Recapping: X-Entertainment loves Ecto-Cooler. A lot of people loved Ecto-Cooler. A lot of people cried green when they took Ecto-Cooler away; a terrible moment made all the more heart wrenching because even though Slimer and pals were cold as fuck by the mid ’90s, Ecto-Cooler still prevailed. This lulled us into a happy sense of false security. Hi-C eventually replaced Slimer with various box-art imagery (sometimes symbols, sometimes moo cows), but when push came to shove and Hi-C had to look themselves in a mirror, they could no longer justify what was a cartoon tie-in for a cartoon that was by then almost a decade old and out of production. Ecto-Cooler went buhbye, and with it, a little piece of us.

And then, years later, Ecto Cooler came back to us. As detailed in X-E’s Ecto Cooler Bible, Hi-C was using the exact same ingredients and formula in their Shoutin’ Orange Tangergreen flavor, which tasted, smelled and looked just like Ecto Cooler. (Juiceboxes for both shared identical ingredients list, too.) During Tangergreen’s reign, Hi-C slowly phased out the dyes from their juice box offerings, meaning that while the original Tangergreen bore the familiar green sheen of Ecto Cooler, later versions only smelled and tasted the same. It was a minor defeat, but barely a blip on the radar when contrasted with the holy idea that we could still drink Ecto Cooler.

Eventually, Tangergreen followed its master’s footsteps and died off, leaving the world without ANY VIABLE SIMILE of Ecto Cooler. Still sporadically found at select retailers who don’t give a shit about expiration dates, it’s just as true that, eventually, there will be no Shoutin’ Orange Tangergreen left in the world outside of the 84 12-packs I bought when I first heard about the Ecto Connection. Fortunately, none of this matters.

As several readers have e-mailed me all giddy about, Hi-C’s continued faith in the little drink that could has once again been proven with the addition of their brand new flavor, “Crazy Citrus Cooler.” It’s the exact same formula as Shoutin’ Orange Tangergreen. You know what that means, right? It’s Ecto Cooler! Ecto Cooler lives!

Current Mood: Happy and slimy.

Posted by Matt. E-mail me!