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Thorpe Park |"The Swarm"| B&M Wing Coaster

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Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

the king said:
^Give thorpe until mid-august for actual construction to start. That's when interesting thing's should happen. But, if it is true that track has arrived at thorpe, then we shouldn't have to wait for long for vertical construction to commence.
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you're right...but where could they be hiding it, also how could B+M have got it to TP without anyone noticing?
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

Oh god please let's not get started on all this rotating seats crap again. LET IT GOOOOO.

I'm sure there'll be lots of 'mysterious' and 'suspicious' containers arriving on-site from now on, but I'm gonna save the mouth-frothing for Fright Nights when most, if not all, the track will be up. I'm willing to bet they'll really go into overdrive with their marketing machine by then too.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

THERE IS NO TRACK ON SITE. It's arriving in September.

I visited yesterday and there are no mysterious containers. I had a good look at the site from the top of Stealth and the Fish.

The only progress so far is the station foundations have been laid.

It's not going to spin either.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

^I was suprised with the size of the station foundations, I thought it looked pretty small, especially considering the size of the trains.

Second Ian, it's not going to spin. It's illogical, it just won't. To all the comments on Merlin liking 'gimmicks', it's got it's advertising gimmicks already, there's nothing further needed.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

Ian said:
It's not going to spin either.
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Exactly! :--D

Ian said:
.

I visited yesterday and there are no mysterious containers. I had a good look at the site from the top of Stealth and the Fish.

The only progress so far is the station foundations have been laid.

It's not going to spin either.
Click to expand...

Do you have any pictures?













[/quote]
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

^ Unfortunately not, it's a bit of a bugger to get photos since they put up the fence near Stealth. The ground looks clear though. It's certainly ready for footers and track.

I reckon it'll be knocked up in no time at all.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

I reckon it will go up quite quickly too.

Do you think the majority of it will be up by Fright Nights? I know they like to have something to show by the end of the season as it seems to get the buzz out there.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

Mark said:
I reckon it will go up quite quickly too.

Do you think the majority of it will be up by Fright Nights? I know they like to have something to show by the end of the season as it seems to get the buzz out there.
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I imagine they would definitely want to do that, they did it with stealth the year before that opened, they had the lights on it highlighting the top hat through the darkness.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

That was what I was thinking, but then I remembered that Stealth doesn't exactly have a lot of track :-S
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

You've only got to look at the swift progress of Parc Asterix's B&M. We'll certainly see some track by the time Fright Nights come around.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

You could still get to the gardens behind Stealth last Tuesday, there is a tiny path by the entrance to the ride. I watched them building it a week before the compound went up, and security spend a lot of time round there as well. And there is the other place near the Marquee at the bottom of Depth Charge.

The hosts don't like you hanging about on Stealths offload or the bridge for Fish, that is nothing to do with anyone being nosey, it is a health and safety thing as they cannot let the ride continue until both are clear. Hence I did not push getting photos from these points.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

Sorry this is a bit long winded but I did this myself and not any help so bare with the length as I didn't know how to make it smaller, my first attempt with Movie Maker. You can always skip through it is you get bored. But as promised my vid of Les Coogan last Tuesday.

http://www.youtube.com/user/tinahills?feature=mhee
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

Bit late to the discussion, but I've been rather poorly this week :(

I asked some of my geeky gamer friends about the whole 'gears of war' fiasco.
They seem to think that it's very unlikely to be a tie-in, simply because Gears of War is not that well known, even among gamers (it's an x-box only game (with some PC???), with nowhere near as much universal appeal as say, Call of Duty). Sponsored rides usually go for backing from films like Saw, Batman, Superman etc., that are much more easily recognised. I assume it's just Thorpe being really poor and just stealing the font - in which case, I hope Microsoft sue the arses off them for being so stupid!

As for the name 'The Swarm', I quite like it! I think that the use of the definite article adds a certain weight and atmosphere and ties in really well with the post-apocalyptic theme. At least Merlin are doing something original for once.

And the ride itself....I can't wait. I actually <3 Raptor so much - it was a bit forceless, but the foot-chopping and interaction with the track/theme was lovely - so much fun. I loved the way you soar out of the station through quite a narrow exit - it really does feel like you are escaping on the back of the beast! Anyway, if The Swarm manages to keep in all the foot-chopping but cranks up the intensity, I think Thorpe will have a really decent ride on their hands. Here's hoping.....
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

Well I am back. Just wanted to catch up and see the new info about "The Swarm"
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

How about the company just bought the font because they simply liked the look of it? It's easy to buy a font license, it's not like Saw which has it's own font and logo's bought in with the movie tie in.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

I couldn't find that font to buy Dave. It could be one you buy off the shelf, but more likely (as it's original Epic IP) it'll have been created in-house... Happy for anyone to find it though if it's a paid for font, it'll help put things to bed.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

A quick search for 'gears of war font' produced at least two freeware fonts. I suspect the designer of The Swarm's logo knew exactly what they were looking for and what they were doing.

The thing with typefaces is you can replicate one pretty much exactly and call it something else, and that seems to be allowed. I've thought about this a bit (because I have nothing better to do) and I think the issue, rather than using the font, is using the word WAR in that font, which creates the connection. But it's a pretty loose connection, and without the 'gears' Merlin will get away with it, as it were.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

I dont know if anyone has noticed, but on the plans it appears the lowest corners will fly over pools of water. Do you think this means we'll see the similar splash interaction from Raptor at these points? (the turn after the inclined loop and at the end of the wing-over inversion before the in-line twist). Those pools are labeled as "controlled ponds" on the plans as well.

I hope so anyway, I remember seeing Manta's one for the first time and thinking it looks sectacular. It would certainly add to the number of near-misses on the ride.
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

Yeah, there are free fonts based on it - but it all seems a bit iffy the way it's presented... Plus, you'd expect a multinational, multi-million pound professional company like Merlin using only paid for fonts, or fonts designed for them for their rides. I think I expect too much... :lol:

Bob, B&M seem to be pushing their "splashes", so I'd say there's a good chance :)
 
Re: The Swarm - B&M 'Wing-Rider', Thorpe Park 2012

Hi Seanz25 *waves*

I doubt they will have promotional actors in on a weekday. There is however, some permanent marketing to the left of Stealth's entrance in the form of a graffitied gate (there's some pics in this topic, a couple of pages back)

Lots of rides with downtime...shock, horror....welcome to Thorpe!
 
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