Molecule8 John Lennon UPDATE 5/10/18 - SCAM COMPANY!

[greatlakes6]

Does that mean that Rovo lost the master head sculpt to Molecule 8? If so that's a tragic shame, its an extraordinary likeness to De Nero. I only wish he could sell it as a seperate project.

That would be awesome if he could sell it on it's own. The best DeNiro likeness we have ever seen, would definitely sell well and he would recoup his losses in no time.

 

[cpoll36]

That would be awesome if he could sell it on it's own. The best DeNiro likeness we have ever seen, would definitely sell well and he would recoup his losses in no time.

Totally agree, that was my thinking too. I wonder if he would be open to the idea?

 

[TheClipperKing]

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

Just so people don’t think I’m hiding on this situation or I’m team Vijay or sumat I’d just like to say I’ve only seen what’s happening today really , I genuinely love being away from this hobby so I don’t bother checking my “clipperking” social media anymore.... anyway to just remain transparent I’ll say it’s a shame what’s happened to these artists but it not my business so I don’t wanna get involved at all although written contracts might have helped , on Vijay I’ll just say I was contacted directly and via lee ward not long after ka Kim posted her original John Lennon sculpt and told they’d like to gift me a John Lennon figure as I was one of the reviewers they watched regularly, I was also told that they DIDNT expect or require a review it was just a gift , it was also mentioned that I might also receive any follow up figures. BUT I CAN HONESTLY STATE MY LENNON WAS A GIFT AND NOT A REVIEW SAMPLE. I took it upon myself to review it as a thank you firstly to Vijay for the free figure and also wanted to advertise Lee wards online store. Needless to say I reviewed the inhand figure as honestly as always and still stand behind my thoughts in that video. Obviously I shared my videos over social media in Molecule8 site and was thanked by them , I then asked Vijay if I could buy additional parts to make two full figures (body and base) having seen some were damaged and were going to be returned and replaced . Vijay refused payment and just sent me brand new additional body , base , boots ,guitar....... now I’ve always maintained I take everyone as I find them and trust everyone until proven otherwise so I have to say that Vijay has been fair and honest with me so I’ll remain respectful to him but I can’t defend him with how others feel towards him.

To those who have pre orders and might lose money I’m sorry to hear that but to those who aren’t really involved but just love to ****talk someone your “told you so” attitude might be the may reason this company looks like folding leave some people without the figures they ordered

So you have to participate in a scam to have an opinion on it?

 

[Tom Day]

Just so people don’t think I’m hiding on this situation or I’m team Vijay or sumat I’d just like to say I’ve only seen what’s happening today really , I genuinely love being away from this hobby so I don’t bother checking my “clipperking” social media anymore.... anyway to just remain transparent I’ll say it’s a shame what’s happened to these artists but it not my business so I don’t wanna get involved at all although written contracts might have helped , on Vijay I’ll just say I was contacted directly and via lee ward not long after ka Kim posted her original John Lennon sculpt and told they’d like to gift me a John Lennon figure as I was one of the reviewers they watched regularly, I was also told that they DIDNT expect or require a review it was just a gift , it was also mentioned that I might also receive any follow up figures. BUT I CAN HONESTLY STATE MY LENNON WAS A GIFT AND NOT A REVIEW SAMPLE. I took it upon myself to review it as a thank you firstly to Vijay for the free figure and also wanted to advertise Lee wards online store. Needless to say I reviewed the inhand figure as honestly as always and still stand behind my thoughts in that video. Obviously I shared my videos over social media in Molecule8 site and was thanked by them , I then asked Vijay if I could buy additional parts to make two full figures (body and base) having seen some were damaged and were going to be returned and replaced . Vijay refused payment and just sent me brand new additional body , base , boots ,guitar....... now I’ve always maintained I take everyone as I find them and trust everyone until proven otherwise so I have to say that Vijay has been fair and honest with me so I’ll remain respectful to him but I can’t defend him with how others feel towards him.

To those who have pre orders and might lose money I’m sorry to hear that but to those who aren’t really involved but just love to ****talk someone your “told you so” attitude might be the may reason this company looks like folding leave some people without the figures they ordered

Thanks for the laugh, man. Of all the hilarious posts on this thread, yours definitely scoops top prize.

Also, I wanted to apologise publicly to KA Kim, I hadn't realised until now that my criticism of Molecule8 was directly responsible for Vijay stealing her work.

 

[Underworld54]

Just so people don’t think I’m hiding on this situation or I’m team Vijay or sumat I’d just like to say I’ve only seen what’s happening today really , I genuinely love being away from this hobby so I don’t bother checking my “clipperking” social media anymore.... anyway to just remain transparent I’ll say it’s a shame what’s happened to these artists but it not my business so I don’t wanna get involved at all although written contracts might have helped , on Vijay I’ll just say I was contacted directly and via lee ward not long after ka Kim posted her original John Lennon sculpt and told they’d like to gift me a John Lennon figure as I was one of the reviewers they watched regularly, I was also told that they DIDNT expect or require a review it was just a gift , it was also mentioned that I might also receive any follow up figures. BUT I CAN HONESTLY STATE MY LENNON WAS A GIFT AND NOT A REVIEW SAMPLE. I took it upon myself to review it as a thank you firstly to Vijay for the free figure and also wanted to advertise Lee wards online store. Needless to say I reviewed the inhand figure as honestly as always and still stand behind my thoughts in that video. Obviously I shared my videos over social media in Molecule8 site and was thanked by them , I then asked Vijay if I could buy additional parts to make two full figures (body and base) having seen some were damaged and were going to be returned and replaced . Vijay refused payment and just sent me brand new additional body , base , boots ,guitar....... now I’ve always maintained I take everyone as I find them and trust everyone until proven otherwise so I have to say that Vijay has been fair and honest with me so I’ll remain respectful to him but I can’t defend him with how others feel towards him.

To those who have pre orders and might lose money I’m sorry to hear that but to those who aren’t really involved but just love to ****talk someone your “told you so” attitude might be the may reason this company looks like folding leave some people without the figures they ordered

So it's our fault the business will likely fold and not Vijay who screwed as many people as he could along the way? I have to say with all due respect, you need to get your head out of your @ss.

 

[TheClipperKing]

Also just wondering..... if there’s only a few John Lennon figures actually in circulation does that push the price up ??? Gotta be more collectable right ???

 

[xipotec]

Seems like some folks on this board are still pushing this figure for some reason.....

Even after we have heard from one of the most respected sculptors saying this company ripped her off and STOLE HER WORK....

Anyone defending this company after hearing this clearly must be getting paid to do so...


Sent from the inside of a giant slug in outer space.....

 

[SwedishHeat]

Vijay could afford to send people free figures, because he didn't pay the people that actually created them.

But hey, I got mine, so **** you.

 

[Choryujin]

Just a quick (no stalking) look at Clipper's post history and it's pretty much shill review after shill review. This was the only thread he posted in since January. He even mentions selling review pieces in the BW GB thread. Kind of sad that people have no sympathy for those ripped off.

 

[RiggsMcClane]

You don't have to know someone personally to have respect for them. I respected his take on figure reviews. They were generally straight forward and honest from what I could tell. Compared to reviews that purposely overlooked flaws and issues to protect company interests. Sadly, it looks like thats the stance he's taken in M8s case and it's wholly unfounded.

 

[LiLJawa]

I have read through a few of the previous pages and It is sad that the artists did not get paid for their hard work however why on earth would you give up your art that you spent hours on without some kind of down payment?? I dont care how sweet or genuine someone is making themselves seem you always get paid at least half before you give up the goods.

 

[nexus]

This entire project has been a cluster****. I don't know how many figures ultimately went out, how many folks are out of their $300, and how many artists were under paid or ripped off completely, but the line seems to be getting longer and longer. And who knows what all is happening on the license holder side.

Maybe I'm naive, but I still think this was mostly a classic case of miscalculation and horrible business planning as opposed to someone setting out to exploit the industry and rip off the collecting community. Reading KA Kim's Facebook post and experiences from others who were involved in the project, Vijay comes across as part salesman, part bull**** artist, and part dreamer. He thought big, talked big, and promised big. But even from the early days it seemed clear to me that he hadn't done his homework and was vastly underestimating costs, workflow requirements, and manufacturing realities. Based on the product specs, Molecule 8 was promising what should have realistically been a $500 product for $300 (and that's not even factoring in the 1:6 baby grand piano that was mentioned for a while). So just assuming the 1,000-figure run, they were bringing in a gross of $300K on a business plan that was probably venturing closer to $500K. Now sure, it would have been tough to get 1,000 folks coughing up $500 for a figure no matter how many innovative bells and whistles it was going to introduce. Which is why they should have done their pricing research and scaled the product accordingly. My guess is biggest cost culprit was the new body system. Sure it sounded innovative in theory and looked cool in 3D renderings, but manufacturing is a completely different animal (IMO the body is a 2.5/5 at best). For the sake of argument, let's say they spent $50,000 to develop and manufacture 1,000 bodies (it was probably more). Instead they could have bought 1,000 decent bodies wholesale for maybe $8,000 or so. I'm sure once some of the realities started becoming apparent they probably scrambled and sought out cheaper vendors, which is why the heads were undersized and the quality of the outfits were average. If they hadn't over hyped and over promised the end all be all 1:6 collectible, they could have focused on delivering the ultimate John Lennon 1:6 scale figure with one amazing head sculpt, one outfit, a standard body, a few accessories and a properly scaled guitar. Lennon 2.0 with a singing head sculpt and second outfit could have been released later. I don't know why the naysayers are reveling in the "I told you sos". To me this is both a shame and a missed opportunity. At the end of the day, Molecule 8 did a few things right and a whole bunch of things wrong. Ultimately this will probably serve as a master class in how not to get into 1:6.

I wonder if Kim could make back some of her money by getting a correctly scaled heads produced. I know I'd pick up replacements and it might be a way for other collectors who had been hoping for a great John Lennon figure to at least get started on putting one together.

 

[tbay]

I don't think Vijay was just a guy that got over his head or caught a few bad breaks. He was unethical from the beginning and was hoping that he would get away with it. He flat out LIED about the release date to drum up preorders with a complete understanding that there was no way in hell he would meet the target release date. How is that "getting in over his head?"

With this history it is likely that he also made promises to those artists absolutely understanding that there was a high likelihood that he wouldn't be able to make good on those promises, though of course he hoped he would make money off this project.

He has lived his entire life this way as evidenced by his previous work history. He takes short cuts, lies, cheats, exploits trusting people and hopes to get away with it. He gambled with people's livelihoods and knew going in that he would just bail if it didn't work out for him just like he always has. If this was just a bad break why wouldn't he communicate with those he ripped off? How is this not a window into what kind of person he is?

I'm sure he'll just file bankruptcy and go back to living off his parents money (or the money he's stashed from this latest scam).

 

[ymba]

I see some distributors now actually have the figure in stock
while places like SS is still on preorder.

And then if you look further, Molecule 8 website is now
“under maintenance “

What happens now? If the worse case secenario
happens and the company goes under, what happens
to all the places where customers have paid the Preorder ??

The other bigger issue is from all reviews,
everyone who got the figure now is clearly
stating the heads are just too small for the body.

What a pity ...

 

[Tom Day]

Plus, how receptive are the Lennon Estate going to be to future attempts from companies to get the 1/6 license once they realise the full extent of this?

 

[Johnny Utah]

1/6 of all 4 in various looks is a Grail.

 

[TheClipperKing]

People on ssf are so touchy , ya throw a little corn down and the chicken heads start pecking !!! A couple of simple lines of text and the character assassination begins ...... if only i gave a ****

 

[Underworld54]

I see some distributors now actually have the figure in stock
while places like SS is still on preorder.

And then if you look further, Molecule 8 website is now
“under maintenance “

What happens now? If the worse case secenario
happens and the company goes under, what happens
to all the places where customers have paid the Preorder ??

The other bigger issue is from all reviews,
everyone who got the figure now is clearly
stating the heads are just too small for the body.

What a pity ...

I would assume if people preordered anywhere but directly through Molecule then they will get their money back.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

I would assume if people preordered anywhere but directly through Molecule then they will get their money back.

Or not charged at all if there wasn’t a deposit