Uncle Zeb

Are you actually comparing the importance of a Saturday night piss-up with protesting racial inequality?

It's the awkwardness of trying to post the damn thing that's put me off selling for so long, not sentimentality. 😄 If anyone wants to wave a fat wad of cash under my nose though, feel free.

I do - and yep, it was nearly bigger than me. Besides defending the Autobots he also made himself useful in other ways. On Christmas Eve one year he stood outside my room wearing a balloon head and Santa hat, holding out a plate of sprouts and a glass of milk.

The other thing I'd like to brag about is that when I was six I won a Transformers colouring competition held by Toymasters. The prize? Fortress Fucking Maximus. Life peaked that day.

Needless to say, I had the last laugh.

He should at least be flogging these.

Aww, maybe we should all list our favourite wrestling memories to help cheer him up?

Have I misunderstood the flow of this thread? "Let's take a break from hating on arseholes and remember the good times!" "PSA: This guy is actually one of the arseholes." "Great idea mate, here are my favourite distractions from your behaviour." "And mine!" "Mine too."

This company is despicable! *records sponsored broadcast* Something has to change! *renews streaming subscription* They need to be taught a lesson! *preorders licenced videogame*

The former, minus the snarky wording, is an important action too. But I agree that it needs backing up the whole way with the latter. In an unregulated industry, market forces are the only regulation that can possibly make a difference. The same applies across the board, from seedy shitarse indies to the even seedier WWE. But too many fans lack the courage of their convictions, where the only "courage" required is to pass up the luxury of indulging in their chosen entertainment outlet. I gots ta have me wrestlin'! I gots ta know what happens! No you fucking don't. It doesn't matter one iota compared to the ugly real world issues fuelling this product. Keep that £9.99 in your pocket and find some other way to fill your time. Something you don't have to make pathetic excuses to support. If the law's not going to force promoters to get their house in order, then it has to become a financial imperative, and that can only be enforced by us - the givers of the money or the viewers that attract advertisers. If you can't exercise some self control to impose some basic standards on these people before you line their pockets, then you are complicit and you are enabling every future incident that occurs as a result of the conditions you've decided to keep monetising.

They may have done terrible things that they need to face up to and atone for, but that doesn't mean there was anything wrong with taking what you needed from your innocent interactions with them at a time when comfort and distraction were vital. Whatever else has happened, whatever the unseen context, even if what you saw in these people was just an illusion, those moments as you experienced them were pure and you needn't feel bad about them now.