Thoughts on Hasbro's Packs

Before I start talking about my Hasbro 84' Pack modding, I wanted to share my thoughts on their offerings and how I came to mod this latest Proton Pack. I was originally just going to have this as an introduction to the first log, but I figured I'd save you some reading if you didn't care about this part. 

I didn't start out planning to mod my Hasbro '84 Proton Pack; in fact, I wasn't even sure I would keep my pre-order. I bought the Afterlife version without hesitation, as until that point, there had never been a mass-production 1:1 Proton Pack; I could not pass it up. When I received it, I was instantly in love. It felt like the coolest thing I had ever owned when I first opened that box.

I was not 100% happy with that pack, though. Some of the choices Hasbro made were just odd. For being scanned from the actual movie prop, they decided not to be accurate to that original prop in weird ways. The hoses, tubes, and wires were among the strangest choices, as I doubt custom molding a bunch of connectors, clips, and fake tubes into single rubber units was actually the cheapest option after you consider tooling. Plus, everything was supposed to be easily changed out, but the "copper" wires to the Clippard valve mount were glued in–thanks, Hasbro. In the end, the ribbon cable looked like someone had wiped their butt with an old printer cable; the yellow sleeve over the new wires from the cyclotron was a frayed piece of cheap fabric; the fake Clippard was undersized; and the pack turned off after a few minutes. That one drives me crazy. Why did Hasbro decide for me how much battery power I wanted to burn through? Even with the Spengler wand attached, if you waited too long after a power cycle, it could not turn the pack back on. Your only choice is to ask someone to switch it back on or to take it off and do it yourself.

Still, it's really cool.

My complaints do not change the fact that the Afterlife pack is really cool; it's a high-quality (toy) reproduction with lights, sounds, multiple modes, and comes with plenty of bonuses. Even with needing to buy the matching proton thrower separately, it is substantially cheaper than buying a shell kit and parts. Plus, you don't actually have to do anything, just open it up and put it on. Walking around on Halloween or at a crowded convention, no one will notice those oddities I mentioned, nor the others I didn't. The Afterlife pack was something many people like me had been waiting for since we put on that blue Kenner proton pack toy in the late 80s.

The '84 pack is a different story.

When they announced the '84 pack, I didn't really need a second pack. For one, I'm not in a fan franchise, nor do I ever really just get dressed up for conventions or other nerdy events. But of course, I did really want a proton pack just like the movies I grew up with that wouldn't take a custom build or a ton of modding. Also, let's be honest: I immediately had a bad case of FOMO and worried that I'd miss my chance to get a clean 84/89 classic-style Proton Pack. I could never forgive myself! 

When it finally arrived at my doorstep, I originally just kept it in the box, with no plans to open it or do anything with it. I was prepping to move, and again, I was not worried about modding it, nor did I have any immediate plans for it–my Afterlife pack, trap, and PKE meter, along with my best suit and belt, were in a tote ready to be accessed if I needed to pretend to be a Ghostbuster for a day. Then one day, I got the itch to see it with my own eyes. 

Okay, it's beautiful.

Of course, the first moment I got to see it, I was amazed. There I was, holding another Proton Pack, and it felt incredible. It was clean, well built, heavier than I remembered, and the little kid in me was screaming with joy.

But those original problems persisted.

After the initial excitement wore off, those warts from the Afterlife pack jumped back out, and some new ones as well. Maybe it was because there was no weathering, or maybe it was part of the cost-cutting measures (this pack was $100 cheaper than the Afterlife), but the hoses and connectors looked even worse. Someone on the GBFans forums described them as jelly, and that is pretty dead on what they look like–like those jelly bands everyone wore in the 90s, but really thick. The "bellows" that hold down the bumper and cyclotron are very orange rather than anything that could be considered copper–and they are GB2 style rather than GB1. One of the oddest choices was to not change out the elbow coming off the side of the cyclotron; it was still using the larger version from the Afterlife pack. They already had to retool that cyclotron mold to remove the extra set of wires coming from the top; why not change out the larger connector and thick post that holds it for a simple hole for the smaller elbow used elsewhere on the pack? I could probably also complain that they kept all the internals, like the Cyclotron "Cake" and CRT Emitters, but just opted to keep them blank and undecorated, but I don't really care about that stuff as I never intend to display it with the cover removed. Though it is canon now since Afterlife, the original packs never show the inside like that–they could have removed it and used the savings somewhere else. 

But the biggest problem with the pack itself was the labels they included; they don't stick! From what I've seen, no one had any luck with them, and we all immediately turned to community members selling accurate labels to fix this problem. Really bad showing from Hasbro for providing such low-quality labels.

Still, it's also really cool.

Some things were fixed: the ribbon cable is a thousand times better than the one on the Afterlife pack, the cyclotron lenses and power cell lens looked much better, and the addition of a USB-C connection for an external battery pack was a great upgrade. Plus, regardless of any errors or iffy qualities, you will never find a better pack at this price. A full-scale build from a kit with a shell, motherboard, and all the parts, you're talking over a thousand dollars easily-this was $299. With the addition of the thrower (more on that in a moment), the retail price remains around $430. This has lights, sounds, built-in straps, and is ready to go out of the box. You just absolutely cannot do better than the Hasbro '84 pack, both as a ready-made item and as a ready-to-mod project on a budget. It just isn't possible. Well, unless you scrap build static prop from cardboard or foam core.

The Particle Thrower Problem

Okay, let's talk about the '84 Neutrona wand. Much like the Afterlife version, the build quality is awesome on these, but they have some of the same problems. First off, I appreciate that they used better tubes and connectors, and the Clippard is much nicer than what's on the pack. But I really want to know why they messed up the lights on this so badly, and how they did it, really. There are two spots that should have small hat lights, but they don't. One is on top of the main body, which somehow just became a black nub; the other is on the front barrel, and it has become a button. The second one really confuses me because next to that orange light on the actual throwers is a red push button. Okay, maybe they didn't want to run another light there, but why make it the button and not the actual button next to it? They just made the red button a static, hard piece of plastic! Oh, and the "weathering": if this is an '84 wand, it does not need rust spots, silver marks, or that awful brown on the grips. The brown weathering, which simulates the black paint on the grips rubbing off, looks so bad and was so unnecessary.

Okay, I went on a tangent there. What we really need to talk about is their mismanagement of the stock of these. Not only did they cheap out on the retooling and miss the mark on the design, but they didn't make enough to pair up with the '84 pack. Lots of fans have missed out on getting a particle thrower to pair with the pack, leaving some with a pack and no thrower, some with a pack and an Afterlife thrower, and the rest just not buying the pack. Hasbro currently still has stock of the '84 pack, but you can not buy any Neutrona wand to go with it unless you buy second hand on eBay, which are now way over retail.  

Hasbro really dropped the ball on this one, and I can't believe they haven't made any announcement to fix it. There was a shadow drop at a few retailers right when the pack went on sale, and I am so happy I didn't hesitate. Rumor has it they will make a new version or do another run, but we all know how rumors and Ghostbusters usually play out. San Diego Comic Con is coming up, but expect nothing and hope for the best. 

Time to mod!

Okay, I've aired my grievances and shared my admiration for these wonderful toys/props from Hasbro. The next post will be the first "build log," as I go through what I've changed on my pack, my reasoning, and the errors along the way.

Keep Bustin' - Kevin

(ha)