Back in February Hi-Def Ninja was lucky enough to tour the Playmobil booth at the New York Toy Fair where they showed us some of the items from their upcoming Ghostbusters line. Now that these sets are available at retail, Playmobil was kind enough to send Hi-Def Ninja an Ecto-1 set to review.

To start, while not a building set, there is still a bit of assembly and stickering before you are ready to play. But don’t fret this is not complex or time consuming. The first thing you’ll notice even before assembling the vehicle is how sturdy the body feels. A nice plastic body creates a solid frame that should hold up to lots of play time from children.  Once assembled there is a lot to play with in this set with lots of little embellishments that create an original feel to the vehicle.

When you are ready to zoom around in Ecto-1 you can push one of the buttons on the roof and the lights start flashing; and with the push of another button, authentic movie sirens sound letting everyone know you’re ready to chase after some ghosts.

I personally appreciate all the little details put into making this set, from the rubber wheels which lets the vehicle drive smoothly on the floor to the rubber hoses and tank embellishments and even the underside of the vehicle which includes molding for the exhaust.
Other than Ecto-1, the set comes with a Janine and Winston figure in their bustin’ gear. Each figure comes with a P.K.E. meter and proton packs with streams shooting from the end; just don’t cross them. When you’re ready to catch that ghost, send out the ghost catcher and open it up.

When you are ready to return to the firehouse, pop off the detachable roof and use the opening trunk door to store all of accessories while Winston and Janine sit in the vehicle. There is even plenty of room to store more figures and accessories from other sets. But before you do Ecto-1 will likely need a cleaning to remove the slime spatter which sticks to the surfaces of the vehicle.

Bringing back childhood memories the Playmobil Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1 is packed with a ton of features from the Janine and Winston figures to the detachable roof featuring functioning lights and sounds. To me my favorite features are the rubber tires and the opening and closing ghost trapper – two features that while small bring that much more detail to the set and making me appreciate the set all the more. The only addition I would have like to have seen added to the set would have been a ghost that our Ghostbusters could catch. At a price point of $44.99 you certainly get your money’s worth with this set.

If the Ecto-1 is not enough to fulfill your Ghostbuster desires Playmobil has released a whole line from the series including different settings from the original movie. Each set includes different figures from the original movie along with a slew of extra accessories. Other sets in the series include Slimer with Hot Dog Stand; Venkman and Terror Dogs with Dana Barrett; Spengler and Ghost; Stay Puft Marshmallow man with Ray Stantz; and the enormously cool Firehouse. Collect the set and catch all the ghosts.

You can see more about the Ecto-1 and other sets in the line at the Playmobil site HERE