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evilsmurf wrote:

Henshini wrote:
They seem more like the kind of people who would contact you about your models, try to claim they owned the rights to make them and threaten to sue you if you didn't give them the files.

Bingo. This is exactly what happened to the artists for the rifts card game.

Wait, what?

Storytime, please!

evilsmurf wrote:

Henshini wrote:
They seem more like the kind of people who would contact you about your models, try to claim they owned the rights to make them and threaten to sue you if you didn't give them the files.

Bingo. This is exactly what happened to the artists for the rifts card game.

Knowing them, the logic is sound.
Why ask to have someone help you nicely when you can forcibly try to take it from them and possibly receive "corrupted" files with the message "that is all I have".
"Does not play well with others" springs to mind.

I wonder if PB has this kind of project team:

I would probably label as the following:

Fan-friend, Wayne, Alex, Kevin

But anyway... I am taking pot-shots again.

evilsmurf wrote:

Henshini wrote:
They seem more like the kind of people who would contact you about your models, try to claim they owned the rights to make them and threaten to sue you if you didn't give them the files.

Bingo. This is exactly what happened to the artists for the rifts card game.

This is a story I haven't heard.

Likewise.

I still have some of the Rifts CCG cards.

Bought some packs when they came out, and then the game started fading and a store in the area was selling them for like 1/2 off or more, so I snagged a bunch. Wasn't really a fan of the game after trying to play it a few times, so they got stuck in a box for literally more than a decade.

A couple of years ago I went through them, and using a list that noted the rarity of each, tossed the commons and uncommons.

Yeah, going by artwork (if I wanted to keep any) might have been wiser, and no I don't expect them to ever have any value whatsoever, but I used that as an arbitrary line to pitch like 98% of them, with a few kept with other random CCG cards I've collected over the years (like the odds and ends that used to be included with Inquest Magazine in the 90's).

Between that, selling off more of my old Rifts collection a few years ago, and finally pitching the Rifts novels into the recycling, what little PB stuff I still own has dwindled to maybe 15-20 books, mostly those with sentimental value (gifts and/or ones tied to characters I enjoyed back when my group played so many years ago).

Oh and one box of RRT figures sitting on a shelf, dwarfed by the piles of Shadows of Brimstone figures and game stuff I actually love and use regularly.

 Talizvar wrote:


But anyway... I am taking pot-shots again.

Yeah, it's a hard habit to break. Recently, I was largely staying away from the thread and purposely not posting (closing down several windows AFTER typing out a message in the quick reply window) for over a largely successful month but then Palladium came out with that "update" and it was all downhill...again. :( I've been off of the offiicial forums and the kickstarter comments and never been a big facebooker commenter so dakka is the last outlet for that angst left to go. I reserve the right to silently rage fist and finger wag every time I get the weekly spam letter though.

I would be interested in the card story also...give us the dirt...

That is what scares me about putting any art online.. like deviant art..
If you did a picture of Robotech or Glitter boy.. could they take it and use it ??
If you fight for it; technically your using the property without permission...

 warboss wrote:
I reserve the right to silently rage fist and finger wag every time I get the weekly spam letter though.

Speaking of, new PBWU.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™

RRT is ever on our minds as we gear up to for the release of Robotech® RPG Tactics Wave Two in 2017. There are no final details or dates we can yet release, but 2017 is a must for the release of Robotech® RPG Tactics™. Things are still fluid and changing. In the meanwhile, we are continuing to offer support by way of Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game cards every day on DriveThruRPG.com, and more coming down the pipe. Things like the force organization chart and other RRT related materials, and game support and events for next year.

So, it looks like they're at least acknowledging that 2017 is make or break. Though I expect them to extend that as need be, obviously. Still no details, only vague platitudes. Given the state of RRT listed, it looks like you can write off any meaningful information until at least next year. Not that I expected that, but it's surprising PB seem to be admitting it themselves.

Nothing else in the PBWU of any note, other than Kevin congratulating himself on his haunted house, and the usual need for praise from Xmas Grab Bag buyers.

Morgan Vening wrote:

 warboss wrote:
I reserve the right to silently rage fist and finger wag every time I get the weekly spam letter though.

Speaking of, new PBWU.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™

RRT is ever on our minds as we gear up to for the release of Robotech® RPG Tactics Wave Two in 2017. There are no final details or dates we can yet release, but 2017 is a must for the release of Robotech® RPG Tactics™. Things are still fluid and changing. In the meanwhile, we are continuing to offer support by way of Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game cards every day on DriveThruRPG.com, and more coming down the pipe. Things like the force organization chart and other RRT related materials, and game support and events for next year.

So, it looks like they're at least acknowledging that 2017 is make or break. Though I expect them to extend that as need be, obviously. Still no details, only vague platitudes. Given the state of RRT listed, it looks like you can write off any meaningful information until at least next year. Not that I expected that, but it's surprising PB seem to be admitting it themselves.

Nothing else in the PBWU of any note, other than Kevin congratulating himself on his haunted house, and the usual need for praise from Xmas Grab Bag buyers.

think they said the same about 2015 then 2016.

At this point, all I want is the MAC-II Monster that I paid an extra $40 for.

Morgan Vening wrote:

So, it looks like they're at least acknowledging that 2017 is make or break. Though I expect them to extend that as need be, obviously. Still no details, only vague platitudes. Given the state of RRT listed, it looks like you can write off any meaningful information until at least next year. Not that I expected that, but it's surprising PB seem to be admitting it themselves.

The 2017 bit is mostly repeated from last week's update.

 Genoside07 wrote:
I would be interested in the card story also...give us the dirt...

That is what scares me about putting any art online.. like deviant art..
If you did a picture of Robotech or Glitter boy.. could they take it and use it ??
If you fight for it; technically your using the property without permission...

My understanding is no. If you create work, even if you've drawn Superman or Mickey Mouse it's yours no one else can use it without your permission.

But if you're creating a derived work using someone else's copyrights, like Superman or Mickey Mouse, you can't distribute it either. You can't publish it, sell it, or even give it away. And that includes putting it online. People might not buy Superman comics if they can get yours for free.

If the rights owner wants it they can play hardball, sell us the rights or we'll sue you. Or they can be nice, we can't let the unlicensed work sit out there, we'll sell you a licence for $1. Or they can ignore it.

Not everyone was paid before Precedence went under. Then Kev got hold of or maybe already had the original art and not only didnt give the artists anything for it but as an extra kick reprinted some of it in the ultimate rifts book without any compensation. He said that as it was all redone art of existing palladium work (like coalition soldiers, dogboys, etc) he owned the copyright, and it all belonged to him anyway, so he didnt have to pay them for it. At least one of the artists said it wasnt worth the cost of going to small claims court over.

I don't think he'll be missed when he finally goes off to ride that great big glitter boy in the sky.

Joyboozer.

We cant say stuff like that man.

 warboss wrote:

Morgan Vening wrote:

So, it looks like they're at least acknowledging that 2017 is make or break. Though I expect them to extend that as need be, obviously. Still no details, only vague platitudes. Given the state of RRT listed, it looks like you can write off any meaningful information until at least next year. Not that I expected that, but it's surprising PB seem to be admitting it themselves.

The 2017 bit is mostly repeated from last week's update.

You're right, it is a repeat. Sometimes my eyes glaze over reading that faff. But it does seem a little more urgent than previous years. Usually it's full of overoptimistic promises. The using of the "but 2017 is a must" seems to be more than their usual faffery.

I expect that this time, next year, we'll be getting updates like

"Things are boiling for RRT! We can't go into details or give away secrets, but 2018 is going to be a big year for RRT and the release of Wave 2. We continue to offer support for RRT by releasing two sentences a day of the conventional rules, available to download now in separate files!"

Presumably starting in the original Japanese.

Well, since we have Wave One to compare to, how serious they are will start to shape up pretty quickly if they're serious (spoiler alert for those not paying attention, I'm aware how unlikely it is that they're actually serious).

Wave 1 had 11 figures (off the top of my head) on... I want to say 9 sprues (Pods, Artillery Pods, 2 for the Command Pod pack, Battloids, Fighters, Guardians, 1 each for the Destroid pairs).

Wave 2 has around two dozen figures (no idea on the sprue count, but I think we can safely say that the MAC-II won't be a single sprue unless it's the size of a small table), but they have a good number of molds to cut, and while I'm told that's not super time consuming, it's something they do have to get to.

Plus roughly a dozen resin elements. Whether they do those locally or abroad, that comes to roughly 3 dozen elements in Wave 2 for the figures/resin alone (plus box art and whatever other logistics are involved, I'm not in mini production, anyone who tries to assume this is a comprehensive list is a fething idiot, not to put too fine a point on it, you know who you are).

- Molds were allegedly being made in August 2013, though there are references to "final mold-making" in late January, presumably this includes making molds, test shots, shipping stuff around, vetting it, and getting refinement. Still, uh, they probably want to get on that.

- They had prototypes for most of the figures by early/mid 2014,

- Manufacturing began in June (with production in "full swing" in July).

- Containers started moving to the port/ship in July, and arriving in the warehouse in August/September.

- Actual (more than just the core boxes) shipping began in October.

While the rule book and blast template and dice and other odds and ends surely amounted to some work, with half the figures and none of the resin to finish, they still barely completed wave 1 in 3-4 quarters. By that standard, if we assume they want to try to pry some sales out of the public by Black Friday, they need to follow a similar path (but faster, because of the extra stuff to finalize and make).

Which is a long way of saying that if they aren't punching molds soon, if they aren't showing off more prototypes soon, if they aren't committing to something (whether they share what that is or not) soon, it'll go from a presumed lie to a transparent lie.

I mean, I know my audience, obviously most of us don't think 2017 is going to happen, but even I know that lies should generally not be so easy to prove to be so, and it won't be too long before we're at that point again.

Morgan Vening wrote:

You're right, it is a repeat. Sometimes my eyes glaze over reading that faff. But it does seem a little more urgent than previous years. Usually it's full of overoptimistic promises. The using of the "but 2017 is a must" seems to be more than their usual faffery.

No worries. It just stuck out for me as a large part of my weekly silent finger wag at the monitor when I was reading it so I remembered. It was novel (despite my own thoughts that 2015 was the make or break year) last week but sadly is on the cusp of graduating into cut and paste blather if repeated for a third time with no discernable progress described in the meantime..

Forar, that really all assumes that they plan and use past experience as the basis of that plan.

Considering they never reach a release date and there is a huge amount of procrastination going on there, it seems that one of the weaknesses of the PB business model is that there is no structured planning going on there and it all runs on Kevin's immediate whim.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

To help you decide on your wishlists, I've put some of the AMAZING options for those surprise packages here:

Rifts® Movie Script: Rifts® Path of the Storm™ is a fun read, and includes a handful of character stats and some source material for your game, as well as some background about the Rifts® movie.

Some "movie script" that Kevin wrote?

And then there's this great item:

Robotech® RPG Tactics™ SAMPLER – you get a sample sprue with two game pieces and the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Rule Book, the 112 page, full color rule book. $40 value. See what all the excitement is about.

You have to give them a good reason to consider you:

Robotech RPG Tactics™ Expansion Packs – A small number of RRT expansion packs have been put aside for the 2016 Surprise Package. Give us a good reason to include one or two and we’ll consider you.

We also have some simple dragon head sketches by Kevin Siembieda ($20 value)

Hurry up and get an art print signed by the artist AND Kevin (because Kevin signs everything in reach).

Art print: Rifts® 20th Anniversary – Signed, Limited Edition Print – by Mike Mumah. This print IS signed by the artist, Mike Mumah, and Kevin Siembieda.

Very telling of how they manage their budget:

Palladium/Rifts® Christmas cards... These are all pretty awesome and will not be reprinted when sold out. We’ve been using them for years.

Note: Some book titles may be slightly damaged

 FacelessMage wrote:
We cant say stuff like that man.

We can, and I will, say that Kevin should be made to suffer for his lies and deceipt. That he should be made penniless and homeless as a result of his actions.

@n815e

At first I thought you were joking about the damaged part since I searched the email and didn't find the word but it's in the palladium online store entry.

Note: Some book titles may be slightly damaged (bent corner, scuffed, nicked, etc.) so we can send you MORE product.

http://palladium-store.com/1001/product/XMAS-X-Mas-Surprise-Package.html

Along with

All items are “hand-picked” by Kevin Siembieda from YOUR “wish list.”

That does seem oddly appropriate given Kevin's bad attitude for years towards Robotech backers that he'd "hand pick" "damaged" items to send you for Christmas in your Grinch Grab Backer Bag. As for adding Robotech to the grab bag...

Give us a good reason to include one or two and we’ll consider you.

I suspect the success rate of getting requested dead stock Robotech items in your grab bag approaches 100% if you just give them exactly 45 "good" reasons plus shipping and handling.

Somewhere there is a hardcore RIFTS fan who asked for every RIFTS item, and somehow "lucked out" with a RRT starter.

 warboss wrote:
@n815e

At first I thought you were joking about the damaged part since I searched the email and didn't find the word but it's in the palladium online store entry.

Note: Some book titles may be slightly damaged (bent corner, scuffed, nicked, etc.) so we can send you MORE product.

http://palladium-store.com/1001/product/XMAS-X-Mas-Surprise-Package.html

Along with

All items are “hand-picked” by Kevin Siembieda from YOUR “wish list.”

That does seem oddly appropriate given Kevin's bad attitude for years towards Robotech backers that he'd "hand pick" "damaged" items to send you for Christmas in your Grinch Grab Backer Bag. As for adding Robotech to the grab bag...

Give us a good reason to include one or two and we’ll consider you.

I suspect the success rate of getting requested dead stock Robotech items in your grab bag approaches 100% if you just give them exactly 45 "good" reasons plus shipping and handling.

hah PB is wanting to get rid of the eye sores so if your reason is "because" they will send you Robotech (but with a S&H rate more expensive then the actual product maybe).

speaking of which thinking I might list some of my Robotech stuff on eBay, just need to figure out prices, for instance thinking like a squad of veritechs with 12 minis for $150 shipped in US? mind you they are painted and assembled not great job on either but a decent table top standard also come with a foam to hold them. will that be a decent price to ask for them?

 FacelessMage wrote:
Joyboozer.

We cant say stuff like that man.

I'm not hoping he dies soon, or suffers misfortune, it's just everyone leaves a legacy. How you choose to live is how you'll be remembered.

Unless you're referring to the glitter boy part.

Joyboozer wrote:

 FacelessMage wrote:
Joyboozer.

We cant say stuff like that man.

I'm not hoping he dies soon, or suffers misfortune, it's just everyone leaves a legacy. How you choose to live is how you'll be remembered.

Unless you're referring to the glitter boy part.

bah too many wish Kevin misfortunes or as I like to call it Karma.

Asterios wrote:


speaking of which thinking I might list some of my Robotech stuff on eBay, just need to figure out prices, for instance thinking like a squad of veritechs with 12 minis for $150 shipped in US? mind you they are painted and assembled not great job on either but a decent table top standard also come with a foam to hold them. will that be a decent price to ask for them?

That sounds like a ridiculously high price for that amount of RRT miniatures.

What's your reasoning behind that number?

 Alpharius wrote:

Asterios wrote:


speaking of which thinking I might list some of my Robotech stuff on eBay, just need to figure out prices, for instance thinking like a squad of veritechs with 12 minis for $150 shipped in US? mind you they are painted and assembled not great job on either but a decent table top standard also come with a foam to hold them. will that be a decent price to ask for them?

That sounds like a ridiculously high price for that amount of RRT miniatures.

What's your reasoning behind that number?

well $10 for a decent table top painted mini with decals x12 plus $10 on the foam which leaves $20 for shipping and such.

There aren't many sold listings for RRT on ebay, but at a glance, a set of 12 figures (full VT squad) that was built and primed (with minor basing for the Battloids) but not painted sold for $28 plus fairly cheap shipping (a random zip code entered looks like maybe $4 or so).

Obviously a paintjob (assuming the person likes it) will increase that amount, but I wouldn't expect to end up nearly that high.

Supply and demand. When the demand is negligible, it doesn't really matter how small the supply is...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Valkyrie-Wing-Robotech-RPG-Tactics-UEDF-Veritech-x4-12-models-total-/142162600029?hash=item21198d205d%3Ag%3AfRcAAOSwXeJYEoJM&nma=true&si=Yk78N%252FfRXkbHNM2UL40nSLXHaok%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Painted miniatures, unless they are REALLY well painted, usually bring less money than unpainted and unbuilt miniatures.