B&M have been an interesting journey for me over the years. Used to love them, everything was really good, really solid, thought they could do no wrong. Nemesis is a former #1 (inevitably), their inverts in particular used to be top of the radar stuff for trip planning and bucket lists.
These days I've said to myself that the ride type will most likely never scrape a top 25.
The more I ride, the more I start to notice how formulaic some of it is, so that dependability they had (which of course is a measure of their commercial success) starts to become, in my selfish personal view while travelling the world to ride them all, blandness.
I think the main thing that formulaic nature does to me as an enthusiast is make the chronological order in which I ride things play a much more significant role in how well I view them on the day. If it doesn't do anything unique that stands out over a previous memory of one, then what does it have to offer me? And inherently the more you do, the less opportunity there is for it to offer something unique.
I also begin to learn the traits in them that I enjoy best and then look for them in others. If they don't do any particular thing I like about those rides, then it hasn't served its purpose to me.
^^Which brings me nicely to Katun. Something like my 18th invert. It had a big reputation that it didn't, perhaps couldn't, live up to.
What do I like from inverts these days?
1) Stupidly intense positives that make the whole train scream AHHHH! in perfect unison and make your feet tingle unpleasantly to the point that I'm punching myself in the leg and shouting stop it, but there's nothing I can do about it.
2) Stupidly intense inversions that the train SNAPs through. There's nothing graceful about it, it may even be an awkward transition, but it's very fun and to me, characterful. I want these machines to be trying to kill me. That's what I've come to expect from them.
3) As alluded to above, something unique that I haven't felt on an invert before. An interesting element that breaks the monotony of loop, zero-g, cobra, corkscrews, that is actually an enjoyable moment and serves purpose to the layout.
On the days I rode it, Katun offered none of these.
1) Forcefulness is where things get subjective and we all find that everyone experiences things differently. You say it was forceful as ****, I found it less forceful than say, 10 other inverts. It didn't get my feet tingling. It didn't crush my head. No one on the train screamed ahhhh in the final helix.
2) It didn't snap through the cobra or corkscrews in the way I described I enjoy.
3) Element-wise the ride is something between Pyrenees and Monster (off the top of my head). It didn't contain a single moment that set it apart from these 2, and those 2 both get a tick for 1) and 2).
Shambhala isn't quite as easy as that. I didn't particularly know what I liked out of B&M hypers other than 'fun', having only ridden 2 previously. I did however know what I liked out of hypers and 'airtime machines' (is that fair?) in general - a layout that never relents and being kicked out of your seat as viciously and often as possible really.
On the days I rode it, Shambhala offered none of that.
I know it's subjective again but I really do struggle to understand anyone calling this one forceful as ****. I don't even think that's the intention of the ride.
The ride started off by bugging me when it slows down at the top of the lift. Any ride that feels like it's holding back for whatever reason is gonna take a hit for me. It's a character thing again, I want it to try its hardest at all times.
The first big hill probably crosses over to that common discussion of floater vs ejector. In my book, it was perfectly providing the sensation that I can only describe as it wanting you to leave your seat, and you almost are, but you don't. It's a tease, just a little more, just a little more, nope it's over.
Some people obviously get off on this sensation. Sadly, I'm not one of them.
The best moment of airtime for me was on the speed hill, but that moment also contains a trim which I felt a strong pull from and literally turns the moment into YES, this is good, OH, that's a shame. Again, it's holding back.
I don't remember any of the other hills to be honest, so I have to take that at face value - nothing stood out to me.
I lied earlier, there is one thing I knew I liked about B&M hypers. Coming into an MCBR, sure it slows down a bit, but then BAM, kicked out of your seat on the exit of it, because the profile is sharper. Shambhala's 'mid'course is laughably late and does no such thing, it just slows you down again into a single corner and hill that only serve the purpose of transporting you to the end brakes. I'd put that section on par with the Swarm's ending with its 2 brake runs. Just feels unjustified.
Valkyria you've already played the restraint card, so I'll jump at that being the fundamental difference. I was very worried about vests, but they had no impact on the ride sensation whatsoever for me, including the main drop which was up there with the best of its type. The remaining layout felt much faster and had more purpose than any other Dive I've experienced. To me this was the saviour of the ride type.
^The opposite can be said for OzIris, which was to me the downfall of the ride type. And as far as I recall the downfall of B&M in general.
I remember the moment clearly. I left the ride with a friend, a silence hanging in the air between us and we just stood for a moment by a wall at the exit, watching another train go round. A specific thought crossed my mind - 'did this ride just kill B&M?'. Neither of us wanted to say it aloud first, but we both independently didn't really like the ride we had just experienced. We were really into inverts at the time and it was simply a letdown. It didn't sit right.
So back to my invert checklist, even if I didn't know it at the time.
1) It didn't have any of those standout forceful moments.
2) The only SNAP it had was punching me in the side of the head on the first drop, which I'd never expected from this ride. That put me right off.
3) Yes, the layout is different and has some unique features, but I've since forgotten them. All I remember now is there's a weird bump in the track in or out of the loop and several uneventful corners over mud. It just didn't flow very well, nor did it ride like an invert I enjoy.
To this day I've never been THAT disappointed again by an Invert, so I view it as the worst of its type. But that may just be that my expectations have dropped a lot since and it was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Inferno is fine, I'd say it's getting better with age. The loop and final helix are really forceful, the prelift gives it a bit of character and I can think of no specific issue with it.
