Relationships

Story time boys and girls and maybe a little history to support things and give some perspective. As a model builder (gunpla included); I’ve been in the plastic model community for over 20 years now. Going back to forums like Hobbyfan, gundam.com, childofmecha, etc. I’ve known a good number of my fellow model builders for just as long. I’ve had this site since December 2003, so that’s creeping up on 20 years. Basically, I’m an old fuck; and my peer builders are all old fucks too. I guess you can chalk this mindless rambling as a disgruntled old man griping about shit. At least it should be entertaining.

A few years into establishing my webpage and establishing myself in the local model building community (IPMS and various So Cal model groups), my fellow builders and I thought we should start building together on a monthly basis; and our monthly build gatherings were born and I got to meet a ton more builders. Some are still very close friends to this day. Born out of these gatherings, we now had a crew of folks that built gunpla and we hit up all the local model contests, and collectively, we were known to the model clubs as “those gundam guys”. So the name stuck. Also born out of this is the need for a focused contest for our niche, with our own set of rules that fit – so that we just don’t keep walking away from the other local contests disgruntled old fucks complaining about getting a raw stick up our asses when it came to getting our gunpla kits judged. Southern California Gundam Model Competition (SCGMC as most of you guys know it) was born over 10 years ago, we’ve had 10 contests and should be on #12 this year, but we lost a year to COVID. SCGMC is THE BIGGEST live gunpla event in all of North America. I’m just so proud of my crew that helped us get here!

So, about the time our first contest came about, we got a real local gunpla focused shop within 5 miles of our houses. By ours, I mean me, Angel, and Dan. Hell, back in those days, Dan lived walking distance from this shop. We became pretty good friends with the owner, and worked many mutually beneficial projects. Dan built a few kits for the owner. The owner gave our build gathering a group discount when ever the build gathering folks would hit up the shop. And at the owners request, we put in some of our built kits into his display cases. He wanted to showcase work to show customers the possibilities with gunpla. He originally wanted to set up a work station for folks to come in and work on kits. He wanted to do a workshop to teach kids to build. He was really supportive and gunho about helping the community.

For our very first SCGMC, this shop was 1 of two shops that vended at our show. We gave them both free vendor space because we were just starting out and didn’t know if we could even pull off such an event. It was successful, and since then, this shop has been at EVERY SCGMC event since, and granted, we started charging for vendor space, this shop still got a pretty good deal that only the other shop that started with us got. Because we were friends and we were helping one another. We had a pretty damn good relationship.

Fast forward a few years, I get a call from the shop owner and one of my kits was badly damaged, the resin conversion Gouf Custom. The shoulders were damaged and I didn’t really get a good explanation on why this kit was damaged, but after being angry for a while, I let it go and put the kit into a box for the next 10 years or so. I recently took it out and turned the kit into the Gouf Custom Girl. I believe Mike Wine once upon a time had a Sazabi displayed and the display cases were facing the window so the paint on the Saz started to fade and discolor. But, again, the owner notified Mike and things were resolved. They made corrections to the placement of the display cases and that rectified the issue. The point is that the owner worked to resolve issues with the community – keeping the relationship strong.

Fast forward again to sometime last year, Angel told me that the owner we know has sold the shop, lock/stock to a new owner. But no announcement was made, and a good number of people we normally interact with in the community did not know this. I remember going in and asking if I needed to remove my kits as things changed. I’ve actually gone in a few times prior to ask the staff if I need to remove the kits(especially after one of my kits was damaged) and every time, I was told it was cool, and they want to keep the kits there. So I never gave my displayed kit a thought. I figured the new owner would run things the same as the old and use the same paradigm. Nicely built kits to attract modelers and show what some folks can do with a little glue, paint, and patience. I do not believe I have met the new owner.

Fast forward to earlier this week, Angel and I along with two other friends were out in Vegas celebrating Angel’s 40th birthday. On his birthday, our phones start blowing up with posts from the group pointing to Dan’s facebook post on his recent trip to the shop. Pictures taken from the post describe his gripe:

They had taken to placing price tags on the kits on display without notifying the owners of said kit. That GM with the Zaku shoulder is mine; and you can see that build here: GM Sniper (Ako Conversion), selling for $75 bucks(what a steal!). The other picture is Dan’s heavily modified and scratch built AOZ kit, selling for $100. You can read Dan’s post for his thoughts on this, as did I, and got a little giggle out of it. Sucks that they’re trying to sell our kits without notifying us, but I was on vacation and I’ll deal with it when I get back home on the weekend. I’m sure a quick conversation with the new owner will resolve everything.

Our group wakes up the next morning and we’re enjoying our time in the sun at the Mandalay Bay pool area, and then our phones start blowing up again. And Angel is feeling thrown under the bus and the group is reading the message the same way.

So from this, in point 5:

5. Angel of @thosegundamguys has been in our store numerous times since all the changes were made. He has even supported our ROK Program, praising its usefulness for people in our hobby and even contributing tons of kits to sell. Never ONCE did he comment negatively or make any statement about any of the pieces on display being sold.

This 1, makes it sound like Angel was aware that ALL kits in the display were up for sale AND complacent about it. And 2, that the post from Dan was a failure on Angel’s part to notify everyone that this is what the store was planning on doing.

Since I was right fucking next to him while this was all going down, his understanding was that only HIS kits had HIS permission to be sold. And even then it would be a communication from the store to Angel to arrange such a sale. Everyone loves Angel. He’s the NICEST guy not just in our group, but the hobby. The group immediately started drafting responses in HIS defense because he won’t do it. He tells the group not to post anything. He just wants to let this go and not ruin his birthday trip. We basically quell the group and I tell them that I’ll try to contact the new owner to clear the issue up. I mean, up until now, it seems perfectly in Dan’s right to make his post. He did not trash the store, just stated his feelings on the issue.

[the store]is under new ownership. The new owner decided to sell the kits people left there on display dirt cheap. Thank God I happen to drop in and see my Gigantic Arms Unit on sale for a hundred dollars. I can’t decide if I’m more pissed off that they had it for sale, or that they had it on sale for a ridiculous $100. WTF.
Pretty sure this other kit belongs to one of Those Gundam Guys. Doubt they mean to sell it for $75.

I don’t see any defamation here. I don’t see any blasting of the shop. Just straight up facts from his perspective. I don’t know the interaction he had in store, but I don’t see any posts in regards to the interactions. I have not talked to Dan either. My best guess is that he prolly gave some opinions on the situation, took his kits and left. Then posted on FB about it. Again, I don’t see any wrong doing here. That said, we got the following:

Defend themselves? For what? Again, looking at Dan’s post, I don’t see anything of issue.

Returning to real life, we’re trying to enjoy the pool, get some drink on and the group is still itching to post a response. We tell them no, lets get some facts first. I leave and head back to the room so I can get a quiet place without distractions and call up the shop. I call, give my full name, and ask for the owner. The owner is not there, but what I am assuming is the guy posted the above responses is talking to me. Its very obvious from tone of voice and word usage that this guy was on edge and agitated. I truly felt that there was aggression in the voice and response. It wasn’t a comfortable call. It was a very defensive and borderline yelling at me and questioning if I fully read the original post in question. For which, at that time, I did not. I just glanced at it and since the group AND Angel were up in arms, I didn’t bother. I trust my group. I trust Angel. I would just rather call and discuss. I told him I wasn’t there to argue but to just get to the truth of things. And I was told that the new owner has new designs for the display and sanctioned them to find a means to get rid of the kit. So they wrote up price tags and placed them on kits that were unfamiliar to them.

There was some back and forth, and I simply told them that they could have just posted online asking for the owners of the kits. But I was refuted with the possibility that any person in the area that read the post could just show up and grab any kit. That seemed a little far fetched. If they posted up the pictures of said display kits; someone following them would recognize some kits and know the builders, and notify them that there was a change in policy. He went on to say that none of my kits had price tags. I’m guessing they didn’t know the extent of my work on display as the above picture is clear that they did not know that particular GM was mine. But at the time I called, they told me that they had removed all the price tags. Ok, cool. I also suggested that since they knew Angel and I, they could have just come to one of us to try finding the owners. We have a decent reach, and I thought I got the ok for him to do such. Again, I felt the conversation ended amicably and there was an understanding. So *I* told my crew to post up that the show had changed owners and that they were looking to repurpose their display area and built kits need to be picked up. Taking in the discussion from the above with Angel’s response to our group, the following was posted, followed by the rebuttal from the shop:

The above post wasn’t posted by Angel, but the shop assumed that it was him and responded in kind. Again, there’s nothing wrong in the post. There’s still a huge misunderstanding and the clerk from the store is now just blasting away and demanding that he delete the post. Angel’s still trying to enjoy his birthday and tells the group to delete the post; and it is deleted.

What kind of petty buillshit is this? Things quiet down and we enjoy the rest of our trip. I’ll go in when I get back into town and pick up my kits.

Saturday rolls around and I have some time to hit up the shop and grab my kits. The clerk there is not the one I conversed with on the phone. The owner was not there, and the guy I spoke with Thursday morning doesn’t come in for another few hours. It was a very pleasant exchange and I grabbed my kits and took off. I met up with Angel at his parent’s house later that day and learned that he didn’t get a chance to get his kits yet. He had been prepping for his birthday party at his parents house. This bullshit is still stewing in my head, but he hasn’t gotten his kits yet so we’ll let things go until after he gets his kits.

Today, Sunday June 26, 2022; Angel went in and got his kits. This was Angel’s experience as he told the group.

So the guy{shop clerk} came at me after I picked my and Mike Wines kits, and he said all this stink over 6 kits?!

They discussed the recent FB/Twitter posts and Angel told them that he has no control over what people can and cannot post. The clerk responded about a post that went up on the TGG IG, which was true, but was also taken down at the shop’s{store clerk} threat(as reading the above, to me it sounded like a threat – benefit of the doubt that it was not intended as one, you guys decide for yourselves). Store clerk goes on to said they should post something to retract the statement saying we (as TGG) didn’t know. I know that I didn’t know. I know that a bunch of other folks didn’t know. Shop clerk said that he {Angel} knew that the shop was thinking of selling. Angel responded that he didn’t think they were going to sell without the builders’ permissions. Then continued to reiterate that Angel should have told members to not post about this on their personal IGs and that he should keep them from posting stuff like this. He states to Angel that they have video of him taking a tour and thinking they sold one of his kits. Ok, wait up, WTF does that even mean? Angel smells bullshit and states that this doesn’t make it ok to try selling kits without contacting the builders – which is WHY Dan made his FB posts at the very start of all this. (We all blame Dan now for this… hahahah)

Again, nothing posted is bad. It just letting people know that the shop has changed owners, and that they want to get rid of their display kits, and that they’re selling them.

ALL THIS SAID. They still have MY CONTACT INFO. Was I EVER contacted about getting my kits? No. So in my mind, everything said is complete bullshit. This is my opinion of what transpired.

OKAY, so where is my notification? Until *I* was shown Dan’s post, I didn’t know that my kits were also on sale. ALL MY GODDAMN KITS HAVE BEEN ONLINE IN MY FUCKING WEBSITE FOR FUCKING YEARS! Was it that hard to maybe cross reference the kits on my site? As stated in the shops response post, they have my contact info. When I went into the shop, my hobby business card was right there on the kits. That includes my website, my email address, and name. Was it THAT hard to just contact us to see if WE could help. I mean, up until 3 days ago, we had a great relationship with the shop.

Conclusion. I have my kits, Angel has his kits, Dan has his kits, and Angel grabbed some of Mike Wine’s kits. TLDR; we’ve been dealing with a fucking clerk?!? A goddamn employee and NOT the owner? I doubt the owner even knows anything has transpired about all this. And you know what? This has ended our amazing 10+ year relationship. This shop no loner exists for me. I will no longer promote it. If I could scrub the shop’s name from my page easily, I would; but I cannot and for historical purposes, I won’t. But, after this writing, I will no longer say anything about it. In fact, in this ENTIRE post, there is not ONE SINGLE MENTION, of this shop’s name, or the clerk’s name. Because I don’t fucking know who the hell he is, what is his name, etc. I mean, sure, lots of people know who I am, even if they’ve never met me; at least those that have been in the gunpla community for any decent length of time. Sometimes by reputation. This shop and me are done. Which translates to anything I do in life. This means SCGMC will NEVER see this shop partake in our event, EVER. I stand by my crew and the community. If they’re wronged, I vote with my wallet; and I know that this will not matter one bit to this shop. What is ONE customer? I hope they have all the success they can with the new owner. I truly believe that this new owner has NO IDEA about ANY of this. I also truly doubt the new owner cares about our previous relationship and any future relationship possibilities. All it takes is just one unknown, possibly minimum wage earning, sack of shit with a chip on their shoulder to ruin a good thing that has spanned over a decade. Idiot adults crying over toys indeed. This is how the shop (as represented by the clerk) views it’s most loyal, long time customers. Good luck guys, I truly wish you are successful as more gunpla promotion means it becomes more and more mainstream! I’m sure I’ll see you guys at other events, just not SCGMC.