The Proton Pack is a fictional piece of particle accelerating machinery created by Egon and used by the Ghostbusters. It is their primary tool in the 1984 & 1989 Ghostbusters films for "busting" ghosts. It has a hand-held wand ("Neutrona Wand" as scripted by Dan Aykroyd) connected to a backpack-sized cyclotron. The theory is that it fires a 'semi-controlled' stream of protons that neutralizes the negatively charged electromagnetic radiation of a ghost allowing it to be held in the active stream.

The packs were first tested in the Sedgewick Hotel, which was also the test run for the Ecto Goggles and Ghost Trap.

Proton Pack Components

Clippard Instrument Laboratory Parts
Dale Resistors
Proton Pack Part Names
Legris
ALICE Pack Frame
Sage M25W Resistor
Raytheon Crank Knob
Ribbon Cable
Nycoil

[Link] [Revise] Movie Proton Packs

The props representing proton packs were created by the prop department at Columbia Pictures. They are made of molded fiberglass shells on aluminium backplates (or "motherboards") bolted to military surplus A.L.I.C.E. pack frames. The basic shape was sculpted from foam; later, a rubber mold was made, from which fiberglass shells were pulled. The "wand" had an extending barrel mechanism and the electronics were quite advanced for the time. They were then finished with various surplus 1960s resistors, pneumatic fittings, hoses and ribbon cable, as well as surplus warning labels and custom-made metal fittings. The overall weight of these props is said to be around 35lbs. The "hero" props were substituted in stunt scenes by flimsy foam rubber pulls from the same mould. The proton packs have a lightbar with 15 blue scrolling lights in a box on the left-hand side and 4 red lights in the circular "cyclotron" portion of the bottom of the prop that light up in rotation. The "wand" also featured numerous light features; the most elaborate versions had fluorescent bargraphs, incandescent bulbs, and strobing flashes in the tip for the visual effects crew to synchronize the famous 'streams'.

Some of the packs from Ghostbusters were used in the film's follow-up, Ghostbusters 2; these packs were slightly redressed with a black crank knob and thinner ribbon cable. The angle of the gun mount was changed to pitch foward slightly to make the prop easier for the actor to use. In addition to these redressed props, one of the originals was hastily cast as a buck to produce basic, lightweight "mid-grade" props (as a solution to complaints by the actors about the weight of the original prop). These mid-grade pieces featured many details cast in as part of the mold, instead of separate fittings. The electronics and mechanisms were also cut down greatly, reducing the total weight. The original GB1 props would appear in close-ups, the mid-grade in all other scenes, and new rubber "stunt" packs were made for whenever the actor needed to take a fall. Several GB2 packs have surfaced for auction—at least one rubber stunt, and one fibreglass mid-grade prop. The auctioned mid-grade prop was lost shortly after sale in an airport baggage mishap. The piece was documented before its loss, revealing much of the shoddy casting techniques used in its creation. All three variations of the GB2 pack have been displayed at various Planet Hollywood restaurants around the U.S.

[Link] [Revise] Video Game Proton Packs

The Main Pack
The Video Game Packs (of the PS3 and 360 version) are essentially the same packs from Ghostbusters II, with a few changes and a lot of wear and tear. The main changes to the base pack are that the Crank knob is now a vent and flashing red light. The vent is used to vent steam from the pack so it doesn't over heat. When the pack vents, the steam is shot out the vents, and the Bumper and Cyclotron both push out to cool off. In the event of a meltdown, the pack will automatically vent shoving out the 4 Core's of the Cyclotron along with the Bumper and Cyclotron itself.

The Video Game pack also adds new cosmetic lights, some of which have a purpose ingame. For example, The HGA has a pie-chart light display that indicates the heath of the ghost your shooting at. The light bars below it show the players heath and current temperature of the proton pack:

One set of lights however, was chosen for the pack due to a common misconception with the GB1 pack. In the hotel chase scene with slimer, Ray's (Dan Aykroyd) pack seems to have two lights beside the powercell:

However, this is just paint worn off of the pack shell, allowing light from the power cell to shine through.
This was taken, despite this, and put on the Video Game Pack:

Pack Upgrades

Over the course of the game, the pack will receive several upgrades. The upgrades are: Boson Darts, Stasis Stream, Shock Blaster, Slime Blower Mk. II, Slime Tether, and the Meson Collider. All of these tools have different effectiveness on different ghosts and entities. Also, some add-on's (such as the Slime Tether) are used to solve many of the games puzzles and to even capture ghosts in new ways.

*Plasm Distribution System* upgrade, aka Slime Blower Mk ll

The Wii, PSP, PS2, and DS version of the game are a much cartoonier version of the pack.

The only differences are that the Slime Blower shoots out Slime Bombs, which spread a large amount of slime over an area.

Creating the Pack

Many members of the Gbfans.com community have made their own Video Game pack mostly from eyeballing the game and hand making most of the pieces. Unfortunately, no real plans have been made yet due to the extensive additions and versions of the packs.

[Link] [Revise] Real Ghostbusters Proton Packs

The Main Pack

The Real Ghostbuster packs are the same from start to end, and are even believed to be canon in the fictional world. The packs are essentially the same as the original packs, barring a few changes. The packs are blue with different color accents along with a 3-ringed Cyclotron and more rounded and simpler design. The gun on the pack is more basic as well, but works the same as the gun in the original movie. Also, the pack now has a Self Destruct feature and one can reverse the polarity of the pack. The packs now also hold the Ghost Trap on the opposite side near the Ion Arm.

Different Forms

The Pack in The Real Ghostbusters is seen in different forms throughout the series. The pack worn by the Ghost "Ghostbusters" in Citizen Ghost is a Proton Pack that feeds of Ectoplasmic energy and has a reversed polarity from the regular packs. The packs were also once modified to run off a large generator for increased power. The packs also appeared in the Extreme Ghostbusters, in the episode "Back in The Saddle". The packs were now all silver and metal like, but still were used like the original packs and now like the modified versions seen in the Extreme Ghostbusters.

Creating the Pack

A few brave Gbfans.com members have attempted and successfully created a Real Ghostbusters Pack. The problem is that no extensive plans have been made for them, and the actual size, shape, and parts of the pack can sometimes vary between episodes, and not all parts of the pack are shown. However, it's a very basic design and can be done with enough patience and hard work.

If you want to take the easy route you can always buy the Kenner Real Ghostbusters Pack, although not to scale it is a suitable alternative until other options are discovered.

[Link] [Revise] Extreme Ghostbusters Proton Pack

The Extreme Ghostbusters pack has been attempted by a few prop builders with acceptable results however it is not as popular as the movie packs so it does not have the same following in the build community. EGB packs are mostly " scratch built" due to the limited parts available.

[Discuss] [History] [Revise]Proton Pack

[Link] [Revise] Movie Proton Packs

[Link] [Revise] Video Game Proton Packs

[Link] [Revise] Real Ghostbusters Proton Packs

[Link] [Revise] Extreme Ghostbusters Proton Pack