My Ten Favourite Supernatural Creatures from the Ghostbusters Mythos

Obligatory obvious ghosts likely won't be on this list though. Sorry.

There's a lot of things out there that I love in that way that only a geek can (i.e. obsessively). G.I. Joe, Transformers, Young Justice, Critters, Suikoden, Persona, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jason Voorhees, Aliens, Predator, obscure British Marvel superheroes...but among all of them, I have always a fairly large place in my heart for the Ghostbusters. I love most everything Ghostbusters, barring a certain comic that came out a long while back that people thankfully don't talk about much. I even love the Filmation Ghostbusters. Yes, the one with the gorilla and the talking car.

Talking. Fucking. Car. You'd be wrong not to like this show.

Despite what some very vocal "fans" would have you believe, there's a lot more to Ghostbusters than two movies starring some very talented old comedic actors. Three movies, four television shows, countless comics, and various toys of all shapes and sizes (that includes video games). Ghostbusters is a mammoth franchise and I adore it. But what good is a series about supernatural fighting heroes without them supernatural ghoulies? Thus, on this Ghostbusters Day, I have decided to narrow down my ten favourite supernatural creatures from the entire mythos, Filmation included. They won't be in any order because, frankly, narrowing it down to ten is hard enough witohut having to rank them against one another. Slimer and Stay Puft are exempt from this list though, as they are too obvious and we all adore them. That said, let's get to bustin'.

In my heart and mind, this will always be canon.

Irena Cortez

When I was a kid I went to the video stores in our area constantly, but the best one was always Jett Video (which eventually changed names to Box Office Video). They had the best selection and the lady who worked there was always the best. She liked us too, a point she hammered home when she started giving me these packs of Now Comics for free. And almost every single pack had an issue of The Real Ghostbusters in it. Thanks to this, I got really invested in that series and my favourite thing about it was that Peter Venkman had a girlfriend...who was a werewolf. That is the best. She helped them out as a werewolf a few times during the series and I hope she gets brought back someday over at IDW. Fingers crossed.

Ah, the ghost who introduced a whole generation to the concept of "bad touch".

The Grundel

This bastard right here messed a lot of kids up. I remember the controversy that he was basically a ghost child molester (as perceived by parents) and I knew kids who were scared shitless of him. In all honesty, he reminds me a lot of the scene from Salem's Lot where the little kid vampire tries to coax another kid to open their window. Basically, this a spirit who preys on the innocence of children, desiring to twist them into doing horrible things until they too become a Grundel. For a bit of added creep factor, this particular one had a very specific hang-up with Kylie, one of the Extreme Ghostbusters. And yes, there has been porn about that. I do not want to ever talk about it because it all makes me deeply uncomfortable. But yeah, this creeper has serious staying power and always stuck out as a true threat.

"We have such copyrights to infringe upon!"

The Vatheks

This may seem like cheating, but it's my list so blow me. Have you ever wondered what kid-friendly Cenobites might look like? Well, keep wondering, because these fuckers were not kid-friendly in the least. Craniac, Corpuscle, and Gristle appeared in an episode of Extreme Ghostbusters that was a very clear homage to Clive Barker's favourite bondage demons and there was no beating around the bush as the episode literally begins with a dude being mutilated and possibly murdered. The Ghostbusters cartoons did not fuck around. Come to think of it, there were a lot of horror movie references throughout the three different cartoons. Gotta love that.

Since he's from a video game, I guess he's really just a ghost in the machine.

Silk Hatton

Look, what do you want me to say? He looks really cool and he's from the best Ghostbusters game that was out during my childhood. Look at him, a dapper headless gentleman ghost walking around and then you say "where's his head" right before it bursts out of the hat to eat you. This guy was always a ghost I wanted a toy of but he never got one. All these dickheads bitching about the last movie and I'm just sitting here wanting Ghostbusters to get successful enough again so I can get a new line of ghost toys featuring obscure video game enemies. A man can dream.

When I was little I used to think his collar was hair. I don't know why.

Prime Evil

Hey, look! A Filmation ghost character! Yeah, some "fans" would burn me at the stake for including any of the ghost or monsters from that series, but I'm gonna anyway. This here is the big bad of the series and you can tell. He's a got an iconic look, a weird annoying sidekick, he yells at his furry henchman all the time. Basically, he's ghost Skeletor. And I love Skeletor like the desert loves the rain, so you know I love Prime Evil. I even own this weird little badly painted figurine of him. I should make Filmation Ghostbusters customs.

Speaking of ghosts that never got toys...

Boogaloo

During the run of the Real Ghostbusters, there were a handful of massive ghosts that popped up and they were like candy to a kaiju loving kid like me. But the king of them all? This big red abomination right here, who basically looks like a totem pole of pain. He showed up during the primetime Halloween special, The Halloween Door, which was mostly about some old gobshite trying to destroy Halloween because he hated it. It backfired spectacularly though and he instead released Boogaloo on New York. He was a huge funky singing machine of mass destruction and it was glourious. Sadly, as the caption up there says, we never got a toy of him. He'd look great on my kaiju shelf.

Also known to my Twitter followers as the other ghostly member of the Ghostbusters.

Vigo the Carpathian

If the caption up there confuses you, then you should be following me on Twitter as I crusade to redeem him (#VigoRedemptionArc). Yes, that is a real thing. My logic is that since he possessed Ray, who was wearing his Ghostbusters gear, Vigo was a card carrying Ghostbuster and thus is a member via technicality. Bearing that all in mind, it shouldn't surprise you that he's one of my favourite ghosts. He's menacing, has some of the most quotable villain lines ever, and is voiced by Max Von Sydow. Vigo is the man and bustin' potentially makes him feel good, assuming he's not the one being busted.

Grandma, what a big overbite you have.

Wat

I probably mentioned previously that my earliest memories of the Ghostbusters are not of the movies but of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon series. Among that early recollection, the second episode I recall watching (as they often got aired out of any real order) was Mrs' Roger's Neighborhood. It was about a little old lady calling them for help...and then turning out to be huge demonic creature out to wreak mass amounts of havoc. Again, no toy, because why give the kids the iconic monsters we know when we can get a haunted toilet. Okay, okay, I liked the haunted toilet, but still. Wat deserved more. More of what? Who can truly say...

"Do you have any cranberries? My doctor says I need to eat more of those."

Maiikrob

So, picture this, there's a giant white ghost whale running amok in New York City and the Ghostbusters are struggling against it. In comes this big dude with a spear who has a weird beard tooth thing going on and bails them out but gets beat. Perhaps, by their forces combined, they can defeat the menace. That all really happened and it was one of the best things ever. This guy is like a ghostly hero version of Ahab out to stop the ghostly whale, Lotan, from destroying everything in its path. I absolutely love this guy so much that I have put thought into what pieces I'd need to assemble a figure of him for my personal collection. That kind of love that only comes from episodes so jawsome that they should echo into legend. By the way, you should really go watch Extreme Ghostbusters if you haven't yet, because it is a very underrated series that gets unwarranted hate. Also, because it has Maiikrob.

LEEEEEETTTT'S GET READY TO SHIT OURSELVES!!

The Boogieman

If you want to talk iconic villain in regards to the Ghostbusters, people will talk Gozer or Samhain...or they'll quit kidding themselves and talk about the nightmare fuel that was the Boogieman. I don't have to explain who he is because you already know. He's every fear you've ever had all wrapped up into a cloven-hoofed giant-headed hair-metal hair having walking atrocity that will ruin your day. Not many things freaked me out as a kid, but he did. His jagged teeth, the way his face fills closet doorways because of how huge his head it, his gnarly-ass voice, he was just pure nightmares. He was also the arch enemy of my favourite Ghostbuster, Egon, and seeing him stop him helped me feel stronger but no less creeped the fuck out. I both want to see and fear seeing this guy in a live-action film, because there are just things that stay with you.

And sometimes those things wear bowties and lipstick.

Thus ends another list that people will call clickbait as if it didn't take me hours to compile and write, because the internet is a place full of horrible wastes who thrive on being miserable to others. I hope everyone enjoyed it though and that maybe it inspires you to go check out the source material these various characters came from. Because at the end of the day, being a fan should be more about sharing your love of something rather than gatekeeping it. Later days, bleeders.