In comparison to recently released collectable toy lines based on some of the biggest children’s shows and movies of the 1980s, vintage Kenner toys from that decade are often very basic, with limited joint movements and bearing very little resemblance to their on-screen counterparts. Yet, many childhoods of 80s kids were hugely enriched by these 5-inch high action figures which allowed youngsters to play out their favorite scenes with the help of a little bit of imagination. For modern adults, these same figures have become some of the most sought after collectibles and are worth thousands more than their original retail price. One such line arrived in 1986, bringing the characters from one of the decade’s most beloved movies and subsequent Saturday morning cartoon series into play boxes everywhere in one of the biggest toy lines produced. That toy line was The Real Ghostbusters.
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40 years later, the Ghostbustersfranchise has returned from the dead with new movies and an upcoming Netflix animated series, and following in Kenner’s footsteps, Mondo has produced a series of new action figures that would have blown the minds of children in the 80s. Yet, the Kenner series stands as a cornerstone of the action figure industry, a flagbearer for several cartoon tie-ins that followed, and one of the most collectible pieces of nostalgia for those who enjoy spending their money on gathering together unopened toys to display in vast collections sometimes worth millions of dollars. The masterclass in marketing and toy design ran for 10 complete waves – with some additional entries – between 1986 and 1991, even if most of the kids playing with them when the first wave was released had abandoned them by the time the last waves was released.
Following the success of 1984’s Ghostbusters, a cartoon series was always inevitable, and once some legalities around the name were resolved The Real Ghostbusters became a massive success and still stands as one of the best produced animated series of all time, easily standing up against today’s animated offerings. The five-inch, five-point articulated figures that followed included an initial wave featuring the four franchise heroes of Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore along with classic spooks Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the iconic Firehouse HQ playset and Ecto-1 vehicle. While it would have been a thrill for fans of the show to own every ghost to appear in the cartoon, only limited number of those iconic spooks made it into production with many of the waves being made up of variations of the same four Ghostbusters with bizarre quirks such as screaming faces and different suits. Just like every similar toy line, these almost identical figures became even more collectable years later because by the time the last of them rolled out, fewer were being produced and even fewer people were buying them.
This is the reason why some figures from the later waves ofThe Real Ghostbusters toy line can sell for tens of thousands at auction if in their original packaging and in near-perfect condition. Variants of the four heroes released in the Ecto-Glow sub-range can bring large amounts due to their scarcity, even more so than the original four figures released in 1986, which were mass-produced to match the demand of children around the world to be able to act out their Ghostbustersfantasies in their own homes on Christmas morning. The Ecto-Glow Heroes wave came towards the end of the toy line’s run and some unproduced prototypes of these figures have been seen to sell for up to $40,000. Yet not everyone who broke or lost their original figures has had to spend a fortune to get them back, as the nostalgia hit of recent years led the release of the Hasbro Kenner Classics range, which recreated the exact toys of the 1980s in bright shiny new condition for a much more affordable price. Whether high-priced originals or cheaper modern replicas, it is undeniable thatThe Real Ghostbusters action figures are still among some of the most collectible vintage toys out there, and the next wave of Ghostbusters shows and movieswill only keep that appetite going for a few more years.
Do you still own your Real Ghostbusters action figures? Let us know in the comments.
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