I don't think Spence lied and I don't think he's trying to rip people off. I completely agree that he danced around questions, but I think it's because he didn't have the answers. I think his situation has dramatically changed in the past few months and he's in the middle of trying to deal with it. I wanted to have him on the podcast in order to have a good conversation and give an update to everyone. I'm disappointed that we couldn't get answers for the raffle winners and those with refunds still outstanding. I wish we could have received better news on the upcoming projects. I personally am still going to support their projects because I like the products that they create.

I do think it takes a lot of courage to actually come on and address the situation, even though the news isn't positive at this point. I've seen a lot of people who have disengaged from these boards or the Transformers community due to the negativity and I appreciate that Spencer at least came on and tried to give an update. It may not have been what we wanted to hear, but he at least did it. We don't even know who most of the 3P owners and contributors are and I'm sure that they do that so they don't have to be out there when things don't go as they like. I just hope for MAAS's sake and for the sake of the contributors to the Renegade project that he can turn things around.

 

We’re going to agree to disagree, I’ve seen the evidence and know other things you’re not privy to. Ask around what other third party companies think of him. You like Spencer, I get that. But being a friend involves calling them out when they mess up or do wrong.

Spencer has a history of taking people’s money, running with it, and not delivering it and trying to make up a pack of lies and fancy words to get people to believe whatever story he’s trying to peddle.

If you’re going to say an establish pattern of behavior for ten years, where he does the same thing over and over, is “a mistake” then you might want to take a look at your connection to him and if you’re not being biased at all.

Again, Spencer has a history of all of this and the only reason why he went on your show was because he knew you were his friend and you wouldn’t throw hard all questions at him. He wasn’t being brave, he was taking advantage of a privledged position that you gave him to try and spur more lies to string people along longer. The only good thing was that your viewers knew this about him and while you tried to save him and threw away portions of your integrity, they kept asking for answers and saw right through his crap and he couldn’t weasel out of things.

 

I honestly don't know about the shipping in the Philippines. It may be awful. As I have mentioned before, since it is a known factor it seems logical that it should have been factored into the initial expenses though instead of something to worry about in hindsight.

 

I stand by everything that I said on the show and on these boards. I'm not sure how that is throwing portions of my integrity away. We had him on the show so that the community could get an update and answers for their questions. We told him ahead of time that it is a live show with viewer questions and to expect tough questions from us and from the viewers and to expect to have answers. However, I'm not going to invite someone on a show and then berate them. I thought the interview was trending in a negative direction and tried to even it out for the sake of everyone. In general, I try to be as positive as I can when engaging with the community because this is just supposed to be a fun hobby. If I'm no longer having fun, I might as well be doing something else.

 

The amount of compliments you give him, the fact that you didn’t ask him why he didn’t reply to people over official channels when he pointedly told you he always answers your messages, that’s playing it safe and avoiding a very critical question that was asked to be asked by your viewers several times but wasn’t Asked. The fact you told me yourself that you “knew parts of what was going on but couldn’t say” indicates a past cordial if not friendly relationship.

He’s lied to you and he lied to everyone else and he lied through all of that interview. There was no follow up to his antics which your viewers would call out. And considered there was only only fourteen there at the time you can’t say it was because it was lost in the comments. I was there. I saw what happened. Others did too.

Regardless I think this is probably better further discussed in PMs if you want to as I’m sure the mods won’t like drama creeping up again.

 

I think I said it earlier and it may have been removed. It seemed that all three of you were genuinely trying to get the truth, albeit in different ways. More importantly, you all seemed to be offering advice, based on your commenters, to help him present himself better to a fanbase that's fed up and angry.

Now, whether he sticks to that... agreement[?] he seemed to settle on about communication, that's entirely on him. But, from what I saw, you tried.

That's about all you could do.

 

I'm always available via PM or on Facebook if you have any further feedback that you'd like to provide.

 

I was very pissed off.

 

Just posted this in the UK thread as people were asking questions, thought it best to copy it here just to show that I am following the situation, even if I'm only repeating what I've said in here earlier.

Thanks to people who've supported us up to now, and apologies to people who want more concrete answers that you are entitled to.

Once again I cannot speak to Maas Toys, but as far as the Mayhem Mekanic purple bike situation I will do everything in my power to help. You won't be forgotten.

 

Used to be a brotherhood in 3P, as hard as that might be to imagine. Almost makes me want to jump back into full customization.

 

Again, I can only comment on the MM side of things so here we go; without Spencer the project would not have hapened and the Unrustables would never have been released. Ever.

From our POV here in England, the money collected in USD was sent to our guy Spence in Canada sometimes Phillipines who liased with the Chinese factories to produce the Bastards and then (purple guys aside which have not been forgotten) he posted out and fulfilled all the toy KS pledges. As far as we were concerned we were done. Great job to all involved especially Spencer who put a huge amount of time, effort, energy and money into the project before, after and during the KS campaign.

Onto the Yamazukis.

Except then all this noise started to happen about Spencer falling out with the factory, so we made the (we thought maybe overly cautious) decision to hold off, let more information come in and see where we stand before collecting any more money from MM backers.

Not being involved with Maas, Cassy and I have never had any clue what's happening with the Tetras, but we have been concerned about the purple bikes. All three of us had a chat concerning this and Spencer told us about the raffle and store credit srrategy which we agreed with. Finding out the two prizes haven't been sent out is disappointing and will be raised with Spencer on the next group chat, as will the long term refund prognosis for those not willing to hold on store credit. Factory wise I cannot comment as I've never had any direct contact with them and it's completely outside my area. Funds were raised, money collected, product delivered. I know no more than this, other than the reality that we've lost access to the molds due to a longterm friendship fracturing and the rashomon-esque versions I've heard from various sources.

I hope Spencer can find a way to bring the Tetras to market, restore some faith and then we can all move forward. If we can't, or we agree not to move forward for whatever reasons that would suck, but I still hold out hope, simply because Spencer did do the job which we brought him onto the team to do and I have to judge him by his actions, which is why the purple bike situation is so disappointing and the Tetra Jets so important for me to follow.

I can't say much more than that without repeating myself, and I'm not about to chuck a team member under the proverbial bus, but I'm watching the situation carefully hoping for a great resolution for all involved especially Spencer and the Tetra backers, knowing that Cassy and I feel responsibility towards all Unrustables supporters.

 

I don't know man, I don't know what you've been hearing, but all the people have had the same story for me, and there is a clear and present history regarding Spencer. I doubt that you wouldn't have gotten the Unrustables to happen, but I may well be wrong. I'm willing to admit that on that point. Regardless everything since involving Spencer, has been a straight careening hypersonic meteor to rock bottom.

 

you must have been....i can't recall you saying a whole lot during the show

 

O...i backed The Unrustales, got my rewards,,,,great.

The guys\gals waiting for their purple prototypes that they 'won' during the raffle\auction----------well i'll put $20 into the shipping cost to get them sent to the winners. Seriously.

Get in contact with Spence, get me his PayPal info and i'll front $20 for the postage costs. Hopefully then at least one person can get what they are due.

 

I too can only speak to UB, I have, so far, received what I have paid for with the exception of the Purple bike which I accepted store credit for and have since used the credit. As such I consider everything closed off. Well, almost, I am still waiting on a prototype weapons pack. Hopefully that gets sorted soon.

I am awaiting now just the comics and looking forward to some updates on those when the time is right. I'm not looking to stir the embers of this fire, just wanted to make a more positive note. I have 2 Bastards, 2 Rogues and an Otomo. All received safe and sound. Planning on repainting one of the Rogues purple.

Are there any dissasembly/assembly guides? If not I'll just be sure to take lots of pictures, lol!

 

Ill help pay for the box and stamps, but Im not giving Spence any money.

 

First of all I would like to thank @LBock and the others for having me on their show. I do appreciate the opportunity to talk to others even if it is not what they want to hear. Sorry I pissed you off so badly @russellestate, it certainly was not my intention.

Second, I want to thank Sid for his kind words and for not throwing me under the proverbial bus, so to speak. Working with you has been an honor for me and I appreciate what you bring to the table.

Unfortunately it is difficult to get your point across all the time when things are tense or when you are under pressure. I was not intending to dance around issues or talk circle politics but sometimes that is what it comes down to when at times you can not provide all the answers that people are looking for. I stand by everything that I have said to date and even tho I am constantly being called a liar, I think that when it comes to 3p or any other type of scenario of drama in the fandom there is none other that is more open or honest about what is going on. I have always said, just ask I will do what I can to provide an answer with the information I have at hand and what I am permitted to provide while keeping others privacy as necessary.

As for the purple bikes and raffle prizes. I swear that all 4 prizes will be sent out early next week. Tracking will be provided to each of the winners by email through the site.

As for the refunds for the few who still need it, as I said in the interview I was hoping to gain enough from the flat stack to cover those needed to be refunded. I will continue to keep all of those in need updated as soon as I have further information on this front.

I do find it odd that in all of Calaback's ranting he did not mention once that he was fully compensated for his purchase of the purple bike months ago and had his item shipped at that time.

I do apologize for my month of silence. I am currently going through my own personal issues and really did need to take a step back and deal with my own health and my family. I know that is not 'your' problem and while I wish my personal life did not have an effect on my work life, unfortunately, it does. I am better now and will be fully back to work on things next week, when I will emphasize again, the T1 sample prizes will be sent out.

I want to also thank @Chrisola for her amazing offer and can only say that is well above and beyond what anyone could ever hope to ask. I can assure you that there is no way I would ever take money from a customer or a supporter in this way to fix a problem of my own creation. This is without a doubt my fault and my issue to deal with and I will do everything in my power to make it happen.

I really wish I could provide more about how indeed awful it can be to actually live in a third world country and there are a huge amount of things you need to adjust to just to live a semi-normal life. My move here was not fully by choice and was not at all planned. As some may remember or heard, it took many months after I left Hong Kong to get much of my own personal effects as well as much of my work stuff just so I can continue to move forward with things. Again, I have not provided the entire full and complete story as in reality, how could I? It is a huge mess of nonsense, back stabbing, lies, charades and in reality is not really anyone else's business. Suffice it to say that of course everything had a huge effect on operations for both MAAS and for MM but in reality much of those fine details are not meant for public knowledge.

I understand that there are people out there who don't like me. That is OK. I can be difficult to deal with. I tend to treat others how they treat me and a lot of time when someone comes in guns blazing, the response they get is not always what they hope for but I can assure you this much, I have zero hate or animosity toward anyone and I have never singled out any one person for revenge or any type of malicious intent.

I have always said I am open to questions from anyone. Legit questions and not just finger pointing accusations. I will always do what I can to answer them to the best of my ability. If you do not like the answer or don't agree with it, it does not mean it is wrong or a lie. As for much of this, I am the source. It would make a lot more sense to get information direct from the source than from various other parties who may or may not even be directly involved.

 

Just a quick insight into how much 2880 peso is. 3000 peso is just about 1/3 of my entire monthly budget. 2880 peso will get you rent in a one bedroom apartment here. I eat about 150 peso to 200 peso a day in food so that would be 2880 peso is about a half month of eating. 2880 peso is more than a lot of workers here make in an entire month where the daily wage is 150 peso a day.

Not trying to say all of this for sympathy or anything, just trying to say that in reality, here, 2880 peso is actually a really big amount of money when it comes to daily living.

And yeah, it honestly really is not as easy as just moseying on down to the post office and asking someone politely to mail something for me. There is a lot more involved when it comes to mailing packages and there have been times when I have had to return to the post office 3 times before I can get a package sent out. Every time you go to the post office the required way of posting something can be entirely different, even from the same teller. It can be mind boggling at times.

 

And just so Spencer can't say I'm lying...

Boom!

 

@Spence: 95% of this could have been avoided. All you had to do was really 2 things:

1) DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GONNA DO. IF you advertise that you’ll be shipping out something -SHIP IT.

2). COMMUNICATE -Shxt goes sour and sideways. We all know that life gets in the way of our intentions, but the onus was on you to communicate with those that you are indebted to. Manage expectations. Seriously, a few simple emails would have probably saved alot of grief.

I wish you and your family well, but you have to understand how your silence and inability to complete what many of us think to be a simple task appears to the fandom. Its very disparaging and concerning. Trust is an important thing and is easily lost.

Good luck to you sir.