Border patrol seizing collectibles! Help please

[NoOtherOptions]

I meant to say I'm sorry you're dealing with these problems too. I suspect thatRamatuelle is right and that there is a lot of back-logging, and so workers let off steam on the merchandise... such as the border patrol, and my box that came mangled today. Bark speeder looks like it lost a battle with clankers. It's repairable, Sergio at Stadin felt really bad to see his baby messed up, and I did too. The FedEx guy said he was embarrassed to deliver it, the box was mangled and had border patrol tape on it, but it was barely holding together. Sergio is going to help me salvage things, and I plan to buy from him in the future - his work is impressive, what survived looked excellent.

I may just wait awhile until shipping companies and homeland security are more caught up and less stressed, because when they take their stress out on the stuff I paid hard earned money for, it makes me want to strangle some border patrol apes.

View attachment 485378

"Gee, it's a good thing it was marked fragile, or Border Patrol might have broken something." Shakes head with disguist... homeland apes, get your damn dirty paws off my BARC Speeder!

Can you share some more pics? Of the damage. I'd love to see what it looks like in person.

 

[Chronos1919]

Why all the assumptions about BP seizing unlicensed merch? The OP was not notified or told that was the case.

The last thing I was told today was that the US Border Patrol has my package because of a "security issue" and "security infringement"... I was told nothing more, and FedEx said that was all the information provided them.

It was that bit about "infringement" that got people speculating. Also, the post referencing a shipment of unlicensed Pokemon toys being seized at the border.

 

[TwelveInchFigures]

The damage isn't total, it's actually not nearly as bad as I feared when I saw the box. Mostly I'm livid that this happened. I can probably fix it, but I'll need a part or two from Stadin (which I'm sure they'll be happy to provide) since some of it is missing. I'm definitely not letting FedEx off the hook, they're going to be paying for the replacement parts and shipping, I promise you that.

I'll have to post the pics tomorrow, gotta deal with stuff now.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I meant to say I'm sorry you're dealing with these problems too. I suspect thatRamatuelle is right and that there is a lot of back-logging, and so workers let off steam on the merchandise... such as the border patrol, and my box that came mangled today. Bark speeder looks like it lost a battle with clankers. It's repairable, Sergio at Stadin felt really bad to see his baby messed up, and I did too. The FedEx guy said he was embarrassed to deliver it, the box was mangled and had border patrol tape on it, but it was barely holding together. Sergio is going to help me salvage things, and I plan to buy from him in the future - his work is impressive, what survived looked excellent.

I may just wait awhile until shipping companies and homeland security are more caught up and less stressed, because when they take their stress out on the stuff I paid hard earned money for, it makes me want to strangle some border patrol apes.

View attachment 485378

"Gee, it's a good thing it was marked fragile, or Border Patrol might have broken something." Shakes head with disguist... homeland apes, get your damn dirty paws off my BARC Speeder!

That is terrible to see.

I guess the one bright aspect is, you did finally get it.

 

[Kinja]

Wow. That's insane. Sorry to hear that happened to you. Nobody else is saying it, so I guess I will: *****k those border patrol douchebags. "Just doing their job" my ass.

 

[TwelveInchFigures]

That is terrible to see.

I guess the one bright aspect is, you did finally get it.

Yeah, I got it good. Can't argue with that.

Wow. That's insane. Sorry to hear that happened to you. Nobody else is saying it, so I guess I will: *****k those border patrol douchebags. "Just doing their job" my ass.

What I was thinking wasn't as nice and I can't say it here, but thanks - that's a sanitized version of it.

All in all, looking at the damage today it's pretty minimal considering. I was livid and overwhelmed yesterday, but today is damage control, and I managed to find the missing pieces jammed in the back end (literally), got them free of it, and looking at getting repairs done, but will wait til FedEx is done with their investigation.

It's truly a marvellous work of art how thoroughly twisted the box is, though. I think I should frame it and send it back to Border Patrol, entitled "Their finest work".

Considering how bad that box is twisted up, I'm still surprised that there isn't far more damage to the speeder - I guess it's a testiment to how well built it is!

The right pedal is broken - looks like the plastic in that case, that will probably be the hardest part. The front shields are both clean breaks. The back left engine part the plastic broke and it came out. The left pedal didn't break but looks slightly wonky - I suspect some careful bending will fix it. The upper handles didn't break, but again look a little wonky so probably got stressed from something pressed against one of them - more careful bending should fix that.

A lot of the foam was missing from the box, so apparently when they opened it and unboxed it the apes couldn't figure out how to rebox it.

From now on whenever I think of the Border Patrol, I will forever think of the gorilla soldiers from Planet of the Apes. If I was rich, I'd buy a Hot Toys ape soldier, put a border patrol uniform on it, and send it along with the framed box as a reminder of how much I appreciate their thoughtful service.

Granted, probably most of them are decent, hard working people - it only takes a few gorillas in each business to really screw things up, and boy do they get around, their contributions to society are a breathtaking horror to behold when taking in the sum total throughout history. Damn dirty apes.

 

[sithocan]

I checked their site and seemed like they are selling unpainted. But yours is painted. What scale is it?

 

[TwelveInchFigures]

It's 1/6 scale, they also offer 1/12 scale and they will paint as well - but naturally have to charge more. They also do custom work. This is the first time they?ve had a problem with damage, but the box was pretty big. We?re going to try a different shipper next time.

For anyone who hasn't checked them out, here's the link - https://www.stadintech.com/

Turns out both footpedals are broken, and it will have to be returned to be fixed properly, since they use an abs glue that pretty much wields it together. I could probably have done it on my end but it would take time and I would have to buy tools I don't have, so figure by the time I'm done FedEx may as well get it back to Stadin to fix it right. So we're just waiting to hear from FedEx. I don’t normally take pictures of collectibles in sunlight, but the landing gear is pretty dark and I had to to get a decent picture.



I really just hope they can get back to me without destroying it again. This could become a depressing cycle really quickly.

 

[Stryker2011]

Wow. This is just amazing. They can stop, and destroy, a package coming from Mexico, but they can’t stop the thousands of illegals that cross on a daily basis looking for free handouts. Nice! Glad to see they have their priorities in the right place.

 

[Chronos1919]

Wow. This is just amazing. They can stop, and destroy, a package coming from Mexico, but they can?t stop the thousands of illegals that cross on a daily basis looking for free handouts. Nice! Glad to see they have their priorities in the right place.

It's not like they're opting to do one over the other. If illegal immigrants all tried to travel through a central hub to reach the US I'm sure the border patrol would delay and rough them up as well.

People act like the border patrol are leaving their posts to mishandle packages.

 

[Stryker2011]

It's not like they're opting to do one over the other. If illegal immigrants all tried to travel through a central hub to reach the US I'm sure the border patrol would delay and rough them up as well.

People act like the border patrol are leaving their posts to mishandle packages.

No, but if even 10% of them are wasting their time looking for bootleg items — that’s a waste of manpower that could be used elsewhere. Now, if they are looking for contraband, drugs, etc. — fine. But *****ing up a toy because the multi-billion dollar Disney Empire might lose a couple bucks...

 

[TwelveInchFigures]

I don't believe it was a copyright issue at all... especially as it seems Disney has given Stadin permission to proceed with selling Star Wars stuff during the licensing process.

 

[Chronos1919]

But *****ing up a toy because the multi-billion dollar Disney Empire might lose a couple bucks...

That would be ridiculous... if it happened... which it did not.

For whatever reason this package caught their attention and they mistreated it when handling it. That’s someone doing a necessary job and being ****** at it, or just not caring.

Packages do need to be monitored for contraband. It’s not a waste of manpower.