So... like everyone else, I'm sure, I've been watching them come out with new items for the Gaia Store practically every month. This used to be a once every six months thing, or even a one a year thing. Some of the new merchandise I like... but a lot of it just makes me go.. "huh??"
The main reason for this is that many of the items more recently released don't seem to have much relevance to:
A) The season.
B) The GaiaOnline Website.
I'll explain what I'm talking about here... let me make notes on several of the items that came out in the last couple months....
- ILU Baby Tee and Gwee Flame Baby Tee Released Jan. 10th:
These apply to the site... definitely. Still, they're baby tees, being released in one of the coldest months of the year. Something other than T-shirts would make more sense. They don't pertain to any Gaia events currently going on at that time either...
Limited Edition Winter 2007 shirt (Liam) Released Jan. 22nd:
This one doesn't make any sense to me at all. Okay yes, the shirt has Liam on it. If you can tell... because since you can't really see him and the outfit he's wearing only vaguely resembles anything on Gaia (I'm guessing it's supposed to be the snowbored set from Barton.. that would make sense, but that's a guess only, the details in the art do not match this set really.), you might not know this was Liam if they hadn't told us in the announcement. Snowboarding seems relevant to the winter season, but they put it on a short sleeved t-shirt, and there's been nothing in the Gaia storyline, art, or anything else on the website about snowboarding (unless you count the snowbored clothing set, I suppose). Also, I'm sorry.. that honestly doesn't look like snow there. A long-sleeved T or a sweatshirt would have made far more sense here, considering the real world season, and having the art more closely resemble something you can actually find on Gaia would, I think, have made it more relevant to the site.
Gwee Plushie 3" Keychain Released Jan. 30th:
Yay, it's Gwee! At this point, they're also suggesting gifts for Valentines such as... the ILU shirt released the previous month. Now, while I don't think that's a -bad- idea... why didn't they just wait until right before Valentine's to release a shirt that is clearly the best suited for this holiday? The timing is just wrong there, it seems to me. Instead, the main push for this announcement was the Gwee plushie keychain. I don't have any issues with the keychain, I think it's adorable and I want one... but considering the season, I think it would have made more sense to have the keychain be an afterthought and have the ILU shirt be the prominent thing here. Or how about a plushie keychain featuring the snuggly Kiki and Coco? That would still be more relevant to V-day.
Gwee Flame T-shirt in Men's sizes Released Feb. 8th:
With Valentine's only a few days away... they release the Gwee shirt in men's sizes too! =/ why not the ILU shirt in men's sizes? Don't tell me the guys won't wear it, I've seen plenty of them wear the original Kiki shirt. Whyyyy? There's nothing relevant to valentine's about this tee. So both of the major items they pushed for V-day were... Gwee the dragon items. Not even, Gwee the dragon looking cute and being sweet with hearts or anything, but Gwee the dragon looking angry and flaming at you as only dragons can. That's um... so romantic and sweet. >_>;;
Hoodies, Hats, Twofers Released Feb. 20th:
Finally... we have some winter wear stuff, that would have made more sense than T-shirts and Baby Tees back in Dec. and Jan. Just when winter is nearly over and the weather is just starting to get warmer. ^^;; The hats, at least, bear classic Gaia symbols. I find myself though, looking at the hoodie design and the Twofer design and going... "Huh? That doesn't look anything like any art I've seen on Gaia... anywhere. It's pretty, but...."
I don't have a problem with more merchandise coming out... some of it I'll no doubt acquire at some point! I like the keychains and cell phone straps and will probably eventually have them all, and I like the ORLY hat they came out with a while back, I intend to get one of those too at some point.
It's just that it seems like they're coming out with more and more merchandise because they need the revenue, but they're missing all their cues and either presenting things too early, too late, or just throwing stuff at us that doesn't seem to make any sense. Meh. Okay, that's it from me!
I'll try to update my profile tonight or tomorrow... and meh, I think I might be coming down with a cold or something. x_X;
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