When companies don't act like mindless automatons Monday 3rd of June 2019

I'm not usually one for buying game memorabilia (especially the sort of overpriced tat the big game publishers are getting into), but back in April Fullbright sent out 7th Birthday commemoration email. At the bottom they noted they were having a Thank You sale. Normally I would ignore this sort of stuff but they also made note of the fact they had some remaining stock of their ODIN plush. Again, not something I typically purchase - the one and only time I did this in the past was in 2010 when I bought a World of Warcraft Gryphon Hatchling, which, incidentally, I haven't seen since about 3 days after receiving it. However, I really enjoyed Fullbright's Tacoma, the game in which the AI ODIN features prominently. And so I splashed out $12 to get one. I'm pretty sure I got Tacoma for free so might as well support them, right? (Can I even use that argument when I'm getting a physical product out of the arrangement? Well, this blog isn't about philosophy, so moving on).

When one day a few weeks later unassuming packet appeared I frankly had forgotten all about it (I subsequently found dispatch and delivery emails in spam quarantine) and was pleasantly surprised on opening it. I buy a ton of stuff from eBay, from Amazon, from independent retailers when I'm not screwed for postage, and without exception it is always goods shoved in a box, bag, packet, whatever. You might get a dispatch notice included but that's about it. About as impersonal as if the robots had already taken over.

But this packet... this packet was different.

Yes, the plush was there in a crinkly cellophane bag. But look, LOOK, at that! A personalised note! Written by hand!

So that brought a smile to my face, I can count the number of times on one hand that I've received something personalised in the last... well, a lot of years. It’s not many! (times that is, it's definitely been many years)

As if the note wasn't enough there was also a scrap of waste card sellotaped together with another hand written note. On opening that I found a couple of stickers and a cool canvas badge for sewing onto your denim jacket, if I had one anyway.

Still, I was more happy with the note. Hard to explain why, bar the fact that these days it's shove things in out as fast as possible with no time for anything else. Someone took the time to write those notes though, and that means something.

Oh yes, and the plush is pretty cool too. It's currently dangling from a clock looking over my shoulder as I type this mote.

The photographs on this page are copyright © Richard Moss 2019 and are licensed as CC BY-SA 4.0

This post was first published Monday 3rd of June 2019 and was last modified Tuesday 4th of June 2019 at 06:23:20.