The Icons and Lore Thread

[JawsVictim]

Whatever, as long as Edward can take over next year

I've already planned the whole year out

Not so fast. 31 is the year of the Pumpkin Lord, pal. He grows Halloween.

 

[Legacy]

Yeah, Eddie and Cindy kinda got off easy from Fear.

Because Eddie and Cindy aren’t “icons.”

 

[MikePat]

Because Eddie and Cindy aren’t “icons.”

Adding on to that, there is a clip in a interview with Lora Sauls and Charles Gray saying that there where some characters that they wanted to put in HHN Icons: Captured but then they had to ask themselves "was this character an official Icon?" The team said they where very focused on making HHN Icons: Captured filled with only official Icons. They continued by saying that the characters who where unofficial Icons get to be sprinkled throughout the park through other houses and scare zones. Again, guessing they where referring to Eddie and Cindy in that interview. Bone too.

 

[DOOMBOT]

Because Eddie and Cindy aren’t “icons.”

I get that, it's just funny thinking about how in lore Eddie barely not getting the gig in the early 2000s is the reason he's not stuck in Nightmare prison for eternity. Jack is stuck in limbo and Eddie's just like, "Well, dodged a bullet there. Time to make some movies."

 

[Nick]

Because Eddie and Cindy aren’t “icons.”

Focusing in on this, I think an interesting house idea (possibly in a non-anniversary year) would be to have all of the "almost" icons given a house. Call the house "Forgotten Souls" or something. Have a house with Eddie, Cindy, Blood & Bone, Terra Queen (although she's kinda tied to the 15 years thing), etc. They could sort of make for a ragtag group that has it out for Fear and the Icons.

 

[Legacy]

Focusing in on this, I think an interesting house idea (possibly in a non-anniversary year) would be to have all of the "almost" icons given a house. Call the house "Forgotten Souls" or something. Have a house with Eddie, Cindy, Blood & Bone, Terra Queen (although she's kinda tied to the 15 years thing), etc. They could sort of make for a ragtag group that has it out for Fear and the Icons.

Anything to bring Nightmare back.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Anything to bring Nightmare back.

Who?

Here's a good show scene example:

I was at a haunt where we were supposed to be in a prison and we entered into a long hallway (about thirty to forty feet) with cells on our right and just black wall on our left. At the end of the hallway was a girl beckoning us forward. We heeded her call as she seemed panicked and kept asking to be let out before "he" arrived.

While we were talking to her trying to figure out how to help, she screamed and pointed down the hallway we had just walked down. At the end stood a stiltwalker with a huge sledgehammer. He took a few steps down the hallway and stood underneath the furthest light. He "smashed" the light with his sledgehammer and proceeded to the next one. After smashing three more lights, we were in complete darkness and could only hear his footsteps. A light came on, a shot of wind hit us, and his hammer was swinging above our heads while an escape door opened beside us.

That would never happen at HHN

Was it something like this?

 

[Nick]

Who?

He's from Islands of Fear in 2002. He was in the Island of Evil Souls scarezone.

 

[Legacy]

Who?

Nightmare

Nightmare (alternatively known as Knightmare) is a character that first appeared during 2002's Halloween Horror Nights: Islands of Fear. He was a demonic, nightmarish figure created to become the face of the scarezone titled Island of Evil Souls. He would stand at the entrance of the zone...

halloweenhorrornights.fandom.com

 

[kingcooger]

Was it something like this?

Haha, yep! That’s the one!

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Roddy is/was a creative genius so that's a shame, whatever it was.

I'm kind of surprised they bothered to license her in the first place and didn't just use Crowe.

Super late, but I read some theory online (I think twitter maybe) that they just weren’t aware of the copyright until it was too late; and Universal was really soured by it.

On the topic of Roddy, was he really a creative genius? I don’t know much about his work, but I remember him being the lead for a show based on Disney’s Frozen that I think was poorly received. And some of the things I think most interesting about HHN canon didn’t involve Roddy:

• 2003 brought one of the more creepier icons; a snuff film director named Ravinski. (Why is he nicknamed Polan Romanski sometimes?) Marketing creation, best known for those disturbing commercials by Dean Karr. The Port of Evil set that year looked cool too.
• The backstories for 2004’s houses, zones, and shows (particularly Hellgate Prison and Castle Vampyr). I think it was all done by T.J. Mannarino. Even the event itself looked very cool.
• The whole “middle earth meets modern” world of Terra Cruentus. Pretty sure it was all T.J. Probably this most complex story of all of HHN.
• I kind of like Fear/Adaru to an extent; and he was a marketing creation fleshed out by A&D; they originally wanted Cindy so I don’t think Roddy was involved.

And as for when Roddy was in charge? His backstories for Caretaker, Cindy Caine and Jack in 2000 are great, but everything else?

• I forgot why fans love Eddie. His backstory is stupid if I remember.
• 2007 reused Jack as an icon again but in a different costume.
• I said before that Roddy was heavily involved with the Bloody Mary character, but Michael Aiello did write the backstory, which is what fans most remember her for. Plus that was told through the website, so we had T.J. Mannarino having to manage how it was told and visualized. And there was Legendary Truth, made by Ray Keim and David Hughes.
• Likewise Michael Aiello wrote the backstory for The Usher and I guess the Universal Palace Theater. Plus I’m pretty sure T.J. Mannarino had to do all the website shiz. Some fans accuse Usher of being a Director ripoff though I don’t know why.

It’s telling that in 2006, the first year he came back since 2002, that that year was saddled with repeats for everything except two shows, one of which looked really lame. I question how much Roddy really contributed to HHN. He wrote the backstory for Caretaker, he directed the video, but did he write Screamhouse? Add to the fact that I hear in recent years that the original content is going very strong (I don’t really follow the later years so I wouldn’t know). I did see a video of Hive in 2017 and that looked pretty sweet.

 

[Legacy]

Roddy wrote Run and several other houses, and as one of the primary show directors for the event through the aughts, was integral to what the event became during those years. The mere existence of icons is attributed predominantly to him, but even he would tell you it was a team effort. He was extremely good at HHN.

 

[Nick]

On the topic of Roddy, was he really a creative genius? I don’t know much about his work, but I remember him being the lead for a show based on Disney’s Frozen that I think was poorly received.

Roddy had less than two weeks to throw together the show you are referring to back in 2014 and it's still playing today and is the highest rated show in the park and it's in a park with about 4 other popular, long-running shows. The show was also cloned four times to DCA, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Paris.

To be able to create a show in 10 days time (it was created for a summer event that was thrown together extremely last minute because Disney realized they had nothing to draw crowds in against Gringotts that summer) that resonated so well with audiences that it was cloned four times i'd say actually is creative genius and it's also not even close to his best work. Roddy also created the GotG show for Epcot which played in World Showcase (another show created to be a summer draw) and was rather popular. His best work was and always will be HHN though.

Roddy wrote Run and several other houses, and as one of the primary show directors for the event through the aughts, was integral to what the event became during those years. The mere existence of icons is attributed predominantly to him, but even he would tell you it was a team effort. He was extremely good at HHN.

He played a big role in writing B&T for many of the good years if I recall, correct?

 

[Legacy]

He played a big role in writing B&T for many of the good years if I recall, correct?

I’m not sure of his timeline. I think he was the lead writer late nineties to mid-2000s. Kenny Bauble helped a lot with B&T before he was let go, and Mike joined in writing the show mid-ish 2000s as well, I think. Then Patrick took over as the lead writer in 2009-2010.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Thought about Jack, the Caretaker and Mary- could they be classified as “ghosts”? The original Screamhouse hinted at something supernatural going on with Albert. And Jack is too intelligent to count as a zombie. Mary could be a ghost but given the nature of her mirror world she might be a witch instead.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Thought about Jack, the Caretaker and Mary- could they be classified as “ghosts”? The original Screamhouse hinted at something supernatural going on with Albert. And Jack is too intelligent to count as a zombie. Mary could be a ghost but given the nature of her mirror world she might be a witch instead.

Not ghosts, Heralds. Heralds of Fear.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Not ghosts, Heralds. Heralds of Fear.

Minus Mary of course, I don’t think she’s actually part of the lantern. It’s weird I remember Fear, but I always seem to forget that the whole Heralds schtick happened.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Minus Mary of course, I don’t think she’s actually part of the lantern. It’s weird I remember Fear, but I always seem to forget that the whole Heralds schtick happened.

I mean, Lady Luck was never classified as a Herald either but she's now trapped in the Lantern too.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Actually wait is there anything in-canon that a Herald in of itself has any magical powers because of said Herald title? The Director surely doesn’t, I’m pretty sure the monsters in his events were all “actors”.

 

[Legacy]

Actually wait is there anything in-canon that a Herald in of itself has any magical powers because of said Herald title? The Director surely doesn’t, I’m pretty sure the monsters in his events were all “actors”.

No.