Fallout 4… Suicide Squad… Game of Thrones…
Does the hype train ever stop?
When it comes to geeky things I like, I will happily be the first guy to get SUPER hyped up about the latest trailer, announcement, casting decision, etcetera etcetera… but as we get older we start to recognise how that may hurt us, and so we grow cynical.
When games don’t work like they should, when Suicide Squad isn’t the second coming of BatJesus (although if Bats and Supes get morphed into one entity that’s totally what he/they should be called) and when the next Fifa game includes pay to win options for online play called ‘Qooky Qrazy Qatar Mode!’, we can get a little burnt by our own optimism. I just watched the trailer for Fallout 4 and I’m cynical about it’s graphical quality for god’s sake. It’s a new freakin’ Fallout game, wow enough right? How does one stay hyped nowadays, without the hype train going off the rails?
1: LOOK AT WHO’S MAKING IT
If the creator has a great track record and the thing they’re making is playing to that creator’s strengths, you can bet your overly emotional investment into pieces of fiction that you’re going to enjoy it. I.e. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens being made by J.J. Abrams, the guy who made Star Trek look like Star Wars. Fair bet. Or Avengers: Age of Ultron being made by Joss Whedon. The first one was pretty great, any fan of Whedon knows he’s great at dialogue and juggling multiple characters interacting, Avengers seems like a great fit (spoiler alert, it was pretty damn good!)
2: TRAILER ANALYSIS
What does the trailer show exactly? Does it know how to tease without giving the whole thing away? Does it know what it’s selling and how best to sell it? There’s nothing worse than a property being ashamed of itself and trying to be something it’s not.
What a lovely trailer!
A little bland…
Not that Ant-man looks bad at all, but that first trailer sold NO ONE on it. The more recent ones are a lot more fun and assure us that yes, this is a fun Marvel movie, but this first one is so serious! It’s a trailer for Ant-man! Play to your strengths!
3: PASSIONATE OR MONEY GRABBING?
All movies are made to make money. Might as well make a good one while you’re at it right?
Sometimes companies jump on movie trends without understanding why they’re popular, and end up mistreating the material and putting out abysmal rubbish like shown above. They didn’t do it as bad with the Andrew Garfield Spiderman films, but, again, they were clearly trying to profit off the whole big continuity universe thing without knowing what they’re doing, adding all these connections to Oscorp and chucking in every villain they can to build to a Sinister Six movie (that is no longer happening surprise surprise!).
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing it doesn’t go in a fruit salad. I don’t know who said that but, the point is, watch out for funky fruit salads.
4: HYPE IS A GAMBLE
Being cautiously optimistic is the key here. Things can seem to be legitimate and so hype will be invested, but always remember that anything can go belly up. Anything. Getting excited about something without all the information on it’s quality is always a gamble, a calculated risk, and you can’t have all the information on something till it’s actually here. As far as games go, leave preorders at the door and wait for reviews. I love being hyped about new geeky things. I think anyone part of any fanbase of anything does!
But keep in mind one thing…
Just remember the last time people were hyped for a Star Wars film…
