2013 Edit/Update: This blog entry originally contained shared (however without permission, although credited) photos of then upcoming Ghostbusters merchandise from Mattel/Matty Collector, and other companies. Since then I’ve tried or used multiple software to update Ecto-Containment. With the original posts being more then two years old and the products have all been released I’m opting not to share the pictures from 2011′s SDCC.

Retro-Action The Real Ghostbusters 2-Pack!

It’s personal preference if you like Matty’s line of retro action The Real Ghostbusters toys. I own each Mego like figure, including a SDCC “Citizen Ghost” Peter. I would have preferred to have had a more normal/classic figure of The Real Ghostbusters. Just as well since Kenner’s The Real Ghostbusters toys are classics and having an exact replica of them might take a little something away from the originals. Overall I do like them and love that Matty included The Real Ghostbusters in their Ghostbusters toy lines.

From a business stand point I didn’t know if the Retro-Action line had been successful enough to produce new figures. I was pleasantly surprised to see an upcoming Retro-Action The Real Ghostbusters toy(s).

Like many fans I’ve wanted a Samhain figure since the ‘80s. This is really for another conversation, I’ve wondered why Kenner didn’t make the main “bad guys” that appeared during the series. It wouldn’t be until the late ‘90s when Trendmasters made a Samhain figure based on its look from Extreme Ghostbusters. So naturally more then a decade later when I bought that figure M.O.C from eBay, we’re finally getting a RGB Samhain.

More then that it comes paired with Janine in a RGB flight suit. I’m not nitpicking about which variant of uniform she’s wearing or even if that’s a color she wore during the series. I’m not complaining about the pair as I’m happy to have a Samhain, it would seem better if the 2-pack had Janine and The Sandman much like the RGB minimates. It’s possible Matty has other plans for The Sandman. Or not if you’re reading this in 2013.

12” Peter Venkman & Winston Zeddemore 2-Pack

Long before comic con ghostheads knew that we’d be getting Ghostbusters II 2-packs. Off hand I don’t know if it had been confirmed that they would be 12” figures. A friend of mine thought the first 2-pack should be Ray and Winston from the party scene before the Ghostbusters go back into business. I could agree. Only problem is we wouldn’t have had a slime blower or all the accessories that will be included with Peter and Winston. If you don’t count the packs and proton stream, it comes with 4 additional items. A KUD Meter? A toaster? Wow!

Slight nit-pick, while the accessories are plentiful, they weren’t part of the court room scene as indicated by the packaging. Winston wasn’t there long enough to bust the Scolari brothers either. I get it, if Matty went for 100% accuracy with the 2-packs we wouldn’t have the right accessories for the figures or the extras. I don’t know about you, who really needs the He-Man kid if we did have the party figure set. :p

The 12” Peter Venkman  and Winston Zeddemore 2-pack will be available this October. Not pictured, the Ghostbusters II 12” Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz. They’ll be available in Spring 2012. More details when they become available.

If getting Janine and Samhain wasn’t enough, Matty is including Slimer and a 22” firehouse diorama! It does remind me a little of Kenner’s Fire Hall/House. Without seeing it up close hopefully it’ll be as detailed as possible.

The Retro-Action 2-pack will be available in Fall 2011.

Ghost Trap

One of my favorite pieces of ghostbusting equipment as a kid was the trap. I wanted one since I was 6. The only way to have a trap before Kenner was to build one or five myself. I loved Kenner’s version of The Real Ghostbusters ghost trap. To finally be able to have a movie version, that also doubles as a Ghostbusters II trap, yes please!

The trap prop replica will be available in October 2011.

6” Vigo Scourge of Carpathia, Sorrow of Moldovia

No doubt one of the most requested figures from the Ghostbusters toy lines is Vigo. Matty made me feel like it could have been Christmas 1989 and I would have asked Santa for Vigo, Scourge of Carpathia. That is a bit wordy for the packaging.

As expected Vigo should come with his painting as an accessory. Matty made sure to include one that’s lenticular so he can “leave” the painting. If that wasn’t enough we get the Renascence era Ghostbusters and Oscar painting too!

Vigo is part of Club Ecto 1 too and will be available in December 2011.

2013 Edit/Update: This blog entry originally contained shared (however without permission, although credited) photos of then upcoming Ghostbusters merchandise from Mattel/Matty Collector, and other companies. Since then I’ve tried or used multiple software to update Ecto-Containment. With the original posts being more then two years old and the products have all been released I’m opting not to share the pictures from 2011′s SDCC.

This entry could have been written the weekend of or shortly thereafter this year’s San Diego Comic Con. While I followed the stream of incoming toy news I was working on The Real Ghostbusters magazines updates. I wanted to finish with them all before moving on to the new toys. For a number of reasons I wasn’t able to accomplish that 100% until this past weekend.

Since I’ve began reading about and seeing pictures of the Ghostbusters™ toys that will be out the rest of this year and into 2012 I’ve been wanting to give my take on them.

20” Stay Puft “Gozer The Destroyer!” Marshmallow Man

Ghostbusters fans knew about the biggest/tallest Stay Puft toy ever created before SDCC. Pre-orders for comic con meant the big guy could be picked up there first. The remaining inventory was to be sold on August 1 on Matty’s site. Mostly due to demand they didn’t have enough stock at the con and enough inventory to fill every order the first week of August. Besides the demand, part of the problem may have been Matty allowing anyone to buy up to six 20” marshmallow men. That’s a lot of fluff! Hopefully by now all backorders have been fulfilled.

I originally had mixed feelings about another Stay Puft figure. Between Slimer (another topic) and Stay Puft we seem to have had a lot of them through the years. This almost 2 foot tall collectible was to be made of a soft foam of sorts. Would it hold up over the years? The price tag was a little hard to justify as well.

Since fans didn’t expect it, many, including myself probably bought National Entertainment Collectibles Association’s (N.E.C.A) 15” Stay Puft toy in 2004. However, N.E.C.A’s didn’t really have the right look for a Stay Puft, was made out of a hard plastic of sorts, and isn’t to scale with Matty’s 6” Ghostbusters. It all seemed understandable as no other toy company had ever released Gozer The Destroyer in a “scene in a suitcase” with a diorama before!

As a fan and a collector I felt all of this was unique and that the production run would be kept low. For a time their were rumors that eventually Matty could release this Stay Puft with an “angry” face sans scene in a suitcase. Only time will tell.

“Ready To Believe You” Egon & Peter

In August 2010 Matty released the first figure to wear a lab coat. This 6” “lab coat” Ray wears a blue lab coat from the infamous “We’re ready to believe you!” commercial spot. Ray came with the famous “ghost sniffer” and the subway ghost. Without “lab coat” Egon and Peter, the figure line felt incomplete. It was inevitable that Matty would eventually release both “lab coats” Egon and Peter.

A year later Matty announced both “Ready to Believe You” Egon and Peter. Both are and will be apart of the Club Ecto 1 subscription as well.

One thing that’s great about this toy line are the ghost accessories, perhaps getting the toys we would have wanted in the 80’s.

Egon comes with the library ghost and 3 P.K.E Meters in various stages of detecting the library ghost. I can understand the reasoning this ghost is the accessory for Egon. Since 1984 it always seemed like this was Ray’s first “go to” ghost. It’s a very slight nit pick.

RTBY Peter comes with a video camera (sans that tape Dr. Venkman erased last week) and the taxi cab ghost. Which makes sense as Peter had a fondness for taxi cabs.

RTBY Egon has been available since August 15. RTBY Peter is coming in January 2012.

Slime Blower Ray

Slime Blower Ray is the first of two Ghostbusters II toys being released in October. This was easy to predict as Slime Blower Winston was released in June 2011. Winston came with the tri-pod trap. It’s a great accessory, like SB Ray I would have preferred he came with a ghost too. Suggestion: “Zombie head stick” ghost. If not too scary, maybe we’ll see it in a 2 pack for example.

Slime Blower Ray’s ghost accessory is the cinema ghost that wouldn’t allow movie goers to enjoy a Eugene Levy movie. Insert your own jokes if you want.

I knew this blog entry would be pretty long. We’ll pick it up in the next blog posts.