Sorry for going a little off topic here but I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice.
A couple of years ago, I was p**s poor broke and could not find a job or pay my bills. I was in danger of losing everything so I decided to make a few custom action figures to sell on Ebay.
Anyhow, to make the long story short, I received a death threat on a forum for doing this. At first I laughed and thought... what a loser but he just may be sick enough to fall through with it. Any suggestions?
I would simply ignore him but I would gather any information about him that you can such as his screen name, I.P. address along with anything else you can dig up and keep it......just in case.
As for me, yes I've been threatened with physical harm in the past but I can't recall ever receiving a death threat.
I do admit that if I got a death threat, I would be greatly unnerved by it...depending on who issued it and how far away that person was.
V Brotha, what was the threat if you don't mind asking and what were his reasons behind doing so? (I guess that I'm asking for more details)
Post Edited (01-19-04 01:02)
Not sure about the laws where you are, but around here, uttering threats is an offense in itself. I'd call the cops if somebody threatened me, if it was at least somewhat credible.
What sort of action figures did you make that would bother this guy after a couple of years (assuming the threat was recent)?
VB -
1) Do not respond! On the 0.0001% chance that there is a person out there who wants to kill you over some custom made action figure, responding directly to his threat will only make matters worse.
2) Do as ASHTHECAT said and collect what info you can.
3) Call the police's non-emergency number and politely express your concern. They will tell you exactly what the law says and what your rights are.
4) Assuming this person has access to your name or locational information (why else would you be worried?), here are some things you can do for your security.
A- keep an eye out during your daily routine. If this guy is serious about doing you harm, he'll try to size you up first. Keep an eye out for faces and watch for one you keep bumping into. Believe it or not, most victims of non-random murder or assassination are found to have reported to friends or family that they felt they were being watched in the weeks or days leading up to an attack.
B- do not open any suspiscious letters or packages. Suspiscious is something you weren't expecting; something with no return address or an unfamiliar return address; something with sloppy or mispelled address info; poorly wrapped packages, or packages with holes in the outer wrapping; packages with way too much postage; packages that smell funny.
C- Lastly, try to look alert wherever you go - a high level of alertness and confidence is the best deterrant to both random and planned attacks.
Thanks everybody! I appreaciate your concern.
They were custom Star Wars figures that were made to mimic a "RARE" line.
Basicaly, everybody felt stupid for buying them and so now I am considered a scumbag, a loser, and a crack whore's child. LOL! The stupid geeks even went as far as to wish me bodily harm and Cancer! What a freaki'n riot.
Anyhow, there was one jerk off that just couldn't let go and he threatened me with a gun. He went on & on about how I should pray that he doesn't get his hands on me and that he was a gun expert. Whatever...
Everything Eirik said is the absolute truth, and should be followed by anyone who has recieved threats.
In order to take legal action, you have to get the police going at the earlies opportunity. If you can establish premeditation, you can go a long ways towards a conviction for harrasment or assault. Or, (worst case senerio) murder.
Take care of yourself, Brotha - we'd hate to loose you around here. ;-)
As for threats - it's not the same, but I've persoally been held at gunpoint, and told by someone that they would "kill you yankee asses."
I was deployed in the US Army to Bosnia at the time, which is why I say it isn't the same thing.
In the civilian world, I had a friend's ex boyfriend tell me that I "didn't know who I was messing with" when I told him not to sit down next to her (she had a restraining order against him, which he knew, and he just walked into the coffee shop we were at and plopped his happy ass down next to her. Jerk.).
I said "I'm dealing with an on again-off again druggie who thinks he's the biggest badass in town."
That showed 'im.
Wow, there really are nuts out there, though I'm sure no self respecting Star Wars fan could ever really do any damage to anyone. Sounds like an extremely p**sed individual who is just bloody annoyed that he can't yell at you in person.
Were the figures THAT bad? :-P
No Dean,
The figures were pretty much up to par compared to most of the crap they buy.
The sick thing is... they warn others about the "FAKE" figures yet they are ones that proudly display them in their collections.
I thank you all for your input and I will keep you informed on any further developments. By the way, according to this a***ole, I'm a thief, a liar and a scammer! Check it out:! ; )
http://bootlegactionfigures.com/bbs/messages/679.html
I think it's kinda funny that this loser is that angry over petty sheeat.
Hell, I say threaten him back. Let him know that if you live, you'll come to his house and open all of his mint-in-box Boba Fett figures. That oughta straigten him out. It might also work to advise him that the replica of Han Solo's heavy blaster pistol that he bought out of the back of a Starlog magazine doesn't technically count as a gun.
Forgive my jokes, in that it IS a serious situation, but I find stuff like this hilarious. I can picture it as some sort of urban-crime-drama, with this guy sitting outside your house in his car loading his gun.
"What are you doing with that?", his friend asks him.
"Some dude sold me a ripoff Walrus Man figure on Ebay, so I'm gonna blow his head off. NOBODY screws BobaFett6969 over! Nobody!"
"BobaFett6969?"
"Yeah...it's my kickass screenname..."
LOL! I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks this moron is funny. Seriously though, I don't feel the least bit threatened by him. I was just wondering as to whether or not I should report him and teach his ass a lesson. On the other hand, who's to say that he won't cry to Mr. Lucas and try to turn the tables on me. Hell, I'm not the only customizer around. Why should I be singled out?
> Everything's funnier with monkeys.
Damn bro, are you sure you're not my evil twin? I've always thought that monkeys were the funniest creatures on the planet.
Upset about you making action figures is insane. How many times were you threatened by this person?
If more than once then they have a serious problem and you should protect yourself and you family as well as contact the police. (Of course you have the merchandise you unlawfully copied and sold.)
Is this person still threatening you? They may be scaring you because they know you won't go to the police due to your merchandise.
How did you manage to go from having no money to making action figures anyway?
Most of the materials used to make the figures cost practically nothing at all. It also helped that I had accumilated mold making material over time from various movie prop projects.
So you guys do see the problem with my reporting him? He kinda has me in a difficult spot but I'm not going to let that crap get to me. If he persues me, I could always twist his nipples and make him say uncle while shoe'n him in the nads. ; )
I was curious Brotha....
you stated that you sold them "custom Star Wars figures that were made to mimic a "RARE" line.
Basicaly, everybody felt stupid for buying them and so now I am considered a scumbag, a loser..."
Did you TELL them beforehand that it was a fake that they were buying?
If you did NOT tell them that it was not a genuine "rare" item then you pretty much ripped them off in a deceitful manner.
IF this is indeed the case, I can understand why they would be angry...but that doesn't warrant them issuing a death threat.
Is this what happened?
Post Edited (01-19-04 18:11)
Think about for a minute, VB. How many "gun experts" (the use of that term makes me question his authenticity) do you think are out there who collect Star Wars figures? And if he truly is a "gun expert" and truly has such a short fuse, don't you think he'd have landed his ass in jail a long time ago. I mean surely you can't be the first person in his life to have p**sed him off.
I think that involving the police will most likely end in this guy getting spanked by his mom and dad and probably losing his internet priveleges for a while (yes - I think he's probably a kid). That may be worth it in itself, but frankly I don't smell danger here. (Easy for me to say, obviously, since I'm not the one threatened).
I was wondering the same thing as Ash; Did you sell your custom figures as if they were originals? If so, I pretty much agree with him that that was a lousy thing to do.
No, there was no deceit involved on my part. Everybody knew exactly what they were buying. However, now they are claiming that I never said that they were customs in the first place. Hmmmm go figure... no pun intended. ; ) I also think that the guy may be a kid. Either that or a complete loser.
The whole thing was basically a marketing ploy that appears to be going quite well. I mean, it's yeilding some good results by stiring a controversy but it is also attracting weirdos. Oh well, I guess thats what I get.
Hmmm...
I don't know Brotha.
So you DID tell them that they we not receiving original rare items?
I see two possibilities here.
Either there were major miscommunications between all parties involved...
Or.....you lied to them.
I do not know you personally and I am not making any accusations whatsoever.
The fact that you stated that you did this while suffering extreme financial hardships only serves to reinforce the thought that you deceitfully sold them these items out of desperation to make some money.
I do admit that the entire thing seems very shady.
I kind of see it as a "I've got to do what I've got to do to survive" type of attitude.
I may be mistaken though and I do apologize if I'm wrong.
Guys: reality check here - the name of the site is "bootlegactionfigures.com". Anyone who thinks they're getting actual Kenner-made originals there is too stupid to deserve our sympathy. But again, I reiterate that anyone who's into collecting home made Star Wars figures probably isn't a real dangerous person. Again, just my impression.
Reminds me of something I saw once where some guy made a Porkins action figure (that was the fat guy who died in the First Battle of the Death Star). It was a pretty hilarious web site, and the fat little action figure in the bright orange rebel flight suit was just too much.
I believe that Andrew Borntreger was threated via e-mail some time ago. He took the issue to the police, and the culprit turned out to be a teenager, whose parents were - to put it mildly - surprised and unhappy at what their little darling had been up to. A search might throw up more details of Andrew's case for information, but I would be inclined to go ahead and inform the police anyway.
One of the puling little snots (who occasionally make my job a chore!) rang up a fellow worker, using an unsupervised phone within our offices, and threatened to kill the colleague. We have now sicced (the US term, I believe?) the Job Centre onto him, stopped his benefit and refused to reinstate it.
Several years ago one of our clients threatened, via telephone, to come down to the office and kick my head in. Knowing exactly who it was, and that he was rather short in stature, my reply was "Okay, would you like me to lie down so you can reach?" He never appeared, then or ever.
All part of life's rich pageant!
I can see how Ash may think that I was decietful and it kind of does seem that way. However, they knew what they were buying. It wasn't a careless attitude by the way. I was meerely trying to survive. If it were possible to keep a roof over my head without money, then I wouldn't have done it.
Besides, I'm not the only customizer in the world. They really need to quit leeching of their parents and get a life. ; )
Ok, now that that's cleared up, there's something I'm curious about; your previous posts made it sound as if these figures were created from scratch rather than by modifying an existing figure, is this correct? If so, were your figures articulated like the originals? I ask because I'm wondering how you managed to get the originals apart without breaking them in order to cast your molds. I admit that I haven't tried taking many action figures apart, but my experience is that most will break off at the joint rather than pop apart.
No, they were just copies... customs rather. Getting the limbs off can be a little tricky but it can easily be pulled off with a little patience.
First you hold the figure over some hot steam from a boiling kettle of water. (Use gloves and plenty of protection. ) Then, once the limbs become soft, slowly use a pair of pliers to pop them off. This technique varies from figure to figure but thats usually how it's done.