I’m just curious about what you think are the best and worst changes to the pack over the films AND what in universe explanations are there for each change? Is there any direct evidence for the changes - beyond new movie, new pack - and what are the indirect reasons - again, beyond new movie, new pack?
I loved the Afterlife changes that make it look bodged back together, with workarounds. Which is why it’s slightly bizarre to still see some of those “bodges” in the new yellow Elsa packs. You’d think those would have been re-engineered to fix those workarounds. The bumpers and chevrons etc are good additions and make it look like it’s somehow “approved” rather than “unlicensed”, but it still has exposed connectors around the Clippard. weird.
I’m with you. Those connections to the Clippard are strange in the new design. I wonder what the in universe reasoning behind those are…
Allegedly, the intention was that the Spengler pack was not only crudely fixed but also upgraded, supposedly the cyclotron was supposed to spin faster in the final fight in afterlife. I don’t remember who told me that but it was someone on here.
It’s not the worst change, but two of the changes that I disliked were that the crank knob went from grey in the first movie, to black in the second, robbing the Pack design of one of the bits of colour that helped bring interest to the design… And the change to the ribbon cable (I appreciate this is because the original stock was not available to the production in 1988), with the spectra strip looking less interesting than what was used in 1983.
The change I love, though it’s really a technical change, is the development that the cover on the Cyclotron pops off, allowing us to see some of the Pack’s innards.
My next pack build is going to be a Spengler 84 replica, but I still haven’t made up my mind if I want to incorporate some of the Afterlife mods as it’s implied they were there all along, specifically the Ion Arm switch and the removable Cyclotron. It’s a tough decision, I really like both changes but I won’t be able to claim it’s accurate to 1984 :lol:
(Still not sure about the new switch they added under the gearbox though).
I’ll be taking a similar approach myself for my next Pack: A largely-1984 Pack with 2021 Ion Arm switch (though I’m contemplating having two Ion Arms, one 1984-style, one 2021-style, which I can swap in and out if I change my mind on which one is installed), and an electronics setup that replicates the spinning light effect of the 2021-2024 Cyclotrons (though not a single bulb spun by a motorised system).
I would say the FE packs. Ray talks about the changes made while he looks one over as they suit up but I may have missed it but they don’t do anything different and look less appealing imo. Plus still lots of hardware store style mods when the obviously have access to a large selection of tech as shown by the PRC site.
I say add 'em! The power switch just makes sense and the removable cyclotron pan isn’t necessarily super apparent until you remove it.
And another thing, they changed the lights back to the snapping 4 bulbs. I don’t think I like that. The spinning bulb makes MUCH more sense in-universe. My take on how the cyclotron seems to operate is the inner core/cake spinning really fast (disregarding the pointless wiring harness connecting to the cyclotron in Afterlife, ruins it), having a positive charge while the outer bits (presumably heatsinks) are charged negatively, the difference in polarity makes the particles stay between them (the sparks seen on the Phoebe pyro pack), due to the spinning nature of the cake, the particles go around the cyclotron faster and faster, pulled out by the first electromagnet inside the wand (potentially also electromagnets in the cyclotron bay, near the connector?), pulled through the hose, into the wand. The OG lighting made sense in '84/'89, not now.
But then again, those CRT emitter mounts… Could make the red lights illuminate as indicators. Dunno. I like spinny lights.
I appreciate that spinny lights look cool. But it makes absolutely no sense. Cyclotrons don’t physically spin.
I really like the Afterlife pack as a one-off cobbled together over time set of upgrades. I agree it makes no sense for some of those changes to be present in their clearly unfinished form on the Frozen Empire packs.
I dunno, the spinning lights seemed to be intended to retcon the motion of the lights.
The red lights could be reactive to the particles moving around the cyclotron, not the motion of the cyclotron itself? I personally think the design of the cyclotron bay is a little… simple. Might be crazy, but it feels like it’s missing something.
There may be a couple of props that went back to the 1983-1988 method for the cyclotron lighting, but the majority of scenes featuring the revamped Packs have the same spinning light effect as the Afterlife Packs had - it’s visible on Trevor’s Pack when he switches on Lucky’s, on Lucky’s a moment after that, on the one Ray’s looking at when Winston arrives at the Firehouse, on Winston’s Pack when Venkman arrives at the Firehouse, to name a few.
Interesting, I’m the opposite when it comes to the ribbon cable. I always thought the twisted Spectra-Strip looked cooler than the GB1 stuff, though I’d love to know who made the the cable on the first film’s Packs. Completely agree on the crank knob change. The grey provided a great contrast to the mostly black Pack.
I think my least favorite change is the new HASP Pack front grip. Looks like it’d be a lot more unwieldy than the previous grips.
I had a similar theory that the new light motion is based on the movement of the particles inside the cyclotron, which sends a charge to the CRT emitters. Then again, I’m no particle physicist or engineer, so I might be talking complete nonsense.
Interesting. I haven’t had the pleasure of handling one of the new grips yet but they do look like they might not be super comfortable.
I wasn’t initially a fan of the look, but I added one to my HasLab pack, and it’s surprisingly comfortable, especially compared to the Afterlife shotgun grip.
On the HASPs, they have spinny lights? If so, rad. I’ve only seen the movie once, since tickets should NOT cost 30-40 bucks each… Figured they were snapping because of the repeated usage of the BTS shot of the four light pods.
Interesting. I’m GB1 strip all the way, I think the brown common around all the colorful wires just makes it look… eh. Less colorful perhaps? Dunno how to phrase it better.
My thoughts exactly. A safety feature to let the user and other members of the team know their cyclotron is producing particles properly. Passing particles make a filament light up? The fact they’re emitters is confusing, though. Dunno. Emit light, maybe, lmfao. I like the idea that the particles make the CRT racks illuminate though.