I know that Neon Monster is coming up but a story on toys, toy stores and toy makers w/o a mention of Brian and Super7?
Isn't that just wrong??

yes, odd omission.

laziness, lack of researcher on behalf of the journalist?

The Chronicle is about the worst newspaper in the world. I'm half surprised it's still around.

Hardly surprising though...there's very few journalists who actually bother researching stuff properly. Although TBH it seems like a Neon Monster advertorial than anything particularly insightful.

I agree on both counts, lazy journalists with friends who need advertising i guess..... no wonder blogs rule!!
Still, i felt frustrated and cranky about it. The guy at Neon Monster has been nice but the woman seems like a jerk.
Everybody at Super 7 is so nice and knowledgeable i want everybody to know where to go to see / buy cool toys.

I posted a comment. While I like some of the people that work at Neon Monster, the story really sucks...but then again, it is a story about designer vinyl toys which to most of us, translates to crap that we don't buy anymore...or even bought in some cases.

The Chron doesn't really do much of their own investigative or special interest reporting any more. They don't even pay their "blog" reporters ... the payment is just supposed to be exposure. As you can see the author of the article is credited "special to the Chronicle..." which means it's not one of their staff people, just someone who submitted an article and got accepted. The piece is boosterism for Neon Robot and KR basically. And really ... even if they wanted to focus on western toys, all that emphasis on Labbits and Dummies? Someone's out of touch.

For those that want to read what's being discussed:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... ype=living

Where was Super7 ??? out being too awsome to get mixed up with the riff raff block captains of awsome... I think so

not even a mention of BxH's kid...which a lot of people consider the start of it all

The article is also worded in such a way that it makes it sound like Kozik designed the [expletive deleted]. No mention of Michael Lau and "the history" was only barely hinted at. Eh ... obviously this article wasn't for "us," but even so, it seems like the author didn't really do their homework.

Probably every member of this board knows more about the subject matter of this article than the writer...

My god ... it's true ... we are GEEKS!

No kidding! Even i know more than the writer of that article and i am just a monster lover and a toy geeks girlfriend.
I know Super 7 is a specialized i.e. SPECIAL toy store but they were talking about toy designers and not mentioning Brian and the whole U.S. / Japan collaboration??

From reading the article it sounds like it was meant more for the KR crowd...still there should've been mention of S7.

Having no idea how this article formed, my assumption is that they found Neon Monster and thought it was a cool store. From there, they saw similar things on Haight St. and that was about the extent of the research. They neglected to mention Double Punch/Ningyoushi either.

Just wait until we open up the Haight St. store!

Why on earth would a new toy store incorporate the word "Robot" in its name at this point? Talk about blurring your own branding. Given that "Kid" and "Giant" already exist ... why?

Brian please don't change your toy business' name to SuperRobot. I beg of you.

Yeah, but if Mr. Flynn had come up with SuperRobot and started a company before any of the others, he would fucking WIN.

I say he open up a store called Super#1Robot, that would tell who is boss.

From what limited things I've read...I'd say that Hybrid design and super 7 are doing just fine. They have a loyal fan base, entertaining events and amazing toys. Just because a newspaper doesn't acknowledge them doesn't mean the world's going to end. I like the fact that Super7 is sort of lowkey.

Also I wouldn't use the "guest bloggers/writers don't get paid" argument as a prop for not researching a story. If you ain't getting paid and it seems like hard work don't bother agreeing to it. The writer clearly thought they'd get something out of it, be it a byline for a portfolio or whatever.

Hell i've never been paid for anything i've written about toys.

I re-read the feature and I think Brian might be on to something - they probably went into NM and thought it could be a interesting piece. But that said it still reads like an advertorial for it and a poorly written one at that. Do people really make statements that bland when there 'passionate' about what they do?!?

maybe they are waiting to write about us in the Substance section....oh wait they don't have one of those.

my theory is they met kozik at a party and their friend nudged the author in the ribs--"hey girl, that dude's a famous artist"
at which point the author introduced himself and started pumping frank for info/fame-whore-points. frustrated by having to talk to someone who doesn't know who he is yet still sucks up, frank tells them to go to Neon Monster, KidRobot, etc to get a better idea.
author does as asked, and attempts to return back to kozik for a full interview. kozik is taking a crap and doesn't answer the studio intercom. lady goes back to Pac Heights, sits in front of her macbook air, drinks a red bull and types it all up.

honestly not a bad article and pretty much sums up my mom's understanding of "art toys" and their value. upon reflection, if this is written by a high school journalist its actually quite well-written in terms of tone and focus. then i looked her up. here's number two on the 25 things about me bio:
"2. I have a fat orange tabby who until now weighed more than my daughter."
so theoretically the author could still be in high school if the child has an out-of-control excessive growth disorder. but its a longshot.

this whole thing is enjoyable. SFGATE has the best public television hearings ever. if you wanna watch a taxi driver beg for the reinstatement of his license or see dozens of protestors speak out about the proposed closing of a pot club, sfgate is the place. the chronicle didn't close? maybe i'm confusing that with the demise of the print version of the Onion in SF.

The article seems very bare bones. Nothing new being said just the same old story we've all known for years and has been written a billion times. Like someone coming late to a game asking the first person what the score is and immediately leaving without seeing the end. Only the end is so much better than what is written here...