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Oh well, people will pledge on Potato Salad, I guess it was inevitable that this pile of gak got funded.

I see Lars is basically admitting that the IAM scale issue will result in smaller minis, and also that their option for "tin" miniatures was because that's what museums wanted. Really? Never seen a tin toy animal in a museum. Usually it's some form of plastic or rubber.

They are also supposedly coming back in November with a Carnival/Mythological kickstarter. Oh boy...

Since they're probably paying living expenses with this, it makes sense that they'd try again in a few months. I doubt that one will succeed, though, unless it's like a $1000 goal and achieved by friends backing it... this one is already 5x less than their previous total.

Well, it is funded now.

IF (ha!) this is a scam, we should totally blame the OP for posting this on Dakka Dakka.

HEY! I posted the OP! But that was before all this looney nonsense started up.

I guess I have to humbly turn myself in.

At least it keeps us entertained!

I was joking, of course!

(Totally going to bane you though!)

All kidding aside, I hope this isn't a scam, and that no one loses any money here.

So here's Lars' comment ten hours ago about the freelancers from the Sea Monsters KS:

To be precise, the company initially hired several sculptors on contract, and on probationary terms. As reported, these were hires before I came aboard, and they were bad hires. The details (theft, fraud, breach, non-performance) have been outlined previously, and I will not go into those here. Bad hires did cost time, money and some ill-feelings with Pledgers. The company got in new investment and hired afresh, and I am putting more hours into the projects, as Fall/Winter are slower times in my primary industry (marine engineering consulting).
Many decisions were made before I came aboard based on one sculptor/consultant who later turned out to have have been misrepresenting their ability and knowledge to the company to get hired. Again, details have been discussed previously.

My two bits about companies and managing projects is that it's the manager's responsibility to hire the right employees. Sure, Kevin Siembda's employee stole 1M of assets from Palladium, but he was Kevin's hire and Kevin's close friend. Employees are a reflection of your company, and are the first contact your customers have with it. I see pros and cons of managers who have technical expertise in their fields, but I certainly see a pro in that a manager who has expertise can test applicants for knowledge in the field. Before Lars, ADW did not have such management expertise so did not hire the right people. Alternately, ADW *thought* they knew what they were doing, and the right people could not work with *them*. Considering how many wrong hires ADW had before Lars, I think this is the case. One bad hire is a mistake, several is a pattern. One question I had with the Robotech KS was "how the !@#$@ could Harmony Gold let Palladium keep the gaming rights to Robotech?" This led me to do some searching on Harmony Gold, and I had a pretty good answer. Fans of Robotech are upset with Harmony Gold as well. If great minds think alike, similar management styles end up in the same company. So that would explain how Lars behavior on the ADW KS is so similar to that of DAW or whoever else was answering the comments. (Of course, the other explanation is that he's the same person.)

It may be more than $17, but I'll throw my $30 at the KS of the guy who owned MegaMiniatures. He's only one guy, he knows how to run a miniatures project, he makes his own miniature molds, he casts them, too -- and I think his project is well within the spirit of crowdfunding.

So I see it got funded as expected yesterday. It will certainly be interesting to follow how this works out in the months to come; I'm still not sure if I think it will turn out to be an outright scam that never had any intent to deliver a product, or just some kind of semi-dishonest venture into the world of miniature making where they will actually be coming out with models, probably of a much lower quality than their backers are hoping for. But I do believe it will be one of the two, and I'm honestly leaning towards outright scam. At the very least, I find it hard to believe that everything they've said is true; that they have this big, multi-talented team that will be churning out world class sculpts at a never before seen pace.

But some of their backers certainly seem really enthusiastic, Or as one of them said yesterday:

I predict that there are going to be 134 very excited people in about 2-3 months time. And some very loyal customers to one of the greatest mini sculpting teams in the business.

Wouldn't be surprised if ADW pulled a Gridiron or had a few close "supporters".

ced1106 wrote:


It may be more than $17, but I'll throw my $30 at the KS of the guy who owned MegaMiniatures. He's only one guy, he knows how to run a miniatures project, he makes his own miniature molds, he casts them, too -- and I think his project is well within the spirit of crowdfunding.

Johnny has had a great name in the industry for many years. Unlike this company (ADW) that can't even site any experience.

 inquisitorlewis wrote:

ced1106 wrote:


It may be more than $17, but I'll throw my $30 at the KS of the guy who owned MegaMiniatures. He's only one guy, he knows how to run a miniatures project, he makes his own miniature molds, he casts them, too -- and I think his project is well within the spirit of crowdfunding.

Johnny has had a great name in the industry for many years. Unlike this company (ADW) that can't even site any experience.

What are you talking about? They have YEARS of experience in marketing for unnamed companies.... Don't you realize how shocked they were that people didn't know who they were? That their main company is listed on PBS as being related to scams....


I don't think they want us to know who they are at this point, despite how much boasting that we should. It's all just so shady.

Pledge $20 or more

3 backers

T-Shirt! This is the level if you just want the high-quality Saber-Tooth Tiger T.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
Add $10 USD to ship outside the US

Wonder if 3 backers got their Ts.

 Goblini wrote:
Pledge $20 or more

3 backers

T-Shirt! This is the level if you just want the high-quality Saber-Tooth Tiger T.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
Add $10 USD to ship outside the US

Wonder if 3 backers got their Ts.

I'm sure they're will be some sort of excuse why they couldn't even come up with that. Maybe the shipping container with all 3 tshirts in them were lost at sea.

Searched Youtube on IAM KS and user name Trevor1967 caught my eye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SogI2ppWMxk&list=UUQdY9z4ppHg0EYxmC9DyXAA

Then i found this message in discussion:

Danwei
7 years ago

To No Island Media: you owe Goldmines Film in Beijing a fee for the footage we shot for you, on good faith. You received the tapes from us more than a month ago and now do not respond to our requests for payment. Please contact before December 17 to avoid further action on our part.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 inquisitorlewis wrote:

 Goblini wrote:
Pledge $20 or more

3 backers

T-Shirt! This is the level if you just want the high-quality Saber-Tooth Tiger T.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2014
Add $10 USD to ship outside the US

Wonder if 3 backers got their Ts.

I'm sure they're will be some sort of excuse why they couldn't even come up with that. Maybe the shipping container with all 3 tshirts in them were lost at sea.

Hilarious

I can't find the discussion. Do you mean the Comments field? Do you think it was just deleted? Maybe ADW is treading this thread, after all!

http://www.danwei.org/film/scam_alert_no_island_media_rip.php




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Goblini wrote:
http://www.danwei.org/film/scam_alert_no_island_media_rip.php

Automatically Appended Next Post:

ced1106 wrote:
I can't find the discussion. Do you mean the Comments field? Do you think it was just deleted? Maybe ADW is treading this thread, after all!

Here you go ced1106
https://www.youtube.com/user/trevor1967/discussion


Automatically Appended Next Post:
"Announcement: No Island Media debt and copyright notice
Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, December 18, 2006 09:59 AM

Film industry people beware!

No Island Media is a Canadian film company that specializes in documentaries about music and guitars. This company hired your correspondent's company Goldmines Film in November 2006 to shoot for a day at a musical instrument factory in China.

After completing the shoot and sending the tapes to No Island Media, they acknowledged receipt of the materials but did not pay as originally agreed — in their words "when we have received the tapes". They stopped answering emails and phone calls. When they resumed communication, they said there was an approval process and that we would not be paid until the footage had been approved. Sometime after that, they stopped all communication with Goldmines.

Lawyer's letters sent to No Island Media's stated address were returned undelivered.

No Island Media website is here. The people who communicated with Goldmines go by the names Dina Walker, Dani Cohen and Barry Rothman.

This announcement is a record of the payment failure, and a public notice that all copyrights of the completed footage are retained by Goldmines cameraman Luke Mines until such a time as payment has been completed. "

If this is true, I'd say their Kickstarters are not genuine but you know.

 Goblini wrote:
http://www.danwei.org/film/scam_alert_no_island_media_rip.php




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Goblini wrote:
http://www.danwei.org/film/scam_alert_no_island_media_rip.php

Automatically Appended Next Post:

ced1106 wrote:
I can't find the discussion. Do you mean the Comments field? Do you think it was just deleted? Maybe ADW is treading this thread, after all!

Here you go ced1106
https://www.youtube.com/user/trevor1967/discussion


Automatically Appended Next Post:
"Announcement: No Island Media debt and copyright notice
Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, December 18, 2006 09:59 AM

Film industry people beware!

No Island Media is a Canadian film company that specializes in documentaries about music and guitars. This company hired your correspondent's company Goldmines Film in November 2006 to shoot for a day at a musical instrument factory in China.

After completing the shoot and sending the tapes to No Island Media, they acknowledged receipt of the materials but did not pay as originally agreed — in their words "when we have received the tapes". They stopped answering emails and phone calls. When they resumed communication, they said there was an approval process and that we would not be paid until the footage had been approved. Sometime after that, they stopped all communication with Goldmines.

Lawyer's letters sent to No Island Media's stated address were returned undelivered.

No Island Media website is here. The people who communicated with Goldmines go by the names Dina Walker, Dani Cohen and Barry Rothman.

This announcement is a record of the payment failure, and a public notice that all copyrights of the completed footage are retained by Goldmines cameraman Luke Mines until such a time as payment has been completed. "

If this is true, I'd say their Kickstarters are not genuine but you know.

Deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.

I am assuming this is one of their claims to fame: http://www.magazineexpress.com/410379523if-no-island-media-llc.html

And IAM KS backers thought they deserved second chance...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hope I knew where they are operating their Kicktarters. I'd really like to see what is behind all this.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

I am assuming this is one of their claims to fame: http://www.magazineexpress.com/410379523if-no-island-media-llc.html

Awesome job!

I redigested the info and did a little additional searching, then posted the results on the Reaper forums, where we're doing some tracking down as well. Thanks for finally helping me find out who this Lars person is!!!

http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/56389-adw-28mm-miniature-sea-monsters-dungeon-terrain-and-big-beasts/?p=949242

EDIT: Most important part is this article linking No Island Media to Dina Walker and Lars Sunderflyrr: http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=89017

Hey, RiTides, mebbe you should contact Jeremy Goldkorn on Danwei.org and say hi!

"ADW is, as stated on the website, a subsidiary of Weaver, Chester & Tweed, LLC, a bespoke book publishing company and exclusive publisher for the Moog Archives. Both are privately-held concerns. And, decisions are, yes, made by a Board of Directors." -Scott Larson

That quote can be found on this page: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/55475-ice-age-miniatures-kickstarter/page-5

Their Canadian business address:
http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/Quebec/Montreal/Weaver-Chester-And-Tweed/100450767.html

Interestingly their LLC is also registered in Delaware:
http://delawarecompanies.us/free-delaware-company-search.find/weaver-chester-tweed-llc

Although that just goes to a registered agent address.

The nice thing is, Delaware has a very aggressive consumer fraud division:
http://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/fraud/cpu/index.shtml

I haven't managed to find one single lick of information tying them to NYC as they claim. They are not registered for business in NY, and have no NY address.

So these are the businesses tied to Dina Walker.
1. Evergreen Entertainment Group LLC. There rating on the bca: http://www.businessconsumeralliance.org/report/evergreen-entertainment-group-llc-100095256
2. ADW Publishing
3. Weaver, Chester & Tweed, LLC
4. No Island Media
5. Food for Thought Productions
6. Aquaplus: http://aquaplus.tv/product.html

Am I missing any?

At this point, I would not be surprised if they were running other crowd funding under other names and non-existing projects...
Probably Lars is running miniature KSes while Dina is pulling in money from other crowd funding.

I am totally convinced with what Lovejoy on Reaper Forum said :
"I would just remind you that in the Ice Age KS a lot of the offensive, vitriolic comments were signed Lars... He's not some troubleshooter who's been brought in, he was there from day one, messing things up and talking big along with the rest"

I believe who ever did the interview with Andrea Sfiligoi must be Lars.
If you listen to the voice behind IAM KS and Sea Monster KS videos, you can tell they are same. And I think Scott Lantry and Lars are same person as Ced1106 has mentioned.

Now, if i am not wrong on this, Lars is Liar

You guys are absolutely crazy awesome for digging this stuff up and I commend you for all the work you've put into sleuthing this one up.

My wife did a bit of digging and found a possible link to a "WBA Productions" out of Toronto. Associated names include Dina Walker, Lars Sunderflyrr, Henry Kipling, Trevor Andrews, Allen Romanasky and Earl Elliot. Info gleaned from Worldcat.com (library catalogue database).

Also there's Youtube videos for the No Island Media company...

Feel free to dig further...

 Goblini wrote:
At this point, I would not be surprised if they were running other crowd funding under other names and non-existing projects...
Probably Lars is running miniature KSes while Dina is pulling in money from other crowd funding.

I am totally convinced with what Lovejoy on Reaper Forum said :
"I would just remind you that in the Ice Age KS a lot of the offensive, vitriolic comments were signed Lars... He's not some troubleshooter who's been brought in, he was there from day one, messing things up and talking big along with the rest"

I believe who ever did the interview with Andrea Sfiligoi must be Lars.
If you listen to the voice behind IAM KS and Sea Monster KS videos, you can tell they are same. And I think Scott Lantry and Lars are same person as Ced1106 has mentioned.

Now, if i am not wrong on this, Lars is Liar

Actually Lars and his comments are the entire reason I started searching. I have just heard that kind of crap to many times before.

Awesome work guys!

 inquisitorlewis wrote:
So these are the businesses tied to Dina Walker.
1. Evergreen Entertainment Group LLC. There rating on the bca: http://www.businessconsumeralliance.org/report/evergreen-entertainment-group-llc-100095256
2. ADW Publishing
3. Weaver, Chester & Tweed, LLC
4. No Island Media

Am I missing any?

There is also Food for Thought Productions; the links are in the post I made on the previous page of this thread.

 Trodax wrote:
Awesome work guys!

 inquisitorlewis wrote:
So these are the businesses tied to Dina Walker.
1. Evergreen Entertainment Group LLC. There rating on the bca: http://www.businessconsumeralliance.org/report/evergreen-entertainment-group-llc-100095256
2. ADW Publishing
3. Weaver, Chester & Tweed, LLC
4. No Island Media

Am I missing any?

There is also Food for Thought Productions; the links are in the post I made on the previous page of this thread.

Thank you. I added that to the post.

In all seriousness, I hope I am totally wrong. I hope everyone gets their minis. I will certainly eat my words if it happens. I want more than anything for this company to prove me wrong.

In case I am right, I am gathering information. I happen to live in Delaware, and have no issues sending a huge report to the DE consumer fraud division. Since they are a DE registered business, it will be looked into. I have plenty of screen shots, in case things start seeing mysterious edits.

Thanks to the moderators for moving this thread to a more suitable forum.

 inquisitorlewis wrote:

 Trodax wrote:
Awesome work guys!

 inquisitorlewis wrote:
So these are the businesses tied to Dina Walker.
1. Evergreen Entertainment Group LLC. There rating on the bca: http://www.businessconsumeralliance.org/report/evergreen-entertainment-group-llc-100095256
2. ADW Publishing
3. Weaver, Chester & Tweed, LLC
4. No Island Media

Am I missing any?

There is also Food for Thought Productions; the links are in the post I made on the previous page of this thread.

You are missing Aqua+ and all the contents in it
http://aquaplus.tv/product.html

 Goblini wrote:

 inquisitorlewis wrote:

 Trodax wrote:
Awesome work guys!

 inquisitorlewis wrote:
So these are the businesses tied to Dina Walker.
1. Evergreen Entertainment Group LLC. There rating on the bca: http://www.businessconsumeralliance.org/report/evergreen-entertainment-group-llc-100095256
2. ADW Publishing
3. Weaver, Chester & Tweed, LLC
4. No Island Media

Am I missing any?

There is also Food for Thought Productions; the links are in the post I made on the previous page of this thread.

You are missing Aqua+ and all the contents in it
http://aquaplus.tv/product.html

Thanks. I have edited my post.

Googled their address and name, Susan Taylor weaver chester & tweed:
228 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003

Not sure if they are same Susan but sure they do share the same address as Just Media,llc which is on FlakeList:

http://flakelist.org/page/viewpub/tid/1/pid/5941

Susan Anderson
Hiring & Account Manager
Susan@JustMedias.com
(718) 514-9550

JustMedia LLC.
228 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10003

Susan Taylor
Publicity Manager, Weaver Chester & Tweed
email: press at weaverchestertweed.com
phone:

Mailing address: 228 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003

do you think what i am thinking?

So the latest update-

They can't release names of sculptors due to IP issues.

Really? Is that normal? I want to post something about that but I'm not sure how to do it without being too snarky.

Really?

That's weird. Every other legit miniatures company out there that I know of lists sculptors on their website, in sourcebooks or in magazines.

I assumed they had to provide sculptor names as part of the deal. Helps with promoting the artist and , if it's a good artist, promotes the miniatures too.

Never heard of legally having to keep the sculptors anonymous until these clowns turned up.