Fallout (HHN 34)

[Tingus Pingus]

I went this weekend and I really dislike the desert scene with the cloth backdrop. Not only does the wrinkles from where it’s handing mess up any attempt at trying to make it believable it really should be lit from the front because it makes the image looked washed out and hard to tell what you’re even looking at at first.

That cloth backdrop is where my hopes that the house would get any better straight up died. I could not believe that instead of making a grand exit out of the vault, we got a static piece of cloth, not even a projection or anything interesting. In general the house feels weirdly cheap compared to the other houses this year. Maybe I am being overdramatic, but why does pretty much every other original house feel like they had higher budgets than a marquee IP house? I know it's not rare for the Originals to outshine the IPs, but even things that should have been guaranteed successful scares/effects like a large gulper puppet were disappointing. Like how is that massive puppet in Galkn right next door more impressive than pretty much every effect in this house combined?

 

[TheCodeMan95]

(This house should have been in a soundstage)

 

[Tingus Pingus]

(This house should have been in a soundstage)

After defending the location all spec season, I admit defeat and agree. Though even with a bit more scale I imagine that similar issues would have still reared it's ugly head. Switching Graves and Fallout would have maybe lead to similar results, possibly even an upgrade for Graves in that it would have required a more streamlined, claustrophobic layout.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

After defending the location all spec season, I admit defeat and agree. Though even with a bit more scale I imagine that similar issues would have still reared it's ugly head. Switching Graves and Fallout would have maybe lead to similar results, possibly even an upgrade for Graves in that it would have required a more streamlined, claustrophobic layout.

While I'd say that tent houses are just as impressive as SS houses nowadays, I do think Fallout would have benefited from a bit larger space and Grave from a more compact experience versus a few randomly large scenes that throw off the house.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

While I'd say that tent houses are just as impressive as SS houses nowadays, I do think Fallout would have benefited from a bit larger space and Grave from a more compact experience versus a few randomly large scenes that throw off the house.

I think - of all the IPs featured this year, the one that NEEDS a soundstage is Fallout. They can all benefit from the larger space, but the essence of Fallout is that it takes place in large, expansive areas.

Hopefully - if they do season 2 next year, they bump over to a SS. New Vegas could feature some seriously impressive sets.

 

[Tereglith]

The thing is, Galkn to me feels almost as impressive as a soundstage house! It's the first time I've really felt the vastness of the new tents, it has height and landforms you see from different angles and a very impressive finale. I can't think of anything I'd want it to do differently in a soundstage. I don't get why Fallout feels so dinky in comparison when they're working with an identical volume.

 

[Rikku]

I’m so glad we are all on same page but still hurts that this could’ve been a banger but nooooo lol. The house to me feels like a sequel to Havoc.

 

[Rhian]

The only time I’ve ever seen a visibly bored scare actor was on closing weekend a few years back, which after a long season of scaring is understandable.

I’ve seen it last year in Frozen Empire. It was again one of those scenes where the scare actor has to mime along with the prerecorded audio down to the T. It’s not frequent but once in a while it appears. Towards the end of the event run exhaustion is completely understandable.

If anyone in the Fallout house reads these boards, or any house really, please don’t associate displeasure in a house which may be due to design flaws/shortcomings for displeasure in your performance. Scare actor performance specifically is what can turn a “lackluster” design into a solid experience. The house is built; nothing can be changed about the build. Scare actor performance can truly elevate the experience as a whole.

For sure! And sometimes the house design hinders a scareactor’s ability to fully utilize their skill set and maximize performance for the sake of sticking to what is approved by licensing; that cannot be helped.

After defending the location all spec season, I admit defeat and agree. Though even with a bit more scale I imagine that similar issues would have still reared it's ugly head. Switching Graves and Fallout would have maybe lead to similar results, possibly even an upgrade for Graves in that it would have required a more streamlined, claustrophobic layout.

At the end of the day Universal has to go with what the IP holders approved, in this case Amazon. I’m not an avid fan of the series but I’ve seen chatter that there wasn’t much inclusion of the video game which may have made a difference. It could be that Amazon’s influence over the house pushed out focus on the video game because they wanted the show to take center stage.

All that to say yes, even if we got a sound stage for this house the final result would likely be similar.

 

[Brian G.]

Well now the wrinkle is... Hollywood's version is appearing to get better feedback, in a much smaller location.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Well now the wrinkle is... Hollywood's version is appearing to get better feedback, in a much smaller location.

I watched the Hollywood walkthrough and it looked like garbage... so I'm scared what Orlando's is going to look like lol