Fanboy is a term used to describe a male who is highly devoted and biased in opinion towards a single subject or hobby within a given field. Fanboy-ism is often prevalent in a field of products, brands or universe of characters where very few competitors (or enemies in fiction, such as comics) exist.
I’ll admit it: I used to be a fanboy. I know the kind of tunnel-visioned enthusiasm that drives fanboyism. I think it is a natural – though hopefully in most cases, short-lived – phase that many guys will go through. I don’t know if girls go through something like this, but there’s something about the competitive nature of men and their pursuits that makes it particularly easy to fall into fanboyism at some point in our lives.
I used to be seriously into paintball. I still like and enjoy the game, but I get out to play about once a year at this point. I used to play about once a week. So that’s a 50-fold reduction in my playing frequency. I never had any real, practical justification for owning multiple paintguns, but I did. Then I sold all but one. Then when I had a bit of a resurgent interest in the game – and got to play a few times within a 3-month span – I restocked my arsenal. I once again have 5 paintguns in my possession.
All, without exception, are Palmer paintguns. 4 out of the 5 are handmade items.
For some time, I argued along with other fanboys that these were simply the best out there – in terms of accuracy, reliability, and quality though not technology or rate of fire – but I’m not so sure anymore. In fact, it is far more accurate to say that my appreciation for these guns has evolved. I still love ‘em – and I won’t use anything else – but it’s because they suit me and therefore I play best with them. It is not because they are inherently superior guns. They sure as hell haven’t been the most reliable things in the world over the past 12 years. I just futzed around with an air leak earlier today (which prompted me to write this post!). They aren’t necessarily the most accurate – I’ve now owned 9 different Palmer guns at some point or another and while some have been absolute wonders for me, others have been less so. It’s not them, per se, but some subtle differences between them that when I use them in my hands, some are phenomenally precise and accurate, and others just never get there. If performance and reliability are the ultimate measures of quality, then something isn’t quite top-notch with Palmers.
Add to that the fact that the sight rail on my longest-owned, no-longer-produced Pug pump pistol isn’t quite right. The notch cut into the sight rail doesn’t line up with the front sight bead. Duh. That’s poor attention to quality, and I noticed it on day 1 over 10 years ago.
In the years since then, Palmers has slid further and further behind the pack in the paintball world. Where they once were a pre-eminent name in the game, today none but other “old-timers” like myself really know them or their guns.
Handmade should mean better quality. I think that my guns are very nice guns and they shoot very well in my hands. I have just learned over the years that they also have some notable shortcomings. They aren’t the bullet-proof-reliable super-performers that they once had a reputation for – and which I once, in my fanboy enthusiasm, argued. They are, however, very beautiful works and ever since the day I started using them, they just fit me and my style wonderfully. It’s just that handmade doesn’t necessarily translate into being the very best where it counts: performance and reliability.
The world of paintball and my time taking the game seriously has taught me a lot – many of them valuable life lessons – but it surprises me still that I continue to learn from the last vestiges of the game in my life.
This lesson now about the nature and quality of hand-made – the lesson that my guns reminded me of this morning – is something I take with me into other realms, including cooking knives, food, sake, wine, and perhaps one day into sportscars, fine furniture, carpentry and others.
Fanboyism is a dangerous thing in one’s life if it isn’t short-lived. It is particularly dangerous for one’s wallet and bank-account when one treads into the realm of hand-made or even custom wares. It’s always good to have our eyes and minds open, and to really appreciate the pluses and minuses of what we’re getting, whether hand-made, machine-made, mass-produced, or custom.
Leadership, News & Commentary | Leonard Chu 2011/12/27 | 
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