I remain BAFFLED that Standlee did not put out some kind of official notice from his department that went something like, "Congratulations to AO3 on the Hugo win! Thank you to (whoever) for donating the Hugo award itself so even more fans can appreciate it. But please don't make any bootleg pins infringing on the Hugo trademark and sell them." I mean this is Customer Service 101. You don't tell people not to do things, you make it seem like a favor they are giving you, and it makes them feel all expansive and willing. Then again Standlee has probably never had to try to talk down a self-righteous older white dude who thinks he is Owed Things and is Angry he is not being properly catered to, because he is one.

I mean I looked around on the internet and people have been making bootleg rocket pins, pins that say "Hugo Award", rocket pins that say "Hugo Award," for quite a while, on and off....I guess the idea is if you go to the con you can wear your shiny official pin and people will Know you are/were a Nominee? WTF? I didn't even know nominees got fucking pins until this blew up. They don't even SAY "Hugo Award Nominee" on them. They're literally just tiny rockets and look like you could buy them in bulk for like $5 apiece. The pins didn't even start until like the early or mid nineties! Apparently they were first made by some fans?! arldasgflhgljasdflkj kl why am I even looking this shit up....I keep saying to T this whole thing reminds me of the joke about the status wars in academia being so vicious because the stakes are so low. Gahhh.