Regardless, I'm Mr. Ghostbuster. I'm sure a vast majority of you have been following me on the Mr. Ghostbuster Facebook Page for a while now, so you already know that I'm a Ghostbusters addict and that my collection goes beyond being able to be described as "hoarding"
There is hoarding, and then there is "Holy shit." I'm more along the lines of "Holy shit."
Another thing I typically hate about these "first posts" is that I have to try to tell you what in the hell it is that I hope to accomplish by even having a website.
I suppose what I will do is not only show off my collection, but also do little write-ups about Ghostbusters products new and old. I'll probably also post the occasional news story here or there, as well as some fun things like commercials and such.
Basically, it gives me something to do in my free time, when I'm not running my own toy business.
How often will I update this page? Hell, I have no idea. It could be once a day, once a month, or once a year. It all depends on how much motivation and time I have to do anything. Sometimes, a lot, sometimes, none at all.
Think of it as Christmas morning each time I do decide to update it. No, Christmas is too infrequent. Think of it as a surprise check for $2.56 that you got in the mail because you over paid on something. Yeah, that one.
I decided that for my first post on this thing, that I would review one of my favorite products. In fact, it's the one that started my holy shit collecting habit,
I give you, the first figure that I ever owned, the Fright Features Egon Spengler.
I can recall it like it was yesterday.
It was late fall / early winter of 1988. I was just a hair over 3 years old. Christmas was rapidly approaching. I had been begging non stop for Ghostbusters toys. Each trip to our small town Wal-Mart made the craving for molded plastic figures worse.
At 3, I was an impatient little fucker. I still am. I could only hear my parents say "Santa will bring you some" so many times. It was like a weight that kept pressing down on me harder and harder until I finally snapped.
One night, they gave in.
As we approached the toy aisle, the usual begging began, again followed by the "Santa will bring some" line.
This is where it gets pretty fuzzy.
Something happened, an event that I really don't remember as clearly as the rest of the story, but something happened that caused them to cave in. Had they finally decided just to shut me up? Was Santa really going to bring me some? Were they on sale? Seriously, it's driving me nuts.
Either way, I don't remember, but I did walk out with a Fright Features Egon!
First, the positive.
The figure itself is really neat. You push on his arm and he gets a wonderful "Oh shit, a ghost" look on his face.
Also, how could you not love the uniform? Kenner made a smart move by realizing that while their first set of figures was indeed popular and performed well on store shelves, they needed to up the ante and put a little something extra into the next set.
I mean, really, how great would it be if every series of figures featured the guys in their suits from the first line? Not so much. Kenner got bold, and inventive, and said "let's give these guys different uniforms for different situations. Who cares if they aren't ever going to be featured in the show. Kids are going to beg their parents to own it either way"
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And indeed we did.
Now, the negative, which is really only one thing. I know, you already know. I don't even need to mention it do I?
Yep. The tie.
The absolute worst thing Kenner did was add the tie to Egon. Why? Did blue not go with white? Nope. It was the fact that after about 30 seconds of semi-aggressive Ghost chasing, the damn thing broke off, never to be seen again.
Think I'm kidding?
Here. Here is a shot of 99% of my Fright Features Egon figures. NONE of them have a tie.
I did manage to get lucky and acquire on with the fashionable neck piece still intact. He now sits in a plastic time capsule, never to be opened and ruined by human hands again. Just you watch, one day, it may very well be the last Egon to have a tie.
Anyways, that's the first post. We'll see about a second one sometime in the next 42 years. Although I am planning a little something later this week for the official 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters.
Catch ya later
Mr. Ghostbuster.
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