This is for other Ghostbusters Props that don't fit into the categories above.
#275527
As we know, technology only gets better, smaller, and cheaper with time. What technological advances do you think would have been made in the last 25+ years which would have improved ghost busting equipment? Yes I have seen the Tainted Love arm mounted proton pack, but let’s get beyond just that. Ecto mobile, traps, proton packs, ecto-gogles, PKE meters, belt gizmos, etc etc. What do you think would have been improved? Stayed the same? How? Why?
#275574
This was pretty much covered in the game. GB gear will always be experimental and anything you have to tinker with will never be "clean and finished". You could make a case for "standardized" non-user-serviceable equipment leased to franchises that would look a little cleaner.
#275590
Uniforms... we updated our uniforms and went with the Tainted Love gear and a custom slime blower.

other stuff could be like maybe a wireless trap. that seems like it would be the perfect tech upgrade.
#275808
jackdoud wrote:This was pretty much covered in the game. GB gear will always be experimental and anything you have to tinker with will never be "clean and finished". You could make a case for "standardized" non-user-serviceable equipment leased to franchises that would look a little cleaner.
Never said anything about "clean and finished", I like the experimental/industrial look of the equipment; however we are talking about 25 years here. Cell phones from the 80's vs Cell phones from today is just an example. Sure cell phones got smaller and have many more features, but the technology behind it is more what I'm refering to. We wen't from analogue cell phones to digital micro processors. Do you really think the Ghost Busters will still have tube gear in their belt gizmo's? Do you still think the snifer on the top of Ecto will still be huge? Large capacitors hanging on the outside of ghost traps rather than clean printed circuit boards, etc etc. Not to mention the game is only a few years after the second movie, not nearly 20 years later.
keoni wrote:Uniforms... we updated our uniforms and went with the Tainted Love gear and a custom slime blower.

other stuff could be like maybe a wireless trap. that seems like it would be the perfect tech upgrade.
Wireless trap does sound awesome!
#275846
I've often thought about this, yes electronics circuit boards and the like have gotten smaller. So in a sense control mechanisms might get smaller but the proton pack is not a computer, nor is the Muon Ghost Trap. One of the things that always bugs me when people think electronics they right off the bat think about computers and cellular phones. I never got the idea the proton packs had any relation to the like. In fact the most recent particle accelerator is by far the largest ever built, so new dosn't always mean smaller.

Though small things I could see happening, LEDs would replace old fasion lamps for paticular parts, things like the Elbow fittings would be updated (like how we use SMC elbows now) little changes much like a Ghostbusters to Ghostbusters II proton pack comparison. Though a lot of the tech is still widely used. Clippard Regulator valves, Raytheon Crank Knobs, DPS switches, and even pnuematic fittings have not all evolved that much in the past 25 years.

So maybe some cosmetic or "safety" changes, like larger heat sinks, maybe some color changes. I just don't really see how things could change all that much especially on a piece of equipment that is already a hundred times smaller than its modern equivilant.
#275851
The proton packs weren't computers, but modern ones would probably be computer controlled (like modern cars). With small, but much more detailed LCD readouts.

It would be a good idea to incorporate and cross-reference as much as possible. So I'd imagine the packs/throwers would have PKE/giga/ whatever meters built into them, and the packs software could automatically adjust the stream settings based on the type of ghost you're dealing with, or if you've 'lassoed' one, what your range is, all sorts of stuff.

You could also send this same data to the ghost trap wirelessly, allowing it to optimize trapping conditions.

Also beverage cup holders.
#275939
I've had an idea in my head for a while... wireless traps are a great idea, but in my head, why not make them a bit more automatic? Since with my costume I didn't want to lug around the trap petal (mainly it would be one more thing to get snagged on something), I was going to pop on a small wireless router antenna and just call it a unidirectional PKE sensor. Basically, there would be a very basic, short range PKE meter in the trap. once an entity was brought down to a specific distance from the trap, this PKE sensor triggers the opening and closing of the trap. So, let's say the maximum distance from the top of the trap for an effective trapping is 10 feet. The GBs get the ghost in position over the trap. The trap picks up the ghost's PKE signature, doors swing open and suction starts. Once the ghost is IN the trap, the sensor can't sense the ghost anymore and closes the trap.
#276795
Dan AKA wrote: I've often thought about this, yes electronics circuit boards and the like have gotten smaller. So in a sense control mechanisms might get smaller but the proton pack is not a computer, nor is the Muon Ghost Trap. One of the things that always bugs me when people think electronics they right off the bat think about computers and cellular phones. I never got the idea the proton packs had any relation to the like. In fact the most recent particle accelerator is by far the largest ever built, so new dosn't always mean smaller.
You do realise that Cathode ray tubes, aka CRT's from monitors are particle accelerators ...

In addition modern nuclear science is miniturizing and increasing power everywhere. Just an example they are building a new reactor on the grid that services me. It will produce twice the power of the two units that are already on site and is half the size of just one reactor. Technology improves efficiency, and makes things smaller.
Dan AKA wrote: Though small things I could see happening, LEDs would replace old fasion lamps for paticular parts, things like the Elbow fittings would be updated (like how we use SMC elbows now) little changes much like a Ghostbusters to Ghostbusters II proton pack comparison. Though a lot of the tech is still widely used. Clippard Regulator valves, Raytheon Crank Knobs, DPS switches, and even pnuematic fittings have not all evolved that much in the past 25 years.
No doubt.
Dan AKA wrote: So maybe some cosmetic or "safety" changes, like larger heat sinks, maybe some color changes. I just don't really see how things could change all that much especially on a piece of equipment that is already a hundred times smaller than its modern equivilant.
Again, simply not true.
zeta otaku wrote:I've had an idea in my head for a while... wireless traps are a great idea, but in my head, why not make them a bit more automatic? Since with my costume I didn't want to lug around the trap petal (mainly it would be one more thing to get snagged on something), I was going to pop on a small wireless router antenna and just call it a unidirectional PKE sensor. Basically, there would be a very basic, short range PKE meter in the trap. once an entity was brought down to a specific distance from the trap, this PKE sensor triggers the opening and closing of the trap. So, let's say the maximum distance from the top of the trap for an effective trapping is 10 feet. The GBs get the ghost in position over the trap. The trap picks up the ghost's PKE signature, doors swing open and suction starts. Once the ghost is IN the trap, the sensor can't sense the ghost anymore and closes the trap.
Very cool idea.

What about their other equipment?
#278699
I wouldn't modernize too much. An automatic trap is ok for me, but everything modernized else not really. To me this would be the same as designing a computer without a keyboard or anything else. A proton pack is nothing industrial like it already has been said. A proton pack is a homemade device, built down and dirty. And that's what I love about those things.

Even some things in the game are a bit strange for me. The slime blower modification is great, but too illogical because it can recreate an unlimited amount of slime. The jacobs ladder looks superb, but the spark would hit the head as soon as you would look upwards (maybe not, but whatever). I'm not someone who looks too much on logical things, especially in science fiction, but there are things that go too far, for example something like a "remote controlled" meson collider.

I only would modernize the PKE, the Giga Meter and the trap. I'd never modernize the proton pack too much except some controls perhaps. I even wouldn't like something like a boson dart.
#278714
Marquis wrote:The slime blower modification is great, but too illogical because it can recreate an unlimited amount of slime.
Wait...you think the movie blowers could hold enough slime to coat the entire statue of liberty? The movie shows that slime generates itself and the game upgrade descriptions talk about how various processes are used to increase the speed of this replication. The blower mod is the epitome of modernized equipment. :whatever:
#281619
My only change would be less lose wires. Seems slightly dangerous.

Plus less parts sticking out. How many ion arms, bumpers and bumper knobs have been knocked off over the years?
#281663
I think one thing got proven in 1997: don't try to completely, radically reinvent the look.

In my art and stories, I've pretty much left the equipment, at first glance, looking pretty much the same as it did in the first movie and/or the cartoons. It's improved, but most of the improvements are "under the hood" as it were. Allusions to computer controlled cooling systems and telemetry to a franchise HQ, but very little external difference. Maybe, like Will suggests, less exposed wires and stuff sticking out, more akin to the slightly more streamlined RGB packs, but that's about as far as I'd go.
#281675
Ketchum wrote:My only change would be less lose wires. Seems slightly dangerous.

Plus less parts sticking out. How many ion arms, bumpers and bumper knobs have been knocked off over the years?
What wireing? The only wireing on the pack/thrower is the ribbon cable and that's not exactly "loose". If you're refering to the pneumatic tubing there are plenty of reasons why having easy access to that is a good idea. There's really nothing on the pack that is "exposed", things like the ion arm or shock knob don't fall off if they are made to be "functional" and not just a tack-on prop job.
#282048
if franchises did ever take off i would think there would be a standard of equipment assigned to each to 2 man team. each team would have one van. the van would have a limited C/U in the back for what ever they caught in the traps during a job. after their shift when they returned to HQ, part of their shift change checklist would be to purge the vehicle's temp C/U into the main C/U via some sort of hose, hook up, whatever.
having an unlimited amount of traps seems unrealistic along with returning to HQ between every job.

for instance, each person would have one pack, one trap, one PKE, yada yada. and after the catch, empty the trap into the temp containment and on to the next job.

i think this concept would give purpose to the hoses on the side of the Ecto.
#282485
KingPerformance wrote:Modernizing the Ghostbusters: How would you do it?
I wouldn't.

Because if you think about it, with building an actual Cyclotron Generator today, that small, is still impossible. The Proton Pack was advanced back then, as they would be now. Modernizing the Ghostbusters...is just a unnecessary concept. The equipment is portable, and considering the components in the Proton pack, they're light to carry. Also it doesn't take much it contain a spirit, you need to immobilize it, and trap it. The current gear satisfies those criteria. Finally, from a geek/fan view - the packs, the traps, and everything else is just as memorable as the movies them selves. So all in all, just leave things alone.
#282574
GB Ty wrote:Because if you think about it, with building an actual Cyclotron Generator today, that small, is still impossible.
If you really want to get nerdy about it, technically the "cyclotron" is just a particle accelerator. The first particle accelerator ever made fit in the palm of your hand.
#282833
http://abe.web.psi.ch/accelerators/ringcyc.gif

there's a modern cyclotron sir.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/scien ... .html?_r=1

here's a modern partical accelerator.

The pnumatic valves used are still used today. As are ribbon cables, and the crank knob.

you missed a point of Ghostbusters - these guys took what (25 years later is still a large building manned by hundreds of staff to operate), and made it portable - on a backpack.

The proton pack, is a futuristic version of those pictures I linked. You can't modernize it, when it's already from the future.
#282933
The packs would still be really heavy. The amount of safety features alone would add to the weight. Plus the game packs new parts. Shrinking them would not be possible.
#282960
The main equipment (The Pack and traps) shouldn't be changed too much, maybe just add some of the newer resistors and so forth. I personally would update the additional equipment like adding more belt gadgets that would keep data on different paranormal effects on the vital and psychological stats of the crew . The PKE meter should be able to scan and update the database, much like the way the video game did. The ecto goggles should also be able to relay info to the user as well as the gloves and boots having some kind of additional insulation to protect them from harmful effects of black slime and other negatively charged ectoplasm.


Look at me, talking like this was all real.
#283224
I can see both points of view but from one point it is classic and many people have spent a lot of time building their own movie packs and more than likley wouldn't want to start from scratch building all new gear. But on the other hand I think that the gear should be I wouldn't saythat the packs were futuristic or anything just that Egon and Ray are just plain genuises and figured out how to do something no one else did. I think they should have a simalar look but have them incorperate LEDs and the like with out wires exposed too get cought on stuff.

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