S01.E01: Life Begins

[Bort]

Quote

When an elusive comic appears, a group of fans cannot wait to get their hands on it, and unknowingly put themselves in mortal danger.

Airdate: 25 September 2020

[Constantinople]

I'm not sure anyone's going to buy that one convention guest shot a number of other guests in their rooms, then killed himself, if all of the security footage is going to disappear. Also, I'm surprised so many people opened their hotel rooms to strangers.

I'm also surprised if this Utopia comic is so valuable, they didn't take better care of it by wearing plastic gloves when showing it.

And so I understand correctly? The group that survived, their "rich" friend Grant is actually a kid?

[moonshine71]

The whole "you can look at one page" auction makes no sense. First, if the book were that popular, they would be infinitely better served finding a publisher or even self publishing and then selling the original pages off one at a time. Second, wtf are they partying like rock stars for? Their top bid at one point is 6k, they rented a suite at a convention in Chicago(which would be at least a 2 night minimum, probably 3) so they've probably spent at least $1,500 on just that room, easily more. Even with the 20k they took, they maybe have enough to start cleaning and renovating that fucking house and making it livable, definitely not paying off any student loans. If they are excited by cash, they would make at least 10 times that if they just sold the house. Third, who the fuck is going to accept the whole "one page" bullshit and still bid on it? 

[Mabinogia]

14 hours ago, moonshine71 said:

The whole "you can look at one page" auction makes no sense.

I don't get why they showed each person a different page. It was so odd. And yeah, who the fork were the people partying in the background? Like, why where they there? Other than to raise the body count. 

I don't think the idiots who found the comic had any clue it would be worth as much as it went for so I get them not going to a dealer or whatever, but I don't get them getting such a fancy hotel room if they didn't expect to get that much. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 10/2/2020 at 5:00 PM, Constantinople said:

I'm not sure anyone's going to buy that one convention guest shot a number of other guests in their rooms, then killed himself, if all of the security footage is going to disappear. Also, I'm surprised so many people opened their hotel rooms to strangers.

I'm also surprised if this Utopia comic is so valuable, they didn't take better care of it by wearing plastic gloves when showing it.

And so I understand correctly? The group that survived, their "rich" friend Grant is actually a kid?

I think it's plausible that a guest was crazy and killed a bunch of people and himself, given that he had a history of mental illness. It's doubtful that people will look all that much deeper.

I can totally buy that at a con people would be drinking and partaking of other substances and letting their guards down. 

The people who found Utopia apparently have a weird sense of how valuable it is and little sense of what to do with comics. Also, the nerds apparently don't care all that much.

On 10/3/2020 at 6:21 AM, moonshine71 said:

The whole "you can look at one page" auction makes no sense. First, if the book were that popular, they would be infinitely better served finding a publisher or even self publishing and then selling the original pages off one at a time. Second, wtf are they partying like rock stars for? Their top bid at one point is 6k, they rented a suite at a convention in Chicago(which would be at least a 2 night minimum, probably 3) so they've probably spent at least $1,500 on just that room, easily more. Even with the 20k they took, they maybe have enough to start cleaning and renovating that fucking house and making it livable, definitely not paying off any student loans. If they are excited by cash, they would make at least 10 times that if they just sold the house. Third, who the fuck is going to accept the whole "one page" bullshit and still bid on it? 

I could get the notion of "Here's a page to show it's the real deal." But there really is no reason to show different people different pages that I can fanwank.

There are a couple of potential issues with a publishing house or an actual auction. One is they don't actually know anything about it, other than it was in Grandpa's house. They don't have the rights to publish it and no way of knowing who does or how to contact that person. Publishing or auctioning is going to take time and mean that someone else gets a cut of the cash. I think we are supposed to think that Dystopia is more cultish than popular, so there's reason to think that publishing it isn't going to necessarily be lucrative. 

In terms of the suite, we're actually talking a convention rate at a suburban Chicago hotel rather than downtown. I could see it costing $400 a night, and just having it for one night. 

I could buy that people would accept the one page limit and bid anyway. If you are a fiend for a comic or other collectible, getting just a taste to prove its authenticity would be enough.

What doesn't make much sense is the set up. Like there is no purpose to having people write their name and phone number and room number on a piece of paper and to have the auction the way it was, other than to make it easy for the killers to get everyone. 

It makes way more sense to, as long as you're spending money anyways, buy a booth on the convention floor and have a page from the comic there to build maximum buzz, to have people write their bids and contact info on separate pieces of paper and to not give a fuck about what rooms they are in. It also doesn't make sense for Our Heroes to separately put their names and contact information there because they are ultimately pooling their money.

[Constantinople]

14 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I think it's plausible that a guest was crazy and killed a bunch of people and himself, given that he had a history of mental illness. It's doubtful that people will look all that much deeper.

They'll look deeper if there's no security footage.

[CletusMusashi]

I'm not denying that there are plot holes.

Hell, I'm not even clear enough yet on the details of the actual overall big plot to say that I buy it...

But this was a very enjoyable pilot, and I am ready to go watch episode 2 right now.

Edited October 8, 2020 by CletusMusashi

[shrewd.buddha]

On 10/5/2020 at 11:14 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

What doesn't make much sense is the set up.

Yes - that is not the way to conduct an auction and start a bidding war. How would people know to raise their offers? It was just a way for the killers to easily find their targets (who for some reason were in their rooms, alone, and not out partying during a comic convention).

So none of these events would have started if that young couple had not found those pages from a comic in a hoarder house and did not just trashed them? That's just random. They could have kept the comic for a long time before getting around to trying to sell it. 

Why is no one questioning who created the comics? Who was the artist? Does it look like a known artist's work? Who published the first comic? 
 

I have to admit I found the first episode a bit boring and kept wondering why people were making odd choices in certain situations. 

Edited October 9, 2020 by shrewd.buddha

[Constantinople]

A couple of other points.

The assassins obviously felt comfortable that their organization could successfully cover-up the mass murder at the convention? So when did the organization find out about the auction? Because it would have been a lot easier to intercept the couple selling the comic before they reached the hotel.

And I was confused when we're first introduced to the assassins. At first, I thought the assassin driving the car was Grant, because Grant is rich, he's late and obsessing over which car to drive to a comic con is the kind of thing a rich dilettante would do. But then who's the baby face being picked-up, and why does he feel so comfortable dressing down the guy who'll be funding the purchase of the comic?

[Potanical Pardon]

So far, so good. I wasn't expecting very much and am a big fan of the UK one. After watching the trailer, my expectations were lowered even more. This was a great example of the trailer marketing something completely different from the show.

As far as I can tell, this pretty much is an Americanized version of UK Utopia, kiiind-of like Season 1 The Office and Series 1 The Office - that sort of vein. The tone, music (thank god), COLORS (I'm glad these are still around but I hope they get even more creative with this), score are all on point. I still prefer the eccentricities of the UK goons, but fine whatever. And of course Original Recipe Wilson Wilson is superior.

They could have done away with the unlikable couple and friends and the excessive nerd murders. The counterpart scene in the original series made it more sad and tragic because there was nothing unlikeable about the people killed - they were just normal folks in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, the goons aren't anywhere near as evil. They need to be more terrifying while wacky and kind-of forces of nature/mythical-like. These goons were just goons.

Moving on with the other episodes...But yeah, I'm pleased so far.

Edited October 12, 2020 by Potanical Pardon