THE Cub Report, 01.05.2014, Version- 7074lly 0u7 0f n3w 717l35
One of our friends, Tim Gluth over at RCNewb.com, posted up a question last week that got my mind to thinking. His question was quite simple, “What is the best rc story from 2014?”, but I had a hard time actually coming up with an answer. However, after some more thinking (and a few Swarovski crystal flutes filled with Dom (vintage ’99 of course)), here are my top three rc stories from 2014…
3. Yes I work here, therefore I am extremely biased, but the release of BigSquidRC Monthly has to on the big story list. Here we are, a bunch of internet yahoos that decided it was time to try something all new, something to once again rock the “establishment”. We decided to go against all conventional wisdom and turn back the technology clock, to actually join the dinosaur print community. But of course we had to make it genuinely Squid worthy- it had to be for bashers, it had to support local hobby shops, and most importantly, it had to be free. Most people have yet to lay an eye on BSRCM, and yes, it’s still in its very infancy, but for a net company to go print is a pretty huge dealio, especially in the way we did it.
2. Ok, so maybe you are just some Joe Shmoe who bashes in your backyard, so my #2 probably means little to nothing to you, but Thunder Tiger going from Hobbico to HRP distribution is a big story. While you may not have a Thunder Tiger truck in your rc garage, TT is a big seller worldwide and a large OEM. We still haven’t heard any details about the deal, but Hobbico is #1 in distribution for good reason, and TT is huge manufacturer for good reason, when two companies that size part ways, there has just got to be a good story behind it (maybe we’ll get lucky and actually hear it sometime).
1. From the Today morning tv show to BusinessInsider.com, it was hard not to see mainstream quadcopter news on nearly a daily basis in 2014. And while I am a true believer of “All publicity is good publicity”, I am not a fan of rc being thrown right in front of legislator’s eyes all the time in a negative light. A video of people flipping out because a quad is hovering over a beach is funny, a video of people stopping their cars on I-55 to view a “UFO” hovering over the highway is amusing, a video of a quad almost getting hit by a full size airplane means lawmakers are gonna bring an end to the fun. Also, now days I look at quads a bit like Facebook. My Mom loves Facebook, she is constantly posting pics and checking her smartphone to see what Aunt Mildred just posted about her quilting. The fact my Mom likes Facebook makes me want to run from it as fast as I can. The fact that my Mom has a “Drone with video camera attached” on her Amazon wishlist gives me the same feeling. If an rc product has reached the point where my Mom wants it, COUNT ME OUT. To boil it down, my number one story of ’14 has to be the meteoric rise of quadcopters into the national media spotlight (for better or worse, mainly for the worse).
On a different note… if you are an industry type and want to hang out with the BigSquidRC Bash Crew we have a booth at eFest 2015 in Champaign Illinois on Saturday January 24th. Just drop by our booth to shoot some rc bull, we dig meeting new people and goodness knows we love talking rc smack. If you are consumer we definitely want you to drop by our booth as well, you can pick up loads of free stickers, the latest BigSquidRC Monthly, and you never know what uber new product we might be showing off (hint, hint).
That’s it ya lunatics, have a #bashtastic week and support your local hobby shops and bash spots when ya can.
YOUR Cub Reporter
