Hopefully, I can fit a full review in here because I have so much to say.
I ordered these dice and several others around July 5th or 6th. When I ordered them, I had seen a few other reviews noting that they really liked the little extras also sent with the order, and although I was confused, I thought it was a nice sentiment. When I got to the order screen and saw where you could add comments, I noted that these dice and a few others were for my spouse's birthday.
Here's where I'm going to ramble a little bit. If you're looking for a review on the actual dice, you're going to want to skip to the end.
My spouse is agender. They're constantly misgendered, and I'm constantly ignored when I tell people I have a SPOUSE, not a husband or wife. Even people who have said they accept and love my spouse misgender them. Coworkers, family, you name it. I'm a transgender man, and fighting for binary pronouns was hard for me. Seeing them have to justify repeatedly the use of they/them as a singular pronoun is exhausting and a struggle I'll never really understand the full extent of. They've talked to me about how disheartening it can be that there's so little representation for agender people (not just nonbinary, but SPECIFICALLY agender) and how little things make them glad to be seen.
When I was first browsing the site, it wasn't for a birthday gift for them. I just wanted dice to match my DnD character. And then I saw THESE. They have my spouse's flag! They have HEARTS on them! They're so perfect! I was over the moon when I ordered them! And then they came in today. July 22nd. (Not a long wait AT ALL, considering it got shipped all the way to Canada!) And I opened the tiny package that had these dice and several others, and I'm not exaggerating when I say I wept.
Along with what I ordered, there was a handwritten note signed by someone named Kynan. That alone brought me to tears. Kynan, thank you. I hope this job is treating you well. I hope that you love what you do. You made me smile today. I'm so excited to see my spouse smile, too.
Included in this order was not one extra die, not two, but NINE extra dice! One BEAUTIFUL metal D12 that (folks here at Diehard having no way of knowing) has my spouse's favourite patinas on it. I ordered one pride sticker, but bless these folks, there was another. They included a cute sticker with a little forest mushroom! Two stickers with the Diehard Dice logo.
And a sticker that says "You Are Not a Critical Failure." That sticker has the number for a mental health hotline on the bottom (1-800-273-TALK, for those who need it.) It's been a hard year. My spouse has sometimes been working 65 hour weeks. I've been doing online schooling during the pandemic. We've both had a rough go. Sometimes it feels pretty dismal, but even a little reassurance can go a long way. It's just a sticker. But the sentiment? My god, that's a small kindness that can turn a whole life around.
The people who made these dice, who shipped the order, who saw that I said "this is a birthday gift"... these people CARE. They had the intuition to see a trans pride sticker and agender dice and include something to reassure our mental health. They saw that this was a gift and included a handwritten note. They looked at the colours of the dice and picked out VERY colourful dice as extras.
Kynan, I hope you read this. Your writing is BEAUTIFUL. Your words are so kind. You deserve a raise, a vacation, something! I have never been so happy to give my spouse a gift. I have never been so overjoyed to know that my spouse and I are being seen as PEOPLE, not just customers.
Thank. You. Thank you so much.
As for a review on the actual product: all the dice are lightweight, roll nicely, and have great contrast between the numbers and the polymer. Charming quality, 100% would recommend! I'm looking forward to the many games my spouse and I will get to play with them.
