Fallow

I will put this out there - I'm holding out hope that this situation improves. What I'm more concerned about is that whatever "scary" side there is to this icon, it's not going to be shown in the commercial or other print ads. This leads to a poor representation of the icon and a poor opinion with the average joe. Is this "scary side" going to be seen in the final cut of the commercial? If so, then I'll shut up. As for Poe - going off of the curved nature of the structure, I would imagine those rooms (and this room) were towards the center of the house, where the ceiling was slightly higher, yes? I'm so happy that the tent houses' production values continue to increase each year... well, ignoring the fact that Tent 2 has used the same layout since the Funhouse I think? Any chance we'll actually get a new layout this year?

It's the acting that bothers me. Not the concept or the fact that she's a woman. The acting/her voice just removes any sense of menace from her character. Keep in mind that most people want escape in HHN - we desire more fantastical things. No one is looking for a house that takes place in the streets of New York where thugs come out and assault you.

Responses above in bold. Once again - I really, really hope I'm wrong.

Burger King they went with, the commercial was too much. That's how I see it anyway - Universal acknowledged the Burger King leak with Hal and flexibly built it into their social media campaign, but the commercial was clearly not supposed to happen - Universal continuously deleted it from their Facebook page and Hal (who has posted since) has made no mention of it. Obviously, the feedback to the (incomplete) commercial wasn't particularly positive, and as Horus pointed out, first impressions are everything, so that probably wasn't a good thing for them. That said, under then these leaks, Universal's social media marketing has been top-notch this year!

Great points all around. Bravo. I actually really dig the website - but I'm a hardcore fan. I'm willing to put in the time and effort to look up strategies and beat the games without being banished. The average joe is gonna be knocked out almost immediately and never come back, frustrated. Hell, several friends were put off by entering their email address (though I understand why they had to do that). I still love the website - as long as it actually culminates in something. If it just... ends... with no payoff to our building of The House, I'll be slightly miffed. Can someone clarify why the reveal was pushed back in the first place? I feel like Universal made this decision quite a while back, hence the posts a few weeks ago referring to the reveal occurring on September 1st. Was it too hard to communicate to Burger King to not put up their ads yet, or to tell all of the affiliates to not put up commercials yet? Seems like a pretty big misfire - I don't really mind, the leak was a pleasant surprise in some ways (and a disappointment in others) but this is a fairly big deal for something that is typically kept under tight lock & key. Now, the commercial - I'm sorry, but I'm not going to set myself up hoping for a better commercial. There's too many fundamental problems wrong with the cut I saw for it to be salvaged with a longer cut. Things that would have to change... *cut the narrator, completely, until after the kill like in previous commercials (sans XX) *have the victim be silent UNTIL the "kill" *play some actual casino-style music versus whatever crap was going on *actually SHOW the kill, it's not clear at all what happens to our victim *make Lady Luck sound 10x more sinister *cut the 4th wall breaking moment at the end ...I don't think any of those things are going to happen, unfortunately. I think unless some of you insiders have actually seen the longer commercial (and maybe you have, but I'm guessing not), I don't think you should be hyping up the final version. Because this seems like exactly what happened last year with Ellen and the FEAR commercial - "oh, the final cut will be different!" - almost exactly the same. I REALLY hope I'm wrong. I really, really do. I really like the concept of this icon (though I suppose I liked FEAR too), and I think the print ads look marvelous. But any scariness that might've existed with Luck dissipated when she opened her mouth. Let's remember that no matter how you edit something, bad acting is still bad acting - I know this quite well as an aspiring filmmaker. By the way - for eveyrone who's still saying there's another "side" to Luck we haven't seen yet - I highly doubt it's going to be seen in the commercial at this point. And if it isn't, the general public won't know or care about it, and will thus judge Lady Luck based on what they see - a mildly attractive, aged redhead with a guy strapped to a wheel. Not particularly frightening.

I'm not condemning the entire event. Not even condemning Lady Luck. Just noting the pattern FEAR followed last year is the one that is being followed this year with Luck. I think the event itself should be great (house line-up has me pumped), but based on this commercial cut the icon is a disappointment. By the way, everyone hoped the FEAR commercial leaked with Ellen wasn't the final commercial, and that the final one would be different and superior. It was the same commercial.

Let me make one thing clear - I hold a lot of respect for A&D and the work they do. I'm a huge fan of much of what they do! But I'm also a naturally critical person and will, as I have in the past, offer what I believe to be fair comparisons of the stuff they put out. I am not trying to condemn Lady Luck - if you read my posts you'll see I've been rooting for her to be a fleshed out, terrifying icon from the beginning, so don't slap me with the "you'll hate anything" label. It is my hope that this partial cut can be significantly improved once it's officially released by Universal - but for now - it doesn't look good. Several reasons why this particular commercial (partial cut or otherwise) is awful: -The Narrator. No Narrator until the kill/scare is the way to do it. Look at 2007 or 2008 or 2009 - no narrator until the victim has been killed, works fine. Hell, even earlier commercials like 2002 and 2003 have NO NARRATION AT ALL. The narrator kills any sense of suspense or dread - same issue last year (2010). Let the story tell itself, no narration is needed. -The Loudest Victim Ever. Seriously, does this guy shut up? His grunting is so unbearably annoying - it's not terrifying, it's just unneeded noise. -Lady Luck's voice. Goodness, I imagined something more sinister. She's downright campy, especially at the end, holy crap. She should've taken a lesson from The Director or The Caretaker - or at least go off of Jack and only say a single phrase. "Come try your luck" was godawful and nearly made me facepalm. I'm not even going to address what the hell that bird is supposed to be doing. -What is even happening to the victim? He's strapped to the wheel of misfortune as expected. As Lady Luck explains shrilly, red you win, black you lose - what happens when you lose? It isn't shown. FEAR repeat - we have no idea what happens. He just keeps grunting. No payoff to the setup. -This simply is not scary. Nothing about it is creepy or terrifying, it's just campy and the sound annoying. Here's hoping the full cut is better, but I think it's unsalvageable at this point... If this is any indication, Lady Luck may be FEAR 2.0 in terms of final execution. This "second side" of her seems to be hyped up a lot by the insiders here, but I've yet to see any payoff. I really don't see how anything else could be incorporated into the final commercial.

Gotcha. The exact tones of the colors between the game and the Facebook tab haven't really lined up so I wasn't sure. WWI makes more sense. So, how about that commercial...

Dark blue card... so... Poe? I don't know much about his work, so is there any particular story/poem of his that this could tie into?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't "The Arrival" have a procession of sorts?

Fast & Furious cars were confirmed to be removed soon via an AP newsletter, if I'm not mistaken. So it's for another reason - perhaps our "processional show."

Mmm, good call on starting at the amphitheater. I didn't think about it originating there. That would mean they'd have to move the queue for one of the soundstage houses - perhaps a setup similar to 2008... I still don't think it has anything to do with Lucy, since I realized auditions for this show (high-energy dancers) were held separately from the regular HHN auditions (which is where the "Lucy" spot was revealed). Yes, I think they're separate entities. Hmm. A passage to Mel's is available... I suppose. I just feel like the scare actors would prefer to have more time to actually take their break versus updating their costumes. Then again, many already have to give up a sliver of their breaks to do makeup touch-ups, right? It could definitely work. Out of context it all seems so complicated, but I bet if we (or possibly just I) knew what sort of costumes we were talking about, this would all make more sense. It could work.

I'm trying to imagine the show. Reminds me of the "show stops" in some of Disney's parades, but on a smaller scale and likely minus the float. If it started in Lucy, it wouldn't have an easy to get anywhere without crossing through another zone... so I'd guess Lucy maybe isn't the show. That goes out the window if they CAN pass through zones, but that screams safety hazard for the performers to me. Here's hoping something is present in Mel's Die-In, show or otherwise. Gotcha. I stand by my evil garden gut reaction. Evolving... well, there's lay out. There's the performers themselves - they could evolve in behavior, or perhaps in appearance. Cast changes would make this very possible, but it would be probably pretty resource-consuming to redecorate every character every time they switch casts. The projection idea has been tossed around, but I can't see that feasibly working in the sense proposed (it'll look awful up close, for one.)

I'll post my thoughts/predictions on these... Hollywood - Seven Deadly Sins would make a lot of sense, especially after the success of "Welcome to Hell" in Hollywood's HHN. Could be an amazing zone. Central Park - "Grown Evil" - not sure where that spec came from, but it reminds me of some sort of evil garden - plants that "grow." Would make sense in the Central Park's foliage. But does this mean no more pumpkin walk? IFB - stilts... could be anything. The construction we've seen is very intriguing though Shrek Alley - my money's on some sort of "Rat Run." the evolving scarezone rumor seems to have the msot credence here New York - Rat Lady is apparently supposed to be here. Perhaps a Freak Show type zone? The towers confuse me Sting Alley - as previously speculated, would make a lot of sense as Luck's zone - Sting Alley's very speakeasy looking. The removal of the posters in this area (to avoid the clash) supports this idea Lucy - agreed on the potential of the "street show." Could Lady Luck be our emcee of sorts? We've established Plaza of the Stars was eliminated due to Despicable Me construction - but we still have no word as to why Mel's Diner has been eliminated. Any more thoughts on that?

My prediction is that she'll be a seductress for one "face" and a cold-blooded killer for the other. Sort of black widow-y, I suppose. I also hope you're wrong about her just existing as a deity. I would've hoped that the feedback from last year made it clear that the no-backstory deity "FEAR" was kind of a bust. I'm still holding out hope that the same mistake won't be made.

Well, here's our icon - a redhead as speculated, and looking a little aged to boot. Miss Lady Luck... fits in well with the other core icons. I love it.

Saws'n'Steam is still possible to milk for tokens - you just have to accept there will be ups and downs like true gambling. If you play consistently with a perfect memory, you will win approximately 70% of the time. I kept playing (losing by default every so often) to move from #6 to #4 on the leader board. It's incredibly time consuming but possible... then again, I only had to increase 1,700 points to end up in my current spot. "Crystal B" has gained over ten thousand in the last week.....

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=115150025253887&set=o.126469058232&type=1 Posted via Hal on the HHN Facebook. Looks like we officially have SOME sort of involved icon.

Thank goodness. I would've been incredibly disappointed, how plain/generic looking. The screaming angel pic is under the BLUE card - someone remind me which house that corresponds to again?

Why is this not getting more attention? I really hope that isn't Lady Luck...

So... now what? We have all 8 tokens, and what seems to be a complete House, but no resolution...

Solid discussion everyone. We'll have to see just how Lady Luck manifests herself. Moving on in speculation - we have our scare zone locations (except for the vague "Lucy") - why are Plaza of the Stars & Mel's Die-In excluded? The latter very well might be making way for a show, but Plaza of the Stars is literally the first thing you see walking into the park. There's going to be quite a strange void there if there truly is no scare zone...

I have to ask - how did you earn that amount of tokens in one week post changes? You can't even win Saws'n'Steam guaranteed anymore.

I thought for a moment they might be purging the "refreshers'" scores, but no, my and others' scores remain at the top. If you were doing something "else" to "beat the house," I think it should've been clear at this point that Universal wants us to play by their rules.

I'm inclined to agree with Dr. Jimmy - his hypothesis simply seems to make more sense. While you can have overarching ideas as your theme (myths & legends, luck/fate) the general public likes a face. Lady Luck is our face. I look forward to the hype of her reveal, but I just pray her presence in the event isn't botched... Universal hasn't been able to truly nail it since 2007 with Jack's return. 2008: Bloody Mary Rights: Elaborate website & back story, heavy marketing push, plenty of merchandise, cool presence throughout park with the projections & house cameos Wrongs: Letdown of an icon house + no Mary in the street = disappointing payoff to the build-up 2009: The Usher Rights: Elaborate website & back story, excellent icon house, great park presence via projections, front-gate scare zone & video, and appearance in Shadows of the Past Wrongs: NO marketing push + NO event merchandise = minimal exposure to general public, a missed opportunity to truly establish another core icon 2010: FEAR Rights: Cool "Warehouse EXXperience", solid scare zone, good media hype (Youtube-released videos), plenty of merchandise Wrongs: Confused/poorly executed marketing push (Cloverfield approach isn't effective in this medium), minimal overall park presence (no more projections!), NO house appearance, lame site excluding the tardy EXXperience... all this = overall underwhelming/non-scary icon Which brings us to... 2011: Lady Luck Rights: Great website thus far (but her presence remains to be seen), heavy marketing push all but guaranteed, merchandise all but guaranteed Wrongs: NO icon house (?) + minimal park presence = FEAR repeat?