I should not be allowed alone with my bank account.

 

I LOVE that thrower   I'm currently 3D printing another proton pack to modify into an Afterlife pack to match it... my FOURTH proton pack I'll own =_=

 

I want a pack to go with it but don't know if I should get a kit or see if hasbro does one when the movie releases.

 

Well, if they DON'T, this is an officially licensed replica that you build yourself AND unlike AVANOS, you'll actually get the parts!

All Parts

Though, yeah, I DO hope Hasbro puts out a pack to match the thrower because it has so many alterations and details not found on the original 84/89 proton packs.

 

That... is not worth $100.

 

Yeah for a second I thought that I would finally be able to own a good looking proton pack. That won't be it.

 

There ARE ways to get one done, but for $100 you can get the Hasbro Spengler thrower which is ABSOLUTELY worth it. For the pack? Your best bet is to build one yourself as there are plenty of accurate, fan made pack instructions and parts to build one. Hell, the Spengler wand comes with an adapter to connect the hose from a proton pack to it.

 

You're very right about building myself a proton pack. Not only would look good (I do have the skills and know-how), but rewarding as well. Unfortunately, I lack the time and work space to tackle a project like that. Buying a quality one remains my best bet. I fully expect to be paying over $100 for one, too and I'm fine with that  

 

Oh, you can say that again. I've spent between $4,000 and $5,000 building my pack, and countless hours. It's now one of the most accurate proton pack replicas in the world though.

 

Ok, going in the four digits might be my limit. I have no doubt your pack must be pretty awesome looking though. Feel free to post a couple pics to make everyone jealous  

 

I've built over a dozen proton packs over the years of varying quality and materials. You can build a solid looking pack for FAR less than the numbers he's quoting. Honestly, unless there's some INSANE extra features, signatures, or a screen used pack, I wouldn't pay more than $2000 for a pre-built proton pack. What's fun about pack making is that at a glance they all look the same, each one has SOME quirks or flaws that make them unique to the owner. Take my first pack for example. It liked to catch fire... I LEARNED SINCE THEN!

I currently have 3 proton packs floating around my apartment: a fully 3D printed REAL Ghostbusters pack, trap and PKE meter, an arm mounted mini-pack from the Tainted Love IDW comic, and a GB2 style pack with some TVG add-ons (the slime blower parts for now... debating if I want to add on the dark matter generator and meson collider parts or not). To go with the second and 3rd pack, I have an old Mattel PKE meter and ghost trap which I modified to be triggered wirelessly. Everything "works" (lights across the board and sounds where possible), but the arm pack needs a complete rewiring and some extra love here and there.

Anyway, back to the toy discussion: With Hasbro one-upping Mattel's old proton thrower in quality (I do miss the lever retracting the barrel the Mattel one had though), I REALLY hope we get more Plasma series props. Maybe a remold of the Spengler thrower into the classic thrower model (the front grip would need a complete remold, but the tapped area can be removed and the gap in the grip can just be filled in with a separate piece). I'd KILL for a new PKE meter and a new trap. Hell, pack it with parts to make the RTV and really make it unique! There was a point in time where I'd want a Plasma Ecto-1 in scale to the figures, but after seeing the size of Eaglemoss' Ecto-1 model AND the collectors LEGO Afterlife Ecto-1, the size of a figure scaled Ecto-1 would be MASSIVE and expensive.

 

I've always wanted an accurate looking Trap with electronics and sound but they're either too cheap looking or too expensive.

 

With some work and basic electronics know how , you can really make that costume trap with pedal look REALLY good and functional. That said, the trap Mattel put out really was an insane piece of hardware. Lights, sound, hell, it even shakes like you caught something. The only thing it doesn't do is smoke and I know a few people who have added that feature.

 

Dammit. I saw your post and jumped thinking we were getting releases of the retro-series Fright Feature figures. I clicked. I am sad now. The FF were my GB set as a kid, and Ive been hoping against hope we'd get them. I know the mechanisms make them unlikely, but Fearsome Flush kind of gave me hope. Alas.

 

Mine is a top-of-the-line pack, with a lot of rare, accurate vintage parts that nobody but proton pack enthusiasts would care about; so that price is not typical. That's just the parts cost, as I built it myself. Besides the high price, another reason you might not want a pack like mine is that I copied all the blemishes and defects of the real packs, so that it would look screen used. A lot of people would rather have a more "idealized" clean looking pack, which I certainly understand. I would say you need about $3000 to buy a really decent replica pack, personally, but there are other options. Here's mine:




It's made like the originals, with a fiberglass shell and aluminum gun and attachments. Some parts are cast from screen used parts. My job is a sculptor at an animatronics studio, so I calculated measurements and hand sculpted the shell to look very close to the originals.

Screen used Venkman (converted to GB2 configuration):

My sculpt:

I also added various special FX, like a smoke venting system when it "overheats" (the smoke smells like toasted marshmallow), a rumble motor, screen accurate incandescent lights, and I developed my own custom replica flash bulb for the wand that looks like the vintage screen used originals, but produces a white arc welding flash simulation everytime the pack is fired.


As an example of expensive parts that are meaningless to almost everyone, the little gray elbow tubing fittings on the pack are 100% accurate vintage, and cost me around $700 just for the 3.

I also got it signed by Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Ivan Reitman, Ray Parker Jr., William Atherton, and "Gozer".


I'm currently trying to get my ghost trap built before Halloween. It'll have an ejecting cartridge (for the containment unit), servo doors, lights, sound, and smoke effects.

 

If you aren't overly concerned about your pack being slightly undersized, an inexpensive option that's become very popular in the last few years is purchasing the Spirit Halloween Store proton pack and making upgrades. It's even possible to buy a mount for the Plasma Spengler wand replica. People typically switch out the straps for a real surplus ALICE pack, and all kinds of electronic and cosmetic upgrades are available on Ebay and Etsy. Here's a cheap Spirit pack I made a few modifications to:

 

The Spirit pack is a good fill in until you find a full sized pack as the Spirit pack is roughly 80% the size it should be for an adult... the thrower is a joke though.

 

Yeah, you'd want to ditch the included thrower on a Spirit pack, but the Spengler wand doesn't look bad on there at all. The Spengler simply attaches with a dixie cup holder, unlike the originals.

Another thing in favor of Spirit packs: super light weight. An accurate hero pack weighs around 40-45 pounds.