I thought I put this post up last night.. But when I checked it today it wasn't there, so I must have done something wrong but here it is again.

I had a couple thoughts on the comic E.C.U. First of all let me say that I enjoyed the RGB E.C.U. and will definately enjoy it being in the new comic. Also let me say, I do know that the reason it is bigger than the movie is because they had to rebuild it after the Gozer case and also made it bigger to hold more spooks.

Okay.. I kinda hoped to see a different design for the comic E.C.U. just so I had something new to discover and figure out. But like I said I'll enjoy this one.

They explained the reason for the E.C.U. being bigger in the RGB (what I wrote above) and I know they are using the same reason in the comic (I'm okay with this).. However, the question that has boggled my mind a bit is ‘How did the basement get bigger?’. I do not believe it was explained in RGB and do hope they do answer it in the comic. That is unless someone on here can put my question to rest. We all know the basement in GB1 was rather small and was a believable size for an old firehouse.. But the RGB (i know it was only a cartoon) was to huge to be believable, and since the comic is based more in reality I thought it would revert back to the smaller size.

The reason I think is that the GB's put the wall the old ECU was on there themselves. There must've been way more space behind it. And who knows, maybe they just totally redid the floor lower than where it was, making the ceiling look taller. Just my two cents.

Well, considering that the ECU blew up in the flick, it could have left a huge crater, thereby giving the guys more space to work with. Seems only logical, no?

–Cliff

I would think that if it were a crater created by the explosion.. Then the firehouse would just collapse since it's foundation had just been removed.

Or it just could be the fact that In a cartoon EVERY THING an ANY THING is possiable :p . In a cartoon you can do any thing you desire an get away with it. But thats a good question tho, my guess is that when the basement exploded it took out the whole place, there for they have to rebuild most of the fire station an made the basement level bigger cuz they knew they needed a bigger ECU to hold all the spooks in.

silverexpress57
I would think that if it were a crater created by the explosion.. Then the firehouse would just collapse since it's foundation had just been removed.

I actually thought that, myself. By all rights, and a very basic idea of structual engineering, the Firehouse should've collapsed from damaged foundations.

On a different note, this should've been posted in the Newsarama topic, or at least, the primary post of this topic.

Kingpin
I actually thought that, myself. By all rights, and a very basic idea of structual engineering, the Firehouse should've collapsed from damaged foundations.

Not necessarily. All “containment units” (cells, cages, whatever you want to call them) have one side that opens, and five that don't. It's entirely possible that the “laser containment grid” was just what kept them from going out the in door, as it were. Kinda like those mouse traps where the floor tips over when the mouse enters so it can't get out. When the grid was shut off, it was like someone threw the door open, and all the ghosts ran out at once. They exploded outward, but all in the same direction, because THAT'S where the opening was. Now why they went straight up afterwards is beyond me…but it IS a movie, after all. As for the structural intregrity, it seems to me that in a firehouse, where most of the bottom floor is open garage space, going straight up through the center isn't such a big deal, as there isn't much in the way of support structure in the way. It would probably put a wicked big hole in the floor, but as long as it shot straight through and didn't buckle the floor itself, the rest of the building should remain intact. (buildings with open area at the base often take their support from playing the sides off of the middle…as long as the sides are intact to brace off each other. I'm no architect, so I can't really explain it very well…sorry)

remember… there was serious metal fatigue in all the load bearing members.

i don't think much thought was put into if the firehouse would survive the CU explosion…. there wasn't much thought for a sequel then.

On the movie aspect on why the ghosts shot straight into the air, I can speculate that it would have given them freer room to spread all over New York, instead of simply following the Egon and the others. Look at the next scene where it looks like rain falling down on the city and you'll see what I mean.

I always thought it was due to the impending arrival of Gozer that caused them to go skywards.