Extreme Ghostbusters Kylie!

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.

3 Random Things: GB 2 Edition

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.

Another Ghostbusters Cereal Box

 

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.

Don't bother me.

Day 5: X-Cop

X-Cop was one bad mofo.

Part of my favorite set of ghosts, the Haunted Humans series, X-Cop appeared to be your typical New York City Police Officer, but you can't judge a book by looking at it's cover.

Trust me, you can't. I though Moby Dick might have been some kind of awesome urban porno.

Shit was about a whale.

As with the rest of the Haunted Humans, a normal looking, everyday blue collar worker has totally lost his shit and become possessed and is ready to unleash hell on New York.

Actually, kind of sounds like most of the homeless people there, huh?

To achieve the, ":I have lost my shit and want to kill you" effect, one simply lifts X-Cop's helmet up to reveal a ghastly skeleton underneath, as well as long, bony arms and legs that extend out.

This really is one of the best figures in the Haunted Humans line.

This line is totally something that Kenner did right all the way around.

 A lot of thought, time and effort was really put into it to ensure that it was worthwhile.

I like to think X-Cop simply was a shooting victim while on duty who decided to come back from the other side to find his killer and terrorize the shit out of him.

Makes sense.

Bonus for X-Cop is that he makes a very convincing substitute for the T-1000. Now you're going to try that huh?

No?

Oh well, I at least tried to be fun.

Day 4: Terrible Teeth!

  

Boy, Terrible Teeth sure makes meth heads seem clean cut, huh?

One of the larger, more gruesome ghosts from the Kenner line, Terrible Teeth is just what the name implies, a horrible, ugly ghoul with sharp, pointy, gappy teeth.

While I was never much of a fan of the actual ghosts in the line, Terrible Teeth was actually pretty cool looking.

Yes, I know, I suck for not loving the ghosts. I mean, I was down with the Haunted Humans series, but really, was always more of a fan of the heroes in any toy line as opposed to bad guys.

I was a strange child.

I like to think of Terrible Teeth, in all of his urine yellow glory, as a people hungry spook with an appetite for destruction.

The whole concept of Terrible Teeth was that once one of our beloved Ghostbusters got trapped inside of his jaws, there was little chance for a successful escape.

Using his tail, Terrible Teeth would munch on any human unlucky enough to be caught in his jaws of death, surely spilling out blood and bodily fluid all over the place.

I don't feel well today so this isn't going to be very long. I don't care. I'm sure nobody even reads this anyways and that I can say whatever I want and I'll be the only one to ever see it.

Titty Sprinkles.

Did you catch yours truly on the Not So Cool Kids podcast the other night? If not, check out the video below! I called in to talk about Ghostbusters and other fun stuff. It lasted about an hour and a half. Thanks to Brian Titus for having me on!

Day 3: Bad to the Bone

Man, I LOVE Halloween season!

It's the perfect opportunity to review these AWESOME ghosts from the various GB toy lines.

First we had Mail Fraud, and yesterday was The Hunchback monster. Today, we have none other than the Bad to the Bone ghost!!!!!

While not part of a specific series of ghosts in the Kenner toy line, the BTTB ghost came out along with the first wave of Kenner Ghostbusters toys.

He doesn't quite look like your typical skeleton, more like the skeleton of a ghost. A really dorky ghost.

Hey, let's be honest, I don't know many ghosts who have buck teeth inside of their E.T. shapes skulls.

You know what? Come to think of it, the damn thing does very closely resemble E.T.

Maybe I'm just really tired while writing this, but I'll be damned, I swear.....

Anyways, the concept of the BTTB ghost is simple, yet very freakin' awesome!

A pair of tabs on the back of the figure allow for his rib cage to open up, while he waits for the perfect opportunity to pounce on his Ghostbuster prey.

Once he latches on to the prey, said prey becomes trapped inside of a skeletal prison, where he is not likely to escape with any type of ease.

Seriously, I freakin' love this toy.

I never had one as a kid and didn't own one until a couple of years ago when I spotted it, along with a few other GB items at a garage sale.

I haven't come across another since, so, surprisingly, this is the only one I have, but it takes up a very special place in my collection.

Day 4 tomorrow. No idea what I'm going to feature yet, so I suppose we'll both be surprised. Or not.

And damn it, it looks like E.T.'s skeleton.

Day 2: The Hunchback Monster!!

Yes, the Mr., Ghostbuster Halloween countdown rolls on.

Day number 2 of "31 Ghosts in 31 Days!!!"

Today, we take a look at the Hunchback from Kenner's Real Ghostbusters Monsters series.

Short story about my history with this figure, when I was about 4 years old, my mom got the idea in her head that she knew how to cook.

The most important thing you should know about my mother's cooking is that one of two things is going to get burned, either the food, or her.

Having suffered through many partially black dinners, it was a welcome relief to eat something not so charred, but it came at a price. Mom burnt the living hell out of her arm. Pretty sure she still has a scar from it somewhere under all of the wrinkles.

Well, that night my dad, on his way home from work, stopped to get her some band aids and such. It was a decent burn.

I was already in bed fast asleep when he returned home for the night, so I knew nothing was coming my way until I woke up the next morning.

As I sat in the living room, trying to shake the sleep off, I noticed our friend, the Hunchback monster on the coffee table.

I asked if that was for me. I didn't know. Maybe dad felt really bad that mom didn't know how to cook and bought her a Ghostbusters toy to make her feel better. It could happen, right?????

Nope. It was for me. Of course it was.

The moral? If mom gets burnt or hurt in any way, I get a Ghostbusters toy.

The Hunchback monster is gruesome indeed.

 An ugly, wart covered monstrosity who was long ago banished to a bell tower to hide from society, he awaits the perfect time to haunt the normal civilians of Notre Dame. 

And he's probably a virgin. 

When you squeeze the figure's legs, he breaks free from his shackles, tilting his ugly, disfigured head back to let out a loud scream.

I mean, he could be good looking if you had enough booze in you, right?

The Monster series were indeed to perfect set of toys to be used nearly 30 years later in this count down. Kenner did a remarkable job to bring these famous monsters to life in the Ghostbusters universe.

While not as neat as the Haunted Humans line, they are still very cool to own.

The main difference between these and the Haunted Humans, is you know exactly what you are getting. With the Hunchback, you know you are getting a pissed off disfigures man hell bent on revenge, whereas with yesterday's Mail Fraud figure, what he appears to be on the surface is a far cry from what he will become when possessed. 

Either way, this series is a win in my book.

The countdown rolls on tomorrow for Day 3!

Day 1: Mail Fraud!

 

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is OFFICIALLY October 1st! Halloween is upon us!

What better way to celebrate the biggest day of the year for all of the Ghostbusters franchises and fans that to review 31 ghosts in 31 days?

Yes, the Mr. Ghostbuster blog is your place to be this Halloween season for all thing Ghostbusters!

I thought, perhaps, I would ease into this one a little bit. It is, afterall, going to be a VERY long month. Not only do I have a job to deal with on a daily basis, but everything else that comes along with being a grown up as well, so if at some point these reviews become slightly half assed, don't say I didn't warn you.

For day one of our long 31 day countdown, we will take a look at MAIL FRAUD!

Mail Fraud, one of the tougher figures to find from the Haunted Humans line by Kenner, is one disgruntled postal worker.

While he doesn't officially have a name, aside from his ghostly alter ego, works for an unnamed post office in an unnamed city. 

We'll pretend his name is Pat, and he is a carrier for the Bronx Post Office? Cool?

Nah.

Anyways, Mr. Postal Worker here deals with fugly (yeah, I used it) housewives and beer drinking welfare men all day long. He is just plain miserable.

 He used to wake up happy, and ready to go to work until he met Gertrude off of East 9th street, who tried to seduce him while wearing her hair rollers and night gown.

 Perhaps he wouldn't have minded so much had it not been for the mole with three dark hairs sticking out right above her lip.

Day after day of lugging around people's bills and those stupid Pizza Coupons that you get ever Wednesday, he snapped and hung himself.

A little depressing, but one person can only take so much.

He came back to haunt all of his old stops, ready to make the hairs on Gertrude's mole jump off of her face.

Mail Fraud has come to unleash holy hell on every person along his old route.

The Mail Fraud figure was a great toy indeed. The Haunted Humans line was one of the best indeed, taking normal, everyday people in blue collar jobs and giving them the perfect mixture of poltergeist and take this job and shove it.

Mail Fraud transforms flawlessly from United States Postal worker to ghost by lifting his torso up.

His stomach suddenly becomes a mouth clad with razor sharp teeth, his neck tie becomes a nose and his shirt pockets become eyes that glare straight into the depths of your soul.

I do no at all doubt that Mail Fraud would gladly scare the daylights out of anybody who gets in his way.

Now, lets just hope he takes out those people who clog up my mailbox with pizza coupons and grocery ads.

Mail Call!!!!

I was in the process of writing about something else for this site when the mail man came a knocking at my door to deliver me all kinds of goodies.

If you're wondering (trust me, you probably aren't) that "other" post will be up tomorrow.

I was pretty excited to see mister mail man today, as I knew that today would finally be the day that I got the items I had ordered online a week ago.

I typically HATE ordering things online as the wait takes forever. I'm one of those weird people who likes to have the item in my hand the moment the money is forked over.

Regardless of me being weird, lets see what today's mail brought!!!!

First up we have the Real Ghostbusters volume 1 DVD set. 

I had this so long ago, and was nearly heartbroken when it got lost in a move years and years ago.

This set, still factory sealed, was scored off of Amazon for around $8 after shipping. Not too bad.

To make things even better, I only ordered it 3 days ago. Boy, they sure are fast. Big props to the seller for being so quick!

The Ghost Spooker!!!!!!

It's a rare day that I get to add a Kenner item to my collection that I do not already own. I think I'm down to about 5 or 6 items now to have a complete Kenner collection.

Seriously, I have no idea what I am going to do with myself when I accomplish this goal. I mean, obviously I will move on to completing the Extreme Ghostbusters set, and then Matty and whatnot, but the Kenner line, as it was the original, is kind of a big deal for me to finish. It's bittersweet, that's for sure.

I'm not going to go into great detail about the Ghost Spooker since it deserves a review of it's own.

The item was not sealed in it's box by any means, so I took the contents out for a photo, but hey, the box IS there, so it makes it that much cooler, right?

And last, but not least, there is the Extreme Ghostbusters Plasma Blaster!

This is yet another item that I did not already have, but to be fair, my collecting focus for many years has been the Kenner stuff, so I have only picked up the EGB stuff when it is readily available, or cheap.

Again, not going into a lot of detail since this item will get a post of it's own at some point, but like the Ghost Spooker, the toy has been opened and played with before, so I had no bad feeling about opening it to take a photo.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good day, when you factor in the Stay Puft pencil sharpener and sealed Ertl Ecto-1A model kit that I picked up locally today.

Can't hate seeing your Ghostbusters collection grow!

I'm thinking sometime after the Halloween season, I am going to ask all of my readers here and on Facebook to show me a pic of their collection, which I will feature in a slide show or gallery here in a future post. It's always fun to see what other Ghostbusters collectors have, and I'll admit, even I sometimes get jealous!