Master Replicas Groups has filed for bankruptcy
- Thread starter goldcylon
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I must have not seen it. Who was it?
I know of this post a few pages back with Steve's manifesto.
Master Replicas Groups has filed for bankruptcy
I was shocked to find out that their website it still up with products for sale. They filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and I believe that allows them to remain open and doing business, they just need to restructure the debt. If they fail to handle running things, a court appointed person could be...
www.therpf.com
el toro
Sr Member
Similar to your situation, I called my bank to dispute the charges, and the bank issued a provisional credit pending their investigation of MRG.
I saw it. I don’t know if me paraphrasing it helps since it was deleted. But yeah, pretty much that.
Was this a new account or an established member? I’m curious if it was Steve coming in here and posting or if it was actually a friend who went and got themselves banned?
TazMan2000
Master Member
It was an established member. I saw it and even replied to it but it was deleted. I thought only mods can do that? Later on I went back and looked for comments and it seemed like I was replying to the wrong person, so I deleted the username. But heck if I can remember it. Thought I was was going nuts in replying to a user that didn't comment.
TazMan2000
TazMan2000
You may want to check Your facts. I think you mean Illusive Concepts, not MR. Plus, anything made in latex runs the risk of deteriorating.
amurorei
New Member
You are right. That was Illusive Concepts. Been so long I am getting them confused. Thanks for pointing that out.
This is the first time that I've heard anything bad about them. "Den of thieves"?
I have been out of the loop for years though.
Thanks, Moviefreak for spelling it out. As a person that dabbled in replica movie items when my military surplus sales dwindled, I lived months of this.
It takes a lot of work up front, a massive amount of money... and people are SO IMPATIENT! It causes so much stress. There are so many steps, and things take so much time. People think that taking 1 or 2 years to get your props are unacceptable, however it's actually very common with these small business ventures trying to make these products.
Big companies have the ability to work on projects in secret, and then announce their product when it's almost ready to ship, to get people jazzed up and ready to buy.
Small prop makers need to have funding, so they get the customers in on the pre-order to fund the project, and then they get very upset when they have to wait months and months. I've spent more time dealing with impatient customers, then I have spent time processing orders of people that "pay up and shut up".
I had bought a few things from MR and SD, and I've been very happen with them.
Even though I had a mix up where I didn't get my MR prop for over 2 years. I paid them, and I eventually got it, and it's of very high quality. I don't mind the wait, because I plan ahead.
When I took a big leap into making costume stuff, and put some large bucks down, and took pre-orders, I had delay after delay, which even included a death. Customers didn't accept this as an excuse. There were rumors that I was running off with the money, (even though the money instantly went to pay for the loan which I used to get started to begin with???), and rumors that I wasn't "delivering", and rumors that I wasn't answering emails. Claimed emails that I never answered, were never presented to me, and I spent hours looking for them.
This resulted in a "What Does Aaron Horrocks Owe You?" post, which there were no replies. I ended up getting banned from several communities, over accusations and no evidence. Costumes, cosplay, replica props, have the worst people as customers. There are witch-hunts abound. I'm not defending MR or SD, but I myself, and others have had our reputations destroyed over rumors and people getting whipped up into a frenzy.
My previous experience was in engineering, and construction, and many of the projects that I worked on took 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years, sometimes longer. Of course, I was involved from start to finish, on projects that were hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even over a million dollars. The big players in the industry know how long things can take, because they have experience. It was always the small one time customers, the home owners or small business owners that caused the most headaches and were upset because their project took 4-6 months (or longer), even though that was normal.
Scott D
Sr Member
We have an old saying here on the RPF.
"Don't sell what you don't have."
It's wise words to live by. If you have something good to offer, invest your own money into the product, then offer it for sale when it's ready. Everyone wins.
If I have an idea for a product, but I don't have the capital to make it happen, then it's just an idea that I have, that never gets made, and no one ever gets the product in hand. Nobody wins.
Scott D
Sr Member
But your fellow RPF members don't lose their money. So that's a win.
I will admit there's some people on the RPF that would get pre order money from me. If Bobadebt or Roman's Empire for example, needed up front money for something I wanted, I'd have no problem paying it.
IFA
Sr Member
"There are witch-hunts abound. I'm not defending MR or SD, but I myself, and others have had our reputations destroyed over rumors and people getting whipped up into a frenzy."
Well, I hear you......but Dymszo stole money from people here (and elsewhere), that's no story or no witch-hunts......that's just facts !!!
Well, I hear you......but Dymszo stole money from people here (and elsewhere), that's no story or no witch-hunts......that's just facts !!!
This might work for those who are illegally making the item. And I say illegally, because that is what every unlicensed item is. You can save your money and do the small run from your garage studio without much issue... after all, the supply fund is all you need to come up with, and that may be a couple hundred or a thousand bucks.
But if you invest $100,000 of your own money to start your business, invest in the licenses, the concept art, the samples and then you realize your money is gone, then what? What if you mortgaged your house for a loan? Do you just say, “darn, I was hoping that cash would carry me through getting everything done at the factory and I could have the items done and in hand so I can open up sales... Guess I need to just call the investment a loss and walk away”. How many people would do that? You invest that much money upfront, you can bet you take pre-orders to see this thing through.
It is so easy for sideline businessmen to say things like “stay on the porch if you can’t run with the big dogs”, when they themselves, don’t even know what the big dog prop race feels like. And no, doing unlicensed small runs here does not qualify you as a big dog.
Actually I have been a Licensee, as well as an investor ,so I do have some knowledge of what “the big dog prop race” feels like!
With that being said, it is a BIG headache to do that now, I certainly would not do it the way things are now.
It IS possible to do it though, look at the Wand Co., they find investors or put up the money themselves, no pre-orders.
They do due diligence and have all of their i’s dotted and t’s crossed, before they announce a run, now THAT is the way to run a business
As far as the so called “garage studios“ doing runs there are some runs here costing quite more than a thousand bucks,and there is more involved than just getting your “supply fund”.
That statement is just silly and shows ignorance of some of the runs that HAVE been done here
My point is that there ARE those who DO know how to do Licensed runs without the Pre-order fiasco business Models
With that being said, it is a BIG headache to do that now, I certainly would not do it the way things are now.
It IS possible to do it though, look at the Wand Co., they find investors or put up the money themselves, no pre-orders.
They do due diligence and have all of their i’s dotted and t’s crossed, before they announce a run, now THAT is the way to run a business
As far as the so called “garage studios“ doing runs there are some runs here costing quite more than a thousand bucks,and there is more involved than just getting your “supply fund”.
That statement is just silly and shows ignorance of some of the runs that HAVE been done here
My point is that there ARE those who DO know how to do Licensed runs without the Pre-order fiasco business Models
This might work for those who are illegally making the item. And I say illegally, because that is what every unlicensed item is. You can save your money and do the small run from your garage studio without much issue... after all, the supply fund is all you need to come up with, and that may be a couple hundred or a thousand bucks.
But if you invest $100,000 of your own money to start your business, invest in the licenses, the concept art, the samples and then you realize your money is gone, then what? What if you mortgaged your house for a loan? Do you just say, “darn, I was hoping that cash would carry me through getting everything done at the factory and I could have the items done and in hand so I can open up sales... Guess I need to just call the investment a loss and walk away”. How many people would do that? You invest that much money upfront, you can bet you take pre-orders to see this thing through.
It is so easy for sideline businessmen to say things like “stay on the porch if you can’t run with the big dogs”, when they themselves, don’t even know what the big dog prop race feels like. And no, doing unlicensed small runs here does not qualify you as a big dog.
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