Now that GB:TVG is out and (I am assuming here) that you have played the game…I am curious…how do the events of the game change your canon?

Fritz doesn't have the current gen consoles, so it could be some time before he gets to experience the game firsthand. As far as alterations to the timeline…we're still discussing what's changed and how to address it.

The only thing I think we've really settled on is an explanation for why the painting went back to depicting Vigo, and where all the new equipment went since none of it is seen in EGB or the fanfics.

Was unaware that Doc Fritz didn't have a current gen system…

Anyway…would love to hear the idea's you have settled on.

I mentioned in another thread that my idea for Vigo coming back was the “Ellis Island Incident” in what I assume was 1991.

Well, Vigo was a sorcerer who painted a self-portrait, then enchanted it so that when he died, his spirit would inhabit/haunt it. The spell draws strength from negative human emotions, so that over time, it turns them into ectoplasm, and when enough of the slime accumulates and flows to him, he can take form outside the painting or possess someone and make them his new body.

The guys defeated him first by countering all the city's negative emotions with positive ones via New Year's Day celebrations. Then they covered him in his own mood slime, charged with positive emotions instead of negative and forced him back into the painting with their proton streams.

When they did this, the painting depicted him exploding and the portrait changed to depict the Ghostbusters and Oscar.

Those are the facts from the end of GB2.

Now…as for why he's back: Energy (including ghosts) can neither be created nor destroyed. That means that explosion was just a dramatic display on the part of the enchanted paint and Vigo's ghost is still trapped inside the painting. After all the New Year's celebrating ended and New York went back to being miserable, it makes sense that the paint would change to reflect Vigo once again…albeit he's much weaker now with the river of slime gone.

And then the guys apparently stole the painting from the museum, judging from one of the answering machine messages, to keep a safe eye on it and study it.

As for the new equipment, well…in the EGB continuity, the city gets so quiet that the Ghostbusters run out of ghosts to bust and go out of business once again, not reopening until 1997. Obviously, all the equipment would've been packed away at that time. The reason it's never been brought out of storage since is, if you notice in EGB, they almost never bill anyone and the firehouse and Egon always look like a shabby mess, so obviously they weren't making much money…and obviously that Dark Matter and Meson tech is extremely costly to build, maintain, and operate, and while useful, isn't strictly necessary to do the job.

I wouldn't count on it staying in storage much longer, though. Several of us over at the West Coast franchise are eager to start writing it in.

Very nice. I like it. whats your opinion on Winston's line about Shandor Island must have been where the mood slime came from (sorry hiding it for those who haven't finished or played the game yet). I have been thinking about that quote the last few hours here at work.

I mean it is never straight out said so, but it is implied that Vigo was responsible for it…so makes me wonder if Vigo caused it…or did it help resurrect Vigo

Well…the primary purpose of Shandor Island's slime production plant was apparently to generate BLACK slime, which creates portals for spirits to cross over to our world through. So maybe it did assist in Vigo's own schemes and accelerate the growth of the river of slime, but it would have been inadvertently so, not something planned, since Vigo was never established as affiliated with the Shandor Cult or Gozer in any way.

Vigo didn't seem like one to associate himself with a group such as the Gozerian Cult…not willingly atleast…

One of the things of the plot of the game that has been bothering me ever so slightly is A) How was Gozer Resummoned, B) How did no one notice his resummoning, and C) Why did it seem like Gozer a la Staypuft was doing Shandors Bidding

Any theories on that?

I can't imagine he knows or cares who they are.

If he did, since he can apparently see glimpses of the future anyway, he might know they're just gonna be defeated.

Ooo…maybe since, as you just made mention of, he could see into the future he knew the Shandor Island facility was going to be there and intentionally tapped into it in order to used it to help his ressurrection…

Well, like most oracles, his predictions seem rather random and unreliable. He apparently foresaw the use of steroids in baseball, but not his own defeat.