Toynewsi's owner defends Hasbro's 1100 layoffs, Loves Chris Cocks and insults GEN's chief editor
Well, well, seems GEN is fulfilling it's mission. A few hours after I decided to publish our "love letter" to Hasbro and how lackluster the mainstream press toy media has covered Hasbro's layoffs, the king of the shills, henceforth referred to as "Slowbro" (he is slower than a week on jail) went on my personal page and defended Hasbro's CEO Chris Cocks :
Seems he took offense with our comments (which didn't alluded to any site in particular) and went on a rant to defend the decisions that led to the firing of 1100 people during the holidays. Guess, we had to behave like the good boys club of toy media sites and shut our mouths.
It's quite difficult in any industry to be impartial, specially if the companies you are reporting on treat you with "special privileges" such as press kits, special access to interviews, or breakfasts meant only for "certain" individuals who make the "allowed questions" and behave like good boys.
That is why I founded GEN. Here, we have no official commercial contact with the companies we report on. We don't want or solicit any free products or access to press junkets or free toys they would send in advance. We have no access, and we crave no access. (Please TEMU GO AWAY!)
But why? Isn't that why you become an influencer? To have these privileges? The answer is: NO.
First off let's drop the name "influencer".
There is a human quality, you might say is innate in all of us, and that is: "You don't bite the hand that feeds" simple as that. Such thing is the crux of the problem here. If a company were to give us free stuff and privileges, it would make our mission impossible to accomplish.
Say, if Hasbro promises you a free Sentinel or a free Sail barge in advance, in order to promote the crowdfund...would you be ever able to criticize them when the time comes? (and be sure, the time WILL come) the answer would likely be NO. If Mattel would send you free Monster High, Masters of the Universe, would you dare point out the wrongs when the time comes? No. These companies will immediately cut you out of the pool of influencers and journalists in their database.
That's the way the "toy influencer" economy works. Hence, you can't expect real honesty from mainstream reporting channels who have access. You have to be a good boy! (or girl) and censor the people who criticize the company. It's just the way it works.
A more recent Mattel toy press kit. Source: Youtube
This one is less subtle. F#$k it let's call it what it is. Source: Youtube
Through my years of interacting with the toy industry, -and yes, I have been to San Diego Comic Con MANY times and conducted interviews with MANY of these companies- (You can see them HERE and HERE back when it was "The Pop and Toy Culture Feed") I have seen how the "good boy behavior" gets rewarded: You get incredible access, free stuff in advance, special hush deals, special items, free access to parties that most people have to pay thousands to attend to, convention exclusives delivered right to your hotel room without having to do all the hard work that most attendees do.
I felt nauseated by all of that, so I never went back to San Diego Comic Con. And after a bit of thought, I rebranded the site as GEN and set out a new mission: To NEVER shill for any toy company, do not work directly with their press and PR departments, remain independent, and do things MY way, so I would always be free to speak my mind. No matter who is it, everyone gets the hammer when/if the time comes.
This approach of course is the path of highest resistance. We don't want to be like Clownfish either or the other guy at Retroblasting who is a downer all the time (but is hella right most of the times) We want to have FUN as well. After all this is all about toys!
What I won't stand for is all that performative "optimism" these toy news sites demand from you. You are not allowed to criticize, ask more value for your money, say something wrong about a rapacious POS CEO like Chris Cocks who will fire 1100 people. They want you to ignore that. Just buy the damn toys and forget about that.
HELL NO SIRES. Not on GEN. We will virtually lapidate the hell out of anyone who we think it deserves it. THAT is what independence allows us. THAT is what other big guys can't do, and that is why they are scared of a site like us. Sorry, but I have been into your little influencer boys club and have seen all that happpens. Is NAUSEATING.
Slowbro, -who has the voice of a tombstone (and the charisma of one)- has the right to defend Mr. Cocks. Hey, it's a free country after all, and he likes Mr. Cocks. What he doesn't have the right to do, is to tell ME how to conduct MY business. And if Mr. slower than pond water feels afraid of this little nobody, then well, keep shaking cause 2024 it's going to be BIG for GEN.
And yes, we all put our own money in these endeavors, what is new about that? That doesn't automatically entitle you to respect or privilege. What you won't see is me plastering GEN's landing page with pop up ads for crypto or Xfinity, making the user interface miserable and buggy for my readers.
The thing is, GEN doesn't make much money. It makes barely enough to pay for the equivalent of a lunch at Flannigans with a glass of water and 20% tip every month. I don't depend on the revenue of my articles/videos to pay for my mortgage or any other expenses. This way nobody can hold me, or my site hostage.
TNI's interface is stuck in the 90's
This was my response to Mr. Slower than Java:
To end this boring note, I will leave you with some of the comments many readers left on that post. Seems people can see what Mr. slower than erosion is all about:
(Names have been blurred for privacy)
The fandom ain't stupid bruh, They are starting to know how the sauce is made. I suggest you change your recipe.
Chris "Hunter" Diaz.
-Chief editor-
Geek Entertainment Network
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