What price range should we expect for these items?
As these products are still in development, pricing has not yet been determined and will obviously vary from piece to piece.
When should we expect the first items to go up for pre-order?
We hope to have pre-order for the first offerings begin around third quarter 2016. Note that this is the pre-order date, not delivery date which typically falls sometime within a year of product announcement.
Will you include electronics, lights or sound?
We hope to offer some fully-built props with lights and sound. We also plan to offer kit versions with options for electronics. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for updates.
Will you be making any “inspired by” or “off screen” items like jackets or women’s dresses?
This is still to be determined, but we are licensed to create derived jackets.*
Huh, the user-assembled kit mention has me QUITE interested as they’ll most likely be cheaper than the fully built options… plus it’ll allow the owner to make easier modifications, say using a few fan-made parts that might be of better quality or a slightly different aesthetic to be used instead
I wonder what the price point will be. Will this kill/severely dampen fan made parts and props? Of will be sufficiently expensive that fan made parts and props can still operate on a lower price point?
From what I undertand about Anovos, they’re extremely high end and expensive. So i don’t think it will diminish fan made parts and props because not everyone will be able to buy at that price level and fan made parts are easier for new builders to aquire
Probably gonna get flamed for it but I don’t care.
I find it funny whenever props come up in the hobby that are officially licensed, people get whiny about it diminishing the fan-made market (in a lot of cases, not saying this one, it seems this is due to the person complaining being a seller who will now make less money). Don’t get me wrong, fans make some amazing props. Fans also charge a premium on a lot of stuff and get whiny about massmade props being “toys” because they can’t make as much money on their items anymore.
The fact is, people don’t have the rights to make these props. If Sony wanted to stop them, they could. They don’t have the legal right to be making money off of Sony’s IP. If I’m wrong on that, someone please feel free to correct me.
But that’s why I find it funny. “Oh no, they’re taking money out of my pocket that I don’t have the right to in the first place!”
Not necessarily, but a response would end up happening, regardless.
As memory serves there were a number of folks, myself included, who weren’t people selling stuff who were concerned about the impact of Matty’s props on the fan-made stuff. I can’t argue with how well the P.K.E. Meter replica was, or the functionality of the Trap (looks were a bit lacking), the notable absence of P.K.E. electronics and shells being made these days could be partially contributed to the Mattel replica killing the market (the notorious difficulty to assemble a fully-functional replica of the prop is another big factor, of course).
I wonder, barring any likely new run by Mattel, which despite their old assurances, doesn’t seem likely to happen now, if we’ll see P.K.E. parts starting to be manufactured again.
It’s understandable that the price per unit is more expensive when it’s fan made, rather than a toy company doing it, the toy company can employ a factory full of people in a country like China who can do it for the lowest bid, on a factory scale - versus a one or two man operation, who have to buy parts in bulk to make it cost effective. Not to mention said toy company can crank out circuit boards and plastic casing parts to the degree where they make a huge saving.
And, being honest here, the Mattel line did become rather toy-like in the details/appearance by the time of the Proton Gun and the Ecto-Goggles, those were critiques that came from both people who did, and didn’t make production lines of props for a hobby.
No, you’re absolutely correct on your understanding of that. Prop sellers and builders here could be shut down at any moment if Sony decided to flex their muscles. The fact they haven’t is something to be thankful for.
Still though, I like having a selection of sellers in the marketplace who offer a selection of parts I’ll need (genuine, or high-end replica) to recreate the iconic gear from the movie. Anovos is a bit of an exception to some of the companies out there who get licences to recreate props, in that they’re staffed by people who were in this community, and who have a good idea about the stuff that goes into making these props. I can definitely say I have a lot more faith in them, then say people like Quantum Mechanics, or Master Replicas. Hopefully they’ll do us proud, and the fact they offer either complete props, or unassembled kits is a nice touch - that rather reminds me of the options you could get on Star Trek’s Roddenberry.com, but hopefully the Ghostbusters offerings will be a bit more reasonable than what Paramount was wanting for Tricorder casings and electronics kits.
I like the fact they will be offering kits. So at least those who still want to have the satisfaction of building their pack will still be able to have that. I don’t think it’ll deter fans from scratch building or people to continue to offer resin or aluminum pieces or shells. All it will mean is that there will be more options for whatever budget you’ll have. Don’t forget we have yet to see what their prototypes look like as we have nearly a year to wait for preorders and up to a year after that to actually see the products in person to determine quality. So in the mean time things will roll as they have been. It’s also gratifying that they only will be producing original film stuff at least initially and not jumping straight into the new films gear for now.
A very fair and well thought out response… not that I expected any less from you Ben.
For the record, I’m excited for this license, even though I’m guessing most of it will be out of my price range. I think if their stuff is super accurate, that would be something really cool for the community. I’d probably like to get a new flightsuit if I could get that.
Fully built props is one thing…kit form, on the other hand, seems like a deliberate middle finger to fan prop builders. And possibly a sign that Sony have finally realised there’s a lot of money in GB props, money they aren’t getting, and have decide to put their foot down. I’d be very surprised if we don’t see some legal crackdowns…after all, we’ve already established that Sony don’t actually care about the fandom.
Flightsuits, yes (bring on the Herringbone ripstop!), but Packs, no… I highly doubt they can offer anything more accurate than what the community already has available to them…
I wouldn’t go that far Phil. Couple of the guys from Anovos are GBFans alumni (alumnus?) One of which if I’m correct is Jose Salcedo who had some of the most amazing builds in the darkest days lol
The folks behind Anovos aren’t some faceless entities, they’re old members of this community, and not just average posters, they were folks who were building Ghostbusters props back when we had only a smidge of the information that’s now available. I imagine they opted for kit form as an option because it would be more affordable for people working on a budget, and to appeal to those who want to paint the stuff they’d buy their own way.
I am well aware that they are GBFans veterans… My point is - do you think their kits will actually include real Clippards, crank knobs, etc? Will it have the full on aluminum parts like the Hero packs did? Authentic LC-1 ALICE straps and frame? That’s the point I’m trying to drive home…
It’s almost impossible to find a resin cast and electronics for a PKE these days. I wanted to build my own instead of buying the one from Mattel, but I haven’t found any dealers who have the parts at a reasonable price. It was cheaper to buy a mattel through eBay!
I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see prop aluminum parts on the replicas. Anovos makes pretty high-end stuff, afterall. Stuff like real Clippards and original crank knobs, probably not. Of course, since the gang designing these replicas are fans and former builders, I can see these parts being easily upgradable with the real deal. As for the ALICE pack/straps, that gets into prop/costume/toy licensing rights. I believe if it’s wearable, it’s considered a costume, which Anovos might not can do legally.
I suppose it really depends on the specifics of the licence, and if Sony is still letting Rubies do wearable replicas or not.
If they aren’t allowed to make them wearable in the finished versions, they might design the kit versions in a way where they can be equipped with a real A.L.I.C.E. frame, like how some motherboard sellers sell them pre-drilled.
