X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

07/10/2008: X-E’s ‘08 Summer Megaparty: Oomph.

I linked to an old entry about The Revenger in a recent post, and today, the guy who actually invented the thing e-mailed me. It was one of those odd moments where you really believe that there’s some kind of circular pattern built into the universe. Plus, now I have an extra resume bullet point to put under “quoted on the Ghoulies IV DVD box.” It’s getting to the point where I can write my own ticket.

I don’t remember buying this, but I found a Kenner trade catalog from 1987 in one of my many piles of books, filled with excellent, professional toy photos that I may swipe and scan should I ever decide to do a full article on any of the featured lines. As the cover states, the catalog was given to buyers and press at that year’s Toy Fair convention, meaning that everything covered inside was both brand spankin’ new and of utmost importance to Kenner. (For those unaware, Kenner was among the largest toy distributors in the world until they were bought out by Hasbro in the early ’90s.)

Expectedly, the catalog is a fun nostalgia trip, but what I really love is how they provided “Plan-O-Grams” for each of the featured toy lines — suggested setups for toy stores to display their goods. Below are a few of my favorites…

Most of the Plan-O-Grams were wishful thinking on Kenner’s part, as even the largest chains probably weren’t ready to roll the dice by providing eight feet of shelf space to Furrever Friends or Fluppy Dogs. On the other hand, this Real Ghostbusters “Ghost Center” seems realistic enough. The series was still in its infancy at the time, meaning that all Slimer-related doodads still bore the rare “Green Ghost” title.

Definitely the most successful of the many lines featured in the catalog, I had most of the stuff on that rack. Note the neat section dedicated to cans of Ecto-Plazm in the lower right. I still firmly believe that Ecto-Plazm was the best toy slime in history, and the breadth of competition is far wider than you might think.

I’m saddened to learn that there were Stay Puft and Slimer plush dolls available. I certainly never had (or saw) those as a kid. While it’s nice to picture yesteryear’s toy stores as being full of line-specific “Plan-O-Grams” such as this, the truth is, they weren’t. Those dolls probably got thrown into the random plushie aisle, forced to make themselves seem attractive to a clientele of little girls who had little interest in ghastly spooks.

Gotta hand it to Play-Doh…the stuff has staying power. Many toy stores still keep setups just like this one, right down to the yellow “Fun Center” signage. In fact, while the specific properties Mr. Play-Doh chooses to team up with have obviously changed since then, the generalities of the toys shown here are really no different from what you’d see in stores today.

Look close at the middle shelf and note the three-pound (!!!) tubs of single-color Play-Doh. Definitely haven’t seen those in a while. While my brain thinks that trying to sell that much Play-Doh in a single color was a fool’s idea, my heart beams at the thought of a three-pound bucket full of even the shittiest color. (Which is PURPLE, in case you were unaware.)

The property-specific Play-Doh playsets included Silverhawks, Mask, and to continue tonight’s theme, The Real Ghostbusters. The RGB set was particularly nice, including both a small-scale Ecto-1 vehicle and a canister of all-new glow-in-the-dark Play-Doh. I wonder if the glow-in-the-dark Play-Doh was still nontoxic? Having spent much of my life as a proud eater of Play-Doh, I would’ve been most pleased to have a meal that glowed in the dark. In fact, for however taboo, I’m surprised Kenner didn’t just throw caution to the wind and promote it like that. You’re telling me you wouldn’t have been the least bit interested in eating something that glowed? I can’t believe the Weekly Reader didn’t cover this.

Not sure if any of you remember Sky Commanders, a line that helped establish an odd trend of action figures sized somewhere between M.U.S.C.L.E. and G.I. Joe toys. I guess you could compare their scale to MASK, another collection featured in this catalog. I’m overusing the italics tags and I sincerely apologize.

Whereas MASK relied on disguised, weapon-loaded vehicles for a gimmick, Sky Commanders relied on…green string. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Most Sky Commanders sets consisted of a pinky-length action figure and a vehicle which could be mounted to slide across, up or down a green string. It worked really well, and I’ll never forget the awesome sense of accomplishment whenever I sent General Summit flying across the room, four feet above the floor.

I guess I can’t claim that random 1987 toy store Plan-O-Grams make for the most exciting subject I’ve ever covered, so to provide this entry with added oomph, I will end on a new Bug Joke.

Q: What did the wasp say to the panhandling beetle?
A: Quit “bugging” me.

…and also with a picture of a bug.

…and then one of a boat.

…and then one featuring Thanos’s possibly-maybe granddaughter, Nebula.

PS: Spellcheck has cleared “oomph” as an actual word. Yes!

Was Silverhawks one of those crappy Sunday-morning cartoons. I seem to remember it coming on in the realm of Karate Kat and the Street Frogs.

Wow, I’ve never come across an X Entertainment entry posted this early. Go me!

Oh man I remember the real ghost busters playdoh set. I played with em constantly. I LOVED that ecto-1 playdoh smasher! Also, I laughed a good laugh at the end! Matt you can defiantely get a laugh! lol!

Man, I was addicted to Sky Commanders! Loved making a huge string/blue cable set up over my room. Had Vector Command and all the rest, it was freakin sweet. Each one was a new addition to my massive web of awesomeness. If you had Sky Commanders and Bunk Beds in 87, you had a party.

I still have a closet full of old RGB toys! Proton pack, working trap, jumpsuit, the firehouse, ecto 1, highway haunter… the list goes on and on. God I miss being a kid.

Is it just me or did 1987 have the greatest selection of different toys? I remember having a really stellar Christmas that year because no toy was a like.

Matt, is the 1987 Kenner Toy Fair an early version of today’s Toyfare that you contribute to?

No no, that’s ToyFare. :) Toy Fair is the yearly convention where all the companies show off their stuff to raise interest, and close deals for the year. But ToyFare covers Toy Fair and then it all becomes very confusing.

OK, before I read this entry, I just have to say. I am emailed subscribed to the blog now, and sometimes it comes pretty much right after you post, and sometimes it comes like a day later. Why internet gods…why?

Hey Matt, long time reader & fan of your work. You can add “quoted in lostpedia”(voltron ref.) to your resume as well.

I noticed that too, and I’m not sure why that is. I’ll see if there’s some setting that’s off somewhere.

Silverhawks was indeed a crapy saturday morning cartoon. Produced by Rankin-Bass no less.

Just the idea of sandwiching the Bug & Nebula pics with the pic of the boat? Awesome.

I totally had that stay puft stuffed animal. its eyes glowed in the dark, and it was my favorite. im not sure if it is still at my parents house or not, but it was a glory to behold

Hey Matt any idea why my posts sometimes get deleted? That’s been happening the last few days and i’m curious. The posts that got deleted weren’t exactly long or interesting and i’m thinking that’s why they got deleted. Then again I could be wrong. Just curious . =)

I thought Silver Hawks was a cool cartoon. It was kinda like Thindercats. Although I thought Thundercats was better. Silver Hawks also had GREAT toys! Even if you didn’t like the cartoon the toys were awesome.

YOU SIR ARE WRONG, PURPLE PLAY-DOH TRUMPS ALL OTHER COLORS, IT’S AWESOMENESS IS UNMATCHED!

I wouldn’t be so sure about little girls being uninterested in ghouls. My sisters and I loved the Ghostbusters, and we always wanted “Slimer Juice” on long car rides! Though I have to admit I was a little bit scared of the Stay Puft Man.

I’ve been getting at least a day’s delay on the RSS updates. This one, though, I got about 10 minutes after this was posted. Strange.

Yeah, but I am easily confussed.
I think Kenner will always be Star Wars to me. I guess that is why my heart doesn’t skip a beat when I see an X-Wing at Target. Hasbro blows dogs for quarters.

I seriously have a Furrever friend. I found her the other day and was like “what the hell is this creature with an oddly short tail?” ..and then proceeded to find her 18 tails all across the attic.

Bill
Hasbro is Kenner, in case you didn’t know. They bought them. Most of the early (1996?) Release Star wars toys were made from the same molds as the originals. Well, the vehicles, at least.

Working at a bookstore, we follow Planograms all day long, but THESE are actually FUN. If only I worked at a toy store, then I really would be broke.

Speaking of toys, I got a tap dancing WALL-E at Blockbuster tonight. They have EVE, MO, and WALL-Es that do other things, including make compacted trash cubes with Play-Doh! (Play-Doh not included)

I haven’t been keeping up with the commenting for a long time now, but I’ve read each entry every day, and I have to say that I’m loving the Megaparty so far. (As if there was any doubt!) Bug Jokes, an old dirty dinosaur, I love this because I get it.

I found my own personal time machine box-o-stuff a couple of weeks ago, and it was like an X-E article of my own. Treasures include: the front of a package of Strawberry-Falls Punch Kool-Aid, old cards, pictures I drew and pictures people drew for me, wrapping paper, all kinds of amazing stuff. I cut out a ridiculous amount of pictures of dog plates and ugly porcelain dolls from the Enquirer, which I then pressed into a book. (Didn’t realize my taste was that bad.) Best and worst dressed at the 1993 Oscars from the Star was the biggest mystery to me. Then I found all my mom’s paperwork from 1992, which I had to save some samples of for posterity. (Old receipt from Children’s Palace, hello!)

Sorry, I had to geek out a little. Totally looking forward to what’s next with the Megaparty, though!

I loved the ghostbusters as a kid. On the best x-mas ever I remember getting the GB ghost trap and the slime blower pack! Lots of kids at school had proton packs, no one had the slime pack….except me.

The only items we owned from any of those lines were tons and tons of Play Doh. We had at least three or four of the character-based sets and a few of the random squeeze-out-odd-shape lever machines. The one I remember best was based around “Ducktales.” It had this really cool map-like play mat, and the treasure chest mold revealed something that looked like Uncle Scrooge on one side, a treasure map on the other when you pressed hard enough.

We didn’t have anything from any of the other lines. Matt, it’s not true that all little girls would have passed Stay Puft by. My sisters and I were big “Ghostbusters” fans and would have been all over those plush Marshmallow dolls. Sadly, we never had the Proton Packs either, or any of the toys.

Cameron T: I didn’t know they were from the same molds but I still stand by what I said. There is something about the logo Kenner that makes it Star Wars, you know? Hsbro doesn’t do that. I guess that what happens after 30.

Matt,”Plano-o-gram” really is the official term,that’s always what they’re called,for reasons no doubt lost to time. Every store,not just toy stores,uses them for every section except the clearance,which obviously you can’t plan for.
Anyway,the ones like in this book are obviously just wishful suggestions by Kenner,the real plannos are made by the corporate office of whatever store you’re in. They look just like that,but they’re usually in black and white. Sometimes companies pay for a certain spot in the planno,usually they don’t. Some companies,Lego off the top of my head is notorious for this,actually send a rep out to tear down their section if it’s wrong and reset it themselves,glaring at you all the while for DARING to soil their shelf with Mega Bloks.

Anyway,the point is Plannograms are real,and that is what they look like,allthough that one is obviously fake.

I was really surprised to learn that I had sky commanders, I remember them well and the hours of fun they provided.

Annette: I am very sorry to hear about your grandmother, you’re in my thoughts.

sheesh! Posting from a PDA makes me sound like a caveman. Sorry about that. Fat thumbs.

LOVED the Play-Doh planogram…it reminded me of one Christmas when my sister and I got Play-Doh “Snack Shop” for Christmas after BEGGING FOR IT for months…it was so cool you could put white play-doh through the ice-cream maker and make these super-cool sundaes, and you could make hamburgers with the brown and orange play-doh..and maybe play-doh fries too I think. Well anyhoo our snack-making days only lasted for about two weeks, ’cause one day we forgot to close the play-doh lids, and all the goodness dried up, and our parents refused to buy replacement jars. Dammit.

I was a little girl who was interested in ghastly spooks. I still am, I remember the first article that attracted me to x-e was “x-e goes upstate”. Spooky!

I loved Ghostbusters as a kid but I don’t remember me or my brothers ever having any toys. I do recall playing with my neighbors proton pack though…Looking at all of these makes me want them though!

Dude I used to have some sky commanders and they were some of my favorite figures! Also Thanos was definitly one of my favorite characters, when I was young I collected the infinity gauntlet series and anything else that had to do with Thanos. The guy is the pimp of the universe.

Real Ghostbusters, MASK, and Sky Commanders were three of my favorite toylines as a kid hands down….

Growing up with tons of trees around was great for Sky Commanders and the inside of my grandmothers house was the “city” the Real Ghostbusters protected.

And one Christmas I got a lot of the first line of MASK toys. I left them over night at my dad’s office. That same night the office got robbed. Props to my dad: he went and got me the toys again that same day.

Bill
I do know what you mean about Kenner, though…but I have to thank Hasbro for bringing the line back…so I could have all the toys…was born too late for the first go around..

Yeah I’m mostly amused by Matt’s insistence upon putting planograms in quotations, like it’s something special. Well, I guess it is special alright, shortbus special, when the corporate office designs some clusterfuck plano that requires everything pulled off the shelves, just some one tall ass item can be slotted in.

Hey, BTW, Matt, LONGTIME reader, infrequent poster. I’d have hit you up for some Brawl action by now, but I foolishly bought the new crap Worms game instead.
Anyone played the online Dr Mario yet? That’s pretty good.

I used to work at a major bookstore chain. I won’t mention the name but it rhymes with Narns and Boble. Anyway, we had the most retarted Plan-O-Grams in the world, and god help you if another Harry Potter book was coming out in a couple of months.

I’m really jazzed about the new Ghostbusters game, and apparently I’m in the minority about the old NES one, cause based on the discussion on the previous thread I’m the only one who actually liked it.

I’ve still got 3 MASK toys from when I was a kid, complete and in the boxes and everything. So suck it.

I’m looking forward to the new Ghostbusters game too, but most of what I hear about it is focused on the ps3/xbox 360 version. The wii version sounds like fun because you’ll almost certainly be able to use the wii remote to aim the power wand.

87, that was a prime toy year for me, being in Kindergarten. My bro had that plush Marshmallow Man, and it rocked, I was totally jealous that it was for boys and not for girls. His eyes glowed in the dark!

I wish we could click on all those glorious photos of the plan-o-grams to get a bigger photo for a closer look! Oh well- awesome article Matt! Your Summer Mega Party is rockin this year! I don’t know how you keep coming up with interesting random things to write about!

The original Ghostbusters game was… alright. I liked the idea of it much more than the game itself (though that goes for 90% of the things I fancy). However, Ghostbusters II was the best game to hit the NES, hands down. I mean, Mario Bro’s. is good and all, but where the fuck are the slime guns? The Ghostbusters Mobile? (Parts of) THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK OF GHOSTBUSTERS II!?

Though I distinctly remember it pissing me the fuck off as a youngin… I seem to recall a particular incident of my being sick, growing absolutely fucking done with the game after the 10th retake of the car level, and throwing my controller at the wall.

Absolutely loving the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man stuffed plush. I don’t recall ever seeing that or the Slimmer plushes out at the time, or even until today. Truthfully, I don’t recall a Ghostbusters set up at any of the stores I went to as a kid. Then again, the opportunity to go to a Toys R Us or the like was a huge rarity when I was growing up. I’m pretty sure my dad had no interest in dealing with the obligatory wish lists that would have come with every visit. For the most part, I remember a lot of my parents shopping being done being done at K-Mart, Hills (which unfortunately is no longer around), or some of the other chain type stores. If we went to a mall, it was almost a certainty that we could browse the Kay Bee store, but very few had a Toys R Us nearby that we could go to.

That Kenner catalog is like a super beefed up grown man version of those little booklets that used to come with select kenner products. I used to drool over the assorted product lines that were featured in said booklets and studied them like it was my job as a young lad

I still have those Slimer and Stay Puft plushes. Slimer is actually a puppet. They have glow-in-the-dark eyes and logos.

I’ve been working on all the new Box 23 stuff. Can anybody read the text under the pretzel:

Now that Guise is working, we need a ringleader. Anyone have time to start compiling stuff? I’ve put together a bunch of things in a Word doc I’ve been poring over. I’ll send it to whoever wants it.

Cotter, I had no idea there was another Ghostbusters game back then. Man, I totally missed out on that one. I wonder if I can find it anywhere.

Fungusmungus, Holy crap, I didn’t know there was new Box 23 stuff already. I was planning on really getting into it this year. I had some problems with my computer last year that prohibited me from really participating, but I’d like to check out whatever you have. I don’t think I could fill the slot of ringleader, but I definitely want to get involved.

Matt, I don’t say this often enough, but I love this site. Where else can you find something like a wealth of info about Real Ghostbusters aisle setup tips, and THEN have numerous cross links to the same toy line ALL ON THE SAME SITE!!!! Much love for ya brotha!

Any ideas how to get this together? The old box 23 threads are dead, and I’d hate to just go post my email here. Are you on Google Talk? Let me know, I’ll find you (HU pops on now and again to post ominous messages too)

Matt
Request: Write about Nerf guns! I just started working in an office and we talk about them constantly, so I finally went out and bought one, and the news ones are pretty sweet. Also, google the Nerf Vulcan that’s coming out. It’s ridiculous.

They really should make all the action figures the same size so you can easily put them in each other’s vehicles. They can’t possibly think all of your action figures are from the same toy line. Fools.

I was thinking about this story even when even before you mentioned eating play doh and the glow in the dark kind. I should google up some knowledge about if it’s non toxic or not. I would think it would be because of how edible it looks and how cruel the Play Doh manufacturers would look to make it toxic in some way.

Anyway a Christmas after last I was sitting with my family and listening into various conversations and my second oldest sister was sitting right in front of me trying to have a snotty attitude yet being a complete moron as always and she started talking about the kids that she worked with at the time at a daycare. Worked is a loose term she wasn’t getting paid. Told you she was dumb.

So anyway she said something about kids all the time trying to put play doh in their mouths and her having to take it away from them so they wouldn’t eat it. I chimed in with, “It doesn’t matter anyway Play Doh is non-toxic” she said really? I said oh yeah it says it right on the label, they wouldn’t give that to little 2 year olds and have it not be non-toxic. She said are you sure? I said I am 100 percent sure it says it in big letters right on the label. My cousin that was sitting beside her whom I LOVE and adore gave me a smirk like she was trying not to laugh. She is almost 30 I think she would of wised up on things like that by now. She says stuff like that all the time I am so glad I haven’t seen her in over a year. She also lies too.

I personally like the gun she showed at the end. That is some fucked up shit. But the good kind

Who the hell breaks into a building and steals all the “Sky Commanders” toys?

Yay for Stay Puft plush toy, I still have mine though it’s in storage after I decided I am too old to sleep with it still…which was last year. I bought it in the Philippines (of all places) while I was vacationing there. I thought about throwing it out, but I guess I won’t now.

I used to have a small Stay Puft plush toy. I wish I still had it. Even though my parents saved a lot of stuff from my childhood some still got tossed. I guess Stay Puft didn’t make the cut.

Jerrod you magnificent bastard you. I was going out of my skull last night trying to remember the name for Air Raiders. I couldn’t even post a question on here without it sounding like this:
“Does anyone remember the toy series that used air or wind or something? It had rockets and shit…..”
So thank you.
http://www.virtualtoychest.com/a/airraiders/airraiders.html

Oh man. I have a every one of these Kenner books from 1981 to 1986 — I’ve never seen the 1987 one. This must be the first one without any Star Wars product as the ‘86 one was all about the Ewoks/Droids animated line. I think my favorite one is the 1983 catalog that came out in advance of RotJ. All images of Jabba the Hutt and the Ewoks were blacked out and said “To be revealed May 25, 1983.” The thing is — and I kick myself every time I think about it — in the Plan-O-Gram section all the toys were there unblocked. Being a 7-year-old and not caring about how the toy store was supposed to stock shelves I never checked out those pages. It was only some years later that I noticed a giant plush Wicket on those shelves.

I would just like to share with you all that last night, I (with my roommate’s help) FINALLY beast River City Ransom!! Growing up an only child that lived out in the country, I never really got to experience 2-player games as they should be played. This game is even better than I remembered!! I guess I was too young to understand the RPG concepts back in the day! Just thought I would share my accomplishment with my X-E family.

My fiance is always saying good stuff about River City Ransom. I have yet to try playing it but it looks like a hell of a lot of fun.

Growing up in Cincinnati, Kenner was located literal right down the street. My mother would get special access to the employee only store, where i could get a lot of hard to find figures from the Super Powers and…um…Police Academy line.

We recently had an amazing retail store that bought up a lot of Kenner prototypes and concept art for sale and display. Sadly they have closed and remained mail order only. If you get a chance good “the earth toy mall cincinnati”. I cried a little when they closed.

I just wanted to share with the X-E people that I GOT A NEW JOB! It’s working in the acquisitions department of the Library of my local University. I start Monday. I’m pretty psyched. Scared shitless, but psyched!

Just noticed the Centurions logo. I seem to recall me and The Colonel pulling some Centurion shenanigans during the the first megaparty~

Hey, awesome, Cameron! Jobs are way more difficult to get than they should be, so congrats on finding one!

Oh yeah, Kenner did make those Super Powers figures. I had Green Lantern and it was one of those toys that just stuck with me forever. It’s probably around here or my parents’ house.

i also had the stay pufft stuffed toy , i remember getting him for Lionel Kiddie City . His eyes and mouth glowed like some one else mentioned and on his butt was a little ghost busters symbol that glew too . Saddly i didnt know about the slimer puppet or i may have gotten that one instead

New jobs are awesome Cameron; much better than the alternative. Just don’t piss anyone off the first day and you should be fine.

if i was a woman i’d definitely go as Nebula for Halloween.. - amongst other things..

I too had the Stay Puft plush. He was a much better scale to attack my Firehouse and figures than the 5 incher (which I also had). I loved his glow-in-the-dark features also, especially the “No Ghosts” logo.

Sadly, I sold all of my Real Ghostbuster toys a few years ago when I was moving once. I still have all of my vintage Star Wars toys, so I can’t complain too much.

My pleasure, Bill. You know, once upon a time about 15 years ago, a friend of mine unloaded all of his Air Raiders on me for a pittance…then I ended up selling them to some crappy comic shop a few years later. Regrets.

My stupid Internet crashed last night and this is the first time I’ve been able to get on.

With the exception of the plushes (which I didn’t even know existed and never seen myself) I think Ghostbusters is the only toyline where I think I had every toy. I definately had everything shown above minus the plushes, and ALOT of the the toys afterwards, EVEN the expensive Ghostbuster building playset, the only playset I ever had. I LOVED cartoon.

I’m watching Ghostbusters right now due to the push from today’s Megaparty. If only I still had the Ghostbuster proton packs my cousin and I used to play with when we were kids. They had nerf like “energy beams” if I remember correctly. Anyone remember those?

There it is, a quick Google search and there it is, those were good times. This site has all of the Ghostbuster toys, I also remember loving the Gooper Ghost Sludge Bucket that blows an Ectoplasm bubble.

Man, it’s been one loooong week. X-e has helped me get through it. Now, if only I had a Stay Puft (or, as I used to say when I was little, State Puff) plushie to cuddle with when I get home.
Sadly, I didn’t have any of the Ghostbusters toys, or any toys that were considered to be for boys back in the day. If it weren’t for the one boy my age on my cul-de-sac, I would have never had the joy of playing with Ghostbusters, TMNT, Food Fighters, GI Joe, etc. *shudders*

I am in bad need of some Ecto-Plazm. They’re so hard to come across nowadays and when they can be found, they’re expensive as hell. I came very close to owning two cans a few months back after I won them on eBay but I ended up getting ripped off. That’s what I get for not using PayPal, though.
I’ve got a kickass slime toy collection, but it’s still lacking Ecto-Plazm. It’s like a glaring spot on the shelf where you just know the Ecto-Plazm is supposed to be.

Fox: I had one too. You would stick the foam beams into the end and then twirl a small handle to make the beam move while where the pack on your back. That was fun.

Does anyone know if they ever released an a Ghostbuster “costume/clothes.?” I would totally have worn one it if they did.

They sell the Ghostbuster outfits now on 80stees.com, frequent sponsor to this site(THAT TEN CENTS YOU GET FROM THAT SALE IS MINE MATT! You hear me? MINE!)

And in looking at the site even more, they appear to even have a Ghostbusters outfit for prostitutes!

They totally had them when I was a kid.
I got one the same Christmas I got the proton pack and ghost trap. Easily the best Christmas ever.

I can’t figure out if they are meaning to rip off Glenn Frey or Sonnie and Cher with that catalog theme… or possibly a reference to “Fireball Island” which was made by MB/ Hasbro.

Oh and the original “Ghostbusters” NES game is a giant flaming turd, a blight on the franchise.

Kenner’s Super Powers is still my favorite action figure line.
And I’ve still never beaten River City Ransom!

Cameron T. Congrats on the new job! Go ahead and breath in that new job smell

Kenner’s Ghostbusters line was really great stuff all around. Matt did an article for Toyfare a while ago on it that just scratched the surface of how great this line was-

They must have had 50 billion versions of each team member, and they started adding Louis Tully and Janine near the end. It was like the Ninja Turtles, where you’d get 50 versions of the core characters, but you’d get little ghosts with each figure, so it didn’t seem to get as stale as TMNT did.

Plus, when they did badguy figures, they were totally rad. They had stuff like people that would turn into monsters, or the UNIVERSAL MONSTERS changed into their more copywrite-free literary counterparts. GHOSTBUSTERS vs FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER, I mean, come on. He-Man never fought Frankenstein’s monster.

There’s a bit of system to conquering that game but once you know it, it’s pie.

Yeah, I used to have the Wolfman from the Ghostbusters line go up against those huge rubber WWF characters in the ring. Wolfman would always kick the piss outta the Hulk!

Ah my posts are finally goin through again. Anyway I loved the real ghostbusters line. It was a huge part of my childhood. I had the firehouse ,the ghosts,the ghosbusters, almost everything. I LOVED that slime too. =D

I was just trying to remember what Sky Commanders were called. I’ll second what Terror Claws said about their great interface with bunk beds.

More Plan o gram superdork trivia: In my business (automotive performance), the plan o gram is not simply a suggestion for display of choice items, but it’s an actual package deal. If you bought the #6 Play-Doh Plan’O'Gram, not only would you get all the Play-Doh shown in the picture, but also the shelf tags and kickass signage, usually at a special discount to boot, sometimes even including a free baseball cap or something to give your little cousin, the one that broke your Webstor with a hammer before you even figured out how to make him climb his rope.

Ecto-Plasm in can was excellent, if not a strange mysterious substance. My brother and I had the can of the pink kind from Ghostbusters 2. It had a little yellow head guy in it through which you could squeeze the goo, making it look like he was puking the stuff. We weren’t really young when we had the stuff, so we were old enough to really wonder what it was made of. It seemed like toxic waste, but kind of smelled like crayons. After awhile it kind of lost it’s viscosity, and it was a bit more chunky in appearance. So we thought it’d be fun to experiment on. We put a blob in the freezer. It never really froze solid. We boiled another blob in a pot of water. I can’t remember what happened there. And we set a blob on fire. That made a stink that we figured shouldn’t be breathed.
I’m not sure what ever happened to teh rest of it. But I do recall my brother owning a jar of green Nickelodeon Gak that was similar.
Now I have a jar of Phantom Menace “Jabba Glob” that came with a figure of Jabba. You’re supposed to put the ooze into his head and watch it com eout his mouth. I haven’t opened the jar and I’ve owned it for about nine years now.

Romi, your mention of the Snack Shop (wasn’t it from Super Doh, or was that just a different kind of Play Doh?) is making me sing the commercial song in my head.
“Hamburger patty, dog on a bun. Ice cream cone and one banana split. Snack Shop! You make it all from Super Doh. Snack Shop!”

Matt, you should totally do an article on the Shimmers, because if nothing else they’re fizzucking creepy.

The cover of that book clears up the mystery of what the hell the stupid little cat with the billion velcro-attached tails that had a prized place in the stuffed animal pile on my bed up until quite probably my early teens was. (Furreal Friends, in case that run-on sentence wasn’t clear.)

Holy crap! Please do a post on the Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos advertised on the front cover of that trade book.

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