Ah, the Proton Pack.
Kenner had all of us children of the 80's in mind when they decided to build us our very own unlicensed nuclear accelerators didn't they?
I can remember my fourth birthday creeping up fast, and all I wanted, more than anything else in the world, was a Proton Pack. I did indeed get one for my birthday. It was without a doubt the best birthday I have ever had. No milestone of chronological advancement has ever lived up to the four year mark, and none likely ever will.
The Proton Pack itself is, to my 28 year old self, a little unimpressive. I have tried to put myself back into my four year old state of mind, telling myself that I own the greatest thing ever in the whole wide world, but I just happen to own something cool. Yeah, cool. Not the greatest thing known to man. Just.....cool.
Where I think Kenner went wrong was the fact that they just molded us a big, hollow chunk of blue plastic. Yeah, nothing special now, huh?
I think that even with 1980's toy making technology, they could have very easily given us a pack with a couple of lights, or maybe a few sounds.
I do get where this wouldn't exactly work. For a small child, a pack filled with electrical components and battery packs could be too heavy,but what about the gun?
The wand is rather impressive, I must admit.
Pretty detailed for just being a chunk of plastic. The only things that I wish were different would be buttons that function, even if they don't make noise, just moveable buttons. I have no idea why I want them, but I do. And maybe replace the orange button that gives us that weird grinding siren noise with something more electronic.
The only other real gripe I have with the pack is that the hose almost never stayed connected to the pack, as it was nothing more than a cheap yellow hose that slid on to a tab at the bottom.
No, I know you are thinking that I've done nothing but bitch and complain about the toy, but there are actually things to love about it.
Despite it's flaws, this was actually one of the ultimate toys for a child to own in the 80's.
You weren't a badass until you roamed your neighborhood (or bedroom in my case since I never had friends) busting ghosts. I always preferred to use it without the long foam piece shoved inside of the neutrona wand. I guess I just had a good imagination or something.
I also love the fact that the toy also came with a PKE meter and No-Ghost logo arm band. The PKE meter being the better thing out of the two since after I hit about age 6, the thing didn't fit around my arm anymore, and wearing it around my wrist just looked stupid.
For a child in the 80's, it didn't get much better than this. The moment you strapped this bad boy on, you felt like a legit Ghostbuster, and really, that's all most of us ever wanted.
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