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.

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?

Universal Studios Ghostbusters -- Weekly Post for 7-02-14

Well, been a slow week on the Ghostbusters end of life. There really wasn't much in the way of interesting news or articles floating around the web, and the official Ghostbusters Facebook page still refuses to acknowledge anything involving me, so I figured that this week, instead of trying to dig up news, and instead of pulling out an old toy and telling you the story behind when I got it, we could take a trip down memory lane and talk about the Ghostbusters stage show at Universal Studios Florida.

I sadly came from a family that never vacationed. Their idea of a vacation meant a trip to the Omaha Zoo and possibly a stop at the outlet mall. Deprived fucking childhood.

Imagine just a little bit of my disappointment when I finally did get to take a drip down to Universal Studios Florida. Twenty fucking years too late.

In the above photo, you can see the Universal Ghostbusters Firehouse from back in it's heyday on the left (courtesy of Pop Rewind), and the Firehouse in July 2013 on the right (photo on right taken by myself).

First, let me tell you that while one part of me was happy to have located it inside of the park, there was an even bigger part of me that wanted to travel back in time and strangle the shit out of everybody I've ever known for our family being so poor and never taking a trip to this glorious place when it was at it's finest.

Thanks to the video below, those of us who never got to see it live can see it in grainy 25 year old computer screen form. One thing that has always bothered me just a little, but at the same time intrigues me is the fact that the voice overs being done are those of the voice actors from The Real Ghostbusters.

Gone are the days of paid actors posing as Ghostbusters parading around the park in their uniforms and Proton Packs alongside the Ecto-1.

                                     

Gone are the days of exiting the Ghostbusters stage show and having a giant orgasm while browsing the merchandise in the Ghostbusters gift shop.

                             

Gone is everything good. It's just gone. Long gone.

Depressing, eh?

Of course, Universal discontinued the original Spooktackular years ago and replaced it with the Extreme Ghostbusters / Beetlejuice clusterfuck, but luckily, thanks to the magic of Youtube, the memories live on.

Yeah, a pretty pointless post this week, that's okay though, this whole week has been pointless. Just boring, uneventful day after boring, uneventful day.

I'm going to drink.

See you next week.

The REAL Ghostbuster Puffy Stickers

Yes, just proof that our beloved Ghostbusters were plastered on anything and everything at the height of their popularity in the 1980's. I suppose it should come as no surprise that "Puffy Stickers" would be made to bear the resemblance of our favorite ghost catchers.

The stickers pretty much speak for themselves. As the package says, they stick to anything. I've decided not to try and debunk that theory in the interest of leaving them as they are, so we'll assume that after nearly 30 years of being stuck inside of a plastic wrapper that there is a little bit of life left in the goop that binds them to whatever surface you choose to put them on.

All of the core characters are featured here. Egon, Ray, Peter, Winston, and Janine. Interestingly enough there is no Slimer or Stay Puft. I could see excluding Stay Puft, but seeing as Slimer was a huge part of the cartoon series, it makes me wonder why the didn't replace the Real Ghostbusters logo sticker with one of Slimer, being as there is already a plain Ghostbusters logo sticker included.

Now that I'm done nitpicking about Slimer not having his own puffy sticker, I should note that after almost 30 years, there isn't any more puffy to the stickers. They now look like puffy stickers who lost 30 pounds thanks to Jenny Craig.

30 Years of Ghostbusters Memories

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Wow, my all time favorite movie turns 30 today. Admittedly I was born in 1985 so I was already late to the party, but I didn't see the movie until around 1988-ish. Come on, cut me some slack. I at least had to be old enough to wipe my own ass, right?

I can remember VHS tapes being pretty expensive back in the day, so naturally the only way to get my fix was to force my parents to rent the tape over and over and over. I'm pretty sure that I also resorted to borrowing it from a kid that my mom babysat.

This went on for a little while, and then one of the most painful events in my life happened.

I was about 5 years old, I was at the daycare where my mom worked.

At that point in time, this would have been right around 1990 or so, everyday after lunch, they let the kids perform slave labor and had them volunteer to carry dishes downstairs to the kitchen to be washed.

As I dropped off my load of dishes that were covered in grade F slop, I ran back to the stairway. Before I could successfully reach it, I was swept off of my feet by a toy car. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground. A lady, I think her name was Joan or something, picked me up. I attempted to stand, and fell right back down. I was scared shitless. I'd never be able to walk again.

I was taken to the hospital where I was X-rayed and put into a cast for a broken leg. Real freakin' fun.

I was taken home and put on the couch, which would be my permanent place of being for the next several weeks. My Dad had called my Mom from work and said he was bringing something home for me. I pretty much couldn't have cared less at that point because I had had a very long day at that point, I was in pain, tired, and irritable.

My Dad arrived home that night with the "something" he had for me. I looked with my eyes half opened in my drug induced state of being and was handed my very first copy of Ghostbusters.

I've never been without a copy. I don't even want to know how many copies of the movie I own these days. My guess would be upwards of 30. Don't ask why.

I was always a fan of the cartoon. It's what started this whole obsession. While the details of how exactly I fell in love with Ghostbusters are pretty fuzzy, I've never known a world where I didn't place it at the highest of pedestals.

The REAL Ghostbusters cartoon was such a big thing for me growing up. It was what I got out of bed for every day. As long as I had my Ghostbusters, everything would be okay.

That is, until each episode ended. Each day, when the closing credits would roll, the tears would start. I really have no idea why I would cry when the show ended, but I did, and remember doing it.

The purchase of our first VCR in late 1980 something was a turning point for the waterworks that ensued each day. My Mom started recording the show every day, enough to fill up an entire video, to which I one day exclaimed "Now I don't have to cry when it's over!"

Yeah, Ghostbusters always struck a chord with me that nothing else has ever been able to strike.

The Summer of 1989 was fun. Ghostbusters 2 came out. I remember my Dad taking me to see it at the drive-in theater. The only one I've ever been to. Our local Hardees got a visit from Ecto 1-A. Yeah, it was a good time to love Ghostbusters.

My 4th Birthday arrived just a few short months later. I wanted a Proton Pack. So badly.

I recall the whole day. Almost. My parents got me a cake with the Ghostbusters logo on it, we had Ghostbusters plates and napkins, and just when I thought the party couldn't at all get any better, I got a Proton Pack. And then I had to pose for pictures for the next 79 minutes.......

The other day I wrote about getting my first Ghostbusters toy, even though I had been promised that Santa Claus was bringing me some. He did. I scored quite a few Ghostbusters toys that year. The next year, I hated the guy

Christmas of 1989. I'll never for get it. That was the year that I wanted a Ghostbusters Firehouse playset more than anything else in the entire world. The first time that I was ever made aware of it's existence was when we took a trip to the town I now live in, and visited Target. There, at the end of the toy aisle sat a whole shelf of them. I begged and begged and begged. I wanted it so bad. Sell my kidney for all I care, just get me the damn thing! What did I leave with? A Power Pack Heroes Louis figure......

I'll give you a moment to let my bitterness sink in and float all around you.

Well, Christmas rolled around. How could the fat guy let me down? I mean, it's Santa of all people. The big morning came. I opened everything. Legos, Mario pajamas, Ninja Turtles. No Ghostbusters Firehouse. I was lost. I was 4 years old, and totally lost. I just remember looking around and saying "Well, I guess no Ghostbusters Firehouse for me" to which my Dad replied, "Santa must have run out."

While I still cringe at the thought of a dude who makes toys all year long slighting me of the one thing I wanted more than my own internal organs, I did finally get one a short time later.

While never really getting much of a spotlight for having the largest collection of Ghostbusters anywhere, I have been able to do some pretty cool things like meeting Ernie Hudson in 2005, and getting to know people like Michael Gross, Robin Shelby, and Jennifer Runyon over the last year or so. I'm pretty lucky for that.

Sometimes, I wonder, what does it all mean? What's all of this for?

I can't answer that, nor do I really want to know, but whatever my love for Ghostbusters means, I've been enjoying the ride all of my life, and look forward to another 30 years of making more Ghostbusters memories. Whether it was crying because my show ended each day, or eating donuts and drinking Ecto-Cooler while watching, or getting in trouble for repeating every single bad word in the movie, it all means something.

I'm not sure that anybody involved with the movies will ever see this, no matter how big or small of a part they played in it, words cannot express how much they all mean to me, and how every single one of them has in some way or another made me who I am today.

And for Harold Ramis, who passed away a few months ago, I always wished I could have met you and let you know that Egon was always my favorite. Pretty sure there was even a 2 week period in my childhood where I refused to answer to anything bu Egon. Rest in peace, Harold.

Happy 30th Anniversary, Ghostbusters.

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