The big news in my small circle of geeky friends is, of course, the upcoming "Avengers" movie. Whenever a major film like this comes out that I know I am going to want to see, the months and weeks leading up to it are pure torture as I twist and turn in my efforts to dodge spoilers. I want to experience the movie in as pure a form as possible, unsullied by the expectations or experiences of other people.
Friend of HeroMachine John and I go into the "Cone of Silence", a sensory deprivation chamber where all previews, promos, ads, spoilers, speculative articles, and celebrity interviews are avoided even more vigorously than girls avoided US in high school.
But that's not the only way to approach these kinds of mega projects. So my question for you on this Sharing Day is basically:
How do you handle "big" geek events like major movies or big novel releases? Do you go whole-hog and consume everything humanly possible about it before it comes out, or do you go into your own "Cone of Silence" and try your best to be surprised?
If you like, in return for answering my question to you, you may ask a question of me on any topic and I'll do my best to answer honestly and completely. Just leave your reply (and question, if any) as a comment. The goal is to learn a little more about our community!
Well, when Mass Effect 3 came out, I tried excruciatingly hard to learn everything I could that wasn’t a spoiler. Just things like the release date, and any planned gameplay mechanics. that way, I wouldn’t go psychotic during the wait
Oh, I was wondering, what’s your favorite videogame?
I try to find a middle line between the two. I liked movies the critics panned (The Spirit), and waited breathlessly for the Star Trek reboot, only to wish I had read the critical reviews (“If you are a Star Trek fan already, you will either accept this, or loath it.”) But I guess I would prefer to go to the movie without any real prior knowledge of plots, costumes, and special effects. (Note, still trying to get into a showing of John Carter…)
I used to be like you and John with the “cone of silence” thing, but today I can say, whatever I see or hear then so be it. It is hard to fight the spoilage that gets thrown around the ‘net these days so I don’t bother screening anymore. Also, with my kids gettin’ more active in their geekism, I get bombarded from all sides. You known, you could take in all the spoilers and secrets, but you still have to see the movie to enjoy it. I only thing I pray for is that the production studios get it RIGHT, and its a movie I can watch over and over again. That’s the bottom line!
Question – Out of curiousity, how many submissions for the big contest have you recieved up to now? Are you swamped yet? Or disappointed with the turn out so far?
Have a great weekend to everyone! Cheers!
Usually when something comes out that I’m excited for I wikipedia…..Yes I might know what happens before it happens, but for me the fun part is seeing how they get to each individual part.
Ok, Jeff, if you had to recruit 10 superheroes onto a team who would you recruit? And Superman can’t be on the list
Let’s see, of all time I’d have to go waaaaaaaaay back and say “King’s Quest III”. That was the first time I got completely hooked on a computer game and it still has a great feeling of nostalgia for me.
Another big time favorite was “Civilization III”. Awesome, totally immersive game.
And finally I’d list the “Baldur’s Gate” series as my favorite D&D style RPG.
We’ve gotten less than 12, I think it is. That’s less than I was expecting on the one hand, but on the other hand it’s one of those multi-week affairs like “Friday Night Fights”, and those always tend to come in a rush towards the end. So I’m not worried yet.
Meaning, less that 12 people have entered, but some of those have put in all nine allowable characters.
No Superman? Fine, then Superboy Prime! I kid.
I always think of these things in terms of team roles. Like, you need a mentalist, a brick, a flyer, an energy projector, a martial artist, a tech person, a gadget person, etc.
I’d go with Emma Frost, Iron Man, Thor, Wolverine, Batman, Mister Fantastic, Green Lantern, Power Girl, Martian Manhunter, and Deathstroke the Terminator.
Team Leader would be Reed Richards, since Batman and Deathstroke would be too busy plotting and counter-plotting against each other to be bothered. You’ve got Superman replacements in J’Onn J’Onzz, Power Girl, and Thor, all of whom can both dish out and take massive damage. You’ve got tech support in Reed, Batman, and Iron Man. For up-close and personal destruction you have Wolverine and Deathstroke.
Plus you’ve got strategy and tactics out the wazoo with Batman and Deathstroke.
I think they’d be a fun team! Who would you pick?
Which Green Lantern….Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewert, or Guy Gardner
With my ‘geeky’ events I tend to scour the internet for all kinds of tidbits and rumours on the up coming geekism (currently Guild Wars 2) I think for me the reason I do this, is so I get my geek fix. I’m a very impatient person and those little morsels or teasers that movie producers and game designers throw out are literally that to me. Morsels tiding me over until i can sit down to a big feast of geekiness
I would pick Black suited Spiderman, Beast, Martian Manhunter, Sabertooth, X-Man, Phoenix, Superman 1000000, Spectre, Ion, Batman Beyond
Usually I’ll watch the trailer. I’ll watch cast/crew interviews, but only if they just happen to be on the news or something- I don’t actively search for them. I don’t really like movie spoilers and so I tend to wait until I actually see it and experience the full thing. Not quite a ‘cone of silence’, but close. With comics, I’m a bit more likely to search for previews, usually covers, preview pages, character sketches or whatever.
Basically, I don’t want to be too spoiled, but I like some previews and trailers to whet my appetite and get me more hyped up for the upcoming release.
As for question… I’ll ask one when I think of one.
One thing I do NOT want to know about is cameo spoilers.
For example, when Iron Man came out, if someone had ruined Samuel L. Jackson’s appearance as Nick Fury, I would have beaten the hell out of him.
Regarding the contest, I’m still deciding if I want to go with some of my existing characters, or if I’m going to try to do something new. But you’ll have my submission by the due date. I hope.
Maybe after I go to Alamo Drafthouse on May 3rd and watch Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and Avengers back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back, I’ll be suddenly inspired.
Oooh… in fact, something just hit me…
To the HeroMachine Lab!
I usually try to stay away from the spoilers when waiting, though my friend and I do put together our own lists of expectations. I was mostly successful untill Mass Effect 3 came out (I still haven’t played the game!), but all the nerd rage it created was too hard to resist, so I’m entirely spoiled to the ending(s) already… And on the verge of nerd rage myself.
No question at the moment. Might come up with one later.
I am not avoiding spoilers, but I don’t go combing all internet for them. I notice something new – I watch it. Oh, and I won’t tell a single word about piracy and other helpful things. Not a single word.
My question is (I think someone asked it, but there are sooo many questions in sooo many sharing days that I forgot) – Jeff, do you watch anime? What do you think of it? Can you tell of it something better then “chinese porn cartoons”?
I’m a spoiler fiend – no point denying it. Telly, movies, doesn’t matter, I’m crawling all over the fansites, hunting for tasty clues and coming up with (usually inaccurate) theories of how it’ll all work together. I almost never regret spoiling TV shows because they don’t usually give away all that much, especially not the ending. I do sometimes regret spoiling movies. I’m not sure what the difference is – probably serial versus self-contained storytelling?
I will say I don’t like getting spoilers for books/shows/movies straight from people who have simply gotten to see it before I have. Real people either give too much away or are gloatingly sadistic while they dangle yummy details right above my nose. Meanies. It’s better to get it from an online source where someone has thought out how much they’ll give away.
Also, if you find a spoiler you would absolutely hate to see happen, you can just pretend that it’s an inaccurate Web rumor. “La la la I can’t hear you! Of course they’re not going to cut out that entire storyline or make those two get together even though they make no sense!”
I am not a huge anime fan, no. But, I’ve seen some of the major ones, like “Akira”, “Castle in the Sky”, and “Princess Mononoke”. Like anything else, when it’s good it’s great and when it’s bad it’s wretched. I like that since the stories come from another culture, there’s sort of an added layer of unreality (if you will) for a non-Japanese viewer that enhances the effect.
Quill, you laugh, but one of my other friends literally closes his eyes and puts his fingers in his ears during previews for movies so he doesn’t have anything ruined. I don’t go THAT far, but I get the impulse.
Like a ravenous, fanboy Galactus, I descend on sites like AICN.com or Comicbookmovie.com, and devour them–every last spoiler and tidbit–whole. Especially regarding “The Avengers”; with that movie and May 4th so close, I’m like Cartman waiting for the Wii, “C’mon! C’MON!”
Q: Jeff, in “The Avengers” will there be a certain character Easter Eggs you would like hinted at? For instance– Cap. America and The Hulk will be the two characters I laser-focus my attention on most of all, and I hope there will be some nod (..or dialogue) to the fact that both Banner and Blonsky became monsters because of a variation in Erskine’s Super-Soldier serum.
That would be neat, yes. But I’m trying not to go into it with too many expectations or demands, I want to try and enjoy it on whatever terms it’s offered to me.
Ooooo…I’m with you on that. Ditto about Sam Jackson in Iron Man, and double ditto regarding the certain surprise cameo in X-Men: First Class. That was classic.
I have never gone to the “cone of silence” to the degree it seems you have, Jeff. At least so far as avoiding even movie trailers about the movie (even though ad execs are notorious about spoiling the movies they advertise). And in some cases (especially if the movie is about something I’m interested in, but have little prior knowledge of), I’ve been known to do some research, spoilers be damned.
However, like SpellCheckingQuill, I will actively avoid anyone who has gone to see a movie/read a book/whatever before I have, and wants to talk about it.
So, Jeff, Calgary Comic Expo is this weekend, and of course I’ll be attending. Most of the cast of Star Trek:TNG will be there. How jealous are you? Yeah, I’m a horrible person.
It depends on what the film is. The only films I’ve really kept up on finding info for were Green Lantern (unfortunately), The new Batman trilogy and Man of Steel. Otherwise, I want to be in the dark. I don’t want to know too much and then see a film that’s as bad as Daredevil and Elektra or even the last two Spider-Man films.
So, Jeff, here’s a question: If you could direct a superhero movie, what character would it be about and who would you cast?
First, I wouldn’t direct the movie, because I don’t know squat about directing. But if I could produce or could wave my hands and magically create a super hero movie, I would do a great “Wonder Woman” title. We haven’t had a good female-driven film yet (no, “Catwoman” and “Electra” don’t count as they were both villains to begin with, and their movies blew chunks).
I’d get Amanda Conner to at least co-write it so it would have some meat on its bones. I’m not sure who I would cast as Diana, but not Adrianne Palicki.
I’d probably get Joss Whedon to direct.
You?
I avoid spoilers like the plague. After watching an television ad for “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” that showed *spoiler* the climactic death scene of the antagonist, something clicked in me. I swore to never watch a trailer for a movie I planned to see. Even when watching a trailer for a unknown property I will close my eyes and cover my ears the moment I decide that is a movie I want to see.
I make exceptions for movies based on books I have already read. I “spoiled” the heck out of myself on the Lord of the Rings, gobbling up any information/photos I could get. This wasn’t a true spoil though since I had already covered the plot many times in multiple readings of the series. Harry Potter and the Game of Thrones would fall into this arena as well.
I would have cut you if you tried to talk Inception before I saw it though.
One of my best moments in movie watching was going into the Matrix with no other knowledge than seeing Keanu Reeves do a weird twisty thing with his body as someone shot at him. This one image convinced me to see the movie and I didn’t go further than that. I actually thought Trinity was a villain in the beginning of the movie (lots of cop killin) and the agents were possibly good guys. Not since Aliens have I ever had such a wonderful spoiler free experience.
Question: What movie experience surprised you with how awesome it was? A movie that you went into without any expectations and came out a “believer” in Awesome with a capital A.
I’d go with WildC.A.T.s as the focus. I’d try out someone like Jeremy Renner as Grifter, Claudia Black as Zealot, a CGI version of Michael Clarke Duncan as Maul, Peter Dinklage as Jacob Marlowe/Lord Emp, Guy Pearce as Warblade, Kerry Washington as Voodoo, Sam Worthington as Spartan, and Stana Katic as Void. As far as a script goes, it would basically be a mix of the first story arc from 1992 (4 issues) and the complete run of James Robinson’s work on the title. It covers how they meet and then working later with the Black Razors to take down Helspont. I would work with Jim Lee and Geoff Johns on the script writing. Jim Lee and Dan Didio could help produce it.
Ive already seen it as australia got it before the us which is weird. the arvo before me and my mate watched every preview there was on you tube got us pumped for the next day
I find the actors, learn everything I can about them to see if they fit my take on the characters they represent, first of all. Then I’ll watch the trailers when they come on television, but other than that I try to stay away as much as possible, so as not to set my expectations too high.
I’ll catch the ads on TV and the previews when I see a movie in the theaters. No “Cone of Silence,” but I don’t actively seek any spoilers or do a lot of digging into a movie before I see it. Don’t read enough books to get excited about new releases.
As an aside, I really don’t care for Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. “Hey, let’s just throw SJ into our movie. He really doesn’t add value or depth… he’s just cool.” Still psyched for “The Avengers” because I do like Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man / Tony Stark.
@Jeff: Ummm… hmmm… favorite flavor of ice cream? Mine’s strawberry… but I love just about anything with strawberries.
Well I love to find out all I can about something may it be a game, movie or such. My wife gets mad sometimes because my nerdom kicks into high gear when I watch a movie about a comic character I have grown up with and they screw the character up or the whole movie plot. I tend to point out mess ups, but never during the movie, shhh no talky! I have been seriously involved with Mass Effect lately. I love the game, I bought back one and two just to carry my character to 3. I am on two hours into the new one and loving it. I wish I could go to one of those comicon things and dress up as Sheppard, it could be fun. Oh yeah, Jeff so whats your take on the movie coming out called “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter “? Oh I am serious, I couldn’t believe it, look it up on IMDB.
I don’t quite cloister myself (except in the case of the last harry potter where my family spent an entire weekend doing almost nothing but reading it) but I have no interest in learning spoilers and secrets. I mean I have a fairly strong dislike of movie trailers that are too long. Anyway, someone mentioned dream superhero team minus superman (who I hate anyway no loss there). I don’t really think of strategy so much as who are the most badass heroes I can find and make a team out of them. I would have Ghost Rider, Iron Man, Thor, Daredevil, Deadpool, Spawn, Guyver (who is an anime superhero), Black Suit Spiderman, Dr. Strange, Black Star. As to a question, of the above avengers, who is your favorite/why?
Halelujah someone wants to do an Image movie. It seems like Image gets passed over a lot when doing movie adaptions. I mean they had a Spawn and a Witchblade movie before but that was so long ago. They need to do a Savage Dragon or Wild CATs or even an Invincible. Image has always been the ugly step child of the comics family. Everybody knows and loves Marvel and DC but they are like…”oh yeah theres Image and Darkhorse too…almost forgot them.” But really Image could kick DCs butt when it comes to movies if they do them right
And as far as all this goes, for me it depends on the movie. When I hear there’s a new spider-man movie I will bribe police officers to find out who the new villain is. And with the new GI Joe movie I like finding out the little spoilers before hand.
BUT!! When Transformers 3 came out I locked myself in my closet and refused to listen to anything. After finding out that Shockwave was in it I didn’t want to know anything else. Same with Avengers. I am trying so hard not to read any spoilers or look for any info…I want to be truly surprised. I had a moment of weakness when it came to the aliens. I have been trying so hard not to find out who they were before I saw the movie but I did…forgive me nerd gods for I have forsaken thee.
That’s quite a team! I think just Deathstroke and Batman alone would be enough to take down just about any threat… I gotta ask, since you’re including sketchy guys like Deathstroke, why no Juggernaut? He’s basically what other bricks aspire to be…
When movies come out, I either buy the novels or put them on my To Buy list, where they usually sit for a year. Same with the soundtracks. For the past three Halo games, I’ve followed their development on Halopedia by checking at least once a day for updates.
How can those be the ugly step-children? Frankly they’re more like the awesome kids of a girlfriend that you’re not sure if you want to count as your own for a while in case things don’t work out. (FYI: I do speak from some experience in this department.) I would live to see Invincible or Darkness as a movie, as long as it doesn’t end up like the video game.
A B. B. Thornton character once said, “The trouble with being smart is you pretty much know how everything is going to turn out anyway–no surprises.” Surprises are rare for me; not that most of them are good. I tend to shun people who spoil surprises without letting people choose because I like sophistication, maturity, thoughtfulness, social competence, that sort of thing.
JH: What’s your favorite character introduction regardless of story? Most of Pirates of Caribb. was only good, but the intro of Cap’n Jack was my favorite EVER. From crow’s nest to what he picked up leaving the dock–I have never seen a better character intro.
I’ve finally got a question: Do you watch Atop the Fourth Wall or any other review shows on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com?
I know the question is for Jeff, but I thought I’d just chime in. I actually do watch Atop the Fourth Wall religiously, and I catch a bit of Nostalgia Critic from time to time.
Either Hal or John for sure. Probably Hal since he’s the one I grew up with.
VERY jealous! You lucky bastard. Have a great time!
I’ve probably said this before, but it has to be “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. I knew nothing about it at all, not even what it was about, so we walked in totally blind. And needless to say, walked out totally blown away.
I’d go with either butter pecan or mint chocolate chip. Or, whatever happens to be in my mouth at the time, because ice cream is always good.
Ooo, also coffee ice cream with Whopper crush-ins from Amy’s Ice Cream in Austin. Mmmmmm-MMM!
That started as a comic book, didn’t it? I think it sounds neat! I mean, I doubt I’ll SEE it, but it SOUNDS neat.
Out of that list? Hmmm … I guess I’d go with Iron Man. I’ve always liked ol’ Shell Head even before he was a big movie star.
Deathstroke IS sketchy, very true. But, I guess since I used to follow his book when he had his own title I think of him as more of a hero than Juggernaut. Kind of like Magneto, who’s crossed the line between hero and villain many times.
That’s an interesting question, I haven’t ever thought about it before. And now that you’ve brought up Sparrow, I can’t think of anything else! That really was a great way to bring in a character.
I haven’t ever heard of those, no. What’s it all about?
Okay, so when it comes to “big hero” movies, I tend to try and find as much information as possible, depending on time and enthusiasm. For instance, when X-Men first came out, I went to see it and had no information at all because I did not know they were making one. However, I knew a great deal about X2 because I was completely addicted to the franchise. Sorta depends on how much time I have.
And now my question, Jeff, is: Have you ever seen a movie you knew nothing about before seeing it?
ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com is a site with (comedy) review videos on games, movies, music and comics. Atop the Fourth Wall is one of the comic book review shows. Some of the shows (like Atop the Fourth Wall) have storylines running alongside the reviews, and every year a whole bunch of the reviewers gather together for a big site anniversary crossover, one of which involved them ‘invading’ a micronation.
One of the headline shows is the Nostalgia Critic, which has a rather whiny and easily-angered character reviewing (usually bad) films and TV from the 80s and 90s.
Myro, with all due respect my geek brother, The Jeffster and I have had the unmitigated pleasure of seeing Patrick Stewart for a live interview and Q&A on stage at Dragon*Con here in the ATL and a panel discussion with Denise Crosby. We couldn’t get in to the Brent Spiner panel, though. The line was practically around the block.
I’ll add that I got to see Shatner and Nimoy together the year previous at D*C. Quite the geek goodness!
I tend to get too antsy waiting and have to go hunting for little tidbits, interviews, and new trailers. I still remember using free dial-up and waiting hours to load and watch trailers for new movies I wanted to see. I try to avoid spoilers to preserve the surprises of the story and usually hunt in areas that are good about not dropping spoilers on you (at least not without warning). I think I’ve stopped and watched the trailer for ‘Avengers’ every time it has come on TV and avoided work yesterday to watch the short interviews on IMDB. Something about the anticipation of it all– but I do avoid reviews and over-thinking what it might turn out to be so as to not skew my perspective and feelings when actually watching the movie.
So if this rocks the box-office, which it has already in other parts of the world, does that serve as an official challenge to DC for a possible ‘Justice League’ movie? Just saw ‘Justice League: Doom’ and was thinking about that.
@ Myro- Did you get in? Heard there was quite a crowd and many were turned away.
Yes, barely. Friday was not bad at all, but it was just an evening event, with few of the celebrity guests actually there. Saturday was a mess, too many people, the fire marshal closing the doors temporarily and whatnot. Sunday was better, but certain sacrifices had to be made to get it to work. All in all, a good time had, but it was exhausting this year in a way that it never was before. And next year, certain precautions are going to need to be made by both the organizers and the fans to make this work. I will admit, however, given the prestige level of the celebrity guests this year, it probably inflated the attendance in ways that it never has in the past, so who knows what next year brings? On the other hand, the actual financial and attendance success (and overlooking the unpreparedness for those attendance figures) will prove a selling point when it comes to booking other celebrities next year, which might result in a similar demand.