Ghostheads – Episode 31

“Earth’s Mightiest Ghostheads”

http://ghostheads.protoncharging.com/episodes/ghep31.mp3

Podcast page

Opening – Minutes 0:44 – 1:26

News – Minutes 1:27 – 10:59

New Stay Puft Marshmallows less caffeine
Ernie Hudson in Hospital for surgery
Stay Puft ornament early pics
Extreme Ghostbusters prototypes

Word from our sponsor – Minutes 11:00 – 11:20

Interview with Erin from Minions of Gozer – Minutes 11:21 – 34:54

Lupus walk / Donations

Interview with Brock from Alabama Ghostbusters – Minutes 34:55 – 1:16:50

Tornado Relief

Closing – Minutes 1:16:51 – 1:22:30

Email your questions/comments/suggestions to ghostheads@gmail.com

Adam, some of you may recall, did the hilarious Literal Ghostbusters Video – he’s also a filmmaker as well as ghosthead and he’s written what might be the definitive analysis of Ghostbusters (there haven’t been many, and certainly this one appears comprehensive. I’m still working my way through it.)

He’s also included a page on how to nominate Ghostbusters. And I know many of you have a distaste for online petitions, etc. but there are a few things to bear in mind. The first is that several films in the registry (including Hoosiers and Back to the Future) are in the registry because of fan support. The second is that it is a yearly process, meaning all votes made this year will not carry over into next year – this is because the board wants to see a consistency of support, not a false appearance from accumulated votes. So if there’s any one time to participate in an online campaign, this is it.

Please take some time to read Adam’s analysis – I think he’s being a bit unkind to call it Overthinking Ghostbusters (hell, we’ve all been doing that for years), and it is an excellent thought provoker on something we may take for granted in some ways. Then consider sending in your nomination to the NFR – from any angle you look at it, Ghostbusters deserves a spot on that list and I have no doubt it will get there one day – I’d just like it to be sooner rather than later.

[VIA Mac Rumors]

[Update] Why not have some more release dates? Thanks to AJ Quick!

Ghostbusters #9: May 23rd
Ghostbusters #10: June 13th
Ghostbusters #11: July 4th
Ghostbusters Trade Paperback Vol 2: July 11th

There aren’t enough of us.

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.

Honestly, had GB sold in the realm of MOTUC or DCU we could talk more figures, but at the end of the day, we just don’t have enough customers to keep the line going. Only the core movie 1 figures sold at the numbers we needed, and really of these, only Peter did well. After that, all figures, including fan demanded figures like Vigo, just did not sell the number of units we needed to produce more figures. We can only make figures when their is a customer base buying them.

There’s a lot of fan recrimination over the whole affair, with a lot of them pointing at the increase in figure prices (from $20 to $22 dollars) and corner cutting (variant heads on recycled bodies), but going by what Neitlich says, that’s not exactly fair. Production costs have been increasing dramatically over the last four years, and when you combine that with soft sales and a negligible profit margin, you begin to see why Mattel opted to reduce costs as much as possible (as with new heads on previously released bodies) before finally having to increase the price on all 6″ figures on all their licenses.

That said, there is some good news; Neitlich has confirmed that Mattel is still working to refund fans that bought faulty SDCC Stay-Pufts (the soft outer layer has a yellowing issue on some figures) and those fans that held 2012 Club Ecto subscriptions will still get an unannounced exclusive (plus, there’s one more SDCC figure to be announced for this year.)

More importantly, Mattel still holds the license and is still looking at their best prospects with it – presumably the props – and has confirmed they are still looking at new products for 2013. As well they, like a lot of license holders one imagines, have high hopes for the announcement of a third movie, in which case Mattel would have lot’s more development resources available. Stay tuned.

[Nods to GBFans for the heads up, head pats for the Proton Charging web monkeys for digging up the relevant links and quotes]

[UPDATE] Some people on Facebook were hoping that we might see one figure or another as the Club Ecto freebie for cancelled sub holders – According to Scott, it’s something that fits into the 6″ line, but isn’t a figure… Hmmm. Terror Dog? Nobody say Ecto-1 – that’s just wishful thinking. Any guesses?

Info on getting a refund for a faulty Stay-Puft will be up in “a couple of days” according to Scott, and this was a couple of days ago, so I expect it likely we’ll know more by the week’s end.

In short, you take a picture of your face, place it on a character, design the character how you want, then fight with that character… in the real world (via augmented reality using the Vita’s camera) – in short, a mini-you fights on desktops, or a table at the food court, or whatever. Reviews have been typed. And that seems to be about it.

But now, Sony is trying to lure people in with new themed DLC, allowing you to give your avatars more weapons, and moves, and costumes. In this case, you can be a Ghostbuster, with a proton pack, or even Mr. Stay-Puft (though you can’t map your face onto him, which is fine, right?)

This is not the first time Sony has used their ready access to the license to spruce up their consoles – PS3 owners will recall all the GB swag released as part of their Home virtual reality world.

The Ghostbusters pack is out May 22nd in North America (no word on the wide world yet, but soon I’m sure), will cost $2.99, and give you two costumes (mentioned above) along with three weapons – the proton pack, the ghost trap, and the Ecto-1. Go read Greg’s article for all the details and screenshots!