Neca Stay Puft Head-Knocker

For those who weren't aware, I did cancel the Halloween Countdown mainly due to lack of time. We'll try again on a smaller scale next year.

But see, the thing about it is, Ghostbusters fits the Halloween theme any time, any day, so it doesn't necessarily need to be part of a special month-long countdown.

Regardless, I was able to score a Neca Stay Puft Head Knocker tonight.

Let's talk about that, it's more fun anyways.

The box, while very neat, bugs me just slightly. On one panel on the back, there is a shot of Stay Puft walking along and we see 2 screens. One has a photo of a Terror Dog. Good enough, right? The other has a photo of Louis Tully, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't a photo from GB2.

Yeah, I'm picky.

Sadly, this is the only piece I own from the Neca line.

When they were released, it seems like any store in town that could possibly carry them, didn't.

Don't think that I don't regret it all these years later, especially since most of that line has skyrocketed in price over recent years.

This thing is IMPRESSIVE to say the very least.

Standing about 7 inches tall (I may be a little off, oh well) it weighs at least 900 pounds. No idea how heavy he really is, but even just heavy is a gross understatement.

The moment I set him upright, he wouldn't stop wobbling. It's like an obese marshmallow man suddenly got the urge to do the Harlem Shake. It was a sight to see for sure.

Stay Puft is pretty highly detailed, from his angry face to the cloth ribbon on top of his sailor hat.

Neca wasn't messing around when they turned Mr. Stay Puft into a bobblehead.

To add even further to his detail, and overall amazing appearance, Neca included some crushed vehicles and road at the base on the toy.

While safe to say it's not the rarest collectible in the Ghostbusters universe, it is pretty damn cool. If you ever have your chance to get your hands on one, no matter what, buy it, display it, and love it.

Day 7: Mini-Shooter

Well, my mediocre Halloween Countdown continues.

Mediocre because each post gets a whole 30 views.

Exciting times.

Today, we check out The Real Ghostbusters Mini-Shooter ghost.

The concept of the Mini-Shooter toys wasn't too bad. Basically, it was a pink, globbish looking ghost that came with 2 smaller ghosts.

The whole idea was that you would take a Ghostbuster figure, and set him up to be the unsuspecting target.

You would then place one of the smaller ghosts inside the mouth of the pink dude.

Once  placed inside, you would take your fist, smash the shit out of pink dude, and the smaller ghost would fly, like a spectral bullet, towards our hero.

The concept was good, though it rarely if ever worked.

I think this, among a few other toys in the series, were a bit of a let down and not very well thought out.

The idea of taking your fist and smashing something is fun, no doubt, but when the item being launched flies a whole 4 centimeters and plops to the ground, it always turns out to be one of those things that looked better on paper.

Then again, I'm not 4 anymore. Maybe that's the trick.

Or maybe I'm not smashing hard enough.

Or am I smashing too hard?

Anyways, yeah. The mini shooter is a pretty cool looking toy, just wish it functioned better.

Sorry I didn't put a whole lot of effort or time in this today. I'm getting burnt out and just don't care at the moment. 

30 views will never get me to care enough about anything long term.

See you tomorrow.

Day 6: Highway Haunter!

If there is one thing I love about Ghostbusters, it's that there was never one main bad guy.

He-Man had Skeletor, The Ninja Turtles had Shredder, and Luke Skywalker had Darth Vader.

Without one definite enemy, it left the Ghostbusters world wide open to come up with creative ways to find an antagonist of any kind.

That is what I enjoy about the Highway Haunter.

It's technically a vehicle, but ghostly enough to make the countdown.

When I was younger, I had friends who liked to refer to the Highway Haunter as, "Janine's car" being that she did indeed drive a pink Bug in the Real Ghostbusters cartoon series.

I suppose it is a safe assumption to label Highway Haunter as such. I mean, sure, the color is different, but it's still a Bug emblazoned with the Ghostbusters logo, right?

What other purpose would it have?

I truly cannot imagine a simple, plain, VW Bug, without any type of ghost tracking and catching technology inside, being used for anything officially by the Ghostbusters.

It MUST be Janine's vehicle, right?

Remember, though, Janine didn't always have the best of luck when it came to the boys in grey using her vehicle, which brings me to my next point.

It's HAUNTED!

When you push a little tab on top of the seats, this big ugly dude pops up.

Looks like Murray the Mantis got into the engine block and infused himself with all kinds of wonderful mechanical parts.

Being as the Ghostbusters typically showed plenty of recklessness with Janine's vehicle, one does wonder, how exactly would you extract a ghost from the transmission without destroying the entire engine?

Janine, it looks like Egon owes you a new ride.

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!