The Icons and Lore Thread

[pumpkinbot343]

It's funny because the only interesting one is depicted as a broken mirror due to copyright lol

All that being said, this is very good and I particularly like the warm tones used and the Storyteller is adorable

I couldn’t find any fanart of HHN concerning Bloody Mary. I’m not just talking good fanart, I couldn’t find anything. Guess that’s to be expected considering she’s a character not seen for over 13 years.

I’m kinda considering legit commissioning an artist to do it but I don’t know where to look and I usually don’t have enough money for it.

Not really “fanart” but Dark Fantastic Design on redbubble does some merchandise based on HHN. Below is a design for Bloody Mary (High Priestess) used for various items like shirts and magnets.

 

[Clive]

A reminder to avoid double posting when possible, please.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Noted.

Some behind the scenes info on the Usher’s creation (Credit to HalloweenHorrorNightsNerd; speaking of the rest of which is found here):


Inspiration for The Usher’s Backstory: His death (accidently hanging himself backstage) was inspired by actual IRL tragic accidents that happened at old theaters back in the day, Universal’s HHN Team just turned up the ghost lore aspects of it by alluding to an evil force inside the theater caused the accidents. Also some of the creative directors have noted that inspiration for Julian’s strict enforcement of the rules stemmed from their own bosses at movie theaters they worked during their own teen years.

Inspiration for The Usher’s Personality: The actor who plays him the most in commercials and interviews has stated he took inspiration from the character Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and decidedly creepy old people when deciding how best to personify the undead usher. Many other actors who have played the character often point to inspiration from the original actor himself as well as a “chill version” of The CryptKeeper from the TV show Tales from the Crypt.

Inspiration for The Usher’s Appearance: Surprisingly enough Universal’s HHN Artists designed Julian’s costume to be unique, not realizing until after having made countless duplicates for the event that the costume bares a striking resemblence to Disney’s Tower of Terror bellhop uniforms. They literally shrugged and just went with what they had already designed. The flashlight was inspired by the actual flashlights used in movie theater ushers back during the 1940s.

Julian’s makeup was designed around the idea that he was dead, you’ll note that Julian has a more yellow tint* to his skin during 2009 that turns to a more regular pale shade as the years progress. This is because the makeup director wanted Julian to look like a real corpse who’s skin had yellowed, cheeks had puffed while cheekbones had sunken in, and eyes had sunken in and darkened as well as lips had darkened. They actually researched actual images of dead people for reference when designing his makeup. The scar on his neck from his death seems to have become a sort of after thought after the 2009 event because occasionally you’ll find images of actors playing the Usher where he’s missing his most noteworthy wound and when it does appear anymore it’s usually just a mark across the neck and not an actual prosthetic.

For reference regarding the slight change in Usher’s makeup; this was the more yellow looking Usher in 2009

and the pale Usher since then

I couldn’t find anything in 2009 regarding the neck wound but yeah from below it does seemed to have softened quite a bit (though I’m not quite sure this was the finished makeup from 2015 though, and I remember this Usher had long hair).

 

[Kinchkinet85]

Noted.

Some behind the scenes info on the Usher’s creation (Credit to HalloweenHorrorNightsNerd; speaking of the rest of which is found here):


Inspiration for The Usher’s Backstory: His death (accidently hanging himself backstage) was inspired by actual IRL tragic accidents that happened at old theaters back in the day, Universal’s HHN Team just turned up the ghost lore aspects of it by alluding to an evil force inside the theater caused the accidents. Also some of the creative directors have noted that inspiration for Julian’s strict enforcement of the rules stemmed from their own bosses at movie theaters they worked during their own teen years.

Inspiration for The Usher’s Personality: The actor who plays him the most in commercials and interviews has stated he took inspiration from the character Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and decidedly creepy old people when deciding how best to personify the undead usher. Many other actors who have played the character often point to inspiration from the original actor himself as well as a “chill version” of The CryptKeeper from the TV show Tales from the Crypt.

Inspiration for The Usher’s Appearance: Surprisingly enough Universal’s HHN Artists designed Julian’s costume to be unique, not realizing until after having made countless duplicates for the event that the costume bares a striking resemblence to Disney’s Tower of Terror bellhop uniforms. They literally shrugged and just went with what they had already designed. The flashlight was inspired by the actual flashlights used in movie theater ushers back during the 1940s.

Julian’s makeup was designed around the idea that he was dead, you’ll note that Julian has a more yellow tint* to his skin during 2009 that turns to a more regular pale shade as the years progress. This is because the makeup director wanted Julian to look like a real corpse who’s skin had yellowed, cheeks had puffed while cheekbones had sunken in, and eyes had sunken in and darkened as well as lips had darkened. They actually researched actual images of dead people for reference when designing his makeup. The scar on his neck from his death seems to have become a sort of after thought after the 2009 event because occasionally you’ll find images of actors playing the Usher where he’s missing his most noteworthy wound and when it does appear anymore it’s usually just a mark across the neck and not an actual prosthetic.

For reference regarding the slight change in Usher’s makeup; this was the more yellow looking Usher in 2009

and the pale Usher since then

I couldn’t find anything in 2009 regarding the neck wound but yeah from below it does seemed to have softened quite a bit (though I’m not quite sure this was the finished makeup from 2015 though, and I remember this Usher had long hair).

Usher is my favorite so thank you!

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Question for anyone who knows the behind the scenes at Uni; this bugs the hell out of me about the commercials : why do most of them have different actors playing the HHN Icons as opposed to in-park actors? Bryce Ward did not portray the Caretaker for the spots in 2002 and 2006. The actors who played Storyteller, Director, and Lady Luck in the TV ads were not the ones who acted for the “in house” promos at Universal Orlando itself. I remember a podcast featuring one of the people (Michael Roddy) who used to work at Uni where he confirmed he had a friend who played Bloody Mary for the video they shot that year (2008) and there was another one who played Mary for the commercial and photo shoot. Hell even the DESIGNS of Albert, Elsa and Dr. Agana for the commercials don’t actually match the designs in-park.

I would assumed this was just because of the location (I’m pretty sure most of them were shot at Hollywood); however the spots for 2006, 2007, and 2015 DID feature the original actor for Jack the Clown (James Keaton) as well as Erin as Chance in 2015 (not counting her appearance in 2016’s ad as I’m pretty sure that just shoehorned a shot of her there). So… what gives?

Bringing this topic back because it’s been a while and it still weirds me out.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

I kind of have an idea for Terra Cruentus but I’m not sure if I should share it as it doesn’t really have anything to do with Icons and it’s both unrealistic and rips characters from other franchises.