I am sorry I was ignoring this thread. Let me try to answer some questions.
Even though this is the cheaper alternative for people wanting a pack, any company should be upfront with what they're selling. The prototype looks gorgeous, but it obviously contains higher end items that are (as stated in the description of the materials used) not included. Considering we're almost in the 4th quarter, now would be a good time to address concerns potential buyers and pre-order holders have. It's easy to have high expectations when you are only shown the gold standard and nothing else.
I've personally been on the fence about pre-ordering it and wanted to do a complete unboxing video at Dread Central when it did ship. That price tag with very little verifiable information, though ...
Absolutely. I will be personally updating the project via email to all the investors of the project.
Still confused about this. Listed in what seems to be the description of what comes with the $600 kit, it says-
•Proton Pack frame and straps can be purchased separately.
Does this mean the kit comes with the frame but you can purchase other frames separately? Or that the kit doesn't come with the frame and it HAS to be purchased separately?
Second, it seems from this thread, that the wand pictured is a higher end wand ($700) that you can buy separately. The $600 kit though does come with a wand, just not the top of the line one that is pictured, correct?
The Kit doesn't come with the frame and it HAS to be purchased separately.
yeah, they have some weird policies.
What could POSSIBLY be the harm in showing the finished product?
IMHO, they are speeding things up TOO Fast.
Before they even ANNOUNCE a pre order, they should have everything designed and tested and finalized. The finished product photo should be posted, and THEN pre orders go up.
The good news is, the LF rules do not apply here. I will get to show you guys a lot more things as they are being put together. I plan on incorporating that into the emails and also here .
I took it that you have to buy the Alice pack frame and straps separately.
Correct !
GotMaul, I really wish you would stop calling the Pack pictured on your website a 'prototype'. It is hugely misleading to those ignorant of the facts, and that equates to what is essentially 'bait-and-switch' or false advertising - especially since in this very thread you have admitted it is not representative of what people will be getting.
The Proton Pack pictured on the Anovos site is a scratch-built prop made by Venkman71 SEVERAL YEARS AGO long before there was any prospect of licenced props from Anovos (actually I'm not sure Anovos even existed at the time). It is a well-known prop in the community and had been heavily featured on GB Fans. One of the features on this pack which you are most definitely NOT getting with the Anovos kit is a full aluminium Thrower. That aspect in particular makes Anovos' use of this pack to advertise their kit highly questionable.
Correction, that IS his pack he made for this project. It was a combination of Venkman71's and Vinny's work. The pics that were taken were meant to encompass the whole program. This pack is the base and we will be offering all metal kits and finished props. At the time though, we obviously couldn't use pics of a kit that hasn't come into existence so had to rely on the "prototype only" verbiage.
GotMaul has put in a hell of a lot of work in researching the GB props, his background speaks for itself and there isn't a single person within the GB community who will dispute that. However, as longtime member of that community, GotMaul is fully aware of the hard work and pride exhibited by the prop building side of the community and the complete and total lack of *need* for 'officially licenced' props (much like the fandom didn't *need* 'Official Franchise' status from Sony/GhostCorps). Sony haven't cared abput the franchise or the fans for a very long time (and some would say the reboot proves that they kinda still don't) so why should we pander to them now? The fans have been doing their own thing for twenty years and are perfectly happy to continue that way. It's a shame then that GotMaul, now in possession of a professional prop/costume business, has chosen to take advantage of the heightened interest in the franchise caused by the (now failed) reboot by acquiring a licence and making some money at the expense of the community he has used as a stepping stone. It is naïve to think his motivation is anything other than financial, as it is also naïve to think that when (if) Anovos' GB props are available, Sony will not start making life difficult for the fans producing GB props and their related parts.
That's a tall statement and I don't think the community has anything to worry about.
Master Replicas once announced licenced GB props, only to drop it after a massive negative response from the prop-building community. The reasons why they objected have not changed, so I'm at a loss to explain why so many are now drooling over the Anovos GB props. Especially as Anovos are asking for $600+ up front when they have nothing to show what they are actually going to produce...this is no different to MattyCollector asking for preorders on the light and sound Ecto-1 with only a photo-standee with flashing lights to give an idea of scale; the GB community largely weren't prepared to take that on faith (spoiling it for those of us who were) so I don't understand why Anovos, who not only have nothing *actual* to show but have in fact tried to mislead customers, are getting a free pass by so many. It beggars belief! The only other thing Anovos have shown us, the patch, was way off the mark. It was a valiant effort, but trying to make a mass-produced 'screen accurate' copy of something which varied in design/quality due to the production method used at the time, using modern production methods...there's no way that could have worked put and perhaps shouldn't have been attempted. And I say that as an Airwolf fan frustrated at the lack of availability ANYWHERE of a totally screen accurate patch, not to mention that the season 1 patches have the same problem as the Ghostbusters patches - they're off the 'standard' design and they each vary slightly.
GotMaul, I have the greatest respect for the work you've put in when it comes to GB prop research, the quality of Anovos' other licenced gear is astounding, and I wish you and your company continued success in the future, but speaking as a Ghostbusters fan, I really hope that the Anovos Ghostbusters line does not work out. Some things should be left alone.
I can't comment on the business's practices of MR or Matty- all I know is this the world I come from and its going to be a great ride if I have anything to say about it.
GotMaul: Thank you for finally addressing some of these issues and shedding some light on the prototype and information about the kit.
I know there's a lot of people in the GB community that are on the fence just because of lack of information.
Some more questions I personally have and I'm sure many of the GB community members would like to know:
How were the packs scanned at the Sony archives? I'm sure it's unlikely that you guys had the opportunity to disassemble the prop and scan the individual parts on the shell, and that's understandable. If that was the case and the pack was scanned in it's entirety, do you guys plan to re-model the file to remove the attached parts and just print a "shell", or would the shell print have the parts such as the ion arm, booster tube, N filter, ect included in the print?
If you guys decide not to use the scanned files, will these just be Vincent/Biggi shells re-produced overseas with 3D printing?
Parts List: A lot of people are curious to know if the kit will come with replicas of the resistors, crank knob, clippard fittings, legris fittings, V hook, etc and what materials they would be made from (genuine / resin / 3d printed)
I'm very interested to see actual photos of the production parts, very exciting news about the scan. I think photos of the parts or scan will help persuade a lot of people, and help us see what's going to set Anovo's offering apart from fan made parts currently available.
1. We scanned three packs. I am having two lines of prototyping production being done right now . One is via fixing the scanned data, averaging all three packs, and having it printed. The other path is taking Venkman71's pack and correcting it (re-shape body and resurface). I will then decide which way to go once I have both in front of me.
2. The parts are high impact resin. I am also trying to work with Clippard to become a short term distributor along with Nycoil to offer true sourcing. I will update.
3. I can put together some pictures and release it to the email people first. I can then share here.
there is no way I can preorder without seeing the real pack. @gotmaul you really need to let them know they would make so much more money if you had up what we were getting. That I feel is the only real problem
I totally get it. But that's the problem with a pre-order investment. I will start posting some pics here to hopefully alleviate some fears.
Anovos aren't showing anything because they don't have anything to show; they need the preorder money to fund it. And from what GotMaul said in this thread, it seems like they wouldn't want to show it in kit form anyway.
Agreed with the first part, second part as stated before, I can show pics.
The other thing that is curious about Anovos' pack is that they say it is going to have a "metal armature" inside their pack shell to help support it....that to me raises questions about the material Anovos are going to use for the pack shell; it seems like it might be a bit flimsier than fan built shells as I dont know of any fan shells that need internal armatures, they are usually pretty thick solid fibreglass or similar. The movie pack shells did not have internal metal armatures for support either.
The metal support is another name for the metal backboard. Terminology mix up. The shell is thick as heck fiberglass.
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I wouldn't show a kit to this group unless it was 99% accurate and had a ton of supporting archive images with notes and arrows all over the place. I've got a pre-order in on this and honestly I'd rather wait and hope that they are working hard on making this as perfect as possible. If it's a bit late so what? Get it right the first time. I can speculate all day on how bad this can be but I'm not sure what that would accomplish at this point.
I'll actually take you guys along for the process. I just sent over the China pack this week and have it all marked up. Don't mind showing you guys this
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Why would showing it in kit form be bad? Especially HERE it might drive your pre orders up
Like I said, this is not the LF license so we have more freedoms here. I intend on taking you guys with me as head to a final product.
But it was a bit fragile. So went with the fiberglass shells for later on. 
