Two years ago, Hasbro made a surprise announcement at the 2024 Wondercon. Here, they showcased a new set of vintage style o-ring figures of the 1984 Ghostbusters. They were to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the movie. Their appearance was startling and amazing. Fans of the franchise had a different scale of figures to collect. G.I. Joe fans had a new avenue to add to their collections. And, everyone suddenly wondered about the immense possibilities this development could lead to. Were o-ring Mask figures on the table? Indiana Jones? Marvel? Or, even Star Wars? Sadly, we now know that the possibilities will not be explored in any meaningful way. But, this Ghostbusters set seemed a solid test case for possible future products.
At its core, the Ghostbusters "Plasma Pack", as the set is officially named, is a great product. For $44, you got 4 distinct figures, a nice supply of gear for each of them and packaging in a nice window box that is the same size as a DVD collector package. The box was designed to fit on a home video shelf and could be used for easy storage. The figures themselves feature all newly sculpted parts. Sure, a lot of the body parts are reused among the figures. But, the Ghostbusters didn't have a lot of variety in their movie jumpsuits. And, the heads are close enough to actor's likenesses to know who they are without treading on those pesky likeness rights that would have ensured performer compensation.
In short, it's just a nice presentation for some movie homage toys. It's not overdone. It's not cheesy. If fits that perfect middle ground for someone like me who liked the Ghostbusters but wouldn't call himself a full fledged fan.
One fun thing about non-Joe content is that it gives me a chance to reminisce about other childhood moments that didn't involve Joe. One such occasion occurred in the summer of 1984.
In the '80's, we lived relatively far from my school. Now, the distance seems paltry. But, as a kid, most of my friends lived a long ways away. Part of this was that there is a canal that ran between my school and my neighborhood. Most kids lived on the same side of the canal as the school. I was one of the few who did not. So, while some friends lived only a couple of blocks away, that distance was doubled or tripled by the fact that I had to go out of my way to get to a bridge to cross the canal (and the major street that ran along it) before I could go back down to their street. As an adult, this hurdle doesn't seem insurmountable. But, as a 10 year old, my options were limited.
There were just three of of us who lived on our side of the waterway. Both of the other two lived, literally, as far away from my block as you could. Their side of the neighborhood was blocked in by a river. We were on a little spec of land that had once been a single farm: bound by the river and the canal. My one classmate named Erik lived in the original farmhouse on the land. Now, it was determinable only by the home's architecture. He had a normal yard and was on a standard block like all the other houses in our area. We first met in early 1983. It was here, at his house, that I saw my first Sears Cobra Missile Command. I just didn't believe it was an actual Joe toy since it was crappy cardboard and didn't appear in the catalog. The remnants of it were strewn among an ocean of toys that defined every kid's playroom in the early '80's.
We played together a few times. But, as 1984 dawned, I was able to more easily bike to his house. And, we began a long running adventure that also included our third classmate, Matt who lived a few houses down from Erik. Erik had an amazing collection of toy guns. One day, we found a note that had been written by Erik's younger brother, detailing some plans that he and friends had. Matt, Erik and I created a "detective agency" to decipher the plans. That idea was then expanded into fictional adventures where we were dedicated to toppling the ultimate bad guy: Frank Lupo. You might recognize that name. Lupo was a credited produced on the A-Team. (Among a slew of other shows.) I just saw the name and thought it was cool. So, he became our fictional bad guy.
We'd then all load up with various guns and run around the neighborhood, chasing the imaginary Lupo and his goons. When we got tired, we'd retreat to Erik's basement where it was cool. As was par for that era, his dad had a bar in the basement sitting room. We'd sit there and plan out the next phase of the story. One particular detail I recall of this was that Erik's basement was always stocked with food. Notably, several huge boxes of Honeycomb cereal. My mother wouldn't buy us Honeycomb. (She'd buy us Fruit Loops, Cocoa Krispies and all sorts of other sugary cereals. No idea was Honeycomb was off limits.) So, I remember the boxes, sitting on a shelf that was in a room opposite the sitting area where we'd listen to cassette tapes of the Police or RATT and plan out our next adventure.
The other thing Erik had in his backyard was an old VW van. Oddly, another friend named Eric, who lived closer to school, also had a VW van in his backyard. The two families weren't connected. It was just one of those Doofenshmirtz coincidences. But, we could play in this van, shooting at other cars and pretending to drive maniacally as we either pursued Lupo or were being chased by him. It's somewhat surreal to think back about how we could play during the '80's. We'd run all over the neighborhood, through people's yards, onto the public levees along the river and even go into stores all while carrying very realistic looking toy guns. At any given moment, none of our parents really knew where we were. But, they knew we were in the general neighborhood, and that was good enough.
One day in the summer of 1984, Erik's mom decided to take us to a movie. Or, more accurately, drop us off at a movie for a couple of hours. I suspect she just wanted some quiet time. It was me, Erik and another classmate named Damian. Damian's parents shuffled him around various friends over the summer. So, on the day he was at Erik's, we went to see Ghostbusters. Erik's mom dropped us off at a local theatre. (Years later, after that theatre closed, my childhood comic book store moved out of my neighborhood and into the theatre. No idea if it's still there today.) We each had a couple of bucks and bought a drink, some popcorn and went into the most empty theatre to watch the movie.
One of the things that's been lost in recent years is the fact that movies were always meant to be cheap entertainment. They were designed to be a cheap way to entertain lots of people. In the past 10 or so years, though, that's changed. But, back in the '80's, it was a cheap way to spend an afternoon. We sat about 1/2 way down the theatre and enjoyed this crazy movie. In the latter half, my drink caught up with me and I had to use the restroom. I missed the "dickless" joke while I was out of theatre. And, of course, that was the one line from the movie that was most discussed upon our return to Erik's house. It was quite a while later before I'd see an uncensored version of the film again and catch what everyone else thought was the funniest part of the movie. We spent the rest of the afternoon laughing at other scenes and just roaming around Erik's block. All of the blocks were bisected by alleys which ranged from fully overgrown and impassible to perfectly manicured. We'd wander up and down these, looking for things to do. It was a pointless existence that was tons of fun just due to the weird things people discarded back then.
If you fast forward a couple of weeks, my parents were going to take my brothers and I to an ice cream social at our school. It was weird to be at the school during the summer. But, it was a good chance to see my friends who were otherwise cut off from me. While waiting for my familty to come to the car, I was out there, listening to the radio and playing with the cigarette lighter. I managed to burn the circular pattern onto one of my fingertips. I did this when I was distracted by the Ghostbusters theme that came on the radio. I remembered the song from the movie. I never thought I'd hear it again. I wasn't aware of movie themes being radio hits. So, hearing it was novel. We went to the event where I told some friends about hearing the song and burning my finger. I had to keep the burn secret from my parents or they wouldn't let me play in the car any longer. But, those two items are forever "burned" into my memory.
I'm not a huge Ghostbusters fan. But, had these figures been released in 1984, I'd have bought them. And, they'd have found a home with my Joes. The failure of '80's TV and movie 3 3/4" figures was that they were always straight arm, knock off type toys. Or, they were done in a scale and style too far astray of classic Joe for the other figures to be compatible with my collection. While I desperately wanted the A-Team to be in my Joe world, the crappy Galoob figures just didn't work. They were shockingly cheap when compared to Joes and just weren't fun to play with. Cool figures like the Secret Wars products were too tall and lacked the articulation necessary to be useful. I'm left with childhood daydreams of every property being in G.I. Joe style. I'd have loved to have had a Batman, Spider Man, Indiana Jones, and the Clash of Titans characters done up with full Joe articulation, accessories and production quality.
In the adult collecting era, we've finally seen some of this consolidation. If you get 3 3/4" figures, they are all articulated and designed like anniversary Joes or are 5 POA ReAction figures. If those are your thing, they work. But, most of the scale compatibility has come in the 6 inch arena. If you collect 6 inch figures, you can get IP from pretty much every property you can imagine. So, you see collections of superheros, TV personalities, Star Wars and other pop culture figures all intermingled in one giant collector diaspora. If 6 inch figures are your bag, they sky's the limit. My childhood dreams of o-rings just aren't going to happen. The format works. It's just not popular enough. Maybe we'll see occasional one offs like this Ghostbusters set. But, my reverie of all things being in the best format will never come to be.
We need, though, to really look at the quality of this release. Each figure includes the plasma pack and wand that is attached to the pack by a hose. You get Ray's goggles, Egon's little detector thingie and a single ghost trap. Not a bad complement of gear. The backpacks are cheaply done and don't have the Joe peg construction. The hoses on the wands are less brittle than I thought they'd be. I'm not sure how they or the overly large shoulder rivets will hold up over 30 or 40 years. But, by then, who cares? Each figure appears as he does in the movie. You can't ask for much more than that.
A couple of years ago, I showed my kids the Ghostbusters movie. They enjoyed it. It wasn't the cultural touchstone it was for my generation. They laughed at the "cgi". (They call all special effects, cgi.) They never watched the second one. They had no interest in it. But, chronologically, my showing them Ghostbusters was same as my Dad showing me Casablanca. So, that puts the cultural references and such into better perspective. They'll have their Ghostbusters movie story moment over something that was an age appropriate new release for them in the 2020's. And, I'll shake my head in disbelief at the movie that creates an indelible experience for them.
It's tough to know how well the Plasma Pack did at retail. There is a large Ghostbusters fan base. But, historically, they've been more into the cosplay elements of property appreciation. The price per figure suggests that Hasbro did a decent production run on the figures. And, they found a solid audience in Joe fans. The set, though, has been in stock at Amazon for retail price for well over a year, now. Amazon has done various discounts and it's fairly easy to get it for around $35. Every few months, Amazon cycled through a heavy discount phase and dropped the set to 1/2 price. At $22, the set is a no brainer, even if it's just for one moment of admiration. Since the Plasma Pack's release, Hasbro has offered no other o-ring products with the exception of some reused Joe molds in the Void Rivals SDCC exclusive set from 2025. So, it seems the Ghostbusters may have been a one off.
