Behind the Scenes- Piercing the Veil (of Shadow's Thoughts)

In our Behind the Scenes article series we lift the curtain and show you what goes on for Titan Owners Club in the background.  We let you in on the future, open ourselves up to questions, reveal statistics and plans, and more.  Today is a bit different though as it is one of the times that a staff member speaks as themselves and not with the voice of the TOC staff.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this article are NOT implied to be the opinions of the entire TOC staff and are the personal thoughts laid out by Shadow.

Quite often, you'll see that we or TOC have taken certain actions.  Yes, you'll see the post under one of our names, and you'll even see us leave personal comments at times.  However, the truth is, when we do major things, it is all four of us as the staff and rarely as the individual.  When it is an individual's undertaking, it is almost always done with the whole staff knowing and they have become the champion for that undertaking.  

Today, you're getting my own unfettered thoughts, meaning you'll actually see "I" instead of "we" or TOC today.  In the blogging world for our hobby, it's not uncommon to see someone run down how they felt about the year, or what they hope to see for next year.  You'll get some of that today, and I do apologize if I bore you or show my usual American flair for the dramatic.  I'll also touch on some things for TOC next year that I'm hoping to work on (on a personal level) while also wanting to hear back from you.  Let's dive in, then.

2018 in Review

Jeez, this was a year for TOC.  And I don't mean that in a bad way at all.  We were already coming off of the success of our first ever event.  That alone made the start of 2018 something amazing since we were riding high.  Every time we think we've hit a Golden Age in TOC we continue to find ourselves approaching a new one.  This year was insane, to say the least, and I'm proud to have been at the helm with Drake, Hertford, and DJ for it.  The club accomplished a lot:

• 200 Titan mark in March.
• Featured by Warhammer Community in May.
• Walk 2018- UK in June; the first UK event.
• Interviewed Membraine Studios in June.
• Granted an early preview copy of Adeptus Titanicus in August.
• Hired a new staff member, DJ, in August.
• Walk 2018- USA at GW Riverbend in October.
• TOC Walk- Battle for the Citadel in October.
• 300 Titan mark in November, less than a year!
• The return of the Titanguard Festival.
• Announcing the Walk 2019- UK.

I don't think a year can be any more busy than that.  This club accomplished an absolute metric ton in less than 365 days, since the year isn't even done.  I'm beyond impressed, and sometimes I think this club has no limits to what it can accomplish, such as finding a way to break reality.  I'm glad to be counted among your number, Princeps.

2019- the Future

How do you plan to follow up on such a great year?  Do you play it cautious and hope to relive the glory of your latest Golden Age, or do you shoot for bigger?  Go big or go home has long been a motto I have in this hobby, but running a blog and being part of the hobby are two very different things.  What I can say is this: I want 2019 to at least be as grand.  I don't know if we'll hit the next Century mark for the Titans twice in a year again.  I don't know if we'll be featured by GW again.  But I do want to go big!

This club is going to continue to support and push Adeptus Titanicus and the Dominus video game.  That much I CAN say is the view of the TOC staff.  But personally, there are some things I'd love to see.  

US event attendance is hard to increase.  Geographically we are massive compared to our UK and European nation cousins.  But that is only in scale, and NOT in terms of heart for the hobby and Titans.  While the US has the highest membership by nation, it's attendance at events doesn't match up because of how hard and expensive travel is.  I'm very excited about creating our new national and regional system for the US so that you can have more opportunities to make the official TOC events.  I'd love to hear your feedback as we go through the process, and I know our regional coordinators will be happy for it as well.

While I'm excited for our new system here in the US, I want to take a moment to wish another group an extremely good year for events.  The UK.  Seriously, you guys were amazing in 2018 and your passion and dedication to the hobby and the club absolutely floored me.  I really hope that 2019 sees you bring that same passion and love for the hobby and that you have an absolutely amazing time.  I know Drake is working hard to make your 2019 event a great affair.

And lastly for 2019, I have three things I personally want to do more of for TOC.  

• The first is to finally get you guys some forums up and running in some way.  We don't have our own Facebook page, we don't have social media, nor do we have forums.  I hope we can find you guys SOMETHING so that you can communicate with ease and I'll be championing that. I cannot promise that it will happen, but it's something I'd like to look into.  
• The second is that I want to do more of the extra content that we've historically covered.  I do our Literature Reviews, Interviews, and many other things.  We still do them, and I'd like to cover them a bit more.  
• The third and final is our interviews.  DJ and myself cover the US and Rest of World region while Drake and Hertford cover the UK and Europe.  As such, I get almost every US email that comes through and many other nations, giving me easy access to those people to conduct interviews.  Historically, the vast bulk (though not all) of the interviews are in my service region, with few coming from the UK or Europe.  I'd LOVE to broaden that and want to put people from that region in the hotseat.  I'm looking to expand the Titan Owner Interviews further in 2019.  If you want in that hotseat, no matter what country you are in, shoot me an email at titan.owners.club.usa@gmail.com and we'll see if we can make it happen.

The Wishlist

A time-honored tradition for hobby blogs, the wishlist for next year.  What do I want in our hobby in 2019?  And no, I have no insider knowledge, this really is me just being a hopeful idiot.

1. Chapter Approved 2019 to reduce the points hike of the Titans, barring item 3.
2. Forge World to produce the Blood Angels book sooner rather than later, and my beloved Primarch, Sanguinius (I know, not Titan related, but I'm allowed)
3. Fires of Cyraxus to include new points and profiles of the Titans as well as the Secutarii (though they are in good shape now), and to be released in 2019.
4. A complete update of the Reaver Titan.
5. The return of the Lucius Warhound.
6. Releasing the missing weapons for the Reaver and Warlord Titans.

That's everything I have for you guys and girls.  Long-winded, and I apologize, but there has been so much to think over as 2018 has flown by.  Honestly, this is where I shut up and let you guys tell me what you think.  Hit up the comments if you feel up to it, or drop me an email.  I'm always glad to hear from you guys, especially since I've made so many friends through TOC over the years.