Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[Suchomimus]

Doesn't Capt. Cacao just have a stuffed toy? This seems like an awful lot of fuss if this is your idea of what being forced means.

 

[mccgavin]

Allow the fans to find and organically gain interest in the character, just like Lil Boo and Earl, and then capitalize on the merch. I just feel, again just my opinion, that is the more appropriate way to make a character popular and everlasting.

Nearly all characters that exist within theme parks are designed to push merchandise, regardless of whether they are from an IP, or are original.

Lil Boo and Earl are outliers. They weren't "characters" until they were designated as such by Universal, and they were immediately given a wide line of merchandise once they were. Those were unique circumstances that cannot easily be replicated.

By your definition, should characters like Jack the Clown and Victoria Frankenstein not have merchandise? I'm pretty certain that Jack was designed to be a very marketable character from the beginning, and he probably had quite a bit of merchandise for his debut at HHN X.

 

[Alicia]

His chocolate store isn’t even open yet.

He’s more than just merch. He’s part of the story of Celestial Park, and I appreciate that rather than just a no-name sweets counter in the main gift shop.

If people didn’t like it, the merch wouldn’t sell, and he’d just be on the sign and candy labels and nothing would be lost.

If people love him maybe we’ll get a walk around character like we did with Earl and can hug him SO DONT RUIN THIS FOR ME I NEED TO HUG THE CAPTAIN

 

[UniversalRBLX]

It appears that I have a hot take that many of you disagree with. My intention was not to be negative, just a conversation I thought some might be interested in. I'll digress since it's clear I'm not a favorite here.

Again, my intention was not anti the creation of original characters, it was on the monetization piece. I just want to be clear, I love original characters.

 

[belloq87]

I'm very happy to see original characters, and to see them merchandised.

But this dogpiling seems WAY disproportionate to the supposed "offense" of offering a contrary opinion. I disagree with the opinion, but who cares? What's the big deal, here?

 

[nikem3]

It appears that I have a hot take that many of you disagree with. My intention was not to be negative, just a conversation I thought some might be interested in. I'll digress since it's clear I'm not a favorite here.

Again, my intention was not anti the creation of original characters, it was on the monetization piece. I just want to be clear, I love original characters.

Maybe your first stop should be to find and hug this sweet (pun intended) bear.

 

[Alicia]

It appears that I have a hot take that many of you disagree with. My intention was not to be negative, just a conversation I thought some might be interested in. I'll digress since it's clear I'm not a favorite here.

Again, my intention was not anti the creation of original characters, it was on the monetization piece. I just want to be clear, I love original characters.

It’s all good. I have to wonder if the original plan was just a backstory for every shop in Celestial Park and he was designed for the candy packaging and the merch team thought he was cute enough to make a bear plush. Like it doesn’t have to have been a cynical push, but more an organic process over the last three years.

 

[Jake S]

But this dogpiling seems WAY disproportionate to the supposed "offense" of offering a contrary opinion. I disagree with the opinion, but who cares? What's the big deal, here?

I agree. I don't agree with the take either, but we gotta stop coming at people's necks because they have a (pretty mild!) take we disagree with.

 

[Alicia]

Also… there’s a Captain Cacao bucket hat, and it’s fuzzy.

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

The real question is… Captain Cacao popcorn bucket when?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

It’s all good. I have to wonder if the original plan was just a backstory for every shop in Celestial Park and he was designed for the candy packaging and the merch team thought he was cute enough to make a bear plush. Like it doesn’t have to have been a cynical push, but more an organic process over the last three years.

I like the character (and the backstories for each shop) I'm just cautious about overwhelming people with a character too much (maybe forcing was the wrong terminology to use, my bad) and people getting turned off from it.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Doesn't Capt. Cacao just have a stuffed toy? This seems like an awful lot of fuss if your idea of being forced.

This is what I mentioned earlier - unless I'm missing something, I saw a plush and a backpack.

And apparently a bucket hat, @Alicia says!

 

[Wesker69]

Captain Cacao seems like the Epic Universe version of Disney's Duffy. Now the question is...

Capt Cacao meet-n-greet character in the future? Maybe a book for young/old to learn his expanded backstory & connection to Celestial Park?

 

[Alicia]

I like the character (and the backstories for each shop) I'm just cautious about overwhelming people with a character too much (maybe forcing was the wrong terminology to use, my bad) and people getting turned off from it.

Yea it’s just a small shelf in a giant gift shop right now. It’s the Team Members showing him off on social media that caught fire.

Like I said, his store isn’t even open yet. And Universal hasn’t revealed anything themselves for him even.

 

[ssirin88]

How long until they put Lil Boo in a pair of overalls and call him a new character

 

[mccgavin]

I'm all for a Captain Cacao costumed character, but I'm still patiently waiting for Junior Gator/Prince Gator to get that treatment. We really should've gotten that for the Mardi Gras anniversary this year...

 

[Keladry84]

I like the character (and the backstories for each shop) I'm just cautious about overwhelming people with a character too much (maybe forcing was the wrong terminology to use, my bad) and people getting turned off from it.

Out of all the merch I’ve seen for Epic Universe, Captain Cacao is the only one I will not be able to resist temptation on….its the first merch I’ve seen that I really really want and absolutely will be coming home with me….far from turning me off, it’s sparking interest for me in Celestial Park, which I’ve mostly been dismissing. As Alicia said above, I hope they turn him into a meet and greet character!!

 

[Brian G.]

But this dogpiling seems WAY disproportionate to the supposed "offense" of offering a contrary opinion. I disagree with the opinion, but who cares? What's the big deal, here?

You're right.

That said, I think bad opinions should be called out, especially when there is no real rhyme or reason for it. Being a discussion board doesn't mean we're immune from that, and I think if it was any other poster, this may have gone differently.

You and I disagree a lot, Belloq - but I can sense your conviction when you discuss your POV. This just seemed like tossing a hand grenade to the boards for the sake of it.

BUT it could've been handled better by myself.

It appears that I have a hot take that many of you disagree with. My intention was not to be negative, just a conversation I thought some might be interested in. I'll digress since it's clear I'm not a favorite here.

I don't think anyone takes your posts personally, nor should they. It's a silly theme park board at the end of the day.

This isn't a case of being negative, it was just a contrarian opinion that got called out.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I don't think anyone takes your posts personally, nor should they. It's a silly theme park board at the end of the day.

Glutton for punishment after everyone laughed at you on Alicia’s discord for this “take”?

I encourage discussion/debate, but some posts crossed the line IMO.

 

[Tbad556]

Here's my thing: is it truly discussion/debate if you ignore most of the valid questions thrown your way? Or is it bordering on trolling? None of the below were ever addressed whatsoever. One side was bringing up valid questions and getting nothing back other than a repeated "it's forced and should be like Lil Boo". At a certain point, it feels like poking the (teddy lol) bear just for kicks, especially when you already tried this and saw the results on a different site.

What's the difference if the end goal is monetizing it?

Did they make a big forced announcement about the bear that I missed or something? I've only seen an Attractions Magazine post and TMs raving about how cute he is. It seems pretty organic to me.

This also implies that diehards haven't whined about Lil Boo merch for like 5 years straight now despite them apparently doing that one "the right way".

The difference with Ollie is that he literally came out of nowhere, and he doesn't really have anything to do with the event he's a part of (also many people just don't like his design).

Captain Cacao is a part of the story of Celestial Park, and there's an entire candy shop that's themed to him and his story with Maya. I appreciate that Universal went out of their way to create unique stories and characters for Celestial Park when they didn't really need to. A handful of merchandise for a character in his own store is not overdoing it, especially since it sounds like much of the candy packaging is also specifically branded to this store and its characters.

How is he not organically found?

So, by this definition then, Universal shouldn’t create any original characters with accompanying merchandise for their parks because that would mean they wouldn’t be found “organically”? In your opinion, they should only be posted about online by fans first before they’re deemed worthy of merchandise?

That's my biggest thing. Lil' Boo was an absolute lightning in a bottle situation. A small piece of (well-designed) scenic work that fans blew up into a thing. If that's how you expect original characters to be created, you will find yourself in an absolute drought of original content. It's not feasible to expect that to happen regularly.

Doesn't Capt. Cacao just have a stuffed toy?

By your definition, should characters like Jack the Clown and Victoria Frankenstein not have merchandise?