#retroblasting #bantha #starwars Support us on PATREON: / retroblasting The Fans Strike Back Bantha is finally in Michael's hands, so it's time to assess the situation.
As someone who has worked with silicone molding and resin pouring I can tell you that that is 100% a resin pour. And if I had to guess I would say that they molded the original and then messed it up when de-molding and now have no original buck to go back to. The silicone molds will only hold up for so many pulls (depends on silicone used) so now they probably have no original buck and a worn out mold which is why no more have gone out. If they do start getting to people I would bet that they will be slightly smaller than the one you have as they will have to resort to molding a cast from the original mold to make more. All conjecture (except for that definitely being a resin pour), but time will tell I guess.
Another thing is that is Khran said in his response to this video that it was factory made and “he requested pictures of the molds” Meaning that he did not have /know how it was made. There is no way on earth a metal mold could have been used for the detail on the hair of the bantha. That is, because when it’s time to de-mold it, either it get stuck because of the ridges or it would break. Another thing is that there is no dot that indicates the hole they used for the injection mold. I have a feeling Khran is going to receive the pictures of the mold, they’re going to be silicone, he is going to blame the factory (because on a narcissist mind everyone is guilty but him), and he is going to say something similar like “changing factories “ and another delay for those who paid $185-$260. This continues…
When the shroud was pulled away, the first thing I thought was “oh no.” This is beyond a disaster, and I feel for everyone who paid more than they should have to get one. I smell something, and it stinks; A LOT.
When Michael pulled back the cover, the FIRST thing I thought was "Who made THIS? 😦Denise Huxtable??? Because this is like the 'Gordon Gartrell' of Star Wars stuff!"
Michael has long stated "Fans are doing the best work". I will give him respect for not just keeping a narrative for a poorly designed toy. He could have died on this hill, but decided that honesty was more important. I do appreciate that transparency.
Honesty is always the top priority. Why would I protect something I paid for that showed up in terrible quality? That's WHY I buy everything I review and make no deals with toy companies for free samples. I've NEVER sacrificed honesty for pushing an agenda. NEVER. - Michael
@@retroblasting I appreciate that. I'm not discounting your honesty, I'm saying others would have taken a different path. The bungee joints really hurt, and no trapdoor. That's Kenner standard.
Let this be a reminder to everyone. Be extremely careful and extremely cynical when pre-ordering pre-production stuff like this. Be preparred to lose your money. Make sure you absolutely know what protections your payment processor has and what the time frames for them are. Hold them to hard dates and if those dates get moved past your payment protection cutoff, ask a refund and if none is offered get a chargeback. Stop paying for development costs. Stop paying for smoke and dreams. Know your consumer rights. Yeah you may miss out on getting your $260 lump of brown resin after two years. Who cares. We have seen time and time again that eventually the product you desire will arrive, at a price and a form factor that you really want. Be thrifty, be patient, and stop paying for Bullshit.
That is a resin pour, you can see the air bubbles inside the Bantha. Common in resin kits, those guys were in over their heads. I'll bet the money is gone, I've seen this same behavior far more than I would like to. So many people have been ripped off and the kitmaker pockets the money. While delivering endless excuses, long winded posts about how hard things are, how sorry they are, I will do better, etc. etc. etc.... Anybody can say anything on the net, the only thing that matters is actions. Words are worthless. In case your wondering, no, I have no pony in this race. But I have lost a lot of money to this very behavior. I only wish there was a guy like Michael in that hobby(I left it nearly a decade ago). Somebody with the guts to call BS when it happens.
Said it before, I'll say it again. One of the reasons people like RetroBlasting, is because Michael & the whole team have integrity, and it's absolutely on display here. On point. Honest. Scathing - and rightfully so. This Fans Strike Back Bantha looks like a piece of shit. Literally - someone took some shit and made it onto the shape of a bantha and painted eyes on it. People aren't stupid. They'll look at this thing, the amount of money it costs, and no-one is going to trust The Fans Strike Back again. Give your money to Pro-Customs and Stan Solo Creations, because this thing is a turd. With floppy legs.
@@timothyward8695 Exactly Tim. No-one is being forced to buy reproductions from small businesses - sorry, shady bootleggers - like Stan Solo or Pro-Customs, producing quality reproductions for a fraction what you'd pay for vastly over-priced originals. But we are forced to pay extortionate prices for a finite supply of rare original figures, ships acts vehicles, playsets, and yes, accessories like blasters and lightsabers. Personally, I can't afford to pay out the best part of £500 for a Return of the Jedi EV-9D9 - I'm an adult, with responsibilities, and can't justify spending that sort of cash on something so frivolous. But if I can get a quality reproduction for a fraction of that price, I'm going to go that route. I don't particularly give a damn if it affects the perceived market value of some graded figure still sealed in its blister card. The people who can afford those are still going to buy them, because they can afford to buy them. But why should everyone else be forced to pay ridiculous jacked up prices, just because some "fans" who value their plastic crap to be better than yoy plastic crap, because yours was made in 2021, not 1978. He'll, there are plenty of other products where reproductions are available if you're not willing to pay for an original. Look at cars - plenty of after market parts available for all sorts of makes and models of you're not willing to pay £400 for a part from Volvo, when you an get the same part for £270 elsewhere. Pottery and ceramics are the same. So is fashion. Comic books have digital equivalents for hundreds of thousands of titles. So do books, CDs, movies - no-one bats an eyelid at that. Yet Star Wars acts some other toy line fans would have you believe the entire economy will near collapse because you bought a repro telescoping blue lightsaber for your Tatooine Luke Skywalker. Or repro ramp arms for your Millennium Falcon, instead of trying to find resonably prices, undamaged originals made from 40-year-old plastic. But also, look at this who Bantha situation. This wasn't a reproduction. This was a fan company, who promised to release their version of a toy that was never released. They made certain promises of timescale, availability, features and quality. None of those promises were kept. In fact, the only thing that was kept was the hundreds of dollars paid by people who wanted to own one. It showed up late, ridiculously expensive (even for a short run toy), and didn't meet any of the expectations of its backers. And in the meantime, a different reproduction and custom figure producer - Stan Solo - saw what was happening, and stepped in with his own take on it, that is an actual quality piece, and meets the promised that were made by the first company. And not only that, he offered a huge discount for anyone who has bought the other version and got their fingers burnt. I don't see how anyone could accuse him of being a shady bootlegger in those circumstances.
I got burnt on that pos Bantha and I want my money back or I'm having him charged with fraud and suing him myself. I'd love to a Bantha if Stan Solo has a better one
Michael, you've done a great service with this video. The Fans Strike Back have collected a lot of money from fans and have delivered either no product or inferior product (such as their poor Slave Leia). It's also clear that they just created a few homemade Banthas to stave off criticism and customer fears. I feel like a reckoning is coming, and it's not going to be pretty.
This is horrifying. I requested a refund for the 13 figure set and was told they couldn’t do it. So I held out hope the figures would ultimately arrive and be worth it. Now I’m convinced I might as well have set that money on fire. Fans Strike Back have a lot to answer for.
Everyone who has asked has been told no refunds and then swiftly booted by him from the group. We all need to spread the word far and wide that Krahn is a con man and TFSB needs to shut down immediately.
I feel so bad for everyone that purchased one of these or the 13. If this doesn't lead to a class action lawsuit, I would be very surprised. I also feel bad for Kevin Sexton, having his reputation dragged through the mud by what I'd call this dog and pony show, if I didn't suspect they had lied about having dogs and ponies.
Considering most buyers are only out a few hundred dollars, the time, aggravation and cost of a lawsuit probably isn't worth it. (Also, even if they did file one and win, the chances of actually collecting are probably dubious.) Chalk it up to being cautious about giving your money to shadetree startups.
When the cover was removed, my wife yelled out, "What the heck is that thing?" I had to tell her it was the Bantha. She then said, "It never looked like that!"
I haven't followed this saga, so totally new to the topic, but my jaw smashed the floor around the ten minute mark with the reveal. Fans paid high end statue or figure price for... THAT?! wow!! Someone stuffed their pockets!!
$260 for that Bantha from The Fans Strike Back? Let's put that in perspective: The massive and utterly AWESOME HasLab Jabba the Hutt sail barge was $500 originally (Right?) and that was a hell of lot more impressive than this brown turd.
To be fair, you do have to factor in some upcharge for a startup that can't use sunk resources and the economy of scale, but yeah. As Michael says, there are a lot of custom fan-made pieces of comprable quality to this, but they're marketed honestly and for an appropriate price.
Lest we forget that Kevin Sexton did a review a few weeks back and said he couldn't have been more pleased with how the Bantha turned out. He even claimed he never said a trapdoor was ever planned. He is a liar just like Krahn, and I do not feel is is without responsibility.
Given the tauntaun and dewback both had them and statement it was being done as Kenner would have done it... it's more than a fair expectation they'd have them.
Michael this is another on point, fact based, and honest video. However, this video, like many others you have made in the past, is extra important because you are trying to call out some thing that is clearly wrong and has affected many other collectors, myself included. I can't thank you enough for using your reach as a prominent RU-vidr and sticking up for all of us. I honestly hope something good comes from this.
I can’t believe Kevin Sexton handed this to you Michael, looked you in the eyes, and said ‘here is your Bantha’. Either he’s delusional and actually thinks this is acceptable, or he doesn’t think very highly of you and thought you were unable to see through this charade. Either way shame on Sexton. Thanks for calling it as you see it.
Here's my speculation: they quickly put this together just to get it to you. They took Kevin's master sculpt and they made a resin body so you could do a video to cool everything down. Same with that other guy that did a review that you were talking about. He got a resin one as well. Kevin, if you're reading this: get out. Quick. Disassociate yourself from TFSB. Make a public post or something. Thank you for the great video, Michael. Your words were perfect.
When you took that towel off and focused on it, I swear that thing looked embarrassed. And then the bungee cords. It was like a scene from Spinal Tap. Thank god I'm waiting for the Stan Solo one
Those shiny feet bottoms are the telltale signs of a dyed resin pour. It's resin. The weight and the way it was put together are the other signs. Definitely resin. I've done enough sculpting, molding and resin pours to be 100% positive.
When that towel was lifted I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced...
This is what integrity in reviewing toys looks like. I am so tired of seeing shills getting free toys for favorable reviews on RU-vid. It’s just plain boring. This review was fair, it did make me wince a couple of times with how honest it was, but I think that’s because I’ve been conditioned by RU-vid reviews that are always complimentary. THIS is why I love Retroblasting. Please consider reviewing more new “retro” toy lines, the world needs this. The only thing this video needs is a Tusken Raider shooting this poor bantha to put it out of its misery.
I don't know who I feel more sorry for here. Michael for being handed that Bantha for $260. Or the hundreds of customers that may never see it materialise at all. Absolute shocker.
As someone who has assembled resin models for years this thing is most definitely resin kit. Thank you for the honesty of this review. We need to hold the places that take advantage of fans to account.
Yikes. There's good toys, there's bad toys, and then there's that thing that wouldn't even fly well as a prototype or garage kit. As for the figures, if the 13 look anything like the Leia, I'm certainly glad I don't have a horse in that race and will gladly stick to Stan Solo's work, thank you very much.
Those bungee cord legs are some of the strangest things I've seen in a "modern" toy in a while. Very strange design choices. It looks terrible without the saddle, but it doesn't look that much better with it on...
I think Michael's right that someone not from Fans Strike Back had to try and save it after those awful people washed their hands of it and publicly moved their "priorities."
I remember watching the initial interview with you and the sculptor a few years ago and the excitement future customers were having. Sorry everyone is experiencing this disappointment.
That is the ugliest goddamn thing I've ever seen. I say, wanna spend 200$? Buy a Roboskull or a truckload of Action Force because at least you wont have to deal with rubbers and a bantha plug.
Yeah man, I loved that box, in fact it was the main reason to back the bantha. But they changed the design to a very ugly, nineties Fischer price looking box, wanted a refund, is not possible..
The fact you think it’s a resin pour only confirms my suspicion. We’ve all been robbed. And there’s no way to strike back. I wanted a refund right after I found out the box design was changed to nineties style fischer price. This was not possible. $500+ gone up in air. Thanks for your honest review.
All I had to see was the legs being attached to bungie cords to know this was gonna be a disappointment. As someone who collects both vintage and modern toys, this’s quite shocking to see, as well as a big eye opener.
I would like to thank Michael for a great review, a review from a paying customer, I honestly wanted people to get good products when I left SLC, I seen nothing was happening after 4 months as I was still in contact with the original SLC factory, no money sent for 13 or Bantha. Thats when I knew I had to start Stan Solo. Move on two years, and the SLC Bantha still had no progress, again I acted and got started on the Stan Solo Bantha. These are actions from his no actions, it's now time Chris Krahn to know you can't steal fans money anymore, you can't lie anymore, you get found out. You have done your damage, you have created your own legacy (for the bad) in the hobby. Now I would kindly say just f**k off, you aren't a fan, you don't love the hobby. It's time to leave.
Everyone who has asked for a refund has been told no and booted from the group. Everyone can now see that Krahn is a con man and that TFSB is not someone who you should do business with! Hopefully he will be gone from the hobby very soon after this debacle!
@@batguano7526 Incredibly, he still has plenty of fan support. Not the sharpest tools in the shed, by any means, but they'll continue to go up to bat for him, and he'll continue to bend them over and swindle them.
@@BobbyLCollins Yep, for sure, everyone who helps him steal are ruined also, Kevin Sexton, David Baldwin, Rommel Gonzalez, and customers that keep buying off him and back him up have made their bed, I definitely won't be doing business with them in the future
Chris Krahn has booted so many people from his group merely for asking pertinent questions. So in a way I'm surprised that he has got away with prolonging this scam as long as he has. Hopefully now his fraud is out in the open people will spread the news far and wide to avoid him and his phony products. The sooner he is gone from the hobby the better.
As always your honesty and candour over these projects are really appreciated Michael. I, like you, am I lifetime fan and collector. I always go to your first because you tell it like it is. That Bantha doesn’t look good.
This is without a doubt a resin casting. I've been making molds and casting resin for over 25 years, with that said, the tells are clear. No factory work here, just hand cast resin.
Thank you for sharing. If they're still not offering full refunds for everyone who ordered this, that's just reprehensible. Also, as someone with a lot of experience with resin from years of building varies models, that's gotta be 100% resin. And not good resin at that.
Just one more great video by Michael and the RB crew. I don't know as much as you guys do about these things, but from all your videos, I've been educated enough about the topic to the point where when that Bantha was unveiled, I cringed and said, out loud even, "eww".
What a beautiful piece. It should be permanently displayed in the Smithsonian or better yet the secret archives under Vatican City. Mind .......blown! 🤯
Thank you for your honesty as always Michael. Chris Krahn needs to give full refunds for the 13 and this pile of crap. Thank you for saying it like it is and not sugar coating
Going by past scammers the only way it happens is with group legal action. And any money would go in legal fees. So yeah in practical terms that money is gone baby gone.
Time for TFSB to refund and disappear from hobby. This is a disgrace. Thank you for speaking out. I've lost money on this as Krahn has openly refused to honour my bantha transaction.
There's a difference between toy makers that are GIFTED versus toy makers that are GRIFTERS and it certainly looks like The Fans Strike Back is run by a bunch of greedy GRIFTERS.
@@skylx0812 Nothing new. Opportunists posing as fans began ruining the hobby in the 1990's. Nerds wind up being their own worst enemies with impatience or fear of missing out fueling scalpers, nostalgia overriding common sense (shelling out money for expensive bootlegs) and begging toy companies to exploit them with overpriced retro-everything and go-fund-mes. People have taken a fun little hobby and turned it into a colossal waste of time and money.
When Michael was showing the bungee cord construction on this thing I went "oh my god no they didnt- no way-". I don't manufacture toys but wow what the hell were they thinking. Whats with toy companies screwing up or forgetting simple engineering musts such as "the legs and knees have to be tightly jointed in order for the figure to stand without a problem". You'd be better off making it one entire solid piece of plastic then have it be like this. It's mind blowing! And I'm don't even know where to begin on the fact that this whole thing is made of resin.
Even when I was a little kid and had the 12" Chewbacca I HATED those kinds of connections because the arms broke! My dad had to replace them with rubber bands. Even back then Kenner didn't use them for anything load-bearing, just arms.
It means that it isn't a factory figure. It's a poured resin Garage kit or prototype. One of the things about resin is you can't really do friction joints. Joinings are typically reinforced with metal pins (for a statue) Or if you want some amount of (floppy) movement you do something like this. And it's Poured Resin. You could probably bang out a much better offering on a modern 3d resin printer. Which have come down to insanely low consumer prices in the past year.
What an absolute shambles TFSB really are. Chris Smith would NEVER in a million years release such an overpriced piece of crap. I feel sorry for everyone who's been had here.
That is extremely disappointing for the amount of money and time it took. I doubt we'll ever see the remaining 12 of the 13 figures and, if they look anything like this, I can't imagine anyone would want them.
9:29 That Bantha looks like someone's cooking project made out of dark and white chocolate and frankly, I prefer the Hasbro Bantha toy I purchased in the early 2000's (for what, $40 maybe?) which came with a Tusken Raider figure and had fantastic faux fur which made it far more impressive, so I can't comprehend why anyone was waiting with bated breath for this new Bantha toy which looks like overhyped garbage. Thanks for the review though, Michael. Your disappointment is our disappointment as a whole.
One thing that'll shatter, no pun intended, their argument is the fact that they claim that this will be synonymous with Kenner construction. Ever drop your rancor as a kid? How about your tauntaun? Or dewback? Sure they probably got a little scratched up from hitting the concrete or some rocks in the dirt, but as someone with damn near 30 years of resin casting experience I can tell you this thing will shatter like fine China when it hits the floor. Also given the cost of resin materials this price is outrageous. I've made 1/6 scale models of original characters and a couple based on popular characters for myself so I'm familiar with the elastic tether approach. However none of kenner's figures had that kind of assembly. In fact given that my vintage rancor has a broken arm I can say with remarkable assuredness that they used large o-rings. Same with the wampa. I'm still shocked that these people aren't being sued but then again I haven't followed up on it. What's sad is most people who buy into this don't have the money to file a suit. I would recommend that since everybody is on social media and are comparing notes on this that a class action is in order. Let's see these frauds tap dance their way out of that.
Long time listener, first time caller 😆. I really enjoy ALL of your videos. But the ones that you have to have a ❤️ to ❤️ with us… are awesome. Love the fact that you actually have integrity and it’s videos like these, that will make me come back again and again. Thank you for your honesty. Hard to come by these days. Please…. NEVER change.
This is a great overview of a true disaster. I love how Michael gets so worked up by the metal upholstery fastener. It’s a shame anyone would try to pass this off as acceptable to fine paying customers.
This is one of those times where I truly feel sorry for the collecting community. It's not the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination but it is a massive disappointment when someone talks a good game and then they cannot deliver or for some strange reason they shoot themselves in the foot and cannot deliver. Dude I am not that deep into Star Wars but as far as I'm concerned this is essentially a slap in the face to any collector who put money down on it. This just reeks of yet another crowdfunded project that dreamed bigger than the abilities of the person who envisioned it. I only hope that this video gets through the point that this should have been handled better and if by any slim sliver of thought the individuals responsible get hot and correct this transgression.
That thing is just sad! I feel sorry for it! I was so close to ordering this, I am so glad that my intuition told me not to. Stan Solo does the best work and follows through on his promises.
While the legs might be resin poured, the Body was Hand Rotocast! (You can watch a video by SMOOTH ON about rotocasting for details.) When you look inside the figure plug slot what do you see? Mirror like smoothness and Bubbles. This is NOT a Factory Molded piece at All!! Even the Saddle isn't factory molded! The Saddle is Also a SMOOTH ON rubber product that's Also been Rotocast or Brushed On by Layer after Layer! Factory Injection Molding for toys has Engineered Insides for crying out loud!! Slots for two halves of the body to fit together when assembled, there are Supposed Hinges for the figure seat trap door SCULPTED on the Inside for Easy Installation of the Spring that shuts it and keeps it Closed when no figure is riding. And Another Sign of it being a Garage Job and Not factory made is the Shape of the Head, the Placement of the EYES...the Bantha Looks like the Hunchback of Notre Dame!! So Why does the Head look Malformed? Because it was Rotocast in a Smooth On Silicon Mold WITHOUT a Hard Shell Exterior to Keep its Shape and Proportions!! That Hard Shell IS NECESSARY to Keep that Shape of the Original Prototype it was molded from. Again go to the YT channel For SMOOTH ON and watch the making a Copy of the Ironman helmet from start to finish. It's a fairly short video but you can See the Process for Yourselves! Injection Molding, which is What Was Promised, NEVER looks like a POURING Nor does an injection molded piece have BUBBLES or Mirror like Smoothness. In this case I would be declaring this as a Waste of Money. The Prototype looked decent but this looks like a Knock Off with how poorly it's been made. Aside from the paint the Materials, the resin and the rubber are Both Smooth On products is my guess.
This is so sad, we as collectors want to hope that we can support one another not to have to expect to be treated like Hasbro has been treating us, yet here we are, getting stories and excuses instead of having the promises unfulfilled and excuses constantly fed. thank you AS ALWAYS for the honesty and being the voice of the consumer Michael and Retro blasting!
@@warpartyattheoutpost4987 I am sorry to say, that also includes stuff that has nothing to do with what we saw, life... more than what you see, it is what you live that makes you YOU, you know?
I think they took the mentality that, the more a customer spends, the more we can string them along cause they already invested so much into this and we dont offer a refund, we can just string them along forever.
I think it's probably more likely a case of them needing to shove something out the door on a regular basis to have cashflow so they go with whatever they have on hand or can knock out quickly.
Looks like the Resin prototype they had at their booth not the final plastic production piece. Said someone had "canceled" their pre-order so they had an extra to sell. 😒😑
This is absolutely unacceptable and totally ridiculous. Take people’s money, promise refunds only after product in hand, then bait and switch from factory production to resin basement project by Sexton, no no refunds. He still gets to keep EVERYONE’s money with his ‘solution’ of STORE CREDIT?! LOFL FRAUD!! He NEEDS to be held accountable for his actions.
Looks like when I would ask my mom for McDonald’s and she’d say “No, I’m not spending money on that when I can make you McDonald’s at home!” and I’d end up with a burger stuck between two slices of Wonder Bread.
