In preparation for the Pigs vs. Cows theme at BrickCon 2013, Guy Himber (V&A Steamworks) has launched a Kickstarter campaign to produce minifig-compatible pig and cow heads!
Head over to Kickstater and pledge to get some of these great heads to spice up your Pigs vs Cows creations! Keep watch here on The Brothers Brick for more news on the Pigs vs. Cows theme and BrickCon 2013!!!
Oh great, another Kickstarter from Guy. For me, he lost all credibility after the fiasco that was his Steampunk playing cards KS. Does anyone know if he ever explained that? It was pulled (by him?), he assured us it was to return in a couple of days, then nada! I know I lost no money on that, but I will NOT be backing him on any future Kickstarters as he seems unable to follow through, nor communicate with his would-be backers. Just my two cents, fwiw.
Seriously? You bash Guy without knowing if he ever explained the so-called “fiasco” of the Steampunk playing cards?
I heard him explain it…it wasn’t his fault. He has lost no credibility with me.
Also, his isn’t the first Kickstarter project that failed or was pulled. You do realize that no one lost money on it except for Guy himself? If a Kickstarter project fails for any reason then the pledges are not collected. That is the point of Kickstarter.
@Josh: I think “bashing” is a little strong a term to be used here, but to be fair, my using “fiasco” was probably a bit unfair, too. I am sure Guy is a great person, and his V&A Steamworks stuff is amazing!
Having said that, the way he handled the last Kickstarter was poor to say the least. Yes, if you know him and/or can talk to him in person, he may have explained the situation. But as a (would be) backer of the card project, he did not communicate what went wrong. Can you (or anyone) provide a URL to any site where he explained what happened? He sure as heck never did on any of his sites.
As I clearly stated in my comment, I did not lose any money – that time. I merely noted that I feel his lack of communication (publicly) over what happened last Kickstarter makes me personally very wary of supporting his projects in the future.
@warhev: The world does not revolve around you. Have you considered that there are very good reasons why he can’t discuss what happened publicly? That doing so would reflect poorly on certain other parties? That we are in the realm of Cease & Desists and lawyers? In cases like this, it is best to leave this stuff alone. If this hornet’s nest gets kicked, Guy is the one who gets stung. So, cut some slack, give the him the benefit of the doubt, and move on. Your opinion of how he handled it is myopic.
Do I owe you a check for goods paid for but not delivered?
Then please, contact me ASAP and I will gladly get it squared with you.
That is the length and breadth of my character. Feel free to judge me by this standard.
As far as Steampunk Heroes, as the more worldly comments above allude to, some things can be commented on, some things will have to wait as to such a time as it would be proper to do so.
I will assume that young master warhev perhaps “gets it” now?
Of course I welcome your support for Pigs vs Cows. I make things based upon what I know I would like, and heck… I like Pigs and Cows.
Will they be most awesome and quite fantastic, You bet.
I haven’t backed any of Guy’s Kickstarter projects, nor have I followed them so I don’t know any of the details here or the particulars of what was or wasn’t done. I think the idea of Kickstarter (and more generally, crowdfunding) is amazing, and I want to see it succeed. So I offer these comments in general.
Kickstarter depends on trust and reputation. Keep in mind that project creators are asking backers to put their money in the hands of someone who is often a complete stranger. This requires a huge leap of faith, and anything creators can do to build trust is crucial. Personally, I think the most important approach to trust is communication.
Projects fail all the all the time. That’s fine. Part of the power of Kickstarter is funding things that are a little more out there and would be too risky for traditional financing methods. Even projects that ultimately succeed in delivering often face huge delays. The difference between a good project and a bad project are how those failures and delays are handled. Again: communication. People are generally pretty understanding if they see valid reasons for problems. What they are not understanding of is someone who takes their money (or time, mental energy, and excitement in the cases where funding doesn’t happen) and then apparently disappear off the face of the earth. It doesn’t matter if the creator had the best reason on Earth; if it’s not communicated to backers then they might as well be assumed to be sipping daiquiris on a beach in Bermuda. Backers are not mind readers.
There may be cases where there are very good reasons not to go into detail publically, but there are zero reasons to not at least say *something* publicically. Lawyers and cease-and-desist are not an excuse to say nothing. It may mean saying less, but there is always some information that can be communicated. Even a simple, “We regret to say that we had to pull the project due to some unforeseen legal conflicts. Because of the legal nature of the issues we can’t go into them in detail. However, please know that we entered into this project with the best of intentions, and we will work hard to build your trust on our next project.” That’s all it takes.
To hipp5
Wow that’s a serious bit of reply you did there!
: )
OK, to quote your very well thought out and extremely well done thoughts above, I will quote from your end paragraph. It seems ‘to the point’ In fact, I will openly thief your words if asked about the project in the interim.
Sounds fair?
“We regret to say that we had to pull the project due to some unforeseen legal conflicts. Because of the legal nature of the issues we can’t go into them in detail. However, please know that we entered into this project with the best of intentions, and we will work hard to build your trust on our next project.”
Also an FYI, if your project gets pulled by the Kickstarter team, you really don’t have any way to contact you backers after the fact.
Sounds fair.
That’s interesting about Kickstarter making it so you have no way to contact backers if it’s pulled. Definitely a flaw they should fix.