“The Real Ghostbusters” animated series debuted on September 13, 1986, a full two years after the release of the Ivan Reitman film on which it was based. It wasn’t bad timing though, as the popularity of “Ghostbusters” hadn’t waned all at once. Indeed, thanks to the film’s release on VHS in 1985, it only proliferated to a wider audience than ever before, allowing its popularity to grow. In 1986, kids watched in droves the animated exploits of Peter Venkman (Lorenzo Music), Winston Zeddemore (Arsenio Hall), Ray Stantz (Frank Welker), and Egon Spengler (Maurice LaMarche). The series was a huge success and spawned a toy line and a comic book. “The Real Ghostbusters” ran for 140 episodes over its seven seasons. The animated series was just as big a phenomenon as the film.
However, fans immediately noticed that the animated Ghostbusters looked nothing like their live-action counterparts. Peter no longer looked like Bill Murray, but had a long, thin face and a big, upswept hairstyle. Winston did not resemble Ernie Hudson, having no mustache and also possessing a long, thin neck and a square jaw. Ray no longer looked like Dan Aykroyd, now being a redhead with a round face and a round belly. And, more dramatically, Egon no longer looked like Harold Ramis and now sported a striking, Elvis-like blond pompadour.
It’s likely that the four actors did not authorize their likenesses for the series, explaining why they looked so different. It is also common in animation to give characters exaggerated features so that their colors and silhouettes are instantly recognizable; there’s a reason the Simpsons always wear the same clothes and have basic head shapes. In canon, however, there seemed to be no explanation as to why Egon was suddenly blond.
Until a 1990 “Ghostbusters” comic book explained it all.
Egon was given blonde hair by a ghostly mushroom
Beginning in 1988, Marvel Comics published a series of “Real Ghostbusters” spin-off books in the United Kingdom, using character designs from the animated series. This book proved incredibly popular and ran an impressive 192 issues before being canceled in September 1992. This was a full year after the cancellation of “The Real Ghostbusters” animated series, so the comic had a life of its own. In 1990, Marvel Comics used a separate imprint – called NOW Comics – to reprint several issues of the popular British comic strip “Real Ghostbusters” in the United States.
In an issue of “The Real Ghostbusters” comic book, in a two-page story titled “Hair Today…Egon Tomorrow!”, it was finally explained why Egon’s hair looked so different from how it appeared in the film. The story began with Egon, sporting Harold Ramis’ usual black hair, examining a batch of glowing mushrooms he called lumi-fungi. During his interrogation, Ray entered the room with his dinner: a bowl of mushroom soup. While Egon was distracted, the mischievous ghost Slimer began mauling the lumi-shrooms. One of them has a fanged mouth and almost bites Slimer, causing him to drop it in Egon’s soup. Naturally, the distracted Egon will eat the monster mushroom.
The fungus causes Ego’s hair to become electrified, instantly bleaching it blonde and changing the style to match his appearance in the cartoon. Egon’s hair was the result of a magic mushroom. When the other three Ghostbusters saw Egon’s new hair, they simply complimented it. You can read the pages on Reddit.
But that was all. There was now a canonical reason for the common practice in anime of exaggerated character design. The blonde Egon now lives in infamy. Thank you, Lumi-mushrooms.
