What do you think?

[TheLordShaper]

Hot Topic was alright when I was about 13, and then sold out shortly thereafter.  They used to sell good original quality stuff, fishnets and good make up and even though the prices have always been a little high, it was one of the only places you could go around here other than incognito and noir leather that would sell stuff I'd wear.  Obviously this isn't the case anymore, as it's been taken over by the whole "oh I'm going to stab myself because my girlfriend dumped me at recess when I was five and life isn't worth living" kids also known as EMO-tards, or so I call them.  Personally, and this will seem harsh since brutal is my middle name, but I hate and loathe and despise all EMO kids.  If you're going to sit around and mope all day because either daddy didn't buy you a Mustang, you have to get your own job because your parents are sick of you spanging off them, or because the preppiest cheerleader in the school turned you down for prom, and say that life isn't worth living because of that, uhmmm welll kill yourself maybe because you're fucking stupid?  I mean sure, there's kids in third world countries starving to death, civilians and soldiers in the Middle East being blown to bits hourly, and AIDS is still on the loose, but those poor poor emo kids have such horrible existances *end sarcasm*.  Maybe if we got ALL of those 14 year old emo kids to off themselves at the same time, then we could take back Hot Topic and they'd stop stocking stupid shit like a heart with a gun going through it on the girly-tees or purses with Tinkerbell crying on them surrounded by sugary pink hearts and all of the other totally unimaginative and unoriginal stuff they sell there.  We'd also be rid of anti-music Backstreet Boys emo-boy-bands (take Justin Timberlake, add eyeliner and "angst" and voila!) like Fall Out Boy and Hawthorne Heights.  The music itself makes me hurt so bad I can't walk in one of those stores without pulling my hair out in agony after five minutes.  Just a suggestion.  :innocent 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I like you!! Bile, sarcasm and wit, sounds like my kind of conversation.

But to the topic at hand, yes HT has gone so commercial that it offends most of us but I say the same thing of stores like Noir too. It is in their nature to sell goods for profit; ergo what ever is popular to the “well financed by daddy crowd” is what they carry. In the end, really only independents and people making fashion because it’s their passion truly make "Goth" fashions but quality and custom work costs an ass load. My X still makes her living selling custom gothic Lolita, cosplay, and formal “Goth” gear and she’s good at it, but she does it for enjoyment not commercialization. To that end though, HT does have its place. Some of my nicest Goth outfits I won’t even wear to the clubs because I don’t want to risk city Club filth or drunken idiots stepping on the coat tails of my formal wear so from time to time a cookie cutter band t and a crappy pair of Lip service bondage pants will service. Still, HT is definitely no longer "all about the music" but rather daddy’s pocketbook so in that respect, they can go to hell. That is all.

TLS

[n0Mad]

Still, HT is definitely no longer "all about the music"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Last time I was in a Hot Topic I decided to flip through their CDs just to see what they had. No Cruxshadows, no VNV Nation, a space for Assemblage 23 but no discs. No L'ame Immortelle, no Blutengel, no Claire Voyant, no Drain STH, a space for Icon of Coil but no discs ... need I continue? All about the music my ass.

[FarrIL]

Last time I was in a Hot Topic I decided to flip through their CDs just to see what they had.  No Cruxshadows, no VNV Nation, a space for Assemblage 23 but no discs.  No L'ame Immortelle, no Blutengel, no Claire Voyant, no Drain STH, a space for Icon of Coil but no discs ... need I continue?  All about the music my ass.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Amen to that.

We've got a spacer for Velvet Acid Christ but our 3 discs got returned to vender last year. =(

[Brenda Starrr]

When I managed HT, I was appaled to see that there was hardly ANY goth gear anymore. It has become SO emo, it's scary. And WTF do Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake have to do with anything???? It got to the point where going to work would make me nauseous.

[kellygrrrrrl]

It's a mall store.

They have to cater to it's most popular shoppers.

It's a business.

That's just the way it goes.

And besides is it goth to go to the mall? :laughing :fear :laughing

I always had luck finding cool stuff at like Spencers, or Holloween USA or "Biker" attire type stores.....leather/leather, and more leather....Noir Leather....

[Homicidalheathen]

Finally someone sheads light on the mystery! Care bears and SS were EMO??? OMG! I am guilty! Years ago I bought my kids EMO products when they were tiny! It's.....it's......brainwashing I tells ya!

Oh ok. I am being silly. Stawberry Shortcake sux ass to me, but....don't knock the ever lovey dovey sweet light spreading care bears........no......!

Am I EMO to admit I still sorta like them?

I even have a good luck care bear in my room.

When I managed HT, I was appaled to see that there was hardly ANY goth gear anymore. It has become SO emo, it's scary. And WTF do Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake have to do with anything???? It got to the point where going to work would make me nauseous.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Hellion]

Finally someone sheads light on the mystery!  Care bears and SS were EMO???  OMG!  I am guilty!  Years ago I bought my kids EMO products when they were tiny!  It's.....it's......brainwashing I tells ya!

Oh ok.  I am being silly.  Stawberry Shortcake sux ass to me, but....don't knock the ever lovey dovey sweet light spreading care bears........no......!

Am I EMO to admit I still sorta like them?

I even have a good luck care bear in my room.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:devil No More Hello Kittie either!!Off with its headLOL!!

[pomba gira]

i am mad that hot topic has only tiny tee-shirts. i can't wear any of them. they are way to tight on my chest. and i have seen some in there i really like.

as far as the other stuff, i would not say it is "emo" it is cute. my kids like it. so i take them there to shop sometimes. it's like a twisted little toy store. but i always thought of it that way and don't really think it is any different now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Have you tried the website? They have a whole line of plus stuff that isn't carried in the mall stores. Before I lost weight I could never wedge myself into anything in the stores, but I got quite a few nice tops & pants online.

My main beef with Hot Topic is also all the cutesy crap... WTF is up w/all the Strawberry Shortcake, Tinkerbell, & Care Bears type drivel? How the hell does that relate to ANY flavor of alternative culture? Back when I was a lil' mohawked punkette in the early '80s, we wouldn'tve worn shyte like that to a dogfight. (wouldn't have kept us warm as we walked 3 miles to school thru perpetual blizzards, uphill both ways) But of course, we would've creamed our pants at the mere idea of being able to walk into a mall & buy even marginally groovy gear. I remember a chance to hit Ann Arbor & shop at Make Waves was a huge deal for us MSU kiddies. So I guess it all evens out.

& no Hello Kitty hating... she's surreal enough to offset her essential kawaii-ness. I looove my goth & punk Kitty gear! I remember the first time I went to the Sanrio store in San Francisco way back in '85... thought I'd died & gone to neko-chan heaven.

[JaneDead]

Have you tried the website? They have a whole line of plus stuff that isn't carried in the mall stores. Before I lost weight I could never wedge myself into anything in the stores, but I got quite a few nice tops & pants online.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i have looked at their stuff (online) but never tried any on.

the problem is, plus sized stuff is way too big on me. (i think it starts at like size 14? right?)

it is more like i need plus sized only for the chest but regular every where else.

i just have a HUGE problem finding shirts anywhere. anything i get that fits my chest then is odd fitting everywhere else.

[CandyQuackenbush]

I like hottopic.com, they really do have more stuff online, and I love it.

When I was in Iraq, I spent alot of money at that website, and sent it to my house. I got my jacket online, and they never once had it in the store.