Category: Kenner

Ecto-Containment Site Updates

Spengs2 Comments

2019comp

If you’ve visited Ecto-Containment in the last couple of weeks you probably noticed I’ve been busy making organizational changes. (Blog post: Jan 5, 2015) Ecto-Containment has become more of a Ghostbusters web site, then an all things The Real Ghostbusters web site. This is because of how my interests in Ghostbusters have changed at times in recent years and the number of Ghostbusters sites I manage.

Personally it made more sense to evolve Ecto-Containment from a The Real Ghostbusters web site that was lacking in just that content due to time and sometimes financial reasons to a Ghostbusters web site that can contain current and ‘classic’ Ghostbusters content. Whatever that is could depend on what’s currently happening with Ghostbusters fandom to my interest in a Ghostbusters item from the ’80s. After the jump, a sorta necessary, informational tour of Ecto-Containment.Read More »

Kenner Monsters: Frankenstein

SpengsLeave a comment

monsters

In 1989 the creative freedom Kenner exerted pretty much brought a line of figures that had little to nothing to do with The Real Ghostbusters. They’re not hero figures nor are they even ghost figures. They’re literally Monsters. Kenner in no certain terms made sure we knew what our parents were buying. Classic, perhaps vintage horror characters based on either literature, film, or both.

I feel like I would remember if I had any of the six monsters in childhood. I was around 12 then and the days of my parents buying me figures were waining. In adulthood I’m trying to use logic to understand why Kenner produced these in The Real Ghostbusters line. Maybe with the license some highly respected Kenner employee wanted to make them. I can imagine children having there The Real Ghostbusters hero figures battle one or more of the Monsters. What could the end result be? You can’t really use the Proton Packs and they can’t be contained.

The fun in each of these monster figures are their actions, what they can do to scare and frighten say Fright Features The Real Ghostbusters.

The next monster we’re looking at in this Ectocontainment™ Feature is Frankenstein.

Kenner Monsters: Dracula

SpengsLeave a comment

monsters

In 1989 the creative freedom Kenner exerted pretty much brought a line of figures that had little to nothing to do with The Real Ghostbusters. They’re not hero figures nor are they even ghost figures. They’re literally Monsters. Kenner in no certain terms made sure we knew what our parents were buying. Classic, perhaps vintage horror characters based on either literature, film, or both.

I feel like I would remember if I had any of the six monsters in childhood. I was around 12 then and the days of my parents buying me figures were waining. In adulthood I’m trying to use logic to understand why Kenner produced these in The Real Ghostbusters line. Maybe with the license some highly respected Kenner employee wanted to make them. I can imagine children having there The Real Ghostbusters hero figures battle one or more of the Monsters. What could the end result be? You can’t really use the Proton Packs and they can’t be contained.

The fun in each of these monster figures are their actions, what they can do to scareand frighten say Fright Features The Real Ghostbusters.

With this Ectocontainment™ Feature I’ll be taking a look at each Monster, beginning with The Dracula Monster.

Ectocontainment Spotlight: Mini Traps

SpengsLeave a comment

minitraps

In 1988 with the larger first series ghost figures and larger Gooper Ghosts already on the market Kenner created and sold smaller Mini ghosts. Which are different, separate, and more affordable ghost figure sets. At $4.99 USD, (1980s dollars, nice) even your allowance money made these obtainable toys.

Out of the three mini ghost toys I can remember having Mini Traps.™ Before I owned them again as a collector I vaguely remembered what they look liked, not really their purpose. I grew up in suburbia, grocery stores in practically every direction within a mile of me. If we had to set traps, it was to catch irritating bugs or on a rare occasion a mouse. Usually because of neighborhood construction. So I wouldn’t have totally understood how clever Kenner employees came up with mini traps. Cincinnati, Ohio must be close enough to the woods that perhaps there were traps made from iron to trap animals who can cause the outbreak or want to eat us. I’m not judging Kenner employees, they did what they had to, to survive on Kenner St.

Ectocontainment Spotlight: Mini Shooter

SpengsLeave a comment

minishooter

In 1988 with the larger first series ghost figures and larger Gooper Ghosts already on the market Kenner created and sold smaller Mini ghosts. Which are different, separate, and more affordable ghost figure sets. At $4.99 USD, (1980s dollars, nice) even your allowance money made these obtainable toys.

Boo-Zooka™ is a cocoon shaped wormy ghost who was sitting around one day with his smaller ghost buddies, known as Boo-Lets.™ The orange and blue Boo-Lets look up (literally and figuratively) to Boo-Zooka. They want to be like it and listen closely to what it has to say. Boo-Zooka had this idea to start a band. The orange Boo-Let was nervous to ask, but it asked Boo-Zooka, what will we call our band? Boo-Zooka proclaimed “Boo-Zooka with Boo-Lets” Both Boo-Lets were so glad to have their names in the band name, they didn’t question that none of them could play instruments or had any money. Boo-Zooka knows best.

Ectocontainment Spotlight: Mini Goopers

SpengsLeave a comment

minigoopers

In 1988 with the larger first series ghost figures and larger Gooper Ghosts already on the market Kenner created and sold smaller Mini ghosts. Which are different, separate, and more affordable ghost figure sets. At $4.99 USD, (1980s dollars, nice) even your allowance money made these obtainable toys.

Kenner’s Ecto-Plazm toys had already reached a crescendo when they created and sold their large Gooper Ghosts. Their’s only so many individual cans of Ecto-Plazm your parents are willing to put up with. In childhood I never had anywhere near as many cans of toy slime as I do in adult hood. I owned more cans of Play-Doh. You know, the less messy play time. They came up with three smaller ghost toys, The Mini Gooper Ghosts,™ Mini Shooter,™ and Mini Traps.™ They could have all come with Ecto-Plazm, but then Mini Goopers wouldn’t be as special.