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Ideas that you were beaten to/weren't aware has been done.

tredlowtredlow
edited July 2011 in General Chat
Ever had an awesome idea for a movie/game/TV show/comic/invention, only to realize that someone has beaten you to it or it has been done before?

I had an idea of a movie where a guy journeys from heaven to hell to rescue his wife. I was shocked and saddened when I found out that it was a novel AND a movie adaptation already.

Comments

  • Darth MarsdenDarth Marsden
    edited June 2011
    A couple of times I'll have nice ideas that I'll file away to develop in some way or another at some point, only for someone else to do something incredibly similar a couple of years later. It's like they're reading my mind or something.

    One example was Gen X, which I thought would make a nice TV show. It was basically what if the concept behind X-Men - mutants and their struggle to fit in - was actually set in the real world and not the comic one where things like lasers and aliens exist?

    Then, a couple of years down the line, Heroes comes alone. It's not quite the same thing, but it's similar enough to make me think 'Huh. Kinda what I was thinking.'

    There's others, but that's probably the best example.
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited June 2011
    Lightbulb. Apparently some jerk figured it out already.
  • DrRocketGeniusDrRocketGenius
    edited June 2011
    Man, the toaster was totally my idea.
  • Gman5852Gman5852
    edited June 2011
    Im telling you, it was MY idea to create a game starring a dog and a rabbit, MY IDEA
  • Secret FawfulSecret Fawful
    edited June 2011
    This is not a joke. A pheonix as an instrument of capital punishment. Frakking Bleach....
  • coolsomecoolsome
    edited June 2011
    Wizard school!!!
  • tredlowtredlow
    edited June 2011
    coolsome wrote: »
    Wizard school!!!

    Yeah, but that didn't stop JK Rowling, so it's fine.

    Also, I had an idea for a movie like Tron, but the computer world is like the normal world. Damn you, Matrix.
  • GuineaGuinea
    edited June 2011
    I thought it would be cool to have a movie character realize he's a movie character, and trying to break out of it. I forgot which movie that was but it's basically the same idea, just that the guy is a character in a book someone is writing at the moment and plans to have him die.

    So I guess my idea IS different enough to go for it, because in my story it would all have developed in a completely different way.

    The other way round however, is also interesting.
    I've made Mario fangames, and some elements of those have later been used in official Mario games, such as the Ice Flower (complete with the ability to freeze enemies to blocks and kick them) and the giant Bowser chase from NSMBWii.
    Most probably coincidence, but still cool that some ideas I had have later been had by the team who made the official games.

    I think there were some more but I can't think of anything atm.
  • der_ketzerder_ketzer
    edited June 2011
    Guinea wrote: »
    I thought it would be cool to have a movie character realize he's a movie character, and trying to break out of it. I forgot which movie that was but it's basically the same idea....

    The Truman Show?
  • RetroVortexRetroVortex
    edited June 2011
    Exiles the TV series!

    Oh wait....
  • tredlowtredlow
    edited June 2011
    Guinea wrote: »
    I thought it would be cool to have a movie character realize he's a movie character, and trying to break out of it. I forgot which movie that was but it's basically the same idea, just that the guy is a character in a book someone is writing at the moment and plans to have him die.

    Stranger Than Fiction, starring Will Ferrell. Awesome film, in my opinion. Was expecting more of a comedy, though.
  • KromsKroms
    edited June 2011
    The main idea of the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Wife" was something I'd been toying around with for a while, though Neil Gaiman's experience may have caused his script to be superior to what I could have done.

    A short story that the plot of the movie Heaven had already covered got to the writing stage, though my story involved a rogue, enraged cop going half-Taxi Driver, half Bad Lieutenant at a mall. It was a bit Port Arthur massacre, but I didn't work a shooting for the fun of it; I had a point. I still want to do this one, but it needs a re-working.

    There are more, but I let those ideas die.
  • coolsomecoolsome
    edited June 2011
    I wanted to rip off the simpsons and become famous but Seth Macfarlane beat me to it.
  • Darth MarsdenDarth Marsden
    edited June 2011
    I wanted to be the most awesome person on the forums, but coolsome beat me to it.
  • Jon NAJon NA
    edited June 2011
    Optical fiber.
    I was working on a kind of telephone-wire that works with laser and has some sort of very thin.and flexible mirror in it to reflect the laser beam containing the data, Only to figure out it has been invented.

    And the idea of travelling through time by drinking a cup of coffee.
    The Iranian historical comedy TV series, Qáhvé-yé Tálkh (The Bitter Coffee), beat me to it. :(
    Ghave_talkh_poster.jpg
  • AlcoremortisAlcoremortis
    edited June 2011
    The iSlate. Totally had that idea a year before the iPad. Yup.
  • doodo!doodo!
    edited June 2011
    It happens all the time when people try to understand something , or even not trying to understand something really deep, or intellectual... they do understand it. Some of the most advanced topics known to man, unknown to man, are already known through symbolism and metaphor. Just watch music videos and look at art work, and you'll be amazed. But I'm not surprised personally as many artists with sudden realizations have gone on to prove their self as famous scientist, or visionaries.

    Every idea already exist, you're actually a super super genius, you just don't know it, every idea throughout your life exists, it just has a different face, if you will.

    I know you don't believe me, but this is not a musing thread, so let's leave it there. But you've all had brilliant ideas, even if you're not aware of it.
  • RemolayRemolay
    edited June 2011
    I wanted to start a band named Burnt Toast. Burnt Toast now exists.

    I wanted to make a comic of a super hero where all you could see of him was his cape, because I couldn't draw anything else. The name of this comic? The Cape.
  • tredlowtredlow
    edited June 2011
    Alcoremortis wrote: »
    The iSlate. Totally had that idea a year before the iPad. Yup.

    The name sounds like 'isolate', which is still better than iPad.
    Remolay wrote: »
    I wanted to make a comic of a super hero where all you could see of him was his cape, because I couldn't draw anything else. The name of this comic? The Cape.

    Just call it "Cape" or "Mr. Cape" or "The Lone Cape".

    Also, I had an idea for a comedy film that takes place near the end of the world, focusing on how each people cope differently with the apocalypse; one still desperately tries to save himself and his family, one make amends to people he had wronged in the past, one finds religion, and one decides to do everything he'd always wanted to do in life.

    A twist is that, in the middle of the film, we found out that the apocalypse was a fluke, and each people had to face the consequences of everything they just did.

    The 'end of the world' thing has been done in an upcoming film "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World"
  • HaydenHayden
    edited June 2011
    I thought I'd coined the word "falafelcopter", before I found it on Urban Dictionary.
  • dumpling321dumpling321
    edited June 2011
    I know a guy who thought of those little strips you put on your nose at night to help you breathe better... unfortunatly he never patented the idea and someone else beat him to it.
  • tredlowtredlow
    edited June 2011
    A sitcom about a family of dinosaurs.
  • GaryCXJkGaryCXJk
    edited June 2011
    A motorized bicycle without a motor.
  • tredlowtredlow
    edited June 2011
    GaryCXJk wrote: »
    A motorized bicycle without a motor.

    I think it's called a horsebike, or a nonmotor in Europe.
  • KrohnKrohn
    edited July 2011
    tredlow wrote: »
    Yeah, but that didn't stop JK Rowling, so it's fine.

    Also, I had an idea for a movie like Tron, but the computer world is like the normal world. Damn you, Matrix.

    Eh, aren't both tredlow and Rowling a few decades late?
    Or does worst witch not count as it was a school for witches?
    (But back in the 70's they have tended to keep the genders separated at school)
  • GaryCXJkGaryCXJk
    edited July 2011
    tredlow wrote: »
    I think it's called a horsebike, or a nonmotor in Europe.

    I thought it was called "bicycle" here.
  • DaviesDavies
    edited July 2011
    Fire and the wheel. However, apparently some git's already figured those two out! Still, I've always got my design concepts for a transport that can fly!
  • DarkbladerDarkblader
    edited July 2011
    I had this idea about a place on the other side, but Doug tennapel beaten me to the punch with Ghostopolis.
  • guitarsareboringguitarsareboring
    edited July 2011
    E Readers. I drew a design years ago that was similar to a DS held 90 degrees, the size of a regular paperback when open.
  • Sausy GibbonSausy Gibbon
    edited July 2011
    tredlow wrote: »
    Ever had an awesome idea for a movie/game/TV show/comic/invention, only to realize that someone has beaten you to it or it has been done before?

    I had an idea of a movie where a guy journeys from heaven to hell to rescue his wife. I was shocked and saddened when I found out that it was a novel AND a movie adaptation already.

    Also sounds similar to a certain 800 year old epic poem
    Fire and the wheel. However, apparently some git's already figured those two out! Still, I've always got my design concepts for a transport that can fly!
    But if they could be combined, why then I'd be rich. I think I'll call it the firewheel.
  • SarendorSarendor
    edited July 2011
    I had an idea of an online adventure game. However, I discovered that there was URU Online, (which doesn't seem to be good enough for role playing,) and Mask of Eternity was planned as one.
  • Blind SniperBlind Sniper Moderator
    edited July 2011
    On the Team Fortress 2 forums, somebody came up with the idea of making a reskin of the Solemn Vow weapon for the Medic featuring the Spy's head (from the refrigerator scene in Meet the Medic) instead of the bust of Hippocrates. He posted it on the forums and everybody really liked the idea, spreading the word saying both he and the idea were genius. I came up with the same weapon idea earlier than he did, but didn't think of sharing it. :P
  • doodo!doodo!
    edited July 2011
    Yes, well, original ideas are to die for...
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