I remember there being on in the post apocalyptic reality in an EGB episode at the least.
And I had an idea for try and put a cyclotron into the side of an even more gun like device, calling it the “Proton rifle”
The cartoon did a lot of vehicles so they could sell more toys, let’s be honest here. Still, things like marine Ecto 8 and the chopper-like Ecto3 have obvious advantages. The converted RV Ecto2 from the comics is really cool with its portable ECU, but in the post-franchise age it don’t think it’s practical. Most franchises wont be traveling far enough.
And I’d resist making the proton throwers too gun-like. I didn’t even like Kylie’s pistol for that reason. Every other action hero out there shoots guns. Neutrino Wands are a zillion times more unique and memorable then yet another rifle.
That much is true, very similar to how Nintendo came to their design for the FLUDD from Super Mario Sunshine, plus trying to avoid associations with firearms.
Don’t get me wrong; I actually think it’s perfectly practical that at least one (licensed and qualified) member of each franchise should be armed with a normal, conventional firearm. There’s any number of perfectly practical reasons why a field team might need some way to defend themselves that isn’t a proton pack.
But I don’t support re-designing the actual proton gear itself to be more weapon-like. We’re exterminators, not space marines. 
Fair enough, I just thought a cylcotron might look cool on the side of it.
Oh it’d definitely LOOK cool…and it just sounds like the sort of thing an Evil Military Contractor who managed to steal the Spengler/Stanz patents and was in the process of adapting their technology for use against living enemy combatants, not ghosts, would think of.
Welcome to the new arms race. The Pentagon has to be salivating over the destructive possibilities of bombs and guns based on GB tech. How they’ve managed to keep them away is anyone’s guess…
That would actually make a neat story, but I was unlikely to actually do it anyway. I admit I thought it up looking at ways to adapt my Nerf blasters.
It’s mostly as described above. A mass produced equipment (as opposed to being hand made) that is glitchy as hell and requires copious amounts of duct tape in order to maintain that Egon Spengler feel.
Oscar
Um, Ray, my trap has a ghost in it
Ray
Great, take it down to the containment unit
Oscar
No, I mean it’s demonically possessed. It keeps trying to eat me
Ray
Oh. I’ll get the slime blower
I can just see Venkman’s company contracting out personal nuclear accelerators out to the lowest bidder. Yep, that sounds about right
That would be so awesome to see in a movie. Though I dont think they would film Ray saying he would get the slime blower. No, just a cut to the next scene where you see Oscar pitch a trap into a corner of the firehouse and Ray spraying it, Oscar, and most likely himself down with slime!
“dr Stantz, is there a reason you sprayed me too?”
“Can’t be too careful kid, now go take a decon shower”
(I have a mental image of Ray covered with slime, with the exception of a perfect outline around his eyes as he was wearing Ecto-goggles at the time.)
i’ve been experimenting with a few ideas for ‘new’ equipment…as it would evolve over the years.
(most of you would have seen my modern take on a proton pack/trap combo in another thread)
i recently came across an unusual piece of plumbing in my local boot sale…i’m still not sure what it’s meant to actually be, but when i saw it…an idea struck me. it looked like a blower nozzle, with an on/off lever and a handle, plus an inlet on the bottom of the handle…i thought ‘hey, that looks like it could be a slime blower’…i bought it, took it home, and began work on it. i added hose connectors, hoses, and three bottles which i am still trying to figure out whether or not to back-mount, or belt-mount. basically, when it’s finished it’ll be a hand-held slime blower with only enough slime to cover one entity/person…will post some pic’s up when i get some time