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Post by maddog1981 on Feb 5, 2014 10:42:13 GMT -4
Executioner is too simple I think. I would change Exo-King, Killer Queen, Death Knight (possibly issues), Vanity (Smurfs issue), Star Warrior, Commander Sam plus I would change Comrade Terror to Dreadnaught and Beast-Rider to Terak.
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Post by MT on Feb 5, 2014 11:04:14 GMT -4
Executioner is too simple I think. I would change Exo-King, Killer Queen, Death Knight (possibly issues), Vanity (Smurfs issue), Star Warrior, Commander Sam plus I would change Comrade Terror to Dreadnaught and Beast-Rider to Terak. Executioner is simple. So is Punisher. That's worked well. Also, he's a minor character. PERHAPS DeSade The Executioner or something, but I don't think even that's necessary. Royal Family names are perfect to me. Exo-King: imagine a self-obsessed group of "royals" on some planet where they've used cybernetics like celebrities today use plastic surgery and botox. Killer Queen? The bizarre ambiguity of his relationship with Exo-King is too good to pass up. Let it be revealed at the end that they're brothers or cousins. Star Warrior is iconic. Look at the names that have "stuck" in the pop culture lexicon for generations. Supeman, Bat-Man, Spider-Man, etc. Very simple and it says all it needs to about the character right away. Dreadnaught is good, but Terak doesn't TELL about the character like Beast-Rider. Anything that is going to be done with these properties is going to appeal to an all ages crowd, and using Marvel and DC as the model you can see what works over the long haul and what does not. Vanity the COTG character is not blue and little. He's also not an 80s pop singer, so I think he can get away with the name. Who has used "Death Knight"? If it's come after 1986 then COTG has prior usage anyway.
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Post by maddog1981 on Feb 5, 2014 11:21:39 GMT -4
I think DeSade the Executioner would work better. I think Terak the Beast-Rider would work better than just Beast-Rider.
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Post by Lone Star's Bitch on Feb 5, 2014 12:18:19 GMT -4
I think DeSade the Executioner would work better. I think Terak the Beast-Rider would work better than just Beast-Rider. I agree with these, and I've never liked Exo-King. Star Warrior is fine other than he needs a 'real name'. I think many would not like that being his actual name.
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Post by MT on Feb 5, 2014 12:24:11 GMT -4
(this entire discussion should probably be moved to its own thread)
You have to keep in mind the "k.i.s.s." principle. When trying to appeal to the broadest audience, you have to consider what works the best to appeal to the most people. Terak and DeSade would be good names to give these guys right off the bat, acknowledging that they do have "real" names, but in a good script you'd have someone call them that once and then stick to "Executioner" and "Beast-Rider" for the rest of the film.
Do you see "Superman" as being his "real name"? No, you intellectually know that it's Kal-El or Clark Kent, but you call him Superman. Why should Star Warrior be any different?
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Post by maddog1981 on Feb 5, 2014 12:29:35 GMT -4
The difference with that though is Superman is a known iconic image. You have to think about selling someone on a movie or book where the main character is Star Warrior. I think that's the issue with it.
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Post by MT on Feb 5, 2014 12:33:07 GMT -4
The difference with that though is Superman is a known iconic image. You have to think about selling someone on a movie or book where the main character is Star Warrior. I think that's the issue with it. I'm not seeing it that way. I think it's even easier. Hollywood people want something that will play to the most people. A name like that is super easy to remember and tells a consumer what this character is about. "Red Ranger" wasn't an icon in the early 90s, either. It was just a simplistic, silly sounding name. But millions of kids jumped on board. The guy writing the screenplay for COTG did the original US Power Rangers stuff. I imagine he knows his job.
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Post by wildfire on Feb 5, 2014 17:28:31 GMT -4
There is some story potential in the original 24 CoTG, but not really the top guys. The Titans/Space Croppers/ CTA-102 story is a good one. The Gladiators definitely work. Star Warrior Vs. Thantos? Maybe, but divorcing that story from wrestling would be tough.
As far as names go, I'm sure Tom hasn't trademarked them, no idea if he could... I'm sure Wolf and Vanity would be a no go, as would many of the stable names... that's not a big deal though.
Also, the fact that the guy did Power Rangers doesn't thrill me... while it was popular, it wasn't because of the story, that's for sure.
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Post by MT on Feb 5, 2014 18:21:17 GMT -4
Star Warrior Vs. Thantos? Maybe, but divorcing that story from wrestling would be tough. The story of Star Warrior and Thantos is one of the simplest and oldest. What it boils down to is jealousy and betrayal. Thantos badly wants Omega's approval, he WANTS to be the number one son, but the fact that he can NEVER be that because Omega will always favor his own flesh and blood son in Star Warrior drives him to betray them both. That translates to anything: comic books, movies, soap operas, religious texts, etc. They could be soldiers, pilots, super heroes, or whatever and that premise works. I applaud that group who worked on the original Power Rangers stuff. They had to weave coherent stories for kids around some action footage from Japan that was sometimes dubious at best. They did exactly what they were hired to do, no more and no less, and turned in a winner. It's not high art, but it hit the target audience.
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Post by Lone Star's Bitch on Feb 6, 2014 2:04:35 GMT -4
Ahhh all this talk of screenplays and comics I think fg should have done more graphic novels like genesis.
Going back to the name thing though to think about is how characters like superman and batman have been around since the 40s. Heck until the huge marvel movie blow up if you would have asked ppl to name 4 superheroes off the top of their head it would have been supes, batman, wonder woman, and if lucky spiderman.
Marvel got a much later start and until recently wasn't as recognizable to anyone who didn't read comics regularly. Heck if you go back to the 60s shazam probably would have been in the top four. I think star warrior would work as more of a title than straight up name. I think the fight between him and thantos is perfectly suitable for a movie though. It will all depend on the writing BC they don't have years and years of a huge franchise built.
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Post by tax on Feb 6, 2014 10:19:46 GMT -4
Thing with graphic novels (and a lot of this stuff) is will people buy it? Seems there's a small group of people who buy just about everything, but a lot of people just want the cards (understandably) and it may not be worth the time and trouble trying to do the stuff.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2014 10:29:34 GMT -4
Let's not forget names like He-Man or Skeletor. I think the original set of COTG are iconic and retro enough that they will definitely stand up today if put into a movie or toy/merchandise!
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Post by wildfire on Feb 6, 2014 14:39:45 GMT -4
@ Mark - You make a good point. I was thinking of it in less broad terms, but if you go simply with the 'love of the mentor' angle, that can definitely work with anything.
@ LSB - I agree... if Tom wanted to expand into other media more graphic novels could have been a great proving ground/trial. I'd guess it would be hard to make a profit though... I don't think CoTG has a fan base big enough. Even back and white indies are looking for a couple thousand sales to make money.
Really, what he did (With the e-book) was a good idea, if it was followed through on... making it a periodical... with new chapters every 3 months or whatever, probably could have worked, if the writing was good. Probably still could... it's just a harder sell now since there was an aborted attempt once.
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Post by Lone Star's Bitch on Feb 7, 2014 1:46:30 GMT -4
@ Mark - You make a good point. I was thinking of it in less broad terms, but if you go simply with the 'love of the mentor' angle, that can definitely work with anything. @ LSB - I agree... if Tom wanted to expand into other media more graphic novels could have been a great proving ground/trial. I'd guess it would be hard to make a profit though... I don't think CoTG has a fan base big enough. Even back and white indies are looking for a couple thousand sales to make money. Really, what he did (With the e-book) was a good idea, if it was followed through on... making it a periodical... with new chapters every 3 months or whatever, probably could have worked, if the writing was good. Probably still could... it's just a harder sell now since there was an aborted attempt once. See I think the follow through was lacking. Yeah I wasn't blown away from the ebook but it was interesting enough that I would have bought the second one even to get the new battle system cards. @cp- Once again the thing with He-Man and Skeletor is they have been around for a long time in a wider setting. CotG while being awesome is very much a cult followed game and will need more than the card game followers to be a success. I could be just too cynical or burnt on things like the ebook that started off big and petered out. :/
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