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Ghostbusters toys ain't afraid of no likeness rights. At least, not anymore

Just think: you'll finally be able to cross streams in the privacy of your own home. Ghostbusters II turns 21 this year. To celebrate, the first ever action figures of the main cast are coming to retail. Immortalize Ramis as skinny, Murray as funny, and Hudson as a working actor right there on your own mantle.

Rumors have long haunted the fan community that the stars were sticklers for likeness rights. This would explain the absence of figures, and why in the “Real” Ghostbusters cartoon our four heroes looked nothing like their filmic counterparts. Over the years, the ever-unpredictable Bill Murray has been rumored to be the holdout, though some have suggested it was also Dan Aykroyd. (Maybe Dan was upset that fans did not consume mass quantities of his Coneheads toys.)

Mattel finally secured all the rights a few years ago, then tormented fans by releasing single figures, only online, in non-matching outfits. That’s why collectors are ready to trap this Christmas box set, available soon at Toys R Us. It's hard to imagine we'd want anything but the original tan uniforms from the first, better movie. But if you don’t buy these, Mattel will use that as an excuse to never make the originals. And that prospect bothers us more than watching Sigourney Weaver make out with Rick Moranis.

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