Review : The Library Ghost, Ghostbusters Select Series 5 (Diamond Select Toys)

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Review : The Library Ghost Ghostbusters Select (Diamond Select Toys) Wave/Series : Series 5 Released : June 2017

£24.99

Pros : Very good (scary) sculpt. The stack of books accessory is well done Cons : Execution of the stand is awful

Series 5 of the Ghostbusters Series was never intended to happen. The original plan was for a 12 figure series, with a 12 piece diorama of the rooftop. Not long after the release of Series 1 (which still quotes "collect all 12 figures") it became clear to Diamond that they needed to add in three more figures to spread the diorama to 15 figures.

While the Terror Dog from Series 5 was alway in the pipeline, it seems that the two Ghosts from Series 5 were brought in to fill in the gaps. While this not confirmed by Diamond - they were never originally touted for the line, and appeared shortly after the announcement of moving the range to 15 figures.

In this review we take a look at the Library Ghost.

The Library Ghost is packed in the now familiar Ghostbusters Select packaging with its transitioning card art from dark through to bright green. The image on the front of the box is taken directly from the film and rather than the Ghostly Librarian, Grey Lady or even Eleanor Twitty - as she is referred to in the movie - the character name is simply "Library Ghost".

The left side art is probably the most gruesome to date for the Ghostbusters line with an ethereal look at the Library Ghosts; head floating eerily over the Ghostbusters logo.

Round the back we get a full picture of the figure and her short bio to the left which talks about her role as "one of the first spirits encountered by Drs Peter Venkman, Ray Stanz and Egon Spengler" The Also Available box has images of the Taxi Driver Zombie and the Terror Dog - the other figures in Series 5.

As we unpack the Library Ghost we find, for the first time, the actual instructions for the rooftop diorama. I guess Diamond didn't need to put it in every box in case fans didn't' last it through to the final series. We also get a stand and a stack of books accessory.

The stand is similar to the one we got with Slimer, but this time is is black rather than clear. I think for a Ghost or a flying character clear is always the preference and I don't understand the colour choice.

The stand comes out of the pack in three parts - and while there is no instructions how to build this, it is fairly self explanatory. I initially tried the shorter piece in at the base and the longer piece into the rear of the figure. In this configuration the stand struggles to take the weight. .Swap the longer piece to the base and the shorter to the figure and this seems to work a little better.

It does however take some time to get the figure balanced. The stand isn't robust enough in the joints or heavy enough in the base to work in any pose and it will take work to balance it properly to make her look like she is floating.

Diamond have done a fantastic job on the sculpt which not only tries to capture the look of the ghost from the movie, but also the way she acts in the scene when she flies forward with her hair trailing out behind her.

Colour wise the paint is a little too purple, but it is well applied and a darker wash has been used to bring out the sculptural depth. The same applies to the hair which is a grey colouring with a darker wash.

The best bit is the mouth which is a deep red with yellowed and uneven teeth.

The outfit, for what it is, is essentially rags and this is a slightly darker purple than the skin tone. In the movie we didn't see too much of this robe and I guess there is a bit of licence here to protect the LIbrarian's modesty.

Now what we have here is a Ghost with no legs, that means articulation is limited to the torso only. The head is the most articulated I've seen for a while and can look sideways and up and down. It even gets as far as being able to drop the chin onto her own chest and that particular looks is pretty scary.

The arms are ball jointed a the shoulder and then there is a jointed elbow that rotates. This allows a good degree of arm positioning and the ethereal rags move with the arms as you pose them. You can finish off your arm up scary pose with pegged wrists which bend or rotate to finish the look.

The Library Ghost comes with a very nice accessory in a stack of books. This is representative of the movie where the Ghostbusters find stacks of books just before they encounter the spirit itself.

The books here reach the Library Ghost's waist and will reach the same on any 7" figure. This means they are somewhat short of what we see in the film with books stacked up to head height - a niggle, but worth mentioning.

What has been done well is the way the books have been sculpted and then coloured. Each book spine is a differing colour from those either side. There is then a clear cover around the other three sides that frame a set of white pages.

The Library Ghost comes with two diorama pieces. The first is a pillar piece in the usual hard styrene type plastic and painted in grey and weathered to look like stone.

The second piece is a Terror Dog statue - and this is not a direct re-use from the one in the Slimed Peter set, but is a varying sculpt so when you build your rooftop the dogs on either side will be correctly orientated. The Terror Dog is a little glossier than the other diorama pieces, I'd have preferred a slightly stonier look.

The inclusion of the Pillar is, like it was in Slimed Peter, a clever move to ensure people had to purchase the figure. Without that the Library Ghost might have been a figure some people missed out as they could use the Terror Dog figure in place of the statue.

I do think a good Ghostbusters range needs a good spattering of Ghosts, and outside of Slimer this is one of the most iconic from the movie. I like the way the figure has been sculpted and painted and where articulation is needed the figure has it and can be posed.

The issue for me is with the stand which I think should have been clear and needs to be much more robust to support the weight of the figure. Yes you can tighten the nuts on the stand, or even go with an aftermarket version - but I think Diamond would have been better addressing this within the pack.

I am going to score The Library Ghost a 3 out of 5.