Ghost Trap
$130.00 MattyCollector.com
The doorbell rang as my wife and I were getting ready to leave. It was the mail ma’am with a gigantor package. She asked me what was inside, surprisingly she had delivered a few others that day and wanted to know. I thought to myself, “Shut the fuck up, I have need to bust this open.” So my wife explained to the mail ma’am what it was and why she was so disappointed with who she had married.
Let’s rewind a year or two. Being a huge Ghostbuster’s nerd, I’ve spent many a dollar on my own props. Around this time is when I decided my Ghostbuster getup needed a Ghost Trap. I ordered a resin kit along with all the resistors and knobs I would need, spent about a month and had a pretty sweet prop. My trap had some blinking lights, but no real functionality. I was super stoked when I finished it, and had already started thinking of some unique ways to build another.
Fast forward back to this summer. Matty announces their Ghost Trap prop replica. I was so blown away by the PKE Meter they put out last Halloween, this Ghost Trap was going to be awesome. The price was similar to what I had paid to build my own, but with tons more functionality. Matty’s trap would open and close with a slew of lights and sounds.
Now back to me busting this sucker out. The Ghost Trap comes in a fake crate just like the PKE Meter did. But this time no peanuts. Probably for the best. This crate contains one Ghost Trap, the pedal and cable to connect them. As well as an instruction manuel and some red pipes for the side of the trap. Silver is to match Ghostbusters 1, red for Ghostbusters 2. I know, super nerdy.
On the trap are lots of knobs you can spin. Only the one on the top left of the front has a function. It changes the trap from prop mode to lights and sound mode. In prop mode, the trap opens on one press and closes on the second with a white light effect. No sounds. This way if you were using the trap as a prop, you could do so.
The second mode is much more impressive. By switching the power on, you get a really great power up sound. Press the foot pedal once and the trap opens accompanied by lots of lights and sounds. Press it a second time, more lights and sounds and the trap shuts. Now for my favorite part. The pilot light blinks and makes a boop boop boop noise. If you patiently wait, the trap crackles with lights behind the doors and on occasion the entire trap shakes! I really wish there was a way to just select this feature directly.
Now that I’ve given you a basic outline of what comes with this and how it functions, let’s get to the pros and cons.
PROS
• Definitely movie accurate. At least in plastic form.
• The best functionality I have ever seen on a Ghost Trap.
• You really can’t beat the price for what you’re getting.Cons
• This entire trap is made out of plastic. For some reason it doesn’t feel as solid as the PKE Meter to me.
• The cable you use to connect the trap and pedal can be flakey, making it difficult to get a solid connection.
• Rather than having painted trap doors, they are actually stickers.
• It could be me, but the foot pedal seems a little small. Plus I don’t dare step on it.
• Completely sold out. Making me even more nervous about breaking it.
While I’m really glad to have bought this trap, it does bring up some interesting feelings for me. Amongst the prop building community there is a saying, “Built not bought”. At first I thought of it as: “Don’t spend tons of money on a prop, build your own.” Kind of the same idea of restoring your own classic car rather than paying for one that someone else has done it for you. That little motto has changed for me, and maybe it’s because I’m a bit jaded. Taking entirely too much time staring at photos of others Ghost Trap props while building my own. Spending the extra ten bucks to get a real resistor instead of the resin casting of one. If anything, buying this has given me all new ideas for a new trap I want to build.
In the gallery below is some pictures of both the Matty Ghost Trap, as well as the one I built. Just to compare and contrast.
