Toys were very important to me as a kid, and a kid of the 80s, I had a ton of cool stuff to choose from. One of the toylines I liked best was Ghostbusters, and no, I’m not talking about the one with the gorilla. I’m still trying to process that one, to be honest. The Ghostbusters I’m talking about the true Ghostbusters made famous by Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson in the 1984 movie.
A couple of years after the movie hit, “The Real Ghostbusters” premiered on Saturday mornings to the joy of all Ghostbuster fans. All right, so the characters looked completely different and I still don’t know what was up with Egon’s hair. Like many other fans I was able to overlook such things because at least, we were getting new Ghostbusters adventures. It was thanks to the cartoon that my fascination with Ghostbusters toys began.
I was always more into the action figures and I think I had most of them. The action figures were fun to play with, but the two Ghostbuster toys I wanted the most were the Ecto-1 which I got one birthday (thank you Burns family), and the Proton Pack. This wonderful toy was must have as far as I concern. But it probably helped that two of my friends had one, so I needed one so that we could truly play Ghostbusters. I tried to explain this to my family, but my pleas went unheard.
Christmas and my birthday the following year came and went, and while I did get one of two Ghostbuster toys, the Proton Pack was nowhere to be seen. I was distraught at my lack of progress and I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. I don’t remember the Proton Pack being that expensive, so price shouldn’t have been an issue. And it’s not as if I was asking for a toy gun or something. As that summer neared and I received almost straight As (a rarity for me). I decided to ask for a special gift in the form of a Proton Pack and made one final pitch.
One night after dinner I made a passionate speech in front of my mom, grandmother and aunt, and uncle. I explained that with such good grades, I deserved a special gift since those grades might never happen again. When that got a chuckle out of my family I explained that owning a Proton Pack would allow me to spend more time outside playing with my friends. I thought this would work since they were always on my back about playing more outside than in the house.
Then my uncle dropped the hammer on me by saying “Aren’t you a little old for that?” In the blink of an eye, I saw my childhood beginning to crumble. All those adventures I was hoping to have with my friends were dashed before they had even started. At that moment rage began to boil within me. I wanted to scream back at my uncle “NO! I’m not old enough!” among other things. But I also knew getting angry at him would not help my cause.
As you can probably guess by now, I was never the proud owner of a Ghostbusters Proton Pack. I guess someone didn’t think I was worthy of one. Don’t get me wrong, I still tried, I even tried saving up for one. But whenever I had the money, I couldn’t seem to find Proton Pack anywhere. I finally gave up on my dream when some random relative gives me my third Peter Venkman action figure. I was so disillusioned that I all but gave up playing with my Ghostbuster toys.
Real Ghostbusters toys still have legions of fans today, multiple generations in fact. I even know one person who handed his toys down to his son which is cool. My Real Ghostbusters toys are long gone, but the line still holds a ton of memories for me. From the weird action figures to the vehicles, to the kid-sized equipment, it was an awesome line of toys.
The Nerds Uncanny 
Great post 😁