Halloween Wars - General Discussion

[oldCJ]

On 10/15/2019 at 1:17 AM, suebee12 said:

One has to give it to Tater that he helped the sugar guy! Didn't complain, just started helping!

Th downside was he helped by making the white chocolate glacage which the judges hated. 

[suebee12]

2 hours ago, oldCJ said:

Th downside was he helped by making the white chocolate glacage which the judges hated. 

But did he do it with his recipe or did he do what Froggy told him to? Not arguing, just wondering!

[RoxiP]

Another thing about Tator...when the teams are all lined up for judging the other teams are all lined up by size - shortest to tallest.  Tator stands in the front of his team no matter what - of course he's short but strangely enough everybody else on his team is short too and he is not the shortest.  I think there is significant short man complex going on there!

On the other hand, if anybody ever needs a leprechaun...

[Enigma X]

The faux panic on this show is like nails on a chalkboard.

[toodywoody]

I have been catching up on the previous seasons and the old host, who the hell was he? Shiminn or however you spell her name drove me nuts with something she said about timing and how she would have made it from pulled sugar instead of whatever, or she would have done this or that, but I doubt she's ever done this show and knows how to carve a damn pumpkin. Much less I highly doubt she has put shit together in 5 hours and the stuff she has done, has been in days and not the time limit on this show. Yes she is a whatever baker or whatever but I seriously doubt she could do better. Then the old male judge who is a special effects blah blah in the movies, once again he was saying shit too but he isn't  a baker and I doubt he has carved shit from pumpkin or baked anything into an alien or whatever 

While I appreciate that both the judges are pros at baking potatoes or whatever she does and makes special effects for movies, neither one of those are made of pumpkin or cake.

[Snarkastikate]

Bestill my heart....so much drama!!  I think the whole damned show is scripted/phony, but the stuff they come up with is interesting.    Can't wait to see the look on Tater's angry mug when he (hopefully) loses again this season.  Why does he rudely stand in front of the girl in his team?  

[Spunkygal]

S9, E4: Other Characters go Trick or Treating

Small scare was a yawn for me. Tator’s vampire head was rough and Froggy’s sugar chain was awkward.  Man bun was well executed but not scary and didn’t reference a vampire. I had hopes for the lady vampire but it fell short for me.

I still don’t understand who Crampus is but wow, that was incredibly well done. And I loved the Easter bunny. Back drop was boring. The one with the ice slide was cool and I knew Froggy would execute it well. It was very colorful. Santa’s dark side was good and that pumpkin toy bag was fab. Also loved the elves. And yay! Tator’s gone! 

That was a rushed review. As soon as HW ended, our tornado sirens went off. So far, my pup and I are ok but this is a tremendous storm. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Spunkygal

[BurntWaffle]

6 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

S9, E4: Other Characters go Trick or Treating

I still don’t understand who Crampus is...

It's actually spelled "Krampus", and you can read about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus

Through four episodes, I've agreed with every decision by the judges. I feel as though the correct teams are moving on.

I liked all the Spine Chiller displays tonight, for the most part. I do agree that the Jack Frost piece needs to be explained to be understood. It looks great, but as a storytelling moment on its own, it's just not there.

The Easter Bunny sculpt kept bugging me, because they got everything right except the feet. Those were not bunny feet, they were small stubs. I was surprised that no one brought that up. That complaint aside, the rest of the character work was amazing.

The Santa one deserved to win. It was simple, but well-done, and the contrasting of the background and foreground characters worked really well. It definitely popped with the colors.

Edited October 21, 2019 by BurntWaffle

[Dirtybubble]

Yay, Tator is gone!  He seemed particularly annoying this episode so I'm glad to see him waddle out. 

I feel that was a bit of unnecessary drama over the two women on the other team.  I don't feel she was criticizing her cake work but simply offering a solution to a problem she could see coming.  She was nice but firm in her explanation so unless the stress was getting to the other lady I didn't see the need for tears.

[Spunkygal]

18 minutes ago, Dirtybubble said:

Yay, Tator is gone!  He seemed particularly annoying this episode so I'm glad to see him waddle out. 

I feel that was a bit of unnecessary drama over the two women on the other team.  I don't feel she was criticizing her cake work but simply offering a solution to a problem she could see coming.  She was nice but firm in her explanation so unless the stress was getting to the other lady I didn't see the need for tears.

Yeah, the supposed drama between the ladies was stupid. It took one look at the toy bag that one chick was making to see that it looked like an oversized deflated balloon. Reva was right to suggest she re-do it and she wasn’t being bitchy about it.  But of course all the manufactured drama on the FN shows is laughable. At least on this show they don’t throw in a twist halfway through. “Incorporate rainbows and swans in your ax murderer spine chiller!” “Incorporate sardines in your tasting element.” 

[Maverick]

 Since season 1, somebody has always lost their cool on this show.  I tend to believe it.  These people are strangers working under time pressure to build a huge artistic piece.  Add to that they're artists who all have their own vision and are used to executing their work their own way.  Tempers are bound to flair.  There was even the guy from the Underbakers team on here talking about how bad it was.   

 Maybe some of the toppling pieces are staged, but cake and especially sugar are very fragile and really would a team agree to have their hard work intentionally destroyed. 

[Pepper the Cat]

Tater was so shocked that he lost! 

I like both the teams in the final so will be happy no matter who wins

[Ms Lark]

So glad Tator and his bombastic bloviating is gone. What a poseur. I guess he wants to be the next Guy F, but one of those is more than enough. That said, I did like the wave in their scene.

Glad the groups that won, won. Looking forward to the finale, sans Tator.

[mlp]

I was happy that the buttercream team won.  I like all three of them and I thought they had the best and most coherent display.  I couldn't decide which of the other two I liked better.  The Krampus was marvelous but the display had a lot of empty space.  The other team had a good character and water slide but it wasn't obvious who the character was supposed to be and the rest of the display was merely OK.  In the end, I was happy with the decision because it eliminated Tator although I was sorry to see Froggy go.

[BusyOctober]

16 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

So glad Tator and his bombastic bloviating is gone. What a poseur. I guess he wants to be the next Guy F, but one of those is more than enough. That said, I did like the wave in their scene.

Glad the groups that won, won. Looking forward to the finale, sans Tator.

Exactly! Such a poseur! He always sounded like he was so overly scripted, like he went home from the competition and wrote his lines in the hotel, then practiced in front of the mirror for hours.  The Guy Fieri comparison is right on....OTT pronouncements, “dude-bro speak”, mugging for the camera.  FN already has one (too many) Guy’s on air, but I think Tator thinks he’s the next FN star and deserving of his own show. My daughter and I high-fives and cheered when Tator-Snot was eliminated.  Froggy is definitely talented, and I am sorry he was saddled with that overgrown leprechaun.  I hope he can return to another one of these holiday shows. But I never want to see Tator again.

Edited October 22, 2019 by BusyOctober

[mojoween]

On 10/15/2019 at 2:18 PM, Carolina Girl said:

Oh good - it ISN'T just me.  I thought "maybe I'm missing something fabulous from Tator's personality" other than a sense of entitlement and obvious conceit.  I do love it every time he states "it's in the bag!" or "no way we can lose" and is denied each time.   He's a long way from Russell Hantz, but frankly Food Network, stop bringing him back.

I love that they put in TWO sound bites where he was so SURE they won.

So happy he left and took his weird aggressive way of standing with him.  The other two teams are pretty balanced with how much we know all of them but that girl on Trio of Terror might as well have not been there.

I would have been so mad if Krampus went home.  That pumpkin carver is a Halloween Wars alum too isn’t he?

One thing I have always loved about this show is when they take the teams sketches and create the artwork out of it. I don’t know if it’s all done on computer or what but it always looks amazing.

Jack Frost is not a holiday mascot.  He’s a winter mascot.

[mojoween]

One thing that surprises me is how much I like Beth, which I did not see coming at all after the preview special.  And she works so well with the tall fellow even when they are frustrated.

And why do I have a feeling that we are going to get some super huge sugar piece from their sugar artist next week, after what Shinmin said?

[Spunkygal]

Beth has always been even-keel on previous seasons so I’m not surprised that she is getting along with her team. I remember she and Froggy worked so well together in the past, so I was miffed when he was on Tator’s team. I really hope one of the teams has a spectacular sugar creation. Even though you know we will get the fake drama of something breaking, but then it is magically quickly repaired!! 

I saw a brief interview with Jonathan Bennett on TMZ and he said that FN is bringing back Holiday Wars for one episode. I remember when it was a weekly month long show like HW is. 

[toodywoody]

Shinminn drives me insane when she says it looks rushed. No shit hooker, they had 45 minutes. If she was making something out of pumpkin or cake or sugar, you can't tell me her shit would be perfect.

[Spunkygal]

Season 9 finale: Scary Tales

Frosted Freakshow: Yeah, Thumbelina did look like the queen of French fries. That spine chiller was really not scary. The fish, which was very well sculpted, was too pretty for me. Too many pastel, friendly colors.

Buttercream Beasts: Goldilocks actually looked like Fabio to me. That’s scary right there...ha!  Liked the movement of the characters and Shinmin’s reaction to her first bite into the cookie was great. 

Both were yawners for me. 

So, FF won, congrats but I still miss the perfection of the early seasons of this show. I guess that’s why I love this time of year. I can see reruns of the true artists from those early days. 

Edited October 29, 2019 by Spunkygal

[Pepper the Cat]

I thought Buttercream Beast was better and more Halloweeny, but am fine with the Frosted Freakshow win. And big respect to the girl that worked with the burnt hand. That looked painful!

[mlp]

I am astonished that Buttercream Beasts didn't win.  I thought their display was much better overall.  The pieces made by the pumpkin carver on the other team were great but I didn't like the rest.   Thumbelina looked like an old lady and the frog was bad and pulling away from the wall.  "Queen of the French fries" made me laugh but that's exactly what the yellow things looked like.  I have no idea what swayed the judges.

Neither team came close to the final pieces we saw in the early competitions.

[BurntWaffle]

Well.....

Hmmmm. I thought Thumbelina was a "cleaner" piece, but I didn't get the story, didn't feel like it was scary at all...and, yeah, from the concept drawing on, all I could think of was french fries. Like, how could they not get that those looked like french fries?!

Unfortunately, the Ghouldilocks piece had its own problems. I didn't care for the character design, and Caleb made a great point: the room looked too clean for the struggle that would have been.

Still, that being said, at least the Ghouldilocks story was obvious from the display, it was scary, and it apparently had the best tasting element of the night, to the point of giving Shinmin an orgasm (not that I'm jealous of a cookie, but....).

Really conflicted on the finale. Maybe it's more that I didn't care for either Spine Chiller effort in the end... 

[trudysmom]

I don't know any of their names but the pumpkin carver for the Frosted Freakshow team has been on before, and won.  He is amazing, no doubt.  I just wonder if that played into Shinmin's bias at all.  That said,  I was disappointed the Buttercream Beasts lost,  but with this show, they'll all be back again. 

[Dirtybubble]

Well I'm bummed Buttercream Beasts lost but Ghouldilocks was underwhelming.  She had a weird Joker smile I couldn't get past and even though I understand why they moved Ghouldi in front of Papa Bear's chair I knew it would be mistake.  Her body was blocking the view of the recliner that looked really good.

Thumbelina wasn't up to par either.  I wouldn't have gotten the story/meaning of the display if it wasn't explained to me. *shrug*

Enh I guess I'm still happy with the results and I am so friggin HAPPY I don't have to listen to that annoying host for another year =D

[mojoween]

No that’s crap.  Thumbelina wasn’t scary, Shinmin said so!

I mean, Ghouldilocks was terrifying as fuck and not even in the way they meant.  But also I was really rooting for Beth and I was beyond tired of hearing about Reva’s burnt hand.

I hate putting effort into watching a show and being continuously disappointed in the outcome, heh.

[Spunkygal]

58 minutes ago, mojoween said:

No that’s crap.  Thumbelina wasn’t scary, Shinmin said so!

I mean, Ghouldilocks was terrifying as fuck and not even in the way they meant.  But also I was really rooting for Beth and I was beyond tired of hearing about Reva’s burnt hand.

I hate putting effort into watching a show and being continuously disappointed in the outcome, heh.

Yeah, I miss Karen from Bling Bats and Vinnie (RIP) from Dead Man Walking. They were brilliant artists.

[crazycatlady58]

27 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

Yeah, I miss Karen from Bling Bats and Vinnie (RIP) from Dead Man Walking. They were brilliant artists.

What happened to Vinnie?

[Spunkygal]

20 minutes ago, crazycatlady58 said:

What happened to Vinnie?

He passed away in 2013. https://chicago.eater.com/2013/12/3/6320643/former-bleeding-heart-owner-vinny-garcia-passes-away

[suebee12]

1 hour ago, crazycatlady58 said:

Yeah, I miss Karen from Bling Bats

Is she the lady with the white stripe in her hair? If she is, she was simply amazing every time she was on!!

[Spunkygal]

4 hours ago, suebee12 said:

Is she the lady with the white stripe in her hair? If she is, she was simply amazing every time she was on!!

Yes, indeed, that is Karen!

[ShelleySue]

I think that this is the first time that I have ever not chosen the correct winner of the finals.  It seemed obvious to me. Oh well . . . Neither of the teams wowed me.

PS  I want Angela's cookie recipe.

Edited to add these recipes, but none of them are Angela's cookies. 

Edited October 29, 2019 by ShelleySue
to add link

[Spunkygal]

Has anyone requested a forum for Holiday Wars which premieres tonight? If not, I’ll request one.

[Spunkygal]

Holiday Wars discussion topic is now available!  

[Spunkygal]

Just saw a commercial on FN that Outrageous Pumpkins airs on Sept. 13. It’s a pumpkin carving competition. It appears to be a one episode show and not a progressive elimination thing. I haven’t heard anything about Halloween Wars returning but I doubt it. It would be impossible to social distance from everyone. 
Hold the phone! Looks like Halloween Wars also returns Sept. 13! 

Edited August 30, 2020 by Spunkygal

[Maverick]

 I was thinking we wouldn't we be getting the Halloween shows this year, but they must film them in late winter and got them in just under the wire.  I'm pretty sure the Christmas shows are filmed in Spring so I doubt we'll be seeing any of them this year.

 I had looked up this show the other day and saw that the "Road To..." special was airing the 13th but apparently the first episode airs that day too.   That's way earlier than usual.  The whole season will finish several weeks before Halloween.  

[mlp]

I was just coming here to say that both Halloween Wars and the Halloween Baking Competition are on the schedule.  The FN site has the usual pictures of the teams and bakers.  The holiday competitions are my favorite shows each year so I'm excited.  I hope they've been able to salvage the Christmas shows somehow.  I've heard that they were filming them outdoors or something but I don't know if that's true or not.

[mojoween]

Saw the notification on my DVR for the premiere next Sunday and Jonathan also tweeted about it yesterday.

It’s so wonderful to have something normal in this hellscape of 2020.

[Spunkygal]

2 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Saw the notification on my DVR for the premiere next Sunday and Jonathan also tweeted about it yesterday.

It’s so wonderful to have something normal in this hellscape of 2020.

Yes! I’d rather have the fake horror of Halloween than the real horror of 2020. 

[Rammchick]

Just now, Spunkygal said:

Yes! I’d rather have the fake horror of Halloween than the real horror of 2020. 

Even if it is exceedingly early!

[mlp]

I was very happy to have this show back basically unchanged.  There seem to be a lot of talented competitors this season.  The people I liked best on the "Road to..." show were all selected and a woman I didn't care for went out with the first losing team.  I was a bit surprised to see Steve Weiss as he's been on before.  I remember him well from the old Challenge shows.  He was arrogant but really, really good at what he does.  I like the fireman.

[Spunkygal]

21 minutes ago, mlp said:

I was very happy to have this show back basically unchanged.  There seem to be a lot of talented competitors this season.  The people I liked best on the "Road to..." show were all selected and a woman I didn't care for went out with the first losing team.  I was a bit surprised to see Steve Weiss as he's been on before.  I remember him well from the old Challenge shows.  He was arrogant but really, really good at what he does.  I like the fireman.

I so agree! It was fun viewing! I always love Jonathan and Shinmin and I wanted to gobble up all those tasting treats. So happy it’s back! 

[mojoween]

I liked Stephen, but not sorry that blue hair who needed to put it back and ghost lover from Vegas got booted first.

At the beginning of “Road To...” the first person they showed was Tater and I was so scared he was coming back.

I like the fireman too (surprisingly, because his accent was a LOT for me to take in), I liked Joel in the preview and their pumpkin carver is from New York.  Glad that team overcame the sinking snake in the small scare.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

At the beginning of “Road To...” the first person they showed was Tater and I was so scared he was coming back.

When I saw that quick flash of Tater at the beginning, I could almost hear a collective "NOOOOOOO" coming from the ether XD

I liked the "narrator" of the losing team so was sorry to see him go, but their display lacked the detail that everyone else's did, so it was the right choice. I also liked the guest judge this week. Sometimes the guests just parrot the other judges' critiques or lean too hard into their shtick, but he was making some worthwhile contributions to the judging.

[threebluestars]

So it looks like it starts next week in Canada. I take it it's already on in the US?

[Maverick]

10 hours ago, mlp said:

I was very happy to have this show back basically unchanged. 

 Pretty sure this (and the pumpkin carving one starting next week) were filmed before the shutdown.   They film these well advance (I assume in part they have to do it when pumpkins are still somewhat in season).    Holiday Baking Championship, on the the hand, was clearly filmed post-COVID.  

[mlp]

6 hours ago, mojoween said:

At the beginning of “Road To...” the first person they showed was Tater and I was so scared he was coming back.

 

4 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

When I saw that quick flash of Tater at the beginning, I could almost hear a collective "NOOOOOOO" coming from the ether XD

One of those "Nooooooooooooooooo" voices was me.  He's already been on twice and the second time was one too many.

[Maverick]

 He was on season 7 and then season 9 (last season).   Expect to see him back next year for season 11.  It's like the Star Trek odd number movie curse.   FN is really enamored by him for some reason.  

[Rammchick]

8 hours ago, mlp said:

 

One of those "Nooooooooooooooooo" voices was me.  He's already been on twice and the second time was one too many.

The first time was one too many!

Edited September 15, 2020 by Rammchick

[BusyOctober]

My daughter and I yelled NOOOOOOOOO! when we saw Tater-Snot’s face in the previews.  Thank the Ghosts and Goblins he will not be competing this season.