Due to her aversion to gun violence and other reasons, Sigourney Weaver (related to the late great Doodles Weaver) rarely lends her likeness to licensed products when she has a chance to say no. Mattel had to chase down numerous people to make their figures, so Zuul was something of a triumph. The actress has a few figures inspired by her, but not many that actually look like her. I mean, those Ripley figures really aren't close. I'm always excited to see new versions of her as a toy, and a former co-worker of mine is a big fan as well. Enthusiasm is infectious. (And Joe did eventually see her at a party once.) Who doesn't love this lady?
Her appearance as a convention exclusive came about because the Matty Collector Ghostbusters club sort of died on the vine. Their subscription model was a neat way to get people to sign up for a mystery box ranging in price of $120-$700, and by the time 2011 rolled around Ghostbusters fans were rightly unenthused, so the remaining figures would be released as ready and this one was dumped/given the exalted status of being the 2012 Comic-Con exclusive, literally at the same time when Super 7 announced a retro Kenner Alien Ripley. I'm quite happy she got made, but it's quite amazing to see that she turned out as a statue. This isn't some kind of metaphor, she has about 2 points of articulation, the neck and the waist. For $25 it's quite unusual, but on the other hand, look at that dress. How the heck do you get articulation in there short of making her a doll? Much like in Star Wars dresses are pretty limiting. Just ask Padme Amidala or Bib Fortuna.
Due to the unusual pose, she doesn't necessarily stand all that well. She sits just fine, and her hands are posed in a way which should be awkward, but work perfectly. She can rest on this demonic bench thing, or stand in some sort of contemplative possessed state. The figure's deco could be a smidgen better, although once removed from the context of the movie it's kind of interesting to see how the costume feels less like something out of 1984 so much as the late 1970s. The makeup on the figure is actually far too subtle compared to the smokier eyes on screen, and hair-- being eternally tricky to sculpt-- looks a little more monstrous on the toy than on the big screen. The dress deco tries to capture the metallic look of the garment with paint, which is always something of a trick. Gold and bronze alternate on the fabric's folds, resulting in my astonishment that I never realized this was obviously some sort of allusion to disco until just recently.
The fact that this figure exists-- the hot love interest from a 1984 supernatural comedy-- is nothing short of a miracle. I'm assuming I'll never live long enough to see this kind of high-quality (not $200) figure for the likes of Aliens, and even though she's a statue, it works. Considering the audience for this release is clearly too old to play with toys, it's no surprise they reduced articulation in favor of a collectible figure that really looks like it could be a statue. I'd cry bloody murder if they took this approach with Two-Bad some day, but for this character it basically works. Good sculpt, adequate paint, and a surprising amount of deco detail like painted nails make her quite lively. Darker eye makeup would work better, I think, but that's me. I still think it's worth a look if you're a Ghostbusters fan, and if you were a child in the 1980s, you probably are.
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