I was actually kind of excited to go into a brick and mortar thinkgeek store and was pretty disappointed when it turned out to be nothing but funkopops and fandom merch, and none of the stuff I liked about the online storefront
I always loved hearing @DrZiplock 's stories about the Thinkgeek April Fools jokes. Because they sounded insane and thought out and holy crap.
I haven't worked there (well, nobody does anymore) since 2016...
...but that doesn't mean the stories have to end!
It is true, April Fool's at TG was always the most madhouse time for the marketing and creative dept. Nine products was always the goal, but we could sometimes push to 12 if the feeling was right and we had the time. I don't know what stories I've shared previously so I'll kinda just bullet point out some of the highlights and then in a shocking twist give an update on something kinda strange that happened this year.
The beloved tauntaun sleeping bag was the first Star Wars product we ever made. At the time, Lucasfilm didn't know who the fuck we were. This was also before they were bought by Disney and still had a sense of humor. The sleeping bag exploded on the internet and we ended up with a collection of lawyers from Lucasfilm calling us. Almost stereotypical so. One was angry, one was confused, one was laughing her ass off. "What the hell are you all doing?" "Wait...did you actually have this made?" "We want to see it, send it to us." A bunch of phone calls, time, and fat checks later we landed the rights to make Star Wars products.
Post Disney Lucasfilm was WAY less fun. We did a trench run cornhole game and they flipped the fuck out.
Speaking of - there was a hallway in the TGHQ were we framed all of our cease and desist orders. Lucasfilm, Harley Davidson (we made a Tron Light Bike logo thing that they hated) and perhaps most famously...
A C&D from the National Pork Board. Why? Because we branded another April Fool's idea, Canned Unicorn Meat, as the other other white meat. It was just a spam can wrapped in a label, but hoooboy. They sent us a 32 page C&D citing references of their brand, usage standards, and on and on and on. One of the best calls that I've ever been a part of was when they were on the phone with their lawyers, and we were on the phone with ours and having ours have to say, with only the slightest of laughs, that "unicorns aren't real." We published the entire C&D on our blog and later on changed the tagline for the product and made it a real thing. Cut up plush unicorn in a can, if you're wondering what we actually sold.
HBO loved us and hated us in equal parts. We'd made some really great shit for Game of Thrones across the years but we also loved fucking with them. Here's a bonus shot for you - at one point we made, did all the art for, shot a video for, etc, etc.. a LEGO "The Wall" playset. Took ages and the video was so fucking good. BUT...our own internal licensing guy (please read that as "Judas") sold us out and before it even hit the site HBO clamped that shit down.
What they didn't clamp down so fast was our Game of Thrones Clue. The board and all the pieces were actually made. It was 4.5' long and like 2' and change wide. Fully detailed, fully realized. Absolutely beautiful. The gist was that the game took foooooreeever to play and (spoiler) the murdered was always George RR Martin with an Apple IIe in a room that I can't remember. It goes up on the site, gets picked up everywhere and HBO loses their fucking minds. Turns out they started getting calls from a few of the actor's lawyers (I won't name names..but some were cool and reached out to us loving it and others hated it). So that shit had to get pulled down so fucking fast. Shame too. We also received a call from a board game company that DOES license from Game of Thrones and they were livid. Turns out that they were making a GoT Clue and ours just looked better in every way. Theirs wouldn't come out for another 8 months or so.
Remember when we did K-Cup meals as a gag? Yea, that shit is real now...and horrifying.
We did Mad Max PowerWheels with Nerdist at some point too. Fully built and realized fucking apocalypse capable kid's cars.
CBS and TG has a great relationship. They loved what we did for Star Trek so we could always go there for ideas and not get yelled at. So we did Rosetta Stone for Klingon. Video featured Michael Dorn and it was awesome. Until I got a call from the head lawyer and owner for Rosetta Stone. Whoops. However, it seems that they were both Trekkies and thought it was great. So we got to keep it up, but had to send them all the assets. I think they still send it around as a joke option to subscribers once in awhile still.
The Bicycle Horn of Gondor was an idea that took us 5 years to finally do.
So many stories and stuff from then. Every morning of April Fools we'd get in early, order breakfast for the entire team, and watch the TwitterFall of the reports and reactions coming in. Always some of the best mornings there too.
Side fact - we never ever called it April Fool's internally. Always Looflirpa.
Other side fact: GameStop haaaaaaaaaaaated April Fool's. Could not fathom why we would spend so much time and effort doing something like this. Clearly they are the best at businessing.
Right, so, interesting April Fool's 2020 thing. Apparently a journalist got a hold of a list of ideas that were destined for Looflirpa, but with no more TG...no more fun. There's a long vetting process so I don't know which of these would or would not make the cut, but some of them are familiar so I think the list is fairly legit. How he got this, I have no idea. Someone at GameStop must have leaked it to him. Either way - here are some ideas that might have been:
"here's an insane thing you probably actually want" is maybe the worst genre of april fool's joke
Another good Bruce Campbell one could have been Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash because I will never not love that idea. It's canon in my head even though it was a joke and never existed in any form except some fan's crazy idea.
"here's an insane thing you probably actually want" is maybe the worst genre of april fool's joke
Another good Bruce Campbell one could have been Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash because I will never not love that idea. It's canon in my head even though it was a joke and never existed in any form except some fan's crazy idea.
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EVERYBODY WANTS TO SIT IN THE BIG CHAIR, MEG!
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
"here's an insane thing you probably actually want" is maybe the worst genre of april fool's joke
Another good Bruce Campbell one could have been Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash because I will never not love that idea. It's canon in my head even though it was a joke and never existed in any form except some fan's crazy idea.
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@Werewolf2000ad Well, fuck! I never knew that was a real thing.. wtf. Thank you for letting me know.
"here's an insane thing you probably actually want" is maybe the worst genre of april fool's joke
Another good Bruce Campbell one could have been Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash because I will never not love that idea. It's canon in my head even though it was a joke and never existed in any form except some fan's crazy idea.
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@Werewolf2000ad Well, fuck! I never knew that was a real thing.. wtf. Thank you for letting me know.
Its even based on the script they were gonna use before the movie fell through.
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evidently not
Hope everyone had a nice March 32nd
Is if you are Reinhardt , your match chat will be in all caps and it will add exclamation points and Reinhardt catchphrases to your text
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I haven't worked there (well, nobody does anymore) since 2016...
...but that doesn't mean the stories have to end!
It is true, April Fool's at TG was always the most madhouse time for the marketing and creative dept. Nine products was always the goal, but we could sometimes push to 12 if the feeling was right and we had the time. I don't know what stories I've shared previously so I'll kinda just bullet point out some of the highlights and then in a shocking twist give an update on something kinda strange that happened this year.
So many stories and stuff from then. Every morning of April Fools we'd get in early, order breakfast for the entire team, and watch the TwitterFall of the reports and reactions coming in. Always some of the best mornings there too.
Side fact - we never ever called it April Fool's internally. Always Looflirpa.
Other side fact: GameStop haaaaaaaaaaaated April Fool's. Could not fathom why we would spend so much time and effort doing something like this. Clearly they are the best at businessing.
Right, so, interesting April Fool's 2020 thing. Apparently a journalist got a hold of a list of ideas that were destined for Looflirpa, but with no more TG...no more fun. There's a long vetting process so I don't know which of these would or would not make the cut, but some of them are familiar so I think the list is fairly legit. How he got this, I have no idea. Someone at GameStop must have leaked it to him. Either way - here are some ideas that might have been:
GOD DAMN IT
Ommmmmmmffffffggggg..... twisting the knife.
An Old Man Brisco show.../swoom
EVERYBODY WANTS TO SIT IN THE BIG CHAIR, MEG!
Gamestop is enough of a joke as it is.
Another good Bruce Campbell one could have been Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash because I will never not love that idea. It's canon in my head even though it was a joke and never existed in any form except some fan's crazy idea.
Using uppercase and lowercase letters to have distinct meanings is never not bad.
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EVERYBODY WANTS TO SIT IN THE BIG CHAIR, MEG!
You just gotta date Babish! So, how are we gonna get his current girlfriend sent on a 3 year scientific expedition to Antarctica?
It took a second.
I was a lurker here then! XD
@Werewolf2000ad Well, fuck! I never knew that was a real thing.. wtf. Thank you for letting me know.
it's real!
my work comp did not yet have firefox
edit: december 2006, I see my timesheet lol
I was a member by then! I don't think I was active at the time, though.
@FI doesn't seem to be registered anymore.
a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and the occasional forum battle
SE++ was a wild place back then and we are all so much better now.
Its even based on the script they were gonna use before the movie fell through.