Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. Sometimes, coasters are built to follow a trend. Whether that trend is records, quality, gimmicks or something else entirely, coasters are often built to capitalise upon a current trend. However, there are some coasters that aren’t necessarily built to capitalise on trends. They instead do something completely different, and make the world sit up, take them seriously and follow their lead. These rides are the new trend setters; I like to call them paradigm-shifting coasters, after hearing someone else on this forum describe such rides as “shifting the paradigm”. So my question to you today is; what coasters do you think were paradigm-shifting coasters when they were built? What rides totally rewrote the rules of coasters and forced everyone else to follow their lead?
I can think of a fair few examples; some of the more significant ones I can think of include:
I can think of a fair few examples; some of the more significant ones I can think of include:
- Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland: Let’s start with the first, and arguably one of the biggest, paradigm shifter; Matterhorn Bobsleds, the world’s first tubular steel coaster. Yes, we may take steel coasters for granted nowadays, but back then, I can imagine that it was a huge deal. Just imagine the dawn of this all new coaster building material that was flexible, and allowed all kinds of wackier elements to be done. That would have been truly paradigm-shifting stuff!
- Corkscrew at Knott’s Berry Farm: Again, inversions might be something we take for granted nowadays, but I can imagine that Knott’s building Corkscrew was a huge deal at the time. Back in the 70s, I can imagine that the mere thought of a coaster that went upside down must have been truly mind-blowing!
- Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point: I think to say that this ride was paradigm-shifting would be doing it a huge disservice. While it might seem like just another height record breaker, most people seem to agree that Magnum almost single-handedly started the Coaster Wars, and for the time, I think 200ft was a huge barrier to break. After this ride was built, everyone began falling over themselves to build taller and faster than ever before, and I think that totally redefined the course of the industry.
- Batman The Ride at Six Flags Great America: In my opinion, this ride shifted the paradigm because not only was it the world’s first inverted roller coaster, but it was also the first truly influential ride to showcase the way in which B&M rewrote the rules of steel coasters (I know that Batman wasn’t the first B&M, but the standups built prior weren’t really anything the world hadn’t seen before, so I’d argue that this was the ride that truly showed the world that B&M meant business). Rough coasters with square profiling weren’t going to cut it anymore; Batman was the ride that made the world embrace flowing, smooth coaster design, and I think that well and truly shifted the paradigm. I also don’t think that the inverted coaster’s popularity should be underestimated, either; yes, I know that suspended coasters existed for over a decade prior to Batman The Ride’s launch, but Batman was the first to invert, and I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that unlike the suspended coaster, the inverted coaster became a theme park must-have within the blink of an eye. And I think much of that can be attributed to Batman.
- Maverick at Cedar Point: While the exact end of the Coaster Wars is perhaps a little more debatable than the start of them, I think it could be argued that Maverick ended the Coaster Wars in a similar vein to how Magnum started them. Actually, I don’t think saying that Maverick “ended the Coaster Wars” is an entirely fair statement. I’d instead say that Maverick marked a shift in the Coaster Wars, pivoting them from a records war to a quality war. Maverick was not much of a headline-grabber in terms of stats compared to some of Cedar Point’s previous greats, but it aspired to be a damn good ride, and it got rave reviews for it. It still gets rave reviews now, and I’d argue that it was the first ride to exhibit the layout style that is the in thing nowadays; really aggressive, yet flowing transitions, with lots of airtime pops and unique inversions. While Maverick perhaps took a few more years to make its mark on the industry than some of these others, I think it made a mark all the same.
- Blue Fire at Europa Park: This ride may seem a little overshadowed these days, but I don’t think its impact on the industry should be downplayed. Blue Fire well and truly redefined the standard for thrill ride restraints; while it wasn’t the first coaster to invert with lap bars, I’d argue that it was the coaster that popularised it. Within a few short years, OTSRs and restrictive trains became a thing of the past for the most part, and Blue Fire’s new paradigm of roomy trains and freeing restraints on inverting coasters became the norm. For that reason alone, I think Blue Fire was well and truly paradigm-shifting.
- New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas: How could I talk about paradigm-shifting rides without mentioning RMC? Arguably one of the most recent paradigm-shifting rides was New Texas Giant, RMC’s initial contribution to the industry. When Six Flags took a punt on a small-town construction firm from Idaho to redo their old, rough wooden coaster Texas Giant, little did they know that they were arguably building one of the most influential rides the industry has ever seen. NTG redefined the coaster scene in so many ways. It showed that there was a use for old, rough, unpopular wooden coasters aside from firewood. It was also the ride that introduced us to perhaps one of the most commonplace and revered layout styles of the modern day; “the RMC”. While NTG is perhaps not the most ambitious use of this layout style by modern standards, I definitely think that RMC’s very distinct layout style and design techniques were present from the very first installation, and with the bulk of manufacturers now drawing inspiration from RMC to at least a certain degree, I think that New Texas Giant’s contribution to the industry was perhaps among the most valuable of recent times.
