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The Tom Delonge Thread


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16 minutes ago, _Kyle_ said:

Didn't more than that go to his signings?

He's really only done like 2 or 3 book signings since the original Poet release in 2015. This was the one from a few weeks ago:

0mjAp0H.jpg

Idk how many people, but wouldn't think more than 150-200 or so, which would just count towards B&N sales, as you have to purchase the book.

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15 minutes ago, Kay said:

It's the same deal with a lot of the TTS merch, or at least it used to be.

there were a lot less 'modelled' shots of the apparel on their website back in the day, and it's because the images were photoshopped from the manufacturers stock imagery, meaning the original ordering system was probably through a third party. as TTS don't have stock holding capabilities, (or manufacturing capabilities obviously) I imagine they have to bulk order now hence having them in shop and able to model but they're probably doing very small order quantities, because they don't have space to keep those on site.

In the offering circular of his investment scam there are a few mentions of costs relating to their 3rd party provider.

I'm sure this is a big reason why he does pre-orders so often now. To decide how much of a product to order.

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18 hours ago, Ry-Bread said:

Definitely, if I'm reading this correctly, on Amazon (which is the cheapest option so I would think a lot of people buy them from there, I do), Sekret Machines 1 sold 1,636 copies, GODS 1,296 copies, Strange Times 612 copies, Poet in Darkness 24 copies (I was one of these lol)... 

https://www.novelrank.com/asin/1943272298

https://www.novelrank.com/asin/1943272239

https://www.novelrank.com/asin/1943272212

https://www.novelrank.com/asin/1943272328

Obviously they sell some through Barnes & Noble and TTS, but even if you triple those numbers that's only 10,704 total books. Let's say the average price is ~$15, that's only $160,560 in total sales on 4 books. No clue what production costs are on books, but you have 4 different authors to pay, production, art, binding/printing, marketing, etc. Yikes.

this is bananas if its the true true numbers and also makes the whole thing so much more depressing

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10 minutes ago, Champ182 said:

Are they coherent/interesting at all? 

Yeah, he pays authors to write them (insert Feldmann joke), so it's not Tom trying to type words lol. A.J. Hartley is a super legit author, Sekret Machines: Chasing Shadows and Cathedrals of Glass are both very well written adult thrillers which I would recommend to anyone. Strange Times was a bit immature for me, but a quick read about some middle schoolers on a Ghost Hunt (It's really kinda similar to Stranger Things, surprised they don't sue each other). Poet 1 I really enjoyed, yes there is some cheesy cussing/love stuff as it's meant for teens, but the overall concept is pretty fascinating IMO. I was a bit let down by the recent Poet 2 book, it seemed rushed but I do look forward to any new movies/comics/animations/etc.

GODS was absolutely awful and I had a hard time getting through it. It's the "non-fiction" SM entry and is basically just a super dry/bland research paper on religion, where they don't bring up any new information and simply re-hash everyone else's ideas.

If you never read books, then you'll probably not be into any of them. I fly through them so it's no big deal for me to give these a few sittings to see what Tom's up to.

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52 minutes ago, Ry-Bread said:

Yeah, he pays authors to write them (insert Feldmann joke), so it's not Tom trying to type words lol. A.J. Hartley is a super legit author, Sekret Machines: Chasing Shadows and Cathedrals of Glass are both very well written adult thrillers which I would recommend to anyone. Strange Times was a bit immature for me, but a quick read about some middle schoolers on a Ghost Hunt (It's really kinda similar to Stranger Things, surprised they don't sue each other). Poet 1 I really enjoyed, yes there is some cheesy cussing/love stuff as it's meant for teens, but the overall concept is pretty fascinating IMO. I was a bit let down by the recent Poet 2 book, it seemed rushed but I do look forward to any new movies/comics/animations/etc.

GODS was absolutely awful and I had a hard time getting through it. It's the "non-fiction" SM entry and is basically just a super dry/bland research paper on religion, where they don't bring up any new information and simply re-hash everyone else's ideas.

If you never read books, then you'll probably not be into any of them. I fly through them so it's no big deal for me to give these a few sittings to see what Tom's up to.

I read a lot but I still can't bring myself to touch most of these.

I was given a digital early copy of Poet 1 and found it exhaustingly bad in the first chapter that I gave up. I did think Sekret Machines sounded slightly interesting but Tom's involvement just automatically puts me off. AJ Hartley could be amazing, but I can't buy into Tom's insanity at all.

If you like Sci Fi books in general though, I recommend Children In Time, Sleeping Giants and The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet. some I've read recently that I've adored. they're much more traditional sci fi and not quite 'truth is out there' as secret machines sounds but they're really well done. 

 

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6 hours ago, Champ182 said:

I just stumbled onto this old interview from 2000 and Mark describes Tom perfectly haha

"Tom is totally, 100 percent faithful to his girlfriend. He's pretty straightforward: He hangs out with his girlfriend, and he believes in aliens. Honestly, he believes anything he reads. You could say, 'I read in a magazine that an alien landed in Australia. A doctor found him and did an autopsy – there's footage on the Internet.' And Tom wouldn't even question it. He would take it as gospel and go around telling everybody."

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/how-blink-182-went-to-the-top-of-the-charts-by-keeping-their-minds-in-the-gutter-20000120

Good interview to re-read every now and then. Good perspective. Simpler times. You can look back and smile without necessarily longing for them because you're older and wiser and it wouldn't be the same if you put the same group of people in the same room. Props for Mark recognizing they're Fischer Price Toys for punk music. My "punk friends" occasionally rag on me for loving blink best but they're the ones who got me into punk. Sure I prefer my music a little less poppy these days but it doesn't negate what they did for the scene. I wouldn't know what a Dead Kennedy or a Descendant or a Misfit was if blink hadn't implanted the seed in my head in the late 90's. Anyways good shit.

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18 hours ago, vic vinegar said:

Good interview to re-read every now and then. Good perspective. Simpler times. You can look back and smile without necessarily longing for them because you're older and wiser and it wouldn't be the same if you put the same group of people in the same room. Props for Mark recognizing they're Fischer Price Toys for punk music. My "punk friends" occasionally rag on me for loving blink best but they're the ones who got me into punk. Sure I prefer my music a little less poppy these days but it doesn't negate what they did for the scene. I wouldn't know what a Dead Kennedy or a Descendant or a Misfit was if blink hadn't implanted the seed in my head in the late 90's. Anyways good shit.

another slightly off topic thing about blinks music is that it’s aged really really well. the production on those albums are so crisp and fresh even today, without sounding dated like hair metal in the 80s, or even the feldmann schlock of today

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I ask Hoppus why he carries so much cash. Although he's genuinely distressed, he still needs to play to the crowd, even if it's just his band mates. "Dude," he says with a sly smile, "you ever try to buy $500 of heroin with a third-party out-of-state check?"

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