I don’t want to lock the thread as much as I’m sure anybody else dosent but it is a bit of a dilemma.
You don’t want to keep talking about COVID and ramifications in this thread, even I’m with that unless it’s absolutely a need at this point.
But then it gets to the location debate recently and it’s like “well we don’t want you guys assuming”. We have a person in the know going “well this debate is useless anyways!” when he’d just told us Beetlejuice isn’t in a soundstage. Why did you help the useless debate at that point then?
The thing is, people come to an assumption because while they may not be doing it in a quick, concise manner, they do decipher things. We get clues and we decipher them. I love clues, but getting clues is part of the issue in a way. Because then there’s a goal to strive for for the people who are bored suddenly.
COVID has really screwed the flux, because normally at this point we’d just have the one random person who’s doubting the rest of what we would know at this point, the yearly trend. But now there’s no know, so it’s this exchange of people who just want to know and people who seem to know but have their mouths stitched and cuffed for a while longer.
For me, it's a curse to know. Really. I want to just tell you guys already so we can start speculating about what's going IN the damn houses, rather than what the properties are. Also, I ONLY confirm, in a way, what others have already said and state excitement for what I've heard. But as far as the actual properties, I only say something if someone else (with knowledge) does first.
A dumb suggestion, that may have been brought up before, and is probably too late for this year:
Has their ever been any consideration for, shall we say, HHN Thread “honorary” mods of sorts? Pseudo-“mods” who could just stick here. I believe you’ve stated (one of you did) that this is the hardest thread yearly, and it’s not hard to believe.
Obviously, the mods we have would still come in here. But just having an extra face or two here to...”steer”? May be helpful.
And to be clear, this is not me submitting my application.
So, since I’m getting talked around, here’s my stance on things.
My clues are for what is expected to appear at HHN. I do them to, as you say, drive conversation. Without someone giving something, some sort of info, then one of two things happens: 1) The boards dry up to nothing (like Nightmares), or 2) It becomes an uncontrollable nightmare of baseless guessing (like the locations discussion) and completely irrelevant conversation (like the Iron Maiden discussion). Neither are enjoyable. Both actually hinders the growth of the HHN community. That is, unequivocally, something I don’t want. That’s why I do what do. It’s also why I stop once a leak or a spec map gets posted. There’s something to discuss.
Now, what about details like location? Why do I consider wild guessing about locations irrelevant?
First, I consider most “wild guessing” noise that drives people away while muddying active speculation. To me, any wild guessing is irrelevant. I’m actually really consistent in that mentality. The location discussion was just guessing. All of the reasons were “popular IPs at the front of the park,” which isn’t the primary reason A&D picks locations. In ALL of that discussion about locations, no one ever said, “here’s a scene in Beetlejuice I expect them to recreate that cannot happen in a tent.” So, when I ask, “Why does location matter,” I want someone to say, “They can’t rig a flying Lydia for ‘Jump in the Line‘ in a tent.” Because then someone is actually thinking like a designer and saying, “If I want to do this, then I need this.”
What’s happened this year is that once people started figuring out one puzzle (“what’s coming”), they start trying to figure out the next puzzle (“Where do they go”). There’s no real opportunity to breath and enjoy the moment when you know what’s coming but not what they’ll entail. What scenes can be in a 30 year anniversary house? What moments in Beetlejuice will A&D try and make scares? (I’ve heard about one that isn’t in my version that I’m disappointed I missed.) We’ve argued endlessly about if Billie Eilish is appropriate enough for HHN, but no one has presented a hypothetical Billie house. There’s no actual enjoyment.
Ringwraith touches on the desire to just say it so you can start speculation on what’s in the houses, but you already have that opportunity. And that’s actually the most enjoyable part.
Now, that is a double-edge sword where what we imagine may be far better than what’s actually built (Ghostbusters), but as long as people remember that it’s
speculation, then there’s no harm in it. Problem is, because the tone of current spec is so, “right and wrong,” X then Y then Z, everything that could even be fun “dream-spec” gets treated as “this is happening.” That forces [me] to remind people that, no, it’s speculation. If I don’t, people get excited for something that isn’t true (which also hurts the community).
I’m probably more culpable in the current state of things than I like. My clues, by virtue of having “right and wrong” answers, creates a similar environment. Like Ringwraith said, knowing is a curse. My “issue” with things as they stand is that, while wild guessing may be fun for the people guessing, it’s a lot less fun for everyone else.
But, for the sake of clarity:
Beetlejuice is in B79 (Old Parade)
30 Years Anniversary house looks to be in MiB.
