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In 1986, Kenner released a line of toys not for the hit Ghostbusters movie, but for the upcoming cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters. The toy line, which lasted all the way through the series' demise, produced an expansive assortment of action figures, playsets, plushes, vehicles, and full-sized role-playing weapons.
Towards the end of the Real Ghostbusters toy line there were figures that did not get released in 1992. Egon's lab, Backpack Heroes, a ghost-catching firetruck, and the Ecto-glow copter were all planned but never made it to store shelves.
Much like its original Star Wars toys, Kenner's Real Ghostbusters line has weathered the test of time. Simple in design yet exquisitely unique, few toy lines before or since have had such diversity and such a significant impact on a base franchise.
In 1997, Trendmasters released a collection of toys and action figures for the Extreme Ghostbusters television show. Although the line failed to reach the scale, scope, and popularity of the original Real Ghostbusters line, there were still a variety of different toys produced.
In 2004, NECA released a short-run of Ghostbusters figures. However, they ran into issues with character likenesses and so only Slimer, Stay Puft, Gozer, Zuul, and Vinz Clortho (in Terror Dog form) were released.
In 2009, over 10 years since the Extreme Ghostbusters took up the packs, Art Asylum in association with Diamond Select Toys created a line of Ghostbusters MiniMates. These highly detailed 2-inch figures reach back as far as the original movie and the sequel, and mark the first toys released using likenesses from the movies instead of the cartoons.
Also in 2009, for the 25th anniversary of the first film, Mattel started to release 6-inch and 12-inch figures of the Ghostbusters.
In December 2010, Mattel released their first movie prop replica, a 1:1 scale recreation of the PKE meter.
Also in 2010, Mattel made 12-inch versions of the four Ghostbusters from both the first and second movie. The ones from the second movie came in bundles with Egon and Ray together and Peter and Winston together as well. Ray and Winston were both given a slime blower and uniforms that matched the second movie, while Peter and Egon essentially stayed the same.
In October 2011, Mattel released their second movie prop replica, a 1:1 scale recreation of the Ghost Trap.
Mattel also released a replica of the Ecto Goggles in July 2013.
In December 2013, Mattel released its last prop replica, the Neutrino Wand. Like the other replicas, it would light up and create sounds from the movies.
At New York Comic Con 2014, Diamond Select announced that they would be making a line of 7-inch Ghostbusters toys with the four original Ghostbusters and a fully functional Ecto-1. It wouldn't be until later that they revealed the first set of figures at Toy Fair 2015, which included Ray, Winston, and Louis Tully. The plans for an Ectomobile never came, but rather pieces of Gozer's temple to build a diorama from the end of the movie were bundled with each figure.
The series came out in February 2016 and would include the original four Ghostbusters (as well as alternate versions for an 'end of the work day' Ray and a slimed Peter), Dana, Louis, Walter Peck, Janine, Gozer, Terror Dog, Slimer, Taxi Cab Driver Ghost, and the Librarian Ghost, with the last series being released in 2017. All the Ghostbusters came with a proton stream to attach to their guns. However, it wasn't until the second series that Diamond Select finally added a way to connect the stream to the guns.
Bandai announced in August 2016 that they would be releasing 7-inch Stay Puft and Rowan's Ghost action figures under their S.H. Figuarts brand. Stay Puft comes with 4 different heads for facial expressions and lots of articulation, while Rowan has only about 2 points of articulation.
The pages below break the toys down by maker and product line:
The first and most expansive line came from Kenner, tied to the animated series The Real Ghostbusters and launched in the late 1980s. Trendmasters followed with figures based on Extreme Ghostbusters in 1997. From 2009 onward, Mattel and Diamond Select Toys released figures and prop replicas based on the original films rather than the cartoons.
