New Ghostbusters shirt from Five Below

In our little town, which isn't so little, but pales in comparison to real cities, we finally got a Five Below store.

Tonight marked my third trip in. I didn't really find much the first couple of times, with the exception of decks of Ghostbusters 2016 reboot UNO cards at $5 each. I already have a couple, so I've declined picking them up in favor of things I actually need for my collection.

While I didn't necessarily need yet another Ghostbusters shirt, this one is too cool to pass up, especially for the $5 price tag.

Depicted is the familiar no ghost logo, however the red ring is replaced by a ring on runny slime.

They had a large stack of them available, ranging from small to extra large.

Five Below stock doesn't last long, so hurry in to grab yours.

EGB Plasma Blaster

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.

Retro Action Egon Spengler!

This is my favorite part of the day. Really it is.

The part of the day where I get to take a little bit of time out of my schedule and write about Ghostbusters.

I know that not a lot of people read this, and I know that this little site and my Mr. Ghostbuster Facebook page will never be the biggest in the world, nor will they ever be cared about by the big fish in the sea, but to me, it's fun. It's been 25 plus years of collecting and loving Ghostbusters, and I enjoy sharing it with whomever will listen.

Today's fun comes in the form of Matty Collectors Retro Action Egon Spengler figure!

I know a lot of GB fans, myself included, have complained about how Matty produced and handled the Ghostbusters figures, from the overall quality of the toys to the price, they did the fans wrong.

However, these Mego-style Retro Action figures are pretty sweet.

A couple of years ago, a local closeout store had a couple Egon figures for about $5 each, which compared to their normal almost $20 price tag, was a hell of a deal.

I always kind of had this bond with Egon. The very first item in my collection, at age 3 was a Fright Features Egon figure that I begged hard for inside of the toy aisles at Wal-Mart.

The figures themselves are all pretty much the same as far as body molds go. They all have super highly articulated joints, which is a good and bad thing,

Having so much articulation makes for some awesome poses, but it also makes it hard for them to stand up on their own from time to time.

Egon comes clad in his Real Ghostbusters jumpsuit and equipped with a PKE Meter and Proton Pack.

The Proton Pack design, to me, is a few steps above those from the Kenner line. This one has color to it (other than a plain, flat blue) and the neutrona want hooks in flawlessly. 

Overall, I'd give the Retro Action RGB line a 7.5 out of 10.

The figures themselves are great, decent design, wonderful accessories, and they really bring back the fun of seeing Ghostbusters toys in stores.

The only gripes would be, as mentioned, the fact that there is almost too much articulation, making it hard for them to stand on their own, and also the normal $20 price tag. A little expensive for the average buyer, like most of the Matty items, but enough for collectors to pay it.

3 Random Things: STAY PUFT EDITION

Yes kids, it's time for another edition of 3 Random Things here on the blog that nobody knows exists!

Shhh, it'll be our little secret.

This time, we stray away from the normal "look at 3 things from Mr. Ghostbuster's colletion" and put a little twist on it.

This edition of 3 Random Things will be all about our friend, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!

Stay Puft has long been my favorite character in Ghostbusters. He is just so darn cute. How could you not want to give him a big hug? Even when he is sent to destroy all of humanity, you can't help but love him, and have a very soft spot in your heart, to the point to shedding a few tears, when the boys in grey roast him.

Yes, folks, this time we check out 3 Random Stay Puft items in the biggest Ghostbusters collection you will ever see.

1: Singing Stay Puft!!

A few years ago, I was able to score one of these at our local Toys R Us for about $20., which is a real shock.

See, our TRU is typically the last store in the world to get anything good, and if they luck out and do, they get one case of it. Once that case hits shelves, there is nothing but douchey Ebay dealers lined up at the door (every Friday morning at 10am!!!) waiting to get a hold of it to flip it for seven times the retail price.

Push the little blue sticker on Stay Puft's torso and you'll hear roughly 20 seconds of the Ghostbusters theme!

 

2: Stay Puft Plushie!!

I have several of these, but the first one was the worst one to get.

We were down in Memphis, TN on vacation for a week back in 2012. We had gone into Wal-Mart and spotted him trapped inside of the evil claw machine. 

Oh, but he could be ours should we be lucky enough to master the claw at only $1.00 per play!

$1.00 per attempt to watch this fat chunk of fluff fall out over and over and over and over....you get it by now.

By the time he was rescued and in my loving arms, roughly $30 had been spent. I could have done so much more with $30, but I'll never pass up the chance to bring home a stuffed Marshmallow Man.

3: The Stay Puft Army!!

Over the years, I have seemed to acquire 10 of the original Kenner Stay Puft figures.

On average, I seem to gain around 2 of them a year from various sources locally.

I'll never forget the first one. I was about 4 years old, at day care. I was wearing a Ghostbusters 2 logo shirt. 

Some of the other hillbilly kids decided that they wanted to play Ghostbusters. Shit, man, I was down! They quickly turned me away because I was wearing a Ghostbusters 2 shirt. I should be mad about it to this day, but chances are, those little kids, mullets and all, are probably toothless and digging in the dirt, only dreaming to live in the "big town" these days.

I decided to go off and do my own thing, which I would grow very accustomed to throughout my life. Soon enough, my Dad was there to pick me up and free me from the clutches of the evil day care provider.

In his hands, he had the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!

I could not have been more excited in my 4 years on Earth than I was at that moment. Holy hell, my own Marshmallow Man!

To this day, no matter how many of them I have, I always get just as excited when I get another. Stay Puft always has and always will hold a special place in my collection.

Flashback! My Jennifer Runyon Interview!

Hard to believe that this is creeping up on a year and a half ago now. Back when I had my old website, I did an interview with my good friend Jennifer Runyon. Of course, we talked about Ghostbusters.

The interview even made it to a Yahoo article, a posting about the cast of Charles in Charge and where they are now.

Go ahead, and give it a listen.

Slimer Sours!

I'm only about 3 or 4 years late to the party to talk about Slime Sours candy, but when I got word that our local Bed, Bath, and Beyond had practically a whole damn box full of them, I wasn't going to pass it up.

While I already owned a box, along with several opened and unopened tins, there was just something about the $2.99 price tag that screamed, "Mr. Ghostbuster! Buy all of these! Who cares about bills? We are Slimer shaped sour candies!"

Yeah, it went a little like that.

Or, you could just say there was no voice in my head at all, because I've practically become a robot programmed to buy anything Ghostbusters related when I see it.

The candies come in wonderful white tins with the Ghostbusters logo on them. The tins, while cool, don't serve up much purpose once the candy is consumed, although I could totally see my grandparents using one to take along those all important pills wherever they go.

Hey, it could be a new hipster-ish thing. Keep your pot and Ibuprofen inside your Ghostbusters tin.

The candies themselves are, obviously, shaped like Slimer!

While I'm not a huge fan of sour candy (it's not fine and dandy like you may have been led to believe) there is just something about food shaped like a green gluttonous ghost that draws you to it right away.

Slimer has long been popular with Ghostbusters fans, so it really only made sense to keep promoting him all these years later. Smart move.

While Slimer Sours were initially found in a wide variety of places during the year or so period where Ghostbusters: The Video Game had come out and everybody wanted a piece of the Ghostbusters action, I have still been able to locate them not only at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but at smaller specialty stores as well. They are still out there, so grab them up while you can.

Just don't buy a whole damn case like I did. I'll be enjoying Slimer Sours until I turn 895.

Don't forget, Halloween is rapidly approaching! Here on the Mr. GB blog, I'll be reviewing 31 Ghosts in 31 Days! All part of the Halloween fun with Mr. Ghostbuster! The fun starts on October 1st!!!!!!!

3 Random Things Part II

Before we get into all of the fun of looking at Ghostbusters stuff, notice the new graphic on top. 

Starting October first here on the Mr. GB blog, I will be reviewing one ghost figure every day for 31 days! Talk about having a lot more on my plate huh?

I figured I would put the graphic up now to get the 4 people that read this excited about it.

Marching along now, we continue on in the fun that is looking at 3 more random things from my Ghostbusters collection. I'm not sure how many of these we need to do, but it is a great way for you to check out some of the smaller items in my collection that may not be significant enough to receive a post of their own.

As usual, I'll show you a photo, say a few words about it, and we'll move on.

1: Johnny Lightning Ecto 1-A!

I picked this up a couple of years ago at a flea market. 

They aren't the most rare item in the world, but they are pretty neat to have in your collection. As I recall that particular flea market had a higher than normal yield of decent Ghostbusters stuff.

I walked away with this for $8 and also picked up a box of unopened packs of Ghostbusters 2 cards for $5. Not too shabby.

2: Slimer Bookmark

I bought the Slimer bookmark about a year or so ago from a scuzzbag wannabe antique dealer for $2.

Imagine dropping your spouse off at work before the sun comes up in the early hours of a winter morning, and then driving all the way across town to slip $2 in a dude's screen door while retrieving a Slimer book mark.

Dedication? I think so.

I wonder whatever happened to Billy Davis. Dude is at least 60 and recently fathered a child. 1-888-45-MAURY, remember that.

3: Hot Topic Exclusive Funko Stay Puft!

We decided to eat in the mall food court last night. The mall these days is good for two things. Gawking at weird people who belong in a freak show, and making brief stops to Hot Topic. Yes, brief because too much Hipster shit is TOO MUCH.

The moment I walked in the door, well entry way, it's not cool enough to have actual "doors", I spotted two, yes TWO of these bad boys sitting on the shelf.

I rushed over and snatched one up, looked to my right and saw a sign saying "Entire Store, buy one get one half off" so I decided to take the other one home as well.

I mean, really, would you ever be able to sleep at night knowing you split up twins?

I didn't think so.

If I still have your attention at this point, come on over and "LIKE" me on Facebook. Every like counts, even though I have no goal or anything, it's just cool to have more people to talk Ghostbusters with.

Ecto-Glow Winston!

Holy crap, am I actually updating the site?

In my defense, it's been busy lately. I've had articles written about me in the news paper, been to a showing of Ghostbusters every day for the last 5 days so far, and been working, so it's nice that I finally found a little time to review something on here.

Gearing up for October 1st. That starts Halloween around here. I am going to be doing a "31 Ghosts in 31 Days" countdown. I've been slowly prepping that, so there has at least been some shred of effort being put into this site, most of which you are not yet able to see.

Now that we got the boring "where the hell have you been" stuff out of the way, let's talk toys!

Ecto-Glow Winston was kind of a big deal for me to own. As far as the actual Ghostbusters (Egon, Ray, Peter, Winston, Janine, and Louis) go Ecto-Glow Winston was the very last one I needed.

I was super excited to buy him off of the evil machine empire called Ebay. While I typically hate the hell out of that site, sometimes I must use it to fill in small gaps in my collection.

Now, I know you're thinking that the whole Ecto Glow concept is a bit silly. You're not wrong. Of course it's crazy.

At this point in the Real Ghostbusters toy line, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were dominating toy shelves around the world. Ghostbusters, in the eyes of many kids, had lost their luster. 

The big shiny new super cool Ninja Turtles were where the toy market was at, and would continue to be until a few years later when Power Rangers took over.

The Ecto Glow line was Kenner's last attempt to keep our heroes relevant.

Large quantities of these figures were not produced, sadly, making them much harder to find than their earlier produced counterparts.

Our pal, Winston, comes equipped with his Ecto Glow uniform, as well as a mask and Proton Pack to bust the Ecto Glow Wrapper Ghost.

I'm seriously trying to think how glow in the dark equipment could fit into catching ghosts. As silly and strange as it may sound, here is what I came up with:

Ghosts are running amok in New York City, destroying everything in sight. A select few were electrocuted by a downed power line, causing a major power outage in the city.

Still with me here? Yeah, I know, stupid, but keep going.

Ready for action, the Ghostbusters are equipped with their all new, top of the line, glow in the dark uniforms and Proton Packs to take care of the power munching spooks.

Again, stupid, but really the only scenario, save for "everybody jumped into a vat of glow in the dark goo" that really could work.

I should note that on the back of the card, the unreleased Ecto-Glow Copter is advertised, meaning Kenner was all into doing it until some big wig saw sales numbers and decided to totally pull the plug on production. Had they held out for another few months, I'm sure we would all still be playing with Ecto-Glow Copters today.

It was clearly a rushed judgement to pull the line on the series as several other items were in the process of being made, such as Egon's Lab and the Backpack Heroes set, among a few other things.

It was a great run for Kenner and The Real Ghostbusters, but it had to come to an end at some point.

I have always wished that the Trendmasters Extreme Ghostbusters Toys would have caught on a lot more along with the cartoon. That could have been the big revival for the Ghostbusters, but I think the 90's wasn't ready for it as the Ninja Turtles were already being revamped to a live action show, and Power Rangers were starting to plateau in popularity. 

While everything big that we have grown up with has been remade at some point (Ie: 2 more Ninja Turtles cartoons and a recent movie, Power Rangers is still on TV, Thundercats, Masters of the Universe, etc) Ghostbusters has yet to really get that type of treatment.

I think if they were to release a new cartoon, based on the same characters, they would do pretty well with it. I can definitely see it being a contender for kids' attention.

And of course, a new cartoon series would mean new toys.

A boy can dream, can't he?

Real Ghostbusters Tent!

One of my all time favorite Ghostbusters items from my childhood.

When I was little, my parents bought me the Real Ghostbusters play tent. It wasn't a must have item by any means, but it sure did add something nice to your Ghostbusters collection.

This was seriously where you could find me on most days,. Hiding out in here playing with my Ghostbusters toys. What can I say, my whole life revolved around it. It still does, with the exception of way too much grown up crap mixed in.

This tent, if not kept on the floor, sat on top of my bed, where I slept inside of it nearly every night, while trying to avoid our evil cat that would try to claw my feet.

I'm sure Kitty Joe is long dead now. I think we just left him there when we moved to a bigger town.

I miss Kitty Joe. The little dickhead that he was.

My biggest gripe about the tent, even when I was 4, was that Winston was not on there. I was pissed. How could you possibly be okay sleeping inside of a Ghostbusters tent that wasn't protected by all four boys in grey?

Poor Winston got let off of all kinds of stuff.

When the opportunity to score this on Ebay for way too much money came up earlier in the year, I could not pass it up.

Sure it takes up way too much room and serves zero purpose now, but one look at it, and the memories flood back so thick that you have to brush them away.

The basic answer to the question that you are most likely to ask is NO I haven't slept in it. I can barely crawl inside it and be able to get up off of the floor. That shit hurts!

The tent, after all these years, still has lots of bright color on it to illuminate faded memories of long ago.

While I'm not a fan of Ray's face, Slimer at least appears to be pretty chill. As chill as Slimer can be anyway.

I'll never fully understand how a group of men, whose company slogan is "We aint afraid of no ghost" always seems to have the biggest look of fright on their faces nearly every time they are immortalized in merchandise form.

Stupid, I know, but I had to at least complain about something.

I like to think of the tent as our "Guest Bedroom" even though it really only functions as an eye sore that my current cat hides out in.

This Thursday has been deemed "National Ghostbusters Day" by Sony Pictures. To celebrate, there will be an article about me in the local news paper featuring my collection.

I'll post up the link here and on Facebook sometime on Thursday.

Kenner RGB Firehouse Headquarters

This is a big one for me.

Let's take a little trip back to 1989. I would tell you to close your eyes, but then you wouldn't be able to read any of this. Then again, I'm not too terribly sure that anybody does anyways.

It's quite possibly fall of 1989. We were living in a small town in Nebraska, which we would soon escape with a move to the capital city, which isn't any better. Think of it as just a bigger trailer trash population.;

We take a visit to the "big town" for reasons that I honestly do not recall. I'm pretty positive that we had lunch at Burger King because our crappy little town didn't have one yet at that point.

After our lunch that may or may not have happened at Burger King, we stopped into Target, which our crappy town also didn't have!

As we browsed the toy aisles, looking at glorious 80's toy after 80's toy on the pegs, we rounded a corner and on an end cap was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life.

Yes, a Ghostbusters Firehouse playset.

I begged. I begged HARD.

Surely my parents would just go ahead and snatch that shit up and throw it in the cart, right?

Yeah, no such luck.

I had no real grasp of what money even was, other than the change I had in my piggy bank. I didn't even know what it was used for, other than making a wonderful clanking noise that surely annoyed anybody that came within 14 miles of our house.

With no luck of the "Get Mr. Ghostbuster a Firehouse" front, I begrudgingly settled for a Power Pack Heroes Louis Tully figure. I suppose now I could at least say I left with something Ghostbusters, but at this point, once you have seen the holy grail, trinkets don't hold much appeal.

Christmas approached. It approached faster than I could have ever imagined it would, but I was also 4, and had no concept of time either.

We had made our visit to see Santa Claus, where I was quick to let the fat bastard know that a Ghostbusters Firehouse was the ONLY thing that could possibly make Christmas right for me that year. Mario pajamas were not in my wheelhouse, Lego blocks wouldn't do, and TMNT stuff would only lead to larger Ghostbusters cravings. And let's be honest, it was 1989, the last year in the best pop culture decade known to man. How could I say goodbye to the greatest decade in the history of the world if I had homeless Ghostbusters figures?

Christmas morning soon arrived. There just HAD to be a Ghostbusters Firehouse in there for me somewhere. This was going to be my big day, the day that my Ghostbusters figures would move in to their new home and establish a permanent residence while operating the greatest business in the entire world!

Present after present was opened. Mario pajamas, Lego blocks, TMNT stuff, all there and accounted for. Finally, after all was said and done, and the magic of presents under the tree wore off, I looked around and said, "well, I guess no Ghostbusters Firehouse for me this time..." to which my Dad replied, "Santa must have run out of them."

No, truth be told, Santa's elves didn't work hard enough to fulfill my wish list. Had they not taken so many smoke and coffee breaks, they could have easily boxed up a Firehouse and had it delivered while I slept on December 24th, 1989.

What seemed like an eternity later, I finally got one. I'm not sure how long it was after Christmas, but I got it. At least good ol' Dad made it right where Santa had brutally screwed me over.

All these years later, I still give them shit about not getting one for Christmas that year. Mom could never remember why I didn't get one, but Dad says it's because nobody had any. Apparently they were a pretty hot item that year, which matches up to the story I was told by the guy I bought my can of Ecto-Plasm from. He said his mother drove all the way down to Missouri on Christmas Eve of that year to get him one.

Sir, you made out better than me.

Memories aside, this really is an awesome toy.

The front of the firehouse let's us all no that this is unmistakably the Ghostbusters headquarters. The color scheme is quite different from the movie and cartoon series, but overall not terrible. It does a nice job of fitting in well with the rest of the toy line.

The big red doors both open up and have just enough room to house the Ecto-1 if and only if you remove the seat on the top of the car, otherwise it's too tall to fit inside.

The inside bugs me a little bit, and keep in mind, this is my OCD coming out.

Okay, main level, enough room for the Ecto-1 sans chair on top. Awesome. But the real question is, how in the world are the Ghostbusters supposed to get up to the second and third floors? Should they just magically sprout a set of wings and learn to fly up?

This has always been the big thing that bothered me about the Firehouse. Sure, it's a toy, it doesn't have to make sense at all, that is where the imagination of a child comes in, but for the lover of everything good, why could Kenner not put in a simple little stair case to shut people like me up?

One neat thing though is the pole. You simply put your figures on it via the pegs that fit into the bottom of their feet and watch them spin down on the red platform, just be careful when they finally land, and there is no way in hell that they wouldn't be spewing chunks everywhere.

The Firehouse also came with a can of Ecto-Plazm, which could be poured into the grate on top of the building and onto a figure. Never really got to try that feature since my parents were beyond anal about that shit getting into the carpet. So we'll just pretend I did, and it rocked.

Kenner also did us a big time solid and gave us the Containment Unit to go along with the Firehouse. My only issue, again nerdy OCD, is that you couldn't really store it inside on the building, and there was no basement, so it basically had to sit outside of the Firehouse while you created your own ghost-busting adventures.

Again,. not a big deal, I'm just cranky.

The top portion of the Containment Unit let you put in a ghost figure that would have been packed in with one of your Ghostbusters. Most of them fit well in there, but some did not at all. If you aim for anything from the first series to the Fright Features series, you're sitting pretty good.

Once your ghost was inserted, you slide the top portion over and it deposits the spook into his permanent home in ghost world.

Pretty simple, but there is too much awesome not to mention.

All in all, the Real Ghostbusters Firehouse playset was a good one. Not really anything to break on it other than the front doors, and not a millions small parts and pieces to lose.

Simple, yet effective.

Marshmallow Mess Ray Stantz!

For everything Matty Collector did wrong with the Ghostbusters figures, Big Lots did something right.

About a year ago they caused a massive ruckus when they began selling off some of Matty's overstock of Ghostbusters. It started with the 12 inch doll sets from GB2 and spilled over into the 6 inch figures.

In order to keep the Ghostbusters at my local Big Lots safe from Ebay dealers, I bought up every single one I could find. Does that make me a douche? Couldn't care less. I cherish each and every single one of them that I have.

And if you really needed to know, I have 11 of these Marshmallow Mess Ray figures.

Big Lots got their shipment in shortly before Christmas of last year. 11 of them to be exact.

I rushed in and bought a few, all while strategically hiding the rest of them. I mean, come on, this was on super secret lockdown that they even had these, I couldn't let Ebay scalpers get ahold of them.

Little by little, I ended up with 10 of them.

 One night my best friend got ahold of me and was really excited. He had gone to Big Lots and found the only Marshmallow Mess Ray in stock. I must have left one behind. He bought it thinking that he had come across some type of rare sunken treaure, akin to the Shankara Stones in the Temple of Doom.

Yeah, he was a little disappointed when he found out that I had already bought the other 10, but hey, at least he found me the 11th!

Grown men like me who have a 12 year old's brain would probably be quick to dub the figure Bukkake Ray, because, well, it's obvious.

Gangbang Marshmallow Mess Ray comes equipped with only the finest of ghost busting equipment such as his proton pack (with a beam that glows in the dark!), Ecto-Goggles, and walkie talkie.

While some rip on the Matty Collector figures, I can't say that I hate them. They certainly did a great job capturing the likeness of Dan Aykroyd. There have been worse attempts.

And, of course, who could forget that Ray is covered in melted marshmallow goop?

Ray also comes with a no-ghost logo display base, which, in a nice touch of detail, is also covered in spunk marshmallow goop.

And of course, the back of the card has the ridiculous profile on Dr. Raymond Stantz. I'm not even sure the Ghostbusters would keep profiles of their employess, especially one of the owners. Weird, but whatever I guess.

Again, don't get me wrong, there were dozens of things I disliked about the Matty Ghostbusters, mainly the way sales were handled and the way items were priced, but luckily for us real fans that didn't want to just take one for the team, Big Lots was able to offer our wallets a little bit of relief, even if my local Big Lots employees are dicks.

Kenner RGB Neutrona Blaster!!

Kenner's Real Ghostbusters Neutrona Blaster was among the sillier, less practical pieces of ghost catching equipment.

The premise of the toy is that it was a big, awkward neutrona wand that was powered by turning a knob over and over and over..........

And over and over and over.....you get the point.

On the other end of all the knob turning, a bright green chunk of foam that flops around  more than a double sided dildo spins out of control in a giant circle.

I suppose the folks at Kenner thought it would be a wonderful idea to wiggle the shit out of a ghost.

Let's totally rethink the concept of the toy shall we?

Sure, we can make all of the wiggle the shit out of a ghost theories all we want, but perhaps it's actually a very smart and super practical piece of equipment.

Let's say that you're on a call and your Proton Pack ceases to function. You're practically screwed. There is no way now that you will ever be able to trap that class 5.

Suddenly you remember that you have that new, experimental piece of equipment in the Ectomobile. One that requires no charge and runs solely by a hand crank.

It's a stretch, but it just might save your neck this time.

You run and grab the Neutrona Blaster, crank the shit out of it, catch the ghost in your dildo beam, mae it super dizzy by spinning it around in a giant circle over and over again, and throw out the trap, as it drunkenly falls right in. 

Or, you could just wiggle the shit out of it with your bright green dildo.

3 Kenner Real Ghostbusters Commercials!

Well, it was so much fun doing the last Ghostbusters Commercials post that I figured I would do another.

We'll do the same type of thing as last time. I'll post the commercial and write a little underneath. If you hate reading anything I say, just watch the commercial. If you hate watching commercials, just read everything I say. If you hate both, you're totally screwed.

Let's take a trip back in time and watch 3 more Ghostbusters commercials:

1: Ghost Trap Commercial

I LOVE this one. This is exactly how life was as a kid. You geared up with your arsenal of ghost-busting equipment and had fun.

The main items featured here are the ghost trap, ecto goggles, and neutrona blaster.

I have to say, I would gladly trade my bed for the khaki tent with the Ghostbusters logo on it. I wouldn't mind, even if I did wake up with a sore neck and back.

2: Real Ghostbusters Figures!

This is another good one. Invite your buddies over and play with Ghostbusters figures.

The toys featured here at Ray and Peter from the first series of figures, along with the Bad 2 the Bone ghost and Sludge Bucket.

This commercial goes to show that a little bit of imagination can lead to hours of fun with your old Ghostbusters toys, although I am pretty sure that your imagination just totally goes to shit after puberty.

3: Ghost-Sweeper!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Ghost-Sweeper. So much that I own more than one of them,

This was later in the line of toys, as things were kind of winding down. By this time, Ninja Turtles was dominating the toy market, but I always stuck by the Real Ghostbusters. 

Also featured here are the Louis and Peter figures from the Power Pack Heroes series. This was a funky line of figures for sure, but it was the first of 3 series of figures to feature Louis Tully.

Stay Tuned, as there will surely be more Ghostbusters commercial posts in the near future. 

What's on tap for next time? Well, I guess the above video should give you a nice hint. Next post, we look at the Ghost Sweeper!!!!!

Before I forget, have you "LIKED" the Mr. Ghostbuster Facebook page yet? Well over 1100 other fans on there. Join in and have some fun!