This won't be a terribly long post, as I have plenty of family things to get to, and I'm sure most of you are pretty wrapped up in your own Christmas / Holiday fun, but I wanted to take a few minutes to not only wish you all a Merry Christmas, but also to show off the neat Ghostbusters stuff I got this year!
Typically, I'm a pretty big Scrooge when it comes to the holidays. They just seem to be best left in the past when you had all the joy and wonder attached to it. As you get older, it seems to wear off, and you fill the role of gift giver and hand the role of gift getter to a younger generation.
The transition is quite hard. It's never fun knowing that your best Christmas memories are far away in the past.
However, there can still be some fun and excitement involved. Alcohol DOES help!
This year Mrs. Ghostbuster let me open one of my gifts early. And what an excellent gift it was:
Yes, FINALLY I am the proud owner of the Ghostbusters LEGO set!
This probably took me a good two hours to put together with minimal breaks. I'll admit, I'm not the best LEGO putter togetherer by any means, but the Ecto-1 was indeed a daunting task to assemble.
After spending a large amount of time putting it together, I can kind of see what the big deal is about LEGO sets. They are indeed pretty fun.
Now I really have to stop myself from ever buying more, because I could really see myself getting highly addicted to LEGO products.
Christmas Eve was spent at my Mother In Law's. Most people dread their extended family, but I kind of like mine. They are fun people.
My Mother In Law, with a little bit of help from Mrs. Ghostbuster, nailed it this year with 3 AWESOME GB shirts. I may or may not be wearing the Stay Puft shirt as I write this.
For those who may wonder, I am pretty positive these came from the JC Penny website.
As we returned home, ready to unwind and not see or hear another child's scream for at least a century, Mrs. Ghostbuster gave me my last gift, and boy, was it AMAZING.
I am now the proud owner of a giant ass Ghostbusters logo.
My wife knew I wanted this one BAD. A friend of mine sent me a photo of it from a comic shop that is a little over an hour away from here, and Mrs. Ghostbuster had it sent to our door just in time for Christmas Eve!
It's made of thick foam, and measures close to two feet across. Looks spectacular on the wall as well. The perfect addition to the Mr. Ghostbuster HQ.
And the perfect end to Christmas of 2014.
Be sure to stop on over to the Mr. Ghostbuster Facebook page and share what you got this year!
It must be a rare day, because I'm actually updating this blog. It doesn't happen often lately.
I'll be the first to admit that I only have so many hours in the day, and most of them don't pertain to pondering "how can I get a few more views on my blog today?"
But, as we all know, no matter how much time passes in between postings, eventually, I always find some kind of time to update this page and try to entertain and inform at least some of you.
To be honest, I haven't even been very active on Facebook either. At least not on a regular basis.
Anyways, you didn't come here to see what I've been so busy with lately, you came to read about Ghostbusters!
Today we take a look at Kylie from Trendmasters' Exteme Ghostbusters toy line.
As I mentioned previously on this page, the Extreme Ghostbusters toy line was highly underrated and produced in far fewer amounts than the Rel Ghostbusters toy line that had come out ten years earlier.
While kids of the late 90's were all about Pokemon and WWF toys, the Extreme Ghostbusters failed to hit a home run.
It's not that they were bad toys by any means, but they weren't something that was highly advertised, and the cartoon itself would be on at weird hours of the morning, like 6am where I lived. Name me one child who is bright eyes and busy tailed at 6am that cares about Ghostbusters.
Basically, we can blame the failure of EGB on poor marketing. Really, that's kind of what it comes down to. Had advertisements been heavier, and the cartoon been in a prime Saturday morning time slot, Ghostbusters as we know it may be a whole different thing today.
Kylie was a pretty cool figure. Not since the days of the Real Ghostbusters had we seen a female GB figure. Yes, technically you can count Janine as a GB, since she always came with ghost-busting gear, and often times suited up in the cartoon.
Kylie Griffin is one of Egon Spengler's students, turned Ghostbuster. She embodies everything of the late 90's goth girl, and also has a deep interest in the paranormal.
One thing I love about the EGB series is that the equipment is a giant upgrade from your average proton pack.
The Neutrona wand is replaced with an easier to manage Plasma Blaster. Smaller, and more powerful, the Plasma Blaster packs an added punch to busting class five full roaming vapors.
The ghost trap was also upgraded and given a new look as well.
Kylie also came with Slimer, who always seemed to find a way to depress me in this series. Naturally nearly ten years had passed since the original boys in grey protected the streets of New York from goblins, spooks, and demons.
Slimer seemed to have aged, and not gracefully, in that amount of time. I suppose it speaks to our own mortality. Egon had aged as well. When they ran the Back in the Saddle episodes, everybody came back looking much, much older than we remember them.
Again, yes, time passes, we get it, but it's always hard to watch our heroes age.
While Extreme Ghostbusters may not have been what die hard GB fans of the late 90's would have liked it to be, it certainly fit the "slacker, skateboarding, extreme sports, edgy" lifestyle that was present at the time.
Kylie and her upgraded gear, and rather unconventional uniform embody a lot of the 90's culture, but at the end of the day, it wasn't what we were used to, and for many, change is a tough thing to deal with.
I suppose you could say it all began 26 years ago.
It was 1988. Ronald Reagan Was the President of the United States, Michael Jackson was still black, and "A Very Brady Christmas" topped the ratings for CBS.
Oh, and I guess that little cartoon called, "The Real Ghostbusters" was pretty popular too.
For what seemed like months, and it very well could have been, I had been begging for my parents to buy me some Ghostbusters toys.
I needed them more than I would ever need an education, more than I would ever need a liver to process insane amounts of alcohol consumed in High School, and more than I would ever need lungs to breathe.
I NEEDED GHOSTBUSTERS TOYS.
No matter how hard I begged, the answer was always the same. "Santa is going to bring you some."
Santa? How in the world can I possibly just sit here and wait for Santa to bring me some Ghostbusters?
In my 3 year old brain, I simply could not process the fact that I wasn't able to play with Egon, Ray, Peter, and Winston figures because I had to just sit back like a dork and wait for some stranger to drop in my house while I slept and bring me some.
Oh no, the addiction was far worse than anybody could have predicted, even if I had nothing of my own yet.
One night, as we roamed the aisles of our small town Wal-Mart, I begged again. I received the usual response. This is where my memory gets just a little fuzzy. Something happened. I don't know how I convinced them, but it finally worked. I wish I had some kind of video play back, because whatever strategy I used, it would have come in handy much later in life.
My parents caved in. It worked.
I left Wal-Mart with my very first Ghostbusters toy. A Fright Features Egon Spengler.
I was now ready to sit back and wait for the fat man himself to shimmy his ass down the chimney and bring me more of these.
We spent that Christmas at my Grandma's house in the backwoods, hillbilly town of Nebraska City, NE. I don't remember exactly how long we were there, but I remember the house that shit lived in at the time.
There was this big room, which in all honesty probably wasn't very big at all, but to a 3 year old, it was giant. In one corner there was a Christmas tree with some presents, and in another there was a tv. The middle of the room had a couch and chair, while the other side of the room had a table and chairs, maybe some other crap too!
The few days (at least what I think were a few days) leading up to Christmas were hell. Stuck in small town, middle of nowhere, Nebraska, and wondering if Santa was going to be able to find me and bring those Ghostbusters toys that my parents had promised he would bring for months was just killing me inside.
I was ready to get this shit underway.
Christmas morning finally did come. Like most of my mornings later in life, I woke up and took a shit. Even at the age of 3 I had priorities. Nowadays the first things I do are check Facebook and light up a smoke. Then I think about taking a dump. But hey, at least it's still part of my morning routine.
As I took the browns to the Super Bowl, my dad stood in the doorway and said that we should go see what Santa Claus brought. I wiped and went.
My haul that year was greater than almost any other year that would come after it. I got a talking Pee-Wee doll, several Pee-Wee's Playhouse toys, and yes, plenty of Ghostbusters.
Fright Features Ray Stantz, Terror Trash, and Granny Gross are the ones who come to mind right away. I'm sure there were a few others too.
It was the first Christmas that I remember, maybe that's why I hold it in such high regard. It was also the first one I ever had involving Ghostbusters. There were other years that involved it too, and I'm pretty sure I'll talk about those as well, but nothing beats the first one.
I have no idea where that house is located, nor have I been there in over 25 years, but I'll always remember the "big" room in little old Nebraska City, the room where Santa left me those Ghostbusters toys.
In the late 90's, it was kind of the "in" thing to try and keep 80's cartoon franchises alive and well.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles suddenly became Ninja Turtles, The Next Mutation, which added a 5th turtle, a female named Venus. Needless to say, this live action nightmare failed after only one season, and Venus was never heard from again.
Ghostbusters wasn't ignored either.
In the late 90's, talk of Ghostbusters 3 was all the rage. Wait, it still is. I guess some thing don't change. Either way, talk of a third movie was alive and well in 1997. Rumored stars who would make up a new team of Ghostbusters included Chris Farley and Will Smith.
While rumors of a third movie swirled around the fledgling World Wide Web, Ghostbusters fans old and new were treated to a cartoon series that served as a sequel to our much beloved Real Ghostbusters.
Egon Spengler led the pack with a new team of Ghostbusters, his college students. Kylie, Eduardo, Roland, and Garret. Janine returned to serve as the secretary, and we even got an older, really depressing version, of Slimer.
Naturally, with a new Saturday morning cartoon hitting the airwaves, we just had to get a new set of toys, right?
Among the figures and role play toys, there was the Plasma Blaster! A much upgraded version of the neutrona wand. Ghostbusting in the 90's, I guess.
Before we delve into the Plasma Blaster, I think we should pay homage to this little shit on the box.
If you'll recall, most of the children on the boxes for the Real Ghostbusters toys were very clean cut, coming across as looking like Timmy from Lassie.
That was so 80's.
The 90's, the late 90's in particular saw society move into a much more extreme, hardcore, edgy lifestyle. Jerry Springer was giving America daily brawls featuring cross dressers and strippers with hoo hoo's the size of beach balls. Stone Cold Steve Austin was the foul mouthed WWF Champion. Playstation and SURGE soda were a much better couple than Ross and Rachael.
I think you get it.
Look at little Mister Attitude on the box. Dressed all in black, hat on backwards, ready to bust some ghosts, flip off a cop, and explore the world of internet porn.
Okay, maybe that was just me, I don't know.
I think the packaging definitely suits the time period and the Extreme theme of the cartoon, as we of course know, nothing said extreme in the 90's like a backwards hat. You hippie.
Oh, this toy.
The Plasma Blaster requires about 99 different batteries to operate. And they aren't the kind that tend to be laying around the house either. Nope. We're talking LR44's, C's, a Mazda MX3 battery, a small generator, and something big enough to electrocute a horse.
While we go through this review battery free, just mesmerize yourself with the complexity of this toy.
Oh, where to begin.
Jesus H. Christ, they made this one a little complicated, didn't they?
Just looking at this thing makes me feel like my 93 year old grandpa trying to figure out how to stick a tape into the VCR.
No, really, he got it like 20 years ago and I still don't think he knows how to use it.
The Plasma Blaster is equipped with several features that make anything from the RGB series look insufficient.
There are easily more lights and sounds available on this thing than any pre-2001 Cell Phone could possibly offer.
First, we have a nifty little radar that allows us to scope out a spook and fire a missile via the touch of the button in the middle. I like to think of it as the button you shouldn't touch for any reason, but totally touch in a panic.
You can just imagine your first day on the job, being handed your own Plasma Blaster, and Egon saying to you, "See that button? Don't ever touch it, under any circumstances."
But you do anyways.
The missile that shoots out even lights up.
How does one fire the Plasma Blaster?
Well, glad you asked.
There is a little red button on the handle that, when pushed, supplies us with lights and sounds. Of course, you can't just pretend that there is a proton stream coming out of the end.
Trendmasters one upped Kenner on this one.
While Kenner just gave up long pieces of foam, Trendmasters gave us a giant, yellow, plastic dildo to clip on to the end on the gun.
If all else fails, and you cannot find any of the 97 thousand batteries to power this little toy, take a selfie and try to make a bad ass face. Cigarette optional.
God, my bad ass face makes it look like I REALLY have to poop.
Is the Plasma Blaster a terrible toy?
Not by any means. However, much like the rest of the EGB line, I think they lack the overall simplicity and style that the RGB toys had. I don't think they changed for the worse, but I do think it was something that the 90's, and Ghostbusters fans, weren't quite ready to accept.
In recent years, EGB has found a following among a handful of original fans, but most purists refuse to give it the time of day.
Myself? I'm glad there was a EGB. I liked it. It wasn't what it could have been, and was very different from what I knew and loved growing up, but some kind of Ghostbusters is better than no Ghostbusters.
Plus, without EGB, we would have never gotten the Back in the Saddle episodes, which remain some of my favorites to this very day.
If you'd like to see this thing actually light up, check out the video, which was not made by me, but some guy who sounds like Crocodile Dundee, who makes a weird farting noise as the beginning. It's a terrible video, just so you know.
I haven't done one of these for a while, so I figured it was a good time to dust off the "3 Random Things" series.
For those not in the know, I take a photo of 3 random things out of the biggest Ghostbusters collection that you will ever see and write a little about them.
Neat, huh?
No? Oh well, read anyways.
This edition of 3 Random Things is a special one. This time we are looking at 3 Random Ghostbusters 2 Items!
1: Box of GB2 Trading cards!
While I have unopened packs and a stack of loose cards, nothing is quite as cool as a whole box of them.
A few years ago at a flea market, I ran into a guy with a box of 36 unopened packs of Ghostbusters 2 cards.
Being the master negotiator that I am, and always looking to save a buck here and there, I scored it for $5 instead of the $6 that he had it marked at.
Where did that extra dollar saved go?
Hell if I know, but it's the small victories that matter most.
2: Vigo Lighter!
While not an officially licensed Ghostbusters item, I have a soft spot for this Vigo lighter.
Mrs. Ghostbuster got me this for my birthday last week.
I do believe she got it off of Etsy. You know, that place where stay at home moms sell home made crafts and junk? Yeah, that one.
While it's nothing more than a Vigo sticker slapped onto a 79 cent lighter, I know that when I'm in a pinch, and scrambling to find a lighter to light my smokes, I'll be in good hands with the home made flaming Carpathian.
3: Ecto 1-A model
While newer version of the Ecto 1-A model have surfaced in recent years, I was able to score a vintage model still sealed.
I'm not a fan of models, so that would explain why pretty much every Ecto model I have remains unopened.
Last time I put one together, it was such a painful process. Literally. I got pissed at something on it and kicked stuff. Kicked it so hard I nearly broke my toe. It was fun trying to walk for the next few weeks.
I vowed never to put another model together ever again.
Yes boys and girls, it's another Ghostbusters cereal box!
I've previously written about one of the handful of boxes in my collection, to which I likened the cereal to the taste of a dead squirrel's rectum.
I think it's pretty accurate, really.
Seeing as it would be far to hard by the standards of any decade to market "Dead Squirrel Ass" cereal, Ralston-Purina had to slap something wildly popular on the box to sell it.
What better way to get children of the 80's hooked on dead squirrel ass than to include marshmallows and slap a Ghostbusters logo on it?
Overnight, Ralston-Purina had a hit on their hands. They knew just how to draw in us 80's kids. There was no way on Earth that we weren't going to beg our parents for it. Who cares if it tasted terrible? It had a freakin' Ghostbusters logo on it for heaven's sake.
In the 80's and 90's, childhood life was all about image, If you had something that somebody else didn't, and somebody deemed it "cool" you were the man, for a day at least.
If you were late to the party, and jumped on the bandwagon last minute (or it took forever for your parents to buy you the thing that made you cool) you were just trying to fit in.
Perhaps you avoided the things that were trendy and marched to your own drum.
No matter what, you weren't you without your favorite breakfast cereal.
in the 80's, breakfast cereals were made for anything and everything. Fly by night cartoons and long running staples of pop culture.
If you could dream it, you could eat it.
Naturally it made perfect sense for there to be a Ghostbusters cereal.
The particular box, while not of the usual Hologram variety, is amazing in it's own way.
Adorned with a giant no-ghost logo on the front, meant to catch the eye of screaming kindergartners everywhere, the cereal offered something more on the box.
While children of today's world only know "Cereal prizes" to be some long ago ancient myth, us 80's kids really had them. We had prizes galore, and some of the best giveaways known to man.
One of those giveaways allowed us normal everyday kids to "Be A Ghostbuster"
Screaming at your mom and dad to spend $1.75 to buy the cereal wasn't enough.
Now you had to be extra volatile and squeeze another $1.50 out of them.
Even by 1980's standards, $1.50 wasn't some huge amount of money that if spent would relegate you to eating peanut butter sandwiches for a week. And for the money being spent, you sure got a nice haul to show for it.
Before I get to what $1.50 got ya, I have to laugh at the picture on the back of the box.
These kids were so excited to get their Ghostbusters package in the mail, that they rushed into the bedroom, pajamas and all, turned off the light, and busted out flashlights to view the contents.
I think next month when I get my electric bill, Ill do the same thing.
All about reliving the excitement of a better time.
If you've made it this far, you were a spoiled little shit.
Not only did you get your parents to spend $1.75 on a box of dead squirrel anus flavored cereal (with marshmallows!) but you also convinced them that they loved you enough to send an additional $1.50 for a pile of crap you would likely lose within a week.
God, you had it good, didn't you?
For $1.50 plus the proof of purchase from the box, you would receive:
an 11x14" Ghostbusters poster
1 Glow-in-the-dark door sign
1 glow-in-the-dark light switch cover
2 sheets of Ghostbusters stickers
A Ghostbusters button
and an official Ghostbusters Membership Certificate
Man, Ralston-Purina was really making up for the poop flavored cereal weren't they?
I actually think I have a couple of the things that were given away on the box.
I'll have to do some digging in the Mr. Ghostbuster Headquarters, but when I find them, I'm going to lay them out on the bed and shine a flashlight on them.
After living in the same city together for about three decades, the Ghostbusters and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have finally met.
I was given a copy of Issue 1 of the cross over by a friend of mine for my birthday.
He is pretty much just as crazy about TMNT as I am about Ghostbusters.
I'll admit, I haven't kept up on the TMNT in recent years. I know enough to get by, but overall I only really collect, or care about, the vintage series. Never got into the 2002 cartoon. The Nick cartoon has it's funny moments, but I only really watch that for my 3 year old Nephew.
While I won't go into a ton of detail over this issue, since I know there will be many who have yet to read it, I will give it a brief run down, showcasing some of the bigger things, to give those who have yet to read a general idea of what to expect.
The story starts off with an ancient demon warrior from the past being sent into present time by Krang.
In present day New York, Donatello is working on a teleportation device with some professor dude I've never heard of. Again, I don't keep up with modern day TMNT.
When Donatello suggests that the Turtles, April, and Casey Jones test it out by going to the lair to surprise Splinter, and coming right back, they all hesitate, but eventually decide to do so.
As the Turtles were preparing to teleport, a fly gets in the way and the professor slaps the wrong switch.
Long and short of it, the Turtles get sent to where they were due to go, but in a different New York City.
Meanwhile, the Ghostbusters battle the Bug Eye Ghost.
Yes, I nearly lost it when I saw this. How freakin' sweet is it that in 2014 the Ghostbusters can be alive and well, battling real versions of toys that came out in the 80's?
The boys finish up and get called to a class 7 bust.
The Turtles land in a church in New York where a wedding is taking place.
Soon after, our demon from the start of the story, the class 7, shows up to raise some hell, and possesses Casey Jones.
That's when the boys in grey walk in and discover not only the class 7, but also the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or as Venkman calls them, "Kung Fu Martians"
This is where issue numero uno ends.
I really enjoyed it.
The only thing I would have liked better would be for the Turtles to already be in the New York that the Ghostbusters exist in.
Maybe have it be 1980 something and they see a news report from April O'neil on the tv and people talking about the Turtles. They go to investigate and figure out the whole mess with the Foot Clan and Shredder, maybe a few ghosts along the way, I dunno.
Anyways, I'd love to get my hands on issue 2 when it comes out. I'll probably have to order it since the only Comic Book store in town doesn't typically carry these.
Trust me, it's on my to do list.
In the meantime, do yourselves a favor and pick up issue 1.
Back in 2012 Kroger decided to partner with Hotwheels to release store exclusive Ecto-1 cars.
For somebody who lives in the middle of the country, these things don't pop up. We have no Kroger grocery store here.
Luckily, I have a wife, and I have a birthday!
I'm pretty certain she did indeed order this for my birthday a few years ago.
We'll say she did. Either way, it wasn't just handed over to me. I don't get those perks like other Ghostbuster sites do. It seems douchebags always get the free stuff.
While I'm a big fan of the Ecto-1, the rest of the Kroger exclusives, at least to me, seem boring.
I guess I could make one exception for the Batmobile. It's pretty ass on it's own, but when fitted with a Halloween design, it gets a little bit neater.
I've never been a Hot Wheels collector.
There seem to be too many people out there that go bat shit crazy over Hotwheels stuff. So much to the point of knowing when certain stores get their shipments in and raiding everything before the casual buyers can get to it, taking out everything that they believe is worth money, and selling it online.
Some people ruin everything, don't they?
I think it's safe to say that this ain't your daddy's Ecto-1.
Being an exclusive to Kroger, Hotwheels of course had to fit the vehicle with an exclusive Halloween theme.
Makes sense, right?
The hood of the black car, with green tinted windows and a slime stripe on the side, is adorned with our pal, Slimer.
It's almost as if Slimer possessed the Ecto-1 making it his own or something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but glorious is too weak of a word for it.
Instead of the much loved Ghostbusters logo on the doors, there is a plain and simple jack-o-lantern with the Hotwheels logo on it.
This is where I have some mixed feeling about the car.
I think they really should have kept the no-ghost logo somehow. In fact, there isn't one to be seen anywhere, and casual passers by would have no idea that it was the Ecto-1 unless they actually picked it up and very closely examined it.
Shit, I didn't even pay enough attention to the fact that Slimer was on the hood until about 8 months after I received it.
All in all, I do like the exclusive car. I guess it's just one of those things where Ghostbusters products seems to be better identified with the No-Ghost logo. I think it just goes hand in hand at this point, being that it is indeed one of the most recognizable logos of all time.
If you haven't checked it out yet, head over to Facebook and like "Mr. Ghostbuster" for all kinds of fun, including a contest that is going on right now!
