🎃 Rik (but a bit spookier) 🎃

Some more The Real Ghostbusters Tombstone Tackle! Can’t believe I forgot to note his German human name cos I love those - Gary Grossmaul (“loudmouth”). Louis seems a much more apt target for a football jock than Peter

Robo Machine Super Gobots Staks! A big rig with big guns! Unlike the other window-head Super Gobots he’s vaguely in scale with 600-series cars (we’ll see how that works out tomorrow). Truck mode is gorgeous, robot mode is a beast! If only he’d painted flames on himself he could have been famous…

The Real Ghostbusters Haunted Humans Tombstone Tackle! Intimidating enough *before* he transforms into a bizarre crocodile monster with a possessed football for its waggling tongue. It’s probably best not to think how the human arsehole ends up right under the croc nostrils (no wonder he’s snappy)

The Real Ghostbusters Slimer glove puppet! A bit of homemade merch today. I love stuff like this & rescue iif I can as dealers often bin it. It is very well made, love the textured teeth and stuffed tongue. It saddens me that the original owner/maker didn’t want it but I’ll carry on its (after)life

The Real Ghostbusters Finger Pop Fiends! Time is not been kind to these. The springy foam that caused them to jump hardens & no longer pops. Not even ghosts are immune to entropy! Come in multiple colours, *at least* 27 variants. You think I’d go nuts for them but they’ve never quite popped for me

Light & Sound Robo Machines! These 5 were the only “new” toys to debut in Robo MachineS, Bandai Europe’s attempt to muscle in on the success of Hasbro UK’s G1.5 Transformers by reissuing 80s Gobots. Taken from then-recent Machine Robo Change & Glow series, they’re really nice but didn’t help sales

M.A.N.T.A Force Starblaster! FINALLY got a box for the elusive Manta Force/Viper Squad 4-stage multiple attack rocket. Now I know the piloting arrangement - Quest in Command Module, Manta Pilot in Armaments Capsule, Viper Troop in Booster Unit, Vex in Communications Module (but can he be trusted?)

Trio! The Real Ghostbusters Movie Madness! A Find Your Fate-style booklet given away free in multipacks of Trio! bars (how much better the world was when you got whole-ass adventure books free with chocolate). If you remember these turn to page 7. If you wish to leave a like turn to page 12…

The Real Ghostbusters Mini Shooter! Unlike the Mini Traps these have individual names & they are *amazing* - Boo-Zooka & the Boo-lets! Pop a Boo-Let in the mouth, bash & shoot! Both Boo-Lets were produced in both colours, pleasing my variant hunting self. Boo-Zooka looks like Satan’s fleshlight

Robo Machine Gobots Puzzler Crossword! Has has “the crushing strength of six GoBots” which must make Puzzler’s left arm pretty formidable. Well, before it falls off due to dodgy tolerances anyway (which would promote a cross word or two!). Porsche 930 Turbo mode is lovely & robot has charm

The Real Ghostbusters Slimer Coin Bank! Trust Slimer with your pennies. Why would he need to spend it on candy? He’s a ghost, he can just pass through walls to get it. It will be safe with Slimer, trusssst hiiimm… Glows in the dark though not really sure you want your money so visible to burglars

If you buy enough mixed action figure lots you end up with lots of Count Creepyhead axes. Guess they look enough like MOTU weapons to get swept up as such in that last childhood tidy-up. This is just what I pulled out of 1 bits box, I’m probably into double figures overall. There’s colour variants!

Two yellow Lamborghinis. One does karate, one does jet-judo. Sideswipe always wondered if Sunstreaker was adopted…

Robo Machine Gobots Pocket! His “karate hand moves faster than the eye” which is should come in handy when cartoon Sunstreaker gets ahold of him for stealing his look! Tbf due to timing I’m not sure that Pocket is a “homage” but a yellow Lamborghini Countach with that head is a fishy coincidence

The Real Ghostbusters Mini Traps! Bland name but they have bite! Unusually they don’t have individual names. Kenner made approx 400 trillion of these things (yay!). The biting action is still surprisingly vicious & sharp so limit biting to figures or fingers, don’t let the intrusive thoughts win!

The Real Ghostbusters frieze sticker! A hero’s work is never done, nor is his wall decorating!

The deleted Slimer scenes (there are some more finished ones on YouTube though this was the only one I could find of them all together). Big shame they were cut, everyone loves Slimer, everyone loves Moranis and the final line in the bus scene was one of the best in the film! youtu.be/3MM86v2c5QU

The Real Ghostbusters Brain Blaster! A ghost plagued with bad thoughts. Careful not to blow his mind! The Mini-Lobe ghosts are all unique sculpts which wasn’t remarkable then though seems pretty mind-bending by today’s cheap-out toy standards. Sadly the mechanism is prone to breakage-a real headache

Robo Machine Gobots Tic Tac! Lovely car mode, robot mode has weird T.rex arms. Apparently the evil mastermind behind Puzzler’s schemes which is handy as he forms the head. Notice the hoop of wire (basically a paperclip) around his own head, this is an integral part of Puzzler’s combination (sigh)

Ghostbusters II Slimer Candy Container! Slimer was very prominent in the marketing for GB2 so it’s a shame they cut most of his scenes from the film (he would have featured in more scenes with Louis who tried to capture him despite Janine explaining he was ok & lived in the Fire House like in RGB)

Robo Machine Jig Saw! Would you like to play a (Gobots) game? He is “the master of disguises, bends into any shape” though if he can be any shape it does beg the question why he’d chose to be Puzzler’s crotch. The fragile lightbar is the supporting core of Puzzler which works as well as you’d expect

The Real Ghostbusters Terror Trash (German name Jimmy Mullgrabschi)! Why is that garbage man tipping a bin full of rotten fish heads over himself? Why to transform into a demonic dragonfly of course! My cousin had this & I was always jealous. I salvaged the bin from a broken one for extra scenery

The Real Ghostbusters Panini Album Stickers! Got, got, need, got… The shinies in this assortment were holograms which was very exciting

Moonbase Emergency Squad by Way Formed Toys! Cheap off-brand toys often gave us more joy than we gave them credit for. Heavily “inspired” by a UFO SHADO Mobile. I had the Rescue version & played with it SO much. It may have inspired my love of small vehicles coming out of big ones #vintagetoytuesday

The Real Ghostbusters Granny Gross! Both my grannies were particularly gross so I loved this! The German release had a real name- Oma Langzahn (Longtooth). The Firehouse (released the year before) had a sneak peak of her with a portrait of what seems to be her younger (alive) self #vintagetoytuesday

Robo Machine Puzzler Zig Zag! A smart blue Datsun 300ZX. According to the one-line bio he “has the furious speed of a striking snake” which must come in handy. The RM packaging has him as the right leg whilst Gobots suggests him as the left - zigzagging indeed! #vintagetoytuesday

Woolworths The Real Ghostbusters Doodles! A lift-up magic slate-style doodle pad sold in conjunction with RGB jelly sweets that encourages you to put sweets on the pad to trace around. Perhaps not the best idea getting it sticky when you need to be able to lift up the top layer to reset the image!

The Real Ghostbusters Hard Hat Horror! The only Haunted Human to come with an accessory. I can’t help feeling that his teeny microcephalic human head is slightly more horrifying than his demonic bat form. I like how the bat head can orientate for flight. His German “real” name is Peter Pickel!

Robo Machine Rube! Rube is a GORGEOUS black Mercedes 500SLC. Bandai weren’t shy about him being a Merc, check the badge! Unlike most Gobots the Puzzlers had (short) bios. Sadly Rube’s isn’t that he’s an easily confused bumpkin, rather he has super senses (might help him sense when he’s being conned)

Soma Robot Warriors M-1 Tank Robot! This motorised menace whirls around like a dervish whilst a light on the front of the tank flashes to illuminate an image of a rocket blasting through space for… reasons. There’s a pleasing 80s chunkiness about him that I really appreciate. Good solid fun!

The Real Ghostbusters Slimer Door Hanger! Announce your presence in a room with this slimy signifier! I was initially confused why Slimer would look worried that the room was occupied & happy that it was empty until I realised that room might be the kitchen…

Friends fear he’s reached the very back row of storage boxes

Been digging through my off-brand and bootleg Transformers & transforming robot boxes. Much fun to be had!

Gobots Puzzler! A BEAUTIFUL toy though sadly not an especially good one. Not needing kibble is clever but honestly it is a janky mess that needs to be MINT to even hold together when moved. The Japanese version came with a “bra” assembly to hold it together & it does need it. Look but don’t touch

The Real Ghostbusters Haunted Humans Mail Fraud! The 2nd worst delivery service after Evri brings you a special delivery STRAIGHT FROM HELL! Clever transformation, love the shirt pocket eyes & tie nose & how the beast still wears the hat. The German release gave him a “real” name - Paul Postbeisser!

The Real Ghostbusters staring in Ghostbusters II - The Movie! A collected edition of the Marvel adaptation of film. As well as providing an RGB design for Dana Barrett it features several deleted scenes (a lot more Louis vs Slimer, a possessed Ray in Ecto-1, Louis’ cousin, museum eating Hardemeyer)

I love this 80s robot-shapes chalkboard. Not sure it loves me though…

Gobots Weird Wing! This heinous harpy predicts the “ominous future of his victims” though it seems obvious this future is getting torn to shreds by a smirking demon! Technically as this is a Robo Machine release (it has silver arms, Gobots has grey) this is South Claws as Bandai swapped their names

Here’s an interesting mystery - ghostly white Chomper! Over the years I’ve found a few perfectly translucent white Chompers. I’ve traced them back to French S.O.S. Fantomes cards. So is this a legit variant/production error or EXTREME discolouration? Undecided & still collecting evidence-stay tuned!

The Real Ghostbusters Winston Zeddmore & Chomper! Sic on his surname as Kenner consistently misspelled “Zeddemore” with no E (not corrected until the reissue!). His foe Chomper may never have lost his biting habit but after 40 years together he’s well-trained if asked if he’s a god (you say YES!!!)

Transformers Metroplex Dollond & Aitchison badge! If you’re struggling to see Metroplex you really do need glasses!

The Finger Pop Fiend had never seen such bullshit

Machine Men Wrist Rocket Launcher! This lovely Australian release of the Gobots Wrist Rocket launcher features Copter Man who is of course better known as Cop-Turr. It’s not in the best shape but Machine Men stuff is hard to come across in these parts

The Real Ghostbusters Ray Stantz & Wrapper Ghost! Ray is based on an early model & a bit podgier than his final cartoon appearance though it suits him & it’s nice to have a bit of body type variety in the toybox (GB humans are good for this). Wrapper’s teeth always reminded me of chocolate fingers

Gobots South Claw! His name (a slightly forced pun on “southpaw”) & bio suggest he should form the left arms of Monsterous though art & instructions always feature him on the right. Whoops! This is possibly why his name was swapped with Weird Wing for the Robo Machine release. Robot face is adorable

The Real Ghostbusters Dollond & Aitchison Slimer badge! Another nice D&A badge for all those lucky lil myopic marvels of the late 80s. Slimer is apparently outed as the ghost of Benny Hill on this one* *(yes I know that that Hill didn’t die until 1992 and John Belushi etc, leave me alone I’m happy)