Greetings everyone. My name is Eugene Stephens. I’ve been a long time lurker but this is my first post. I’ve loved the movies, Real Ghostbusters cartoon and toys since I was a kid. In fact when I was a kid I built a proton pack out of plywood and random junk in my grandfather’s workshop.
I’ve always been overweight my entire life but when my wife and I welcomed our twin boys into the world 4 years ago, I finally got off my butt and did something about it. I’m still not where I want to be but losing 100 lbs is still something right? Anyway, the idea of cosplaying a Ghostbuster popped into my head awhile back but I never acted on it because I didn’t want to be “a fat guy in a Ghostbusters costume,” I just wanted to be a Ghostbuster.
So I lost the weight and built my first proton pack last fall using ParaNorman’s plans. When my boys saw “daddy’s backpack” they wondered what it was and when I was making one for them. I introduced them to The Real Ghostbusters and built them each a kids sized pack loosely based on the ones in the cartoon. I’m a hobbyist and have started learning about foam smithing from other cosplayers online so I built the boys packs out of it and have just completed a second full sized pack out of the foam for my SIL. In fact we are going to a premier of the new movie this Friday at one of our local theaters!
The reason I’m posting now is because while I was making the boys packs I documented the steps and put together a 40+ page How To guide on how to build one. Before I posted it here I thought I should say “Hi” first. I’ve learned a lot from the people in this forum and wanted to give back to the community.
When I’m not learning and imagining new techniques to build ghost busting equipment, I have a website where we do a weekly podcast on geek culture calledEpicallyGeeky.com. Stop by and give it a listen or look for it on iTunes and Stitcher (Epically Geeky Show).
Anyway, now that I’ve broken my silence I hope to be a contributing member of the group. I’m supposed to meet up with the ATX Ghostbusters at the end of the month and may end up joining them; even though I live an hour away.
