If there's such a thing as vaporware in toys...I feel that Shocker Toys' Indie Spotlight Series 2 would definitely qualify. Actually, Shocker is fairly notorious for delays and unreleased collectibles. Ask the folks who are still waiting for the Indie Spotlight Series 2 figures that they pre-ordered in 2008.
What's that? They're no longer Shocker Toys. The company has changed its name to GBJR Toys (for owner Geoff Beckett Jr) and tried to distance itself from Shocker Toys - even though they own the Shocker domain name and all of their licenses and the same person is in charge of the company. Now they've taken to crowdsourcing to get that good old Indie Spotlight Series 2 finally finished and shipped out to you. (Although I'm not sure if that includes those people who paid for them 4 years ago) And they're going to ship out pieces produced by Shocker Toys...even though they're not affiliated with them. Get it?!!
Here's the thing. This is the third go-round at crowdsourcing. The first ended in an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign. The second was booted from IndieGoGo (apparently some folks complained about Beckett being a scam artist). And now this one is running at the ever famous GoFundMe.
The goal for the fund raising is $20,000 and GBJR Toys is almost there! $16,916.00 as of writing this. But then you look at the actual donations. $16,485.00 has come from "Offline Donations". So $431.00 was actually sourced via the site. I'm not saying the number is inflated, but an "Offline Donation" would be a good way to overstate the success of a project.
So why am I writing about this? Well I keep getting email updates about the project and I just can't support it. I don't want to see more people lose their money. There's no word of whether the folks who paid and have been waiting for these figures for 4 years will ever see them (unless they re-order them). With the name now changed to GBJR Toys, they've apparently claimed all of Shocker Toys assets...but none of their debts.
**BTW - just Google "Geoff Beckett Scam" for plenty of additional reading. And I'm still waiting for Shocker Toys to send items for a giveaway that I was going to run in 2008 in exchange for advertising on Plastic and Plush.**
