The Mini-Puft Invasion Has Begun

We all woke up to a changed world yesterday.

Early on Wednesday morning, Jason Reitman and the official Ghostbusters social media channels surprised us all with a film clip from the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The clip, featuring Paul Rudd’s character “Mr. Grooberson” wandering the dessert aisles at Wal-Mart when he hears a scream and goes to investigate. But what he finds ends up being a lot cuter and/or malicious than he may have been expecting.

The short and fun clip is a great example of what’s in store, as nostalgia bones are tickled while the lines between comedy and horror are straddled much like the original Ghostbusters film did. And it’s safe to say that the chaos in that Wal-Mart store is probably just beginning. The clip is also abridged for marketing purposes with several cuts that make it apparent it falls into a larger sequence to be revealed when we’re seeing the film for the first time on the big screen this November.

And the clip is well-timed to start the engine revving of the merchandise powerhouse to come with the film’s release. This morning, Hasbro unveiled what is probably just the tip of the iceberg on their upcoming Afterlife (and Mini-Puft) related merchandise: a blind bag set of Mini-Pufts in various poses.

The bags will be available this Fall, just in time for the holiday season. Here is all the information fit to print from Hasbro:

GHOSTBUSTERS MINI-PUFT SURPRISE 

(Ages 4 and Up / Approx. Retail Price: $5.39 / Available: Fall 2021)

Choose the smallest, most collectible method of your destruction with the GHOSTBUSTERS Mini-Pufts Surprise figures from Hasbro. Detailed to look like characters from the 2021 Ghostbusters: Afterlife film, each series of 1.5-inch Mini-Puft figures is inspired by the original Stay Puft Marshmallow Man but comes equipped with new mischievous personalities from the movie. Kids and collectors alike can open the Stay Puft Marshmallow can and dig into the goopy marshmallow-like compound to see which Mini-Puft figure is inside. 

With multiple blind waves and six unique figures per wave for the GHOSTBUSTERS Mini-Pufts Surprise figures, boys and girls can collect them all! Available at most major retailers nationwide.GHOSTBUSTERS MINI-PUFT SURPRISE

(Ages 4 and Up / Approx. Retail Price: $5.39 / Available: Fall 2021)

Choose the smallest, most collectible method of your destruction with the GHOSTBUSTERS Mini-Pufts Surprise figures from Hasbro. Detailed to look like characters from the 2021 Ghostbusters: Afterlife film, each series of 1.5-inch Mini-Puft figures is inspired by the original Stay Puft Marshmallow Man but comes equipped with new mischievous personalities from the movie. Kids and collectors alike can open the Stay Puft Marshmallow can and dig into the goopy marshmallow-like compound to see which Mini-Puft figure is inside.

With multiple blind waves and six unique figures per wave for the GHOSTBUSTERS Mini-Pufts Surprise figures, boys and girls can collect them all! Available at most major retailers nationwide.

Hands-On with Hasbro's Latest Offerings

Our friends at Hasbro were kind enough to send along three items from their latest wave of 2021 offerings: the Kenner Retro Ghostpopper, Playskool Heroes Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, and the revised edition of the Transformers mash-up Ectotron! All three are fantastic items for kids and collectors alike. Below are a few of our thoughts, and make sure to tune into this week’s episode of The Crossrip where Troy and Chris will chat through their thoughts in video and audio podcasting form!

Ghostpopper

A blast from the past as one of the few Real Ghostbusters Kenner items that I had as a kid (I had the proton pack, trap, Ghostpopper, and Ghost-Zappers to call my Ghostbusting arsenal back in the day). Currently a Wal-Mart exclusive, this reissued popper is almost identical to the one offered in the late 1980’s with a few key differences. Immediately noticeable is the blue coloration of the body of the thrower. While not entirely out of the ordinary for the Kenner line (most if not all of the throwers and weapons were the same distinctive blue), the original Ghostpopper had a black matte body. Most likely this change had to be made due to new restrictions on toy companies not being able to make weapons a color that could be mistaken for real. Also a change due to the times, lots and lots of warnings and advisories printed on the bottom of the body of the thrower. The packaging is a near one-to-one replica of the original box, again with more safety messaging (and the child model is now sporting safety glasses). I seem to remember the original Kenner box having three targets, where the reissue only has Stay-Puft and Slimer cardboard cutouts. Aside from that, it is 100% the exact toy that you may have had as a kid and perfect for the next generation of Ghostbuster to begin their journey as well.

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Playskool Heroes Stay-Puft

More for the younger set, but an outstanding sculpt and a great likeness of Puft - which for some reason is always tough to nail down. Being Playskool, nice to have a toy for those aged 3-and-up but with my little one found that the button on the top was just a little too difficult for a three-year-old’s finger to chunk down and change the face. But, ever-resourceful, she quickly figured out she could just spin the face and that was a whole lot easier and just as much fun.

Articulation at the hip of Puft gives him a bit of a wobble that simulates walking and kind of turns him in to a bobblehead/hula doll, which is a fun touch as well. In fact, there’s a surprising amount of articulation on the figure, including arms and hands that allow a wide variety of poses.

Transformers Ectotron (Ghostbusters Afterlife Edition)

If you weren’t fortunate to pick up the original issue of the Ecto-1 Transformer in 2019, now is your chance to pick up the figure on a blister cardback with a few differences that make it Ghostbusters Afterlife specific. A Target exclusive, Ectotron is pretty much the same with a few rust details and slightly modified Ecto-Goggles, a translucent Muncher figure is now included along side the Slimer figure that was originally offered. And, still in the package the item is a great display piece just as its predecessor.

Check out a hands-on of all-three on this week’s Crossrip by hitting the link here or watching the video below!

Our thanks again to Hasbro for providing these for review, here’s more information on each of the three items, all available for purchase now!

Transformers: Generations – Transformers Collaborative: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Ecto-1 Ectotron

(Ages 8 and Up / Approx. Retail Price: $59.99 / Available: January 1, 2021)

Worlds collide in this TRANSFORMERS-Ghostbusters mash-up as the iconic Ecto-1 Cadillac from the Ghostbusters: Afterlife movie converts to a TRANSFORMERS robot – the ECTO-1 ECTOTRON! He ain’t afraid of no ghosts. ECTOTRON stands at 7 inches tall, converts between Ecto-1 and robot mode in 22 steps, comes with a Proton Pack, blaster accessories, the classic 1984 Slimer ghost figure, the new Ghostbusters: Afterlife Muncher ghost figure, and an issue number 1 of the Transformers/Ghostbusters Ghosts of Cybertron comic book from IDW Publishing, featuring an exclusive cover. The figure also features an updated head sculpt, including updated Ecto-Goggles, inspired by Ghostbusters: Afterlife and afterlife Tech Specs showing the capabilities of ECTOTRON, including strength, speed, and bust-abilty.

TRANSFORMERS robots have always been MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE, but now, through the TRANSFORMERS Collaborative, fans can experience these larger than life characters as they team-up, mash-up, and meet up with other characters, teams and people who share this same special quality. Available exclusively at Target.

GHOSTBUSTERS KENNER CLASSICS GHOSTPOPPER

(Ages 8 and Up / Approx. Retail Price: $19.99 / Available: January 1, 2021)

Poltergeist popping action is back with the GHOSTBUSTERS Kenner Classics Ghostpopper from Hasbro! Inspired by the classic blaster from Kenner, this retro Ghostpopper is a must have for any Ghostbusters fan and features original Kenner deco and package art inspired by the iconic look from the 80s. Comes with six soft foam Ghostpops and three cut-out ghost targets. Available exclusively at Walmart.

GHOSTBUSTERS PSA STAY PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN

(Ages 3 and Up / Approx. Retail Price: $14.99 / Available: January 1, 2021)

Inspired by the Ghostbusters entertainment franchise, this GHOSTBUSTERS Stay Puft Marshmallow Man figure brings mega fun to exciting adventures! Sized right for small hands, this bulky 10.7-inch figure features articulation and multiple preschool-perfect facial expressions. Kids can press the button on Stay Puft’s head to change his expression and imagine fun stories! Available at most major retailers nationwide.

The Private Sector: Where Has All the Pyrotechnic Fluid Gone?

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The following article appeared on ProtonCharging.com and GBFans.com on January 27, 2010 as part of my syndicated column, The Private Sector:

Sure it’s crowded, it’s dirty, and there’s people here that would just assume step on your face than look at you, but one of the benefits of living in Los Angeles is the incredible wealth of talent, especially when it comes to “movie magic,” that calls such a place like Los Angeles home. This past Saturday, some of the greatest talents in the visual effects business gathered for the Visual Effects Society’s “25th (and 1/2) Anniversary” Screening of Ghostbusters at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood. 

The event, which was touted as a screening and Q&A session with “special guests” turned into an impromptu reunion of the Boss Films crew, the former Marina Del Rey folks behind the visual effects of Ghostbusters, 2010, and their final project Alien 3. It goes without saying that the event was memorable - from stories of the complicated process in which the Stay Puft costume was engulfed in flame (“We… uh… put gasoline on him… and lit him up.”) to the wealth of fantastic archival photos by Virgil Mirano, which were expertly (and far too quickly) piloted by fellow DVD producer and visual effects magician Van Ling. 

But what I really took away from the reunion/screening was just how fun the process of making movies used to be. 

It’s funny seeing the twinkle in Richard Edlund’s eye when he reflects upon his time spent building Boss Studios from the ground up specifically for Ghostbusters and 2010, especially considering that Edlund is one of the greatest proponents of a digital, non-photo chemical, visual effects age. You get the feeling that he, and all of the participants that were on stage at the event, loved the challenge that having to produce everything optically presented. And when you stop and think about it, why wouldn’t they? If given the choice between being on a soundstage and rigging a solid-steel model of a Central Park West apartment building with explosives – then blowing the thing to kingdom come… or sitting and having a team of twelve animators at ILM digitally create the explosion frame by frame, I think the former is quite a bit more exciting than the latter. 

There was one point in the moderated panel where the crew was discussing the challenge of animating the “rubberized light” beams that emit from the Ghostbusters particle accelerators. The solution, as described, was that the weapon was actually sucking atoms and particles from the area in which it was pointed so the pyrotechnics that were assembled on-set were made to look more like something “pulling” from the sets and less like the impact of an explosion (and, if you frame-by-frame through the DVD, you’ll notice the actual animated streams actually start on the wall and THEN link back to the proton gun three frames later). Fascinating and fun anecdotes that I had never known, and each person on the panel spoke of the process with a childlike glee. 

But even taking that “fun aspect” out of it, one could argue that better and more effective work was produced when there was a challenge presented to the filmmakers. Can you imagine Steven Spielberg’s Jaws if the mechanical shark was computer generated and didn’t present any problems? How about Ridley Scott’s Alien film if he wasn’t hiding the man in a suit in the dark shadows of the Nostromo? I’ve vented at great lengths elsewhere (and frequently) about how computer generated effects have freed up (but become a handicap for) visionary filmmakers, so I won’t venture into that territory again. But I think that the point is clear: they just don’t make ‘em like they used to. 

That much was abundantly clear in seeing and hearing the former wizards of Boss Films wax nostalgic on their Ghostbusters work. It was challenging, it was stressful, the pressure was insurmountable, and the fate of both their studio and others hung in the balance… yet twenty-five odd years later they are all still able to come together and the result is akin to a family reunion. Because despite all that hardship, they still had a helluva time. 

Here’s hoping that the folks already hard at work on a third installment of this famed franchise take into account the challenge, and don’t take any of the shortcuts available in this modern era of filmmaking for granted… well… okay… and that they have a helluva time doing so.