So here we go, a comparison in trapping animations between the Matty and the Hasbro. You can't see it well but both pedals are pressed twice at exactly the same time. All the ghost noises are coming from the Hasbro.
They are different obviously, but on the whole I much prefer the Hasbro trap. It is solid and feels much less like a toy than the Matty trap. The Matty trap has a more elaborate and slower trapping sequence, the Hasbro is more like the actual prop used. But on the whole the Hasbro is 3x better than the Matty trap. It's also slightly bigger (slighly thinner but longer).
It is so much better and more accurate than the Matty it's ridiculous. The Matty is still valuable to me though because it was the first mass produced trap and is still a bit mysterious. Also, with the Matty being so light they actually got it to do that weird shaking thing. The Hasbro is so heavy it would not have been feasible.
I guess the Matty feels like Mattel's attempt at making a ghost trap. It's plasticky, not super accurate, etc. but has tremendous play value and weird functionality. I still love the Matty because of what it is and how rare it was. It was the holy grail for mass produced traps for over a decade. The Hasbro on the other hand doesn't feel like an attempt at making a ghost trap, they made an actual prop accurate ghost trap. It's so much better. The amount of sound effects in it are vast.
If I had to guess which movie the Hasbro trap is accurate to, it's like a mix of all movies. The right side black (volume) dial and the bargraph small yellow LED size is from GB1 hero. The ribbed metal plate size (height) behind the gold CAL-R MC250 Resistor is from GB2, as is the size and location of the white sticker underneath the relay. The relay is very accurate to the GB2 trap but the relay is positioned with the "Italy" text towards the pedal. It should be on the same side as the white sticker. It's not possible to change it without sanding away a small plastic tab but is easy enough to fix.
The 5 yellow stripes indicates it is accurate to Afterlife, as is the heavy weathering. The pedal section left of the relay is more accurate to GB1, thankfully (for me) it's not like the double height pedal from Afterlife or that triple decker bus monstrosity pedal from Frozen Empire. The relay section is more accurate to Afterlife and the relay itself can be swapped to the front of the relay box to make it exactly like in AF.
I think one of the first things I'll do is hit the aluminium metal egg shaped plate on the relay with some black RnB to make it look like GB1. I'll also mix RnB with naphta and get it to pool in the yellow and red cables to look like oil and dirt. Also the weathering on the trap (while AWESOME) is a bit too regular in terms of color. It's all silver chips. Darkening some highlight areas with black RnB+naphta should add some depth. As Savage said it's also missing some browns here and there, whether paint or cinnamon it could use some pooling grime. But on the whole it is amazing. You really feel the evolution from the Haslab pack to this. The pack weathering was chunky and very crude. This is on another level. The Matty props you never saw any evolution in materials or paint apps, with the Hasbro the trap feels like it's a generational leap in terms of weathering from the pack and both wands.
The trap is like a combination of the best parts from the different movies. It is so awesome. Personally I took off the Vhook underneath (just 2 screws), this way it feels more like we see in the movies. The Vhook feels a little weird becuase it is so large under the trap.
But yeah, like I said before I love the Hasbro. I'd trade 3 Matty traps for one of these it is that good. It's amazing.
PS: When you get your Hasbro be careful about something. On one of mine, when I unboxed the pedal to trap cable I found a tiny screw in the bag. It was a tiny screw from the metal connector. I needed a very small screw driver to screw it back in. Just watch out that the ones on yours aren't loose.
- By Nomake Wan
- By robbritton