Ectozone.com News Archive

I've been writing stories with an emphasis on Egon Spengler and Janine Melnitz's relationship since the beginning; the first fan fic I ever posted on GBN included some strong hints and the second dropped even more. I built an audience as I continued the story, culminating in their wedding and the birth of their twin children, fated to be literally the next generation of Ghostbusters

I sometimes worry that I've gotten myself pidgeonholed as the "Egon/Janine Guy". So having told the "big" stories, I drifted on to other things; other teams of Ghostbusters; Ray Stantz's love live; hobbit mating dances; and even romances that other franchises have fucked up.

Yeah, but some time ago, I realized there was one story I had to tell about the couple that brought me to the dance. One piece of the narrative that, due to a combination of creator politics and a perception of "this is a boys show and they hate this stuff", had barely been touched.

Ghostbusters: Picture Imperfect, Part One
January 1989--Timeline Year Seven
While Venkman and Winston are out of town, Egon and Ray get a call from the Manhattan Museum of Art, site of Vigo the Carpathian's recent defeat. Janine, meanwhile, finds herself questioning a lot of her recent activities while Ghostbusters' newest hire, Louis Tully, gets a surprise of his own.

--Fritz V. Baugh

It's the thirty-sixth anniversary since the debut of the first Ghostbusters movie, and at one point in time we thought that today would be just a few weeks away from the release of the fourth (the third set in the continuity of the original). Well, a global pandemic kind of put the kibosh on that; only nine months until the new release date.

Sony was apparently getting ready to put out some manner of celebration today, but between the continuing pandemic and the spate of unrest caused by people who've had enough of being treated like crap by an orange asshole and those who follow it, that too has been delayed.

While we're at it, in case you haven't heard, GenCon 2020's been canceled. Longtime readers know this is one of the high points of my year, as among other things I get to see Vincent Belmont and his wife in person. Well, not this year, so no post in August with pictures of the crap I bought, which will probably be a silver lining to some people.

They say hindsight is 2020, but personally, I can't wait until 2020 is hindsight.

Stay safe and health out there.

--Fritz V. Baugh

Yes, this time I took a picture of my own toys.

It's the Ectozone's Seventeenth Birthday! It's all moody, and doesn't want a big fuss made over it today "Because bithday parties are for babies!!!" and we can't throw a party anyway because Social Distancing.

No new story today, but I think I'll have one ready soon.

As of this writing, no Kenner repops have made it into my collection, but as you can see above the rerelease inspired me to dig out Ogre and my old Kenner figures from the Eighties and Nineties. Being a little older than most of the kids playing with them, they're in pretty good shape (other than the self-applied paint apps and the fact we snipped off the proton beams). (You can see some more pictures of them here).

I once again, have to express my gratitude to everybody who visits this place. It's because of you that I'm still doing it nearly twenty years later!

--Fritz V. Baugh

Unusual for me to update on a Saturday, I know, but there's a weird appeal to having something out there on February 29th, a day that only comes every four years. Let's see what Isotropic.org says about today:

Gregorian: Saturday, 29 February 2020
Mayan: Long count = 13.0.7.5.6; tzolkin = 4 Cimi; haab = 14 Kayabr
French: 11 Ventôse an 228 de la Révolution
Islamic: 5 Rajab 1441
Hebrew: 4 Adar 5780
Julian: 16 February 2020
ISO: Day 6 of week 9 of 2020
Persian: 10 Esfand 1398
Ethiopic: 21 Yakatit 2012
Coptic: 21 Amshir 1736
Chinese: Cycle 78, year 37 (Geng-Zi), month 2 (Ji-Mao), day 7 (Ren-Yin)
Julian day: 2458909
Day of year: Day 60 of 2020; 306 days remaining in the year
Discordian: St. Tibs Day, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3186
Order of Hermes: X Day of Pisces, XXIX Age of Aquarius

(That last one is made up, and based on the modified Ars Magica dating system I sometimes refer to in my fan fics)

Anyway, the last week has been pretty cool:

Hasbro Reveals Kenner Classics at New York Toy Fair

They also unveiled a line of roleplay toys, some Kenner-esque versions of the movie likenesses (they're even calling them the "Fright Features" line), along with an ECTO-1 (not a repop of the old Kenner; it includes the jump seat as seen in the Afterlife footage), and a slightly more upscale Plasma Series of the four Ghostbusters as seen in the first movie, along with Dana-as-Zuul and Gozer. Nothing spoiling the characters in the new movie yet, other than a ghost named Muncher, but the toys will be made.

As you might expect, I'm most excited about the Kenner repops. I hope they do well enought for Hasbro to consider expanding the line; thanks to the Power Pack Heroes line of figures back in the day, they have everything they need to make a "proper" Janine in uniform with proton pack. (Well, and Louis Tully too, but that's far less of a priority of mine.)

The New Fright Features will warrent a look; it may hinge on how "compatible" they are with the Series 1 repops. I'd be in hog heaven if the new figures used the exact same peg as the Kenner ones, allowing us to swap the proton packs.

Even if the movie blows, we're getting some awesome toys out of it!

--Fritz V. Baugh

So anything of note on the horizon?

Oh yeah, that...

IDW has Ghostbusters: Year One in the works, and it looks to be interesting, especially as it will prove that IDW can do Ghostbusters stories without dragging in guest stars from other dimensions. Most of the crossovers have been pretty good, but man, did it get old fast.

I don't know for sure what will be coming up at the Ectozone. I've been tossing some ideas around in my head, especially after Thirty Five Years Later was finished. I may do some more stories of the not-so-far-in-the-future-anymore Ghostbusters. I'm kicking around some stuff with the dormant Ghostbusters West Coast; not necessarily "reactivation", maybe more finally slaying the White Whale that is the unfinished "Toy Soldiers", a high-spectacle vampire story I started just before I became sick of fucking vampires.

On the other hand, speaking of things I'm fucking sick of...

...there's a Presidential Election this year, and oh fuck, that means we're going to be hearing more about and from Donald Fucking Trump, as though we haven't heard enough from that orange asshole the last five years. I know there are still 40% of the people in this country who think that extorting foreign governments and throwing children in cages are good things, but I think the world will be a better place by ten billion percent when he's gone. I don't drink alcohol, smoke anything, or take drugs not prescibed to me by a doctor, but after the last five years of life in America I understand why people do those things.

Anyway, have a safe and happy thirtieth year of the Age of Aquarius

--Fritz V. Baugh