As another year fades into history and before the new one begins in earnest, let me wish all my readers, customers and followers the very best for the coming year. I know, it's a bit late but I've been a bit busy here in China setting up some amazing things for you all this coming year so bear with me.
2013 was an eventful one marked by quite profound change both on a global scale and on a personal one for me since it's really been the first year I've thoroughly enjoyed myself doing what I do best and finally garnering some small degree of acceptance that has allowed me to settle within a comfortable niche within this field.
2013 was the year many talented makers have fallen by the wayside, victims of the insidious march of 3D printing, recasting and disillusionment whilst others have sprung up in their place.
The industry itself has changed, fuelled again by the increasing use of 3D printing and the cartel like grip some makers have on the cool shit we see onscreen but change is good as it fuels some really ingenious new techniques and use of materials. I've certainly learnt my fair share and hopefully, when some of my stuff hits the big screen in the summer, we'll see how successful me and my team of CTs have been.
The past year saw me finally finish my 11th doctor sonic build. Just in time for the 11th Doctor to mercifully leave our screens and a new one in the form of Paul Smith model extraordinaire, Peter 'I'll fucking stab ye' Capaldi. Oh well, can't rush perfection. It took 3 years but I finally got there.
2013 was also the year that the hobby of props has seen a real sea change, both for good and for bad. The RPF, that old go-to, has contracted the online equivalent of AIDS and is about to go full-blown. The days where the hobby was driven by the pro's helping out a few skilled amateurs to recreate the icons they saw on screen was finally are well and truly consigned to history. Instead, the hobby has been replaced with an almighty clusterfuck which is all the doing of a single clueless inbred imbecile called Art Andrews. His vanity, boundless stupidity and complete failure to grasp the fundamentals of human interaction has led him on an ill conceived quest to own the hobby. He wants to package the hobby, the content and the members, skull fuck them into brain dead submission using fear and fake beneficence then use that as a commodity on which to sell advertising.
However, the game is up. He has been rumbled, his stranglehold is broken and despite trying to silence the dissenters through bans, social media ignore buttons and good old fashioned fingers in the ears, his little empire is crumbling. The spate of bannings in the past week will mark the moment the castle walls cracked. High profile, respected members of the prop world and of the wider fandom have been summarily banned just because they associated with people outside The RPF than Art deems a danger to him. These are people, like myself, you just don't make enemies of. The disgust that these bannings have had have reverberated throughout the community. People are renouncing their RPF memberships, getting themselves banned and just leaving the place in support of those banned. This exodus is terminal and palpable. One look at the RPF compared to even 5 years ago will show a huge decline in quality of posting, sharing, camaraderie and overall activity. Those that made the original RPF what it was have long gone and instead Artis oversees a shitpit of kids, scammers and general fucktards. In fact, the natural habitat of cunts like Risu.
Art's enemies are circling, they have rallied against him and they have put aside their enmities to unite to save this hobby of our's against a greedy psychopathic tyrant who wants to own it.
To this end, I'm going to be doing something a little different this year with this blog. Instead of it being exclusively my own rantings and mad raving, I'll be offering this blog to you guys as a venting outlet and will be featuring guest bloggers throughout the year to talk about not just Who props, but props, fandom and life in general. You'll have a treat as there are some great writers lined up, some which you'll know already and some you'll get to know.
So as 2014 finally gets underway let's pause and reflect on what has gone, the propmakers who are with us, and some not with us, and some looking down on us, and look forward to the changes that will come. Some people will look forward to these more than others but this year will undoubtedly be memorable. Happy 2014 everyone.
