About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

W is for Who You Gonna' Call? Ghostbusters!

This is a late addition, there were going to be only six posts this year but these turned-up along with the MEG premium figures, but we've seen them once and while I've added a handful (including a nice purple witch), to those we've seen in the past, I know there's a whole tub of them in storage somewhere, and when I've brought them together we'll return to them. In the meantime, these are more fun!

Film Character; Film Characters; Film Promotionals; Ghostbusters; Ghosts; Ghouls; Glow In The Dark; Glow In The Dark Ghosts; Glow-in-the-dark; Halloween Novelty Toys; Halloween Play-Set; Halloween Toy Figures; Kenner; Monsters; Plastic Ghostbusters; Plastic Ghosts; Plastic Ghouls; Plastic Monsters; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; TV And Film-Related; TV Characters; TV Related; TV Tie Ins; TV Tie-ins; TV Toys; TV/Movie Related;
From the difference in the date-marks I assume (and yes Erwin - it's a real guess!) they were timed/issued to coincide with the movie release and the VHS/video-disc release? Video-discs were the future, back in the past (!) and I well-remember a small selection of them in Berlin's NAAFI for those stupid-enough to have bought a machine from the PX, not realising the Philips Laserdisc was already failing back in UK!

Anyway . . . these were (I think) 'box companions' with larger (4") action-figure/dolls from Kenner?! I did read-up on them once, but it's all gone, I believe they are all based on ghosts actually seen in the movie, but mostly those seen briefly, just flitting about during the major infestation?

Film Character; Film Characters; Film Promotionals; Ghostbusters; Ghosts; Ghouls; Glow In The Dark; Glow In The Dark Ghosts; Glow-in-the-dark; Halloween Novelty Toys; Halloween Play-Set; Halloween Toy Figures; Kenner; Monsters; Plastic Ghostbusters; Plastic Ghosts; Plastic Ghouls; Plastic Monsters; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; TV And Film-Related; TV Characters; TV Related; TV Tie Ins; TV Tie-ins; TV Toys; TV/Movie Related;
Also dated 1987, like his red counterpart, I don't know if this was a latter issue or a limited edition version, but he glows in the dark which is very ghost-like and pretty-cool!

The trouble with glow-in the dark toys is that the molecules which provide the glow, are quite nervous (it's their movement which is exploited to produce the glow, by exciting them [the particles] with light beams [waves]; it's quantum stuff), and over time they bugger-off (migrate), like free radicals in ethylene (leading to brittleness) or thalates in PVC (leading to sticky messes), and it gets harder and harder to produce a glow, and even when you do - by holding them against a light-bulb - they dim very quickly (because the remaining particles are too far apart to excite each-other for long), but I managed a half-decent image after about ten tries!

2 comments:

Edwin Smith-Jones said...

Hi,
These little ghosts came with Kenner's: The "Real" Ghostbusters action figures, based upon the cartoon series. Each of the heroes came with one of these ghosts to capture.. over the run of the range the heroes would be refreshed with outfit colour changes & added working action features. The glow in the dark ones were marketed as Ecto-Glow Heroes I think?
https://ghostbusters.fandom.com/wiki/Ecto-Glow_Hero_Figure:_Egon_Spengler

Hope this helps

Hugh Walter said...

It does Edwin, thank you very much! I quite like them but they seem hard to find, these are all I've garnered since they came out! Things like Bogglins and MinMP, I'm drowning in but ghosts . . . they're a little ephemeral . . . or ethereal!!

H