Talk about the your favorite Ghostbusters Collectibles from Mattel, Kenner, and more.
By Ectoboy16
#4896959
Do any franchises or non affiliated Busters plan on checking out the new Proton Pack replicas being released by Spirit Halloween? From what I understand Spencer's Gifts will also be carrying them. I wanted to go full uniform and take some pics of it and give an online shout out to Spirit Halloween for releasing such an awesome pack.
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By AlTheRelic
#4897087
I'm not gonna lie, as a guy that isn't the biggest fan of props (I'm an action figure guy myself) I think this is an awesome piece aesthetically wise & the fact that it has electronic functions & a reasonable price as well.
By GBDRE760
#4897540
For the price I am thinking of it. I am also thinking of giving it a different motherboard that still has a slot to access the electronics and also give it a real Alice Pack Frame. I can also add the big red sticker to the motherboard that is missing on the spirit prop. If the pack looks too shiny I may pull the stickers and recoat it and replace the stickers then scuff it a bit with some silver to give it a worn look. For the price you really can't be too upset with it. It's only 20% smaller than the ones we would spend hundreds of dollars to make.
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By Doctor Venkman
#4897598
So, of my order, 2 of the 7 that arrived are broken. The Clippard valve on the wand seems to be a common break point, because its the exact same break on both.

ImageIMG_4565 by terrordan9, on Flickr

That said, I still can't believe how nice these are for the price. They're a great first pack for a lot of folks. Obviously a bit small (though I think the pack is less noticeable than the wand when wearing it). Overall, really a cool pack.

I can't wait to start customizing. Hoping that some people share their great ideas and mods. I know a couple guys from my group are talking about video game packs.
Hansulu liked this
By Styrofoam_Guy
#4897609
I hope this doesn't turn into a big problem for Spirit with people returning their packs.

On the plus side I wonder if the stores would give a discount if you take one of the packs with the broken parts?
By slimer01
#4897615
I myself wouldn't buy these packs they look cheap and small. I'd rather make a pack. I've made about 6 so far and even some for my kids all hand made. People are better off buying a cheap shell.
By ccv66
#4897620
The appeal of the pack is time and money. People would absolutely be happier with a hand made pack, but you can't find anything cheaper shipped to your door. Even if got a pack kit for free it's pretty time consuming especially if it's your first build... Spirits is light weight and you don't have to worry about bumping into people at a party. Great costume piece or kids toy. Not really a prop. Has it's place

I'm pretty sure every person here would have loved this as kid, over the Kenner packs we had
By slimer01
#4897627
Yeah I think they are a great think for kids. I just think it's silly for a grown man to wear a small toy. I made my daughter's pack in a week. It didn't cost me a thing except the alice pack and the gbfans lights and sounds. ImageImageImageImageImage
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By Doctor Venkman
#4897639
slimer01 wrote:Yeah I think they are a great think for kids. I just think it's silly for a grown man to wear a small toy.
The irony, of course, is that plenty of people think it's silly for all of us to dress up and essentially wear big expensive toys. At the end of the day, that's what all of our props are anyway. Toys.

Honestly, having these in hand, they're damn good. I think they make a fantastic first pack for anyone of any age.
KUZEH, Radiojake13, GBDRE760 and 5 others liked this
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By KUZEH
#4897645
Doctor Venkman wrote:
slimer01 wrote:Yeah I think they are a great think for kids. I just think it's silly for a grown man to wear a small toy.
The irony, of course, is that plenty of people think it's silly for all of us to dress up and essentially wear big expensive toys. At the end of the day, that's what all of our props are anyway. Toys.

Honestly, having these in hand, they're damn good. I think they make a fantastic first pack for anyone of any age.
My thoughts exactly!

Looking forward to your review and/or mods
GBDRE760, Kingpin, Hansulu liked this
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By joeghostbuster
#4897659
slimer01 wrote:Yeah I think they are a great think for kids. I just think it's silly for a grown man to wear a small toy. I made my daughter's pack in a week. It didn't cost me a thing except the alice pack and the gbfans lights and sounds.
those are really freaking awesome. if you can build me one for under $70 (shipping included in that) I would buy one! but I'm content with the Spirit pack for now. until I have $2000 for a 100% accurate one anyway lol
80sguy liked this
By PeteVenkman_Jedi
#4897662
They look good for what they are, but I don't see myself getting one. At least not at this point. I'm certainly not going to frown on anyone who wants or buys one. Had these come out when I was a teen I'd have broken my arm falling over myself to get one. While they are not perfect replicas these are the best mass produced movie packs I've seen to date, flaws and all.

Here's one thing I've learned over the years from dealing with costumes and props out in the wild, it's not necessarily the quality of the props or costume you have on, a lot of it is how well you sell them or capture the essence of what you are portraying. I have many props and costume bits of various quality ranging from beautifully hand made to licensed replicas to toys and all of them can work or fail depending on the situation. I've been in situations in authentic gear and not gotten any attention at all. I've also been in situations where I've literally thrown something together at the last minute from stuff around my apartment and gotten tremendous positive reactions from people.
Kingpin, Tony Bondioli liked this
By slimer01
#4897663
I guess I'm just different. I was always told if you gonna do something...do it 100% or nothing at all. If feels awesome knowing you built something that everyone freaks out about when I take my kids out. I was just saying you could buy an Sc shell for 80 bucks. If people are going to mod the toy pack with accurate lights and you can make a gun out of styrene. Instead of buying this pack.
By PeteVenkman_Jedi
#4897664
Slimer01, my friend, that's the lesson to learn, everyone is different.

You're a builder, I totally get that. I'm a builder, too. It's one of my reasons for passing up on one of these. I have the skills and passion to roll up my sleeves and dig in and make something myself. I'm very detail oriented and can be a stickler for accuracy depending on the project and purpose. But that's because I like to challenge myself creatively and push my limits. For me I get as much, if not more, satisfaction from the process of the build as I do from the finished prop. However, not everyone has that same form of insanity. And you can't go faulting them for that. People get enjoyment from different aspects of the hobby. To some people the building process can be more frustration than joy and getting one of these will bring them satisfaction. Nothing wrong with that. Different strokes for different folks, as they say.

So as fellow builder I salute you, keep building and being passionate about it. Lead by example. But don't sweat about people taking a different path to finding their own passion. You never know, getting one of these packs and modding it a bit might be what gives someone the confidence and courage to try a shell or scratch build down the road.
Radiojake13, RedWithEvil, KUZEH and 4 others liked this
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By B-Rad
#4897679
PeteVenkman_Jedi wrote:You never know, getting one of these packs and modding it a bit might be what gives someone the confidence and courage to try a shell or scratch build down the road.
Thats why I decided to go with this for now. I've tried to save money for a pack and failed 3 times now as other things come up. So I'm considering this a stepping stone for now so I can learn some modding skills and until I can save up the money to actually build one with the look and features I want.
Hansulu, gb_adam liked this
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By Kingpin
#4897696
slimer01 wrote:Yeah I think they are a great think for kids. I just think it's silly for a grown man to wear a small toy.
Naturally nobody is in the dark about the fact they're smaller than the standard size for a Pack, they do offer something to people with back issues that a standard Pack may not be able to achive: something they can comfortably wear.

Additionally, it provides something for folks like myself who might want to go out on Halloween night for drinks, but who don't want to take out their expensive replica to a crowded bar with some drunken idiots: an inexpensive, light alternative that still has some wow factor. :)
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By gb_adam
#4898131
B-Rad wrote:
PeteVenkman_Jedi wrote:You never know, getting one of these packs and modding it a bit might be what gives someone the confidence and courage to try a shell or scratch build down the road.
Thats why I decided to go with this for now. I've tried to save money for a pack and failed 3 times now as other things come up. So I'm considering this a stepping stone for now so I can learn some modding skills and until I can save up the money to actually build one with the look and features I want.
Sounds like we're on the same page, B-Rad. I ordered this one for the sake of low cost and a first attempt at a mod. I'm really looking forward to tinkering around with this, and hopefully, building a full scale afterwards. In the mean time, my child hood fantasy can finally come true - without breaking the bank!
By 1chapelcredit
#4898535
gb_adam wrote:
B-Rad wrote:
Thats why I decided to go with this for now. I've tried to save money for a pack and failed 3 times now as other things come up. So I'm considering this a stepping stone for now so I can learn some modding skills and until I can save up the money to actually build one with the look and features I want.
Sounds like we're on the same page, B-Rad. I ordered this one for the sake of low cost and a first attempt at a mod. I'm really looking forward to tinkering around with this, and hopefully, building a full scale afterwards. In the mean time, my child hood fantasy can finally come true - without breaking the bank!
I'm right there with you guys. I've wanted to get into Ghostbustering for years, and have a pretty good uniform, but have never had the time/money to invest in a good quality pack. For Halloween 2 years ago I had one of those inflatable things, and last year I mounted a Ruby's foam pack to a small backpack; that was passable for Halloween, but I'm not going to show up at a con like that (I'll be Batman instead).

I couldn't be more excited about this pack. For $66 (with shipping) + an Alice Pack, my halloween costume is complete and way better than I expected, and Ghostbusting in earnest is suddenly a real possibility. This is a gateway Proton Pack; I'll be surprised if it doesn't lead to more people building their own packs and enjoying the hobby, now that the initial huge barrier of time/money/technical expertise is removed.
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By DarkSpectre
#4898536
I ordered one for my team to have at our event tables. We all have full size packs, so this would be a good looking display/something for Joe Q Public to throw on for pictures. On a side note, i'm really loving how classic GB is back at the forefront
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By Kingpin
#4899053
gb_adam wrote:Not sure why I the video isn't embedding, but here's the link showing lights installed: https://youtu.be/EDPOrvkpkxo
The code's a little weird, it only works with part of the link to the video, like so:
Code: Select all
[youtube]EDPOrvkpkxo[/youtube]


Would you be able to post a flash-lit photo of the area featuring the Clippard Valve on the Proton Gun? After seeing this part come off of some folks' Spirit Packs, I'd like to see if the Clippard is breaking off, or a separate part that's detaching due to poor gluing.
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By B-Rad
#4899359
gb_adam wrote:Ready to roll! Now, I just need to get a proper wand on this thing.

Not sure why I the video isn't embedding, but here's the link showing lights installed: https://youtu.be/EDPOrvkpkxo

Image
Image
Lookin Good! What did you end up doing to get the light to properly cycle? So from what I can see are these the mods you did:

- Alice Frame
- New Ribbon Cable
- Ribbon Cable Clamp
- Lighting mod to make the lights sequence properly
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By DarkSpectre
#4899371
Low and behold mine finally shipped over the weekend. I was beginning to wonder especially since a friend had his online order cancelled by Spirit stating lack of product. I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of work on it. And I'll probably just make a frame from PVC that's scale since the Alice frame is too big on it. But again I bought this as a collectable and an event table piece so I may not even do anything to it. Choices, choices. I'm just happy my order wasn't cancelled and that I'll have my hands on it before the week's out
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By toby88
#4903480
I missed the first run and was bummed to find out the pack was out of stock. However, Spirit had put them back in stock and were taking pre-orders back in November. I finally was able to pre-order with a projected ship date of "before 3/1". The I received an email from Spirit saying my order was cancelled "due to manufacturer delays". Once again it's listed as out of stock online, anyone got any info?

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