Hasbro PulseCon 2020 - Ghostbusters Panel Recap & Product Reveals

Hasbro held their live-streaming PulseCon convention yesterday and today on the Hasbro Pulse YouTube channel. The event, hosted by Jackie Jennings, featured product reveals and interviews with various people associated with the brands Hasbro makes toys for, as well as musical performances and special guests. The Ghostbusters panel was held on Saturday September 26, 2020 at roughly 1:50 PM Eastern. Let's go over what happened...

The Ghostbusters panel opened with a short stop-motion video acted out by action figures.


Then we were introduced to the Ghostbusters panel hosts, the adorable Pam from the marketing department and Bill from the design department.


Occasionally, a ghost would appear, and viewers were tasked with entering #ProtonStream to help Pam and Bill bust it.


The hosts polled the audience for their favorite Louis Tully moment, which was a cheap segue for pimping the recently-released Tully's Terrible Night figure set.

Part 1: Classic Ghostbusters
* Panelists: Ernie Hudson.
* We'll begin by celebrating the iconic 1984 film. Tune in for ghostly surprises, classic toy news, and a visit from a very special guest: Ernie Hudson, otherwise known as Winston Zeddemore from Ghostbusters! Get ready to hear him answer your fan questions!

Pam and Bill spoke with Ernie, and asked him some fan questions. Nothing major was revealed.

Part 2: The Making of Kenner The Real Ghostbusters Toys
* Panelists: Mark Boudreaux, David Vennemeyer, Kevin Evans (design), Sam (writer), James (design).
* We'll continue our journey through the 80's with an inside look at the making of The Real Ghostbusters toys from original Kenner toy designer, Mark Boudreaux. Next, you'll see behind the scenes of sculpting with Dave. Finally, meet the Hasbro team that relaunched the Kenner Real Ghostbusters toys in 2020. Hear about how they answered the call to bring this beloved toy line back for the fans and be the first to see the next Kenner Real Ghostbusters toy to hit shelves!

Pam handed off this segment to Bill since he's from the design department. First he spoke with legendary Kenner/Hasbro toy designer Mark Boudreaux.


Mark discussed Kenner's classic Real Ghostbusters toyline, including confirming that there's a monster's face on the back of the Bug Eye Ghost! I never knew that. Mark's recent retirement was also briefly mentioned. Interestingly, the Gooper Ghosts Banshee Bomber and Squisher are sitting in the background behind Mark, along with the Wave 1 figures. This made me think that Gooper Ghosts would be Hasbro's new Real Ghostbusters toy reveal.

Bill spoke to current Hasbro sculptor David Vennemeyer about the new figures. Footage was shown of David working on the new Fright Figures Slimer.


Even MORE interesting than the Gooper Ghosts behind Mark was the appearance of the T-Stick Ghost (from the Pull Speed Ahead Ghost) sitting on David's worktable. Could Hasbro have plans to add Pull Speed Ahead to their Real Ghostbusters revival line?


Pam came back, and she was joined by several members of the Hasbro Ghostbusters Brand Team: designer Kevin Evans, whom I met at the Toy Fair back in Feburary; writer Sam; and designer James. They all discussed their efforts to revive the classic Kenner Real Ghostbusters toyline. Kevin mentioned how they strived to make the new toys as close as possible to the originals, while making a concerted effort to fix the flaws of the originals; such as the easily-breakable proton streams.


All five panelists held up their favorite Hasbro Real Ghostbusters toys. Bill and James both chose Mr. Stay Puft, the Green Ghost slimes his way into Pam's heart, Sam is fond of the nerdy Egon, and Kevin adores his look-alike Peter.

At the conclusion of this part, Mr. Stay Puft attacked. With the help of #ProtonStream, Pam and Bill defeated the marshmallow menace. They remark that they would have had an easier time defeating him if they had...

GHOSTBUSTERS KENNER CLASSICS GHOSTPOPPER
(Ages 8 and Up / Approx. Retail Price: $19.99 / Available: January 1, 2021)
(BUY IT FROM AMAZON)
Poltergeist popping action is back with the GHOSTBUSTERS Kenner Classics Ghostpopper from Hasbro! Inspired by the classic blaster from Kenner, this retro Ghostpopper is a must have for any Ghostbusters fan and features original Kenner deco and package art inspired by the iconic look from the 80s. Comes with six soft foam Ghostpops and three cut-out Ghost Targets.

The first of our two new product reveals is this classic Kenner play toy.


How fortuitous that both Pam and Bill happen to have one on hand in each of their living spaces. I wonder why they didn't use it minutes ago to take down Stay Puft :-)

Bill demonstrates the Ghost Popper and mentions that, while they did make an effort to make it look as much like the 1980s original as possible, they did purposely choose to change the color from black to blue. He didn't state why, but I suspect that it's so that it (1) matches the rest of the children's roleplay toys in the Ghostbusters line, and (2) because their licensing prevents them from making black roleplay toys so as to not infringe on the companies who have the license to make realistic prop replicas. The second reasoning came to me after I noticed the incorrectly-colored blue PKE Meter back at Toy Fair and was told that the blue color was chosen on purpose.

Part 3: Ghostbusters Afterlife
* Panelists: Jason Reitman, Kevin Evans (design), Chris (engineering).
* We'll end our celebration with a nod to the future... the new Ghostbusters Afterlife feature film, coming to theatres in March 2021. Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning filmmaker Jason Reitman, director of Ghostbusters Afterlife, will take you on a tour of the Ecto-1 that was used in the new film. He'll end his tour with an exciting reveal! You'll then hear from the Hasbro team about the next toy inspired by the Ghostbusters Afterlife film to hit shelves!

Jason Reitman appears in a recorded video with the rusted Afterlife Ecto-1 in a vacant warehouse somewhere. He points out a few things about the car, such as the ladder that has been moved to the opposite side. Jason mentions that they did all sorts of reference to the original films to get this Ecto-1 looking just right. That includes scanning in the original license plate so they could make an exact replica for the new vehicle. Jason tells us that only 100 cars were produced in 1959, and the production had three of them.


He walks to the opened backdoor and pulls out our next product reveal.

GHOSTBUSTERS PLASMA SERIES ECTO-1
(Ages 14 and Up / Approx. Retail Price: $49.99 / Available: January 1, 2021)
(BUY IT FROM AMAZON)
Commemorate the next chapter in the Ghostbusters story, GHOSTBUSTERS: Afterlife, with the GHOSTBUSTERS PLASMA SERIES ECTO-1 1/18th-scale collectible of the iconic Ecto-1 vehicle from Hasbro. Featured in the all-new GHOSTBUSTERS: Afterlife movie, this collectible features premium deco with incredible detailing inspired by the updated look of the new Ecto-1 as seen in the 2021 movie. The GHOSTBUSTERS PLASMA SERIES ECTO-1 collectible also features opening doors, movable pieces, and more features inspired by the movie.

Yes, it's a 1/18th-scale replica of the decrepit Ecto-1 as seen in Afterlife.


Designer Kevin Evans and engineer Chris tag in to show us product shots and tell us more about it. Kevin talks about how he visited the film set, trying his best to remain professional and not "geek out", but enjoyed getting to sit in the new Ecto-1's gunner seat. Chris tells Kevin that he will be thrilled to know that the Hasbro toy has the gunner seat, too!


Pam and Bill come back for their closing remarks, but not before Slimer returns to harass them one last time.

Finally, here's a screenshot from the Transformers voice panel that preceded the Ghostbusters panel, featuring Frank Welker and Peter Cullen.


In case you missed it, embedded below are various segments that would be of interest to Ghostbusters fans. Should you wish to watch each 6-hour broadcast day, Hasbro uploaded the full two days here: Day 1 (5:59:23) and Day 2 (6:24:11). Day 2 has the Ghostbusters panel from 3:42:38 to 4:34:15. Also, a Transformers voice panel with Frank Welker (voice of Slimer and Ray in The Real Ghostbusters) and Peter Cullen precedes the Ghostbusters panel from 2:32:10 to 3:26:55. On the Spook Central Facebook page, you can also find a gallery of 150 images from the livestream and a gallery of official Ecto-1 & GhostPopper product images.








(Thanks to the Internet Archive for hosting help.)