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.

The Mini Traps remind me of the kind of secondary or background ghosts we saw throughout The Real Ghostbusters. Perhaps that was the real inspiration for the look of these class II like ghost toys. Either that or Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Both different set of toys kinda work the same way. Each mini ghost has a “jaw” that opens wide. Once it clicks, the “trap” is now set. I don’t know why the Kenner suits thought you’d want to put your hero The Real Ghostbusters figures in such obvious danger. Look at the instruction card above, Fright Feature Peter Venkman doesn’t even have a proton pack with him. And the purple mini trap somehow got on his head and is trying to eat him! I realize its Peter Venkman, how did he come upon this situation in the first place? If I were Fright Feature Janine Melnitz I’d drive my Highway Haunter, scaring the mini ghost traps with Murray the Mantis. The purple one would have no choice, but to let go. Peter probably would be covered in slime. As long as he promised to pay someone to clean the interior Janine would drive him back to the Firehouse. Not long after another wave of figures could use the Ghost Sweeper to dispose of these Mini Traps once and for all.