Shocker Toys

[domu]

On the old Lying in the Gutters forum at CBR, the longest and most viewed thread ever concerned Geoff Beckett and Shocker Toys. That was, before Geoff started threatening Jonah Weiland by email and on the phone to get the thread removed.

So what really happened?

Geoff's adventures at CBR started in the YABS Olney thread:
http://forums.comicbookresources.com...48#post7948048
The discussion quickly met with insults and phony legal threats from Geoff.

The conversation migrated over to LITG to keep the Olney thread on topic. Then the LITG thread was closed.

Here is the last post from the LITG thread, made by Weiland

Gentlemen,

I'm going to shut down this thread. After repeated calls and e-mails and threats from Geoff about this thread, of which I don't believe any of it is actionable, I have decided to shut this thread down. This does not mean I am supporting Shocker Toys work in any way, just that I don't want to deal with any further calls of the level of which I received yesterday. This would be the second call I've received from him and while the first last year was unprofessional, his call on Tuesday was completely out of bounds. His call has been logged and his actions noted with my attorney.

Shocker Toys is no longer welcome on the CBR Forums and their accounts will be banned. If any users who are familiar with their account names could get in touch with me via PM, I'll add them to the list.

In 12 - 24 hours I will soft delete this thread -- that means that while the posts will not be publicly readable, I'll still have access to them should there be that need.

I do this if only to avoid further interaction with Shocker or its employees. While I will not go into details, the call yesterday was the last straw and once again I will reiterate that there is no belief on my or my lawyer's part that any legal action can take place as a result of this thread.

Geoff is described as having a "psychotic break" during the final phone call here:
http://forums.comicbookresources.com...ostcount=48469

The conversation, however, was allowed to continue back in the Olney thread, which it did here:
http://forums.comicbookresources.com...6451&page=3230

I can't recall the reasoning behind why Weiland allowed it in one forum but not the other. Was it Rich's call?



The thread on YABS peaked when a scam perpetrated by Geoff to generate orders from comic shops was uncovered when LCS owners around the country announced receiving identical email requests for products from a person posing as a local customer. Diamond dropped Shocker Toys soon after, though it's not certain if it was because of the scam or because Shocker simply never delivered any product despite soliciting it, in some cases, years prior.

Since, Geoff finally released a bit of product, so most of the heat has died down surrounding him. Though, it's worth noting that he apparently still hasn't paid a number of people who did work for him, or refunded pre-orders on product that was never made (and apparently never will be), or apologized to the number of professionals he has slurred over the years, including Gail Simone and Robert Kirkman.

What got me to bring this up here and now is Geoff's latest attempt at rewriting history. On the Shocker forum, a poster asks if an online store, Youbuynow.com, should be getting their order of Indie Spotlight toys anytime soon, so that the store can fill the poster's long standing pre-order.

This is the reply:

Re: IS1 Round 2 shipping?
by ForumAdmin » Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:28 pm

We received no PO from YBN. As with all the LCS and Stores tricked into thinking Diamond will send them any products from Shocker Toys please warn them and tell them there is no way they can get any products from Diamond for Shocker Toys. The only way they can get Shocker Toys products is through Haven Distributors, Shocker Toys Direct, Distributoys or Big Bad Toy Store. Diamond has taken the route of not telling merchants that they will not be receiving Indie Spotlight as some form of joke which we do not find very funny and neither should the Indie Spotlight customers.

So now, Geoff is pretending that Diamond tricked LCS into ordering Shocker product from them. It's amazing to me that Geoff is trying to pass himself off as the victim of his own attempted scam from last year.

[Static-Pulse]

They should rename this site: Bleeding Olney.

Mark, Rich, could we get a "Fucktards in comics" sub-forum here, as a place to discuss and watchlist people artists and fans should avoid? Seems like a service the comics community both lacks and otherwise lacks the technical chops to setup themselves.

[nuimos]

Hi
i am nuimos
These toys are very wonderful and awesome.
I really appreciate the way people are using the forum to communicate and help each other. Thanks to the person who give this idea to the toys and made the toys ti tie in a single knot.

keep posting to us

thank you .

-----------------

nuimos


TOYS WORLD

[_OM_]

...Shocker Toys was at CCC a couple of weeks ago. Had Rich been able to attend, he could have nailed Geoff or whoever was there over this mess.

I'm going to shut down this thread. After repeated calls and e-mails and threats from Geoff about this thread, of which I don't believe any of it is actionable, I have decided to shut this thread down. This does not mean I am supporting Shocker Toys work in any way, just that I don't want to deal with any further calls of the level of which I received yesterday. This would be the second call I've received from him and while the first last year was unprofessional, his call on Tuesday was completely out of bounds. His call has been logged and his actions noted with my attorney.

...Hmm. So much for someone's claim that Jonah doesn't crumble when threatened by false lawyers.

[Jude Terror]

wut?

[_OM_]

...There are toys that perform that purpose, y'know?

[Mad_Man_Moon]

Jude beat me to it, my propensityforinnuendo sense has been tingling far less since I left London ... I'm not sure that this is a good thing.

[domu]

Geoff Beckett/ Shocker Toys looks to be returning to (bad) form.

Geoff's second series of action figures, that he has been accepting pre-orders for over the last 4 or 5 months with a release date of August/September, a release date that was unchanged as of September 1, now have a release date of September/October. No explanation provided (even though he just posted a news update on his site today).

This is a complete retread of last year (and the year before, and the year before...). He takes orders for product that he pretends is in the process of being made, or already made (which series 2 would have to be at this point to make his latest "release" date), until he reaches a point that he can actually get a couple of hundred made. Maybe. He never reached that point with the Gwar figures from 3 years ago. So money taken, and no product for over 3 years.

The release dates will keep getting pushed back with no explanation. Or, if an explanation is offered, it will be a completely obvious lie.


Here are some recent twitter posts from Geoff:

Spread this Diamond Comics is not distributing Indie Spotlight figures. Warn your comic shops! It is available through Haven & ST! retweet
14 minutes ago from web

@JetpackComics Let's see some Indie Spotlight in your store!
about 4 hours ago from web in reply to JetpackComics

...Diamond Comics is not distributing Indie Spotlight figures. Warn your comic shops! It is available through Haven and St direct! retweet
about 4 hours ago from web

Spread the word, Diamond Comics is not distributing Indie Spotlight figures. Warn your comic shops! It is available through Haven! retweet
about 6 hours ago from web

@smack6102 Thanks, must spread the word. Heard from 10+stores yesterday they had IS1 ordered w/Diamond but Diamond isn't getting it from us!

Indie Spotlight Series1 comic book heroes action figures (In Stock) http://www.shockertoys.com/... , tell your local comic shops!
about 6 hours ago from web

Support Indy Comics and creators by supporting Indie Spotlight action figures from www.shockertoys.com , retweet and tell your local stores
about 7 hours ago from web

Geoff is back to playing the victim again in his own back-firing scam attempt from last year.
"Warn" comic shops about Diamond? Is Diamond really actively soliciting product they don't carry? What would be the point?

Oh, but Geoff has Haven as a distributor (who he is undercutting by posting direct wholesale links in his latest press release).

Can anyone explain how buying action figures supports Indie comic book creators?
It was established in a Terry Moore interview that he doesn't get a dime out of his deal with Shocker Toys. Did Moore just sign a particularly bad deal? I don't think that Sam Keith will see any of the Maxx money, either, because of the MTV thing. So how does spending money on things other than comics here help out the comic creators, or Indie comics in general?

If you are a comic book shop owner and are thinking of ordering these from Haven, please consider that BBTS has had the first series since around May, and they're not selling. They have recently been put on clearance. Why a company would provide product to their distributor last, after selling directly themselves for months, after providing one of the largest online retailers of that product with the items months earlier, is just baffling. Despite Geoff's claims, buying his toys does not support Indie comics in any way. If anything, it ties up money, that could be used to order more comics, on ancillary product that won't sell.

[deg]

I was looking forward to their stuff a few years ago. But due to their behavior on boards, plus the lack of reliable product on a timely basis. Well this is a company I can say I will not be buying stuff from. Have no plans for it and currently have none of their stuff.

[Mad_Man_Moon]

Is there fan art of Herman Schultz doing the shocker?