I'm very pissed with the McFarlane space marine dolls. I made the lovely mistake of taking mine apart in the hopes it would make painting easier (it did). The downside is you got a full on humpty dumpty situation on your hands once it's dismantled. I stuffed the pieces back into its storage box. As for now, future Daz can deal with it - sorry buddy.
Over a dozen other projects are scattered on my painting desk. It's a rats nest of meandering aspirations and half-baked ideas and good intentions. For the New Year, I want to see what I can do to resolve some of these pending projects. I have many more that I want to get to in 2026. I have one of the Gundam miniatures game teams I agreed to paint for a friend, as well as a whole bin of miniatures I stripped at the end of December. I've stuck to my guns over the last five years and have finished more projects in my backlog than I've bought new. I don't want to end up like Dad; he died with thousands of dollars of miniatures littering his workshop. When I went to bury him, I spent a whole day cataloging the collection. Even though it was left to me, I only brought home a handful of goblins. The rest I worked with my stepmother to sell so that she could use the money to help with her expenses. It took some time before she was able to receive her survivor benefits, so I'm glad it went to making an impact.
We all know the world's on fire. I've been listening to one of my favorite albums, "The New America." It might be a Bush-era relic, but the lyrics are as true now as they were 26 years ago when I first purchased the record. I was surprised to learn from my friend Kevin that many fans dislike it for being too polished. That I don't mind, and I think it's poser-think to insist that punk music needs grit. "You've Got A Chance," "It's A Long Way To The Promised Land," and "The Hopeless Housewife" are my top picks. But listen to the whole record from start to finish if you have the patience; I think it's important to appreciating music and going on a journey with the artist. In these days of instant gratification and streaming whatever you want, it seems like less of us are just sitting down to finish an album from start to finish. And listen in whatever way suits you - I'm not here to lecture you on the ethics of music consumption. I'll leave that to the blowhard music influencers to wring their hands over.
And speaking of influencers, can I tell you how much I despise hobby influencers? If one single thing has made enjoying little toy soldiers worse, it has to be influencers. Enthusiasts turned corporate shills, chasing relevance while begging you to use their discount code for 20% off of Golden Maple brushes. Fuck them, the capitalist tools that they are. Block them on sight in your social media. Strangle their power and that of their corporate puppet masters. I've been active on social media since Myspace, and the saddest thing is watching your friends fall victim to the siren call of fame and fortune as they chase the dragon of stardom and relvance. Influencers do nothing to elevate the community of our hobby, and in fact actively detract from it by their existence. Suckling pigs doing what they must to receive the next drop from the big dogs like GW, while up and coming companies tell you how important they are to building community, which is just a lead generating strategy to line up their next customers.
Don't be afraid to turn to third party options. There are many great indie sculptors out there who can use your support. They can pay their bills when you buy their stuff. Don't be afraid to bootleg out of print sculpts, especially from brands who might charge you a crazy markup when and if they become "made to order."
That might be all I have to say for now. And now that my kids are becoming teens and preteens, maybe I'll have more time to devote to writing again. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
-Daz
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