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AGENT 88 KICKSTARTER MINIMATES


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Ady, I think most of us have read at least one of your Shocker Toys horror stories posted here, but someday you should compile the whole story and post it.



I have a feeling

at the Dig Deep office.

Damn, i sure hope not.

I almost deleted my post, but then went and looked at Digger's profile (as he 'watches' this thread) and he hasn't logged into the MMMV since August. Sure he may still get email notifications of new posts in this thread or check the forum anonymously, but it's pretty clear to me that he was only here to use whatever prominence his name had in the Minimate community to help fund his project.

At this point, I honestly don't expect to ever see the Agent 88 rewards for the money I pledged, and Digger's silence and constant delays aren't doing anything to assuage my doubt.

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it's pretty clear to me that he was only here to use whatever prominence his name had in the Minimate community to help fund his project.

I don't think he was trying to hide that. He clearly came here solely to shill his project and to get funding, and once that was done, he was done.
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He also took over that 10th anniversary of Minimates podcast to advertise his project too. Even though I ended up funding some of the Kickstarter (only for the want of the Minimates) I really wanted to hear more from the current workers, not Agent 88.

Something tells me he just grabs claim to any Minimates that exist and he rides those coattails as far as he can go to gain support for his other projects.

Look at his Pintrest page, he's got photos of the Amazing Spidey Movie stuff up with a tag line that looks like he had something to do with them. (Yes, it's a generic "MInimates Toys created by..." line, but still...) I know he created the base figure concept, but listening to that podcast it sounded like he hasn't kept up with the company or the people currently working for it.

I guess it should really be no surprise that he'd use us here to fund his other work. I guess I'm just pissed that we were (so far seemingly) taken in this situation.

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Eventually got my money back. It took over a year and a countless amount of promises and delays. My favorite promise was when I was told that they were sending me the president of the company's own personal figures from his collection.

Of course, that never happened. I could always back the project he has on www.gofundme.com for the same stuff I wanted right now, but I think he put the wrong 'f' word in the web name...

Edited by groundhog7s
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I honestly didn't know so many people got taken by Geoff. I stood and talked to him at one of the SDCCs I went to. Somehow I missed all this or simply forgot. I thought people just really hated shockinis...

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It got so bad at one point, Geoff was advertising giveaways for figures he no longer had the license for, Jack Staff specifically. Paul Grist had to contact Geoff to inform him that the Jack Staff license had expired. Grist said the 3-year contract he signed was for no money up front, but for a residual of every figure sold. He never got a dime from Geoff, nor did he even get a prototype figure for himself, meanwhile Geoff was offering Jack Staff prototypes as incentives on Kickstarter-like sites.

Read all about it here: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/02/06/paul-grist-geoff-beckett-and-shocker-toys/.

Edited by youbastards
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I think the real problem with Kickstarter isn't shady people with bad intentions trying to rip anyone off – it's people honestly way underestimating the cost of doing whatever it is they're trying to do. First off, because 90% of them are people who don't do professionally what they're trying to crowdfund, they lack a realistic understanding of costs, timelines, logistics, working with vendors, etc. They have an idea, talk to one factory sales rep in China or whoever who will tell them anything they want to hear to get a contract signed, and throw that number out like it's the honest-to-god real cost of doing their business, which it almost never is. Months down the road, after they've long since spent all of the Kickstarter money and are still approving initial samples or editing rough cuts or whatever, they realize why they're not doing this professionally in the first place.

As for Digger, yeah, he's a salesman. I hope there were never any illusions that he was coming here to make personal friends or do us some kind of favor. Given that his oft stated goal was to make a TV series, I was always shocked at how much effort and money he was (tentatively) going to dump into production of Minimates, which in no way whatsoever further his actual goal of making a TV series. I'll be the first to admit I was swept up in the idea of getting some pretty cool looking original Minimates as incentives, and perhaps should have tempered my own expectations on that. But there's always a "buyer beware" with Kickstarter, and at the end of the day everyone should have known Digger was out to make a TV series, not Minimates.

As for my own expectations going forward, I'm looking at it as spent money – patronage for the arts in general – as I'm fairly confident Digger will get his TV series made in some form and wasn't just looking to pocket everyone's money. If I end up getting a two-pack produced out-of-pocket and released sometime later this year or next just to try to make good with the retailers and maybe 20 or 30 guys on this board who bought in for the toys, I'll consider it a happy surprise. If the entire wave of 8 figures miraculously appears next month, I'll consider it a very happy surprise.

Edited by Lobsterman
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"Sure he may still get email notifications of new posts in this thread or check the forum anonymously, but it's pretty clear to me that he was only here to use whatever prominence his name had in the Minimate community to help fund his project."

I have to say I was at the SDCC Minimates panel last year where he announced the Agent 88 Minimates thing and his distain toward Minimates was very visible. My friend with me turned to me to ask why Digger who he knew was the founder of Minimates hated them so much? He was clearly there to sell Agent 88 and nothing else. And in year's past SDCC panel his distain was noticeable from a mile away IMO.

Agent 88 is definitely not my cup of tea and the related Minimates are not for me. But hey, if it means a bunch of promo 'mates get made then I am all for it since I know a lot of folks around are stoked for them. I just hope they happen for those who pledged for them.

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SO glad I sat this one out!

This entire concept killed my completionism, especially coming at the same time as the comic exclusive Vorin variant. The whole way Digger conducted himself was transparently shameless self-promotion. Even if the minimates were less expensive, I just didn't feel right supporting such a sleazy effort.

Digger is the George Lucas of Minimates - the property went on to great success despite it's creator! Yet both are willing to wh*re it out for a fast buck!

(Seriously, Star Wars would have been an utter failure if it weren't for a lot of other people involved, most importantly Gary Kurtz and Marcia Lucas, as well as H. Ford and John Williams. I know someone who actually viewed the fabled "lost cut" back before the movie was released and it was god-awful! Marcia Lucas saved the movie with her final edit, which included making the final Death Star battle a race against the clock to the Rebel base's destruction, which was never in the original cut or script!)

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I also steered clear of this, but I'm not going to say that I had any premonition that Digger was just going to up and vanish. I really hope that he delivers on the things that people paid for, and that Luke and the other people that are supposed to have exclusives aren't out a lot of money.

Still, he's got a long way to go to top Geoff Beckett.

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SDCC 2008 - Geoff Beckett & his entourage laugh.png ...what sweet memories I have. Y'English? rolleyes.gif

One of the greatest things about a forum is that you can go back & see what you've said . In this thread I've remained steadfastly adamant that the mathematics alone didn't bode well ....things did not add up ............ they still don't

..............if only I listened to my own advice.blush.png

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In this thread I've remained steadfastly adamant that the mathematics alone didn't bode well ....things did not add up ............ they still don't

..............if only I listened to my own advice.blush.png

For sure. I think we were all a little punch-drunk on the notion of not only getting some new Minimates, but the potential chance to prove that crowdfunding new Minimates could work, ergo DST should obviously open everything up to crowdfunding and let us pick all new Minimates forever!

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