturer (WWE) with all-new deco, they’ve created a crossover series that requires no new molds. Yet with creative repainting and tailoring, it feels totally fresh. The Ghostbusters WWE line also, unmistakably, feels like a deliberate exact polar opposite from the all-female Ghostbusters in Paul Feig’s remake. Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Undertaker aren’t just male; they ooze testosterone like Slimer oozes, well, ooze.

All of the base WWE figures use pre-existing “Elite” molds, but they mix eras. Shawn Michaels isn’t quite young Shawn, but nor is he the fully retired version of today. The Rock hails from the days before everyone called him Dwayne Johnson, sporting hair and just the one bull tattoo. Austin looks like he did in his prime; as does John Cena, though their primes are separated by a decade or more. And Undertaker, despite being a ghost, is the modern, receding-hairline, takes ten minutes to walk to the ring version. You’d think in the afterlife he’d select a more youthful form. Like he has with the championship belt, for example, which is a spectral take on the winged-eagle belt from the ’80s, predating all these guys.

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Every figure save Undertaker comes with a proton pack and equipment belt. Shawn Michaels also comes with a ghost trap, complete with hinged doors and removable energy effect. The ghost-busting equipment appears to come from Mattel’s original online Ghostbuster collectors series of a decade or so ago. Shawn also has a Ghostbusters hat, and side-sliced T-shirt with his name tag.

Austin, oddly, comes with a jumpsuit and his black vest. They really don’t work together, and underneath the jumpsuit he wears a T-shirt. The real Austin does not wear the vest and T-shirt at the same time. Still, that’s kinda moot because the kneepads outside the jumpsuit make it difficult to remove. Should you want to, however, the shirt beneath has “Austin 3:16” in a green slime font. His ab-crunch joint is loose, but the jumpsuit restricts it regardless.

Austin actually looks better if you give him Shawn’s Ghostbusters hat. A black hat was typically more his thing anyway.

John Cena is very much Cena, with a tight T-shirt and Ghostbuster logos in place of “U Can’t C Me.” Mattel has probably gotten more use out of this WWE figure body than any other. But it works well, as Cena is one of the two guys in this line who could most feasibly appear in a Ghostbusters movie at some point.

The other one, of course, is our pal Dwayne Johnson. Whose jumpsuit is like Austin’s except with the sleeves ripped off for a free “gun show.” His shirt also features slime green logos, though it has a back print of his bull tattoo as well. By going with the Attitude Era version of the character, Mattel has clearly delineated this as the wrestler version of the Rock, rather than the current actor version. That may be a separate rights issue.

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Finally, we have the dead man himself, who is not as translucent as he looks. (Particularly the torso part.) The hat is removable, the belt can fasten around his waist, and this is essentially a current undertaker otherwise. One cool detail that goes above and beyond is that they actually tried to do his arm tattoos. In a barely perceptible purple on purple scheme, but they’re there.

Next to Diamond Select’s recent 7-inch Ghostbusters, these guys look a little short. But the ghosts from that line aren’t always in perfect scale anyway, so one can have fun with that…

In an actual Ghostbusters movie, nobody wants to see the big bads defeated with pro-wrestling finishers. But in a playroom, why not? The whole crossover idea is wonderfully absurd anyway. The ghost Undertaker has stolen the title belt and he has to be “busted” to get it back. So how did it get green and translucent? Because it’s cool, Beavis.