I'd like to share my situation with this project as I think it could potentially affect others on the list that preordered.
On May 29, 2012, I PM'd Ben and kindly asked to opt out from this project. It has been over a year since I originally agreed to be included in this project.
Unfortunately for me, financial situations have changed, and so I asked what he thought about dropping me from the list and refunding my deposit back to paypal.
Now, Ben has made it clear that time has become an issue. Completing this dio for everyone on the list appears to have become a burden. We are now over a year from originally paying our deposit and I believe only the 1st member on the list has his dio, which had to be rebuilt due to the product sustaining damage during shipping. Not Ben's fault, but it caused further delays in completing the project for the remaining members on the list.
I thought, that by omitting my order from his list, it would help me as well as Ben. That's one less dio that he has to spend time on. Two more members after me on the list will get bumped up, of course.
Now here's what concerns me:
Ben has agreed to refund my deposit, but stated he does not have the necessary funds at this time.
If funds are not available, how can supplies/materials be purchased to complete the dios for the other members on the list?
And, what timeframe can they expect their dios to be completed?
Many of us are in a similar situation with Ben on another custom project-
https://sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99871&page=12
Sorry to see the same thing happening here. My sympathies man... Good luck!
Sallah
Same situation as you guys but in my case with the MOTU greyskull. Anyone else effected feel free to PM me would be good to discuss next move if there even is one...
Hey guys. In doing my best. I do plan to pay those who want it here their deposit back. It just wouldn't make sense to start doing so until I had enough to refund everyone who wanted it. I am also just having a hard time keeping up with both of these forums, here and the heman one, so please don't ever fake my delayed response as me having disappeared or anything like that. Its 5 am here and i just noticed all these responses ao I knew I had to come by and say something. I'm on my phone most of the time and not a computer, and it's very difficult to do. That being said I'll post here what I just posted at heman.
"Yes. The Monaco project is one that I tackled alone without ben a. And it's even more behind. Dealing with many of the same snags along the way. I'm in the process of having to re do the mold on that one, which is expensive and time consuming. I have communicated with them just as I have here, so no one should think I'm trying to pull te wool over anyone's eyes. It's just what I've been saying this whole time, the fortress is not the only thing we have going on, we both have several other jobs being working artists, and for me these two in
Particular are very challenging, and honestly, I don't think it's any secret, we underestimated the difficulty of the whole process. But we are working on it, and figuring it out as we go. We have never done something this large and everything about it is a learning experience."
So that's what I posted there, for those that aren't a member. Also for the Motu people here, I have not been pod about updating the sideshow thread. I'm sorry. Te heman one has lots of info though and will answer a lot of questions.
The Monaco project is one I took on alone, a little before we started the fortress. The fortress is a project I'm doing with a. Friend with many years mold making experience. And he has been able to help me as well with my questions on Monaco.
They ate both getting done. It's just taking forever. I know this. And don't blame anyone for getting mad. It's something new at every turn. Just like shipping. Can't believe that thing busted. And now geil and I are dealing with the back and forth of international postal claims. Something I never expected to eat up time when I could be working on both of these projects. Just an example of things along the way that Happen that you don't anticipate. There are a million of them.
For Monaco I will continue to keep working and plug ahead on it. And those that want their deposit back, just let me know, like centurion. That's fine, and I'll come up with it, but everyone's goin to have to CONTINUE (thank you ) to remain as patient as possible. I'm trying. I don't think I've kept that a secret. Thanks guys.