Tag: Collectibles

30th Anniversary: Funko Pop! Movies Winston Zeddemore

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popridesecto1

Note: Originally appeared at my personal site, iRich.

Early on when Funko was beginning to show (GBI) their Pop! Movies Ghostbusters figures, their wasn’t a pic to be found of Winston Zeddemore. Before Funko could receive an on-line petition ghostheads were assured Winston was to come with an Ecto-1 Pop Ride. While Pop! Movies Winston deserves a company car, fans really should have been able to buy a Pop! Movies Winston Zeddemore from the start. In the later half of Ghostbusters, he does drive ECTO-1 (at least once) and he’d often drive ECTO-1 during The Real Ghostbusters. He wasn’t the only Ghostbuster to do so.

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Lego Late Holiday 2014 Catalog Features Lego ECTO-1

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When I bought my LEGO Ghostbusters ECTO-1 in June, it was from LEGO’s on-line shop. When I received my order (Rich Collectibles) it included a catalog. I didn’t have any newer catalogs as I haven’t bought any LEGO sets since.Read More »

Rich Review: Matty Collector Ghost Trap

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Intro: On October 17, 2011 Matty Collector brought ghostheads the second officially licensed Ghostbusters™ prop toy, the Ghost Trap. The first was the P.K.E Meter, which originally went on sale in December 2010. During that October Ghostbusters retail wise, Mattel had made a somewhat odd decision to sell expensive new Ghostbusters collectibles at the same time. I always felt they should have been spread out over a quarter. Personally I couldn’t afford what I wanted, which included a brand new sealed in box collectible Ghost Trap.

As the year the Earth was suppose to be destroyed by ancient culture’s beliefs began I was finally ready to buy a Matty Collector Ghost Trap from the source. I couldn’t because they were finally sold out. Not in a Mattel’s poor business practice way either. Fortunately their were some alternatives, I really didn’t want to pay a secondary or third party mark up.

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I found a listing on a popular auction site with a buy it now option too. As luck would have it, the seller was in my state. I was able to buy a Matty Collector Ghost Trap for about what it would have originally cost with shipping. “Call it fate, call it karma…” Read More »

Ghostbusters II Cereal Movie Mystery Sweepstakes: Meet A Real Ghostbuster

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gb2cerealmeetarealgbpromo

Note: Originally written for Ghostbusters Inc. in 2014 in part with the realism of the Ghostbusters universe.

When GHOSTBUSTERS II™ was headed for theatrical release Ghostbusters Incorporated, Ralston, and then Columbia Pictures mutually agreed to move forward from our Slimer! and The Real Ghostbusters cereal to fully concentrate on GHOSTBUSTERS II.™ With a soon to be blockbuster movie came product and cross promotions. The “sequel” version of our cereal was a natural fit. To be part of the bigger picture it needed more then a large “no ghost” sequel logo. Once it was planned out, the companies were taking a sequel sized gamble. If this didn’t work we couldn’t go back to giving away free gum, stickers, and Diamond Dazzle scopes.

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Ghostbusters Cereal: At A Premium

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GHOSTBUSTERS™ cereal was already pretty awesome. You already loved Ghostbusters, you loved cereal, how could the experience be any better? Two words that went hand in hand with children’s breakfast cereals, Free Stuff. More known by its less fun name, premium. When it comes to cereal and getting stuff their were different ways kids went about it.

  • Its free (once parental unit bought your cereal) when cereal companies put the premium inside the box. If it was a bigger item, it may have been plastic wrapped to the box. As long as a “bad kid” didn’t steal it at a grocery store.
  • Sometimes what the cereal company gave you is part of the cardboard box and you may need adult supervision to cut it/them out. Which was more then fine because we couldn’t imagine Ghostbusters cereal would ever be discontinued. We didn’t even know that word until the future.
  • Sending your lunch money, multiple PoP, (proof of purchase) and maybe mailing supplies.
  • A premium could have been the “get all your hopes up” and “make your dreams come true” by entering the Official Sweepstakes.

The Real Ghostbusters Cereal Glow In The Dark Door Hanger

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This The Real Ghostbusters cereal premium let you know when you were at a grocery store two things: Slimer will upstage the “no ghost” logo whenever he has the chance. More importantly, Ralston lead kids to believe they both needed and wanted a one sided door hanger made out of cardboard. At least it glows in the dark. By way of solar energy! Wow, the cereal industry was ahead of its time.

We gave it little or no thought, (because “why worry?”) how did Ralston make just that one part of the box glow? Was it safe? Was their a hotline our parents could call? I don’t remember or can attest to in front of a jury of my peers how well a box size image of Slimer glowed. I haven’t tried to test a nearly three decade year old cereal box.

Hey Ralston! I’m onto you in my 30s. “Slime zone” with an exclamation point is adult code where the end result is kids cleaning their bedrooms. No wonder this cereal went away. As a kinda consolation, Ralston provided a one sided cardboard “Back Off! I’m A Ghostbuster” badge. To you, this “flip open” I.D badge was important, adults would only play along while you pretended for so long. You knew it was cool and kept it within easy reach by your The Real Ghostbusters stuff.

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Ghostbusters Cereal: A Retrospective

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gbscerealsholo

Note: Originally written for Ghostbusters Inc. in 2014 in part with the realism of the Ghostbusters universe.

With the blockbuster success of GHOSTBUSTERS,™ Ghostbusters Incorporated slowly began to license company trademarks for merchandising. Oddly enough considering what began to make my employers successful products for consumption hadn’t been considered yet. Until a trip to a supermarket by Drs. Stantz and Spengler. The “cereal aisle” was filled with popular characters of the time. C-3PO’s, E.T., Gremlins, Mr. T, G.I Joe, Garfield, Rainbow Brite, and others from a video game console company that may or not have directly ripped us off in years to come. One cereal was missing and it isn’t the obvious one.

After Dr. Stantz accidentally turned a company mascot against humanity the Stay-Puft Corporation almost went out of business. Their business partners had no choice, but to pull remaining stock of all things Stay-Puft, including Ray’s favorite cereal, Mr. Stay-Pufts. A cereal that once contained grains and Mr. Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man (Men?) marshmallows which naturally stayed puffy in milk.

Still feeling bad about what happened, my employers were discussing the void in the cereal industry. Winston Zeddemore was skeptical if kids, let alone adults would eat a Ghostbusters™ themed cereal. After Drs. Venkman and Stantz met with Ralston (today Ralston Foods), Dr. Venkman was willing to stake Spengs’ reputation on people starting their days with GHOSTBUSTERS.™

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30th Anniversary: Ghostbusters Funko Pop! Movies Stay-Puft

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staypuftpop

Note: Originally appeared at my personal site, iRich.

The Funko Pop! Movies Stay-Puft has arrived!! No 30th Anniversary Ghostbusters celebration would be complete without the marshmallow man. Is he a man though? After all he’s made of marshmallows. At some point the philosophical questions had to be thought about.

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3oth Anniversary: Ghostbusters Funko Pop! Movies Vinyl Figures

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Note: Originally appeared at my personal site, iRich.

In March 2014 Funko, a collectible toy company announced their Ghostbusters Pop! Movie Vinyl figures were coming for Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary. Previously I wasn’t too familiar with Funko products. When it came to vinyl figures, I knew more about Mighty Muggs from Hasbro. I found out about them for the first time a couple years ago. When I saw Mighty Muggs at US toy retailer Toys ‘R Us and bought two retailer exclusive licensed Marvel Iron Man 2 figures.

What’s the difference in brands? Mighty Muggs are a bigger scale and seem to have decal graphics for clothing, skin, and hair. Pop! Vinyl Figures generally are 4 inches in size, look more realistic, are known for their circular black eyes, their heads can move, more detailed skin, hair, and clothing. Depending on the figure, will come with its known accessory that isn’t removable.

Both companies did or do share similar licenses that include characters from Marvel, DC, and Disneyfor starters. Pops! are meant to be collectible and continue with licenses for classic and more recent television shows. Of course movies too from back in what I like to call the day to present.

When they were announced most of the pop vinyl line would be available in May. The Winston Pop! Movie figure would be available with the Pop! Movie ECTO-1. For most retailers product 109 continued have its release date moved. The item may be available at the end of August. I’ve seen an on-line retailer through Amazon list an October release.

Not surprising I’ve liked these figures almost immediately. They’re the vinyl figures I would have wanted from the beginning and didn’t even know I needed. When they became available closer to the end of April I was getting ready for vacation. Between travel expenses and things like bills I knew I’d have to wait until June. With the LEGO Ecto-1 Ghostbusters set coming out, at the time I felt I’d have an easier time finding the Pop! figures during the summer.

Near the end of July while on a trip to the nearest Barnes & Noble (one of two national chains, the other being Hot Topic that I know of that carries Funko Pop! vinyl figures) they had Dr. Venkman, (104) Dr. Stantz, (105) and Egon. (106) Slimer and a different size Pop! would come from Amazon first week of August.

Pop! Dr. Venkman was unavailable as he was looking for a non existent Dana as Gatekeeper Pop! Pop! Dr. Ray was more then happy to help a ghosthead and collector out.😉

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Rich Reviews: 30th Anniversary Lego Ghostbusters ECTO-1

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legogbstitle

Note: Originally appeared at my personal site, iRich.

Yesterday I started working on my 30th Anniversary Lego Ghostbusters set. I documented the build for iRichard Roy and my related Ghostbusters sites.

LEGO decided that ultimately to build 4 Ghostbusters, their proton packs, a trap, and of course their Ectomobile 508 pieces are needed. I don’t build Lego sets often, none that can be pricey, or complex. Building Lego Ecto was going to be a challenge. It’s Ghostbusters, it’s the 30th Anniversary, (my 6 year old self would have wanted to build this from Duplo) and the first and only official Ghostbusters Legos.

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30th Anniversary: Lego Ghostbusters ECTO-1

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legogbstitle

Note: Originally appeared at my personal site, iRich.

The idea and physical creation of Ghostbusters Legos is by no means new. Talented people with far more technical skill then I have been creating custom Ghostbusters toys for years. They’ve included Ghostbusters mini figures, equipment, ECTO-1s, Firehouses, (exterior and interior) Stay-Puft, and not for the faint of the heart, Gozer’s roof top temple or “55 Central Park West.”

I grew up during a different era, the ’80s. While it makes perfect sense to make Lego sets from a popular cartoon or movie franchise in this era, it would have been unheard of in 1984. Ghostbusterswasn’t made to be a children’s movie. For its humor about the supernatural and two years later a spin off cartoon, The Real Ghostbusters. Kids loved Ghostbusters. I was one of them. It would have ruled along with my Lego City sets if Danes had come out with fun The Real Ghostbusters Lego sets.

About thirty years later time, generations, the internet, pop culture, and nostalgia made GHOSTBUSTERS “a legitimate phenomenon.” Without Ghostbusters LEGO communities would still have thrived, including Lego Ideas. Formerly Lego Cuusoo.

Two separate custom Lego fans/builders and ghostheads had ideas to propose and create possible Ghostbusters Lego sets. If I remember, one wasn’t necessarily for the upcoming 30th Anniversary. The second one, from Brent Waller was. Eventually the projects merged to see if 10,000 LEGO and ghostheads would support and eventually buy a Lego ECTO-1 set with 4 Ghostbusters mini-figures.

Not only did (over) 10,000 people, including myself support official Ghostbusters Lego sets, the Lego Council (which should meet at LegoLand) approved the first official Ghostbusters Lego set, an ECTO-1. With Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary coming for June 2014, the timing couldn’t have been better.

It wasn’t originally clear that the collectible Lego set wasn’t going to be sold in non Lego stores. I pretty much assumed I’d order one from an on-line retailer at retail price, not “gouging the consumer prices” because its rare or hot from third party retailers and eBay sellers.

If they’re in stock, the physical Lego stores are carrying them. Globally they can be ordered from Lego’s web sites, Amazon, (which last I checked was sold out) in the US Target‘s web site, and Ghostbusters Fans shop. I would think at least for a time these will be sold in physical stores that sell Lego sets, such as Toys ‘R Us. That information hasn’t been confirmed.

The release date was June 1, 2014. Ghostheads were reporting they were in Lego stores sometime Saturday and were available (in high demand) from Lego’s on-line store. I would have preferred to have driven to a Lego store, it wasn’t really practical.

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30th Anniversary: Hardee’s Ghostbusters II Banner

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Note: Originally appeared at my personal site, iRich.

This past weekend a ghosthead I know of in England was showing off his latest Ghostbusters collectible, Kenner’s Ecto-Plazm. While talking about it, someone thought it was a “tub” of ice cream. I didn’t make the immediate Ghostbusters related connection. It wasn’t long before I was remembering that in a way there was a time people could buy ‘Slimer Sundaes’ from American fast food chain, Hardee’s.

Before everyone knew Ghostbusters II wasn’t going to be as good as Ghostbusters (“Oh, that’s harsh Rich.” – Everyone born between 1984 to 1989) Columbia Pictures, Coca~Cola, and Hardee’s put major bank into cross promotional tie ins. This isn’t a slight against Hardee’s as the restaurant chain wasn’t and isn’t close to where I live. If I’ve ever eaten at one, its been about 17 years. I have no idea why the Coca~Cola/Columbia Pictures consortium chose Hardee’s over perhaps fast food chains that sold over a billion burgers or makes burgers your way. I can’t imagine Hardee’s had more franchises then the clown king. See what I did their?😀

I didn’t have a clue about the movie/food cross promotion until my twenties. I don’t remember how I first heard about it. I do remember that a ghosthead (whose fortunate enough to own just about every ghostbusters dot extension) was showing off a Hardee’s Ghostbusters II banner. I knew if it was ever possible I wanted to own one.

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