During The Real Ghostbusters first full year in 1987 McDonald’s and Columbia Pictures came together with a theme, to sell your parents a cheeseburger (or McNugget) happy meal, and naturally include a The Real Ghostbusters toy.
The theme for the multiple Happy Meal boxes had to do with going back to school. Each meal box had fun and educational, (my 9 year old self wouldn’t have quite thought of them in that way) activities included on them.
The four theme related “places” are:
- Headquarters
- Library
- Museum
- Schoolhouse
Each The Real Ghostbusters meal box included one of the following toys. Really, The Real Ghostbusters stationary set.
- A Mr. Stay-Puft pencil sharpener.
- “Containment Chamber.” A clear pouch with a ghost design.
- The Real Ghostbusters pencil with Slimer/Fire House topper.
- A Mr. Stay-Puft note pad and “no ghost” logo eraser.
- A Mr. Stay-Puft note pad and The Real Ghostbusters 6″ ruler.
Year-long Countdown Begins Today At Wizard World Comic Con Columbus With Free Single-Day Admission, ‘Ghostbusters’-Themed Programs This Weekend; Fan Fest To Be Held On Sony Pictures Studio Lot Featuring ‘Ghostbusters’ Creators, Talent and Crew; Event Continues IP Collaboration With Sony
CULVER CITY, Calif., June 7, 2018—In anticipation of Ghostbusters Day tomorrow, the anniversary of the classic comedy which released 34 years ago on June 8, 1984, Wizard World, Sony Pictures and Ghost Corps have teamed up to announce an extraordinary live event, the Ghostbusters Fan Fest presented by Wizard World, to be held June 8-9, 2019 at Ghost Corps headquarters on the famed Sony Pictures Studio Lot in Culver City, Calif. Wizard World (OTCBB: WIZD), which produces the largest touring pop culture convention series, will produce the Ghostbusters Fan Fest.
Ghostbusters Fan Fest presented by Wizard World will be the ultimate celebration of the film, which starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, andErnie Hudson and was directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. For the 35th anniversary, fans will participate in exclusive panels, meet the Ghostbusters creators, talent and crew and experience Ghostbusters augmented reality and virtual reality games.
Last year I wrote about fast food chain Wimpy and their Ghostbusters II commercial. (Ecto-Containment Blog Post, March 31, 2017) In the cross promotion Wimpy had a Ghostbusters II meal box.
On July 2, 2017 ghosthead, collector, and friend David Boozer who runs The Ghostbusters Vault left a comment about owning this very Wimpy meal box. Not to anyones surprise that knows me I replied about scans within a day. On my end, I was weeks from moving out of state.
Fast forward to April 2018 as I approached a milestone birthday. I messaged David (the good in social media) about Wimpy. With more effort than he even probably wanted, David scanned his Wimpy Ghostbusters II meal box and Ghost License.
On July 3, 1984 as The United States was celebrating independence, Mark Lister and Jim Garvey founded the official Ghostbusters Fan Club. (GBI Blog Post, June 8, 2014)
Related: Ghostbusters Official Fan Club. (Spook Central)
For about the price of a streaming subscription today, ($8.95 USD in 1984) ghostheads received a number of items, including a membership card. A high res version surfaced on February 2, 2018 thanks to Lance Dobersek. I wrote more about the original membership card (GBI Blog Post, April 28, 2018) at Ghostbusters International..
Since Lance Dobersek tweeted his scans I wanted to recreate the ID card as original as possible. The was the idea until I was looking at Pixelmator and was thinking if Mark Lister and Jim Garvey were creating the club today they would have more “tools and talent.” For practically free.
The original card is Ghostbusters history. That’s why I uploaded Lance’s scans and with very little touch up created a blank for ghostheads to fill in their own names.
With my thinking and 2018 in mind I created a version in the spirit of the original. With a lot of text it took time to “get it right.”
Ecto Crank who I only knew of from Twitter is a UK ghosthead who sells custom made Ghostbusters themed patches and pins. “Occasional creative,” Ecto Crank created a Ghostbusters Paranormal Activity Book. Similar to The Real Ghostbusters activity books ghostheads could have spent time with in 1988.
…activity book filled with Ghostbusters themed puzzles, colouring sheets, word searches, etc. designed initially for franchises to give away at conventions but could easily be used by teachers for schools and clubs or you can just grab these for your kids as a rainy day activity.
This one of a kind of 10 page Ghostbusters activity book is completely free and continues to grow as Ecto-Crank adds pages. Check ectocrank.com or Ecto Crank’s respective social media accounts for Ghostbusters Paranormal Activity Book updates.
MacOS Users: The download file seems like some alien file extension. It’s a Windows (I guess) file known as a .7z. You’ll need the free The Unarchiver before you can open GPAC.
Photo Source: Ecto Crank
Throughout the month I’ve had a few posts for my Kenner The Real Ghostbusters collectibles I’ve been selling this year. I was recently hired at a new company, Selling just about all my Ghostbusters collectibles like it was a full time job isn’t as necessary.
I’ve removed a few for sale posts on Ecto-Containment and Facebook with the exception of The Real Ghostbusters Fire House (Ecto-Containment Page) which I didn’t create a for sale post on Ecto-Containment.
If items are listed in the Ecto-Containment Store they will continue to be available until they aren’t. I’ll still be adding items (either to the store or social media) as I can, which may be easier on my schedule.
For example today I re-added my Underground Toys “Angry Face” Singing Stay-Puft (EC Facebook Post) at a new lower price of $15.00 USD.
With less “for sale” posts I’d like to see more content posts, as schedules allow.
Photo Source: Ecto-Containment
In June 2000 I bought a Proton Pack replica. Styled somewhat after their look from Ghostbusters II. Eighteen years later I wrote The History Of A Rich Proton Pack Replica. (Ecto-Containment Blog Post, February 13, 2018) Today, (bummer) 18 years later my Proton Pack replica is for sale.
If you have the “tools and the talent” this Proton Pack replica could even be better than it originally was in June 2000. Sometime after 2006 it stopped working. I thought it could have been from a fuse. For all I know a wire came loose. In an attempt to prepare the pack for an eventual restoration, as much wiring was removed as possible. “That was really stupid.” – Winston
When this pack replica was originally wired toggle switches (with all batteries in place inside) did the following:
Proton Pack Functions
- Pack and wand lights would turn on.
- The blue Power Cell would “power” up.
- Cyclotron/Synchronous Generator would “cycle.”
Neutrona Wand
- Heat Sink didn’t light for “total protonic reversal” conversation.
- Emitter would light, (barrel didn’t extend) and would vibrate when “firing.”
More information about price and shipping after the read it more.
I’ve been wanting to write about and show off my Proton Pack replica I bought in June 2000 for years. A reason I waited so long is because in 2000 photos were taken of Jersey Ghostbusters stuff from both Polaroids and a disposable camera! At various times throughout the eighteen years I thought among the photos were more detailed shots from when the pack was newly purchased. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t ever the case. I also wanted to take highly detailed photos before fruit robot devices. In that era I did once have a Sony Cyber-shot camera. Eventually it stopped working. I still have disposable cameras that are newer.
As I haven’t bought a digital camera in eighteen years or even replaced a Panasonic camcorder from 1991 I finally decided to use a fruit phone 6 camera to take the kinds of photos like I work for a major publishing company.
Writing about my Proton Pack replica could have been a few paragraphs. Or a short story. To write the masterpiece that is The History Of A Rich Proton Pack I needed 500+ words and two separate pages.
Since the end of January, I’ve been working on a new section for Ecto-Containment, a basic on-line Store. The purpose of having a store at Ecto-Containment is to sell mostly Ghostbusters items from my personal collection. Their could be non Ghostbusters items added.
Why is Ecto-Containments store basic? I’m not using commerce software and don’t have a PayPal business account. That’s why their aren’t add-to-cart buttons and directly checking out through Ecto-Containment.
More information, including placing an order is listed on Ecto-Containments Store front. Currently listed are Matty Collector figures.
Links below open new windows (or tabs) to each of the product sections. Thank you for visiting Ecto-Containment Store and look forward to your business.
Ghostbusters
- 6″ Ready To Believe You Ghostbusters
- 6″ Ghostbusters
- 6″ Ghostbusters Variants
- 6″ Supporting Characters
6″ Ghostbusters II
Toys ‘R Us Exclusive
Retro-Action The Real Ghostbusters
Photo Source: Original Store Graphic: PSD Graphics.
Eat at your own risk.
I was 12 years old when Ghostbusters II was in theaters. It was closer to Thanksgiving 1989 then 4th of July when it made its theatrical release in the tiny hamlet of Nutley, NJ.
Topps, the trading carding company of my youth mostly made sports cards. Which I had a big, yet unwrapped sealed bags worth until July 2017. Only a handful mattered to me for one reason or another. In 1989 when they made trading cards specifically for Ghostbusters II, I built an early portfolio.
I don’t remember when I first saw or read this “smash movie” had cards to trade and basically collect. I know I didn’t have the entire base set of 88 cards. Which in 1989 coinage, I would have needed $39.60 USD. I wouldn’t see that kind of responsibility until I think high school.
That nerdom was different, evolving from what all I was into in the ’80s. I wouldn’t have continued to collect Ghostbusters II trading cards. Star Trek cards? I would have been all in as much as I could. Even after high school.
I never had a renewed interest to check around on or off line for these Ghostbusters II trading cards. I’m writing about them 28 years later because in 2011 a loose assortment of items came with the only item I needed.
The only pack I have is basically opened. I probably opened it 7 years ago so I finally decided to take photos and show off the timeless Ghostbusters II cards.
A lot of photos I’ve taken of The Real Ghostbusters figures and other items include them on a worn The Real Ghostbusters poster. Probably in 2011 I bought it with a number of other small, loose items from a once popular auction site. I just needed that poster.
Among those items, a Kenner The Real Ghostbusters “no ghost” logo armband. It originally would have been included with a Kenner Proton Pack. Their was also a kinda sealed Topps Ghostbusters II trading card pack, (Ecto-containment Blog Post, February 5, 2018) and a Kenner Haunted Human second series ghost figure, Mail Fraud!
I hadn’t owned once since probably mom and dad were buying Haunted Human figures for me when I was about 9.
Here this one is, loose without its original card. Barely making its way as a fraud. It hung around my former garage for six years. With every other Haunted Human or second series ghost figure I own on Ecto-Containment, it was finally time to deliver.
Without further delay Mail Fraud is in your neighborhood!
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