If there’s something strange in the neighbourhood… then you should probably call 000 rather than spend $US400 ($532 AUD) on this life-sized replica of Egon Spengler’s proton pack from Ghostbusters. But if your neighbourhood seems reasonably normal and you have cash to spare, this is your chance to own a nigh-perfect recreation of the ghostbusting equipment you can strap to your own back.
Haslab — basically Hasbro’s Patreon for high-end toys it’s not going make unless fans promise to buy them — has opened a crowdfunding project for Spengler’s proton pack, directly scanned from the prop seen in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Not only will it have working lights, sounds, and a motor, there’ll be a switch you can flip to choose either Afterlife or classic 1984 Ghostbusters effects (I have no idea what the difference is, but obviously this is good news for purists).
Furthermore, the prop even has “a metal V-hook bracket that connects to the metal V-hook bracket on the bottom of the Neutrona Wand,” the Neutrona Wand being another Hasbro Pulse item you can preorder here for $US125 (A$166). If you’re not up on your Ghostbusters equipment lingo, the Neutrona Wand… well, it’s the gun that connects to the proton pack, so if you really want to get your cosplay on, you’re looking at dropping $US525 (A$699) for the pair. That is, assuming the Proton Pack project gets fully funded, but I wouldn’t be too worried about that. More than half of the 7,000 backers needed have signed up since the project launched yesterday, and there are still 45 days to go. Here are the stretch goals:
- 9,000 backers to unlock the Class I Unlockable Stretch Goal: THE CLASSIC BUNDLE
- 11,000 backers to unlock the Class II Unlockable Stretch Goal: THE GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE BUNDLE
- 13,000 backers to unlock the Class III Unlockable Stretch Goal: THE SPENGLER SPECIAL
- 15,000 backers to unlock the Class IV Unlockable Stretch Goal: THE SUPERNATURAL STAND
I don’t know what these mean and Hasbro hasn’t detailed them, so consider them a surprise for now. If you ain’t afraid of no ghost, you can pledge your money to the Ghostbusters Plasma Series Egon Spengler’s Proton Pack here.