Ego vs Passion: Loving Toys The Wrong Way & Surviving It
My ego and sense of self-preservation by far supersedes the passion I may have had for any particular toys, in these frenzied days of toy-blogging. Let me quantify that claim more clearly.
I used to be a fanatical fan of "Artist-X" (and subsequently "X-brand"). And dare say to be one of the early fans, even before the product got placed on a display shelf! I had constantly kept the public updated with each and every movement of the toys' developments on my humble blog, by my own initiative. I had followed it to toy-cons, and made graphical charts about the figure before it's scheduled drop. And I was rewarded for my efforts, both mentally (hell, I enjoyed blogging about them innit?) and physically (aka "free toys").
Once the figure (and it's variant) dropped, a whole new company was set up (aka "X-brand"), and I was rewarded still, and heavily for my commitment to mentioned company. I was in toy heaven! Being a staunch supporter of both the artist and manufacturer, it was all-too obvious I was a huge fan of their products on my blog, simply by my reporting of their goods, which to me, transcended "products", and were actual things I had a real passion for. Those were great times to be blogging.
One fine day I had a photo competition, whereby there were no prizes given, except for folks to share photography-submissions of their toys (yes, specifically of THAT initial design entity) and for readers to straight up vote for their favorite pic. I had loved the figure and thought to share the toy-joy, as well promote said figure, out of my own initiative. And I always loved the concept of photo contest, as it gives folks a chance to take out their toys for some fun!
"Artist-X" then actually emailed me and offered up a free sketch by way of a prize, and I was aesthetic! And the prize was offered as such, and to the testament of his popularity, submissions came flooding in.
Eventually, the contest ended and a winner was decided by the voting public. Delivery address was then forwarded to said artist (those were the days when email correspondence between us both was more frequent and forthcoming). Then we waited. And waited. And waited.
More emails and forum-PMs were sent. More words of confusion were shared. Action was to be taken. And we waited. And waited.
Moving uncomfortably outside of my personal zone, I had even seeked help from a couple of sources "close" to the artist, to which I was recommended to be patient, and to keep trying. As much as I was responsible for the prize to be fulfilled, it was not my job to fulfill the prize. "As busy as the man was, I am not his secretary to remind him of what he had promised to do", so I had thought, and still do.
And we waited for one whole year. Nothing was done, and frankly by then it was obvious, nothing will be done.
Regardless of whatever excuse or intent, I was ignored, and all emails had stopped by then. I had never felt so futile in my "professional" stance ever before. In lieu of purging it all out online, I had chosen to shut the heck up, and silently be thankful for the stick being poked up my arse.
An ignorable piece of prize to you, perhaps, and even a "narrow-minded me" to you mayhap. But what it meant was far beyond that to me then. I had let it "get" to me both personally and professionally. I had let it get "personal". But hey, that was my burden to bear for myself, and hence this post is littered with non-names disclosed.
Anyways the contest winner was subsequently sent a couple of toys from myself, and a sincere apology for the ridiculous wait, and with that I may well have lost a reader too. A single year should not have been an issue for the winner's wait, as it is not his burden to bear. And since then, contest prizes and prize-fulfillment has been a important aspect to conducting a contest on this blog, at the very least I / we should be able to "see" the "prize" online first, before anything else is to be attempted. I am all for promoting and sharing something I love, but not at the expense of my blog, or my own integrity. I would have to thank Artist-X for the "education" though.
Know that to the general public out there, the contest organizer and prize giver are perhaps the same thing, and no excuses will be necessary henceforth. Why do you think my contest "Terms and Conditions" are so bloody long, innit? HAH.
Time pass. The lurve and appreciation I had from the company had since dried up and remain unrequited. They have ready new folks to promote them now, websites lining up to report on their wares (where they never bothered to in the first place), and they are granted exclusive reveals and images (something I never had the luxury of in the past). Far be it my blog can no longer fare better than the legion of others in the cyber-highway now, I continue still with my coverage, though not as ferocious as before. Because frankly, (1) the toys are still as awesome and toy readers should not be deprived of them, and (2) that stick up my arse no longer hurts as much (though I should not have let it stay there in the very first instance. And kept quiet about it).
This s a "purge blogpost" with no longer predetermined malice, and hence no names will be mentioned, as it is no longer worth the mention. So you are an idiot for asking, as you sure as heck won't do anything about it either.
Had my passion for a particular brand led me to accept the pain of ego-bashing? It is painfully obvious that it has been, even if that was not to have been the initial intention. At the end of the day, whatever passion I had, was but "work" to others. The free toys may well have been obligatory "promotional stuff". Now with a wave of a dismissive hand, it had seemed nothing had ever happened, perhaps even forgotten.
But happened it did. It just happens to be MY "past" as well.
And perhaps this is the way as it should be, the past IS the past, and is all but a wonderful dream to be had, and eventually forgotten. Everyone claims to look forward to the future, and choose to ignore the past, well, because "they" can afford to, isn't it? They refute the past and people flock to them and praise them unto deity. I do not blame them, I used to be one of them.
When I started blogging about toys, one of the things I had started out doing, was build "relationships" online, with people I could work with, and be loyal to, and build a "future" together. Heck, being "friends" was important to me (and ironically I'm not a trusting bloke in the first place). Not all have worked, and many have decided their loyalties lie elsewhere where the sun seems sunnier. And sadly, to some folks, my dream may well have been a "naive" one after all … and I have come to realize, perhaps it is indeed a dream I had shared with folks who do not necessarily bother with these things, beyond website hits and statistics.
Be that as it may, the reality is people still need to sell their toys, and if my makeshift-stall doesn't move product? They more unto the next stall, isn't it? Fair enough, if that be the case. Jeez-Louise I get it! Tis just sometimes I forget, is all … ;p
Nevertheless, looks like a passion I had for a toy-brand may well have gotten me into this mess of a mindspace, isn't it? Lesson learnt. Disrespect earned. I reckon this is just part and parcel of blogging about toys, and things you love, isn't it? Nope folks, this blog here isn't your run-of-the-mill industry-news-website, isn't it? LOL
You don't want to read the drama? Hell, I don't want to have to go thru the drama in the first place, and keep quiet about it too. We go on about toys because deep down we love them, and people-politics, clearly should not be in the mix, IMO. But inevitably, they are, and they do mess things up for loads of folks, some choose to talk about it, while others keep their mouth shut tight (Don't need to be rocking the toy-boat no?). We collect toys because we want to be happy, and it makes us happy. And frankly, blogging about toys started out as such too … and although I have learnt from being burnt, my passion for toys, to me, is still the ultimate joy, most times.
"Loyalty", like "Love", goes both ways.
I used to be a fanatical fan of "Artist-X" (and subsequently "X-brand"). And dare say to be one of the early fans, even before the product got placed on a display shelf! I had constantly kept the public updated with each and every movement of the toys' developments on my humble blog, by my own initiative. I had followed it to toy-cons, and made graphical charts about the figure before it's scheduled drop. And I was rewarded for my efforts, both mentally (hell, I enjoyed blogging about them innit?) and physically (aka "free toys").
Once the figure (and it's variant) dropped, a whole new company was set up (aka "X-brand"), and I was rewarded still, and heavily for my commitment to mentioned company. I was in toy heaven! Being a staunch supporter of both the artist and manufacturer, it was all-too obvious I was a huge fan of their products on my blog, simply by my reporting of their goods, which to me, transcended "products", and were actual things I had a real passion for. Those were great times to be blogging.
One fine day I had a photo competition, whereby there were no prizes given, except for folks to share photography-submissions of their toys (yes, specifically of THAT initial design entity) and for readers to straight up vote for their favorite pic. I had loved the figure and thought to share the toy-joy, as well promote said figure, out of my own initiative. And I always loved the concept of photo contest, as it gives folks a chance to take out their toys for some fun!
"Artist-X" then actually emailed me and offered up a free sketch by way of a prize, and I was aesthetic! And the prize was offered as such, and to the testament of his popularity, submissions came flooding in.
Eventually, the contest ended and a winner was decided by the voting public. Delivery address was then forwarded to said artist (those were the days when email correspondence between us both was more frequent and forthcoming). Then we waited. And waited. And waited.
More emails and forum-PMs were sent. More words of confusion were shared. Action was to be taken. And we waited. And waited.
Moving uncomfortably outside of my personal zone, I had even seeked help from a couple of sources "close" to the artist, to which I was recommended to be patient, and to keep trying. As much as I was responsible for the prize to be fulfilled, it was not my job to fulfill the prize. "As busy as the man was, I am not his secretary to remind him of what he had promised to do", so I had thought, and still do.
And we waited for one whole year. Nothing was done, and frankly by then it was obvious, nothing will be done.
Regardless of whatever excuse or intent, I was ignored, and all emails had stopped by then. I had never felt so futile in my "professional" stance ever before. In lieu of purging it all out online, I had chosen to shut the heck up, and silently be thankful for the stick being poked up my arse.
An ignorable piece of prize to you, perhaps, and even a "narrow-minded me" to you mayhap. But what it meant was far beyond that to me then. I had let it "get" to me both personally and professionally. I had let it get "personal". But hey, that was my burden to bear for myself, and hence this post is littered with non-names disclosed.
Anyways the contest winner was subsequently sent a couple of toys from myself, and a sincere apology for the ridiculous wait, and with that I may well have lost a reader too. A single year should not have been an issue for the winner's wait, as it is not his burden to bear. And since then, contest prizes and prize-fulfillment has been a important aspect to conducting a contest on this blog, at the very least I / we should be able to "see" the "prize" online first, before anything else is to be attempted. I am all for promoting and sharing something I love, but not at the expense of my blog, or my own integrity. I would have to thank Artist-X for the "education" though.
Know that to the general public out there, the contest organizer and prize giver are perhaps the same thing, and no excuses will be necessary henceforth. Why do you think my contest "Terms and Conditions" are so bloody long, innit? HAH.
Time pass. The lurve and appreciation I had from the company had since dried up and remain unrequited. They have ready new folks to promote them now, websites lining up to report on their wares (where they never bothered to in the first place), and they are granted exclusive reveals and images (something I never had the luxury of in the past). Far be it my blog can no longer fare better than the legion of others in the cyber-highway now, I continue still with my coverage, though not as ferocious as before. Because frankly, (1) the toys are still as awesome and toy readers should not be deprived of them, and (2) that stick up my arse no longer hurts as much (though I should not have let it stay there in the very first instance. And kept quiet about it).
This s a "purge blogpost" with no longer predetermined malice, and hence no names will be mentioned, as it is no longer worth the mention. So you are an idiot for asking, as you sure as heck won't do anything about it either.
Had my passion for a particular brand led me to accept the pain of ego-bashing? It is painfully obvious that it has been, even if that was not to have been the initial intention. At the end of the day, whatever passion I had, was but "work" to others. The free toys may well have been obligatory "promotional stuff". Now with a wave of a dismissive hand, it had seemed nothing had ever happened, perhaps even forgotten.
But happened it did. It just happens to be MY "past" as well.
And perhaps this is the way as it should be, the past IS the past, and is all but a wonderful dream to be had, and eventually forgotten. Everyone claims to look forward to the future, and choose to ignore the past, well, because "they" can afford to, isn't it? They refute the past and people flock to them and praise them unto deity. I do not blame them, I used to be one of them.
When I started blogging about toys, one of the things I had started out doing, was build "relationships" online, with people I could work with, and be loyal to, and build a "future" together. Heck, being "friends" was important to me (and ironically I'm not a trusting bloke in the first place). Not all have worked, and many have decided their loyalties lie elsewhere where the sun seems sunnier. And sadly, to some folks, my dream may well have been a "naive" one after all … and I have come to realize, perhaps it is indeed a dream I had shared with folks who do not necessarily bother with these things, beyond website hits and statistics.
Be that as it may, the reality is people still need to sell their toys, and if my makeshift-stall doesn't move product? They more unto the next stall, isn't it? Fair enough, if that be the case. Jeez-Louise I get it! Tis just sometimes I forget, is all … ;p
Nevertheless, looks like a passion I had for a toy-brand may well have gotten me into this mess of a mindspace, isn't it? Lesson learnt. Disrespect earned. I reckon this is just part and parcel of blogging about toys, and things you love, isn't it? Nope folks, this blog here isn't your run-of-the-mill industry-news-website, isn't it? LOL
You don't want to read the drama? Hell, I don't want to have to go thru the drama in the first place, and keep quiet about it too. We go on about toys because deep down we love them, and people-politics, clearly should not be in the mix, IMO. But inevitably, they are, and they do mess things up for loads of folks, some choose to talk about it, while others keep their mouth shut tight (Don't need to be rocking the toy-boat no?). We collect toys because we want to be happy, and it makes us happy. And frankly, blogging about toys started out as such too … and although I have learnt from being burnt, my passion for toys, to me, is still the ultimate joy, most times.
"Loyalty", like "Love", goes both ways.
