Nice to see his brain hasn't fallen out again and it'll be good to see some production and shipping WIP
The models are filling up boxes, and the Shipping Manager is almost here
We are almost ready to unveil our Shipping Manager, plus more detailed information on our shipping information and policy, the order in which models will be shipped, etc.
Over the past few weeks we have been integrating postal systems into our manager and doing test runs. It is very important to make sure everything to do with the shipping process is perfect before we start putting models into boxes.
Working on the Shipping Manager is not delaying the production of our models however. We are still in the process of cranking out molds and components as the Manager is designed in the background.
We will be sending out a private message to several backers in order to ask them to be our test pilots for the Shipping Manager. This is an extra step just to ensure everything will be perfect. We will be doing this before we notify everyone to lock in their Shipping Manager. If you are selected as a test pilot, you will be asked to complete the Shipping Manager and then you will be eligible to have your package sent in the first wave for your help.
We will write an update letting you know when we have sent out the messages for the test pilots.
The casting team has been given access to the Kickstarter backend and will now be posting updates from the casting facility. This way you can get more pictures more often and updates will get back on track.
Thank you for your letters offering your support. This campaign has attracted many excellent people. Thank you for your patience and support.
"This campaign has attracted many excellent people".
Not the complainers though, they're not excellent. Just Jeremy and his fans. I'm triggered, I can't believe that Jeremy can perpetrate this act of passive micro aggression. I need to find a safe space.
So he'll be picking certain backers to test the shipping manager, and only cares for the opinions of those who only tell him how great he is, how does he expect to know if there are any problems with the shipping manager?
I so nearly went with this one as well... so nearly. Narrow escape.
What a bizarre personality and temperament to be in 'business' at all. I won't be touching anything I know this guy is involved with with a 10 foot pole.
Joyboozer wrote: So he'll be picking certain backers to test the shipping manager, and only cares for the opinions of those who only tell him how great he is, how does he expect to know if there are any problems with the shipping manager?
Nonono, he picks basically his Alts and Friends, without disclosing them, and maybe two or three coold-aid drinkers. So he now has a group of poeple where he can point to and say "you know, we thought everything is ready, but they found a bug we never could have found, so we have to work another four weeks on the shipping manager. And if you don't believe me, you have no idea about how software development works, are an armchair software-developer and I basically hate you, regardless of how much money you gave me. Deal with it, m'kay?". (hint: I earn my money with software development).
I love that we get the same "three months" timeline we have been given how many times now? And that negotations are "underway" regarding shipping, while a couple of weeks (or months? I can't remember in this journey) ago it was said that they have all the info and are picking out what to use.
Honestly: if they don't yet know wether they do hub shipping or not, how can they say the shipping manager is nearly done? Truly, I hope they just took some opensource eCommerce software, adapted it to "just" be a shipping/checkout system (then the configuration changes between hub shipping and no hub shipping should only take one or two days (depending on how motivated you are) at most), themed it to look good, and connected it to the user base of the pledge manager.
This reminds me: where is Kenny? He used to do damage control when Jeremy again forgot that he has a pledged Kickstarter at his back which he didn't care about?
Nevermind, I can't wait to get the first update from the production facility...at least the Demons have master moulds (oh my, oh my...how many Dragons? How long are they producing now? Riiiiiiiiight...) (Edit: plus: remember that most of the Demons were printed BEFORE the Kickstarter started...someone please correct me of I am wrong, but up until now, we only saw production material from Demons that existed physically before the KS went live)
I give him the benefit of doubt AGAIN for the next three months (and will kick myself AGAIN in three months). If I could just find someone who want's to buy my pledge :(
That darn Shipping Manager is proving quite the challenge. Perhaps it got doused in coffee?
CreatureCaster wrote: Casting everyday in the summer and shipping soon
4 Comments
10 likes
news
Models are being cast and are filling up the crates. The quality is exceptional. They are moving out at a slower rate than what was agreed upon, and we have taken steps to ensure high levels of quality while increasing productivity.
shipping manager
Our biggest setback right now if the Shipping Manager. This was due party to mismanagement of the production of the software. We are right now rewriting the code and tweaking the platform. This has been extremely frustrating and overly time consuming. I do not program, and I have been trusting those who were charged with manufacturing to get this done. I have been very disappointed and have put steps into place to regain some control of this process.
long time since last post
This last stint of time has been filled with mold pouring, demolding, remolding, cleaning flash, etc. Simultaneously I have been watching the Shipping Manager become usable, unusable, and progress slogs on. The news has stayed the same and it becomes increasingly frustrating to post the same news over and over again, even tho molds are being filled and the models look amazing.
reflections on the time so far
This entire process has taught me so much. One of the biggest lessons has been: Take an estimate of the promised time to complete a task... and then multiply it by three. The printers were extremely slow. The first two casting facilities dragged on their emails and estimates and then ultimately dropped away. Even the casting of the models is behind on time. I tell this revelation to other business people and they always laugh, and tell me I should have known this before going into business. I know now.
moving forwardAside from the crushing pressure and embarrassment of coming in late, I am staying focused and task oriented. Every time I see a model kit I am reminded that the quality looks excellent, and the sculpts look far better than I has imaged they would. I am an artist who had to become a business person. I now understand how business is a very specific skill set and I have a new respect for those who can keep a team motivated and moving forward.
The story of Creature Caster has been a rocky one. My life during this process has been unlike any other time I have been alive. The pressure has driven me to insanity on several specific occasions, and I am more vulnerable than I ever knew I could be.
I have mentioned it before and I will say it again. I am genuinely impressed with your commitment to the project, and your support during this time. On a daily basis, I talk about the patience and energy of the Creature Caster backers. Your support means everything.
Lots of 'steps being taken' without actual details on said 'steps'.
Sounds vaguely...Palladium-like.
And yes, people will remain 'committed' to this project - as they've already committed money to it and would like to see the miniatures they pledged for!
I would like to know what is damned hard about a shipping manager. You have the survey results, print them. Open MS Word, create shipping labels, print them. Match address labels to surveys, put stuff in boxes, put labels on boxes, mail them.
It's not as if this were a project with 2500+ backers and a hundred different models to choose from.
It probably covers his ass, though, with Kickstarter. A few of us backers have been filing trouble tickets with KS and this anemic update will likely prevent them from investigating this campaign with any real scrutiny since "updates are being made in good faith by the project creator." Such fething bs.
In his little summary where he blamed the delay on everyone else, who forgot to mention how many times he fethed up and dragged his ass.
What about the massive sculpting delays Jeremy? Who's fault where they?
Joyboozer wrote: In his little summary where he blamed the delay on everyone else, who forgot to mention how many times he fethed up and dragged his ass.
What about the massive sculpting delays Jeremy? Who's fault where they?
Joyboozer wrote: In his little summary where he blamed the delay on everyone else, who forgot to mention how many times he fethed up and dragged his ass.
What about the massive sculpting delays Jeremy? Who's fault where they?
The coffee's
The Peruvian worker who picked the bitter beans . It's a world wide conspiracy. Too bad Jeremy doesn't know it's being run by his yoga instructor
I live near this guy, from his FB posts I know where he hangs out....and on his face book he is friends with a guy I work with....just putting it out there....
I live near this guy, from his FB posts I know where he hangs out....and on his face book he is friends with a guy I work with....just putting it out there....
Fabricator - if you work with a friend of his, why not ask him whats his deal? find out if he ever plans on doing anything with the kickstarter? maybe he'll give an actual answer.
I looked up Better Business Bureau for vancouver but not sure they can do anything.
my bank says if there was an actual new shipping date, if its within 120 days of that, i could ask for a late chargeback... but his updates never have concrete dates...
I don't want to come off as a hater, so I'll just quote Jeremy.
From the KS front page
"I am also the original founder and sculptor for Ultraforge Miniatures, a small and successful miniatures company. This gained me valuable experience in the fields of manufacturing, retail and fulfilment."
Latest update
"When I began this job I was simply a sculptor. Now my job description is a lot lengthier. Making miniatures involves a fairly steep learning curve, and just now am I beginning to feel a bit of the weight lifting off my shoulders."
Perhaps if Jeremy had been honest in the original sales pitch, we wouldn't all feel so negative.
Just shy of 3 years later, with no evidence of anything complete and ready to go, I suspect we would still be pretty negative.
I can't help but notice that he mentions models in crates, but not packed into boxes. You know, getting what can be done done, so that it is ready to go when the rest finishes.
This was my first and last kickstarter I have supported, I consider myself lucky that I only purchesed one of the less expensive models. I have been lurking on this thread for years now lol appreciate the updates people have been posting. Its difficult to maintain a positive attitude around this process as this guy is clearly not competent in offering a product and I cant imagine him ever being successful again after this fiasco. There is always yoga I suppose.
Probably better off going through KS or PayPal (or both) if he won't give you a refund. After that, small claims is probably your best bet. Class action suits usually just make attorney's money, and it isn't as though he has a lot of wealth or income to tap to pay costs.
We've seen pics of finished molds and boxes of pieces already cast. If they can fulfill some orders now, they should. It's not like everybody ordered one of each model.
Very little progress on any of the models he didn't already have sculpted before the Kickstarter. Would be nice for those who just got the Spider Demon to be able to get their model.
Next red flag I'm worried we'll see is profiteering shipping and "handling" fees. I've been worried for some time that the funds we pledged are dwindling.
PalmerC wrote: This was my first and last kickstarter I have supported, I consider myself lucky that I only purchesed one of the less expensive models. I have been lurking on this thread for years now lol appreciate the updates people have been posting. Its difficult to maintain a positive attitude around this process as this guy is clearly not competent in offering a product and I cant imagine him ever being successful again after this fiasco. There is always yoga I suppose.
Not to absolve Creature Caster of any responsibility and I'm not really saying anyone is at fault for backing the campaign; but I think it's rather unfair to write of the entire crowdfunding business due to campaigns like this. It's a shame when well-run KS campaigns have a harder time succeeding due to completely unrealated (apart from using the same funding model) campaigns has given the entire crowdfunding model a bad rep.
There were some glaring red flags shown in this campaign (easier said in hindsight of course but still) that warned about this likely getting horribly delayed. Not easy to spot when it's your first KS and it's a due-diligence we shouldn't really have to to, but they were there.
- First project from a small (one-man?) team
- Ambitious large models with lots of pieces, so lots of stuff that can go wrong in the casting process
- Kickstarter goal that's shattered by the pledges, raking in over 10 times the needed funds (thus meaning 10 times the models to make and send out than was perhaps planned for when setting the delivery times).
and probably more that I've forgot
Now, any of those factors alone is not necessarily a problem but when a project raises that many flags and starts to balloon way above their initial funding goals, it's generally a good idea to pull out your pledge. The project will still be funded so if it goes well; the products will eventually be available at retail and, somewhat couterintuitive, a project creator is often more helped by their first campaign being just a moderate success than a massive one, which risks overwhelming them.
Were it a brand new enterprise, those would be very valid criticisms, but one has to remember Jeremy had a track record producing large, multi part, resin miniatures on a commercial scale with Ultra Forge.
At the very least one would expect things like sourcing a caster and organizing a shipping agent would be familiar enough processes that we wouldn't have seen quite the amount of "cat with a bag stuck on its head" behaviour that has occurred, let alone having vital digital files stored on a single, highly vulnerable, source.
Not to absolve Creature Caster of any responsibility and I'm not really saying anyone is at fault for backing the campaign; but I think it's rather unfair to write of the entire crowdfunding business due to campaigns like this. It's a shame when well-run KS campaigns have a harder time succeeding due to completely unrealated (apart from using the same funding model) campaigns has given the entire crowdfunding model a bad rep.
There were some glaring red flags shown in this campaign (easier said in hindsight of course but still) that warned about this likely getting horribly delayed. Not easy to spot when it's your first KS and it's a due-diligence we shouldn't really have to to, but they were there.
- First project from a small (one-man?) team
- Ambitious large models with lots of pieces, so lots of stuff that can go wrong in the casting process
- Kickstarter goal that's shattered by the pledges, raking in over 10 times the needed funds (thus meaning 10 times the models to make and send out than was perhaps planned for when setting the delivery times).
and probably more that I've forgot
Now, any of those factors alone is not necessarily a problem but when a project raises that many flags and starts to balloon way above their initial funding goals, it's generally a good idea to pull out your pledge. The project will still be funded so if it goes well; the products will eventually be available at retail and, somewhat couterintuitive, a project creator is often more helped by their first campaign being just a moderate success than a massive one, which risks overwhelming them.
Fair points although I didnt lump the entire crowdfunding offering in this thread only in my personal decision to not support any additional kickstarters. I also did support this given the success at Ultraforge but it doesnt matter like I said first and last time for me.
Phew, I still really want several of the models, but it seems a goood thing I din't back or late back this. I never clicked on this thread because I thought it'd be people happy with their awesome minis and I'd leave really salty, but today I was bored! I feel for you guys having to deal with this, this is wayyy worse than waiting for MIKH finally sculpting balls on a bull (or lion)
Binabik15 wrote: Phew, I still really want several of the models, but it seems a goood thing I din't back or late back this. I never clicked on this thread because I thought it'd be people happy with their awesome minis and I'd leave really salty, but today I was bored! I feel for you guys having to deal with this, this is wayyy worse than waiting for MIKH finally sculpting balls on a bull (or lion)
I am pretty sure you'll be able to pick up these models for a song when (IF) they ever get released.
I know my pledge is going straight to eBay if it materializes, and I don't think I am alone.
Binabik15 wrote: Phew, I still really want several of the models, but it seems a goood thing I din't back or late back this. I never clicked on this thread because I thought it'd be people happy with their awesome minis and I'd leave really salty, but today I was bored! I feel for you guys having to deal with this, this is wayyy worse than waiting for MIKH finally sculpting balls on a bull (or lion)
I am pretty sure you'll be able to pick up these models for a song when (IF) they ever get released.
I know my pledge is going straight to eBay if it materializes, and I don't think I am alone.
I'll serenade you for a not-Thirster and a not-Mortarion.
My brother might even do some epic guitar solo for that tree lady
Man, by some miracle or unknown instinct I've avoided the messiest KSs. I had some long delays (Arena Rex, my first KS as the worst offender) but nothing that didn't get fullfilled so far.
I only this last year fully realized that you can only get a finacially rich person by making several poor people.
That is how money and power work. Any finite resource is a set of scales, and if your side of the scales is up that means someone else's is down, and vica versa.
The effects that your personal wealth has on others around the planet is deliberately hidden from you. This is because people are fundamentally compassionate upon birth. The only way we can operate on such an amoral level is to hide people from the effects of their purchases and wealth.
You are a better person than you have given yourself the chance to be.
We would not buy a blood diamond, yet on a long enough timeline and under the same logic ALL money is printed in blood. When do we start calling it all blood money?
Anyone ready to admit that, or even talk about it? Food, water, health, education and justice are human rights. When do we start (Cencored) acting like it?
Redistribute your privilege. Give something away for free. Volunteer. Trade. Donate. Share. Stop buying gak you dont need, made by people who dont have enough.
Posted June 7(Edit)
This was copied from Jeremy's personal Facebook page. I fully support Jeremy giving us free shipping for our minis to help him redistribute his privilege. I edited out the F word. That is the only modification to this quote.
Is that a real, written quote from Jeremy, or just one of those "motivational"-type bs D&M sayings .jpgs that facebook is full of which people are constantly liking and posting to their walls?
I got it off of his wall posted by him. His personal page is full of this type of posts.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I added the date posted to the original quote June 7 2016. Check out his FB page it is there in its original glory. I find it funny that he uses the mechanations of capitalism when it suits him but espouses the virtues of socialism.
The writing style is a bit hippy-dippy, and one of the initial conditions is wrong(humans are born compassionate, to a certain value of compassion - we'll happily club that other monkey from the other tribe over the fething skull if he tries to take our stuff), but fundamentally I don't see anything controvertial about what he's saying there.
Growth is not infinite and so capitalism is a zero-sum game in the end, and people do distance themselves from the reality of the products they buy("Oh noes, child labour is horrible! *buys iphones*"). EDIT: And ugh, personal bugbear, but please try and remember that "socialism" is a specific thing and not just a general term for "left".
But yeah I'll back the idea of Jeremy giving himself some good Karma by waiving the shipping charges on these bloody models
slk28850 wrote: I only this last year fully realized that you can only get a finacially rich person by making several poor people.
That is how money and power work. Any finite resource is a set of scales, and if your side of the scales is up that means someone else's is down, and vica versa.
The effects that your personal wealth has on others around the planet is deliberately hidden from you. This is because people are fundamentally compassionate upon birth. The only way we can operate on such an amoral level is to hide people from the effects of their purchases and wealth.
You are a better person than you have given yourself the chance to be.
We would not buy a blood diamond, yet on a long enough timeline and under the same logic ALL money is printed in blood. When do we start calling it all blood money?
Anyone ready to admit that, or even talk about it? Food, water, health, education and justice are human rights. When do we start (Cencored) acting like it?
Redistribute your privilege. Give something away for free. Volunteer. Trade. Donate. Share. Stop buying gak you dont need, made by people who dont have enough.
This was copied from Jeremy's personal Facebook page. I fully support Jeremy giving us free shipping for our minis to help him redistribute his privilege. I edited out the F word. That is the only modification to this quote.
Sounds like a personal justification for sitting on his highly artistic and delicate arse and doing feth all about honoring his debts.
"You were the greedy fools who threw your money after toys when you could have fed the sick and homeless with it, so I could even just keep the money and not give you anything and it would be your fault for not giving to the poor and living the rest of your days in a cave with a burlap rag to cover your shame..."
He's justifying it all to himself, creating a Mandelbonder-esque world of imagined moral high ground and redirected blame. I'd be careful he doesn't go completely off radar.
I wonder if he sees the dissonance between "Stop buying gak you dont need, made by people who dont have enough," and his current form of employment. Let alone the fact that people trying to make and sell stuff are doing it to be better off.
I gotta admit, crap like that makes me even less inclined to purchase anything from him in the future. Not that it was terribly likely anyway, given how this project is being run, but still.
I gotta say, I think I've turned a corner on this project. I am having more fun posting comments on the KS page than I'd ever get from the PoS dragon I ordered. Perhaps this was money well spent.
I love how Jeremy shows all his friends that he has no clue about capitalism and economy by thinking it's a zero-sum game. The self-own is so strong in this guy...
I fear we might not even see our stuff by the end of this year, with the speed the updates go along.
And as I said in the comments section couple times: just wait until the shipping costs drop. No way he won't try to make money off of that. No way!
On a more serious note (because I really think people should know about this guy): do you think any of the popular wargaming/tabletop sites might pick up the story of this KS and how Jeremy treats his backers (with utter ignorance and mockery) if someone writes a good article about it?
H.B.M.C. wrote: I voted on the strawpoll for the Pincer Demon. I'd like some proof it exists as it's the only one I ordered.
I think everyone feels that way lol.
I ordered 3 if i remember right- the zombie dragon, mountain dragon, and the warrior demon. I've yet to see anything other than the digital renders :(.
The fact that he's gone to a Burning Man festival should tell you the depth of his hippy-ism.
Let's all vote for the Pincer Demon! (just cast my vote).
I'd like to see of the same thing happens as it did with the possessed dragon last time
They have to have master models/moulds of every model, at least thats what we have been told many month ago....only....we never got to see them! Makes you think...
Speaking of mountain dragons their ears must have been burning!... God-dammit. The Mountain Dragon looks amazing!! Think I've found my Stormcast Lord Celestant's mount .
These pics are from Update #99
Creature Caster Production Team Update Aug 27/08/16 Hello Creature Caster Backers. Greetings from the production team. We hope you all had fun voting in the straw poll we certainly enjoyed seeing the votes pouring in. The result was really unexpected for us as the model with the lowest sales numbers achieved a crushing victory. Some of you are really passionate about the Mountain Dragon and that is what we love to see. A new straw poll for what pictures to include in the next update is already up. It will have the same format as last time since we really like the fact that the straw poll is measuring enthusiasm for which model to show next. Vote here: http://www.strawpoll.me/11089347
Model Tech
One problem with large resin models is that they tend to tip over easily. A lot of thought and care was put into balancing these models so that they are stable. Their center of balance is pretty uncanny for something with such a tiny foot print. If these models are placed on a plastic or resin type base commonly used for gaming the stability will be increased even further. Take a look as the Mountain Dragon navigates over some pretty difficult ground.
Spoiler:
Plague Daemon Pic:
Spoiler:
Plus, a pic of the Not-at-all-Tzeentch-Greater-Daemon painting:
There is no doubt the sculpts are gorgeous, but still not details on shipping dates. People are asking again what percentage casting each monster is at. And again, Jeremy isn't saying anything.
It isn't mud already? I mean I've pretty much stayed out of this thread, but even I know just from skimming bits and pieces that this guy is a complete loon who everyone is sick of.
To be honest: his next venture into this industry.
I didn't know him, somehow I never heard of him.
I know what I now say might seem very butthurt or however it is called nowadays, but I actually want people to know what "Creature Caster" is made of. Off from a Kickstarter campaign where the founder not only mocked his backers time and again, but also treated them and the investment they gave to him like manure.
It might sound like a meaningless internet vendetta, because I am quite sure that as soon that I see the shipping costs, I will give up and basically say "take my money, Jeremy, make it worthwhile" because I won't invest in him any more.
The models themselves seem to be (if the production company actually doesn't know how to dry fit stuff, because if that is actualy the best dry fit possible, then more problem arise) rather good, and people will buy them. I just feel sick to the stomach how this venture came to be, and while I understand that it is stupid to project this feeling onto kickstarter, it WILL (and has already) change my mind on what to back.
Sad thing is that at the end, Jeremy will have the last laugh. Treating his backers like gak, getting enough money to create his own casting company, and even milking more from shipping.
God damn is it disgusting how they obviously fake the straw polls.
I checked this morning (GMT +1) with the Possessed Dragon clearly in front. And couple of hours later the one model which has been shown again, and again, and again, suddenly wins the poll.
They obviously use every trick in the book to treat the backers as absolute idiots.
A lot of KSers seem to be having stress-related issues these past few years...especially those way behind. *shrug*
Personally, this joins Robotech and some other customizable 3D print mini project I've lumped in my writing off as a loss [i]pile. If they come one day, great. If I still have a use for it then, even better.
That totally sucks but there's nothing I can do and it's not worth the trouble. The KS hype died for me into the second year. Still have to stop myself sometimes on that impulse buy.
Since the Mountain Dragon and the Maggot Demon are the only models I didn't pledge for I would really like to see the models that were added after the campaign went crazy. I still think we'll get the models one day but I don't look forward to being told I owe another $30-$40 for shipping after waiting years for this to complete. I have added a link to a good article that we all should have read before backing.
Jeremy has started another project. His Friday, I mean Sunday update is no where to be seen.
To my friends who are carpenters and have experience with framing: I am building a thing and I need your help.
The project is to build a very very small insulated wood-framed room with a lockable door and window, which rolls around on castor wheels. Simple.
The purpose of this mobile room will be discussed upon request. For now, the build of the room is the most important thing.
I currently do not have a space to build in or the tools needed. I do however have the funds needed for materials and can provide an extra set of hands.
I am looking for anyone who can help me review/modify this design and to help me build it, preferably within the next three weeks. I am covering all the costs for the materials, and will also pay an agreed upon amount for your labor. I would be present during the build so I can help.
The design I currently have was done in Sketchup, and everything is to scale. I can apply any suggestions in this program as well, and all the measurements in the design are accurate and make building a lot easier on the day.
The frame and walls are wood. The blue insulation is hard foam. The window is plexiglass.
If you have any suggestions to the design, please let me know. If you can help with the build, then let me know as well. Thank you!
Update shows Warrior Demon and Possessed Dragon as well as Maggot Demon parts, which all look excellent. Kenny has also come to the rescue and made a shipping manager after their "other programmer" failed to deliver, so maybe we'll actually see fulfillment before the end of the year?
Since we've seen the actual cast products, it's fair to assume he hasn't stolen it. He's a complete idiot and a hippy who has no business sense. I'm hoping his mate Kenny will sort this clusterfeth out.
I thought you were joking, but it appears to be exactly that. When someone is a bit mean to him, he flees to his mobile safe space. It will come replete with soothing whale music piped in and a special "dial-a-barista" connection to order fresh coffee. I'd imagine that the wood will be sourced 100% organic, hand crafted artisanal, renewable ultra-rare hardwood polished to a fine finish by craftsmen following an ancient tradition. Not chipwood...
Bloke's not so much scarpered with the money, more holed up in his coffin safe space to avoid nasty, unwarranted words such as "where is my money" and "about those models"...
I think it is a house for a homeless person that lives near him. While commendable I would prefer he fulfills his obligation to his backers before spending time on Burning Man and any other hobbies or pursuits.
Update 100 did have some good pics of the models and their component parts. If Kenny was able to work out a shipping manager so quickly why didn't he have him do it months ago? Jeremy seems dead set on doing every aspect of this campaign the absolute most difficult way possible.
While that is amusing, it looks like he's handed off production and maybe even fulfillment to the production team, and they've made 3 great updates with pictures and even info on the shipping system to be used. Latest is today, and shows the Warrior Demon and the Possessed Dragon:
I still think that I'll get my models eventually. I'm not looking forward to my shipping bill. It will be interesting to see how many remember if and when the next Creature Castor KS comes around. It would be funny and just if his next KS failed to complete. Based on my experience with KS in general I think if the quality of the kits coming out of this KS are as good as advertised most people will forgive and forget the first KS. I only hope he learns his lesson like Raging Heroes did. Their second KS is going much smoother then their first.
Yeah, see, the thing is I'm not even sure if it's worth the bother of getting the model. I think the last word was that hub shipping is out the window, so to get my model I'll have to pay shipping from North America to the UK, then 20% VAT + customs handling fees, and then ebay will want their 10% on the sale.
Even assuming I can shift it at the price I paid, I'm losing half the value right off the bat there, and I have to arse about repackaging it and hiking it down the post office to send on.
As for "forgive & forget" - maybe some do, I didn't back the second RH KS nor have I bought any of their products since, and the same will apply for CC. I'd rather give GW my money than this clown.
That's what I'm saying though, it looks like he's handed things off to me (which is really smart) and not planning another campaign. Ideally, I'd like to just focus on dealing with the fulfillment company and get this thing finished!
RiTides wrote: That's what I'm saying though, it looks like he's handed things off to me (which is really smart) and not planning another campaign. Ideally, I'd like to just focus on dealing with the fulfillment company and get this thing finished!
I just realized this whole campaign has been going on so long, I actually don't even remember how I paid RiTides for my model. Was it in cash or "trade"? ... I may never know. I can't even remember what army projects we were working on then... it was before ModCubes even were proto-typed, wasn't it?
Yodhrin wrote: Yeah, see, the thing is I'm not even sure if it's worth the bother of getting the model. I think the last word was that hub shipping is out the window, so to get my model I'll have to pay shipping from North America to the UK, then 20% VAT + customs handling fees, and then ebay will want their 10% on the sale.
Even assuming I can shift it at the price I paid, I'm losing half the value right off the bat there, and I have to arse about repackaging it and hiking it down the post office to send on.
As for "forgive & forget" - maybe some do, I didn't back the second RH KS nor have I bought any of their products since, and the same will apply for CC. I'd rather give GW my money than this clown.
See if you're able to "sell" your pledge to someone else. All it should take on his end is a change of email address and shipping address. You should expect to make your money back at best, or more realistically take a small loss, but still get most of what you paid back for it. You'll have to see if Jeremy is willing to accomodate, though.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
slk28850 wrote: Honestly I could forgive ignorance and incompetence but he seems unstable and too much of a socialist for my taste.
Edit: Forgive as long as he learned his lesson.
I'm sure if we knew and cared that much about the political beliefs held by everyone in the production chain of the producers of media that we consume and enjoy and took them fully into account, none of us would buy anything, ever - as it'd go from very, very left to very, very right.
I think the bigger issues for us to consider are those of reliability, responsibility, stability and those of the other extreme, like "flakiness" - regardless of any (reasonable) political beliefs. You know assuming there's no racism, sexism, etc involved.
I don't even want the Treewalker anymore but I'm glad at least I didn't miss it shipping. Would love a bitchin' dragon but think I'll wait until they are available in wide sale.
Wehrkind wrote: Wow... it is actually about to happen? I feel like I should be checking my bucket list.
If by about to happen you mean we get reamed for shipping after waiting for every Canadian backer to get their stuff first then yes.....it is about to happen.
Two years wait and now we get screwed on the shipping costs, and have to wait until everyone else gets their models (I pledged a Demon Bundle).
Well done Jeremy, you've stopped anyone buying your products in the future
Yep, having to pay 27% extra for pledge+shipping feels really awesome... I sold my pledge to a fellow club member so I'm not out personally but I don't think he'll be very happy...
Lots of calls for refunds now that the extra shipping fees scheme has been revealed.
I don't think anyone will actually get a refund though, as that money has either already been spent or has been earmarked for future yoga retreats and such.
Alpharius wrote: Lots of calls for refunds now that the extra shipping fees scheme has been revealed.
I don't think anyone will actually get a refund though, as that money has either already been spent or has been earmarked for future yoga retreats and such.
What a mess...
That or he's funding more boxes to hide his self in...
Sigh. I try not to sweat over the little things in life, and I've been more amused than anything else by the delays and other issues with this Kickstarter.
But if I'm going to have to pay loads more for shipping to the UK then its a bit harder to remain sanguine.
Rolsheen wrote: Two years wait and now we get screwed on the shipping costs, and have to wait until everyone else gets their models (I pledged a Demon Bundle).
Well done Jeremy, you've stopped anyone buying your products in the future
He doesn't care. He was a long time out of the picture before this fiasco and he, it would appear, simply dropped by to scam people out of a large sum of cash.
I'm just going to pay the fether and (hopefully) get my models. I'm tired of this charade and just want my product so I can forget about this, and move on.
SlaveToDorkness wrote: I think it's pretty disingenuous to say their scamming people when there's product ready to ship.
Really? What else do you call reneging on your promises in a way that costs your backers an additional amount upwards of 50% of what they've already paid you? Hub shipping isn't some logistical nightmare, plenty of companies exist that handle it these days, Jeremy just doesn't want to pay for it after taking money from us on the premise he would. And they must have, must have known they weren't going to be able to do the hub shipping months and months ago, but they kept stringing people along - I honestly don't know if that's because Jeremy is such a fragile little flower he would have had another nervous breakdown if he had to deal with any more criticism, or if they were just cynically witholding the information to make sure we were well out of the Paypal refund period, but either way it was deliberate dishonestly in service of their own financial benefit, if that isn't scamming people I don't know what is.
And further, the point of the update is that there *isn't* product ready to ship, not if you're anyone but a Bronze-level Canadian backer.
I'm done with this farce.
Was an early backer of the project and whilst I only pledged a single figure I earmarked a reasonable amount of money for delivery from within the UK.
I eagerly followed the KS including numerous promises of not doing too much and therefore causing delays. I (foolishly) made my pledge based on the quality of the renders, the promise of cheap, hub based shipping and the original dispatch date of November 2014. That date came and went, the updates started to be less informative and more sporadic and yet in the 28 months we have heard nothing but reassurances that hub shipping would be available.
This last update has killed what remained of my hope for the project, he can keep the money I pledged because at this point I've written it off. It will cost me what I pledged to pay for shipping, VAT and customs handling at which point I could have just bought a model from GW for the same outlay and have it assembled and painted by now.
28 months, broken promises and missed shipping dates (and still no shipping manager).
VeteranNoob wrote: . Would love a bitchin' dragon but think I'll wait until they are available in wide sale.
Didn't you see the shared personal status update from a few weeks (months?) back?
Using money to buy things for yourself makes you a filthy, black hearted, capitalist. Therefore, it is only reasonable to assume Jeremy won't be offering these things for sale as that would be perpetuating this evil by encouraging others to do so.
Go and flagellate yourself and give the relevant amount of money to a charity for even considering buying a thing.
Come to think of it, I could dress my first born in a tree costume and so have produced a tree monster before Jeremy Mine walks around and says crazy gak and everything.
Well, at least one person is still apparently willing to don their gleaming white armour and shill for our great artisinal overlord Jeremy in the KS comments.
Oh, and someone messaged them and got a reply about getting a refund - apparently they can't, 'cos all the money's been spent.
And I can't do a chargeback because Visa are gits, but if you're in the EU and used a non-Visa card contact your card issuer, you might be able to get your money back.
Another update, this guy is literally unbelievable.
I mean christ, if he just had the self-awareness to sack up and admit he's screwed everything, I could put this aside and write it off as a loss, just one of those KS projects that doesn't work out. It sucks, but hey that's how things shake out sometimes.
But the sheer fething gall on this guy is both astonishing and enraging. Seriously? You'll try and make the packages a bit lighter, that's your olive branch to the people your incompetence is leaving out of pocket?
Yodhrin wrote: Another update, this guy is literally unbelievable.
I mean christ, if he just had the self-awareness to sack up and admit he's screwed everything, I could put this aside and write it off as a loss, just one of those KS projects that doesn't work out. It sucks, but hey that's how things shake out sometimes.
But the sheer fething gall on this guy is both astonishing and enraging. Seriously? You'll try and make the packages a bit lighter, that's your olive branch to the people your incompetence is leaving out of pocket?
GIRIFY Jeremy, GIRIFY.
As I've found with all KSs the past 5 years they are considered an investment and we won't get our money back. The hilarious/sad drama saga of Robotech confirmed this. I've written all of it off and won't pay more than a few bucks for my mini to be shipped. Like you said, write it off as a loss. Though I gotta say, I'm not in any KSer's shoes and don't understand what they see but quick honesty is better in the end than dragging some of these projects out.
Hello backers. Jeremy here. There is a bit to catch you up on and some really exciting developments, so here we go.
Manufacturing in Canada
The Creature Caster casting facility has been in full production mode for the last few months and I couldn't be happier! After several failed attempts and frustrations with moving manufacturing overseas, we took on the giant task of creating a world class production facility here in Canada. I have never started a project of this scale before and it was both exciting and challenging. What began as a small mold making company had to triple the size of its production facility, and train 4x the number of employees it currently had in order to be up to this challenge. Nothing can really prepare you for a task of this magnitude. The end result was a huge increase in productivity and a sustainable facility that will be making miniatures for years to come.
One thing I could not have anticipated was the enthusiasm and effort that would be made by those who would be helping me make these miniatures. Their contributions have been immense, thanks to everyone on the production team! The casting facility now has a level of output, quality and organization in which I could have never developed on my own. The casting process went from being evolutionary to revolutionary once we structured the department into its current form. The quality of the resin and materials is superb, and the speed in which the models can be made becomes faster and faster. The bins that store the models parts are filling up, and the shipping department is taking shape. Nothing can really prepare you for a project of this size, and many aspects of this company have to not only be evolved but invented. Through it all the quality of the miniatures has never been sacrificed and they are looking phenomenal. It was great to be a part of making this happen and I hope all of you feel some pride in contributing to a Kickstarter that built something special!
What I have been up to
In between a schedule of teaching yoga around the States during the summer, I have been living in Kelowna and casting miniatures, as well as sculpting the super secret miniature, the Vulture Demon minion, and preparing content for the painting videos. It was nice to get back to some hand sculpting! The super secret miniature and the Vulture Demon minion have been a blast to sculpt. There were some aspects of hand sculpting that I was a bit rusty on. I actually sculpted two secret minis and chose what I felt was the better model. I really hope you enjoy the model and I look forward to you discovering it once you open up your packages. One very cool development is discovering how much I am enjoying creating content for the Creature Caster painting and sculpting videos.
Exclusive Creature Caster Content
If you were bummed about not getting the Painting Buddha DVD then worry not. The Creature Caster content is fantastic and delves very deep, including not just painting, but also sculpting tutorials. It is especially nice that we get to share with you sculpting content as this is not often as readily available as painting tutorials. There is a whole section on using green stuff and other materials which will be helpful for doing simple conversions or even your own scratch-built models. It is good to be back and sharing skills with the community, and I am very much looking forward to giving you access to this content.
We feel that the content you will be receiving for your pledge towards the DVD will more than make up for the fact that we are doing this in-house as opposed to outsourced. It is important to note that this design, painting, and sculpting content is exclusively available for those who pledged towards the Painting Buddha DVD.
Shipping
Manufacturing in Canada means that we have had to reformat our shipping. Tracking packages from Canada is the cheapest and best way for backers to get their package. Since we are not manufacturing in Europe we can not avoid the VAT for backers in the EU. The shipping of these models has been the steepest learning curve of all, and we did not anticipate certain realities. What matters to us most is you getting your package reliably and securely. We are doing everything in our power to have the package weight as light as possible, and to make sure that once you have cleared shipping in our Shipping Manager that you will have no more headaches.
The Skykadia system did not allow for changes to the backers’ country. This was to prevent fraudulent activity. We can however make these changes on our end. If you would like to make changes of this type, just email or message us the changes and we will input them on our end for you. We just need your Skykadia user name, the amount you pledged, your address currently in the system, and the country you would like to change to.
Hangout!
Things are ramped up and moving out faster than ever. We are almost at the home stretch, and seeing these miniatures pile up gets me fired up. The quality is excellent. The models assemble beautifully. They paint up like a dream. It has been a long wait but it is going to be so cool to open those packages. Hang in there while we clear the home stretch. Thank you so much for your continued patience and support. I will be doing a Google live hangout in the next few days to talk about the changes made to the production facility and for personal banter. I will post the links in an update so keep an eye out for that.
I notice that "we" did not anticipate certain realities with the shipping.
No, you didn't. The shipping is an issue that was generated far, far before anyone else got involved. Don't pretend that anyone else was involved in this project until well past the point where it was FUBAR.
Unless it is the royal we, which I wouldn't put past him.
I'm just happy this hasn't gone up in smoke, and I'll be getting a model out of it. At this point, I think it's a pretty good outcome, imo... not ideal, but much better than where it looked like things were heading before the casting facility got involved!
RiTides wrote: I'm just happy this hasn't gone up in smoke, and I'll be getting a model out of it. At this point, I think it's a pretty good outcome, imo... not ideal, but much better than where it looked like things were heading before the casting facility got involved!
Agreed. For all the BS there has been, actually getting product in my hands is still a possibility and that makes me satisfied.
RiTides wrote: I'm just happy this hasn't gone up in smoke, and I'll be getting a model out of it. At this point, I think it's a pretty good outcome, imo... not ideal, but much better than where it looked like things were heading before the casting facility got involved!
Agreed. For all the BS there has been, actually getting product in my hands is still a possibility and that makes me satisfied.
Satisfied isn't exactly the word I would use. But, I can't really think of a better word for "at least I finally got the damn thing".
RiTides wrote: I'm just happy this hasn't gone up in smoke, and I'll be getting a model out of it. At this point, I think it's a pretty good outcome, imo... not ideal, but much better than where it looked like things were heading before the casting facility got involved!
Agreed. For all the BS there has been, actually getting product in my hands is still a possibility and that makes me satisfied.
Satisfied isn't exactly the word I would use. But, I can't really think of a better word for "at least I finally got the damn thing".
Agreed, my vocab is derping today, nearest word I could think of
Wow. What a fething tool. And for once I'm pretty much in complete agreement with Yodhrin. I'm so glad something came up at the last moment during the KS (or maybe it was a question he didn't answer?) as I'd planned to back for about $1k worth of models, and then even planned to do so in the PM - which again never happened because it became such an obviously fethed up process by the time it came out.
I'm constantly reminded how lucky I was not to get involved.
It was this
CreatureCaster wrote: While I respect and appreciate your willingness to make suggestions,I just wanted to make a Spider Demon, that looked like a demonic Sil only with a more biomechanical spine, who was originally made by HR Giger.
If we could please read all of our suggestions once over and if they contain sentences along the lines of "please more closely copy GW in order to make it more like something they would make" then please do not share it with me.
I like, GW, and they like me when I am not playing hockey directly on their pond. They want me at least one pond away. (Canadian thing )
... nor would I tap their trees for syrup nor slaughter their pigs for delicious Canadian back bacon.
Plus the subsequent passive aggressive exchange which turned me off to the whole thing. To blatantly be offering a variety of "not GW" models, and then get precious because people ask for other not GW stuff, and feign ignorance that the largest proportion of your sales are going to precisely that and try and take some moral high ground where your influences are just coincidently the same as that market turned me off to the whole thing.
Let's be careful with the language used in this thread - "be polite" still applies even when discussing a campaign as frustrating as this has been to many. Thanks all
Alpharius wrote: I believe the pics are currently only being exclusively shown to his Yoga students.
Of course, most of them have no idea what he's going on about at that point, but, well, you know...
Maybe the Yoga classes are to promote Creature Caster, with the poses inspired by the miniatures, such as "Spider Demon pose" and "Mountain Dragon pose".
Unbelievable, even now one of his Shining Knights is trying to defend him in the comments. I swear this guy could post a google hangout where he sacrifices a dozen-dozen newborns to Beelzebub and someone would still pop up to argue that we should forgive him 'cos he sculpts really nice dragons
I wanted to and even messaged CC via KS as to when it would be but didn't recieve an answer so didn't know until it was over. He likely did this to avoid questions.
So how many people are selling their models? and how many of those people are in shipping waves 1, 2, and 3 just so I know how flooded the markets going to be before I even get mine delivered.
Rolsheen wrote: So how many people are selling their models? and how many of those people are in shipping waves 1, 2, and 3 just so I know how flooded the markets going to be before I even get mine delivered.
I think they have to GET their models before they can sell them. So not much danger there.
Rolsheen wrote: So how many people are selling their models? and how many of those people are in shipping waves 1, 2, and 3 just so I know how flooded the markets going to be before I even get mine delivered.
I think they have to GET their models before they can sell them. So not much danger there.
Yeah, right?
When my Mountain Dragon comes it is going on eBay. Not sure where I fall in the waves, but I don't really give a feth any more anyway since this campaign has been a gak storm for far too long.
It is amusing that the people who ordered the DVD are getting store credit. Who would want to buy from Creature Caster after this?
Also. many comments on the KS page are criticizing the quality of the castings. I don't see much wrong with the castings which made me wonder if anyone else had issues with the production models shown? If so, what are your grievances?
Are there any Canadian backers that have been contacted about wave 1 shipping on here? If so what is the process and how much are you being charged for shipping?
slk28850 wrote: Are there any Canadian backers that have been contacted about wave 1 shipping on here? If so what is the process and how much are you being charged for shipping?
I received an email yesterday about the wave 1 shipping. It was $ 12 CAN roughly.
Thanks for that update, PalmerC! I'm eager to hear when Canadian bronze-only shipping is done and the next wave (which I'm guessing will at least include the US) begins, since I'm only pledged for a bronze model and so hoping I might be able to have this sorted by the end of the year-ish!
RiTides wrote: Thanks for that update, PalmerC! I'm eager to hear when Canadian bronze-only shipping is done and the next wave (which I'm guessing will at least include the US) begins, since I'm only pledged for a bronze model and so hoping I might be able to have this sorted by the end of the year-ish!
No problem I can post updates on my transaction as I get notified etc and hopefully on arrival
Hey everyone I received my Spider Demon today. All parts included nothing appears broken or miscast at first glance. It looks like I received two head and sword options as well as an extra figure that I do not believe I was supposed to get which is nice. To my knowledge since I only ordered the one demon I didn't think I was getting any other options. Anyway hopefully everyone else gets there's soon shipping was without a hitch.
PalmerC wrote: Hey everyone I received my Spider Demon today. All parts included nothing appears broken or miscast at first glance. It looks like I received two head and sword options as well as an extra figure that I do not believe I was supposed to get which is nice. To my knowledge since I only ordered the one demon I didn't think I was getting any other options. Anyway hopefully everyone else gets there's soon shipping was without a hitch.
Congrats on making it to the end!
That extra figure may be the "super secret" KS exclusive mini provided to all backers.
If you post pictures up on the KS page, you may want to obscure the secret mini. Some people might bark at you for ruining the "surprise."
Your spider demon looks great. It is nice that the models are shipping. Still feel awful for non-US and CA folks, though.
I was really expecting something better than robed hooded lackey for the super secret surprise model, but this is Jeremy after all so it's better than a miscast glob that he can say is a snot demon or something. Glad I got a refund, sorry for all who have stuck it out.
That extra figure may be the "super secret" KS exclusive mini provided to all backers.
If you post pictures up on the KS page, you may want to obscure the secret mini. Some people might bark at you for ruining the "surprise."
.
Sorry didn't mean to spoil the surprise. I honestly haven't been following the KS page that's why I didn't even know if I was eligible for the extra options at this point. I have mainly followed this thread when on Dakar browsing.
That extra figure may be the "super secret" KS exclusive mini provided to all backers.
If you post pictures up on the KS page, you may want to obscure the secret mini. Some people might bark at you for ruining the "surprise."
.
Sorry didn't mean to spoil the surprise. I honestly haven't been following the KS page that's why I didn't even know if I was eligible for the extra options at this point. I have mainly followed this thread when on Dakar browsing.
No problem, and I wasn't upset about seeing the secret mini. I just didn't want you to catch heat from some of the KS backers if you shared that photo on the campaign page.
Rolsheen wrote: Jeremy is up to his usual nonsense, saying he won't replace untracked packages lost in shipping.
Where was this?
And...is this a choice a backer can make?
They can choose to pay less for 'untracked shipping'?
I hope it was significantly less, because that's a gamble right there, and one that I wouldn't necessarily trust all parties involved with, at all.
When shipping small packages like this internationally the cost for tracking the packages becomes disproportionately high compared to the cost of the order. We know that many of you want to keep your shipping costs as low as possible. For example, the cost to ship a package to the UK untracked is ~$15 CAD and with tracking is ~53CAD. Because of this we would also like to offer a way for backers to choose between tracked and untracked packages. This is not possible with our current system.
We were hoping to add this feature into the Skykadia system so that backers could easily select between tracked and untracked, but it does not seem to be possible to make these changes to Skykadia in a way that will work correctly with the mailing program.
I'm just gonna suck it up, stump up the cash. See if the models are as good as he boasts they are. If not, flog it. If so, then they're going away for a long while until I feel less sickened by this god awful Kickstarter performance.
Rolsheen wrote: Jeremy is up to his usual nonsense, saying he won't replace untracked packages lost in shipping.
Where was this?
And...is this a choice a backer can make?
They can choose to pay less for 'untracked shipping'?
I hope it was significantly less, because that's a gamble right there, and one that I wouldn't necessarily trust all parties involved with, at all.
When shipping small packages like this internationally the cost for tracking the packages becomes disproportionately high compared to the cost of the order. We know that many of you want to keep your shipping costs as low as possible. For example, the cost to ship a package to the UK untracked is ~$15 CAD and with tracking is ~53CAD. Because of this we would also like to offer a way for backers to choose between tracked and untracked packages. This is not possible with our current system.
We were hoping to add this feature into the Skykadia system so that backers could easily select between tracked and untracked, but it does not seem to be possible to make these changes to Skykadia in a way that will work correctly with the mailing program.
Yeah... I don't like this.
Colour me highly skeptical. The only way I can see a logistics company charging that much for tracking on a deal including hundreds (thousands?) of shipments is if he's not actually made any effort to negotiate a price and is just sending them out at the standard rate. I sent a package to the US this year, fully tracked, collected from my home, and likely a lot heavier than most of these parcels, for less, as an ordinary consumer.
Im from Canada. Tracked shipping anywhere but the US is astronomical. It's disgusting, but there's nothing any of us can do about it. Canadians are about the most complacent people you'll meet anywhere. High taxes and mediocre services at best. Governments here get away with fleecing people on everything. It's just the way it is here.
greywulf wrote: Im from Canada. Tracked shipping anywhere but the US is astronomical. It's disgusting, but there's nothing any of us can do about it. Canadians are about the most complacent people you'll meet anywhere. High taxes and mediocre services at best. Governments here get away with fleecing people on everything. It's just the way it is here.
It still doesn't excuse taking nearly 3 years to arrive at this information.
Well, I just went and got a quote, as an ordinary pleb, for shipping a 12"x8"x6" parcel weighing a full kilo from Canada post, with tracking, to the UK, and it came back at CAD$60 give or take a few cents.
I'm not sure the boxes will need to be as big or as heavy as that, certainly for single models.
I'm back on the skeptical train. I fully accept shipping to the UK from North America is expensive, that would be unavoidable, but are we seriously saying that with hundreds of parcels to ship, he couldn't negotiate a better deal than $7 off the cost literally anyone can walk in off the street and get from the post office for a single parcel?
I think he could have done an awful, awful lot better on the shipping.
Hello guys. I'm the unlucky bastard who ordered ~2100CAD worth of models and is looking at a 700CAD tax for his shipment. I'm therefore looking for people willing to buy off some models from me.
What a train wreck this turned out to be, so sorry for those who stuck with the guy. I got a refund after about a year, took a minor loss on that but think I made the right decision in the end. An abject lesson in how not to run a kickstarter. Seemed such a nice guy to start with but just seems completely overwhelmed by the whole thing.
The sad thing is I now avoid one man startups, which is the kind of operations kickstarter originally was intended to help. I had a similar problem with kraken mats - got a very blue mat instead of the colours advertised, got a message saying they were looking into it, then a few weeks later another message saying the colours were within 5% of the original and therefore no refund/replacement.
I still back projects and will continue to do so, but it makes the experience nerve wracking when it should be enjoyable.
I am going to get hit for 20% of my pledge by customs.
But the kicker is if I choose the tracked option which is about half again my pledge cost the cockwombles at hmrc include the shipping amount when charging the 20%.
And finally to rub salt in the wound I get to pay vat for a dvd I am not even getting.
So thank you Jeremy you incompetent hippy con artist I am guessing he does not beleive in Karma.
Although in this case I am hoping to work out somthing more earthly than karma as a nice surprise for him.
The second shipping wave consists of orders that only have bronze models (Spider Demon or Treewalker). It includes orders anywhere in the world. By this we mean all international countries. We have had many request for untracked shipping and have been very busy updating our shipping program with this information. We have begun sending requests for payment today and expect to have all the requests sent out by the 19th. If you think you should be part of this wave but have not received a request for payment by the 20th please contact us. The best way to contact us is through private message on kickstarter, or at creaturecaster@gmail.com. We will begin shipping this wave Wednesday the 23rd.
Patience and support my hole, Jeremy would have been dragged out of his burning yurt and strung up with his own organic locally-sourced ethical hemp ropes if some backers had their way.
For myself - I'm done. The guy can't acknowledge his mistakes, he won't offer refunds, and he won't even help to facilitate people offload their pledge to someone willing in Canada, so it's time to avert the sunk cost fallacy and just tell him to jog on, no point throwing away more money. As far as I'm concerned this KS failed to deliver, so it goes in the "write off your loss and badmouth the cretin who ran it at every justifiable opportunity" pile.
Yodhrin wrote: Patience and support my hole, Jeremy would have been dragged out of his burning yurt and strung up with his own organic locally-sourced ethical hemp ropes if some backers had their way.
Love the visual.
Yodhrin wrote: For myself - I'm done. The guy can't acknowledge his mistakes, he won't offer refunds, and he won't even help to facilitate people offload their pledge to someone willing in Canada, so it's time to avert the sunk cost fallacy and just tell him to jog on, no point throwing away more money. As far as I'm concerned this KS failed to deliver, so it goes in the "write off your loss and badmouth the cretin who ran it at every justifiable opportunity" pile.
Is there a chance in hell those EU backers organizing a legal response could result in any sort of concessions from Creature Caster? I know nothing of EU law, but it seems like you guys have some great consumer protections and Jeremy's ham-fisted handling of the campaign should provide some openings for legal action.
Looks like this campaign will end on a sour note for many of us.
A backer posted this review of his pledge and it is not reassuring:
Chris Chance wrote:Ok...so....le sigh.
I've not actually commented on this campaign with regard to the delays or other problems that it's had. I kept the faith and was patient, I even paid the extra postage costs for recorded delivery to the UK...despite the Hub Shipping promise.
I picked up the box from the Post Office today....excited...and...well...I'm exceptionally disappointed.
What I saw in this campaign was detail, care, attention and the "master" models looked fantastic and crisp.
What I now have is a Spider Demon and Treewalker who both have misalligned moulds which cut through detail on quite visible parts of the figure. Fixing these will be a mild nightmare. Even once I've finished fixing the mould lines, I'm then going to have to go over each figure and carefully remove tiny bits of Resin flakes...removing the mould block which is used to inject the Resin is one thing but haven't to sit and spend a painstaking amount of time to remove all these tiny bits is going to turn into a grind.
Unfortunately, that's not my only complaint...if it was, I'd not be leaving this comment. The models themselves....they would be good if it wasn't for the fact I can tell they've been produced cheaply. Where there should be nice crisp definition, there is a blurring of lines and merging over details. Instead of nice clear "teeth" on the pincers of the Spider Demon, I've got a set of blobs that, instead of nicely defined ribbing/vines that "pop" I've got a head that looks like she's had spaghetti dumped on it and a lack of definition.
Basically....nothing is CRISP. The detail is gone. What I backed and saw just after the campaign was crisp, clean lines with real character and soul....what I have is an echo of what I was being told I would get.....like compressing an image file multiple times and fuzzing all the details.
I paid $194.90 for this due to paying extra shipping costs. In honesty, if I knew the product would turn out like this, I wouldn't have paid the shipping costs....I wouldn't have backed....I simply wouldn't have purchased these if seen in a store or similar....I just don't want them any more.
Instead of figures that I thought would be using high quality resin made by professionals that have years of experience (since, initially, you were talking about using the UK) I feel like I've not been sold Chinese recasts. I purchased models from ForgeWorld and other smaller suppliers and the resin is crisp....it's a light grey....it feels like resin under your fingers. This stuff feels like plastic, the resin isn't crisp...it might as well have been cast in cheap plastic considering what I'm currently looking at has less detail than a Games Workshop plastic kit (which costs LESS than this).
$194.90. That's $100 a piece! That's £60 each. I can go down to Games Workshop and buy a large plastic kit for that money but this....I dunno...maybe I'll look tomorrow and feel differently but right now I feel like I've just picked up a box of disappointment and want to just throw them away to avoid being reminded of the money I've spent and the HUGE amount of time I've wasted waiting on them instead of picking up something similar from just around the corner for less (GW Sylvaneth Treelord Ancient for £37, perhaps?) and been able to convert and change it for the remaining £23 to create something unique that I actually wanted in the end.
To be blunt....I want my money back and...you know....I won't get it....and I just feel cheated and lied to.
Promised and not delivered.
Hub shipping, Certificate of Authenticity, Online Art book......
I'll add the following quote to the "not delivered" list...."super detailed sculptures, a perfect snapshot of the CG model, cast in high quality grey resin, EXACT duplication of the master model, VERY LITTLE clean up required".
A backer posted this review of his pledge and it is not reassuring:
Spoiler:
Chris Chance wrote:Ok...so....le sigh.
I've not actually commented on this campaign with regard to the delays or other problems that it's had. I kept the faith and was patient, I even paid the extra postage costs for recorded delivery to the UK...despite the Hub Shipping promise.
I picked up the box from the Post Office today....excited...and...well...I'm exceptionally disappointed.
What I saw in this campaign was detail, care, attention and the "master" models looked fantastic and crisp.
What I now have is a Spider Demon and Treewalker who both have misalligned moulds which cut through detail on quite visible parts of the figure. Fixing these will be a mild nightmare. Even once I've finished fixing the mould lines, I'm then going to have to go over each figure and carefully remove tiny bits of Resin flakes...removing the mould block which is used to inject the Resin is one thing but haven't to sit and spend a painstaking amount of time to remove all these tiny bits is going to turn into a grind.
Unfortunately, that's not my only complaint...if it was, I'd not be leaving this comment. The models themselves....they would be good if it wasn't for the fact I can tell they've been produced cheaply. Where there should be nice crisp definition, there is a blurring of lines and merging over details. Instead of nice clear "teeth" on the pincers of the Spider Demon, I've got a set of blobs that, instead of nicely defined ribbing/vines that "pop" I've got a head that looks like she's had spaghetti dumped on it and a lack of definition.
Basically....nothing is CRISP. The detail is gone. What I backed and saw just after the campaign was crisp, clean lines with real character and soul....what I have is an echo of what I was being told I would get.....like compressing an image file multiple times and fuzzing all the details.
I paid $194.90 for this due to paying extra shipping costs. In honesty, if I knew the product would turn out like this, I wouldn't have paid the shipping costs....I wouldn't have backed....I simply wouldn't have purchased these if seen in a store or similar....I just don't want them any more.
Instead of figures that I thought would be using high quality resin made by professionals that have years of experience (since, initially, you were talking about using the UK) I feel like I've not been sold Chinese recasts. I purchased models from ForgeWorld and other smaller suppliers and the resin is crisp....it's a light grey....it feels like resin under your fingers. This stuff feels like plastic, the resin isn't crisp...it might as well have been cast in cheap plastic considering what I'm currently looking at has less detail than a Games Workshop plastic kit (which costs LESS than this).
$194.90. That's $100 a piece! That's £60 each. I can go down to Games Workshop and buy a large plastic kit for that money but this....I dunno...maybe I'll look tomorrow and feel differently but right now I feel like I've just picked up a box of disappointment and want to just throw them away to avoid being reminded of the money I've spent and the HUGE amount of time I've wasted waiting on them instead of picking up something similar from just around the corner for less (GW Sylvaneth Treelord Ancient for £37, perhaps?) and been able to convert and change it for the remaining £23 to create something unique that I actually wanted in the end.
To be blunt....I want my money back and...you know....I won't get it....and I just feel cheated and lied to.
Promised and not delivered.
Hub shipping, Certificate of Authenticity, Online Art book......
I'll add the following quote to the "not delivered" list...."super detailed sculptures, a perfect snapshot of the CG model, cast in high quality grey resin, EXACT duplication of the master model, VERY LITTLE clean up required".
I just....I think I've made myself clear.
Feth.......
Mine should be on the way. Paid the $16US for shipping. I'll let you know what it looks like when I get it. Will take pictures. This is not promising at all. This is a disaster.
Anytime I get something from a kickstarter I immediately inventory and quality control the package and send them an email with any deficiencies. I have had nothing but good results with this. It depends on customer service though.
got those exact models I am going to tell jeremy when he comes looking for a huge amount of postage to go feth himself and he can jam his gakky sculpts up up his cheap hippy ass..
In fact would it not be nice if we all told him to keep them let's see him get rid of a couple of tons of cheap ass resin in canada would probably cost himna fortune.
slk28850 wrote: Anytime I get something from a kickstarter I immediately inventory and quality control the package and send them an email with any deficiencies. I have had nothing but good results with this. It depends on customer service though.
While a good policy, the problem isn't just a matter of bad casts. The details of the models seem to be a lot softer than what we were promised (apparently the actual models don't have nearly the same crispness as the renders)--at least according to those who have received their packages.
And it should be said that Creature Caster and Jeremy have had atrocious customer service throughout this campaign, so relying on CC to make good on bad casts isn't a sure thing. Pretty much everything promised at the start of the campaign save for the actual designs of the models has changed or been invalidated through later actions. CC/Jeremy are kinda gak when it comes to "making good" on the backers' behalf.
I am so cynical about this campaign I really doubt whether replacements would be sent to backers. I can imagine CC/Jeremy spinning the imperfections as proof that the models are artisanal and therefore those flaws should be seen as an asset to the model.
Still not sure if the $17 is worth getting the model to the US I don't even want anymore. Sucks he had those problems as I was there day 1 when this excitement started and who it was creating these models. I'll see when--if--I get my model. Doubt I could sell it for much. Maybe use as a statue or some terrain or display board piece.
So in the latest update, Jeremy announces free shipping on orders above $270!!!!
...but only for future retail buyers, not Kickstarter Backers. He helpfully offers that you could always buy an additional $270 of product at retail, and bundle that order with your KS (thus waiting even longer), and get free shipping on all of it!
...this has to be a bad fever dream, right?
JOKE wrote: Hello Creature Caster Backers:
It has been a little over two weeks since our last update. We have been very busy behind the scenes mailing out packages and pushing towards completion of the casting for the silver models. We have a lot to share with you today! There is a very important announcement at the end of the update so please don’t miss it!
Shipping so far:
We have shipped out nearly 500 packages all over the world! There were a couple minor technical hurdles to overcome but now that those have been sorted out we don’t foresee any other problems in the future. The process of packaging and mailing has been undergoing continual refinement, and we are at the point where we are happy with both the efficiency and our ability to safeguard that the packages are sent out correctly. We use a double check system for this in which an order is printed, pieces are pulled from bins, and placed on a packing template. The template is then looked over by a second packer, a picture is taken, and then the pieces are bagged. This means that when there is a problem with your order we can easily check and see if the error occurred during packaging or shipping. This process has really allowed us to improve the reliability of our system.
3rd Round of Shipping:
We have decided to move away from referring to our shipping schedule in waves and will instead be referring to it as shipping rounds. As the kickstarter was entitled first wave, the use of the wave terminology was causing some confusion. The 3rd Round of shipping will consist of all the backers with gold models only in their order. This means if you have only gold models (dragons of any type) we will begin shipping these models early next week. We would like to remind backers to login to the skykadia system www.skykadia.com/creature-caster/ and check that the shipping address they have provided is accurate. Please do not pay for shipping if you need to make changes to your address. Do not pay for tracked shipping if you would like to request shipping without tracking. Requests for payment will be going out for the rest of this week. If you qualify for either the 3rd wave or previous waves of shipping and have not received your request for payment by Monday the 12th please let us know.
4. Be aware that if you choose to have your shipments sent without tracking we cannot offer replacements for lost or damaged packages.
New Shipping Rounds:
We have decided to break the 4th round of shipping into smaller rounds to help us get packages out to backers faster and in a more orderly fashion. The new rounds will be as follows:
4th Round: Backers with Gold and Bronze Models in their orders (Dragons, Spider Demons, Treewalkers)
5th Round: Backers with Silver Models Only (Vulture, Warrior, Plague, Maggot, and Pincer)
6th Round: All remaining backers.
Each round will be following immediately on the heels of the last round. So as soon as round 3 is finished we will begin round 4. As we anticipate that we will be continuously shipping from now till the end of the kickstarter (see below), we will not be posting expected dates for when each round will begin. Instead with each subsequent update we will let you know what round is completed and which round will begin next.
End of Creature Caster First Wave:
The end of production is just around the corner. We expect that all the silver models will have left the production cue by the first week of January, and that we will complete shipping by the second week of January. It has been a long wait for many of you, and we really appreciate all the support and patience our backers have shown. All of you made this possible and we are incredibly thankful that so many of you have stood by us and had our back through some difficult times!
Creature Caster Retail:
With the end of the Kickstarter in sight a lot of negotiation and discussion has been happening between Jeremy and the production team. As many of you are aware the production team came on board relatively late in the Kickstarter after Jeremy had experienced trouble sourcing production overseas. We were contracted to expand our facilities and complete production. What emerged from this was much closer to a partnership than a contract. We worked hand in hand with Jeremy, and he was often physically present on the production floor, lending his expertise and experience. We can’t thank Jeremy enough for the time and energy he put into helping the production team.
We are happy to say that this partnership has now been formalized. Papers have been signed and everyone is ready to move forward! The Creature Caster Production Team and Jeremy will be merging to create a complete miniature pipeline. We will have hands on control of every aspect of model creation, from concept to completion. What started as, essentially, a one-man operation, has grown into an efficient and dedicated team. Perhaps most importantly, each member of the team loves and has been involved in the miniature wargaming hobby for most of their lives. Creature Caster has a great deal in store for the future. We have plans to improve and expand production, and have new products that we are expecting to bring to market. We can’t wait to share all our plans with you, and for the community to get to know us all better.
Retail Shipping:
Now that our discussions for retail have been formalized in our agreement with Jeremy, we can announce our plans for retail shipping. Please read the following carefully as we do not want to cause any confusion with our backers.
1. During retail we will be offering free shipping on orders over $175 CAD (Before shipping costs or taxes, and after any other discounts) to any order in Canada or the United States.
2. During retail we will be offering free shipping on orders over $270 CAD (Before shipping costs or taxes, and after any other discounts) to any International order.
The above refers specifically to orders that are placed during retail, and is not referring to orders that have been placed during the kickstarter. However, the following does apply:
1. If a backer does not pay for shipping during the kickstarter campaign their order will be held in perpetuity.
2. If a Creature Caster First Wave backer places an order in retail that qualifies for free shipping (and that backer has a held kickstarter order) then the retail order will be bundled with the held order, and the entire bundle will ship for free.
3. Please do not pay for shipping if you would like your order held. Once shipping is paid the kickstarter orders immediately enter our shipping cue and can be processed in as little as one day.
We hope that this option will appeal to backers who feel that the cost for shipping is too high but would be interested in purchasing additional models if the cost for shipping was lower. We don’t expect this to appeal to everyone, and all our previous kickstarter shipping options are still available for those who are not interested. We do want to caution that as we first move into retail the stock of models will be very limited, and orders will be fulfilled on a first come first serve basis. We apologize that this announcement could not have been made earlier as retail negotiations were ongoing.
Thanks again, and please stay tuned for our future updates!
Maybe he just thinks "feth it, I've burned all of my bridges anyway, I'm off to do some yoga!"
Pretty much this, I think. The lesson here is, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
Even with the benefit of hindsight the only part of this campaign that seemed "too good to be true" was the delivery estimate (which as it turned out was an outrageous lie by Jeremy).
In terms of cost, $85 CAD plus shipping for a Greater Daemon sized resin figure seems par for the course, even EU friendly hub shipping seemed realistic at the time.
The only lesson that i learned was that Jeremy is a giant douche.
Offering "free" shipping in retail when they just bent us all over for shipping as backers. Its like they don't even say this stuff out loud to see if it passes the straight face test before they slap it in an update. I proposed to them that they offer a shipping credit to all of the backers so say $50 so that way if you're at that mark or less you'll get free shipping and if you're at that or above at least it is something. That is $74,350.00 to give every backer the $50 credit. They have the dvd money plus 3yrs of our time. I'd say that would be fair.
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: Even with the benefit of hindsight the only part of this campaign that seemed "too good to be true" was the delivery estimate (which as it turned out was an outrageous lie by Jeremy).
In terms of cost, $85 CAD plus shipping for a Greater Daemon sized resin figure seems par for the course, even EU friendly hub shipping seemed realistic at the time.
The only lesson that i learned was that Jeremy is a giant douche.
Agree with all of the above, and bolded the bit that I extra double super agree with.
Let's avoid language like the above when discussing this, please - Rule #1 of Dakka is "be polite", and it's possible to make the same point without that kind of language.
Jeremy is an unethical businessman who has demonstrated time and again that his promises are worthless, who has demonstrated time and again that he does not have his investor's interests at heart, and who has demonstrated time and again that he is a person who can be aptly compared to a device* which administers a hygienic stream of water to sensitive body parts.
RiTides wrote: Let's avoid language like the above when discussing this, please - Rule #1 of Dakka is "be polite", and it's possible to make the same point without that kind of language.
Thanks all
Sorry RiTides, won't happen again. Jeremy brings out the worst in me
RiTides wrote: Let's avoid language like the above when discussing this, please - Rule #1 of Dakka is "be polite", and it's possible to make the same point without that kind of language.
Thanks all
Sorry RiTides, won't happen again. Jeremy brings out the worst in me
Got mine today. Mine is the not-Slaanesh demon (forgot what she was called in the KS). I haven't done any work with it yet other than looking at it and matching up the parts. It's a mix of quality. The resin looks and feels a lot like Forgeworld's resin. Except her sword looks and feels like Finecast resin. Usual mold lines. Not much extra resin to trim away. Some annoying mold shift, but nothing too horrible. The details on some parts are better than others, so some parts were cast earlier in the molds' lifespan and some later.
And, of course, I'm missing a part of one of her arms. Maybe I'll be able to get that replaced. Wish me luck.
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. The overall quality of casting is acceptable for use. And the part that's missing is something that even I might be able to reproduce out of green stuff, and I can barely green stuff gaps with competence.
I don't post much here but did you guys see the announcement that Jeremy has cut and run from the campaign entirely? It was posted as a comment in the update thread -
"Hi Everyone,
We need to make it clear that the kickstarter which was started by Jeremy is a completely separate entity to the company that will be handling retail. Essentially the team that was contracted to finish the production of the kickstarter will be purchasing Jeremy's intellectual property and running it independently. We have learnt a lot from our participation in this kickstarter, and our vision of the future is significantly different from how things have been done in the past. Part of this is to offer free shipping on qualifying purchases. We have chosen to extend this offer to kickstarter backers, at cost to ourselves as a company. This offer has nothing to do with our contracted obligations to fulfill the kickstarter, but it is something we wanted to extend to backers in recognition of your contribution to this project.
Thanks,
The Creature Caster Production Team."
As one of the 32 poor fools to back at the "Epic Bundle" level this really just has me shaking my head.
Banemorth wrote: I don't post much here but did you guys see the announcement that Jeremy has cut and run from the campaign entirely? It was posted as a comment in the update thread -
"Hi Everyone,
We need to make it clear that the kickstarter which was started by Jeremy is a completely separate entity to the company that will be handling retail. Essentially the team that was contracted to finish the production of the kickstarter will be purchasing Jeremy's intellectual property and running it independently. We have learnt a lot from our participation in this kickstarter, and our vision of the future is significantly different from how things have been done in the past. Part of this is to offer free shipping on qualifying purchases. We have chosen to extend this offer to kickstarter backers, at cost to ourselves as a company. This offer has nothing to do with our contracted obligations to fulfill the kickstarter, but it is something we wanted to extend to backers in recognition of your contribution to this project.
Thanks,
The Creature Caster Production Team."
As one of the 32 poor fools to back at the "Epic Bundle" level this really just has me shaking my head.
And so ends the tale of Earth's most reluctant capitalist.
Some say Jeremy was last seen burning down his home and wandering in to the Canadian wastes, handing out granola to the lucky homeless.
Some say he made a pilgrimage to Cuba, and has begun his vigil over the tomb of Castro, until the end times when he will return and free us from the shackles of profit.
Seriously, I've said all I can say about this over on the Kickstarter page. At least it'll all be over soon.
Does Jeremy's retirement from this campaign change anything in terms of Kickstarter's policies?
We, the backers, gave money to Jeremy Glen, not the unknown "Creature Caster Team" that is now apparently in control of the IP and fulfillment of these models, so does this change in stewardship nullify any of the protections Kickstarter had in place for Jeremy as the project's creator?
Can backers go after Jeremy for essentially selling the company that we funded without consulting us?
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: I'm still not entirely convinced that the "Creature Caster Production Team" is not just another way of saying "Jeremy Glen".
I mean, who in their right mind would have purchased the Creature Caster IP from Jeremy after all that has occurred?
The sculpts still have value if you can convince people that this Jeremy character has nothing to do with them anymore.
Although, It wouldn't be the first time a KS feth-up continue business, claiming to be someone else in an attempt to escape their toxic reputation. A certain "Tony Reidy" comes to mind.
I doubt it as long as a 'reasonable' attempt is made to deliver the KS I'm sure he's clear
and even if there was I doubt eco-Jeremy (or creature caster) have huge amounts of assets to go after
it actually sounds like it's a good thing the team have stepped in otherwise nothing might be getting delivered with the same lack of ability to do much
and even if there was I doubt eco-Jeremy (or creature caster) have huge amounts of assets to go after
it actually sounds like it's a good thing the team have stepped in otherwise nothing might be getting delivered with the same lack of ability to do much
I suppose what is reasonable in this case would need to be determined (as most of the developments in this campaign seemed unreasonable to me). But you are likely right, nothing will probably come from this.
I am really curious about the obligation for the Painting Buddha DVD, though.
A few weeks ago Jeremy stated he would be providing content for all backers (not just the ones who purchased the DVD) as a replacement for the content Painting Buddha was no longer able to deliver. With Jeremy's exit from the company the status of the painting guides is unknown but probably shelved never to see the light of day. What happens to those funds backers provided for the DVDs? Probably offered to the heavens in a plume of patchouli smoke, but for those who paid for that content they should be reimbursed or otherwise compensated.
Also, I believe there is additional missing content promised from the Kickstarter like the digital art book. I doubt that is ever going to happen. (As an aside, Kickstarters need to stop offering those. Are they ever provided? If they are provided does anyone care? )
At this point I couldn't care less about the DVD or art book. I'd love my money back but I know there is a less-than-zero chance of that happening. So I just pray that I get some decent models. I've learned not to spend more than a thousand dollars on guy's first Kickstarter though.
I cannot count how many times I have (luckily) forgotten about this crap show since I backed it.
I almost didn't pay for my shipping. Just wanted to be a complete wash, but I bet I can sell it for more than what I paid to get it shipped, right?
I got a possessed dragon. Given what's been said about the quality of models coming in, I'm expecting a trainwreck really. This has be the worst Kickstarter I have backed and full of really stupid drama. I'll never support anything that man makes again.
We've seen an unboxing of the spider Daemon (keeper of secrets stand-in) that looked decent. I'm definitely curious about the quality still to come. And feeling really bad for you guys who got screwed on this.
Got the Treewalker model for Wehrkind this morning, and it looks great to me. He might have a more critical eye as someone who has done casting, but I looked over the pieces and the body and heads are just excellent. A few branch pieces have a visible mold line, but it can be scraped off. Overall I'm very pleased with the model and can't wait to see him paint it!
Received mine today. Got the Treewalker and Spider Demon. The Treewalker I received is the best of the two, with moderate flash and very few spots with soft detail. The Spider Demon is a disappointment, though. She' s fine from the neck down, but both heads were messed up. They both have very soft detail on the right side of the face, and both have left cheeks that look like a chunk was taken out of them. Casting quality is sub-par; even the the Treewalker is more like a high quality pvc figure than an expensive resin one. However, I'm rid of this kickstarter and it's Avatar of Special Snowflakes, and sad to say it's the best part of this debacle.
Necryan wrote: Casting quality is sub-par; even the the Treewalker is more like a high quality pvc figure than an expensive resin one.
Major disappointment that the casting quality seems to be consistently bad throughout rather than a case of some people receiving bad casts as exceptions.
Any chance you could post pics of your Spider Demon or Treewalker?
Hi all,
I sent a bunch of questions to creature caster team and here are their responses:
1. how much the models (specifically the two dragons in my pledge) will be priced at for retail. A: Retail pricing has not been fully confirmed at this time, however we are planning on offering special pricing to kickstarter backers that will make the purchase price similar to the kickstarter price.
2. whether there is any chance of stock of these two models (emperor and mountain dragon) becoming limited during retail. A: If you are worried about your kickstarter order not being fulfilled due to retail, we are not selling any of the pieces that are part of the kickstarter. Those packages will remain in storage. However when increasing your order, our stock will be quite limited to begin, as we will be transitioning straight from kickstarter production to retail production and sales.
3. whether your free shipping option for international delivery is tracked and insured? A: It is tracked and insured to any country that is eligible for tracked mail. The vast majority of countries are.
4. when do you expect to start selling retail and at this stage whether there is a chance that this plan will not come to fruition? A: We are 100% committed to going to retail in January. The Production team has purchased the IP from Jeremy and the retail business will be a separate entity from the kickstarter. The only crossover is that the production team has seen how much backers supported Jeremy and indirectly supported us, and we would like to give back as much as possible to those backers. Much of the production team's planned revenue stream for the coming year relates to this retail business.
5. Separately, I see several people complaining about missing parts from their pledges and poorer than expected quality of the casts. What have you done, if anything, to improve quality control ? A: If parts are missing we conduct a review and then send those part out free of charge. In terms of quality we believe we are producing forgeworld (a leader in resin miniatures) quality product. We actually feel our resin quality is superior and that our casting is of equal quality (in some ways better in some ways worse).
Some reviewers seem to be complaining about mold lines, flash, and air bubbles which are common on all products that are produced with a 2 part mold. We do everything possible to minimize this, and feel that the models will be easily assembled by anyone with experience working with miniatures. Another review complained about bent parts, this is again very common with resin, and simply heating under hot water will allow the resin to be bent back into shape.
A further review mentioned that our resin felt like plastic... We find this an unusual criticism as resin is a type of plastic. What makes resin grey is the amount of dye that is added to the product. Another complaint mentioned different colored pieces, this was done early in the process when we were trying to determine the ideal color for the resin. As color had no effect on quality, and being long into the hobby ourselves we assumed that everyone would be priming and painting the models, we didn't expect this to be an issue.
Moving forward we will be taking extra steps to ensure the color is consistent between batches. What makes resin brittle is the amount of filler material that is added to the resin. We are probably the only company that doesn't add fillers to our resin, or have our resin formulated to include fillers. These fillers are much cheaper than actual pure resin, and cause the resin to become brittle. This brittleness makes it difficult to tool (cut/drill) the resin, as well as making it prone to breakage when dropped or knocked over. We aren't sure why anyone would want a more brittle, cheaper quality product, as the one reviewer seemed to desire.
We actually perform a triple check on all parts that are sent out. Once when demolding, and then have two people perform a check in the bagging and packaging process. Despite this some poor quality casts or missing pieces are going to be inevitable, but we will do everything within reason to make sure our customers are happy with what they have received. We are still working out our refund policy for retail but anticipate that it will be as follows - if you aren't satisfied mail it back for a full refund or replacement. Our actual packing and protection we give to the model is superior to any other company we have encountered, as we put each model in its own bubble bag.
We have had several compliments on the quality of the models through email and several in the comments section also... please remember that the comments section of the kickstarter tends towards negativity, and positive reviews tend to be 1 or 2 lines where negative reviews seem to go on for half a page. In addition we have had a year of extremely intense mold making and have learnt every step of the way. The spider demon and treewalker are some of the first molds, whereas the dragons are some of the last molds. While we are happy with the quality of the spider demon and treewalker, we did learn from the process of making such complicated molds, and we are even more pleased with the dragons and silver level models. Moving forward with new sculpts and molds there are even further improvements we feel we could make both in the sculpting process, and in mold making phase.
6. finally, what else do you have in the pipeline for development of new models and what timescales are you working to on that? A: Yes we have new models in development already. We can't reveal too much at this time, however we plan on dropping hints and previews in the upcoming weeks. If you have any suggestions we are always happy to consider them!
7. I haven't received a shipping request yet A: Canadapost has run into technical problems which they say will be resolved in a couple of days. Unfortunately it has slowed down the entire shipping process. Sorry for the inconvenience. The approximate cost of shipping two dragons to the UK will be ~60CAD.
We appreciate your patience and support throughout what has been a challenging kickstarter. It really means a lot to us, and we hope that you can see how hard we are trying to improve this business moving forward.
TL: DR-
Miscasts/missing parts should be sent free of charge. That is good news.
CC is casting models at "Forge World quality" which is pretty funny to me. FW has a reputation for some shoddy casting and frequent miscasts, so I don't think that is necessarily a selling point.
The Spider Demon and Treewalker were early attempts at mold making and things have improved since. This may explain some of the casting issues people are reporting, especially with the Spider Demon, but given the
"Forge World Quality" casting level, those casting issues may just be Creature Caster at work.
Got the shipping notification for my Spider Demon. Almost dreading it's arrival. Feel sorry for these guys. They bought an IP that is effectively garbage at this point. Turning it around is going to take a lot of blood, sweat, tears and mostly money.
Jeremy played us for suckers and looks like he played these guys too.
Looks like Jeremy has gone full raving-Burning-Man-hipster crazy. I suppose this outcome is preferable to him just sacking it off completely, and leaving everyone in the mire with nothing to show for their support.
- One wing is very thin on cast in parts
- The base has lacking, very soft details, mainly with the tail
- The mandible parts are soft on detail on the inside and at the teeth
- The resin is multiple different colors, the darker colors seeming to have more, crisper detail
- I do not feel is screams the highest quality the dollar cost represents versus some of the other boutique lines I've purchased (Kingdom Death, Mierce, Andrea,...)
Dunno, not really satisfied, more like "huh, this is a thing,... it's over..." and put it back in the box to deal with later.
Got my emperor dragon today. I would give it maybe a 6 out of 10 for quality.
About half the parts have lines where it looks like the molds didn't quite line up. They aren't really flash, it kind of looks like one half of the mold was maybe 1mm off from the other half. I think it can be scraped down to flatten it out, but it will look like a flat line in the detail.
There are 10-15 bubbles across all the pieces, with 4-5 being bad enough they will need filling. The remainder are fairly minor and in none-onvious places. One is on the base of a wing and goes right through the piece.
All of the parts have detail that is softer than I would like, but not the worst I have ever seen. The leather straps and buckles are definitely not as crisp as I think is possible for that kind of detailing.
The parts all have some gaps where they connect that will need to be filled, but not huge, some greenstuff should do fine.
Overall, I'm actually relieved, it's salvageable and could look decent painted with some effort. For now it will go in a box on the shelf until I feel like putting some effort into it.
TheKbob wrote: I cannot count how many times I have (luckily) forgotten about this crap show since I backed it.
I almost didn't pay for my shipping. Just wanted to be a complete wash, but I bet I can sell it for more than what I paid to get it shipped, right?
I saw that you received your dragon, when did you pay for your shipping? My Paypal shipping payment posted on the 9th of December, but I haven't received any sort of shipping notification or tracking information. Just curious how long your package took to reach you.
I received my tree-woman the other day. I am going to write up a longer review with pictures in my blog, but here are the highlights:
Soft detail, and often not quite deep enough.
Extremely greasy out of the bag.
A few little bubbles, but only at the joints, so not bad.
Mold lines were minimal, and not in bad spots. Sharper than the detail they were near, however.
A little mold slippage here or there, but not too bad, and easily cleaned off the lass herself. Probably would have been an issue on a fleshy model, or one with more detail, however.
Parts fit together very nicely, with some moderate gap filling. Except for right arm and hand; the arm has a peg, and the hand has a pour point right where the socket should be... what?
2 little spots where silicon from the mold were in the resin. Easily cleaned out, but sort of strange in that they were very small, and not in spots where the mold should have torn. So, little bits of silicon are loose in the mold?
All in all, not awful, but not great. 6/10 sounds about right. I haven't seen the 3d prints which might be to blame for some of the problems. My guess though is that they way overused mold release, both in making the masters and production molds, and in making each model. I have made that mistake myself, resulting in softer, shallower detail as the release adds an uneven coating of essentially vaseline over the surfaces. It would also explain why some pieces are softer than others, a result of one guy slathering it on while another doesn't, etc.
Anyway, I will post up a fuller review with pics over the next few days.
I wanted to document the unboxing, so what follows are pictures of the model as I removed it from the shipping material. At no point did I clean up the model, or alter it from how it was sent to me.
Here is how the model comes packaged. The box is approximately 10" long and 6" wide. The bubble wrapped model fits perfectly in the box. The freebie cloaked figure was not bubble wrapped and placed in the box unsecured.
Here are the components laid out.
The following series are close ups of the components.
As others have indicated, the details are soft. This is really noticeable on the wings, the top of the head, and on a lot of the scaled portions of the dragon's body.
The tops of the heads look almost melted, and there is very little detail between the large ridge plates.
The wings are also really short in fine details, and the larger details that do come through appear soft and again, kinda melted/unformed.
And now for the casting issues.
The tail portion had a large bubble/hole in it.
There were a few mold slips that created very deep and detail-destroying mold lines on other parts as well. I had a hard time getting my camera to capture those flaws properly so I'll update this post with more photos once I can get some decent shots.
Other notes:
Extremely oily. I had to wash my hands after handling the model, and I was left feeling like I had rubbed lip balm or some kind of Vaseline on my hands.
The model parts feel slightly brittle to me, especially compared to other resin models I've received from games like Arena Rex or Kingdom Death. By brittle I mean that the parts feel insubstantial, and almost not solid. I know they are solid, but there are pieces that give me the impression that I could squeeze them into dust with my bare hands with little effort.
The details are badly produced. When I imagine what knock-off casters produce this is the level of quality I am imagining. The wings especially seem like they were cast from a mold made from another production cast and not a master casting. They whole "copy of a copy" losing detail thing is what I am referring to.
The dragon comes with two upper head pieces but only one lower jaw. Unless I received a mispack, that means you can only make one head. This isn't a problem necessarily, but I was surprised that there wasn't a second lower jaw.
Final Thoughts:
I am not happy with the model. I have no interest in building it, or even in seeking a replacement part for the miscast tail. This was an absolute waste of time, money, and more importantly emotional energy. I am glad this crappy campaign is over for me, but for any RoW customers who have to pay import fees I am left feeling frustrated and angry.
These models were not worth the pledge price in my opinion, and they certainly are not worth spending additional money on.
Joyboozer wrote: That is fething disgusting.
Was your order sent out before or after they supposedly increased their QA checks?
To be honest I don't know. I paid for shipping on the 8th or 9th of December, and the box was post marked the 13th, so a quick turn around time from payment to posting.
Extremely oily. I had to wash my hands after handling the model, and I was left feeling like I had rubbed lip balm or some kind of Vaseline on my hands.
You did, quite literally Mold release for silicon/resin is aerosolized petroleum jelly. As you can imagine, that means you don't want to over do it!
The model parts feel slightly brittle to me, especially compared to other resin models I've received from games like Arena Rex or Kingdom Death. By brittle I mean that the parts feel insubstantial, and almost not solid. I know they are solid, but there are pieces that give me the impression that I could squeeze them into dust with my bare hands with little effort.
That's interesting. Did you soak them in water? If so, did they float? I have noticed that other producers have resin that seems much less dense than what I use, but I am never sure if that is because I use more pressure in casting than others. However, only specialized resin floats, so if your parts are floating it is because they have internal air spaces, and you definitely could crush them in your fingers.
The details are badly produced. When I imagine what knock-off casters produce this is the level of quality I am imagining. The wings especially seem like they were cast from a mold made from another production cast and not a master casting. They whole "copy of a copy" losing detail thing is what I am referring to.
Hey, I have NEVER recast something that looked as bad as this! You take that back! Seriously though, unless they really went nuts with the mold release (which is possible) there is no way their casts should look like this if the original was nicely detailed. Every model you buy has been recast at least twice, once from original sculpt to master mold, then master to production mold. The loss of detail is effectively zero with a very low bar of skill; about the only way to screw up surface detail that isn't on a mold seam is to gunk it up.
I am not happy with the model.
I feel you man. The more I look at the tree woman in front of me on my desk, the less happy I am. She's still ok, but I keep putting Mierce and Blood Rage models next to her, and despite being half her size they are much, much more sharply detailed. It occurred to me this afternoon that she looks like she was made from PVC like 3 years ago, back when Relic Knights shipped their disappointing Kickstarter. Modern PVC is much better, as Wrath of Kings and Blood Rage demonstrate, and she is really far from what resin should look like. I am increasingly convinced that the original 3D prints were just low quality to save on cost (thanks, Jeremy) and the resulting resins are thus bad. In all the ways the tree woman is flawed, I think it is much more poor quality original than poor quality casting. Thinking back to the first things I was casting, it was mold lines, pour points/vents and tearing that was the issue, and never "ok, got all the detail." Unless they used really, really crappy resin, but even then I am having a hard time imagining why it would be so selectively crappy detail wise.
Extremely oily. I had to wash my hands after handling the model, and I was left feeling like I had rubbed lip balm or some kind of Vaseline on my hands.
You did, quite literally Mold release for silicon/resin is aerosolized petroleum jelly. As you can imagine, that means you don't want to over do it!
That explains it!
It took two washes with dish soap to get my hands feeling clean again.
The model parts feel slightly brittle to me, especially compared to other resin models I've received from games like Arena Rex or Kingdom Death. By brittle I mean that the parts feel insubstantial, and almost not solid. I know they are solid, but there are pieces that give me the impression that I could squeeze them into dust with my bare hands with little effort.
That's interesting. Did you soak them in water? If so, did they float? I have noticed that other producers have resin that seems much less dense than what I use, but I am never sure if that is because I use more pressure in casting than others. However, only specialized resin floats, so if your parts are floating it is because they have internal air spaces, and you definitely could crush them in your fingers.
I actually didn't do anything but unpack the model and snap photos. I'll dunk the parts in a water bath tonight and see if any float. A buddy of mine tried his hand at casting and gave me some of his early attempts and the brittleness of the Emperor Dragon reminds me of some of his creations.
DarkTraveler777 wrote: The details are badly produced. When I imagine what knock-off casters produce this is the level of quality I am imagining. The wings especially seem like they were cast from a mold made from another production cast and not a master casting. They whole "copy of a copy" losing detail thing is what I am referring to.
Hey, I have NEVER recast something that looked as bad as this! You take that back! Seriously though, unless they really went nuts with the mold release (which is possible) there is no way their casts should look like this if the original was nicely detailed. Every model you buy has been recast at least twice, once from original sculpt to master mold, then master to production mold. The loss of detail is effectively zero with a very low bar of skill; about the only way to screw up surface detail that isn't on a mold seam is to gunk it up.
Good info! So based off what you wrote below and above, do you think this is more a matter of poor quality prints or too much mold release, or perhaps a combination of both?
I feel you man. The more I look at the tree woman in front of me on my desk, the less happy I am. She's still ok, but I keep putting Mierce and Blood Rage models next to her, and despite being half her size they are much, much more sharply detailed. It occurred to me this afternoon that she looks like she was made from PVC like 3 years ago, back when Relic Knights shipped their disappointing Kickstarter. Modern PVC is much better, as Wrath of Kings and Blood Rage demonstrate, and she is really far from what resin should look like. I am increasingly convinced that the original 3D prints were just low quality to save on cost (thanks, Jeremy) and the resulting resins are thus bad. In all the ways the tree woman is flawed, I think it is much more poor quality original than poor quality casting. Thinking back to the first things I was casting, it was mold lines, pour points/vents and tearing that was the issue, and never "ok, got all the detail." Unless they used really, really crappy resin, but even then I am having a hard time imagining why it would be so selectively crappy detail wise.
Good info! So based off what you wrote below and above, do you think this is more a matter of poor quality prints or too much mold release, or perhaps a combination of both?
My spider demon showed up this morning. Didn't have time to check it out till after work and and showed it to one of our local paint for hires. He's worked on several kickstarters and had to paint several 3D prints. Looking at it he pointed out all the flaws of a cheap print. The softness was probably from a mixture of cheap print and cleaning up the print layers.
For small blessing, mine didn't turn out that bad. Minor mold lines but nothing horrible. Will clean it up and take some pictures when I have a chance. Still going to assemble it and paint it, though it was definitely not worth the price or the wait.
Love to know where all the money went if the actual product seems to show all the signs of cost cutting and shipping had to be bait and switched at the last second.
Eldarain wrote: Love to know where all the money went if the actual product seems to show all the signs of cost cutting and shipping had to be bait and switched at the last second.
Let's remember that the Canadian Dollar took a big hit since this was funded. That's about all I can think of though.
Has Kenny been heard from recently? Or did he realize how bad it was going to get and he jumped ship?
Eldarain wrote: Love to know where all the money went if the actual product seems to show all the signs of cost cutting and shipping had to be bait and switched at the last second.
Let's remember that the Canadian Dollar took a big hit since this was funded. That's about all I can think of though.
Has Kenny been heard from recently? Or did he realize how bad it was going to get and he jumped ship?
I believe he was thrown under the bus by Jeremy in regards to problems with the pledge manager.
I believe he was thrown under the bus by Jeremy in regards to problems with the pledge manager.
Remember that Kenny himself said that this was his very first public facing software dev project, and he basically trained himself to do it.
Having both hired people who just finished their SE degree AND trained developers myself, I can tell you that if you task someone who doesn't have the experience do a project on his own yet, chances are quite high it will show problems, might have conceptual problems/errors etc. pp.. Especially if they are self-trained. So Jeremy also bears some responsibility in this, he should have never blamed Kenny (if that was directed at Kenny) the way he did.
He choose to base his campaign on unproven software, by an unproven developer, and then puts all the blame on him? Not OK in my book. Especially since there are dozens of proven systems out there, but they might have costed more (pure speculation on my part about the cost).
That Emperor dragon is very disappointing. I guess I know what to expect with my Mountain Dragon, Zombie Dragon and Warrior Daemon :(. At least with the "production team" you actually got something, though. I think if Jeremy had stayed at the helm, you would never have received the bugger.
As a Patternmaker / Prototyper I can tell just by your description of the resin and looking at the photos that they've used a cheaper resin with a higher content of filler powder than other companies use. The sharpness of the detail, air bubbles and miscasts are down to the cheapness of the molds and the company producing the models, also the over use of silicone mold release shouts to amateur production.
Even Forgeworld models weren't this bad when they started and materials, prototyping, etc have moved on since then. I think Creature Caster has made it's own bed and now has to lay in it, I know for a fact that the local gaming community won't be buying models from them.
angelofvengeance wrote: At least with the "production team" you actually got something, though. I think if Jeremy had stayed at the helm, you would never have received the bugger.
I think you are correct.
While my dragon is an absolute piece of crap it did arrive so there is some closure there.
I am trying to decide how to turn this model into something positive. I do not want to keep the model, and if someone could get some use out of it at least this entire fiasco would be worth something of value. Donating it seems absurd since it is such poor quality. I suppose giving it away is an option, but that almost seems mean to the recipient.
Maybe charity?
I think I'll be listing it for sale on eBay with the proceeds going to an animal shelter. A BIN price of the shipping cost from CC to me might get people to buy this, right?
I believe he was thrown under the bus by Jeremy in regards to problems with the pledge manager.
Remember that Kenny himself said that this was his very first public facing software dev project, and he basically trained himself to do it.
Having both hired people who just finished their SE degree AND trained developers myself, I can tell you that if you task someone who doesn't have the experience do a project on his own yet, chances are quite high it will show problems, might have conceptual problems/errors etc. pp.. Especially if they are self-trained. So Jeremy also bears some responsibility in this, he should have never blamed Kenny (if that was directed at Kenny) the way he did.
He choose to base his campaign on unproven software, by an unproven developer, and then puts all the blame on him? Not OK in my book. Especially since there are dozens of proven systems out there, but they might have costed more (pure speculation on my part about the cost).
The problem is that Jeremy talked about traveling the world to "check out manufacturers." We paid for Jeremy to have a two year vacation and he hoisted the work on some locals who clearly didn't have much experience in casting. Instead of investing in software, technology, and talent, he went on a vacation and conned some poor guys into helping him. Again I feel sorry for the guys who bought the sculpts from Jeremy and are producing this.
Good info! So based off what you wrote below and above, do you think this is more a matter of poor quality prints or too much mold release, or perhaps a combination of both?
My guess, based on my own experience and what people are saying, is that it was a bad or low quality 3d print that caused detail problems, exacerbated by too much mold release. There might also be problems with fillers, but that doesn't need to cause problems if you have enough pressure in your pots. At least in my experience... I have cast rockwalls that were ~50-60% kitty litter (unused ) that came out just fine, full details of the rock texture etc. The consistency of the soft detail, that is, the fact that is pretty uniformly soft instead of sharp some places and soft others, makes me think that at least in the treewoman's case it is a poorly made print. The seams, where the hips meet the body etc, those are fairly sharp though, so maybe there is a more even share of blame. The mold shifts are definitely in the lap of the caster!
Actually, that is one of the nice things with the kit: the seams between arms, legs, body, etc. are nicely done, with curved bits that fit pretty well and avoid the somewhat obvious straight line seams. That was nicely done.
I have mine built, and might try and get some base coat and primer on her tonight. Standing her up next to the tree dudes from Mierce (who have their own horrible casting QC problems) the difference in detail quality is shocking.
silent25 wrote: The problem is that Jeremy talked about traveling the world to "check out manufacturers." We paid for Jeremy to have a two year vacation and he hoisted the work on some locals who clearly didn't have much experience in casting. Instead of investing in software, technology, and talent, he went on a vacation and conned some poor guys into helping him. Again I feel sorry for the guys who bought the sculpts from Jeremy and are producing this.
This is my impression of what really happened with the money as well. Oh, and the construction of Jeremy's mobile meditation box/safe space/sex capsule.
So, I decided after the holidays are over I will be listing my Emperor dragon on eBay for a BIN price of $25. 100% of the proceeds will go to a local animal rescue. Someone with more inclination to deal with this crap model can get a good deal, and some animals can get assistance finding homes. Win/win in my book. If anyone is morbidly curious about the Emperor dragon PM me and I'll PM back when the auction goes live.
This is my impression of what really happened with the money as well. Oh, and the construction of Jeremy's mobile meditation box/safe space/sex capsule.
Please, please, let's call it for what it is, a gimp box
Let's stay on topic to the Creature Caster campaign, please... thanks all.
DarkTraveler, that's nice of you to donate the proceeds, I'm sure someone will appreciate the dragon!
Wehrkind sent me a pic last night of his Treewoman but I'll let him post it here (I think maybe he wanted to prime first?). Looked great to me, with again that type of creature probably being the most forgiving of all of them for cast detail / etc.
If anyone (probably UK/EU based) wants to cut their losses on a Pincer Demon when they land, I'm prepared to have a discussion.
I'm not totally convinced myself, as I already have a FWKOS and I'm not really playing 40K to warrant spending on a model that would be used only for that, but as the only way I'd ever spend money on one of these models would be to help a fellow gamer get at least partially out of a hole, I figured I'd put this out there.
Finaly, some creatures are in europe now and after some import taxes i had my empereor Dragon as well.
I can live with air bubbles. I have no problem with the details, skilled enough to make them sharp.
However, missing a claw but having a other one twice is...... difficult.
Let's see how this is solved. (Wrote a Mail already.) And let's hope there is no other dragon with the same problem. I fear my missing claw is in another kit.
Sorry guys, I am getting there with the before/after pics. I primed her last night, and will try and get something today. Work and traveling for the holidays, plus getting ridiculously sick for 2 weeks, just wrecked all my plans forever.
Ok, so not really forever, but holy gak, I got just about zero done for 3 weeks, which is a real problem for me.
BUT! I did get a picture of tree lady last night. I had one of her unprimed... but I have no idea where it is now, or on what hard drive even.
She's big! She also pretty much fits on a 50x50 mm base, which is nice. Her detail is... ok. Sort of. She is under two fairly bright true-light lamps there (although she is not that pink in person) and the shadows are not as sharp as one would expect. Compare her to the Mierce treemen and sword lady there, or to the much, much older Rackham models, and she looks a little flat. Well, not flat in that sense, but relatively low on texture and soft on detail.
I hope to get a wash or two on her tonight or tomorrow, and I will get a picture of that. She does have some shallow wood-grain patterns on her that I hope will grab onto the ink and stand out nicely.
Edit: Just realized I sent the pic to RiTides, and so had it in my email.
Yeah it looks pretty great to me, all things considered! I think that particular model will be able to come out fine despite some of their manufacturing issues. Looking forward to seeing it with the wash
thanks for posting this. Makes me more likely to pay the extra shipping so I can finally have mine. Though...no use for her currently. Make she can make a nice terrain piece. I'm sure I'll think of something. Maybe a heavy conversion into a demon princess.
If it comes with an alternate head like the Treewoman, I might be interested... although I think it's a trick of the render angle that makes the head look so tall, and that's actually from a branch/trunk on his back.
Glad Jeremy spent time on more models instead of completing his KS obligations . Oh well hope he's enjoying his soy latte and getting bent (or however you describe the yoga moves )
Theophony wrote: Glad Jeremy spent time on more models instead of completing his KS obligations . Oh well hope he's enjoying his soy latte and getting bent (or however you describe the yoga moves )
Ha, right?
The positive response that Treeman render is getting on the KS page is annoying me more than it should.
I just don't understand our community sometimes.
Company spends two years acting like complete amateurs, jerking Kickstarter backers around, and then releasing sup-par product, BUT! said company releases a new render and people are already considering handing over more money to these clowns as if the previous two years never happened.
Whatever. People can do what they like with their money. But the seemingly short memory and attention span we, as a community, seem to have for poor products, shoddy customer service, and outright theft and lies is astounding.
I guess what bothers me is that there is no real negative effect for the companies who treat the community badly. What lesson is really learned by the companies who misrepresent themselves and their product, only to be rewarded with additional purchases from gamers? This isn't just a Creature Caster phenomenon, of course GW is the tip of the spear for this kind of behavior, but also companies like Blue Table Painting with a long and colorful history of missteps and bad dealings continue to garner support from elements of our community.
Anyway, rant off. That Treeman looks like like he has to pee and is about scratch his ass. I hope whomever buys it enjoys it, but I think they are foolish for giving CC any additional support.
I think we just have to accept there are sharks, snake oil peddlers and the totally incompetent all seeing 'free cash' signs above the door marked 'kickstarter' and we, the buying public, will just have to take it on ourselves to use judgement as it's not turning out like paypal, where we can claim it back fairly easily, but instead will have to use extra caution on placing money in the first instance.
I think I am, for the most part, happy to enforce some discipline with myself and buy what's actually for sale, rather than what might materialize in the future. If there's something I really want, and I feel comfortable with who is offering it due to track record etc, then I might go in, but I've seen so much of this crash and burn, or become bogged down in hideous waits, that I'm happy to keep a distance.
I've kind of been in hibernation from the hobby in general lately and it frustrates me to no end that this thrice-damned Kickstarter still hasn't shipped me my stuff yet. I've gone through two Mierce Kickstarters in the time this one has taken to complete and it's looking like I'm going to get my first TGG2 items before this ships.
The models that people have been getting look pretty disappointing. If I wanted large models with soft details, I'd have just bought Reaper Bones figures for a fraction of the price. Nothing about this Kickstarter seems to have gone right. Horrible communication, lousy product, inability to deliver on promises, ludicrous delays, the list goes on and on and on. I find it insulting that they're even thinking about making new models when they haven't even delivered on the ones they promised almost three years ago.
This entire Kickstarter is a definitive example of oversold and under-delivered. I only hold the smallest glimmer of hope that I'll get a decently cast one (especially with the Vulture Demon, which is probably the most detail intensive model they did) but I'm not optimistic. I'll post pictures when I get them. Assuming I get them before I'm old and senile, that is.
After having seen all the images coming out I'm a little more relaxed about the quality. I'm probably going to sell on my Plague Angel when it arrives, though.
Jo Dale here, I backed for two dragons, emperor and mountain and picked them up yesterday. The casting quality is as others have posted, some parts are definitely sharper than others. In particular the alternative neck on the mountain dragon has suffered a loss of detail to the point that the scales are barely defined. It will make painting the model in a consistent way quite a challenge. Also the socket on this neck piece is filled in with resin and will need to be drilled out.
There is a lot of flash, and there are a few small air bubbles on both models, most not too bad and can be easily filled. There are some mould lines but I need to do a thorough check to see if there are any major misalignments.
Major issue so far is that the tip of the horn on the mountain dragon's warped head is missing due to an air bubble. I have not yet decided what to do about this, whether to ask for a replacement part, whether to sculpt in the detail or whether to leave it as extra character on the model.
I certainly won't be giving them any more custom. I am so disappointed with this whole fiasco. The quality is nowhere near that of the old ultraforge dragon . Side by side you can really see the difference in sharpness. I have been busy removing all the tags on the mountain dragon. I have found some more issues. The resin in the base shows signs of not having been mixed properly! In fact there are some little areas where you can actually stick a scalpel in and pull out a bit that hasn't set! Never seen that before!
Also, looking at the back left foot, this is poorly sculpted, one of the toes actually disappears into the rock. It looks unfinished compared to the other toes.
I'll... probably pay to have my vulture daemon shipped because US shipping isn't too bad. But, really, at this point... I just don't care. I backed it to get a kickass Lord of Change model. Games Workshop is going to put one in my hands before Clownforge gets around to it. It can sit in a box with my misguided Troll Forge crap if that ever shows up. Hopefully I'll be able to offload them on someone who won't want to chop them up into scrap resin for casting bases.
I had a stroke of luck as the crappy pledge manager did not register my choices.
So instead of getting mugged for the dvd and a 2nd bronze I am only out the early bronze.
I am not going to bother chasing it as there is no way I am paying shipping and import fees for that. It would only join the box of shame with my sedition wars and relic knights stuff anyway.
Also there are issues with the emperor which I am just discovering. Remember when Jeremy was saying that these models will be cast in such a way that you can just plug the pieces together really easily with minimal cleanup? Well that is not really the case at all. So for example, with the two emperor dragon heads, one has a much reduced peg, but will fit the socket of the unarmoured neck if you fill the socket in a bit or build up the neck peg, either way I think it will glue in okay without much problem. The other neck piece is a different matter. As with the mountain dragon unarmoured neck, the armoured neck piece on the emperor dragon suffers from an infilling of the resin in the neck socket. So you would need to either cut off the peg and glue it on or drill out a socket for the neck. In contrast, the other head's peg is too big to fit the socket in either neck. This will need to be cut down/cut off to get it to fit.
What a bloody joke. Next time I'll just fething order a dragon from ForgeWorld or GW. Hell, even Heresy Miniatures managed to crank a worthwhile dragon out in 4yrs.
You mean like answering questions regarding missing / replacement parts, retail price when they go on sale, etc.....
Then that would be a big fat NO, what they will do is put little videos of the best models they can dig out of thousands of cast parts that show how bad the detail is and how shiny they are with all the mould release they use.
I am pleased to report that I actually did get my replacement piece for the missing arm part on my Spider Demon (I think it was called the Spider Demon, it's the oversized Slaanesh Demonette, basically). I was missing the lower half of one her large arms. They not only sent the missing part, but a full set of the two large arms.
So, they are sending out the missing parts, at least.
Tannhauser42 wrote: I am pleased to report that I actually did get my replacement piece for the missing arm part on my Spider Demon (I think it was called the Spider Demon, it's the oversized Slaanesh Demonette, basically). I was missing the lower half of one her large arms. They not only sent the missing part, but a full set of the two large arms.
So, they are sending out the missing parts, at least.
Good to hear!
What was the turn around time on getting those replacements?
I initially emailed them December 8, got a reply asking for the invoice number, sent that to them on the 9th. Nothing until I contacted them again January 3, they replied that the parts were already on the way, and they came in the mail this past weekend. The postmark is January 9, however, so "already on the way January 3", my ass.
Still waiting on my Tree-gal to get here, paid the shipping late for financial reasons and it's been sitting in their warehouse/studio/whatever for nigh 2 weeks, with a shipping label on it and the tracking number in my hands.
Still haven't received the payment request for my Silver Pledge. They said I'd have it in around a week. That was on December 20th. By the look of those dragons, I don't have much to look forward to. The only thing I look forward to doing is mocking them and maybe sacrificing them to the Dark Gods in return for some eldritch curse upon Jeremy and Co.
I haven't recieved a payment request, and thanks to the "clever" way they set their shipping groups, have no idea if I should have.
Not to worry, looking at the last update, we were due an informative update a weekend or two ago.
SlaveToDorkness wrote: No,no he SOLD the bridge. He's just the creative director of the bridge now.
Heh, 'Bridge' was an analogy for his reputation, not the models....
In a way it is worse, seeing the ruins of what could have been some excellent models in those grease laden remnants. (I am at Burger King right now... it may be affecting my metaphors....)
SlaveToDorkness wrote: No,no he SOLD the bridge. He's just the creative director of the bridge now.
Heh, 'Bridge' was an analogy for his reputation, not the models....
In a way it is worse, seeing the ruins of what could have been some excellent models in those grease laden remnants. (I am at Burger King right now... it may be affecting my metaphors....)
The Auld Grump
Ah, BK. Much like CC, the thing you receive may or may not look like the picture.
SlaveToDorkness wrote: No,no he SOLD the bridge. He's just the creative director of the bridge now.
Heh, 'Bridge' was an analogy for his reputation, not the models....
In a way it is worse, seeing the ruins of what could have been some excellent models in those grease laden remnants. (I am at Burger King right now... it may be affecting my metaphors....)
The Auld Grump
Ah, BK. Much like CC, the thing you receive may or may not look like the picture.
Thanks, guys.
Now I am having nightmarish images of the plastic-faced Burger King King hosting Google Hangouts and building mobile sex boxes.
Thanks for the half dozen PMs about the latest update and reopening this thread.
It's clear there's a lot of interest still (and a lot of people still needing their stuff!) so please, let's keep the thread clear for genuine discussion of the remaining fulfillment / cast quality / etc, rather than memes / jokes / OT posts. Cheers all
As production for the kickstarter winds down we have found ourselves with a lot of resin to put into packages. The amount of resin we have processed over the campaign amounts to nearly 1.5 metric tons! That is the same weight as a small hippopotamus. As we started packing we realised that we were going to really be pushing our completion goals to get it all done in time. We pulled absolutely everyone available into the packing room and after a significant amount of overtime have nearly completed this stage in the process! We apologize that our updates and email answers have been slowed during this time.
Shipping Round 5:
As of this afternoon, we have about half of the 5th round of shipping mailed out of our facility. This was the largest wave of shipping by far! There are still some of you waiting for shipping payment requests. We will be getting all those out by tomorrow morning. We will be sending out the final round of shipping payment requests immediately after that! The end is very much in sight!!!
Creature Caster Retail Store Grand Opening:
We are opening the retail store on February 1st. There are some great new images of the resin pieces and video turnarounds of our assembled models on our updated and improved store. Please take a look at www.creaturecaster.com.
Coupons and Discounts:
We will be linking coupons and discounts for our retail store directly to customer accounts. This means that before February 1st all backers should receive an email asking them to register at our store with their skykadia email address. This way kickstarter backers may login to receive 20% off all our models for a minimum of the first 6 months of retail. For those who backed a DVD the coupon will automatically be added to your new store account. We also have a few more bonuses planned for our kickstarter supporters!
Expect a barrage of Updates in the next 10 days. Thanks for everyone’s patience and support.
With that timeline for opening the store, they definitely won't have delivered all the packages... but hopefully they're at least planning to get them all in the mail by then.
I saw they posted on Facebook showing off a painted Spider Demon. The paint job isn't exactly spectacular, but even with the airbrushed paint you can tell that some of the details are pretty soft; especially around the hands and the horns. I commented asking if they will be addressing the fact that the models are so sub-par in the detail department, and how it doesn't come even close to living up to the Kickstarter's promises. I'm not expecting a response, but I'm curious if they'll delete the comment.
In other news, the latest update says they'd be sending out the last shipping requests "tomorrow morning". I'm still sitting here with no such request. I've checked my spam and everything. Will probably give it until tomorrow before I contact them about it, but it just goes to show they can't keep their promises even a day after they make them. The 20% discount for 6 months to backers is a nice sentiment, but who's actually going to want to give them more money after this miserable experience? I know I won't. I look forward to the barrage of updates.
Sorry it took some time....but here is all the photos of the disaster of a Spider Demon that I received. EVERY part had some kind of slippage (some pretty major ones on parts that should be completely smooth!) and/or loss of detail. My Tree Walker -seems- ok in terms of slippage but the detail isn't as crisp as those lovely "Master" models we were told the figure would match.
Needless to say, I'm going to be E-mailing Creature Caster now to ask for an entirely new Spider Demon to get sent out....for FREE (including postage).....to replace this one. NOT the quality I paid for.
The Tree Walker, I'm going to look at in a couple of days (when I've calmed down again) and take photos if I think there is detail loss that warrants me complaining about that one too.
. It's a world wide conspiracy. Too bad Jeremy doesn't know it's being run by his yoga instructor 
. Looking forward to it!
