So for the past year or so, my enthusiasm towards this site has kind of waned somewhat. It’s not a quick process, writing a post, trying to make it entertaining and informative, taking pictures, uploading pictures- the whole process will usually take me a good few hours. And then I only get a few clicks on the site for that post, and it’s more than a little disheartening. I can’t help but feel like “what’s the point of putting my time and effort into a post, when no-one will read it?”

I’ve noticed that over time, I do have more and more people visiting the site, but they aren’t people who are going to want to read my stuff because they find it entertaining, or really have any intention of ever revisiting my site again. They are here because I’m a source of information, in the sense that I have covered obscure toys nobody else has covered on the internet. And that’s nice, as part of the reason that I made this site was to kind of “celebrate” all of the nostalgic and obscure plastic crap that no-one else talks about. But at the same time, I see the communities built by content creators on modern platforms like YouTube, and remember the days of websites like X-entertainment, where people would “tune in” for a weekly post by Matt Caracappa, and I do feel that this isn’t the platform I envisioned in that respect. I receive no feedback apart from the occasional comment saying “thanks for posting about _______”, and that’s nice. But when I do post, I feel like I’m stood on a stage, in a massive hall, talking excitedly about Mighty Max, or some obscure old video game themed toy, and my voice echoes throughout the hall, which is completely empty perhaps with the exception of a lone janitor sweeping or mopping off in the distance.

I have long since accepted that blogs are no longer the platform to really build communities these days (especially where old video games and toys are concerned), and don’t expect the comments to suddenly fill with chatter in the near future, with folks talking about their own fond memories of specific toylines and video games and things, perhaps pointing me in the direction of interesting stuff that I have never heard of. So I have decided to focus my efforts on this site into new and different directions.

I’m going to make this site a lot more personal to me. That’s not to say that I’m not going to still passionately talk about old toys or anything, but I might also venture into others avenues of things that I haven’t necessarily gotten into before.

I love video games, so might cover those a little more often on here, and might post about any interesting finds or “bargains” I have found online from time to time. But I’m definitely going to use this platform as a kind of way for me to look back on interesting places I discovered, or events I visited, just because I don’t feel like I am getting the most out of this website. Every year I fork out for the domain name again, as well as paying WordPress to host this site, and apart from  learning how to formulate sentences a little better (which has opened up opportunities outside of this site)  I sometimes can’t help but wonder, was it even worth it? I mean, I like that people can find out about ‘bootleg’ Street Fighter II micro playsets or whatever, but does the amount I fork out every year equate to the satisfaction gained from knowing that I’ve effectively helped someone remember an old toy from the their childhood? I’m not sure it does.

So essentially, if I focus on other things like how I discovered a well-hidden arcade/bar called Super Bario in Glasgow, or I want to vent to no-one in particular about my frustrations with arsehole eBay customers/sellers or anything, then perhaps I will feel that my money spent on this site will have been a little more worth it then.

Anyway, that’s my moaning thoughts over for now. And any folks that do visit from time to time, I do appreciate you stopping by. Drop me a comment now and then if you liked something in particular!

Ryan 🙂