Wizards of the Coast

Jeremy Hambly getting punched at Gen Con is now officially a dumpster fire

I’m calling it. As of 9:44 pm eastern daylight time, Jeremy Hambly getting attacked by Matt Loter at Gen Con is now officially a five-alarm dumpster fire.

Little by little, the story of him getting punched to the back of the head because of his “political beliefs” has become more and more absurd. Last night Jeremy released a video that said a whole host of things, some of which contradicted what he said earlier.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ncE9q6fHIU8

The whole thing is a mess. An absurd, hot mess.

Jeremy Hambly should have been prepared to deal with people who hate him

Jeremy is a controversial, YouTube culture warrior. He was banned for life by Wizards of the Coast, the makers of Magic: The Gathering for what they considered harassment and bullying of people in the community. He’s not allowed to attend sanctioned Magic: The Gathering events or tournaments for the rest of his life. There’s a reason they took this extraordinary step.

Whatever you think about Jeremy, there’s no denying he’s disliked by a good many people. It’s a reaction he spends a lot of time and energy cultivating.

If this happened to me, I would not have called the police

If someone like Matt Loter attacked me and I walked away with little to no physical damage, I wouldn’t have called the police. What’s the point? I generally don’t like the police and I try not to interact with them.

I also wouldn’t broadcast to the world that I allowed some alt-lifestyle freakazoid to approach me from behind and punch my head several times. The last thing I would want is my name in a public record documenting my inept reaction to being assaulted by someone. Consider how often Jeremy refers to men he doesn’t like as cucks, soy boys, and beta males. Now consider how he acted when he met with someone who wanted to do him harm. He ran away. At the very least, I don’t think he should ever call into question another man’s maleness.

Is Jeremy Hambly an alcoholic?

I think Jeremy has a drinking problem. In the military, this incident would be classified as an alcohol-related incident. He would have to be evaluated and depending on the findings, forced to attend an alcohol a rehab program and AA meetings. Even if he didn’t have, according to him, 19 drinks before the assault, the fact it happened outside a bar at 2:00 am would trigger some kind of mandatory treatment. Good thing for Jeremy he’s not in the military. Good thing for the military too. His reaction to someone visiting violence upon him is to run away.

Jeremy Hambly wants to be a victim

Jeremy seems obsessed with making this one drunken incident his defining moment. He seems to want to wallow in victimhood. That’s too bad. Who wants to be known as a human punching bag? Who wants to be a professional victim? Not me, that’s who. I would do everything in my power not to be those things. I get the impression this was the first time he was attacked by someone. I wouldn’t call it a fight because that implies both parties participated. Matt threw ineffective punches and Jeremy fled to the safety inside the bar.

That, of course, is if you believe any of it even took place.

Who knew James Gunn used to be a Twitter edgelord?

James Gunn, director of fine movies such as Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 used to be a Twitter edgelord. The problem is when he stopped being a Twitter edgelord and decided to be a respectable movie director, he failed to go on Twitter and delete is edgy tweets.

I don’t understand why Gunn didn’t hire a social media person to manage his online content. He’s now a famous movie director connected to Marvel Studios which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. Why didn’t he have someone scrub this old Twitter stuff a long time ago?

He should have deleted all his old tweets as soon as he signed on to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy. That’s what a normal human would have done.

It couldn’t have come at a worse time for James Gunn. The San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) is taking place and he was scheduled to appear. I’m sure that’s not going to happen now. The SDCC is like the Daytona 500 for nerds. The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the NFL’s FIFA World Cup. So obviously, right now is a terrible time for something like this to emerge.

It will be interesting to see if Marvel Studios fires him from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. As terrible and unoriginal as his edgelord tweets were, his movies are very good.

Update

Marvel Studios has fired James Gunn.

Will Wizards of the Coast ban Chris Kluwe?

Former NFL punter and celebrated nerd gamer Chris Kluwe is still around and is still a terrible, awful person. I had not thought about this guy for quite a while, but then I saw the following tweet of his:

TotalBiscuit (government name John Bain) was a YouTube video game critic. He died from colon cancer on May 24, 2018. He left behind a wife and a child.

A lot of the social justice types didn’t like TotalBiscuit. I don’t even know why. I know he was a supporter of gay and trans people, as well as other minorities. Why people like Chris Kluwe would celebrate his untimely death is something I don’t understand, nor is it something I even want to understand.

Chris Kluwe is still a terrible human being - Bent Corner — TotalBiscuit (government name John Bain).

I can’t imagine disliking someone so much that I would publicly celebrate their death. The only person I can think of who would provoke a similar response from me is Osama bin Laden. TotalBiscuit was no Osama bin Laden. He never killed anyone or did anything even remotely evil.

As much as I dislike Chris Kluwe, I would never celebrate his death, publicly or privately.

How will Wizards of the Coast respond?

It will be interesting how Wizards of the Coast (WotC) responds to Chris Kluwe’s tweet. If they follow their own precedence, they will give Chris Kluwe a lifetime ban from Magic: The Gathering. That’s what they did to YouTube creator Jeremy Hambly for making a negative comment about Magic: The Gathering cosplayer Christine Sprankle.

What Chris Kluwe said about TotalBiscuit is far worse than anything Jeremy Hambly said about Christine Sprankle. If WotC doesn’t ban Chris Kluwe for what he said about TotalBiscuit, then they’re guilty of weapons-grade hypocrisy.

Update

Since writing this post, I was able to watch the video made by Hambly about Sprankle. Now that I’ve watched the video, I think what Hambly did was far worse than what Kluwe did. I still believe Kluewe is a terrible human being, Just not as terrible as Hambly.

Hambly deserved his lifetime ban. I only wish it could be longer.

Toys R Us has not fully committed to going out of business

Toys R Us has declared bankruptcy and will close all of its retail establishments. Everything still on the shelves has been marked on clearance for easy liquidation. Or has it?

When I go into the Hagerstown Toys R Us, I feel like they aren’t truly committed to going out of business. They haven’t committed to the bit. The signage on the front windows says the entire store is “up to” 30 percent off, but I don’t think that’s true. I’ve gone in and walked around and I haven’t seen anything that was 30 percent off.

The entire line of Lego toys is marked down only five percent. I don’t buy Legos, so I don’t even know if that is any cheaper than what Walmart, Target, or any other retailer sells Lego toys for.

Their entire line of Funko Pops! is marked down ten percent. Even with the discount, they are still charging more than Walmart, Target, and every other brick and mortar retailer. When I buy Funko Pops!, I buy them at Target for $8.99 each or I order them on Amazon for even less.

All their Marvel Comics toys and related paraphernalia is only discounted ten percent. I did want to buy a Diamond Select Gallery Classic Iron Man PVC figure statue. The last time I checked, they have only one left and at ten percent off, it’s going for $35.99. ~~That’s more then what the statue is going for on eBay and Amazon.~~

I’m thinking if I truly want the PVC Iron Man statue, I should just go into Toys R Us and buy it. It’s not like it costs more than it costs anywhere else. It’s the last one and I can make it the last thing I ever buy at a Toys R Us.

One thing I noticed as soon as Toys R Us announced it was going out of business, they removed all of their Magic: The Gathering cards from the shelves.

I don’t know if they were able to return them to their distributor or to Wizards of the Coast, the manufacturer of Magic: The Gathering. I only know the Hagerstown and Frederick stores didn’t have any Magic: The Gathering product. It didn’t really make any difference since Toys R Us actually charged more for Magic: The Gathering product than the standard MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price). That way they could run gimmick sales such as “buy one, get another at 40 percent off ” and not lose any money.

How did that work for Toys R Us?

Update

I went and bought the Iron Man statue and it cost me $38.15. The receipt says I saved a whopping $4.00.

Sports Card Radio: ‘Nothing against the Magic people, but most of them are not the most spendy, big-wallet type of people’

On the February 13 episode of Sports Card Radio, my new favorite podcast, host Colin Tedards interviewed Ryan Kent Jr. from BallCardsRadio.com. Ryan is a 14-years-old high school freshman who’s been collecting sports cards for ten years, and he now has his own podcast that Colin has been listening to.

During the interview, the discussion turned to the topic of Magic: The Gathering, the highly popular collectible card game. Ryan described Magic: The Gathering players at his local card shop, and how they’re a little… different.

Here’s an audio clip:

Nobody ever buys a box of Magic: They Gathering? I’m sure this would be news to the retailers who sell boxes. If most Magic: The Gathering people aren’t the most spendy, big-wallet type of people as Ryan says, and Colin seems to agree with, how is Magic: They Gathering making so much money? According to Hasbro, the parent company of Wizards of the Coast, maker of Magic: The Gathering, profits for the 2013 fourth quarter were at $286.2 million. That’s profit, not sales.

When was the last time a sports card manufacturer made over $286 million in profit for a quarter? Probably never.

Magic: The Counterfeiting

Evidently there is a custom playing card company in China, Shenzhen Wangjing Printing Co., that is producing and selling high-quality Magic: The Gathering counterfeit cards. The company was selling them on their website, but has since removed all traces of them. The fakes are different from any of the other previous counterfeit Magic: The Gathering cards produced in that they are very hard to identify; they look almost identical to legitimate cards.

The only real noticeable difference between a counterfeit and a real card is at the bottom where the copyright information is printed. How ironic that the one flaw the fake cards have is where it displays the copyright information. The counterfeit cards seem to have a lighter font used for the copyright information when compared to real cards. Here is a photo posted on Tumblr by Polish Tamales:

I don’t see how a normal human being is supposed to be able to distinguish a fake card from a real card, especially if they can’t physically look at the card with a magnifying glass or a jeweler’s loupe. With the introduction of these high-quality fakes into the marketplace, I don’t see how anyone can safely purchase Magic: The Gathering cards on eBay or any other online, Internet-based retailer. The blog ICv2 spoke to a spokesman from Wizards of the Coast, the makers of real Magic: The Gathering cards about this issue. Here is one of the questions posed by ICv2 and the answer from Wizards of the Coast:

Any advice for retailers on distinguishing counterfeit singles from the real thing?

For retailers, we recommend that you pay attention to your business and character instincts and to use your best judgment when dealing with unfamiliar sellers. You may want to ask questions about the card source before buying, verify seller ID, and carefully examine each card before concluding the deal.

What’s a “character instinct” and how does one pay attention to it? They might as well be recommending people use The Force.