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.

2012 Hotwheels Kroger Exclusive Ecto-1

Back in 2012 Kroger decided to partner with Hotwheels to release store exclusive Ecto-1 cars.

For somebody who lives in the middle of the country, these things  don't pop up. We have no Kroger grocery store here.

Luckily, I have a wife, and I have a birthday!

I'm pretty certain she did indeed order this for my birthday a few years ago. 

We'll say she did. Either way, it wasn't just handed over to me. I don't get those perks like other Ghostbuster sites do. It seems douchebags always get the free stuff.

While I'm a big fan of the Ecto-1, the rest of the Kroger exclusives, at least to me, seem boring.

I guess I could make one exception for the Batmobile. It's pretty ass on it's own, but when fitted with a Halloween design, it gets a little bit neater.

I've never been a Hot Wheels collector. 

 There seem to be too many people out there that go bat shit crazy over Hotwheels stuff. So much to the point of knowing when certain stores get their shipments in and raiding everything before the casual buyers can get to it, taking out everything that they believe is worth money, and selling it online.

Some people ruin everything, don't they?

 

I think it's safe to say that this ain't your daddy's Ecto-1.

Being an exclusive to Kroger, Hotwheels of course had to fit the vehicle with an exclusive Halloween theme. 

Makes sense, right?

The hood of the black car, with green tinted windows and a slime stripe on the side, is adorned with our pal, Slimer.

It's almost as if Slimer possessed the Ecto-1 making it his own or something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but glorious is too weak of a word for it.

Instead of the much loved Ghostbusters logo on the doors, there is a plain and simple jack-o-lantern with the Hotwheels logo on it.

This is where I have some mixed feeling about the car.

I think they really should have kept the no-ghost logo somehow. In fact, there isn't one to be seen anywhere, and casual passers by would have no idea that it was the Ecto-1 unless they actually picked it up and very closely examined it.

Shit, I didn't even pay enough attention to the fact that Slimer was on the hood until about 8 months after I received it.

All in all, I do like the exclusive car. I guess it's just one of those things where Ghostbusters products seems to be better identified with the No-Ghost logo. I think it just goes hand in hand at this point, being that it is indeed one of the most recognizable logos of all time.

If you haven't checked it out yet, head over to Facebook and like "Mr. Ghostbuster" for all kinds of fun, including a contest that is going on right now!

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 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.