Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
I've been looking at it for a while, kinda trying to figure out if I should pull the trigger. I like the idea of a custodes squad to start, gorgeous models and I could use thim in a GK army, and I have necrons and Death Guard that I could use some more models for as well. However, I'm not sure about the random nature of it, so I guess, for those who have used it, are the extra bits and goodies worth the randomness, especially for a 30$ pledge? I don't watch many videos so that part is much less of a concern for me, although I may start doing so at some point.
Well I have been testing out Robs Patreon reward for over three month and while Rob is a nice guy the "swag bag" is imho a waste of money.
I was in for 100$ and got fooled by the shiny boxes that were presented on the front page.
The first bag was stuffed with things from the Dark Imperium box, which was okay for beeing the "starter bag".
But the rest was all the same. I only got one 30K dreadnaught which was okay, but no boxed versions or new releases. Only cut outs from the GW boxes.
After some mails, cause I thought I made a mistake or something, he told me he does not have enough new releases for every backer.
Now that money goes into a monthly order at wayland.
First of all, I've heard nothing but bad things from people they've done business with.
Secondly, their 'unboxings' are absolutely worthless. Flashing around a sprue near the camera for 30 seconds and talking about how cool it is? No thanks, I'd rather see the model in detail and see it built.
Third, their painting 'how-to' videos aren't helpful. No materials list, no actual guidance, no technique tips- just some dude trying to sound edgy and cool talking about his beat lab while he's painting.
Fourth, the moment these goons cast in their lot with the most obnoxious elements of the 40k community, and turned it into a pissing contest- I felt their site had zero credibility. I look forward to telling them this at Adepticon, too.
I need you to know that reading this made my stomach churn.
I would assume this makes Bell of Lost Souls the 'Gawker' of 40k? Their 'work' is pretty much worthless. I like seeing the articles that whine about something 2 days after they praise it (or sometimes the reverse). And their 'humor' articles? It's like that kid who was homeschooled for most of his life, and he thinks he's funny but no one else does... so you just cringe and there's an awkward silence... but he keeps going. I can honestly say I've seen infomercials for the elderly with better jokes than BoLS 'humor'.
Most recently, Fenrypa Forge (SP?) requested SpikeyBits not use their art they made in their articles, because 1.) they did not give them permission and 2.) they did not agree with the context of the message they were putting out.
Big boy robby b and his infinite ad machine sent him back a message basically telling him to lawyer up or they'll use his art how they please.
There's lots of reasons to not support them, and I won't gak on someone if they choose to support them, but I just personally think they're a negative more than a positive.
Cephalobeard wrote: Most recently, Fenrypa Forge (SP?) requested SpikeyBits not use their art they made in their articles, because 1.) they did not give them permission and 2.) they did not agree with the context of the message they were putting out.
Big boy robby b and his infinite ad machine sent him back a message basically telling him to lawyer up or they'll use his art how they please.
I'm not aware of this one. Got some links I can read on the incident? I'm always curious.
Cephalobeard wrote: Most recently, Fenrypa Forge (SP?) requested SpikeyBits not use their art they made in their articles, because 1.) they did not give them permission and 2.) they did not agree with the context of the message they were putting out.
Big boy robby b and his infinite ad machine sent him back a message basically telling him to lawyer up or they'll use his art how they please.
I'm not aware of this one. Got some links I can read on the incident? I'm always curious.
I was not expecting or wanting to start 2018 with anything other than more of the content I like to think you guys and gals have enjoyed seeing, as I try to keep anything remotely 'political' off the page, but I feel I need to address something.
Some pictures of my work (a conversion by me, painted and based by a relatively well-known member of the community who also didn't want the pictures used) were recently used without permission on the Spikey Bits website. This page was also shared on their Facebook site. I am not comfortable with this, as I do not agree with or respect the way that the Spikey Bits website/company is run by Rob Baer (or any similar sites) and therefore felt it would be hypocritical of me to benefit from it, as well as being potentially damaging to the public image of my page. I sent the pictured message in an attempt to resolve this in a civil manner, but the response given was simply referring me to their Terms of Service where it suggested I contact their Copyright Lawyer and contact an attorney for myself.
I will now be starting this process, but frankly I am disappointed and think it is a poor show on the part of Rob Baer and the Spikey Bits website/company, representative of my overall personal concerns with being associated with them. What could have been easily resolved without any legal action or further loss of time by simply respecting my wishes, has been exacerbated into something more.
To everyone who has liked or followed this page, especially to those who have done so recently, I would like to say that this is not the sort of thing you can normally expect here. It is a page primarily aiming to provide content which will hopefully interest and inspire you, and secondarily to act as a place where I can organise commissions and sell some of my work.
I am not asking any of you to support or help me with this matter, but I felt forced to make you aware and clarify my position on it. I hope you will forgive this post and stick around to see actual hobby content throughout the rest of the year :-)
Edit: Thank you all for the words of support and encouragement, as well as those of you have shared this post. Likely because of you all, Rob has since removed the links to my page and the article on the Spikey Bits Facebook site. Hopefully he will also soon remove the article in question from the website.
Edit: After standing together as a community, Rob has been encouraged to remove all links to my page as well removing the pictures from the offending article.
To every single person who stood together; either by sharing, liking, commenting or simply unfollowing Spikey Bits; thank you! You have shown that together we can influence and improve our community from within.
Hopefully something like this won't happen again, but if it does and anyone in our community suffers because of it then we can stand together and show that it isn't acceptable :-)
I will now lock comments and hide the post, so that this page can remain untarnished with the drama. I have lots of hobby to be getting on with, so you should see plenty of updates from me in the coming weeks :-P
PS. THANKS AGAIN.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2018/01/05 14:16:28
I was not expecting or wanting to start 2018 with anything other than more of the content I like to think you guys and gals have enjoyed seeing, as I try to keep anything remotely 'political' off the page, but I feel I need to address something.
Some pictures of my work (a conversion by me, painted and based by a relatively well-known member of the community who also didn't want the pictures used) were recently used without permission on the Spikey Bits website. This page was also shared on their Facebook site. I am not comfortable with this, as I do not agree with or respect the way that the Spikey Bits website/company is run by Rob Baer (or any similar sites) and therefore felt it would be hypocritical of me to benefit from it, as well as being potentially damaging to the public image of my page. I sent the pictured message in an attempt to resolve this in a civil manner, but the response given was simply referring me to their Terms of Service where it suggested I contact their Copyright Lawyer and contact an attorney for myself.
I will now be starting this process, but frankly I am disappointed and think it is a poor show on the part of Rob Baer and the Spikey Bits website/company, representative of my overall personal concerns with being associated with them. What could have been easily resolved without any legal action or further loss of time by simply respecting my wishes, has been exacerbated into something more.
To everyone who has liked or followed this page, especially to those who have done so recently, I would like to say that this is not the sort of thing you can normally expect here. It is a page primarily aiming to provide content which will hopefully interest and inspire you, and secondarily to act as a place where I can organise commissions and sell some of my work.
I am not asking any of you to support or help me with this matter, but I felt forced to make you aware and clarify my position on it. I hope you will forgive this post and stick around to see actual hobby content throughout the rest of the year :-)
Edit: Thank you all for the words of support and encouragement, as well as those of you have shared this post. Likely because of you all, Rob has since removed the links to my page and the article on the Spikey Bits Facebook site. Hopefully he will also soon remove the article in question from the website.
Edit: After standing together as a community, Rob has been encouraged to remove all links to my page as well removing the pictures from the offending article.
To every single person who stood together; either by sharing, liking, commenting or simply unfollowing Spikey Bits; thank you! You have shown that together we can influence and improve our community from within.
Hopefully something like this won't happen again, but if it does and anyone in our community suffers because of it then we can stand together and show that it isn't acceptable :-)
I will now lock comments and hide the post, so that this page can remain untarnished with the drama. I have lots of hobby to be getting on with, so you should see plenty of updates from me in the coming weeks :-P
PS. THANKS AGAIN.
This is a rather classy response. Any idea what the post in question was? Like, where his art was shown and what made him take issue with it?
Was it just him generally being displeased with Spikey Bits, or was there a post that showed his artwork and he disagreed with it?
I'm confused how they can take $30 each month and give you a box of stuff worth $30 each month and still "profit". Or at least profit beyond simply opening up a regular store to support their patron activities. Esp if, as suggested above, they are buying retail rather than wholesale? (which sounds utterly nuts).
I'm confused as to why anyone who's been subjected to their aberration of a website would ever consider giving them money for anything. Nothing they do seems to me to be reputable enough or of high enough quality to persuade me to give them my money (or any of my time, for that matter).
Slipspace wrote: I'm confused as to why anyone who's been subjected to their aberration of a website would ever consider giving them money for anything. Nothing they do seems to me to be reputable enough or of high enough quality to persuade me to give them my money (or any of my time, for that matter).
I heard from a person I used to hang out with that someone on Spikey Bits' staff commissioned an army to be painted by someone. I'm not sure which member it was. But all I know is that this happened back in 2016, and the painter still has their army- because they never sent any of the payments and refuse to respond to emails, messages, or phone calls.
That's not 'Spikey Bits', though- it's more just one guy working there or whatever. His financial scummery shouldn't reflect on the site.
They post other people's miniatures on their site without permission from the painter, then when asked to take them down, issue them their ToS. They also copy-paste other people's blogs without sourcing or even a link to the original, and without alerting them.
They post other people's miniatures on their site without permission from the painter, then when asked to take them down, issue them their ToS. They also copy-paste other people's blogs without sourcing or even a link to the original, and without alerting them.
But... don't they have a dude that paints models? Why not show his?
They post other people's miniatures on their site without permission from the painter, then when asked to take them down, issue them their ToS. They also copy-paste other people's blogs without sourcing or even a link to the original, and without alerting them.
But... don't they have a dude that paints models? Why not show his?
Because they need more clicks, so they take other people's models and post them. Much less effort on their part.
It's anecdotal, but a mate of mine played against Rob Baer when he started playing 40k. The dude brought a full on tournament list and T1 tabled my mate.
I've heard the name Spikey Bits around before, but I don't know that I've been to their page. I likely won't in the future. Sounds like a bunch of classless guys.
A friend of mine was pretty excited about this. His initial reward was not what he expected but passed it off as an early mistake. I've been skeptical and it sounds like its pretty warranted unfortunately.
Karthicus wrote: After reading this thread.... I have zero interest in ever reading, browsing, or purchasing any Spikey Bits content or services.
I have to say its kind of showing that something is wrong when a thread on a fairly big 40K forum hasn't got a single person really stepping in to defend them. At the very least that shows Spiky Bits have a serious marketing problem; though it also starts to show that they've got some underhanded or at least not really "nice" business practices.
It's the same problems that most "businesses" have now a days. It's not really a business. It's just a website and channel created by some dudes and it happened to get big... none of them were trained or prepared for it so continued to act as a normal person does (posting their own opinions in blogs they write, making their own reviews and copy pasting other people's things). Only problem is, is that a reall business can't/shouldn't do any of that. They are all apart of a corporate name and they all represent that name. If one person is unprofessional and doesn't follow the rules of business then you make your company seem unprofessional and unfavourable... once you're a part or own something like that you cannot be a normal person and your best bet to survive is to hire professionals who understand the rukes while you sit back in the shadows as just a name.
The best way to view Spikey bits is as just a bunch of guys you either share your opinion with and want to support or guys you don't share an opinion with and should ignore... because they certainly don't act like a professional business because they're not a professional business.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/01/05 21:15:29
Overread wrote: I have to say its kind of showing that something is wrong when a thread on a fairly big 40K forum hasn't got a single person really stepping in to defend them. At the very least that shows Spiky Bits have a serious marketing problem; though it also starts to show that they've got some underhanded or at least not really "nice" business practices.
The only people I've ever seen praise Spikey Bits did so when they got coverage from them.
And the behavior of 'these people' isn't what I'd consider mature or credible, considering the way they've treated some of their (former and current) followers.
When the village lunatic is the only person that thinks you're cool, you might want to re-evaluate yourself.
Bow down to Guilliman for he is our new God Emperor!
Martel - "Custodes are terrible in 8th. Good luck with them. They take all the problems of marines and multiply them."
"Lol, classic martel. 'I know it was strong enough to podium in the biggest tournament in the world but I refuse to acknowledge space marines are good because I can't win with them and it can't possibly be ME'."
DakkaDakka is really the place where you need anti-tank guns to kill basic dudes, because anything less isn't durable enough.
When looking at something like this, they are basically the new, car, housing, etc.. magazines of the future, instead of paper book sending to you its not on the internet via video format.
You should look around and find a patreon company for 40k you highly enjoy, they seem a bit high to me, i now of many that are 5-10$ a month for the same information basically.
From experience, there are always those more elite groups that feel their product is better and will charge for more, if you feel that extra is worth it thats your money.
With all that said, you SHOULD look at it from a Quality/time stand point for you, if watching 5hrs a week in videos is something you enjoy and do for 20hrs a week, that means the 30$ per month is about 1.5$ an hour.
If you are only watching 5hrs a month? well then its 6$ an hour.
Then there is "support", if you highly enjoy them, their content, and want them to succeed, sometimes spending a little extra for you if worth it.
15k+
Emperor's Spears 2500
Beastmen 10k