--There was a guy who borrowed a lot of money for production from his business partner, who got the licences, and who persuaded several best sculptors that he is legit. As a company, they posted things they've been provided by artists, but there were no full prototype figures presented. They took preorders, continuously updated for better. There were delays, obviously. At some point it sounded ridiculous (like an additional piano). Finally, they produced a very badly designed Lennon with underscaled head and a questionable body and got lost with other preorders (and prototypes that artists provided).
So, paying upfront to a company that produced nothing yet is bad taste now.
Permutations of that occurred within the 1:6 hobby over the years.
I had a front row seat experiencing and seeing first hand the rise and fall of a 1:6 brand that went through a similar story some years ago.
It embarrasses me to this day as well as hard lesson learned resulting in how and why I am extremely cynical, distrustful, and questioning of such where the majority chooses to fall for the lure of something promising.