Ghost Sweeper!

Kenner's Ghost Sweeper was a thing of genius.

While never officially appearing on the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, it was a wonderful brainchild of the Kenner toy company, combining the technology of a Street Sweeper (although it more closely resembles a midget Zamboni) with high tech ghost busting equipment.

Before we go into detail about what the toy does, here is where I get nit-picky. 

The front of the box advertises the Screamin' Heroes figures using this machine. Good enough, right? I guess Kenner couldn't resist also peddling the Power Pack figures as well, seeing as the instructions on the back of the box has that line of toys using the Ghost Sweeper. 

I suppose it's just complaining when there doesn't need to be any, but it would be cool to at least use the figures in the art on the front of the box. I would have assumed there were plenty of them still available, even if they photographed the back of the box after they did the cover art.

Now that I'm done being way too nerdy and splitting hairs about a cool toy, let's find out just what it is that the Ghost Sweeper does.

As seen above from the shots on the back of the box, the Ghost Sweeper is just that, a ghost sweeper. 

Instead of the Ghostbusters acting as exterminators, they have decided to take to the streets and clean up New York's spooks that have chosen not to terrorize the usual home or business.

Equipped with a neutrona wand, the sweeper cruises up and down the mean streets of New York, ready and waiting for something to go bump in the night.

Once a ghost is located the proton stream is fired. As opposed to the typical ghost trap, the ghost is held in place by the proton stream while the sweeper inches closer, eventually trapping the ghost inside of the built in cage.

I like to imagine that there is some kind of proton stream force field that prevents the ghost from escaping.

Here is where things get a little iffy.

So you've had a long night of patrolling the streets, and you've swept up a ghost. Good enough, right? Well what exactly are you going to do with it once you get back the headquarters? 

I cannot imagine that they would just open the cage door and trap the ghost using the traditional method of doing things, so I will go out on a limb, using what little is left of my 4 year old child imagination, and say that there is some kind of hookup on the machine that allows a trap to be attached. The trap is inserted into the containment unit, and the ghost transfers from the sweeper to his eternal resting place.

Yeah, a little far fetched, but hell, they didn't exactly break it down for us when they created the toy now did they?