175,000+ people — and I didn’t run into you once sir… argh… hope you had a good con!

# Brian Reilly July 23, 2008 10:17 pm
Although I assume this means that there’s even less of a chance that those who ordered the 88MPH Hardcover will get it now, since their license has obviously expired. Not to be a downer or anything.

Yeah, the OTHER positive to this is that it officially puts a close to the 88MPH fiasco. It’s nice to have closure, isn’t it? I just feel bad for all those suckers who ordered it direct from Sebastien and will never get their refund. I got mine from Graham Crackers last January, and I advise any others who ordered from Graham Crackers to start asking for theirs now, and use that money to but this new comic. Actually, see if Graham Crackers could apply your refund to a new order for the IDW and/or Tokyopop comics, and then refund you the difference. Two birds, one stone.

By the way, for those who don’t know, in May or June of this year, Sebastien removed all of the news from the 88mph.net main page and replaced it with a list of urls and links for Ghostbusters websites. The hardcover banner and page, and Ecto-1 lithograph banner and page, are still there. I wonder if he can still legally sell those lithos or *any* GB merchandise at this point.

# Steven July 24, 2008 5:29 pm
Ben, the Ecto-1 *was* a black car with purple strobes originally–I believe Ivan Reitman changed this so that it would show up better in night shots. Perhaps you were referring to this?

Steven, I think that all of the things Ben mentioned in his list were original ideas from the movie that were changed into to what we see in the final film. Remember, the movie was also originally supposed to take place in space, hence Ben’s reference to “spaceage backpacks”. I kinda got that as the subtle joke Ben was making. If I’m wrong Ben, let me know.

Ben, the Ecto-1 *was* a black car with purple strobes originally–I believe Ivan Reitman changed this so that it would show up better in night shots. Perhaps you were referring to this?

It’s like some of fans think that without the likenesses of Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis and Hudson that it’ll fail, or won’t do as well than if they’d looked like they did in the movies.

The Real Ghostbusters managed pretty well without them, so did the 88MPH comic despite the other things that killed it.

The fact of the matter is that if they were to use the likenesses of the actors, it’d cost a hell of a lot of money… money that could be put to better use elsewhere… especially with Bill who, despite having recently given his likeness to the game may still be fickle on other accounts.

So frankly, it is not a major loss if the Ghostbusters don’t look like the actors who played them in the films… it isn’t essential to have them look like the actors, and I think it’s doing the project a major disservice to grade it on a factor that is simply one aethetic of many.

Now, if the Ecto-1 was turned into a black car with purple strobes, or the Firehouse was made a single-story concrete station… or the Packs were made into spaceage backpacks, that’d be a legitimate concern… but the characters not looking like the actors? That’s not a good enough reason to be concerned about it.