Wicker Man - General Discussion

[Brett]

I read a theory of it beign a spinner or a back to back style of seating on the train, there is an image floating around somewhere but its too vague to comment on, i do think a wood spinner or backwards or a new stye of train we havent seen before is on the cards i dont think something as wild as a floorless train is practical however.

[Aidan Lowe]

Another video just about the release date, expect one of these per day now.

[youtube]FC1LZ-VvhN8[/youtube]

[Justin]

From one excellent video to one which I feel should not have been posted!
The countdown section is fine, but to add Nemesis on the end of it just doesn't fit the tone of the marketing campaign seen so far!

[Ladyofthelake]

It kind of seems like they've taken the SW history stuff from the early videos with Elliott Crawford and mashed it together with the more recent marketing and it just doesn't work. It's a nice idea to link SW8 in with the previous rides in the Secret Weapon series, and it will build up a decent amount of hype, it just could have been executed better. 

[TheBeornen]

Hopefully as the days go on SW8 starts to splice in like some of the letters changing hinting at the reveal or some other part of its backstory

[Kraken]

From one excellent video to one which I feel should not have been posted!
The countdown section is fine, but to add Nemesis on the end of it just doesn't fit the tone of the marketing campaign seen so far!

If you play the latest video on YouTube, one of the suggested videos [from YouTube] at the end is the one we've been asked not to link to on here - the Mods may want to amend the link to the latest SW8 teaser (even though the aforementioned video is quite easy to find).  
Secondly, if Alton have to remind us of previous Secret Weapons, please use original footage from when they launched!  The footage of Nemesis clearly shows Air/Galactica track in the background at one point.  I appreciate camera technology, e.g. HD filming, evolves but this is streaming teasers on YouTube, not a Blu-Ray DVD!  I am old enough to remember the original marketing campaign for Nemesis and it was good - in some ways not dissimilar to SW8 too.  A sort of cult paying homage to Forbidden Valley where the Nemesis was buried before it came back to life.  

[Justin]

From one excellent video to one which I feel should not have been posted!
The countdown section is fine, but to add Nemesis on the end of it just doesn't fit the tone of the marketing campaign seen so far!

If you play the latest video on YouTube, one of the suggested videos [from YouTube] at the end is the one we've been asked not to link to on here - the Mods may want to amend the link to the latest SW8 teaser (even though the aforementioned video is quite easy to find).  
Secondly, if Alton have to remind us of previous Secret Weapons, please use original footage from when they launched!  The footage of Nemesis clearly shows Air/Galactica track in the background at one point.  I appreciate camera technology, e.g. HD filming, evolves but this is streaming teasers on YouTube, not a Blu-Ray DVD!  I am old enough to remember the original marketing campaign for Nemesis and it was good - in some ways not dissimilar to SW8 too.  A sort of cult paying homage to Forbidden Valley where the Nemesis was buried before it came back to life.  

Thank you for making us aware. Unfortunately, we can't remove suggested videos from the videos posted above, however, as long as the link to the footage is not directly posted on the forum then it can remain.

Back to the discussion, I suppose they are trying to be consistent with the footage, especially as it also plays in the Rollercoaster Restuarant too. They are obviously going to countdown with Oblivion, Galactica (Air), Th13teen and The Smiler, which will be in a similar fashion to the above video. If so, I'm disappointed.

[PhNx Survivor]

Curious.. I'm quite interested to see why they have mentioned this year about all the previous SW's.. compared to other years, we've only had little info, not to this extent anyway.. very curious.

[Ripsaw Raver]

Could it be hinting to the return of SubTerra possibly?

[Robert.W]

I actually quite like the fact that they want to link SW8 with the previous Secret Weapons... it's almost as if they are trying to "welcome" it as part of the SW family, although I do agree that as individual videos, they do seem to make the current SW8 marketing campaign a bit inconsistent, however, as a series of videos, I'm hopeful it will appear more consistent as a whole.

Going to what Kraken was saying about them not using the original marketing footage, which I do think is a shame, but perhaps what Alton Towers are thinking was that that footage might appear a little too obscure, or might not represent the ride properly... I think the resort want to focus on the actual ride than how it was marketed, even if the styles seen are similar to what the original marketing was like.

[8byfire]

Things get interesting (or more so)

Unearth
ʌnˈəːθ/
verb
past tense:  unearthed ; past participle:  unearthed

1.
find (something) in the ground by digging.
"workmen unearthed an ancient artillery shell"

synonyms:
dig up, excavate, exhume, disinter, bring to the surface, mine, quarry, pull out, root out, scoop out, disentomb, unbury
"workmen unearthed an ancient artillery shell"

antonyms: bury

discover (something hidden, lost, or kept secret) by investigation or searching.
"they have done all they can to unearth the truth"

synonyms: discover, uncover, find, come across, hit on, strike on, encounter, track down, bring to light, reveal, expose, elicit, turn up, dredge up, ferret out, hunt out, fish out, nose out, sniff out, smell out, take the wraps off
"some recent research has unearthed an interesting fact"

antonyms:cover up

2.
drive (an animal, especially a fox) out of a hole or burrow.

Alton have been adding bits to the video descriptions I think- sure this wasn't there before?

In a clearing, a mountainous hand built structure is taking shape. Looming over the woods, its incandescent glow ominous yet mesmerizing. Only the chosen few may enter. Be chosen.

Hmm, take another very close look at the plans- this *might* not be the Wicker Man/Ram as you'd first think. Maybe there are one or two other theming elements still. Is there something for the queue to enter? It could be the man/ram and it's correct that the other theming envelopes have been scrapped, but perhaps they haven't been, only four days until we know, Alton are cleverly leaving even us sleuths with uncertainties! It still seems odd that the man/ram is structure two and the one marked as number one seems odd- as has been suggested it would obscure the now seen second one, really confusing pondering this on the plans- do we enter under the fire (pyre?), awesomely therefore I'm still excited even with what I (think) I do know!

And this enigmatic bit of the interruption message in the earlier teasers

"Come join us near the woods and partake in our celebration. How far you choose to go... that is your choice. What part you choose to play... only you can decide."

Is there a choice visitors to the experience make in some part of it?

Four more eggs spotted- candles with 'gift' > wick!, poses of actors in park at Scarefest matching video poses,
and the last clue being 'Ritual' - a certain movie was based on a book of that name in which the victim has gone somewhere of his own free will... Beware the desire to be chosen? Mwahahaha.

Unearthed: I think this is re. the wicker man emerging from the earth (but also fits its unveiling) - Alton seem quite keen to emphasize the 'groundbreaking' nature of Nemesis as well - it seems intentional that they've used the same 'groundbreaking attraction' tagline in reference to Nemesis and mention it being a European first.... The former could be for this reason (and the Nemesis 'creature' is emerging from the earth of the ride's excavations) but they're playing with us as to whether SW8 is some sort of first ride-wise as well, this does remain a possibility like the 14 inversion surprise of SW7, something could be sprung on us! They're teasing this possibility by highlighting SW8 being the latest in this series.

I'd spotted the date being palindromic/mirrored too, 8.1.18, someone else pointed out some people would write it as 1.8.18
1= connection, first, origin. 8=infinity. SW8 (the number symbols are... interesting) and one 8 (ate, consumed...) 18 > eaten/eating sound suggestion, feed the flames....

Although my earlier post wasn't placing any significance on how you were marked, the comment not all 'Chosen' had the two lines is correct, rather just that you were marked with ash, quite a few of the marked did have the two lines and this seemed most common although I only saw a very few 'marked' people, it does echo the 1.1 in the date and the 1 symbol. I saw three lines as a mark too though - so could be a case of once you know there are easter eggs and planted connections you notice things that aren't just because you're looking, but then it wouldn't be out of the question for the creative team I mean the villagers to represent 'the chosen' in their symbols

Ignite your senses- something multi-sensory about the ride? Blindfold bit of maze had wind, the distorted (fire sound?) music and people grabbing your legs, could be other things I may have missed! Don't think the latter will be part of the coaster though!

And finally two other thoughts of different possibilities:
The Wicker Man could be some being the villagers have awoken
Have the Beornen not just faced death but survived it? Have they already undergone the ritual?

[T0mPr1ce]

Your research into this is quite remarkable 8byfire, but I fear you are looking too hard into this to try and find something. I know there's no excitement in waiting but we won't know much until Monday or even until we have ridden it! 

[8byfire]

Tom Price- I just can't resist an Easter egg hunt, once you spot one....

Putting commuters in a... cage/Cage, see there's another (and a two-in-one!)

"The Beornen structure is now complete, towering above the treeline. Although dormant, an ominous drum beat can be heard from within, echoing through the woods of Alton. Ignite your senses and join the chosen few. The awakening is nigh, unearthing 8-1-18. Be Chosen" "find your freedom" - something/someone trying to escape at 0:21....

Does look like structure is just the one we've seen from this (also changed now?) wording with this video. 

Some ideas here too- scare maze did have villager reference the whole village being burned ("there's nothing left, they've burned the whole village") so we may see something similar, but no inversions!:

[Aidan Lowe]

Just a FYI when I went on YouTube last night it said 17 minutes ago so looks like these will adhere to following SW8 and will be posted the same time each night at 8pm I'd say. With the reveal being on the 8th as well I wouldn't put it past them for an 8am timeslot.

[Bert]

^ If you look at all of Alton Towers Facebook posts their often posted at 20:00. And the other social media just post whenever they feel like it. 

If they want the media to write about on 8-1-18 they'll post it earlier, or have a media presentation earlier so people can find out that day. 8pm is a strange time for an anouncement and I think Galactica and Cbeebies stuff was anounced during the afternoon. And of course Sub Terra was anounced 18:18.

[NeoXIII]

*checks clock*
Close, but no cigar (at least on SM):
https://twitter.com/altontowers/status/948945699051319296

[Jcoaster]

anyone have any rough guess of when it might open?

[Dan]

anyone have any rough guess of when it might open?

I believe the park are aiming to get it open for the 17th March.

I guess we’ll find out on Monday though!

[Loakin]

With everyone talking about the reveal date, I think we’re looking too far into it, searching for things that aren’t there. Towers always do their announcements in January, it’s purely coincidence. And with what 8byfire said about the two 1s in the reveal date potentially showing the marks from the welcoming, it is just coincidence, the 1st of 18. I don’t think the date was thought about by Towers a lot and it probably doesn’t hold any clues. Sorry to be a downer 

What I have been thinking about is the way Towers are hyping up the reveal, their doing a big countdown, we’ve had a ton of teasers. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more than just a name reveal. Potentially the trains, footage of the ride testing, the experience itself, how did the Beornen become the Beornen, etc. Also it was pointed out on another forum that the advert mentioning SW8 as world first has now been removed which could mean that it was a mistake and they probably meant to say world class or something. One thing I really hope they show in the reveal are the fire effects if there will be any...

[TheBeornen]

I think this might be one of Merlin's biggest reveals as they would want to bring in as many people to the park as possible because of attendance not doing as well in recent years (even though they now are on the up.) They probably want to grab the attention to as many people as they can which could also be why they went with a more family ride rather than a white-knuckle thrill ride even though the ride still looks great.