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2018: Wicker Man - General Discussion - SPOILERS! - Part One

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Was just passing by, looking for any interesting speculation and/or hype - I've spotted a lot of people complaining about the 'dark' theming, and just thought I'd add for facts' sake that since early this year park maps have SW8 put in Gloomy Wood on the ride info lists.

In other words, it's not supposed to fit with Katanga Canyon or Mutiny Bay, and it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise.
 
The problem is, much like Thirteen, is the potential for them to dress up a family (thrill) coaster into something that potentially alienates some of its ridership from riding...

Plus, more dark and abandoned theming probably won't help the perception of the park... Especially if they keep adding rides like that, it'll get samey and boring really quickly...
 
People keep linking this to the films but if that was the case the trademark would be 'The Wickerman'. So this ride could be based on the old Roman stories about the Druids. I love the Hex story because of its association with the Towers and it's a great local legend. Having another ride based on alleged 'British History' wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

The thing about a theme if it isn't working out, it can be toned down or changed entirely down the line. If it's a good ride that is what will draw repeat visits, regardless of theme.
 
Rick said:
I wonder if a desire (or insistence) to use an IP has swayed them away from pirates or Katanga?

I'm still a bit confused with regards to the protests surrounding dark themes. Can someone point me in the direction of thrill coasters with sunshine, lollipops and rainbows in the narrative that surrounds them? I'm not saying they don't exist, I just don't understand which rides people are drawing the comparison against?

I like the dark and sinister themes personally, I think it's easier to pull them off with the park's surroundings.
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While it's not sunshine and lollipops look at Disney. Thunder Mountain is just a wild wilderness train. Space mountain a couadter in space. Rock'n'Rollercoaster is a limo to go see Aerosmith. None of them had "something has gone wrong" elements or anything sinister. Even Dueling Dragons at Universal wasn't dark considering it's about riding dragons.

Also look at Busch Gardens (Tampa) yes most of their coasters are lightly themed but they don't have anything with a dark or sinister theme. Maybe Cobras Curse as it does reference a curse to be fair.
 
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I'm confused as to the reasoning that this is an IP? I just cannot see the point of utilising an IP from a forgotten movie many years ago.

I think, more likely, it is a theme, not an IP.
 
PeteB said:
Well one could argue that within Towers they do have 2 or 3 jolly coasters - Air/Galactica, Spinball, and the original version of Rita. Tis a bit of a coincidence however that these were all put in from 2002, 2004, 2005.
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And yet if this topic was pitched slightly differently, you'd rightly be pointing out that they are amongst the worst additions to an already themed park area AT have ever installed. One of them to the point of being the biggest eyesore in the park.
 
Moley said:
And yet if this topic was pitched slightly differently, you'd rightly be pointing out that they are amongst the worst additions to an already themed park area AT have ever installed. All of them to the point of being the biggest eyesore in the park. Even Merlin rethemed all 3 of them.
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Post corrected.

Dark themes, I don't mind them but when you've got a park which is full of similar themes, it is just going to confuse people.

But this is Merlin, they know dark themes sell and ironically their branding as Merlin Entertainments(See any of their websites) is meant to be all 'Magical' with happy and chirpy themes. Again personally I don't mind but I see why other enthusiasts have a grudge towards 'dark themes'.
 
The logo and graphic styles don't match with any film of TV show from the past, so this is most certainly not an IP linked to a previous movie. There are also no film or TV shows in the near future which are Wicker Man based - you can check IMDB for that.

If they were using an IP we'd know about it. Remember when using someone elses Intellectual Property, Towers would have to match ALL of their branding and indenitity. They can't just throw a new logo design in to the mix because they feel like it.

There is no IP for this ride, at least not a film or TV based one. I'm 100% certain of it.
 
Jonathan said:
I'm with you on this one, Pete. In my view, SW8 is going to be inspired by the idea of a wicker man, and not be based on the pre-existing IPs.
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The Wickerman movies were based on a Pagan ritual, this rides theming is/is likely to be based on the same thing. Saying that it uses an IP is like saying Mutiny Bay used an IP because it was based on the same thing Pirates Of The Caribbean, or any other Pirates based thing is. Or saying Nemesis is based on Ridley Scott's Alien franchise because it has an Alien monster as it's story.
 
I wonder if merlin is getting in to tv or movies. And making a ride before using the ip for a movie :D

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CoasterCrazyChris said:
Wickerman?!

The coaster looks great as it is but now they want to apply another cliched dark theme to a ride this time in the shape of some pagen nonsense.

What relevance will this have to anything around it?

It's a family woodie, why not have a fun lighthearted theme? No doubt there will be a silly convulated backstory (ala Smiler) for 14 year old enthusiasts to fap over but scant theming or clever design aside from the main feature.

Of course this should be no surprise to anyone on here.

But credit where credit is due regarding the progress with construction, not sure if this can be credited to Merlin or is due to the demands of the manufacturer.
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Hi @CoasterCrazyChris. Just wanted to chime in, seeing as I just so happen to be a 14 year old enthusiast. I'm personally thinking that this ride will have a more subtle dark theme than the others in the park, maybe sort of a similar theme to Cobra's Curse at Busch Gardens Tampa except with a large Wicker Man instead of a cobra. It also looks as though Merlin may have deviated from the typical Merlinisms of their other dark themes across the company (e.g. shipping containers, abandoned theming etc)

Also, I'm thinking that the ride may be integrated in to Katanga Canyon or a rethemed Mutiny Bay, despite the park saying Gloomy Wood on the 2017 map. The preshow room lends itself to a backstory, which I'm thinking could be quite an elaborate backstory. I have confidence that Merlin will integrate this well into a themed area, as both of the park's previous SW's built under Merlin have been well integrated into their respective areas. I can completely empathise with you, as I was hoping for a pirate-themed woodie to fit in with Mutiny Bay. But I'm sure Merlin Magic Making would have thought about area integration when they designed the ride.

P.S. Sorry if this post seemed patronising. I just wanted to chime in with my thoughts. Also, could someone please tell me how to mention users in posts? Any help would be appreciated.
 
I've been thinking about how the theme could be integrated into both Mutiny Bay and Kantanga Bay but the whole technology idea for the welcoming would need to go... Near Mutiny Bay village, some village members have mysteriously disappeared. Some people blame the tribe people from Katanga Canyon, who have said to have sacrificed people to satisfy their G-ds, in the woods on the outskirts of Mutiny Bay Village but nobody is too sure. Visiting Mutiny Bay village, some people have told you, you have been chosen but you're not too sure what this means. Venturing in the outskirts of the village, you see a WICKER MAN ready for a sacrifice, when you realise it's you who has been chosen to enter the attraction, to be sacrificed. Will you survive or will the WICKER MAN be all that's left in the woods?
 
Pirates vs tribal people, that seems like an interesting idea.
Although this is another dark theme, I think it will go down well for the edgy younger teens and perhaps for slightly older families too, with children 8/9+ it seems to be on a similar scare level to some CBBC shows like Trapped ( A game show where if you lots you'd get trapped in the game room by a witch, scary!) from when I was around that age.
If themed to the correct scare level it will be scary enough for everyone to enjoy, but not too scary that the 8+ age group is alienated by it.
 
Fully on board with this branding. Name is a bit obvious, like calling Nemesis 'Alien' and Oblivion 'Hole' or something, but it's cool, and the logo is fantastic, will shift loads of tat.

Still think the coaster itself looks a bit crap but I'm willing to be wrong.

Can't complain about the marketing, it's clearly aimed at a group that isn't mine, and rightly so for what the ride is. Don't get some of the 'yer da' responses to it, each generation has its own media that the generations before don't get, it's not for me but if it does the job then good.

Lots of potential with the theme, and I'm not too worried it'll be too similar to Dark Forest. Dark, supernatural themes can still be very different from each other if done well, whether Merlin can achieve that is another question. I love the idea of turning Mutiny Bay into something from existing wicker man media, a seemingly idyllic little village with nasty secrets. Would be extremely easy to retheme the area, keep the main part of it looking all sweet and nice for the kids rides with a hint of danger here and there, and then link in the coaster. Few May poles and bear costumes and that Make it look like the films, or that brilliant music video Radiohead did:
 
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