- Jul 27, 2015
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But those weren’t the actual themes. In interviews (I miss the Calendar section), Roddy, TJ, etc would be asked “What’s the theme this year?” and they would say the tag line. Then they explained how the icon fit the theme. Only on rare occasions did the formal tag line not match the theme in those interviews (2005, when the theme was “Terra Cruentes” and 2008, when the theme was actually “urban legends”).The theme of those years was presented through a media campaign detailing the backstories of those characters. As someone who didn’t attend those years, but paid attention to the event from a far, I took 12 as Islands of Fear presented by The Caretaker, and 13 as The Director has cast you in various roles of his sadistic productions.
Since 25 was a little more than a tag line, I’d think 30 will be the same. An icon hosting the event, which is themed to bring you into a nightmarish world.
The confusion is that many of the icon years had stories to explain the icon’s place in the event, and some years had better integrated stories (2005) than others (2002). Shoot, HHN 23 (TWD) has one of the most integrated stories they’d ever done... but “TWD” wasn’t the theme.
It’s all semantics, sure. But when fans say “I want a theme” they actually mean “story.” Themes are just recurring ideas to provide ambiance.
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