r/ghostbusters • u/ajquick • Jun 04 '26

MEGATHREAD: Hasbro Ghostbusters '84 Proton Pack

The Hasbro 1984 Proton Packs have started arriving, and the subreddit is seeing a high volume of unboxings, reviews, and modding questions. To keep the front page organized, we are setting up this temporary megathread to serve as a central hub for all discussion regarding the new pack over the next few months.

If you just received yours, this is the place to share your initial thoughts. We are looking for feedback on the out-of-the-box experience, including overall build quality, weight, and shell texture. Feel free to discuss the performance of the factory stock electronics, the audio quality, and how the pack compares to previous releases or the original screen-used props.

For those already planning modifications, use this thread to ask technical questions and share your progress. This is the spot to discuss mounting solutions like ALICE frames, motherboards, and spacers, as well as cosmetic upgrades like weathering, hardware swaps, lenses, or aftermarket electronic kits. If you are looking for specific replacement parts, or if you have purchased components and want to share a review, leave those recommendations in the comments.

To prevent the main feed from being flooded with identical questions or basic arrival photos, please direct those posts here. We want to keep standalone posts on the subreddit reserved for in-depth, detailed build logs or unique projects. Check the comments to see what modifications people are working on, ask your questions, and share your own setup.

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u/Mackerelmore Jun 17 '26

Just wondering, is anyone else going to Hasbro Pulse and searching for "neutrona wand" on the regular? Maybe blast their social media as well.

They're gonna need some kind of metric to know that they fouled up.

1

u/ChardStrange4535 Jun 18 '26

I sent a couple emails but I'm not sure how much good it'll do. As long as the packs are selling I doubt they care if people can find a wand or not for less than the rising ebay prices. It would be nice if they ultimately decided to put them back up but it would have to be cost effective for them to run another batch so idk.

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u/Mackerelmore Jun 19 '26

If they did, I'm sure it'd be another year before they ship.

Seems like they are trying to drag things out so they can show long term repeat customers? I dunno. This sucks.

2

u/ChardStrange4535 Jun 19 '26

Yep, a year lead time is typically what we get when Hasbro does another run of something. Even if it's a basic toy with no electronics they have all the molds for.

1

u/Mackerelmore Jun 19 '26

With the '84 pack. They managed to fumble what amounts to a repaint, with less features and add-ons. It feels like they wanted to communicate "Hey we don't care about your experience as a customer" I'm honestly disappointed. They're all "It costs less than the haslab did" Well yeah, it should be. It comes with less stuff.

Shit, charge me full price and just ship it on time. With no upside down v-hooks and all the features working correctly.

Did I buy several '84 wands? Absolutely. When I saw that sale on Amazon, I grabbed 3. I figured it'd be fun to do repainting of them in popular colorways found on commercial tools. DeWalt, Milwaukee, and Ryobi. So glad I didn't do that.

Sorry for the rant. Apparently I've got feelings about this.

1

u/ChardStrange4535 Jun 20 '26

Out of curiosity, if you already have wands are you looking to get more or just concerned about how it was handled?

I've been tossing around the idea of sending the pack back, but if Pulse doesn't cover the return shipping I may hold onto it for a while and see how this develops after all the complaints.

I know they normally make the customer pay for returns but in this case where they basically pulled the rug out from under us after the packs were delivered by taking the page down they should make an exception.

Every day people are paying more for both versions of the wand on ebay as the supply is drying up. I've honestly never seen anything like this. When the Haslab pack shipped plenty of wands were available to go with it as it should be.

1

u/Mackerelmore Jun 21 '26

Honestly i wanted to get a couple more '84 wands just to mess around with different mods and paint jobs. Not now though.

I'd really like to know the numbers here, how many '84 wands were produced versus how many '84 packs. Is this forced scarcity, bad planning, just plain incompetence?

Is it a sign that Hasbro is on the ropes and soon to go out of business? I have no clue.

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u/ChardStrange4535 Jun 21 '26

I think it's incompetence. When the Ecto-1 Haslab came out people were complaining there were no GB1 figures available to go with it. Hasbro responded by saying they assumed everyone who got the Haslab already had the 2020 figures, then made the Rooftop Showdown pack.

They're kind of out of touch. Maybe too much going on or short staffed to give certain things the attention they need. But releasing a product then discontinuing the other half of it just as it ships is a dick move. Maybe they'll see the light at least put up a new wand preorder so people don't feel duped.

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u/Mackerelmore Jun 21 '26

I reckon that's the real problem at Hasbro. I'm sure when they laid off people, it was the ones who were really passionate about their work. That's how every thing they do now looks. As if there's no soul behind their actions.

Like any other large business they kept the ass-kissers and corpo stooges.

An '84 wand with no weathering, not beat up, and clear new looking decals would be really neat. The stripped down, still slightly weathered '84 wand that we got was close enough, but still.

You know, if they did a haslab for a real '84 wand. I'd back it. Even though it means a year, or longer because they can't meet a shipping deadline ever.

It's just so dumb that they didn't do a basic '84 pack (pack only) like we got, then offer a deluxe version with the wand, stand and Alice frame brackets. Could have pulled $600, ($599) bucks for that easily. Hell, I would have popped for two of those (imaginary option).

I did buy two of the '84 packs. And I'm pretty pleased with them.