• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

[2024] Thorpe Park: Hyperia - Mack Hypercoaster

Matt.GC said:
Whilst Shambhala isn't "Heavily" themed, it's not half bad in that department mind. It splashes down right in the middle of a fully themed Himalayan village and has theming from the archway to the entrance. It has more theming than your average Merlin coaster, let alone a hyper.
Click to expand...
I haven’t yet done Shambhala, to be fair (I’m doing it for the first time in September!), so I was making an assumption based on what I’d seen of it. If there is more theming than first meets the eye, then fair enough. The splashdown plaza has always looked quite nicely done!

I was more thinking of the likes of Silver Star. By most accounts, Europa Park is a heavily themed park that heavily emphasises ride and area theming. Despite this, I’d struggle to call Silver Star anything other than “minimally themed”, and that’s coming from someone who’s a huge fan of its actual ride experience relative to most…
 
Josh555 said:
Mako also has virtually no theming but it’s never mentioned because it’s in Florida.
Click to expand...
I have been on it, most of sea worlds park has little themeing (tbh a lot of their rides probably is / was stialised, although manta is amazing), although the station and quite a bit of the surrounding area is / was themed lightly to ships and it was a nice place from what I recall (this was like 5 years ago now so may have changed as they have added quite a few rides)
 
Josh555 said:
Mako also has virtually no theming but it’s never mentioned because it’s in Florida.
Click to expand...
I agree. Mako also has relatively minimal theming aside from a basic style, one shipwreck and some theme music. It’s probably got a very similar level of theming to what we’ll be seeing from Hyperia. SeaWorld seem to have transitioned away from heavy theming in general in recent years, though, so that one might not necessarily be indicative of hyper coasters typically being less themed.

As far as I can remember, SeaWorld never once marketed Mako based on any heavy emphasis on the theming. From memory, that coaster’s marketing was mostly based on the coaster itself and the stats, with only very minimal emphasis on the shark theming and no emphasis on any kind of backstory.
 
The 'story' should just have been kept behind the scenes, as a guide for creatives when it comes to style and any sort of propping or imagery. Kept as a concept guiding every decision, but never revealed to guests explicitly.

What about anything we've seen of the attraction suggests this story is being brought to life at Thorpe? If it's simply stylistically inspiring the rides design, they should keep it at that level.

-

I'm not afraid to say that I'm disappointed the ride doesn't have more going for it as a theme park attraction. I don't buy the "Hypers aren't usually well themed" argument - many hypers sprawl, have limited contact with the ground and can sometimes cross area boundaries. Hyperia doesn't, it's compact, within its own space with lots of potential interaction with the ground, lake and queueline.

Nothing about the hardware, or design, is stopping this from being the best themed coaster in the world if they wanted it to be, it's a business decision, simple as.
 
Matt N said:
The funny thing is, they actually originally filed a trademark for Icarus, which could infer that something like this was the original plan. The trademark got rejected because of a flat ride named Icarus at Twinlakes. This led to Hyperia being the name instead.
Click to expand...
I’ve always wondered why they didn’t just call it either Flight Of Icarus or Icarus Flight when they found out that Icarus was already trademarked.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
I’ve always wondered why they didn’t just call it either Flight Of Icarus or Icarus Flight when they found out that Icarus was already trademarked.
Click to expand...
For the same reason they couldn't call a ride Flight of Mickey Mouse or Mickey Mouse's Flight, the phrase "Mickey Mouse" is trademarked in connection to entertainment products. It would infringe on the trademark. You can't use a trademarked term within a trademark.

"Game of Monopoly" or "Monopoly Like Game" would also infringe on trademarks.

"Park of Alton Towers", "Alton Towers Park".

"Drink of Coca-Cola", "Coca-Cola Drink".

Etc, etc, etc.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
For the same reason they couldn't call a ride Flight of Mickey Mouse or Mickey Mouse's Flight, the phrase "Mickey Mouse" is trademarked in connection to entertainment products. It would infringe on the trademark. You can't use a trademarked term within a trademark.

"Game of Monopoly" or "Monopoly Like Game" would also infringe on trademarks.

"Park of Alton Towers", "Alton Towers Park".

"Drink of Coca-Cola", "Coca-Cola Drink".

Etc, etc, etc.
Click to expand...
We do actually have some rides with the same name at different parks in the UK. For example there are coasters called Runaway Mine Train at both Alton Towers and Flamingo Land, and a Tidal Wave attraction at both Thorpe Park and Adventure Island.

There are also things like Flight Of The Pteranodon at Gulliver’s World and a Flight Of The Pterosaur at Paulton’s and Alice In Wonderland at Pleasure Beach and Alice’s Car Ride at Lightwater Valley where two rides have similar but slightly different names (or Cobra at Drayton and Kobra at Chessington). So I do wonder if Thorpe could have maybe gotten a bit creative to work their way around things, or maybe they just thought that creating a new name in Hyperia would have been the most effective thing for them.
 
I mean, I know people are moaning about people moaning (the irony) about it being called a Valley when it’s just an area name so shouldn’t matter, but they’ve literally put out marketing materials and visuals showing a mountain on an island. The opposite of a valley?! It just makes the whole thing seem really silly.

Would the same people be defending them calling Mutiny Bay, Mutiny Mountain for example? Surely not.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
We do actually have some rides with the same name at different parks in the UK. For example there are coasters called Runaway Mine Train at both Alton Towers and Flamingo Land, and a Tidal Wave attraction at both Thorpe Park and Adventure Island.

There are also things like Flight Of The Pteranodon at Gulliver’s World and a Flight Of The Pterosaur at Paulton’s and Alice In Wonderland at Pleasure Beach and Alice’s Car Ride at Lightwater Valley where two rides have similar but slightly different names (or Cobra at Drayton and Kobra at Chessington). So I do wonder if Thorpe could have maybe gotten a bit creative to work their way around things, or maybe they just thought that creating a new name in Hyperia would have been the most effective thing for them.
Click to expand...
None of those contain registered trademarks in the relevant category. If the word Runaway, or the phrase Runaway Mine Trane, were registered as a trademark, then another park would be unable to use that name. If the word or phrase you're using isn't a registered trademark, or if another park has failed to register a trademark, then go nuts. You can use it however you want.

It's not whether someone else is using the same name, it's whether that name is a registered trademark.

Icarus is a registered trademark, in the relevant category, without paying a licence Thorpe would be unable to use the word in merchandise or for the ride's name.

You can search for registered trademarks here: https://www.gov.uk/search-for-trademark
 
Benzin said:
They're making an absolute hash of the marketing for this aren't they?
Click to expand...
Looking from a slightly different perspective, thoosies have filled four pages of this topic with over the top reaction to a sad little video, in twelve hours...so I'm guessing that from a marketing perspective, hyping a big new ride, they have done a top notch job of generating further interest, haven't they?
 
Bowser said:
I


Out of interest, who and how has someone trademarked a name from Greek mythology? I can think of several video games that use the name for example…
Click to expand...
Several companies have got registered trademarks for the word mark "Icarus", or different logos (images) with "Icarus", in several different categories.

Anyone is able to register a trademark, in whichever class they want. As long as the registration doesn't infringe on somebody else's registered trademark, and as long as it isn't objected to, then approval is likely to be granted.

If the registered trademark isn't defended, ie someone else uses it and you don't get them to stop, you will loose the trademark.

A common word, or one in folklore such as Icarus, can be trademarked in a category where its use wouldn't be expected or generic.

Apple is be a good example of this. It's a registered trademark in certain categories, relating to services and electronics, but obviously not in food. Before Apple Computer, Apple Corps was created by The Beatles. Apple Computer were permitted to use the word mark Apple, as a trademark, in electronics but not in music (something which later ended up in a settled lawsuit).

Trademark law is complex and tricky. If someone else has a similar registered trademark, or word mark, it's best to avoid it.

I'm not sure of the exact categories where "Icarus" caused an issue, but if it was in clothing, for example, then Thorpe Park wouldn't be able to sell Icarus coaster branded hoodies.

I hope I've managed to explain it a little at least!
 
I appreciate them trying to give brand identity and theme to the coaster but the story and dialog in the video is so convoluted. I saw this on social media and thought it was advertising for a video game, which makes sense looking at the production company’s portfolio.

There are far too many unnecessary concepts being conveyed with ‘flight’, ‘finding your wings’, ‘finding your fearless’… why not focus on the glaringly obvious USP which is the height? The video makes it look like a flying coaster.

It’s a shame because I think a unique animation style could have been a really creative way to sell the ride. The pouring of the molten wings is a really great visual.

For non enthusiasts, they more than likely won’t recognise the silhouette of the coaster yet, so the handful of seconds it’s actually in shot becomes redundant when they didn’t even bother to put the Hyperia logo, tagline or Thorpe park logo at the end!

The fact that this is going to be playing in the queue as you board is pretty underwhelming in terms of building anticipation.

Also, is Amanda Thompson running their social media account? Replying to every comment and going into the detail of ‘we’ve been having a mare with our scheduling software’, does not look professional at all. Explaining away the video or outright sassing people who have negatively commented on the promo is not a good look.

I hope they turn this around for the full TV ad as the marketing campaign so far hasn’t been overly captivating.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top