I did a little searching, but didn’t find anything relating to this…
I have always wondered what on Earth the piece of equipment was that Roland was leaning on in the promotional pictures and the opening credits of Extreme Ghostbusters, but I now believe it was a recreation of the Slime Blower.
You can clearly see that the thing is designed to be worn as a backpack. You got the dark gray back padding with the two tan shoulder straps. You have what appear to be two yellow floodlights on the top and on the right side. The main body is a green tank that runs up to a main barrow at the top facing forward above where the head of the wearer would be.
I can’t seem to recall or find a single episode this thing appears in, which leads me to believe that is was mainly a concept toyed with, but never implemented in the show. Am I completely mistaken on this?
This wouldn’t be the first time an unrealized item appeared in EGB. Sam Hain was featured in the opening as well, but never appeared in the show.
I believe it looks like there is a little slime blower influence in there. Likely meant to be some kind of “Extreme” pack!. One of the deluxe figures came with a pack that looked very much like that. I can’t recall offhand..
Thanks for the link, Zack. Its a shame the boxes don’t offer up any details… Those “regular series” figures for Egon and Roland also have Slime Blower-esque packs, but all the boxes say the same thing (Proton Pack and Ghost Trap).
My God! I would love to know the physics behind Kylie wearing that proton pack! LOL! That is just ridiculous!
Err…I’m pretty sure that thing IS used in one episode of the show.
I just wish I could remember which one. Or what it does. It may have been a combination thrower/trap, shooting a projectile beam that sucked the ghost in.
Wow! Great job! I even scanned that episode yesterday for the pack, but completely missed it.
I wasn’t watching the complete episodes when I was doing it though, just speeding through them in about 5 minutes and glancing at the battles in order to save time. I can see why I missed it though, the thing only appears for a few seconds! It was really random.
I have to wonder though if it was intended to be featured more prominently in future episodes? Seems a little odd to use such a random weapon in the promo art, action figures, and have it featured in the opening credits without planning to use it more frequently in the show.
My guess is that it was a sneak peek at possible “Season 2” technology the writers were thinking about. Egon does tell Janine that it was still experimental right before it fails to catch the donkey ghost.
Well I have been able to locate a mint condition Deluxe Roland action figure on ebay that features the weapon in question.
According to the box, it is called a “Ghost Containment Unit.” Personally I prefer calling it either a “Trap Pack” or an “Ecto Containment Pack.”
For those interested, the names of the weapons for the other Deluxe figures are:
Egon: Radar Pack
Eduardo: Extreme Protonic Cannon
Kylie: Plasma Blasters
Either way, I’m planning on making the “Ecto Containment Pack” my next fan prop project as soon as I finish up on my Slime Blower (which should be in a few weeks with any luck). I will have detailed photos of the action figure up later this weekend to share with everyone here. I also have a few screen grabs from its very brief appearance in the cartoon. There are several key differences between the toy and the cartoon, but the basic design is in tack.
Some interesting things to note, the smaller tank that is situated directly behind the wearer features a Cyclotron with three lights (most likely red, if they were real) with a Bumper and Ion Knob. I thought that was a neat detail to include to maintain a continuity between the Proton Pack and this.
Also, the promo image of the action figure posted earlier in this topic is not exactly the same as the real toy. There are several minor detail differences with the final toy. Interestingly enough, the promo image is also featured prominently several times on the front and back of the box.
Honestly, I’m pretty skeptical that this pack could even be practically built (full-scale) and worn, the way it is in a physics-defying medium (aka. cartoon), or lightweight toy. Look how side-heavy this beast is. To built it accurately at least, you’d have to use super lightweight material and probably use some counter-weighting. I suppose you could just shift the pack straps over, and that would solve things, without sacrificing very much accuracy, but sacrificing nontheless. Still, I’d love to see it attempted.
Technically, all you need to do is center the area where the harness is on that. With the action figure, they have it over to the left because of the cyclotron. But if you move the harness over, like a logical move, it’ll distribute the weight of the pack more. Other than that, I can’t think of anything at the moment that’ll help this project out.
Well, I have been slow moving on this sucker, but the wheels have finally begun to turn on this project now that the Slime Blower is complete and I am well rested!!
I have a brand new Alice frame ready to go for this project. Right now I’m securing materials and other supplies. I took some time at work while it wasn’t busy to make a “mock up” of the EGB-Containment Pack from a used paper towel roll. I’m pleased with the results so far.
I am currently planning to use an 8-inch concrete form tube for the smaller tank positioned directly behind the wearer (the same size tube used to create the primary tank on my Slime Blower) and a 10-inch concrete form tube for the main barrel tank. According to the cartoon, the tank barrel jets off from the tank at a 90-degree angle; however, the toy I have makes in more of a 120-degree angle. Not sure which I plan to go with, but I’m leaning towards a 90-degree… thoughts?
I have a Proton Pack bumper on order from Irricanian and I have a few cake pans and plastic bowls already for construction.
Above: The Cyclotron will be built on top of a large mixing bowl that sticks out from the 8-inch form tube with a cake pan on top of it. I think I will go with the 3-light configuration depicted on the toy rather than the 4-light configuration used on the Proton Packs. I’m debating on if I want them to stay red or go with another color.
I am picturing a olive drab color with select parts in black as the primary color scheme. Thoughts?
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