[OneManGang2]

First, thanks to all on this forum who answer questions from newbies like me, I have learned a lot and really appreciate it. I am a long time GB fan and my 5 year old daughter has already told me she wants the two of us to be Ghostbusters for this year's Halloween. How can I say no to that? I have the costumes already done and am working on proton packs.

I am about to ask the dumbest question in the history of this forum -- what is a Matty Wand? I have checked eBay, Etsy, searched this forum, and I am stumped. It looks like a few years ago Mattel released a prop wand, but that they go for hundreds of dollars now. Is that what people are referring to?

Along those same lines, what is a good value for a wand that would be a nice upgrade from the Spirit wand? BenofKentProps on Etsy has a nice 80%-ish wand for $135, does anyone have one that they have run light and sound toggle switches on?

[Kingpin]

Welcome aboard, OnManGang!

The "Matty Wand" is what you located through eBay, a toy replica of the Proton Gun, produced by Matty Collector a few years back. It had some light and sound features, as well as an extending barrel. That's what people are referring to.

Around $130-ish is probablt good value for a scaled-down Proton Gun kit, given that they need to be made from scratch, as well as the detail pieces for it, like the knobs. I've seen some people modify their Spirit Proton Guns with light kits - I believe Jupiter Electronics has a scaled-down kit available. Spongeface is also working on some thrower lights for the Spirit Pack.

[OneManGang2]

Awesome, thanks for the response!

[joezlo]

I have a modded spirit pack, I used the standard wand on it the first year and I'm currently putting a benofkent 80% wand together for my pack for the upcoming season. Can't go wrong with ben.

[shanedalton]

I built Ben's 80% thrower last summer and am VERY happy with it. I ran the stock Spirit lights and sound button to the intensify button, though, which worked pretty cool and was pretty easy to do.

My next plan is to add a small led in the gun body to show up through the bar graph and try to rig up the power on and power off sounds to one of the switches. I'm not sure the easiest way to do that, yet, though.