Imbrian Arts Kickstarter - Latest Update: Death Knight sculpted, working on casting

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**Alpharius**

RiTides - thanks for that advice - I think I'll go there now and follow it!

**warboss**

You can report him but, judging from the Robotech Kickstarter that is pretty much in the same position (no real progress for the past year) and had multiple reports earlier this year by backers both about unrelated spam updates and no progress/no real communication, it is likely that Kickstarter will just send the creator an email politely asking him very gently to communicate with backers... and that is it. There is no harm in reporting him but the likelihood of it having a practical effect is very low.

**RiTides**

I've seen it work before to get creators to communicate - but that is only when they are more egregiously absent.

I.e. no update at all for a year, progress not close to finished... with Jody having shipped some items last year and having made an update about 4 months ago, this probably wouldn't be to the level where Kickstarter would do anything insistent...

That's why I mentioned Jody "running out the clock" - unfortunately, in order to keep Kickstarter off his back all he has to do is update very occasionally that he's still trying... and eventually he could just say he was unable to finish and list out how he spent the funds. It's unfortunate, and the deterrent to this is that your name is on the line - but that doesn't seem to matter in Jody's case since he is still able to get commission work, just not direct-to-customer sales (although he is probably even getting some of those from the website).

For me this is in stark contrast to a project like Trollforged's... that is extremely late, but you can see the creator spending their blood, sweat, and tears trying to claw their way through it. It's always tough to see a project struggle to complete, but if I can see the creator is working their darndest, it makes all the difference!

**Alpharius**

I'd be interested to read how Jody spent all the funds here on THIS project without even coming close to sculpting the minis required...

Unless KS lets him 'get away' with using it for living expenses?

**warboss**

Alpharius wrote:
I'd be interested to read how Jody spent all the funds here on THIS project without even coming close to sculpting the minis required...

Unless KS lets him 'get away' with using it for living expenses?

Some kickstarter do include either full or partial salaries and business expenses in their funding description. Heavy Gear did that for example although it wasn't a prominent notification but rather squirreled in there as a single sentence. I have no idea if this ks did that.

**JohnHwangDD**

Salary implies hours being worked on the project.

**Alpharius**

From the comments section:

Creator Jody Siegel about 2 hours ago

My wife was in a car accident and our house flooded in the same month. We moved everything out, had the place replumbed and moved everything back in. We really need a second car now. It's winter and I only have my motorcycle so we can't go anywhere and if I need to do something with my kid, it has to wait. I am trying to fix my car myself because that's what I can afford. I have repaired the framehead, chassis and left side. All I have left to do is put the engine back and wire it up. To me this doesn't warrant an update.

I am very much still at work. If you have any questions, or you need to contact me about your order, feel free to message or email me.

Alpharius just now

Alternatively, you should just send out an update...updating all the backers on the progress you've made since the last update.

Is this a new incident - the wife's car accident?

And the house flood?

I admit to losing track of all the various...reasons that the delay has stretched into year 3 now.

**plastictrees**

I added a less measured response.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
And I think this is new?
We've had pregnancy, marriage, bike accident and broken down car in no particular order.

This 'project' is clearly an annoyance, at best for him now.

**Alpharius**

So, since this project closed, some three years ago, we've got:

Pregnancy

Wife Unemployed

Marriage

Honeymoon

Car Broken Down

House Flooded

OK.

There isn't much left on the "Classics" list, is there?

Dog Ate Homework

Abducted By Aliens

Republicans In The White House

How many miniatures have actually been scultped since the campaign closed?

Some of those goofy mushroom men were already done, I think, so not sure they count...

**warboss**

Is there such a thing as non-goofy mushroom men?

The tried and true Palladium excuses of internal treachery and just loving you (backers) too much so trying to constantly improve it aren't on there. I suppose in the modern age that list wouldn't be complete without blaming Obama (+- care), Chinese Communist hackers, and Muslim Terrorists.

**Alpharius**

warboss wrote:Is there such a thing as non-goofy mushroom men?

The tried and true Palladium excuses of internal treachery and just loving you (backers) too much so trying to constantly improve it aren't on there. I suppose in the modern age that list wouldn't be complete without blaming Obama (+- care), Chinese Communist hackers, and Muslim Terrorists.

I KNEW I was missing out on some good ones!

Amended list!

So, since this project closed, some three years ago, we've got:

Pregnancy

Wife Unemployed

Marriage

Honeymoon

Car Broken Down

House Flooded

Most likely upcoming reasons for delays/no updates/no progress:

Dog Ate Homework

Abducted By Aliens

Republicans In The White House

Obama and/or Obamacare

Chinese Communist hackers

Terrorists

Mushroom Men Plot

Caring Too Much

Don't Want To Rush Things/Perfectionism

Too Busy Trying To Come Up With Excuses For Why Nothing's Happening Here

**warboss**

It sounds like you've officially put more effort into the project now due to that post than the creator in the last month. Sad, huh? From the pics you posted, is the only difference a newly sculpted sash?

I disagreed with yak and lego about kickstarter fatigue affecting ME's bottom line but I'm slowly coming around to agreeing with. Maybe it's my own personal preferences but I'm seeing alot more mediocre (mantic) to bad (palladium) efforts at fulfillment than good.

**plastictrees**

There is still time for the delay of a vital engine part by Chinese New Year to prevent him from driving out to restock on greenstuff.

warboss: There are a lot of smaller KSs quietly fulfilling and/or competently managing delays, so it's unfortunate that some of the more visible projects might be souring people on them.
In general I've had few bad experiences based on a hundred or so kickstarters. The only crowdfunding project I've backed that's close to as delayed as this is an IndieGoGo terrain project; and technically Trollforged's alien things; but I sold that pledge a few years ago.

**JohnHwangDD**

Alpharius wrote:
There isn't much left on the "Classics" list, is there?

Did you not back RRT? Go through their Updates, and it's one fething excuse after another.

**Alpharius**

plastictrees wrote:
There is still time for the delay of a vital engine part by Chinese New Year to prevent him from driving out to restock on greenstuff.

I forgot about Chinese New Year - add it to the list!

JohnHwangDD wrote:
Alpharius wrote:
There isn't much left on the "Classics" list, is there?

Did you not back RRT? Go through their Updates, and it's one fething excuse after another.

I did not, luckily.

My childhood nostalgia runs a bit earlier to Gaiking, Getter Robo and UFO Robot Grendizer - if there's ever a KS for that type of miniature game, I'm in trouble!

**JohnHwangDD**

Bullet Dodged? Achievement unlocked!

Shipping delays, port stikes, 3rd parties... the list is endless.

**Piston Honda**

Dear lord the ride never ends!

**Alpharius**

Feb 6 2016
Resin lich update
5 Comments
6 likes

Hi folks, just another quick one.

There are about 5 or 6 of you who are waiting for the resin lich casts before your orders are complete. Normally it only takes 24hrs for the silicone mould to cure but it was still sticky so I let it set for another week and then contacted smooth-on afterwards to report the situation. It seems the be the result of the silicone separating into layers so the material at the bottom of the container isn't quite the same mixture as what's at the top. Their solution was to put some heat lamps on it for a few days and that has had a pretty good effect. I would like to let it sit over with weekend and then we'll pull the master out and see how the casts turn out. Right now the surface has some slight tack to it like masking tape but it's firm like it should be. As soon as it's lost it's tack I'll pull it out and run a few casts through it.

It is now Feb. 26.

I'm sure many of you are surprised to hear that Jody hasn't updated us on how the 'over the weekend' test worked out.

Over two weekends ago.

Also:

Creator Jody Siegel on February 6

Hey Patrick! Yes the Asura and Gnoll are available but not the wild elf and the piper. The wild elf won't be started until I've finished with the undead set. As for the piper, It'll either be next or after the corpse knight depending on what I'm in the mood for.

I'm kind of in the mood for getting the miniatures I paid for and that were to be delivered...three years ago.

**Azazelx**

Good luck with that. Jody's a complete flake.

**Alpharius**

Let's not forget these poor souls:

Pledge $350 or more

61 backers Limited (39 left of 100)

COMPLETE IMBRIAN PACKAGE- get every single imbrian arts figure sculpted from 01 Jan 2013 - 01 Jan 2014. Including every miniature shown in this kick starter. Miniatures will be mailed to you as they are completed. Due to the time it takes to put a miniature into production, you can expect to have miniatures sent to you well in to 2014. It's a HUGE deal.

Pledge $550 or more

20 backers Limited (80 left of 100)

COMPLETE IMBRIAN COLLECTOR PACKAGE- get every single imbrian arts figure sculpted from 01 Jan 2013 - 01 Jan 2014. Including every miniature shown in this kick starter, except the goblin set, cast in resin along with concept art cards, and certificates of authenticity. Miniatures will be mailed to you as they are completed. Due to the time it takes to put a miniature into production, you can expect to have miniatures sent to you well in to 2014. It's a HUGE deal.

Outside of maybe some Robotech RPG Tactics backers (!), are there 81 more pissed off people who Kickstarted Tabletop Gaming projects?

**Azazelx**

So those guys get, like, five models in total?

**Alpharius**

Maybe a bit more than that, maybe?

The goblin set was done a while back, I think?

Some other miniatures are done...er...maybe?

Actually, sure, 5 miniatures unfortunately, is probably close enough to be correct.

**BobtheInquisitor**

I expect to see plastic clampack primarchs released before Jody finishes everything...and for a better price per mini.

**warboss**

Alpharius wrote:
Let's not forget these poor souls:

Pledge $350 or more

61 backers Limited (39 left of 100)

COMPLETE IMBRIAN PACKAGE- get every single imbrian arts figure sculpted from 01 Jan 2013 - 01 Jan 2014. Including every miniature shown in this kick starter. Miniatures will be mailed to you as they are completed. Due to the time it takes to put a miniature into production, you can expect to have miniatures sent to you well in to 2014. It's a HUGE deal.

Short of backers whose projected went belly up prior to delivering anything or were likely scams to begin with, those guys got the shortest end of the shortest stick in the forest. I'm surprised they bid without a minimum sculpt guarantee. Were alot of sculpts shown during the ks that would be included?

**Alpharius**

Quite a few, actually.

25 or so, plus the awesome (concept sketch at least) Sea Dragon and Dragon Knight.

I'm sure it seemed like an OK deal at the time because Jody's a fantastic talent - when he actually sculpts something.

And at the time, no one knew that he basically wouldn't be sculpting much of anything from 2013 to 2014.

Or in 2015.

Or so far in 2016.

Yes, he had many Life Events pop up.

But in between those Life Events - and now - we're still not seeing a heck of a lot of progress.

**warboss**

Force Majeures seem to be invariably attracted to Kickstarter creators just like illness/deaths in the family/car accidents/freak weather incidents are to swap shop traders who are very late on their ends of trades.

If they had 20+ already shown that were included then it's a bit more reasonable then. I was a bit worried (for them) that it was purely a speculative pledge like just a half done butt plate 70's pornstache model shown and nothing else for a big project but without a minimum guarantee for their $350. It's still not great that he apparently didn't do much afterwards but at least they have a minimum amount that theoretically they might see before the sun burns itself out.

**Alpharius**

A few miniatures were ready to go at the start, some were WIPs and some were concept sketches.

Given the...pace this is being run at, I'm not sure how many actual miniatures there are at this point.

OK, I checked!

His online shop lists the following available:

Ifrit
Ghoul (3)
King of Ghouls
Demonic Eye
Asura
Gnoll
Basilisk
Wandering Monk
Rider
Blacksands Orc
Swordsman

Troll Druid
Shaggamaw 1
Shaggamaw 2
Cat Eater
Shrikes (2)
Goblin Foot (3)
Necromancer Bat
Fungeins (3)

So...26 miniatures?

Of various sizes?

But I'm not 100% sure that stock exists on all of those, or if everyone in those "ALL YOUR BASE" level pledges have received all of that?

All I know is that I'm waiting for the Death Knight to be scultped - but he's been stuck at the 'details' phase for some time now...

Filled out my Survey on Dec. 27, 2012:

Death Knight
Asura and Gnoll
Ifrit
Basilisk

Just waiting on that Death Knight...I think...

**Alpharius**

This is...less than amusing/impressive:

me_in_japan 2 days ago

I have to concur with Andrew P - I swapped out any pending minis for ones that had already been produced, and everything has now arrived to my satisfaction. I found Jody's communication (on a one-to-one basis) to be fine. He's obviously just one guy with a number of responsibilities in his life, and so he takes a couple of days to respond to PMs, but he responded professionally and politely to everything I asked him about, and now I have the minis in hand I'm very happy with them. To be honest, long (looooong) KS time notwithstanding, I reckon Jody's OK. Unlucky, sure, disorganised, absolutely, but not a bad guy. Waiting indefinitely for outstanding minis to be produced is likely to give you nothing but frustration. Like many folks I didnt get exactly what I wanted from this KS, but at the end of the day, I have to say, them's the breaks. Backing Kickstarters is a risk. Sometimes they come through and you get a great deal at cheap prices. Sometimes things happen and they can't be fulfilled as expected. In such situations, you kinda have to be flexible and work things out with the folks running the campaign. If that's not something you're able or willing to do, then KS is simply not the way to buy your minis. I hope everyone is able to get an equivalent value in minis to the cash they've pledged, and that everyone moves on and is, if not happy, at least satisfied with the resolution to this KS experience.

Creator Jody Siegel about 21 hours ago

I will do everything I can for guys like me_in_japan and Ryan Blackstock (yes, I did assemble miniatures for him and gave him a free resin). I replaced another backer's figures at cost because he lost them in a fire. I'm incredibly sorry for how long this has taken me and what a disaster it's been, but I try to make it up to good people.

I'm pretty sure he's obligated to 'make it up' (i.e., deliver everything that everyone paid for) to ALL the people (i.e. backers) but then that hasn't looked likely in...a few years now.

**Undead_Love-Machine**

It's nice to know that Jody takes care of "good people".

In that case I can only assume that Jody considers me to be a bad person, because he has treated me like a piece of dog turd stuck to his shoe.

**aku-chan**

I've already wrote off ever receiving any more of my 'complete package' pledge, but being told to basically suck it up because Jody is a good guy who has had a hard time and sometimes life just isn't fair, has made me a lot angrier than I want to be first thing in the morning.