Opening Some Old Ghostbusters 2 Cards!

 Ahhhh…the delight of trading cards. That overwhelming feeling of excitement. Could I be scoring a dud? Is there gold in this pack? Can I trae the crap to that sucker up the street? I mean I’m not Rocky Dennis, but I can usually turn a good trade into a very lucrative deal. If you want that Gambit hologram, you gotta pony up, pal. Thankfully today, you won’t have to worry about bartering your life away because I’m going to present to you trading cards from one of my all time favorite movies, Ghostbusters 2.

No suckers or duds here, nothing but gold! But then again, if you ask me, nothing screams “gold” quite like Ghostbusters 2…

Ok, ok fine smartass, you got me there…but you knew what I meant…

Ghostbusters 2 has long time been my favorite Ghostbusters movie. I think all four (yes I said FOUR) are great in their own ways but none are quite as entertaining or enjoyable as the sequel. Of course being heavily influenced by The Real Ghostbusters cartoon helped that but it also helped deter audiences and even left a bad taste in many of the cast and crews mouths. But me as a kid? Loved every second of it. Me as an adult? Well…nothing has changed to be honest. Now, just less hair but the enthusiasm remains. So with that said, let’s charge up our Proton Packs and open up these bad boys. We got 34 year old cards to see!

Ahhhh…dang it! First card is also the unfortunate victim of the infamous Topps Gum attachment. Almost as if Venom was a disgusting stick of pink brick like substance that Topps tried to pass off as gum. I get the sense any brave kids did more damage to their mouths but added more to their street cred by chewing this rocklike substance. Let us never forget the kids who ate these on a dare and survived…

Sadly the arguably best looking card of the pack is the one damaged by gum. The beautiful Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett played a very pivotal role int he second movie as Peter Venkman’s ex girlfriend and single mother of baby Oscar. By this point, she also returned to kicking alien butt and in this movie would eventually help vanquish Carpathian fanny all the way back to whatever odd dimension he came from. 

Ok, maybe the first card isn’t the only good looking card as the man himself and perennial dreamboat of the Ghostbusters, Harold Ramis gets his own solo card in the set.  Great image and a perfect way to remember the late great comedy icon but I suppose my only issue with it is just referring to him as Spengler especially since Dana got her first name! Plus, how many kids are going to say “Oh right! I know him as Spengler!”? That’s such a low level complaint for such an amazing trading card though, so I should probably let it go. This is what therapy is for.

Another “character card” and what a profile! Dan Aykroyd as Ray (Although maybe his card said “Dan Aykroyd as Stantz”) smoking a stogey after capturing a jogging ghost outside Central Park. Kind of an odd choice for a trading card set marketed towards children but it’s a pretty cool image. I don’t know too many other trading cards that feature the main actors smoking but then again, there’s not a lot of trading cards dedicated to grown men chasing 90000 year old ghosts, so I guess I gotta just enjoy it for what it is. Plus Dan Aykroyd made busting ghosts while smoking looks cool. 10 points.

I probably should’ve mentioned that somehow by serendipity, this was a Scoleri Brothers heavy pack. If you don’t remember, The Scoleri Brothers were the weird blue “death row” ghosts in electric chairs that came back during the court scene. If you were to ask me who my favorite ghosts were, other than Stay Puft of course, it would be them. They just looked really cool. Anyway this is the scene before they appeared and seems to be an odd filler card. Nothing exciting but just a spare scene to throw into a pack. The next card however…

There they are! In WIDE SCREEN SFX SHOT! A fun gimmick to show the full shot from the movie. Here you can see the Scoleri Brother’s being general nuisances and annoying Judge Wexler before grabbing a pretty lady and running away. I wish we could’ve gotten a few Kenner figures of the Scoleri’s but we did get cool figures later. Heck, I would’ve even settled for a mail away exclusive Judge Wexler too. I love this movie that much. Drown me in everything Ghostbusters 2 plzkthnx.

“You're short, your belly button sticks out too far, and you're a terrible burden on your poor mother.“

If you’re still not convinced at the influence The Real Ghostbusters had on this movie, look no further than this card. An almost spitting image of the “Green Ghost” figure that came famously with a pizza and steak accessory. Some fans will remember as the playful, gluttonous, bulbous pet of the Ghostbusters and….well…they’re not exactly wrong. This card is exactly how many people prefer Slimer and it’s hard to argue with them. Especially since I know I can relate so much to him. I too love to eat raw steak and eggs and run around Manhattan.

A big criticism of Ghostbusters 2 is that it lifted so heavily from the first movie and this was one of the big complaints. Using mood slime cannons to make The Statue Of Liberty (she’s French, ya know) walk the streets of NY was a little too Stay Puft for some to handle. I guess I get it but this was still a fun visual. This card shows the hard work the special fax team put in to make us believe this was really happening. I always enjoyed the behind the scenes cards that would be thrown in, I’m sure for many kids, it was their gateway into the big world of movie production and practical effects especially. Like a “trading card bonus feature”. Which I guess would make sense since I’ve been doing commentary on these cards for the last few minutes now…

Well, we’ve reached the end of the line for this pack and as always, the proverbial “cereal prize” of trading cards is last: THE STICKER!!! For some such as much as myself, the sticker was the best part and would usually end up on my dresser, notebook or my bedroom door. This card in particular is such a striking image, especially given the inclusion of Slimer, The Scoleris, and The Twin Towers. I wonder if this was an unused design for merchandise or promotions because I can totally see it being used in local newspaper advertisements . If only I had a dresser I could put this on. That’s what I get for living out of a suitcase in my buddy’s basement. Now I can’t put 34 year old stickers on anything…

So that wraps up another great pack of trading cards. It’s been a while since I’ve done this and had fun with it. I hope you did too, I may try todo this again in the future. There’s a lot of cool cards out there!

-Chad