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Item 1:
Ghostbusters West Coast: Toy Soldiers, Part Three
July 18, 2009--Timeline Year Twenty-Seven
The CEO of the GBWC and the Prince of Los Angeles meet. More bad dreams are going around. Darkness falls on Los Angeles once again.
The bad news is that, with the issues in real life I've been dealing with for the last six months or so, there's not much else of this story done.
The good news is that I think I'll have a different story, a quicker, "easier" one, done relatively soon. (fingers crossed)
Item 2:
Anyone want to guess who this guy might be?
Item 3:
As promised, the New Timeline has been updated. Issues 1-8 of IDW's comic series have been added.
I tried to not get too wacky with speculation, but check 1956 for me suggesting a new level of injokiness to a character recently introduced.
Item 4:
Mattel Confirms End of Action Figure Line
There aren’t enough of us.
Toyguru: After we did not receive enough sub holders in 2012, we could not get additional development resources for more figures so we move the most fan demanded figure that was already in development to the SDCC slot. Fans really do vote with their purchase and the sub not selling was a big red flag that we don’t have enough customers for the 6? GB line right now.
Mattel was already worried about the line when sales of the figures showed that the main interest was in the original four busters, and of those, Peter was the most popular. None of them – the later figures (which would be of more interest to more serious fans) were worse – sold anywhere near the numbers of Mattel’s best two licenses, Masters of the Universe and DC Universe.
Not all bad news, though:
I personally wonder if, when Mattel signed the contracts--what, four or five years ago?--they thought they were only a couple of years away from a movie they could merchandise the everloving shit out of; the figures they released were supposed to be the warm-up for the GB3 cash machine. But of course GB3 never makes it out of "They'll maybe start filming sometime next year" for the last four years, and the line remains a niche seller.
I dunno...I admit that I didn't buy too many because the cartoon is really my first love in the GB franchise, and there wasn't a lot aimed at that market. Yeah, there probably isn't one, which is sad considering the show was one of the biggest hits in the 80's. I bought up all the Retro Action stuff, and no doubt would have been there with everyone else braving the White Screen of Death on Mattel's server for RGB figures of the quality of the 6 inch movie line. I did get the GB2 set, and it was damn awesome--I can't understand why anyone who prefers the movie versions of the characters didn't snap that stuff up.
I don't know. I think back to the 80's and Kenner pretty much had a similar problem: you had people complaining about all the weird variants of the four to six (depending on the set) main characters but those being the stuff that sold the best. They at least had a top-rated cartoon to drive sales, though.
I'm sad to see it come to this, but I'm really not surprised.
--Fritz V. Baugh
I guess I better get to this or all of my "fans" will wonder what's wrong with me:
We start off with what seems like a routine bust at a nursing home. It's the kind of case that ABC wouldn't let the Ghostbusters take--they shied away from any mention of ghosts that were dead people, and with an exception or two (ie Al Capone in "Partners In Slime") they were all monstrous and extradimensional. Class 5 and 7 entities, if you will.
Well, not this time--it's actually a somewhat sympathetic old lady who goes off the deep end when Egon and Winston say they're not her son--she's not on the Other Side because he never came to visit her. Then things get a bit scary--remember how Slimer was hard to catch way back in #1-2? Yeah. It happens again with the old lady. Egon can't take his hands off the thrower to set the trap--fortunately, Ray and Venkman show up just in time for Ray to finish the job.Winston is a little sad ("If her son had shown up, she'd a been at peace."), Venkman continues criticizing the decor, and Egon is brooding: with Idulnas gone, this PKE surge shouldn't be happening.
But it is. Ray asks why. And then Egon Spengler says the one thing you don't want Egon Spengler saying: "I don't know"
Intent on finding out, Egon works himself raw with little sleep over the next three days (fortunately, his "polyphasic schedule" is helping). Winston and Venkman are concerned--and, in one of Dan Schoening's many call-backs to the cartoons, they do so while wearing pajamas seen in the show. Finally admitting he's at a dead end, Egon goes to the gym at Delgado's Gym (You'll recall it's next to the Casey J's, who's bouncer you really really don't want to mess with), and he steps out just in time for most of the entire Melnitz family to come strolling by. Mom, Dad, sister Doris, Brother (in law?), Grandma, and Janine herself, of course. Everybody but her nephew Victor, it looks like.
Oh, yeah. And Roger.
Way back in #1, we found out Janine was dating some guy named "Roger" off-camera. A few odd theories went around--a popular one was that "Roger" was just Egon using an assumed name to keep what they were doing secret from Venkman and the others because Venkman would tease them--but this issue we finally meet the guy.
I really hate to sound like I'm gloating, but Ghostdiva and I almost called it:
| Ghostdiva Wrote |
|---|
| (I even thought they might make him look more like RGB Egon for kicks.) | Fritz Wrote |
|
Since you said it, yeah, that's the theory I had that's still seems possible. Consider:
Dan Schoening is an obvious fan of the cartoon, and massively enjoys putting in call-backs to it. Janine dating a guy who looks like RGB Egon would be a huge one. The latest Janine is a meld of GB1 Janine and RGB Season 1 Janine visually (and who can blame them? Those are the best versions of the character). It would make a weird kind of sense to have her torn between the two matching versions of Egon.
Erik Burnham:I expect a piece of the internet to break off when he shows up.I seem to recall him or Dan saying something similar about #5, which ended up featuring the IDW premiere of Kylie Griffin
Erik Burnham:I think Roger's appearance will shake up the J+E fans. There are more than one way to parse the word "appearance" you know...
Erik Burnham:Egon and Roger could be the Betty & Veronica to Janine's Archie! A redhead as hypotenuse in a triangle between a brunette and a blond? That would fit. |
Well, okay, it was Extreme Ghostbusters Egon instead of Real Ghostbusters Egon, which does sort of match the assumed time frame (sometime post-1992 to as late as ~1994/1995; he even wears a "New York University" sweater, which is one of the names given to the place Egon worked between RGB and EGB), but I still did a little fist pump. Roger's automatically far more Janine's type than Louis Tully ever was. What's up with his name, though? Why did Erik Burnham name him after former Washington Redskins quarterback Sammy Baugh? Is he an athlete or something?*
Er...anyway...
Egon's so stressed and raw from the whole paranormal situation I like to think him blurting out "I don't have time for this" has multiple meanings. After he's been "snippy" and written a book that seems to have made Janine "aggressive" he ducks out of the potential conflict--I just hear LaMarche saying that "I don't have time for this" line in the same tone of voice he used to say "And what's that? Your jalopy?" in "Robo Buster". (Actually, Maurice LaMarche, in my head, voices two of the three characters in that scene) Janine's basically dating his fetch. I mean, that's gotta creep him out.
Read the rest of the snarky commentary on the Ectozone Message Board.
*--Well, duh, of course I know where he really got that name. I get a huge kick out of the vast irony of it: name Egon's new rival after one of Egon's biggest fans. I eagerly await Venkman getting a postcard from Dana saying she's dating a man named Steve Collins, or Ray hearing Elaine Fuhrman has married Jack Nielson, or Tiyah Clark dumping Winston for Larry Reilly. Maybe the new "Ghost Busters' team that Ron "Jake Kong" Alexander is former will be similarly named. Let's go Ghost Busters! Larry Benjamin!!! Curly Quick!!! Shemp Stewart!!! Moe Holbrook!!! :lol:
--Fritz V. Baugh
Ghostbusters West Coast: Toy Soldiers, Part Two
July 17, 2009--Timeline Year Twenty-Seven
This time it's Jason having bad dreams. Mike is reaquainted with someone he doesn't like very much anymore. Dr. Venkman is coming to town. Oh, and there's another dead body...
I'm starting to feel a little bit of a writing groove again, but I can't promise all that much. The next chapter of this story is done, and won't suffer the delay this one did, I promise you that with a fair amount of certainty. We'll see how things go after that--"Toy Soldiers" part three will be posted on May 13 (for the Ectozone 9th anniversary)
There's also all sorts of neat stuff going on in the IDW comic, especially something quite fascinating in #8. I'd hoped to address it on this update too, but my shop is getting it a week later than everyone else. Check back Monday (April 30)
--Fritz V. Baugh
This series has been pretty damn awesome so far, and I think it's a good sign of good things to come that so many from it's team were even nominated.
They're up against some industry heavyweights, so every vote counts.*
--Fritz V. Baugh
*--Note, "Every Vote Counts" assumes Diebold is not doing the counting. If so, expect George W. Bush to sweep all categories.
Well, looks like Tokelau has redone the .tk program. It's become a paid domain system like everyone else. Thusly, previously held domains like gbtimeline.tk and gbcomm.tk are no longer working, and never will again unless I want to pony up about $20 a year each for them.
I think I'd replaced most links onsite and on gbwc.net with links to Ectozone.com/gbtimeline all ready, but if there are any stragglers I'll be looking for them and changing them in upcoming weeks.
Just wanted to make sure everyone knew if they had that bookmarked what happened.
Item 2:
Speaking of the Timeline, I know I said I'd update the New Timeline after IDW's first story arc, and it didn't work out that way. Right now, I'm hoping to get it up to date after #8 comes out. It may be something I have ready to upload on May 13, and the Ectozone's ninth anniversary
Item 3:
I know I sound like a broken record, but profuse apologies for the lack of new fan fic material. I don't have much of any excuse, especially with two chapters of "Toy Soldiers" "in the can" as it were. I had some medical issues at the beginning of December that slowed me down, then a family member had some more serious ones right around that same time, and keeping the web site up to date and preparing even already-done stories for release just sort of fell off my priorities list. Since you're reading this, it means the funk is starting to lift at least a little bit, and I hope to have better news soon.
But hey, since IDW's comic has been so damn good, any "need" for my ramblings is diminished.
--Fritz V. Baugh
Unfortunately, on October 31, 2008, AOL shutdown their AOL Hometown web hosting service, and thus both sites left the internet, along with other AOL members' websites. Luckily for the Ghostbusters Online Community, I had saved copies of both sites. With Chris' permission, I've incorporated a lot of the Tourguide information into Spook Central's Filming Locations pages, though you can find some archived copies of the original site on the Internet Archive.
A few days before the shutdown, on October 28, 2008, I downloaded all of the ComicGuide files. Due to the way AOL handled their web hosting service, the site was actually split across a few different user accounts. I attempted to merge all of the download files into one computer folder... and let's just say that the results weren't pretty. Because there were a lot of files with the same names, they couldn't all be put into one folder "as is". I had to rename almost all of the files, which also meant that I would have to go in and edit every html file so that all of the new file names are referenced in links and the such. I didn't have the time to do the task, so the files sat untouched on my hard drive for a few years.
Around this time last year I saw a post by Fritz Baugh on the GB Fans forum where he mentioned the ComicGuide site by name and lamented over the loss of the invaluable information it contained. Seeing that he had an interest in the site, I contacted him to see if he'd also be interested in fixing up all of the files I saved a few years prior, with the intention of making it all available to the public again. I figured that he'd turn me down, as the files required a lot of work, and it would be a very tedious task. Surprisingly, and much to his credit, he accepted my offer.
So, now, three years and two months after AOL took it down, I am proud to present... The Resurrected NYGB ComicGuide (last updated September 10, 2008, archived October 28, 2008). FYI: Don't expect to find any of IDW's books on the site, as they all came out after the site went into hibernation.
MAJOR THANKS to Chris Buchner for creating the site and giving me permission to host the old copy here on Spook Central, and especially to Fritz Baugh for doing the time-consuming and labor-intensive task of fixing up all of the files and making the site whole again.
So go take a look at the all-new archived version of The NYGB Comicguide
This is so awesome. As a small fringe benefit, the next time I start ranting about the recent overreliance on Gozer I can link them to exactly what that could lead to
--Fritz V. Baugh
Ghostbusters is©1984 Columbia Pictures. Ghostbusters 2 is ©1989 Columbia Pictures The Real Ghostbusters is ©1986 Columbia Pictures Television and DiC Productions. Extreme Ghostbusters is ©1997 Columbia Pictures Television and Adelaide Productions. The 88MPH comic book is © 2004 Sony and 88MPH Studios. Ghostbusters: The Return is © 2004 Sony and iBooks. Ghostbusters by IDW ©2008-Present Sony and IDW. Ghostbusters: Ghost Busted © 2008 Sony and TokyoPop. Ghostbusters: The Video Game ©2009-2011 Sony and Atari. No use of characters and images associated with the above is intended for profit, or to challenge the copyrights of the above holders. Characters and ideas not appearing in the above copyrighted works are to be considered © Fritz V. Baugh and/or their respective creators