For all of those joining me for the first time, welcome to the Return of the 31 Days of Monsters Halloween countdown here at Branded in the 80s! I had a blast last year, so again I’m counting down 31 of my favorite monsters from the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. All of these monsters come straight from my vintage animation cel collection, and my wife and I tried our best to put them in a not-so-scary to really-freaking-creepy kind of order with the creepiest falling on All Hallows Eve.
First of all, yes, the plural of mantis is indeed mantids, I looked it up (though mantises and mantes are also acceptable.) Anyway, today Giant Bugs Attack! Actually, giant bugs attack and are repelled by a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that some might remember from a little movie called Ghostbusters (which according to the cartoon is really just an unfortunately cast bio pic…)
This big green menace hails from episode 65, The Revenge of Murray the Mantis, and he might not be what you first suspected. While preparing the celebrated cartoon character Murray the Mantis as a giant parade balloon (ala the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade), there’s an unexpected twist. The balloon is being inflated in what used to be the cities corner’s building which just happens to be dripping with death energy. This essence du death is sucked up into the pumps and inserted into the giant cartoon blimp. Lucky for the city, the Ghostbusters have agreed to ride along in the parade though, because halfway through this mantis-shaped blimp gets a mind of its own. After a blast from Peter’s proton pack the balloon pops, but brings to life a 40ft tall angry mantis monster!
Figuring the only way to beat a huge hulking monster is with another huge hulking monster, the guys set the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man free to battle the giant mantis Godzilla-style. It just so happens that I shared a cel of good ‘ol Stay Puft from this episode on last year’s countdown…
When I pickled up this cel, I also saw another cool Mantis cel that I figured was related, but it turns out it isn’t. In fact it’s really just a thow-away scene as a cold opening to the last official Real Ghostbusters episode, #134, 20,000 Leagues Under the Street. I figured this would be a great place to share him…
Come back tomorrow for another Real Ghostbusters monster animation cel as I count down towards one of my favorite on Halloween day!
Also, if you feel inclined, I would love everyone to spread the word about the Return of the 31 Days of Monsters countdown, so hit up those social networks and tell a friend (my twitter handle is smurfwreck, and I’m on the Facebook as well.) If you’d like to read more Halloween-y goodness, you can also click on the Halloween Archive link to the left (the banner with King Kong), as well as heading on over to the Countdown to Halloween to check out lists of a bunch of other sites participating in this year’s Halloween blogging event…
