Buyer Beware: The Literary Tarot & the piping hot 🍵 surrounding it
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- This is a deck that I thought started out with so much potential considering it was run by a nonprofit trying to spread literacy, but went progressively downhill due to the drama surrounding its inception and the final product you the buyer get.
The artwork and book pairings to tarot are exceptional, along with the box and book design. But, the terrible gilding that makes the cards stick and THE WORST cardstock imaginable really let down the deck and make it not worth its $70+ price tag (and by that, I mean, after shipping is added. Can't imagine what it ended up costing people who bought the "higher" editions of this deck). Also, it took forever to get, and almost didn't make it to me.
A link to the Kickstarter page (READ the comments if you want the whole picture, and if I wasn't coherent enough): www.kickstarte...
Adding a comment for those looking about the Indigo situation. Several different people were asking about how Indigo/Chapters were able to get decks ahead of time. Brink replied with: "Indigo in Canada received a limited supply of the tarot deck only. They shipped their order direct from the printer, so the Easyship delay has allowed them to arrive there now. If you wish to modify your pledge, please contact us at info@brinklit.org."
Now, that comment alone does raise the question of who the PRINTER then is, and how they were allowed to do that. Also, I still don't think it's fair that Indigo/Chapters was allowed to do that. That would be the equivalent of B&N here in America doing the same thing, which is still shady for a mass-market bookseller to be able to sell an indie deck so widespread like that, and with a price cut. Plus, considering backers in Canada were being charged at least $63CAD in SHIPPING because of Easyship, that makes the Canadian situation with the deck a disaster.
Yeah, I was wondering that too in regards to what printer they were using.
I adore this deck! So glad it finally shipped and I finally have it but I understand totally understand why everyone was so frustrated with the shipping issues, etc.
This deck is right up my alley in theme and artwork! Nooottttt so much in all the stress and gold trimmings (which are just not “me”, as it were) I enjoyed this video! Glad you finally got your deck!
Thank you! There is definitely A LOT of gold lol. I like gold, but maybe not this much. And I agree, love the theme, I'm just super salty about the cardstock and bad gilding.
I clicked on this video so fast 👀 I missed this on Kickstarter and was originally SO gutted, though I since decided it probably wasn't for me. The art is beautiful though!
LOL but yeah, the artwork IS amazing, I just don't understand why they put it on such trash cardstock 😭
I have this deck coming. Thanks for your thoughts, I will be trimming off the gold and giving it black edging.I do LOVE how diverse this deck is.
I lucked out and got it second hand. I think it’s beautiful, I have no issues with it. One of my favorites.
Glad the deck works for you!
@@CrescentDreamsTarotI might feel differently if I had to deal with the 2 year wait and the shipping fiasco.
Thank you very much for this video and for the honesty!! I am new to this community and I make reviews and collect tarot and oracle decks on my channel here. I enjoy your channel very much…😊
Aww thank you for watching! And yeah, I know some people like...kind of sugarcoat their reviews, but if something's off for me personally I have to speak up.
@@CrescentDreamsTarot I feel exactly the same way… I am very honest with my reviews and I tell it like I see it and it is true that some people don’t like it bout I tell it how I see it too. I whine it very refreshing that there is a fellow reviewer out there that is just plain HONEST! Th am you and I will keep watching your channel and subscribe.
It sounds like the blame is on Brink for allowing this sale and quick ship to Indigo. Either way that would be so frustrating
It certainly was lol. Sigh.
They made $800,000 dollars with over 11,000 backers
Waiting one month while a deck is already shipped is not that unusual, in my experience - but everything leading up to that is very unfortunate, I agree, especially the part where they're just showing up in bookstores. I cannot believe that that was just the shipping company. That had to be a decision made by the NGO (probably them selling off the extras).
Which - creators selling off the extras while the Kickstarter ones aren't done shipping out with isn't that uncommon, unfortunately, but selling off the indie extras in a mass market setting? That's shocking.
Edited to add: Easyship (as I understand it) is only the shipping company, I think? They're not a manufacturer. I don't think they actually made the cards, they just handled the in between (getting the cards from the manufacturer to the backers). So if the quality of the manufacturer is bad, then that's unfortunately also on the NGO, for not picking a better one :(
It was not so much waiting one month that bothered me so much as, people had been waiting over 2+ years for the deck, so on top of that the shipping taking horrendously long was...not great lol. But also because, there was no confirmation for weeks about where my deck actually was. As for Easyship I really don't know if they're just the shipping, but they don't have a great reputation in general, so poor choices all around 😔
@@CrescentDreamsTarot Oh yeah, I totally get that part! That happened to me when I bought my Yokai Yochi (I got one of the Kickstarter leftovers) and I was soooo anxious about it? I kept thinking it was lost in the mail!
Poor choices, indeed! Maybe because they're not actually a tarot company, so they don't think about things that us readers know are important, such as card stock? I don't know. It's such a shame. I was absolutely going to buy this one but the poor quality gilding has turned me off... I hate hate hate poor quality gilding, because I'm not brave enough to micro-trim and not patient enough to sand it off :(
Yeah, Easy Ship is just a shipping company, they're not a printing company. So, cardstock quality has nothing to do with them.
I have the deck,but getting the bookie pdf ihas been trouble...I'm trying to figure out what papers,light etc mean it's very different, but I'm willing to understand. I can't pay $100;deck ..all I need is the book to innerstand it😢
Can you please explain the the papers,ink,light etc lol it's too much my adhd can't handle
Dang, what a mess! I'm glad I skipped this one. Big book nerd here tho so bummer!
It's...honestly disappointing as well as a book big nerd too. Because the art is great, but the cards could have been so much better. Also all the gold. It's a little much even for me, and I love gold accents.
That explains why it's on TEMU
Oy vey! Thank you for this video! I won’t be reviewing it on my channel. I got the deluxe version with the fancy book, which is well made and beautiful. However, I agree on the cards. Absolutely crap cardstock. SOOOOO disheartening and disappointing. I knew about the Easyship drama, but I did NOT know about Indigo/Chapters! 😡 #superbacker
I’m curious, has this deck broken in and become less sticky? The images are very intriguing.
To be honest I don't use the deck a lot to say, but the artwork is certainly its best feature.
Ugh, I'm so sorry this has been such a shit experience, Livi. I was very tempted to back this project on KS but decided not to. The artwork is quite beautiful though, and i'm loving the gold 😍
Thank you! The artwork is stunning, just so infuriated with the process to get it.
I think I lucked out with the shipping (I was a Kickstarter backer) it cost me $26USD, which is pretty standard for shipping to Canada, back in February. The weird thing I got was a second shipping notice/request for payment, but I just emailed Brink to double check and ignored it.
I do wish the gilding wasn't there, it's sharp and gets glitter everywhere - I might actually try trimming it off. I am ok I backed it vs buying it from Indigo as I got the booster pack + big guide book, and I did swap in most of boosters (expect the Moon)
Oh, that's good! Yeah, I have no clue why anyone got the weird shipping charge there 😬 but agree on the gilding, it's so cheap and weird.
It's an extremely attractive deck 😍
I will probably comment further once I've finished your video (I backed this too + have many thoughts) but I will ask -- how do you know that Indigo went through Easyship (and not Brink) to get their copies? As a Canadian backer I was clearly unimpressed to see it in Indigo before I got mine (and at a more affordable rate!), but I also know Brink sold copies before most backers got theirs (I know of at least one person, with a hundred percent certainty, who ordered it fairly recently and got it before I did as a backer). I absolutely must assume Brink provided the copies to Indigo -- Easyship is just a shipping service, not a vendor, so they wouldn't be selling copies to a bookstore as I understand it. I can't even call Indigo shady for seeking to get an item to sell in their stores, if the creator sold it to them for that purpose. I could totally be wrong though, so would be keen to hear more / any insight there.
Back to just add -- yup, share all your frustrations with the stock. Feels very "flashiness over function" to me. I got gold all over myself when I took it out and now my gilding looks scuffed. I am not upset about the long wait, but I'm disappointed with the production quality (despite not even having any glaring errors - some people have said their books are misprinted, cards different sizes, and I got none of that). I pulled apart each card one by one and they've clumped right back together again. One good thing I'll say: one item was missing from my parcel; after I emailed, they corrected it in record time (like, I had it within 72hrs) and with zero fuss. I do appreciate that responsiveness.
I agree with what you said about Indigo. I went through the comments of Kickstarter and Brink stated to a few people that Indigo received copies ahead of others, so my guess is that this Brink company had an order with them and that it was shipped out pretty quickly.
Also, bookstores don't typically keep stock in a back room once they receive it. It's the same for pre-orders. They'll just put the stock on the shelf right away for people to buy. There have been so many times when I pre-ordered a deck from Amazon Canada, and Indigo already had stock on their shelves in store for people to buy.
Whoops, wasn't exactly sure if Indigo went through Easyship, I was basing it off the comments section for the deck, as people were trying to speculate how they were able to get copies before backers, and a weird comment Nate made about it when questioned (but I would need to double check the comment I saw). But, as another commenter down below said, it IS at least a side-eye that a project that has started off indie can be sold mass-market in Indigo BEFORE most backers even got their deck AND with a much cheaper price tag as of course, if you buy it direct at an Indigo, you wouldn't have to pay the crazy shipping fee Easyship was charging. Which, I guess is where most people were frustrated.
@Crescent Dreams Tarot Yeah, but in their comments, Brink stated that Indigo set their own price for the deck independent of them.
Also, Indigo doesn't ship via Easyship that's why no one has to pay crazy shipping fees if you buy from them.
@@alifefullofsimplicity Of course, but then, what backers were wondering is, is that fair? If you run a campaign for a deck that is INDIE and then BEFORE backers even get the deck, you have them sold at an Indigo when others in Canada who pledged were saying Easyship was charging around $63CAD JUST for the shipping? Was that fair of them to let Indigo sell it beforehand? My response, personally, is no.
Are you willing to sell your PDF book
Experienced same issues but Nate's customer service is on point at least.
This I agree with. Nate was a trouper lol. Some of the people interacting with him were...nasty, to say the least 💀
@@CrescentDreamsTarot I know and it's really sad. I always tried to make sure to let him know that I know they're dealing with high volume and lots of set backs.
Oof sounds like a sucky situation all around. I mean I completely enjoyed listening to the awful experience though xD Having no particular interest in this deck I'm only here for the drama anyway haha. I've had a bad kickstarter experience with the 78 tarot but it was nothing like this!
LOL yeah it was something. I mean, I LOVED the idea of this deck, just disappointed in its execution really. And I didn't even touch on the fact that some of the authors they collaborated with are problematic 💀
@@CrescentDreamsTarot mmm yikes. I feel like as a nonprofit focused on literary education the authors you choose to highlight or elevate by working with them say a lot about the future you're envisioning so that's like... Especially disappointing.
@@TwentyTwoZines I mean, unless one goes fishing around for it, some of them aren't immediately apparent. But, one or two of them definitely have a bad reputation that is more wide-known, so an odd choice for sure.
I'm so sorry you all experienced this 💔
Thank you! The deck's artwork is beautiful as you stated below, there's just such poor production quality that went into this that it's a shame.
Is parchment associated with Coins, ink swords etc
Parchment is for the Coins suit!
@CrescentDreamsTarot Gratitude I had a feeling it was, I'm assuming ink is associated with swords or wands.. Thank you for the feedback. I will get the original deck,but I want to practice with the ones I have
Remember to keep comments respectful. BaHaHa
Thank you for this video i was goimg to buy this but now now
Thank you for the heads up
I'm not even half way through your video and had to comment. I've been nodding along to everything you're saying!
I backed the actual kickstarter when it first showed up a million years ago and only got my deck last week. I was so frustrated with the way everything was handled and I felt like they kept making changes and trying to make updates to the cards to entice us (the gold foil on the card fronts and backs, the gilding, etc.).
There was so much back and forth, between them and the printers (in China who it felt like shut down the factory a lot for different reasons) and then between them and Easyship. It just took way longer than it needed to.
I think that they vastly underestimated how big this project would become and were probably overwhelmed after being fully funded and I think they probably needed more help than they had.
When I got my deck I was pretty disappointed by the quality of the cards. In my opinion they just feel really cheap and are really thin. I don't care for the gold foiling everywhere and really wish they would have just made a plain Jane regular tarot deck without all the sparkle and shine
Okay, that was so long 😅😮💨 I'm off to finish your video now!
Okay, just a little more and then I'm done! I'm so glad you made this video! I was so disappointed with everything that I wasn't even going to show it on my channel, I'm so glad that you are for everyone who might want it!
Also, I'm definitely not going to use this as a real tarot deck. It's definitely getting put in a big frame and hung on the wall, because it's useless to me! I feel like the suit associations are not intuitive for me at all, there's no way I'll be able to easily read with this deck
LOL loved your comments though, because it's true. It was such a long, drawn out process and for what, really?
For what feels like $10 cardstock, if that! 😤
I was really disappointed by the quality. The gilding is *awful* - being very close to cheap mass market gilding that has a large lip and hurts to hold. For an expensive indie deck, that is totally unacceptable.
@@rustinst.claire2006 I agree! When I saw that it was sticking together right out of the box I knew the gilding was going to be a problem
I just got mine! They clump together even after I peel them off each other. Any tips on how to deal with clumping issues?
To be honest, I had to take the edge of a scissor and carefully scrape off the lip of the edging from each card to fix it. But, if you want to resell, you might not want to do that only because it does make the edging look duller.
@@CrescentDreamsTarot Thank you! I'll try this. I've been googling methods. After two uses, it's grown enormously on me. I really am enjoying the card images and intention. I'll just work on de-sticking it.
@@user-rp8gu9of3h It still has beautiful illustrations for sure, just a shame about the cardstock and edging, really.
Sorry you wemt thru this,i just got my stunning tarot and im enjoy that and jonasa jaus
📖Thank you. It's too bad cuz I love books and many of the classics I love are in this deck.
I mean, the artwork is beautiful, and I like a chunk of their choices, but the cardstock is bad and the suits are a little wonky.
I gotta like the whole package or I won’t use it. Trying not to be a snob here but that’s what we pay for.
Oh no! Not the cereal box cardstock! 😭
I passed on this deck because the campaign definitely looked like it was doing too much and I was worried I'd be overwhelmed with all the different stories. I certainly do empathize with your experience tho. * cries in Tarot Palmira Campagna 🥲 *
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! 🤖🖤
10 of ink being the scarlet letter hit me right in the feels 🫣
I never read it, but based on what little I know, I could see that lol. It's always struck me as an intense book.