Taking Back Our Hobby

[Darby]

May not be the right place for it, if not, please move. I know I and others have complained directly or indirectly about Paul Harrison and JTA here in the past for a variety of reasons, all tied to his rampant negativity. As time has gone on it's gone from an amusing sort of 'wow did you see that?' to 'is this really happening?' Well, it is, and now it's gone too far.

I feel I have to say something about his article regarding the Jyn Erso figure reveal here: http://www.jeditemplearchives.com/content/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18228

In the comments he says the figure should be named 'Jihad Jyn.' This is absolutely unacceptable. This man baby has turned our hobby into a platform for airing out his own personal hangups with whatever group it happens to be - women, Muslims, homosexuals (http://www.jeditemplearchives.com/content/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=17413/#details) and anyone who disagrees with him. They're toys. They don't deserve the level of discord or frankly interest he assigns them and they certainly don't serve any purpose in any attack on someone's faith or sexuality. For the record, she's wearing a scarf. Women wear scarves. I accept Paul Harrison may not be familiar with such concepts. Paul Harrison is very familiar with commercializing and commodifying his brand of negativity regarding toys. Now it's mutated to people. And it's time for it stop.

Discrimination against anyone has no place in our hobby and has no place anywhere. Time for people to stand up and let him know that. Our hobby is meant to be a place of fun and escape and he has dragged it into the gutter. It's clear he won't give up these things he supposedly hates, because he's making too much money off it - he nakedly pursues reader financial support and has admitted to his obvious click baiting - so we need to be the ones to vote him off the island. He doesn't have to like what he sees but he doesn't have to spew this junk at people either. I could catalog all of his bizarre comments - from posting that Hasbro likely postponed what he thought was a lock stock and barrel exclusive Vintage styled line at TRU last fall simply to spite his website - but I think we have all seen and read enough of his shtick to know it doesn't represent us.

There is a lot of sexism, prejudice and anger in fandom right now from Star Wars to Ghostbusters and I'm here to tell Paul Harrison and whoever else needs telling that there's no place for it. Take your toys and go home.

[Rob]

Paul who?

Seriously, never heard of the guy.  I suppose as a show of solidarity, I'll continue to never visit JTA or know who he is.

The internet is a cesspool with good and bad apples floating around in it.  Collecting communities on the internet are no different.  I'm not trying to be dismissive of your point or request or observations, but best thing you could do is just not use sites like that and eventually all that'll be left there is people who do tolerate, or approve of that kind of behavior, and then they can have each other.

[Darby]

I've tried, believe me. And I suppose it's my own fault for continuing to look in on the circus over there, but it would also be my fault if I ignored it and then let that type of behavior become the standard for this hobby. That's not me. If you let weeds grow you get more. I've considered leaving the hobby at various times, but I've decided it won't be because of people like him.

If it's not anyone else's fight or interest, totally get it. Had to say my 2 cents.

[Matt R.]

You can't have a "ambassador" for the hobby so he claims act like this...he has his right to his opinions but he acts that he speaks for the collectors.  It's does give us collectors a bad rep.

[Ben]

I wonder if this guy is the reason Hasbro no longer bothers with the great fan interaction they used to have. Going through some of the stuff he posts, and with this guy acting like he's the ambassador of all fandom, I don't blame them for giving up.

The Jihad Jyn thing is just disgusting, though. What kind of mind makes this connection?

[Darby]

He's definitely the reason they force all Q&A's to be recorded and probably why the interactions at Toy Fair are now group and not 1-1. Couple years back he posted his infamous Q&A where he reported - not verbatim - that Hasbro said they made 'enough' female figures. This became an internet firestorm we're still seeing the after effects of (Hasbro leads all of its promotional efforts with SW with female figures nowadays). Rather than stick to his guns on the story, he changed Hasbro's answer at their request (they claimed it wasn't representative of what they said). So his integrity is shot right there and relationships with fan sites have eroded since.

[Dave]

Paul who?

Seriously, never heard of the guy.  I suppose as a show of solidarity, I'll continue to never visit JTA or know who he is.

The internet is a cesspool with good and bad apples floating around in it.  Collecting communities on the internet are no different.  I'm not trying to be dismissive of your point or request or observations, but best thing you could do is just not use sites like that and eventually all that'll be left there is people who do tolerate, or approve of that kind of behavior, and then they can have each other.

Nailed it.

There are probably hundreds of web sites, podcasts, etc. devoted to Star Wars and I frequent a very small handful of them.  JTA is not one of the sites I visit.

I know I'm not likely to be the first to know anything with that attitude, but so far I'm managed to avoid most of the narcissistic morons in the collecting community and still feel reasonably well informed.

Sure he makes us look bad, but I'm sure there are another dozen morons waiting to take his place.

[Rob]

You can't have a "ambassador" for the hobby so he claims act like this...he has his right to his opinions but he acts that he speaks for the collectors.  It's does give us collectors a bad rep.

This is the type of notion that makes me queasy when it comes to this hobby.  For better or for worse, after 21 years I still enjoy collecting, but I can't stand half of the people who are into it. 

There aren't any ambassadors, authorities, or special people on these websites (except Jeff of course), we're all just a bunch of people with some amount of disposable income buying toys way past the age that we should be buying toys at.  The people who start feeling all self-important because they carved out a platform for themselves on the internet and then take it seriously enough to treat other people poorly or say stupid things like this Harrison guy are the worst kind of nonsense.  It's guys like him who make me happy I can buy this stuff online now instead of having to interact with people in toy aisles.

Enjoy it, or don't, but toy collecting isn't life or death, it's toys.  It should be fun and friendly or you should quit, immediately.

[Nicklab]

Paul Harrison (not his real name, btw) is a clown.  I was surprised to see the article about the rumored Poe & Finn thing, but in a way I wasn't surprised to see that FROM HIM.  Mostly because it always seems that certain people exercise an extreme amount of disdain or loathing from that which they *MAY* see within themselves, and that's usually accompanied by this horrendous sort of overreaction.

Having worked on covering a couple of Toy Fairs with the aforementioned person, I got that vibe.  I've also heard tales of someone who *MAY HAVE* overheard PH commenting at another toy industry event about how tight another gentleman's trousers happened to be in the crotch area.  The term "package" may have even been used in that exchange, as the gentleman who was the object of this conversation was being objectified.  Hmmmm?  I am not one to judge homosexuals.  I count several gays and lesbians among some of my closest friends.  But if you're going on some social commentary tear about gay people, maybe you need to take a look in the mirror first.

As for the Jyn figure?  If it offends you SO MUCH little man-child, then GET THE **** OUT OF THE HOBBY.  She had that scarf in the trailer.  Where were your xenophobic comments then?  Don't try to turn a website about toys into the collecting equivalent of Fox News. 

[Darby]

I agree pretty much with everything Rob says - and Dave to some extent - but the only thing I'd add is that one reason Harrison is hard to ignore is the outsize influence he seems to have in the online community. The impact he's had on the dialogue between Hasbro and the fan sites at shows I mentioned earlier being the most obvious example. What had been a pretty informal and direct relationship is now pretty infrequent and corporate. Now some of that may be Disney. Could be. Things are different since the sale. But the change in behavior at the shows when it comes to access and Q&A's and how Hasbro chooses to unveil things can be traced directly back to the incident where he claimed they brushed off the idea they needed to make more female figures.

[Scockery]

I still loathe a certain somebody who not only advocated 5 POA but advocated the end of SA. No one drove him out of the hobby.  And frankly, the very idea is kind of absurd. Just ignore people you cannot stand.  (I'm probably on a few ignore lists).

[McMetal]

Always hated that place for its sloppy, amateurish reporting, constant glad handing, and just a general overall junior high school level mentality.

But this goes beyond the pale even for him.

It's like, the more we see played out in the news every day the horrible effects of bigotry and ignorance, the more some people seem to want to cling to that inane bs.

Pure garbage, and offensive on every level.

[Matt_Fury]

This is the type of notion that makes me queasy when it comes to this hobby.  For better or for worse, after 21 years I still enjoy collecting, but I can't stand half of the people who are into it. 

It's ok Rob...we still like you no matter what you think of us.   

In all seriousness...I'm just happy to see more SA figures.  Hopefully, I'll be able to find them on a peg somewhere!

Of all the various Star Wars sites....I visit one.

[Darth_Anton]

Sounds ridiculous. I never heard of the guy either.

I clicked on the link, baited by the vague hope that this was more in regards to, in my opinion, a decline in quality in the line.

[Rob]

It's ok Rob...we still like you no matter what you think of us.   

In all seriousness...I'm just happy to see more SA figures.  Hopefully, I'll be able to find them on a peg somewhere!

Of all the various Star Wars sites....I visit one.

The funny thing is that even for all the political nonsense over the years, I don't think there's anyone who frequents JD that I'm including in that.