I’m The One To Call

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Note: Originally appeared at my personal site, iRich.

On March 1, 2014 after almost 5 months I was finally going to take my Tru-Spec flight suit and Ghostbusters patches to a professional tailor for sewing. Their hadn’t been a rush, of course now that I had a event coming up in a week, time was of the essence. Friend and colleague Bill had similar thoughts and wanted to come up to expedite our “business” needs for the upcoming Monster-Mania Con and other Ghostbusters NJ happenings.

I hadn’t had any personal experience with any tailors locally since I moved in 2009. I knew one local place and hopefully that would be good enough. The place we went to is near my sub division and probably does more business with seniors then nerds who want to see their childhood realized more in adulthood.

We explained the placement of the patches and the “patch” woman pinned them and even told us how she’ll strengthen them so the “no ghost” logo won’t bend. At the time their was a pending snow storm (Titan) which would probably close the shop on Monday. Our first con since 2006 was about a week away. The latest it might be ready is sometime on Saturday.

Maybe it would have never been that much, when they told us $12 USD, part of me wished I had brought the flight suit in last year. After being busy on day 4 and getting back around lunch, the tailors/dry cleaners called to let me know my jacket (for some reason they called the flight suit on Saturday a jacket. On a basic level we even called them coveralls) was ready.

I couldn’t wait to see it, without the boots which I didn’t have yet, I thought I’d have to wait until Thursday to wear them together. My only minor nitpick which I can’t see when I’m wearing the flight suit is how a little of the “strength” stitching is through the “no ghost” logo. Its possible the shop didn’t have the sewing capabilities to sew around instead of through the logo shape. Or an older woman with years of seamstress experience felt it was better to sew it that way. Which also would have been more then fine if she had changed color threads and used white. Its so minor in the end it doesn’t matter.

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Equipment: Belt Gizmo

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Last month around April 13, 2012 a Ghostbusters fan, (HandSolo) shared his discovery of the animated version of the “Belt Gizmo.” A piece of Ghostbusting equipment that’s always been part of the uniform, we’ve never known its function. That wasn’t good enough for the creative behind The Real Ghostbusters. When a story or script called for it, they gave a couple of functions to the Belt Gizmo.

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In the season 1 episode Mr. Sandman, Dream Me A Dream we see for the first time what the Belt Gizmo can do, used as a communications device. Kind of like emergency personnel’s “walkie talkies.” It’s a professional term I first learned when I was a kid. Peter pulled the belt gizmo up from his belt in a hallway before the Sandman temporarily got to him.

In fact three out of four times the Belt Gizmo was used, it was as a “walkie talkie.”

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In the season 3 episode Baby Spookums Ray’s Belt Gizmo has a button that lights up. Which he answers. In the season 3 episode The Headless Motorcyclist Winston pulled his Belt Gizmo up from his belt in a client’s apartment to speak to the other The Real Ghostbusters.

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What I and others find more interesting for the Belt Gizmo’s function is it being used an alert/pager system. We did see that briefly in Baby Spookums. The full range of what the Belt Gizmo can do was seen in the season 3 episode Once Upon A Slime. In the episode Peter and Winston were in trouble with Ecto-2. About the same time Ray and Egon were at the library. This is when Egon’s Belt Gizmo “goes off.” He receives the text message “Ecto 2.” When a The Real Ghostbusters is out of range he (or Janine. maybe Louis) can use their Belt Gizmo to alert another The Real Ghostbusters.

Disclaimer: Screenshots are used for reference and no ownership is implied.