I’m not one to normally boast of my arrival at a real place or in a website. But the site administrator, who from all accounts seems a very nice & respectable chap with a demonstrated passion for Ghostbusters that I can only strive to emulate, apparently encourages such activity as a Turing Test of sorts. So here I am. I proclaim that I am not a bot. At least I think I’m not. Who can tell, really. Perhaps I am living in The Matrix but that is unlikely because I agree with Sheldon’s premise that the food would most certainly be better.
Ladies and gentlemen of the audience, I arrive here rather unexpectedly, the result of an invitation for a Planet Comicon adventure with a group of comrades from the office. Having been a fan of Ghostbusters since the release of the first Reitman documentary in the summer of 1984, my choice of outfit was both easy & inevitable. I did have some angst over the time needed to gather materials during weekends spread over a few months but I don’t mind over reaching sometimes. Obtaining the flight suit and other sundries were micro scavenger hunts and I enjoyed these efforts immensely. I also ordered some of that cool yellow tubing from this site’s store after failing miserably at coloring my own purchased from the local hardware store. But after I got my own version of a belt gizmo working, one thing soon became clear… building a full size pack would be out of the question. At that point, I switched gears and focused on a prototype belt pack.
Allow me to digress and state for the record that I while I respect, admire and would like to be like those who focus on screen accuracy, I do not necessarily feel constrained by this boundary. If an item looks like it was created by a Ghostbuster, I’m good to go! The original team built their tools from the components they had available and this seemed a perfect opportunity to infuse the effort with creativity & personal expression. So what if my belt pack’s TPO (total power output) can’t match that of the backpack version? So what if the power cell half-life is only 1,000 years vs. 5,000? I will say this. When Underwriting Labs approves the belt pack for mass distribution in homes throughout America, we will at long last have a line of defense against mass spectral outbreaks! Recent safety studies have clearly demonstrated a statistically significant but reasonably acceptable rate of injury, primarily among the young & elderly, so expect approval very soon from the various state & federal regulatory agencies.
But you already know how this story ends. Planet Comicon was a blast and I met some other cool folks representing the Ghostbusters that I hope I may find on this site. And now it is time I begin working on a full size pack for next year’s Con because despite satisfaction with my belt pack, I just gotta have the backpack! Hope some of you don’t mind helping me along with hints & tips from your experiences.
And remember to suck in the guts, guys & gals, we’re the Ghostbusters.
