Yeah the Matty seems more universe accurate the Haslab seems more prop accurate.
As for weathering, I think it will primarily be the pedal legris and cable connectors. They need a wash of RnB mixed with naphta so I get black pooling in the crevices in the pedal red and yellow cables. Also the silver relay plate on the pedal that needs to be black. But precious little if I'm honest. MUCH less than the Haslab Spenglers Pack needed. Also perhaps the central dial on the PKE, it's too clean silver. But surprisingly the Haslab Spenglers pack had weathering that was hand applied. Which was different on all the packs. On the Haslab trap and PKE they are all identical on every unit as they are machine applied. And lightyears beyond the weathering quality seen on the pack. You really feel the evolution of this Haslab compared to the pack. On the Matty all the props (although 5 years apart) all felt the same in terms of quality. Here you really feel a leap from the pack to this.
Edit: So I received these. Absolutely amazing. I am beyond impressed. I'll write a full review soon. What struck me the first is how heavy the trap is. The handle feels almost too flimsy to hold it up. (but isn't). Also the trap feels very small.
The first thing I did was try the taser mode on the PKE. It worked obviously. But for the life of me I couldnt get the arms to go back in. I had to look at the manual. There is a warning in the manual about the PKE arms being damaged. Basically after you activate taser mode, you click back the arms at 90 degrees ONE BY ONE then all of a sudden the PKE meter itself decides to retract the arms itselfs into the housing mechanically. This was surprising.
I'll write a full review soon but my first impresions are that the PKE is very big ( a whole lot bigger than the Matty PKE), the Haslab PKE is also very finicky and particular. You manually adjust the arms after taser mode at the PKE meter itself decides when to reel them back in. It feels very finicky.
The trap is gorgeous. It feels smaller than you think (GB2 stunt trap sizes, identical to the Matty Trap) but the weight and feel is sublime. It just feels like it's completely metal, no two ways about it.
On the whole what surprised me the most was the functionality of the trap and PKE. You just can't figure it out. Every button does something you have no idea what it does. I love this.
You really feel the Haslab evolution from the Pack to this trapo and pke. It's like a whole generational leap. The weathering on the trap and PKE is identical for each unit (and is perfect). So no more comparing items to compare the paint and weathering. They are all identical (machine weathered).
Absolutely amazing work by Haslab. I'll write a full review soon.
I guess the most surprising thing (having owned all Matty props) in order is:
1. The size of the PKE. It is massive. But also how finicky it is and how you don't understand how to use it immediately.
2. The weight and nuance of the trap. It is lightyears beyond the Matty
3. The functionality of each. So many functions are weird and seemingly endless. It fits perfectly with the GB universe.
4. I also love the fact that the trap has two different volume levels. A very faint level for sound effects Hasbro added (trap turning on, magnetic sound effect, etc. I.e. every sound effect that Hasbro came up with that was not in the movies) and the sound effects that were in the actual movie (trapping, beeping sound with flashing red LED, etc.). They really put a lot of sound into this.
Man the Matty trap was the holy grail but this thing is 10 times better.
Also having played around with these for the past 2 hours what surprises me too is the PKE (apart from the size). Also the PKE has wonderful variable kelvin white lights on the wings, like I suggested last year. The LEDS are very bright (much brighter than Matty) and not simple yellow like the GB1 prop and the Matty. But look identical to the AF prop.
The PKE functions I just can't get my head around. It has three sswitches in the bottom (which I know what they do) but the 4 buttons in front and how they interact with each mode I just can't understand. Everything does something different. Which I really appreciate. These things are not meant to be simple to understand
There is so much nuance in this, WAY beyond Matty. They are incredible.
EDIT: Having played with these more, the PKE wing lights are almost blindingly bright (way brighter than the Matty).
EDIT2: Especially the IR receiver on the trap. You max out the wings on the PKE using the lower right button and the trap exhibits ghost sounds. Lower the wings (using the lower left button) and max again and you get different sounds. The weird thing is there is no IR emiter on the PKE that I can see. I tried various distances and it just works. It's so weird.
Man if they ever made a Haslab Ecto Goggles that would just bring all of this together in such unexpected ways.
- By Murdock
- By zeta otaku