Any thoughts from the group?
Christy Twilight
Pony Related Problems -This is my own person google account. What I say. I say on a personal level that does not represent any entities other than myself and my friends. No conventions, constaff, or third parties will be involved. This message is for TPM and the poor people misinformed about the realities that brings to mind Horse News drama that I do not want to deal with but have been dragged into anyway.
I would like to start by saying that almost a year ago today, my friends and I stopped working for the Traveling Pony Museum or TPM, and we started our own venture. We decided long before quitting that we no longer wanted to be involved with the Traveling Pony Museum due to many reasons that I will express later. This venture known as Bronyhouse and originated by Nurse Tenderheart in 2012. Since our venture started, things were going quite well. We have convention successful three times this year and have gained a very, very positive report with artists. We also kept our finances very conservative for presentation upgrades. We all wanted our table to be eye catching in a way that would both help sales and artists. Our display has been so well constructed that artists have been flocking to our tables asking to join and even vendors have asked us where we have obtained some of our setup.
To put it simply, we moved on. All of us involved work together very well because we respect each other. We don’t placate egos to get our way and make them think that it was their idea. We are honest. We keep our words direct and handle our problems swiftly. Everyone in our group is treated as an equal. That is what I love about it. If we took one person out of the group, it would be incomplete because we all bring something really great to the table.
Mewtwo-ex
My friend mewtwo-ex helps out with everything involved with printer and finances. We discuss printer upgrades, paper, programs for proper printing, and he helps us to stay strong with our artists and figure out what we can or cannot handle. His faults are that he can be very high strong about people touching his printer or his system. We work well because I tell him when he needs to loosen up and he feels better knowing that someone is being honest with him. He helps me see when I can be a little too candid with others or when my method is not precise enough. He values my opinions on possible products. He also knows that I am very good at finding restaurants, hotels, gas prices, display product, and I have a method of seeking artists that some are more receptive to than when he does it. He is my best friend no matter our arguments. At the end of the day we can tell each other off, eat a sandwich, get some sleep, and everything will be fine. We never treat each other like one person is better than the other. A persons sweat and blood that they place into the Bronyhouse are no less valid than the person that uses monetary investment.
Tenderheart
Tenderheart and I have been with each other for almost two years. Tender is a whiz with computer programming, perfectionist with artistic integrity, and has a positive outlook on almost everyone. Tender also can be very conflicted. There are times when projects end up being too big and Tender tries too hard to get them accomplished anyway. Tender tries to make everyone get along, and when that doesn’t work Tender tends to get depressed. I tend to send Tender into reality and direct projects into simpler terms that can be handled by a deadline. The decision may not be perfect, but it gives a product that can be used. I love and admire Tender very much.
I am the reality person. I am a very driven person. It is something that mewtwo and I have in common. I will organize each trip, determine food, estimate hotels, contact artists, discuss upgrades, determine display pieces, and make sure things are accomplished on time. I am what you call the finisher. I will make sure everything runs smoothly and the convention we arrive at has direction. I usually generate the conversations for upgrades and new product. Our entire display setup was my investment and agreed by everyone in the group. I also generated new product when cons print sales decline. My weaknesses are that I often am too honest with people. Some people cannot handle my candor. I have learned that sometimes it is best to say nothing and let others negotiate with people that are mentally or emotionally incapable of handling the truth.
In the end, we complete each other. We don’t have any one person overwhelmed by their tasks. If Tender needs help with programs, I will research. If mewtwo-ex needs pre-prints, we will each take a printer and work together. Tender, mewtwo, and I talk out things if any of us are stressed out by a situation without feeling bad about doing it. The machine known as Bronyhouse is a well-oiled machine run with three cogs. We don’t have anyone who is lazy in our group while the others pick up the slack. We have no drama between each other.
When we ended our time with the TPM. That was it. We made no messages. We didn’t post any our problems our about the museum. We kept to ourselves and if people asked why, we simply told them this “We were with them but due to some artistic differences, we decided to start our own thing”. We left it at that. If anyone pressed, we all said that we didn’t want to talk about it. We figured that would be the end of it. TPM group would go their way and we would go our way with no drama. This weekend of course proved incorrectly.
Trotcon 2015
Our Bronyhouse group has been advertising for Trotcon since we were accepted sometime in March. We were excited to go as it is only an hour away from where we live and Tenderheart has enjoyed the convention since 2013 (long before Tender was involved with the museum and is great friends with many people there). Two days before Trotcon drama hit the fan. Now keep in mind, we have been known to be a vendor at Trotcon for a long time AND we knew that TPM was going there.
Did we file any complaints? Nope. It isn’t our con or our decision to try to force someone to be at a convention. It is none of our business and we wanted to keep it that way.
Did we tell anyone that we had a problem with them coming? Nope. They have been going there for a few years and many con-goers enjoy going into the museum.
Did TPM complain about us? Yes.
Why? I have no idea as any vendor would be museum competition for the museum. There are also several artists that have pieces in the museum that were in the vendor hall. That is life. There is competition and you deal with it. McDonalds doesn’t go to a judge and cry that Burger King is next door and happens to be selling similar stuff. They do not come to negotiate. They deal with the fact that they are in an area with similar competition and organize strategy.
Since we knew that TPM was there we planned for it. We advertised other artists that they didn’t have or printed pieces from artists we both have, but they do not have or sell. We didn’t do mystery boxes. We promoted items that they do not do such as custom badge print on demands. We knew that fighting for the same pieces was useless and played to OUR strengths. We have always been a print on demand vendor. We have been for a year and have had experience with it for many years. The system was made by mewtwo-ex. The software was written by Tenderheart.
What happened? We were constantly bothered. There were emails, twitters, texts, and calls. After almost a year of not speaking, suddenly we were a hot topic. Attendees were telling us that the museum was talking about us and wanted to know why we left. Artists were coming by asking what happened between us. We were constantly approach by TPM or their mediation at our table while we were busy with customers. Discussing inappropriate business in front of or to Attendees is wrong. Attendees do not need to know any of that. They are there to have fun not hear crap about why one group left another. We were there to work. You want to chat us? Do it outside of the convention, on skype or when the con is done. You never handle business that DOES NOT NEED TO BE DEALT WITH NOW at a convention. It makes everyone look bad and it generates rumors and drama with attendees that is frankly completely unnecessary. We have experience with how the museum operates, and understand that based on distance from the convention that the museum would be there well after the closing ceremony.
Here is a news flash though: We did not respond to texts, emails, calls, or skype chats, except Tender. Tender was trying to be nice and talk to find out what everyone at TPM wanted, but I think the conversations on skype to both Inky and Dpad (slick deals) made it crystal clear that we were not interested and frankly there was nothing in it for us to ever take over or merge with the museum. No amount of separating us would change that nor sugary niceness in front of us.
Here is why they wanted to speak to us
1. After Bronycon 2014, they are already bankrupt. They want us to do their sales again (or at least some of us that they think can be convinced to do their work for them)
2. They still believe that somehow pieces were stolen from them and want them back. The pieces that Bronyhouse has were approved by the artist to be with Bronyhouse.
3. They want to go to BronyCAN but do not have the funds to do so. BronyCAN is a con about the size of Trotcon (about 1.2k attendees). It is also almost 3,000 miles away (about 44 hour drive). The full museum is supposed to be there so at least two cars will be going. On average the museum makes between $2,000-3,000 at a con that size. Calculate in your head for a minute the cost for two vehicles, hotel, food, and figure out how much Trotcon would have to NET in order for that to be feasible (Net as in money after hotel, gas, parking, food, tolls, paper, ink, and artists were paid)
4. They apparently completely forgot what happened the last three years and after the people that they hired to replace us didn’t work out, they want some of us back.
5. Bronyhouse has a print, register, and display system that is awesome and they want a way to replicate it. Any person with $50-$75 can buy a kiosk software. With enough WORK and EFFORT they can make it so their prints are inventoried, logged, and could be selected by con-goers. The key there is WORK and EFFORT. Two things that are not in some people’s vocabulary. Inky just assumes that the spreadsheets or programming came out of thin air. No. No they didn’t. They were worked on and tweaked for YEARS. Through the sheer enjoyment, hard work, and dedication from people that CARE about making sure the artists get paid. They CARE about how much money things cost (you don’t keep track of your money, you go under).
6. They realized that the print on demand system isn’t as easy as it seems. The person behind the printer is not a monkey. They don’t just click a button and BAM comes out a fabulous print. It takes time, effort, and understanding of the pieces that are being printed. Some pieces look better with color adjustments, profiles, borders, no borders, cropping, and certain color borders. Also requires the person to have a working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. Those talents cannot be handed to someone like a piece of candy during Halloween.
7. Our system works better and they want to know why. It couldn’t possibly be because of us. It has to be software or an investor. Wrong. It is all of us. All of us spend hours working through problems because while it is hard work, we enjoy what we do.
8. They don’t want to put the effort into doing the printer system themselves. They figure if they can get at least some of us to run it, they can get money and not do much work. It doesn’t work that way and never will.
We quit for a reason. I will tell you why now only because I am sick and tired of hearing rumors and lies spread about why we left TPM. All of us are tired of being harassed to join a group of people that we don’t enjoy being around. I say we because we all agreed. This was not one person leaving and the others reluctantly followed.
Keep in mind that TPM isn’t a job we are paid for. If it was, you would suck up dealing with people you do not like until you found something better (Bronyhouse is better so if any of you would like to look at it that way cool). This is a volunteer job that we took because we chose to do it. We choose to do it with people that we enjoy being with and make the situation enjoyable. When you are working for hours on end, travel for days, sleep in hotels, and eat fast food, who better than to hang out with people that you like.
We do not want to be bothered. We want to be left alone. We don’t want drama but we are getting it anyway. We didn’t approach them. We didn’t speak to them for a long time. They came to us and frankly I am personally sick of hearing from them or about them. We worked for TPM as VOLUNTEERS for over two years. We enjoyed the museum because of the three of us, helping con-goers enjoy themselves, and helping the artists. We never enjoyed it for the drama. We never enjoyed it for the poor management. These were things that we dealt with because at the time we figured that it was a sacrifice for the purpose of helping artists and hanging out with each other. We were not paid to do this.
If TPM was run like a business like they claim, the following would happen:
1. There would be a hierarchy where EVERYONE did their jobs and were treated like equals not like minimum wage peons
2. Work breaks are required. After 4 hours, 15 minutes is required. Anything beyond requires 2 15 minute breaks and a lunch.
3. Anytime that is not at the convention is off-time that someone would be allowed to sleep and do what they wanted to do without permission.
4. They would get to see the convention
5. Recognition for their work or they would be given proper notice as to why they did something wrong (this would require a list of rules and regulations that the employee would have to sign so they were made aware. Random rules are not legal and can be fought in court
6. A superior is given tasks and accomplishes them. Otherwise there will be consequences. Some companies have board of directors for that reason. Others use public opinion to make a company lose money in order to change
7. Hotels would be ordered in advance
8. Artists would be paid, updated in deviantart, and their pieces would not be sold if they were no longer with the museum.
9. The financial officer is able to do their job without threat of fire or suspension every time the boss wanted money that was inappropriate. The government would identify any money used inappropriately. That is why the IRS exists.
10. you get maternity leave or emergency leave without harassment
None of these things happened.
We left because Artists were not being paid appropriately
Artists were not paid. Many were paid WAY below what they were supposed to be paid. Why did that occur? There were no records of how much money was made at conventions. There we no logs of where the money was going. Traveling Pony Museum hosted a kickstarter and has been to over 15 conventions, where did the money go? The artists were not appropriately being paid. At a convention like bronycon where TPM makes between $6,000-$10,000, 20% of that goes to all of the artists. Were any of the artists paid what they were supposed to when mewtwo-ex was not running the financials?
One of the reason why our group left is because we physically saw how many prints were being sold at conventions and knew from speaking with the artists, that they were not getting the correct commission. Many popular artists received none at all. When mewtwo took over the funds, they realized that money was being made for their art. When he left, it went back to no longer paying them.
Many artists came to the conclusion that they wanted to distance themselves. I say many to mean that some decided to do both and we were perfectly happy helping them. Their distancing was not the doing of us. We didn’t mass message artists generating hate for TPM. They came to Bronyhouse because we were reliable. We paid them on time and kept all our social media up-to-date. We also have spreadsheets itemized of all that is sold for them so they know what style prints sell best. This isn’t a pat on the back. We have financials to prove what we are doing. We are a striving non-profit. None of us make a dime off of this venture. We are invested in it monetarily and only pay ourselves back in increments what we are owed, with receipts, only when it is available, and never at the expense of the artists. We have had losses before and the artists still received their money. WE took it out of our own pockets to make sure it would happen.
We left because of drama that leaked into our real lives
The TPM is a wheel of drama that I got off of a year ago when the day before Bronycon my water broke two months before my son was supposed to be born. He was in the hospital for a month and almost died four times. The doctor indicated that it was a placental attachment due to too much stress during the pregnancy that was resulting in fetal stresses. If I made my usual income, the hospital bill would have set us back more than $300,000 just for the care and his surgeries alone. I stayed in the museum because of the above things and to support my relationship and best friend. When they were in trouble, I came to help them because that is what friends do. After my water broke and I am in labor while TPM and their mediators decide to call me and Tender constantly, I am to realize that staying in the museum for that was no longer an option. They DEMAND that we go there anyway. They DEMAND that they get museum pieces back now or else. Here Tender and I am watching our son stop breathing, they know this, and do not give a damn At a job, you get maternity leave. This isn’t China. If a boss you worked for called you while you were in labor and threatened your job if you didn’t come anyway, they would be reported to human resources and a few other places. They would probably be suspended and possibly go to court for violating human rights.
All us realized that TPM was making us hate ponies. We couldn’t think about MLP without thinking of the drama they caused us. We didn’t want that anymore. We decided it was best for us to be around each other, enjoy ponies, and do the things that we went to the museum for in the first place.
TPM is bankrupt but they started with 2-3x more money that we did this year.
Now getting back to them. At the end of Bronycon, mewtwo handled the final TPM monetary transaction. They were given a lot of money for next year. I will not specify the amount because it doesn’t matter. The key to understand is that mewtwo paid all of the artists that responded to his email and inky notebook was in charge of the rest. She was given a very large sum of money (more than we invested this whole year for the three conventions we have been to so far) and within two conventions they were bankrupt. What does that say about the situation when we were there versus when we are not there anymore?
1. Inky Notebook started the museum. She is NOT the first person to start a pony museum. She is actually the third person. The first has been doing it far longer than her and has been doing it internationally. Their first year they went to japan and Europe. The museum is a great concept. Kudos! You cannot be a one trick pony. Just because you started something doesn’t mean that you are above everyone else. Does not mean that you can be Mariah Carey and demand a bunch of things from conventions. It just doesn’t work that way. Neither does spazzing out on them every time things do not go your way or being indecisive with your venues. After a while cons get sick of comping you all the time, your demanding emails, and they no longer add you to their con book. Cons now have a lot of options to choose from. Why choose drama?
2. The museum’s purpose is to help the artists and make con-goers happy. Helping the artist means upgrading displays, and paying them. Have you looked at the museums setup? How well has it been upgraded in over 3 years? How many conventions have they gone to? Where is the money going? I am speaking even before our group joined. Seriously, no money?
3. Yes sure, those on the outside see the museum and think everything is wonderful. They think that this person is so nice and enjoys talking about the museum and knows about the items. Those that have come and gone from working the museum know the truth. There are people that have curated the museum, such as Tenderheart that knew the pieces much, much better than she and actually worked as a curator with little to no breaks. They didn’t talk about themselves because the museum is not about the owner.
4. Inky Notebook and I do not get along. We are oil and water. I am not an emotional person and I do not like spontaneousness. I am a reliable person that needs dependable people. I need a boss that can give themselves tasks and actually does their own not make excuses. If you want TPM to work like a business then the boss can’t use excuses as to why he/she didn’t accomplish important tasks because life happened. Businesses go under for that reason or the board of directors just fires you. I need someone who goes to a convention and actually works. I can’t tell you how many conventions that Inky ignored the museum sometimes leaving it completely unattended while con-goers were in it and ran around doing nothing or sat at her laptop watching tv while Tender was working non-stop. Our group got sick of doing all of the work while her and her friends would blatantly talk about how they wanted to replace us in front of attendees. They would make it like we were pond scum and they were the greatest things since sliced bread. Mewtwo-ex has the same mentality as I do when it comes to organization. He does not want to volunteer for a job that he placed a lot of effort into then be argued with every time important tasks need to be handled. He also will not allocate funds to people without a good reason and receipts. He finished with TPM after Bronycon 2014 never wanted to speak or see them again. Tenderheart really hopes to get the artists pieces either back to the artists, or in a safe place where they will no longer be mishandled. Also Tender wants the artists to be paid. Tender feels that if there is some way to improve them then perhaps the idea of the museum will be successful on its own.
5. If you thought during conventions was bad, then after and before were worse. If our group didn’t get a hotel and setup everything, nobody would have a place to sleep. There was a time when the museum went all the way to Everfree Northwest and never booked a hotel. It was just assumed by them that they could get it near convention that day. I mean who drives days without a plan? Our conversations before cons involved the same cycle:
a. Inky would give people a list of things to do, including herself. Then she would disappear and not do any of what she was supposed to do. She would then lecture about how none of us did anything and ‘why oh why doesn’t anyone do anything around here’. Then claim that she was doing everything around here claiming credit for our actual work and when corrected she would tell them that she was too busy.
b. Inky always had excuses for everything. She always blamed others even when she didn’t accomplish her tasks that she set for herself. She was always too busy because of school and work. Keep in mind all of us did our tasks and we all worked and had school (I also have two children).
c. Inky would then spaz out about something. There would be a huge blow up before convention usually demanding something. Examples included her deciding not to go to a convention then three days before the convention yelling about why she did not have a badge for said convention. She would then email the convention in anger and threaten to cancel the entire venture if she didn’t get her badge. She would then accuse some of us of sabotaging and trying to take over the museum. Another was when she found out that her museum room was smaller than planned. She threatened to pull out completely even though the convention was one of our biggest attractions and we already paid for everything.
d. She always had grand ideas. “Oh and it was such a great plan. We were going to get organized, revamp the museum, everyone would have roles, but I don’t want to run the museum”. On the other hand if anyone had any ideas that she didn’t like, even though she did not run the museum, she said no and expected her word to be law. This included a time where we had to charge a hotel for Bronycon and she had to hold it with her credit card and refused. Our group already had a hotel room, but the rest of TPM needed their hotel. We finally got sick of the roundabout argument as to why she couldn’t do it and told her either do it or sleep in her car in Baltimore.
Her plans? Always the same plans or the ones that other people already had an idea for and she said no then two months later changed her mind and made it like she came up with the idea and we were all idiots.
f. If someone did their job, she would not believe it even if she saw it nor recognize their work. I am not expecting a pat on the back or head. I expect that if I am working volunteer for fun that if I do a job I am not told that I don’t do anything, I am worthless, and I am constantly threatened with being fired or suspended. Why? Because I agreed with mewtwo-ex. I agreed with mewtwo-ex because he is organized. He is responsible. He always paid the artists. He works a full time job as a professor and constructed the entire register system from scratch. He does smart things like plan ahead for a hotel. Save money to revamp the museum. He allocated money owed when it was available. I respect him and his word. I don’t always agree with him but I will follow him if the information makes sense. Mewtwo-ex was constantly threatened with suspension or firing simply because he handled the funding and sometimes handled the museum. Inky found him as a threat to her control over the museum. Whenever Tender, mewtwo-ex, and I agreed, she would feel corned, get emotional, and try to drag people to her side regardless of how ridiculous it was.
Fiesta Equestria and Bronycon 2014: The final straw
Our group had already discussed moving on from TPM, but wanted to wait to leave the group after bronycon and everything that was TPMs was in Inky’s possession. Fiesta Equestria was the TPM staff interaction we ever had to deal with next to Trotcon 2014. Everything was slowly declining, and frankly I just graduated with my bachelors and was about to have a baby. Tender and I were about to have another person in the world and didn’t want drama. Mewtwo-ex finally realized, on his own, that all of his work meant nothing to them nor their friendship. They were using him and he felt the sting. He no longer wanted to do all the work then get treated as if he was just a bad volunteer.
Last minute, It was determined that Inky and her group couldn’t go to Fiesta Equestria which relieved Mewtwo-ex and Tender. The system needed at least 3 people: printer, curator and register person. I was originally planning on not going. I didn’t want to go because I was 7 months pregnant, Texas is hot, and I didn’t want to have any arguments with Inky or her friends. I was still helping mewtwo-ex revamp the museum and pre-print regardless, and decided to go to FE to help him. The day before the con (we are literally fully packed in the car) Inky finds out she is could go to FE and had a complete meltdown that I was going also.
No idea why she got emotional. I mean I am the pregnant isn’t that my job? I may not like her, but I have never been impolite with her at a convention. I do my job, I do it well, and I treat the con-goers well. It is fine if she doesn’t like me, I see it from a business standpoint. I would take the people that knows how to run the printer and register while she and dpad do not know how to do any of it. Inky and her group literally threatened a 7 month pregnant woman to be banned from the hotel and convention if I didn’t back out. Texas that weekend was 98-102 degrees. They expected me to sleep in the car if I attempted to go. We got a hotel with a friend and decided it best to just go there and work and be done because the idea that they would treat a pregnant volunteer like that was just wrong. Who does that?
So we get there after a 20 hours long drive, we checked into the hotel, slept, and they decide to have a meeting. A meeting talking about how bad we all are. Luckily we took a nap first. We handled everything with grace and left for our hotel. Inky, on the other hand, got all depressed and mopey then spazzed because she forgot the clips to the gridwall at Trotcon and just realized it when we were in the room setting up (Trotcon was weeks ago). She then got depressed that we weren’t sharing the room even though they told us we were not welcome before. Then argued with us because we got free breakfast at our hotel and she didn’t. This was the point where she threatened to fire mewtwo-ex if he didn’t give her money to comp her very very expensive breakfast and comp her meals on the way there without receipts.
In the morning and Inky does absolutely nothing. She drove 20 hours to setup the museum with ductape then sat in the back room and played on her computer. Her only time out was when she asked how much we made, played around with prints (running around trying to drum up business while Tender did all of the work curating the entire weekend). She wanted dinner with us and tried to require it. We refused so she kept delaying things to make sure that our restaurant would be closed before we got there. We literally had to be curt with her to leave.
Finally the straw broke when while we are working non-stop (no breaks the entire weekend remember pregnant woman in an uncomfortable chair we brought our lunches and ate while we worked) and got to listen to them interviewing people for the museum and talking about how they really needed to upgrade because we weren’t really up to par for what they wanted. These are departments that we knew that we were doing. They spoke it loud enough to hear us and make new people believe that we were bad volunteers. They additionally, refused to wear the TPM t-shirts after requiring us to wear them so with their dress up clothes, they would look like our bosses.
Once Texas was completed, we were all told that we were insubordinate for not going to required dinners, and apparently not doing our jobs. I was told that I was fired for going to Texas or possibly suspended (that conversation changed about 20 times with a “if you fire her we all go” from mewtwo-ex). Mewtwo-ex is then told that Inky is the boss and if she wants money for anything even without a receipt it is his job to give it to her and for his insubordinate behavior with the money, she wanted all of it relinquished to her immediately.
Then Inky finds out she doesn’t have a badge for Bronycon and freaks out even though she had indicated that she could not go. She got our vendor table suspended while she tried to get both Events and Vendor to deal with drama that was none of their business. We ended up in a two day mediation until Inky would agree to things. The two days were so stressful that within days my water broke. If TPM should blame anyone as to why they didn’t not go to Bronycon this year, it is not Purple Tinker like they claim but themselves. That was the biggest pile of drama I have ever dealt with in my life. It was 2 days of someone constantly changing her mind, whining about her life, and being unreasonable. If I had a dollar for every search result in the chat that included inky whining about her problems, how busy she is, how worthless we are, or how she was quitting the museum and giving it to someone else, I would be as rich as Bill Gates.
After all that would anybody reading this seriously want that? Would you want a volunteer job like that? It isn’t like I can put it on my resume and say “yes I have undergone a birth from a highly stressful job”. None of us want this. We want them to leave us alone. Does that mean one of us talking with them to relieve the others just to get them away from us? Yes. Does that mean posting this to get them to shut up? Yes.
I will repeat. Our group is happy with where we are. Why in the seven circles of hell would we EVER want to go through all that crap again? For what? The idea of the museum? Yeah it is a great idea. I am not going to down a bottle of Tums every day just to keep it alive and I am certainly not going to take time off from my job and family just to spend time in a room being told that I do nothing for the organization, anyone can do my job, and I am a waste of space. Reality check here. Our group works and is happy. Who is having the issues? Inky. Inky can deal with them herself, get a bunch of YES MEN to do your bidding like you want, and see how well it goes for you. Wait how well did it go for you? That’s right…your bankrupt.
I say this with all the greatest love for the artists and the conventions that have tolerated the TMP group in order to gain a display piece for con-goers. I will not contribute to their disorganized organization. We quit. We made it clear that we did NOT want to be around TPM. They made it clear, on multiple occasions that we were worthless pieces of crap that never did anything for them anyway. They will of course say otherwise because anyone investing in the museum has to see that fake dishonesty. The casual conversation about how Inky Notebook is ALWAYS ALWAYS the victim and never does anything wrong. How she doesn’t understand why they would go away and hurt the museum. Oh poor you. It is your business and you indicated quite clearly that you didn’t want us and frankly the feeling is mutual. You are a disorganized emotional wreck. You cannot make up your mind about anything to save your life. If your museum project continues to work. Great! I hope the artists get paid someday. I do not like her on a personal level and on a professional level she doesn’t hold up her end of the bargain. I won’t be part of an organization that treats people like Foxconn Chinese factory workers. I certainly have no desire dealing with someone that I am not being paid to deal with that treats everyone around them like crap unless she wants something from them.
Why am I saying all this? Because I tried to be quiet. I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM PERIOD. The end. This goes for all of us not just me. If we are at a convention, you are people I have never met before and will never ever approach. Stop trying to talk to us. Stop trying to add people to the past issues that don’t know squat about what is going on and frankly will never understand unless they worked under you and grasped the true concept of what it is like to staff for TPM. We are different people and no amount of mediation would change that.
business level: I want an organized person, follows through on their tasks, and treats people with respect (not telling their friends to make chaos in order to put people off balance or toy with people's emotions in order to get their way).
personal level: Inky is an upper class spoil child who has no clue what it is like to really deal with problems or pain. She has never had children. Never witnessed rape, murder, homelessness, or death. Beyond that she will always have her parents to carry her away from her problems and her personality to blame everyone else. She is a two faced person that spends her time discussing how she can best use people to her will even her closest friends. She does not care or relate to anyone that has had problems and certainly does not care about children or woman who are pregnant. She is not a person, nor most of her friends, are the type that I would ever want to be in the same room with let alone invest anymore of my time into their business.
So in conclusion,
I repeat : If we are at the same convention. DEAL. I don’t want to see you, I don’t want you contacting any of us. I mean any of us. This is by twitter, facebook, skype, email, text, phone, or writings in the sky via plane. We will not be partied to your conversations with con-goers about us. We never had con-goers mentioning our break up so many times during a convention. It is unprofessional. We responded in the most candied way possible. We TRIED to avoid any of it. You of course decided otherwise so this is why this message is now necessary. If anyone would like the detailed chats and emails about everything that went on with TPM to prove what I am stating is true. I will do it if necessary. I kept my mouth shut, but our group is not going to be dragged into your TPM drama crap. We left that over a year ago. TPM it is time to welcome you to 2015. A world where you deal with your own problems and DO NOT drag us, conventions, con staff, or attendees into it. It is YOUR issue not ours. We never spoke or initiated anything. You can call this the 20th “I quit letter”. It ends now.
PS: If you require me to translate this into Japanese to spell this message out for you better. I will
I would like to start by saying that almost a year ago today, my friends and I stopped working for the Traveling Pony Museum or TPM, and we started our own venture. We decided long before quitting that we no longer wanted to be involved with the Traveling Pony Museum due to many reasons that I will express later. This venture known as Bronyhouse and originated by Nurse Tenderheart in 2012. Since our venture started, things were going quite well. We have convention successful three times this year and have gained a very, very positive report with artists. We also kept our finances very conservative for presentation upgrades. We all wanted our table to be eye catching in a way that would both help sales and artists. Our display has been so well constructed that artists have been flocking to our tables asking to join and even vendors have asked us where we have obtained some of our setup.
To put it simply, we moved on. All of us involved work together very well because we respect each other. We don’t placate egos to get our way and make them think that it was their idea. We are honest. We keep our words direct and handle our problems swiftly. Everyone in our group is treated as an equal. That is what I love about it. If we took one person out of the group, it would be incomplete because we all bring something really great to the table.
Mewtwo-ex
My friend mewtwo-ex helps out with everything involved with printer and finances. We discuss printer upgrades, paper, programs for proper printing, and he helps us to stay strong with our artists and figure out what we can or cannot handle. His faults are that he can be very high strong about people touching his printer or his system. We work well because I tell him when he needs to loosen up and he feels better knowing that someone is being honest with him. He helps me see when I can be a little too candid with others or when my method is not precise enough. He values my opinions on possible products. He also knows that I am very good at finding restaurants, hotels, gas prices, display product, and I have a method of seeking artists that some are more receptive to than when he does it. He is my best friend no matter our arguments. At the end of the day we can tell each other off, eat a sandwich, get some sleep, and everything will be fine. We never treat each other like one person is better than the other. A persons sweat and blood that they place into the Bronyhouse are no less valid than the person that uses monetary investment.
Tenderheart
Tenderheart and I have been with each other for almost two years. Tender is a whiz with computer programming, perfectionist with artistic integrity, and has a positive outlook on almost everyone. Tender also can be very conflicted. There are times when projects end up being too big and Tender tries too hard to get them accomplished anyway. Tender tries to make everyone get along, and when that doesn’t work Tender tends to get depressed. I tend to send Tender into reality and direct projects into simpler terms that can be handled by a deadline. The decision may not be perfect, but it gives a product that can be used. I love and admire Tender very much.
I am the reality person. I am a very driven person. It is something that mewtwo and I have in common. I will organize each trip, determine food, estimate hotels, contact artists, discuss upgrades, determine display pieces, and make sure things are accomplished on time. I am what you call the finisher. I will make sure everything runs smoothly and the convention we arrive at has direction. I usually generate the conversations for upgrades and new product. Our entire display setup was my investment and agreed by everyone in the group. I also generated new product when cons print sales decline. My weaknesses are that I often am too honest with people. Some people cannot handle my candor. I have learned that sometimes it is best to say nothing and let others negotiate with people that are mentally or emotionally incapable of handling the truth.
In the end, we complete each other. We don’t have any one person overwhelmed by their tasks. If Tender needs help with programs, I will research. If mewtwo-ex needs pre-prints, we will each take a printer and work together. Tender, mewtwo, and I talk out things if any of us are stressed out by a situation without feeling bad about doing it. The machine known as Bronyhouse is a well-oiled machine run with three cogs. We don’t have anyone who is lazy in our group while the others pick up the slack. We have no drama between each other.
When we ended our time with the TPM. That was it. We made no messages. We didn’t post any our problems our about the museum. We kept to ourselves and if people asked why, we simply told them this “We were with them but due to some artistic differences, we decided to start our own thing”. We left it at that. If anyone pressed, we all said that we didn’t want to talk about it. We figured that would be the end of it. TPM group would go their way and we would go our way with no drama. This weekend of course proved incorrectly.
Trotcon 2015
Our Bronyhouse group has been advertising for Trotcon since we were accepted sometime in March. We were excited to go as it is only an hour away from where we live and Tenderheart has enjoyed the convention since 2013 (long before Tender was involved with the museum and is great friends with many people there). Two days before Trotcon drama hit the fan. Now keep in mind, we have been known to be a vendor at Trotcon for a long time AND we knew that TPM was going there.
Did we file any complaints? Nope. It isn’t our con or our decision to try to force someone to be at a convention. It is none of our business and we wanted to keep it that way.
Did we tell anyone that we had a problem with them coming? Nope. They have been going there for a few years and many con-goers enjoy going into the museum.
Did TPM complain about us? Yes.
Why? I have no idea as any vendor would be museum competition for the museum. There are also several artists that have pieces in the museum that were in the vendor hall. That is life. There is competition and you deal with it. McDonalds doesn’t go to a judge and cry that Burger King is next door and happens to be selling similar stuff. They do not come to negotiate. They deal with the fact that they are in an area with similar competition and organize strategy.
Since we knew that TPM was there we planned for it. We advertised other artists that they didn’t have or printed pieces from artists we both have, but they do not have or sell. We didn’t do mystery boxes. We promoted items that they do not do such as custom badge print on demands. We knew that fighting for the same pieces was useless and played to OUR strengths. We have always been a print on demand vendor. We have been for a year and have had experience with it for many years. The system was made by mewtwo-ex. The software was written by Tenderheart.
What happened? We were constantly bothered. There were emails, twitters, texts, and calls. After almost a year of not speaking, suddenly we were a hot topic. Attendees were telling us that the museum was talking about us and wanted to know why we left. Artists were coming by asking what happened between us. We were constantly approach by TPM or their mediation at our table while we were busy with customers. Discussing inappropriate business in front of or to Attendees is wrong. Attendees do not need to know any of that. They are there to have fun not hear crap about why one group left another. We were there to work. You want to chat us? Do it outside of the convention, on skype or when the con is done. You never handle business that DOES NOT NEED TO BE DEALT WITH NOW at a convention. It makes everyone look bad and it generates rumors and drama with attendees that is frankly completely unnecessary. We have experience with how the museum operates, and understand that based on distance from the convention that the museum would be there well after the closing ceremony.
Here is a news flash though: We did not respond to texts, emails, calls, or skype chats, except Tender. Tender was trying to be nice and talk to find out what everyone at TPM wanted, but I think the conversations on skype to both Inky and Dpad (slick deals) made it crystal clear that we were not interested and frankly there was nothing in it for us to ever take over or merge with the museum. No amount of separating us would change that nor sugary niceness in front of us.
Here is why they wanted to speak to us
1. After Bronycon 2014, they are already bankrupt. They want us to do their sales again (or at least some of us that they think can be convinced to do their work for them)
2. They still believe that somehow pieces were stolen from them and want them back. The pieces that Bronyhouse has were approved by the artist to be with Bronyhouse.
3. They want to go to BronyCAN but do not have the funds to do so. BronyCAN is a con about the size of Trotcon (about 1.2k attendees). It is also almost 3,000 miles away (about 44 hour drive). The full museum is supposed to be there so at least two cars will be going. On average the museum makes between $2,000-3,000 at a con that size. Calculate in your head for a minute the cost for two vehicles, hotel, food, and figure out how much Trotcon would have to NET in order for that to be feasible (Net as in money after hotel, gas, parking, food, tolls, paper, ink, and artists were paid)
4. They apparently completely forgot what happened the last three years and after the people that they hired to replace us didn’t work out, they want some of us back.
5. Bronyhouse has a print, register, and display system that is awesome and they want a way to replicate it. Any person with $50-$75 can buy a kiosk software. With enough WORK and EFFORT they can make it so their prints are inventoried, logged, and could be selected by con-goers. The key there is WORK and EFFORT. Two things that are not in some people’s vocabulary. Inky just assumes that the spreadsheets or programming came out of thin air. No. No they didn’t. They were worked on and tweaked for YEARS. Through the sheer enjoyment, hard work, and dedication from people that CARE about making sure the artists get paid. They CARE about how much money things cost (you don’t keep track of your money, you go under).
6. They realized that the print on demand system isn’t as easy as it seems. The person behind the printer is not a monkey. They don’t just click a button and BAM comes out a fabulous print. It takes time, effort, and understanding of the pieces that are being printed. Some pieces look better with color adjustments, profiles, borders, no borders, cropping, and certain color borders. Also requires the person to have a working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. Those talents cannot be handed to someone like a piece of candy during Halloween.
7. Our system works better and they want to know why. It couldn’t possibly be because of us. It has to be software or an investor. Wrong. It is all of us. All of us spend hours working through problems because while it is hard work, we enjoy what we do.
8. They don’t want to put the effort into doing the printer system themselves. They figure if they can get at least some of us to run it, they can get money and not do much work. It doesn’t work that way and never will.
We quit for a reason. I will tell you why now only because I am sick and tired of hearing rumors and lies spread about why we left TPM. All of us are tired of being harassed to join a group of people that we don’t enjoy being around. I say we because we all agreed. This was not one person leaving and the others reluctantly followed.
Keep in mind that TPM isn’t a job we are paid for. If it was, you would suck up dealing with people you do not like until you found something better (Bronyhouse is better so if any of you would like to look at it that way cool). This is a volunteer job that we took because we chose to do it. We choose to do it with people that we enjoy being with and make the situation enjoyable. When you are working for hours on end, travel for days, sleep in hotels, and eat fast food, who better than to hang out with people that you like.
We do not want to be bothered. We want to be left alone. We don’t want drama but we are getting it anyway. We didn’t approach them. We didn’t speak to them for a long time. They came to us and frankly I am personally sick of hearing from them or about them. We worked for TPM as VOLUNTEERS for over two years. We enjoyed the museum because of the three of us, helping con-goers enjoy themselves, and helping the artists. We never enjoyed it for the drama. We never enjoyed it for the poor management. These were things that we dealt with because at the time we figured that it was a sacrifice for the purpose of helping artists and hanging out with each other. We were not paid to do this.
If TPM was run like a business like they claim, the following would happen:
1. There would be a hierarchy where EVERYONE did their jobs and were treated like equals not like minimum wage peons
2. Work breaks are required. After 4 hours, 15 minutes is required. Anything beyond requires 2 15 minute breaks and a lunch.
3. Anytime that is not at the convention is off-time that someone would be allowed to sleep and do what they wanted to do without permission.
4. They would get to see the convention
5. Recognition for their work or they would be given proper notice as to why they did something wrong (this would require a list of rules and regulations that the employee would have to sign so they were made aware. Random rules are not legal and can be fought in court
6. A superior is given tasks and accomplishes them. Otherwise there will be consequences. Some companies have board of directors for that reason. Others use public opinion to make a company lose money in order to change
7. Hotels would be ordered in advance
8. Artists would be paid, updated in deviantart, and their pieces would not be sold if they were no longer with the museum.
9. The financial officer is able to do their job without threat of fire or suspension every time the boss wanted money that was inappropriate. The government would identify any money used inappropriately. That is why the IRS exists.
10. you get maternity leave or emergency leave without harassment
None of these things happened.
We left because Artists were not being paid appropriately
Artists were not paid. Many were paid WAY below what they were supposed to be paid. Why did that occur? There were no records of how much money was made at conventions. There we no logs of where the money was going. Traveling Pony Museum hosted a kickstarter and has been to over 15 conventions, where did the money go? The artists were not appropriately being paid. At a convention like bronycon where TPM makes between $6,000-$10,000, 20% of that goes to all of the artists. Were any of the artists paid what they were supposed to when mewtwo-ex was not running the financials?
One of the reason why our group left is because we physically saw how many prints were being sold at conventions and knew from speaking with the artists, that they were not getting the correct commission. Many popular artists received none at all. When mewtwo took over the funds, they realized that money was being made for their art. When he left, it went back to no longer paying them.
Many artists came to the conclusion that they wanted to distance themselves. I say many to mean that some decided to do both and we were perfectly happy helping them. Their distancing was not the doing of us. We didn’t mass message artists generating hate for TPM. They came to Bronyhouse because we were reliable. We paid them on time and kept all our social media up-to-date. We also have spreadsheets itemized of all that is sold for them so they know what style prints sell best. This isn’t a pat on the back. We have financials to prove what we are doing. We are a striving non-profit. None of us make a dime off of this venture. We are invested in it monetarily and only pay ourselves back in increments what we are owed, with receipts, only when it is available, and never at the expense of the artists. We have had losses before and the artists still received their money. WE took it out of our own pockets to make sure it would happen.
We left because of drama that leaked into our real lives
The TPM is a wheel of drama that I got off of a year ago when the day before Bronycon my water broke two months before my son was supposed to be born. He was in the hospital for a month and almost died four times. The doctor indicated that it was a placental attachment due to too much stress during the pregnancy that was resulting in fetal stresses. If I made my usual income, the hospital bill would have set us back more than $300,000 just for the care and his surgeries alone. I stayed in the museum because of the above things and to support my relationship and best friend. When they were in trouble, I came to help them because that is what friends do. After my water broke and I am in labor while TPM and their mediators decide to call me and Tender constantly, I am to realize that staying in the museum for that was no longer an option. They DEMAND that we go there anyway. They DEMAND that they get museum pieces back now or else. Here Tender and I am watching our son stop breathing, they know this, and do not give a damn At a job, you get maternity leave. This isn’t China. If a boss you worked for called you while you were in labor and threatened your job if you didn’t come anyway, they would be reported to human resources and a few other places. They would probably be suspended and possibly go to court for violating human rights.
All us realized that TPM was making us hate ponies. We couldn’t think about MLP without thinking of the drama they caused us. We didn’t want that anymore. We decided it was best for us to be around each other, enjoy ponies, and do the things that we went to the museum for in the first place.
TPM is bankrupt but they started with 2-3x more money that we did this year.
Now getting back to them. At the end of Bronycon, mewtwo handled the final TPM monetary transaction. They were given a lot of money for next year. I will not specify the amount because it doesn’t matter. The key to understand is that mewtwo paid all of the artists that responded to his email and inky notebook was in charge of the rest. She was given a very large sum of money (more than we invested this whole year for the three conventions we have been to so far) and within two conventions they were bankrupt. What does that say about the situation when we were there versus when we are not there anymore?
1. Inky Notebook started the museum. She is NOT the first person to start a pony museum. She is actually the third person. The first has been doing it far longer than her and has been doing it internationally. Their first year they went to japan and Europe. The museum is a great concept. Kudos! You cannot be a one trick pony. Just because you started something doesn’t mean that you are above everyone else. Does not mean that you can be Mariah Carey and demand a bunch of things from conventions. It just doesn’t work that way. Neither does spazzing out on them every time things do not go your way or being indecisive with your venues. After a while cons get sick of comping you all the time, your demanding emails, and they no longer add you to their con book. Cons now have a lot of options to choose from. Why choose drama?
2. The museum’s purpose is to help the artists and make con-goers happy. Helping the artist means upgrading displays, and paying them. Have you looked at the museums setup? How well has it been upgraded in over 3 years? How many conventions have they gone to? Where is the money going? I am speaking even before our group joined. Seriously, no money?
3. Yes sure, those on the outside see the museum and think everything is wonderful. They think that this person is so nice and enjoys talking about the museum and knows about the items. Those that have come and gone from working the museum know the truth. There are people that have curated the museum, such as Tenderheart that knew the pieces much, much better than she and actually worked as a curator with little to no breaks. They didn’t talk about themselves because the museum is not about the owner.
4. Inky Notebook and I do not get along. We are oil and water. I am not an emotional person and I do not like spontaneousness. I am a reliable person that needs dependable people. I need a boss that can give themselves tasks and actually does their own not make excuses. If you want TPM to work like a business then the boss can’t use excuses as to why he/she didn’t accomplish important tasks because life happened. Businesses go under for that reason or the board of directors just fires you. I need someone who goes to a convention and actually works. I can’t tell you how many conventions that Inky ignored the museum sometimes leaving it completely unattended while con-goers were in it and ran around doing nothing or sat at her laptop watching tv while Tender was working non-stop. Our group got sick of doing all of the work while her and her friends would blatantly talk about how they wanted to replace us in front of attendees. They would make it like we were pond scum and they were the greatest things since sliced bread. Mewtwo-ex has the same mentality as I do when it comes to organization. He does not want to volunteer for a job that he placed a lot of effort into then be argued with every time important tasks need to be handled. He also will not allocate funds to people without a good reason and receipts. He finished with TPM after Bronycon 2014 never wanted to speak or see them again. Tenderheart really hopes to get the artists pieces either back to the artists, or in a safe place where they will no longer be mishandled. Also Tender wants the artists to be paid. Tender feels that if there is some way to improve them then perhaps the idea of the museum will be successful on its own.
5. If you thought during conventions was bad, then after and before were worse. If our group didn’t get a hotel and setup everything, nobody would have a place to sleep. There was a time when the museum went all the way to Everfree Northwest and never booked a hotel. It was just assumed by them that they could get it near convention that day. I mean who drives days without a plan? Our conversations before cons involved the same cycle:
a. Inky would give people a list of things to do, including herself. Then she would disappear and not do any of what she was supposed to do. She would then lecture about how none of us did anything and ‘why oh why doesn’t anyone do anything around here’. Then claim that she was doing everything around here claiming credit for our actual work and when corrected she would tell them that she was too busy.
b. Inky always had excuses for everything. She always blamed others even when she didn’t accomplish her tasks that she set for herself. She was always too busy because of school and work. Keep in mind all of us did our tasks and we all worked and had school (I also have two children).
c. Inky would then spaz out about something. There would be a huge blow up before convention usually demanding something. Examples included her deciding not to go to a convention then three days before the convention yelling about why she did not have a badge for said convention. She would then email the convention in anger and threaten to cancel the entire venture if she didn’t get her badge. She would then accuse some of us of sabotaging and trying to take over the museum. Another was when she found out that her museum room was smaller than planned. She threatened to pull out completely even though the convention was one of our biggest attractions and we already paid for everything.
d. She always had grand ideas. “Oh and it was such a great plan. We were going to get organized, revamp the museum, everyone would have roles, but I don’t want to run the museum”. On the other hand if anyone had any ideas that she didn’t like, even though she did not run the museum, she said no and expected her word to be law. This included a time where we had to charge a hotel for Bronycon and she had to hold it with her credit card and refused. Our group already had a hotel room, but the rest of TPM needed their hotel. We finally got sick of the roundabout argument as to why she couldn’t do it and told her either do it or sleep in her car in Baltimore.
Her plans? Always the same plans or the ones that other people already had an idea for and she said no then two months later changed her mind and made it like she came up with the idea and we were all idiots.
f. If someone did their job, she would not believe it even if she saw it nor recognize their work. I am not expecting a pat on the back or head. I expect that if I am working volunteer for fun that if I do a job I am not told that I don’t do anything, I am worthless, and I am constantly threatened with being fired or suspended. Why? Because I agreed with mewtwo-ex. I agreed with mewtwo-ex because he is organized. He is responsible. He always paid the artists. He works a full time job as a professor and constructed the entire register system from scratch. He does smart things like plan ahead for a hotel. Save money to revamp the museum. He allocated money owed when it was available. I respect him and his word. I don’t always agree with him but I will follow him if the information makes sense. Mewtwo-ex was constantly threatened with suspension or firing simply because he handled the funding and sometimes handled the museum. Inky found him as a threat to her control over the museum. Whenever Tender, mewtwo-ex, and I agreed, she would feel corned, get emotional, and try to drag people to her side regardless of how ridiculous it was.
Fiesta Equestria and Bronycon 2014: The final straw
Our group had already discussed moving on from TPM, but wanted to wait to leave the group after bronycon and everything that was TPMs was in Inky’s possession. Fiesta Equestria was the TPM staff interaction we ever had to deal with next to Trotcon 2014. Everything was slowly declining, and frankly I just graduated with my bachelors and was about to have a baby. Tender and I were about to have another person in the world and didn’t want drama. Mewtwo-ex finally realized, on his own, that all of his work meant nothing to them nor their friendship. They were using him and he felt the sting. He no longer wanted to do all the work then get treated as if he was just a bad volunteer.
Last minute, It was determined that Inky and her group couldn’t go to Fiesta Equestria which relieved Mewtwo-ex and Tender. The system needed at least 3 people: printer, curator and register person. I was originally planning on not going. I didn’t want to go because I was 7 months pregnant, Texas is hot, and I didn’t want to have any arguments with Inky or her friends. I was still helping mewtwo-ex revamp the museum and pre-print regardless, and decided to go to FE to help him. The day before the con (we are literally fully packed in the car) Inky finds out she is could go to FE and had a complete meltdown that I was going also.
No idea why she got emotional. I mean I am the pregnant isn’t that my job? I may not like her, but I have never been impolite with her at a convention. I do my job, I do it well, and I treat the con-goers well. It is fine if she doesn’t like me, I see it from a business standpoint. I would take the people that knows how to run the printer and register while she and dpad do not know how to do any of it. Inky and her group literally threatened a 7 month pregnant woman to be banned from the hotel and convention if I didn’t back out. Texas that weekend was 98-102 degrees. They expected me to sleep in the car if I attempted to go. We got a hotel with a friend and decided it best to just go there and work and be done because the idea that they would treat a pregnant volunteer like that was just wrong. Who does that?
So we get there after a 20 hours long drive, we checked into the hotel, slept, and they decide to have a meeting. A meeting talking about how bad we all are. Luckily we took a nap first. We handled everything with grace and left for our hotel. Inky, on the other hand, got all depressed and mopey then spazzed because she forgot the clips to the gridwall at Trotcon and just realized it when we were in the room setting up (Trotcon was weeks ago). She then got depressed that we weren’t sharing the room even though they told us we were not welcome before. Then argued with us because we got free breakfast at our hotel and she didn’t. This was the point where she threatened to fire mewtwo-ex if he didn’t give her money to comp her very very expensive breakfast and comp her meals on the way there without receipts.
In the morning and Inky does absolutely nothing. She drove 20 hours to setup the museum with ductape then sat in the back room and played on her computer. Her only time out was when she asked how much we made, played around with prints (running around trying to drum up business while Tender did all of the work curating the entire weekend). She wanted dinner with us and tried to require it. We refused so she kept delaying things to make sure that our restaurant would be closed before we got there. We literally had to be curt with her to leave.
Finally the straw broke when while we are working non-stop (no breaks the entire weekend remember pregnant woman in an uncomfortable chair we brought our lunches and ate while we worked) and got to listen to them interviewing people for the museum and talking about how they really needed to upgrade because we weren’t really up to par for what they wanted. These are departments that we knew that we were doing. They spoke it loud enough to hear us and make new people believe that we were bad volunteers. They additionally, refused to wear the TPM t-shirts after requiring us to wear them so with their dress up clothes, they would look like our bosses.
Once Texas was completed, we were all told that we were insubordinate for not going to required dinners, and apparently not doing our jobs. I was told that I was fired for going to Texas or possibly suspended (that conversation changed about 20 times with a “if you fire her we all go” from mewtwo-ex). Mewtwo-ex is then told that Inky is the boss and if she wants money for anything even without a receipt it is his job to give it to her and for his insubordinate behavior with the money, she wanted all of it relinquished to her immediately.
Then Inky finds out she doesn’t have a badge for Bronycon and freaks out even though she had indicated that she could not go. She got our vendor table suspended while she tried to get both Events and Vendor to deal with drama that was none of their business. We ended up in a two day mediation until Inky would agree to things. The two days were so stressful that within days my water broke. If TPM should blame anyone as to why they didn’t not go to Bronycon this year, it is not Purple Tinker like they claim but themselves. That was the biggest pile of drama I have ever dealt with in my life. It was 2 days of someone constantly changing her mind, whining about her life, and being unreasonable. If I had a dollar for every search result in the chat that included inky whining about her problems, how busy she is, how worthless we are, or how she was quitting the museum and giving it to someone else, I would be as rich as Bill Gates.
After all that would anybody reading this seriously want that? Would you want a volunteer job like that? It isn’t like I can put it on my resume and say “yes I have undergone a birth from a highly stressful job”. None of us want this. We want them to leave us alone. Does that mean one of us talking with them to relieve the others just to get them away from us? Yes. Does that mean posting this to get them to shut up? Yes.
I will repeat. Our group is happy with where we are. Why in the seven circles of hell would we EVER want to go through all that crap again? For what? The idea of the museum? Yeah it is a great idea. I am not going to down a bottle of Tums every day just to keep it alive and I am certainly not going to take time off from my job and family just to spend time in a room being told that I do nothing for the organization, anyone can do my job, and I am a waste of space. Reality check here. Our group works and is happy. Who is having the issues? Inky. Inky can deal with them herself, get a bunch of YES MEN to do your bidding like you want, and see how well it goes for you. Wait how well did it go for you? That’s right…your bankrupt.
I say this with all the greatest love for the artists and the conventions that have tolerated the TMP group in order to gain a display piece for con-goers. I will not contribute to their disorganized organization. We quit. We made it clear that we did NOT want to be around TPM. They made it clear, on multiple occasions that we were worthless pieces of crap that never did anything for them anyway. They will of course say otherwise because anyone investing in the museum has to see that fake dishonesty. The casual conversation about how Inky Notebook is ALWAYS ALWAYS the victim and never does anything wrong. How she doesn’t understand why they would go away and hurt the museum. Oh poor you. It is your business and you indicated quite clearly that you didn’t want us and frankly the feeling is mutual. You are a disorganized emotional wreck. You cannot make up your mind about anything to save your life. If your museum project continues to work. Great! I hope the artists get paid someday. I do not like her on a personal level and on a professional level she doesn’t hold up her end of the bargain. I won’t be part of an organization that treats people like Foxconn Chinese factory workers. I certainly have no desire dealing with someone that I am not being paid to deal with that treats everyone around them like crap unless she wants something from them.
Why am I saying all this? Because I tried to be quiet. I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM PERIOD. The end. This goes for all of us not just me. If we are at a convention, you are people I have never met before and will never ever approach. Stop trying to talk to us. Stop trying to add people to the past issues that don’t know squat about what is going on and frankly will never understand unless they worked under you and grasped the true concept of what it is like to staff for TPM. We are different people and no amount of mediation would change that.
business level: I want an organized person, follows through on their tasks, and treats people with respect (not telling their friends to make chaos in order to put people off balance or toy with people's emotions in order to get their way).
personal level: Inky is an upper class spoil child who has no clue what it is like to really deal with problems or pain. She has never had children. Never witnessed rape, murder, homelessness, or death. Beyond that she will always have her parents to carry her away from her problems and her personality to blame everyone else. She is a two faced person that spends her time discussing how she can best use people to her will even her closest friends. She does not care or relate to anyone that has had problems and certainly does not care about children or woman who are pregnant. She is not a person, nor most of her friends, are the type that I would ever want to be in the same room with let alone invest anymore of my time into their business.
So in conclusion,
I repeat : If we are at the same convention. DEAL. I don’t want to see you, I don’t want you contacting any of us. I mean any of us. This is by twitter, facebook, skype, email, text, phone, or writings in the sky via plane. We will not be partied to your conversations with con-goers about us. We never had con-goers mentioning our break up so many times during a convention. It is unprofessional. We responded in the most candied way possible. We TRIED to avoid any of it. You of course decided otherwise so this is why this message is now necessary. If anyone would like the detailed chats and emails about everything that went on with TPM to prove what I am stating is true. I will do it if necessary. I kept my mouth shut, but our group is not going to be dragged into your TPM drama crap. We left that over a year ago. TPM it is time to welcome you to 2015. A world where you deal with your own problems and DO NOT drag us, conventions, con staff, or attendees into it. It is YOUR issue not ours. We never spoke or initiated anything. You can call this the 20th “I quit letter”. It ends now.
PS: If you require me to translate this into Japanese to spell this message out for you better. I will
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