Heatherbeast

The rascals at ]V[onster Fish Keepers have gotten my creative juices flowing. I am uploading some line art of a peacock bass. Over the next few days I intend to print out several versions of this beast and color it up in the different species patterns.  I'll be using a tattoo flash art style.

I have also been inspired to draw a crab tank design inspired by events on 2k5 that are taking the human faction closer to NEST and further away from Gundam Wing.  Having the UN not blow millions of dollars on a suit whenever a teenager goes into a pout and crashes it is a nice touch -- I think sub-Saharan refugees could use the resources.

Both are in my scraps.  Keep an eye out for the finished versions soon!

I am sharing a copy of the email that I sent to Hasbro's corporate social responsibility point of contact.  Having Transformer figures in hand is awesome, but the conditions that the workers face are a FAR cry from what is touted in the manufacturing ethics section of their site.  Please read through this to learn more, and please contact them about this. Absolutist arguments won't fly here, please do not justify inaction!

First it was "well Hasbro maybe isn't associated with this particular factory, it's Takara/Tomy instead" until the translated shipping manifests were pointed out. Then "well maybe this is isolated" until I linked to a 2008 report about another Hasbro factory. Then it was "all factories are like this" until the interviews with the workers are pointed out. Their responses provide the strongest evidence that these factories are a particularly low nadir in a non-unionizable setting. Then it's "China is responsible, not the companies that contract out the work", to which it was pointed out that Hasbro claims its production chain is relatively ethical as a selling point to its investors. And then people started with some absolutist bs about how we're all consumers and that we can't take point fingers and turn up his nose. I said that /I/ could based on the DEGREE and type of consumption, and the degree of inaction once made aware of the issue.

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This is the email I sent to csr@hasbro.com -- so far I have not received a reply.  You may want to submit a message through their webpage, hasbro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ha…

Here's the text. I included my mailing address in the original message. You may want to do the same, or send along a snail mail message as well.

To whom it may concern,

It has come to my attention that one (if not more) Hasbro-contracted factories engages in unfair treatment of their employees. This can be read at www.globallabourrights.org/adm… . The conditions described by the workers at the Jet Fair factory contradict Hasbro's statement on their corporate social responsibility page, (csr.hasbro.com/saf01-our-produ… ):
"We work diligently to ensure that our owned and operated factories, third party factories, and licensee factories pursue fair and safe labor conditions. We have rigorous programs in place to comply with all human rights laws and regulations in countries where we operate, and we expect the same of our suppliers."

Of particular concern are the dorm conditions (images included in the report), locked emergency exits, and the factory management's practices that cheat employees out of sick leave, maternity leave, and severance pay. Another previous report from Global Labour Rights regarding the Yongsheng factory in 2008 (www.globallabourrights.org/rep… ) demonstrates that this is not a novel issue for the factories that supply Hasbro's products. Indeed, this development is noticeably absent from the manufacturing ethics section of Hasbro's recently-touted corporate social responsibility report ( www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/12/… ).

I urge Hasbro to not contract with those manufacturers that debase their workers and violate safety and labor laws. I urge Hasbro to be more diligent in monitoring factory management to ensure that they do not misrepresent working conditions to industry inspection teams. Maltreatment of humans is not an acceptable tactic for providing competitive pricing to consumers.

I have already distributed these reports to several groups of friends. I will be curbing my previously numerous purchases of Transformers action figures and other Hasbro products, and will exhort others to do so as well. I eagerly look forward to hearing about improvements.

Thank you for your time,
Dr. Heather O'Connell

EDMC, the operators of the Art Institutes, was the second highest recipient of GI Bill funds in 2010-2011 - $178 million - and has a 62% drop-out rate.  Hint: That's $110 million in taxpayer money, and 10,032 vets SOL last year.  harkin.senate.gov/documents/pd…

There's an "Original Artwork" category in the BMW car club's photo contest for their annual Oktoberfest! What to draw, and how, and with what? Hmmmmm.... Open to some suggestions, I am casting the idea net quite wide!

www.bmwccaofest.org/photo-cont…

A good friend of mine, is opening up commissions for 3D renders of Transformers and robotic characters!  Base price will be $30, adjusted upward depending on complexity.  If the character in question is a Seeker, he will apply a decent discount since he already has the tools in place.  

Here is a sample of a Transformer OC, his own Redshift: wizardofosmond.deviantart.com/…

And robotic non-Transformer, Shield Shellfish of Megaman fame: wizardofosmond.deviantart.com/…

Samples of his other work can be found in his gallery, please comment if there's something that catches your eye:  wizardofosmond.deviantart.com/…

Here is the original journal entry with more details on how to go about getting some work from him!  wizardofosmond.deviantart.com/…

Thanks for having a look, I hope you like what you see. Let him know that Heather sent you his way!