The explanation is simple. BSF is both Spencer and the GCI toys guy. They take turn just like DJ Marshmello  

 

(And I totally had Star Wars in mind when I wrote it, for better or worse).

 

Yeah sure Bobby is trying to get more views because of all that money he gets lol

 

You never know. He might get a ton of money from sponsorships or ad revenue or whatever. Now, I very much doubt he makes much of anything on his YouTube stuff - if I recall correctly, he has a full-time job as well. But my point is that we don't know for sure.

That all being said, more views ≠ more money. @Trent never said anything about him making more money, just more views.

 

Actually, the more views on gets is equal to more money but there are certain thresholds that need to be taken into a account, how many viewed it, how long did they view it, how has it aggregated. Did it get liked, was it shared, did it have comments. BSF is shady as fuck and definitely tries to lay in drama and steer towards click bait easily and use his position to push his own internal view onto everyone. The reason he still has to do his full time job is because action figure reviews aren't that big of a seller, or attention grabber especially when there's a ton of people out there doing what you're doing, but possibly doing it better. He didn't even get a nomination for reviewer of the year as I recall, the last two were one vaguely Transformer themed in name, and another guy whose name escapes me whose in a Facebook group I'm in. There's a lot of factors involved in youtube ad revenue, and even sponsor spots.

Looking at his videos and the current views, there are a lot that don't meet the minimum requirements for monetization from Youtube, which, if I remember correctly from TotalBiscuit or Boogie2988 is about 10k. He also only has fourteen thousand subscribers, which might sound like a lot, but isn't all that many really in the long run. It will be a long while before he's able to just sit back and eat up that youtube money.

 

So, for those of us who donated to the Renegades but didn't do it through eBay, and are beginning to think that previous behavior may mean the project won't be completed, what are some suggested courses if action?

 

Go to your bank and issue chargebacks. They may have gone through paypal, but I'm pretty sure you can do that. You can explain the situation to them and that you were defrauded.

 

I just finished reading through that Cybertron.ca thread. Pretty damning, especially with the attitudes on display in response to disgruntled employees and customers (though I admit some of the conspiracy theories were a bit wild).

I also came across this which... doesn't make this situation look any better, either: Agesthreeandup refund? Anyone else in this boat? - Cybertron.CA - Canadian Transformers News and Discussion
User "charizard" mentions some things that mimic my experience with Spence on the boards, such as: "Spencer's warped attitude towards social interaction is well documented. He cannot handle customers becoming the slightest bit agitated with his service."
Amusing, really.

Also, adding to what @TriflingGnome had to say, as soon as I saw Alex, I knew I recognised him - Alex is on A3UReview (A3U's YouTube channel/show) and, I assume, an A3U employee. According to someone in that thread, Alex was also at the store once Boris had taken over. People were trying to connect the "new" A3U back to Spence though I'm not sure if there really is more to it than him just being their friend and being on their show sometimes, but I did find the comment about them sharing a business card with both stores on either side to be of interest.

Here's one other thread I found about unfulfilled orders and people not getting refunds and such, which culminates with, on page 8, the claim (no evidence provided but probably not hard to track down) that Spence was selling leftover A3U stock on eBay at the time (and pocketing at least some of the cash, I assume): A3U Closing? - Page 7 - Cybertron.CA - Canadian Transformers News and Discussion

I'm pretty sure Bobby has met the minimum requirements. If you don't, YouTube automatically disables monetisation on your account. Trust me, been there, done that. It's 10K subs + 40k hours watch time within the past 12 months, if I remember correctly. Or maybe it was 4k hours. And whilst it's true that more views = more money, the money one gets from ad revenue is pretty low - you might be able to buy one or two third-party figures a month if you're lucky, at Bobby's rate of views and subs. Likes, favourites and comments affect "the algorithm" i.e. what gets recommended and where, but they don't affect monetisation (outside of YouTube's new "we'll demonetise your videos for bad comments" BS).

Still, he is definitely hyperbolic about many a subject, but he's slowly getting more moderate. And then he does things like the Spence interview or a FansToys review where I just shake my head because he undoes all the progress he's made up to that point for some of those videos.

 

So over in the Unrustable Bastards thread both winners of the raffle for the 2 purple bikes have come forward and are claiming they have not received their prizes and are unable to get in touch with Spence.

The plot thickens

 

So......even odds on those of us who paid for the Tetrajets getting screwed over? Or is there still hope?

 

Well, that's a lot of evidence, but I don't think it's fair to judge him or the current situation without hearing any kind of defense (preferably from Spencer himself).
But looking at everything as it stands now, the track record indicates that there is a good chance of this not happening or looking like a knock off of itself, so it's reasonable to issue chargebacks, but their (not crowdfunded) Bumblebee shows that there's still a chance of this ending well. Again, it would be very helpful to get a comment from Spencer or anyone involved to see how bad this situation truly is.

 

And randomerr already posted about it in this thread too, so yeah, it's um... looking pretty bad.

Considering they acquired the Robotech license and teased a bunch of other stuff (including an Optimus Prime of some sort)... who even knows at this point?
MAAS Toys keep saying they're coming but then so is their Megatron chair, so is Stack, so is Flat Stack (or whatever he's called), and so are a million other things. Are they actually coming? Maybe, but as of right now, we don't know for sure.

They seem to be doing a ToyWorld by just making as many designs as possible to see what sticks, except they have even less money and less progress to show than ToyWorld. Hell, for as much shit as some of us give ToyWorld, they're at least still releasing figures.

He's given a (poor) defence about a lot of this stuff in recent months though, including in January. He has a now well-established track record for this sort of behaviour too.
On top of that, their Bumblebee mould... God only knows where the money for that came from, but I doubt it was Spence's own pockets.

And besides, if/when he does comment again on this, it'll be more bullet-dodging non-answers that are written in a weaselly manner to absolve him of any guilt yet again.
And he'll blame other people for his problems too. Even when he does say "sorry" in some manner, it tends to be "sorry, but also, this person screwed me so it's their fault too".

I just don't think he's trustworthy and I don't particularly want to do business with somebody who isn't trustworthy.

 

Maybe, but if he really makes a crappy and predictable response like that even when everything shady is brought up at once instead of trying to actually give answers, we would know for sure that it really is as bad as you guys say.

 

Perhaps, but I've seen a lot of people let him off the hook on things before with him giving all sorts of non-answers (as can also be seen in that Cybertron.ca thread where some people even let him slide there too, saying that he explained everything and such). A lot of people think (too) highly of him and seem to always give him the benefit of the doubt no matter what...

 

I second, go to your PayPal account and request the money if you are within 180 days they will ask you for proof if the selller replies. But since more people had requested the money back. A link to this thread and an explanation will help. If you are outside of the PayPal policy the. Your bank. If you prefer you can go straight to your bank, but I would recommend get your money back.

 

if anyone is waiting for spencer to send stuff, he seems to pin items on his office desk. so maybe head over there and check.

 

I almost jumped on this. These look way better than that Siege shit Hasbro is giving us. But I don't have any extra money to play with & I don't trust that crowdfunding crap. Sometimes being poor pays off in the end. I was hoping these would get released & I could get them eventually.

 

You should move those funds over to the MMC Supermax pre-order  

 

I may yet one day regret not buying in on that figure.

 

You definitely will, better go back it haha