The Energon Pub

Maiden Japan makes some pretty cool stuff, and if one is interested in a massive Junkion horde, this is great news. However to put it in context, I can get FansProject Chromedome (most likely character for f(x)-1) for about the same price as this armour will most likely end up costing.

Unless I end up being surprised and pleased by the price, I will pass on this and most of MJ's offerings, although the guns for the Shattered Glass Junkions are pretty cool and a price I'm willing to pay.

I love Maiden Japan's stuff. But the things online dealers are releasing now from him are old news to me. I much rather wait 6 months and choose the color/parts combinations I want by ordering from him directly.

Just FYI, Maiden Japan was banned from TFW

why?

Edit: nevermind. Google is the answer to all questions. It's a pity, but I guess he brought it on himself by biting off more than he could chew.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:why?

Edit: nevermind. Google is the answer to all questions. It's a pity, but I guess he brought it on himself by biting off more than he could chew.

Wow I saw that. They didn't delete his profile though. I wonder if someone got stupid with him and he just was defending himself. Sometimes site mods get carried away. I got over $400 invested in him right now so I hope he is just hard at work. He's come through for both of my previous large orders even though one took over a year. I met him at Botcon. He seems to be good people.

From his facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1959221 ... p_activity

orders are being processed and shipped, all free time MJ has is being used to fill orders, in most cases you will be notified when your order has shipped, in some cases the order will just be shipped out. no more orders are being taken obviously for the foreseeable future, and the rest of the junkion line and other upgrades will be mass produced. please continue to be patient and every couple of months send a reminder message of your order to be safe. but i have personally seen his filing system and he has physical copies of all your orders. sorry for delay, our friend MJ had a how bunch of life happen, it happens to the very best of us, thanks

There was a post on his facebook from a tfw staffer (which looks to be gone now) that said he must reply to all PM's sent on the site, especially ones from staff like himself.

Rated X wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:why?

Edit: nevermind. Google is the answer to all questions. It's a pity, but I guess he brought it on himself by biting off more than he could chew.

Wow I saw that. They didn't delete his profile though. I wonder if someone got stupid with him and he just was defending himself. Sometimes site mods get carried away. I got over $400 invested in him right now so I hope he is just hard at work. He's come through for both of my previous large orders even though one took over a year. I met him at Botcon. He seems to be good people.

Whoa! $400 is a lot.

Stormrider wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:why?

Edit: nevermind. Google is the answer to all questions. It's a pity, but I guess he brought it on himself by biting off more than he could chew.

Wow I saw that. They didn't delete his profile though. I wonder if someone got stupid with him and he just was defending himself. Sometimes site mods get carried away. I got over $400 invested in him right now so I hope he is just hard at work. He's come through for both of my previous large orders even though one took over a year. I met him at Botcon. He seems to be good people.

Whoa! $400 is a lot.

I wanted at least one set in each color. Since he came out with the waists after I got my older orders, I had to order like ten waists. Also ordered 4 chest "C"s which cost 25 bucks each and a few head E's with the horns. I have faith in him. Maybe because I met him in person.

LOST Cybertronian wrote:From his facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1959221 ... p_activity

orders are being processed and shipped, all free time MJ has is being used to fill orders, in most cases you will be notified when your order has shipped, in some cases the order will just be shipped out. no more orders are being taken obviously for the foreseeable future, and the rest of the junkion line and other upgrades will be mass produced. please continue to be patient and every couple of months send a reminder message of your order to be safe. but i have personally seen his filing system and he has physical copies of all your orders. sorry for delay, our friend MJ had a how bunch of life happen, it happens to the very best of us, thanks

There was a post on his facebook from a tfw staffer (which looks to be gone now) that said he must reply to all PM's sent on the site, especially ones from staff like himself.

MJ hadn't responded to anyone's PMs in a long time. The mod had contacted him a couple times by PMs but never got a response, so they had no choice but to close up his shop there, due to rules.

For those who want to continue following Maiden Japan, he does have his facebook club, where he has posted before:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/195922183828350/?fref=ts

Thats a stupid policy on TFW2005. Shouldnt "private" messages be private and answered at the members discretion ? I shouldnt have to respond to anybody if I dont feel like it. Especially if it's not a mod, let alone a regular member of the site. If he was abusive on his PM's, banning him might be justified, but not for being behind on answering his PMs. Just because he is running a business, he shouldnt be subjected to extra scrutiny by impatient mods and their friends who want their money back. Just my opinion.

Since he's running a business on their site, they probably feel a responsibility to make sure things are legit. It's their board, so it's their responsibility to keep the peace there.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Since he's running a business on their site, they probably feel a responsibility to make sure things are legit. It's their board, so it's their responsibility to keep the peace there.

He's not really running a business on their site. He's just a regular member that happens to own a business. He runs his business through paypal and his personal e-mail. Im on my 3rd order with him and have never contacted him through TFW2005. Theres no proof that all his unread messages are complaints about his business. They might be, but the mods treating him different because he runs a business is a conflict of interest.

From what I remember his threads there seemed to serve as his homepage and WIP blog. He took orders through their site and used it to directly talk to his consumers. Seems to fit the bill of "running a business through their site." to me.

I'd support boards of banning any member who dropped out of contact when a substantial amount of money's involved. Whether it's a customizer or just someone selling their collection. They have a responsibility of making their environment safe for collectors if they're making it a marketplace as well as a forum. When Maiden Japan decided to sell a bunch of stuff he become more than just a regular forum member; using the board for more than simple communication.

Edit:
Plus, if he's not responding to PMs from mods, then it seems to me that he may have abandoned their forum altogether, which is all the more reason to disassociate themselves from the problem of unfilled orders.

The way I see it - Maiden Japan is not playing by TFW2005's rules. It's no different than abiding by the rules on this site.

If TFW2005 doesn't enforce their own rules then how does that make them look to their other members, how does that promote a safe environment to attract and retain members, and what type of message does that send to members that want to do the same thing as Maiden Japan in the future?

Gauntlet101010 wrote:From what I remember his threads there seemed to serve as his homepage and WIP blog. He took orders through their site and used it to directly talk to his consumers. Seems to fit the bill of "running a business through their site." to me.

Actually it’s called a sales thread. It’s a feature TFW2005 has that allows people to sell their stuff. It can be used to sell your own creations or stuff from your collection. Im reasonably sure TFW2005 has a disclaimer in their FAQ that doesn’t hold them liable for business transactions done between site members. For the record I never used TFW2005 as a point of contact to reach him. I reached out to his personal e-mail which I got from a friend over the phone.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I'd support boards of banning any member who dropped out of contact when a substantial amount of money's involved.

If that’s the basis for their policy, it would explain why Frenzy/Rumble is also banned:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/members/f ... 61500.html.

Call it how you want it, but to me it seems like someone over at TFW2005 forgot the old saying “business never personal” and decided to get personal.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Whether it's a customizer or just someone selling their collection. They have a responsibility of making their environment safe for collectors if they're making it a marketplace as well as a forum

I own close to $500 of his stuff from 2 orders broken down into 4 shipments. He even threw in free bonus heads with my orders. He also sent me a new custom shield when he made a mistake and painted one the wrong color. He let me keep the mispainted one for free. And at Botcon he sold me an extra “exclusive” head for my friend because he knows I’m a serious buyer. (His rule was only one per person) If that doesn’t make dealing with him “safe” than what does ? I am currently waiting on a $400 dollar order that I placed around October and I have faith it will be in hand eventually. Maybe not for 6 months, but he is truly a man of his word.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:When Maiden Japan decided to sell a bunch of stuff he become more than just a regular forum member; using the board for more than simple communication.

When TFW2005 decided to create the “sales thread” feature, they knew the risks. They knew that some members might consider a sales thread an endorsement. Any disclaimer they have should be posted on the front page of every sales thread, not just in the FAQ.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Plus, if he's not responding to PMs from mods, then it seems to me that he may have abandoned their forum altogether, which is all the more reason to disassociate themselves from the problem of unfilled orders.

I think the mods AKA “news guys” need to stick to the news threads and keeping peace on the public forums. One could argue that the whole concept of “private messages” is to discuss private matters that don’t belong on the public threads. Did I mention the word “private” ? In most workplaces, it’s considered unethical to abuse a position of power for personal gain. Sticking it to someone just because you believe they screwed you or your friends over is a fine example of personal gain.

I know I’m going out on a limb to defend Maiden Japan. But like I said before, I met him in person, and he came through for me in the past so I think he is a cool guy. He’s a one man show. People at TFW2005 need to chill out, be patient, and stop hating.

I looked up the thread on TFW (because I was curious after the first comments here.) It appears that staff at TFW had been trying to contact him since the beginning of this year. That's like 4 months of not answering a PM. I believe PM's are forwarded to the e-mail address we use when registering for these sorts of forums. I don't think the mods were being unreasonable at all. (Check out the last post in the now locked thread and you'll see the efforts made to try to contact the guy.)

He might be good people. But communication is a must!

Accidental duplication of post...

[Edit] You know that quote button is right next to the edit button. I might be working too hard. Need sleep.

I'm sure he's a great guy and didn't set up to rip anyone off. I'm sure he was simply overwhelmed.

Buuuuuuuuut that doesn't excuse him from not communicating with his customers. At all. He can be the nicest guy in the world, but if he takes money from people and doesn't give them product and doesn't respond to e-mails or PMs or Facebook, he can't expect anything more than what he's got.

As for Private Messages being private, it's no violation of privacy to say "member X isn't communicating anymore." And there's no privacy complications for a mod to give him a message asking what's up either. They don't need to look into their database to see what he's actually saying to people to get a whole bunch of complaints about it.

Actually it’s called a sales thread. It’s a feature TFW2005 has that allows people to sell their stuff. It can be used to sell your own creations or stuff from your collection. Im reasonably sure TFW2005 has a disclaimer in their FAQ that doesn’t hold them liable for business transactions done between site members.

Whatever. He's using it to promote himself financially. Period. That makes him more than just a poster, he's now using the forum to sell things.

In the most basic sense, they have a responsibility to ban people who rip off others in their sales thread. Be it through customs or selling items from their collection; it really doesn't matter. Sure TFW can't be sued for someone ripping someone else off, but it's common sense that they'd take action if someone was using their board to rip people off. Which is what people felt Maiden Japan was doing.

Again, I doubt he set out to do that, but that's what a whole bunch of people felt he did. At a certain point he should have just fessed up, admitted he bit off more than he could chew, and offer refunds for those who wanted them.

I agree that refunds should have been an option. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the money was already invested somewhere else. No guarantee he keeps a bank account of thousands filled with emergency money. Same thing goes for Frenzy/Rumble since he has crazy prices. Imagine someone sending an e-mail asking for 2 grand back out of the blue ?

My issue is TFW2005’s stupid “you must answer your private messages” rule. Ive received PM’s on both sites from regular members inquiring about my sig, clarifying things I mis-stated, asking where I bought something, etc. (in other words, non-business PM’s) I always answer back because I’m a friendly guy. But what if I’m not friendly ? Why should I have to be ? Is there a rule that says I must communicate with total strangers through PM’s that I don’t feel like talking with ? What if I (me Rated X) were to let my TFW2005 inbox fill up with non-business e-mails ? Would I get banned ? I’m not running a business. Maybe the mods wont get any complaints and I will never even get reported. If they don’t ban me, then that means TFW2005 has a bias against people running a business and holds them to a higher standard than regular members. That’s where things become unethical because there singling out business owners. If my PM’s are truly “private” shouldn’t Maiden Japan’s be too ? Very reminiscent of the alleged IRS scandal on the news currently. Targeting a particular group for personal reasons.

Rated X wrote:I agree that refunds should have been an option. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the money was already invested somewhere else. No guarantee he keeps a bank account of thousands filled with emergency money. Same thing goes for Frenzy/Rumble since he has crazy prices. Imagine someone sending an e-mail asking for 2 grand back out of the blue ?

My issue is TFW2005’s stupid “you must answer your private messages” rule. Ive received PM’s on both sites from regular members inquiring about my sig, clarifying things I mis-stated, asking where I bought something, etc. (in other words, non-business PM’s) I always answer back because I’m a friendly guy. But what if I’m not friendly ? Why should I have to be ? Is there a rule that says I must communicate with total strangers through PM’s that I don’t feel like talking with ? What if I (me Rated X) were to let my TFW2005 inbox fill up with non-business e-mails ? Would I get banned ? I’m not running a business. Maybe the mods wont get any complaints and I will never even get reported. If they don’t ban me, then that means TFW2005 has a bias against people running a business and holds them to a higher standard than regular members. That’s where things become unethical because there singling out business owners. If my PM’s are truly “private” shouldn’t Maiden Japan’s be too ? Very reminiscent of the alleged IRS scandal on the news currently. Targeting a particular group for personal reasons.

I've been following the feedback thread on TFW2005. As far as I see, no one complained about MJ not responding back about regular PMs. Its all complaints about private messages in regards to people's orders with him. The scenario is not a mod and his friends targeting MJ and singling him out. I know the mod himself and some of MJ's customers are mine as well. And strangely, from what I've seen, some of them have been more patient with MJ than they were with me, and I've never had orders take longer than 7 months, depending on the product.

Anyways, the issue that triggered the mod to get involved is because numerous customers of MJ posted he was not responding to their PMs for simple updates. Most just want an update, some have had urgent requests, like address changes. Some people even went as far to contact him by facebook and email to get an update, and they posted they had no luck. Thats what triggered the ban. You are right, MJ doesn't have to reply back to non business PMs. No one does. I've sent him PMs when he first started, and never got a response, which were not about orders. But when money is involved, he should reply always. From what I gather, there are easily over 10 people over on TFW who have orders over $400, that they are waiting on. Thats easily $4,000 MJ got paid over a year ago.

MJ's last update estimated he would be done with all orders in 13 weeks or so. I think that time has passed, and he hasn't posted any sort of update since. The only new info people are getting is when some gets a shipping confirmation email, or if their order simply arrives.

From my point of view, as someone who runs a business like MJ, I think he should at least post an update every 2nd week, on his facebook club so people know things are still in the works for their order. Its true, answering a ton of emails and PMs would take time if he truly is busy. Making a single post at this point is easier, and would get the word out still. I think with how he has the new "factory" made versions of his kit out, he really owes his customers better communication. It took more emails to organize that, then it would for a quick update to a customer.

To end, I did get a chance to meet MJ at Botcon 2011. I have a lot of respect for the guy as a fellow artist, and am truly jealous of his sculpting and painting skills. I'm happy I was able to own at least one set of his upgrades.

Venksta wrote:

Rated X wrote:I agree that refunds should have been an option. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the money was already invested somewhere else. No guarantee he keeps a bank account of thousands filled with emergency money. Same thing goes for Frenzy/Rumble since he has crazy prices. Imagine someone sending an e-mail asking for 2 grand back out of the blue ?

My issue is TFW2005’s stupid “you must answer your private messages” rule. Ive received PM’s on both sites from regular members inquiring about my sig, clarifying things I mis-stated, asking where I bought something, etc. (in other words, non-business PM’s) I always answer back because I’m a friendly guy. But what if I’m not friendly ? Why should I have to be ? Is there a rule that says I must communicate with total strangers through PM’s that I don’t feel like talking with ? What if I (me Rated X) were to let my TFW2005 inbox fill up with non-business e-mails ? Would I get banned ? I’m not running a business. Maybe the mods wont get any complaints and I will never even get reported. If they don’t ban me, then that means TFW2005 has a bias against people running a business and holds them to a higher standard than regular members. That’s where things become unethical because there singling out business owners. If my PM’s are truly “private” shouldn’t Maiden Japan’s be too ? Very reminiscent of the alleged IRS scandal on the news currently. Targeting a particular group for personal reasons.

I've been following the feedback thread on TFW2005. As far as I see, no one complained about MJ not responding back about regular PMs. Its all complaints about private messages in regards to people's orders with him. The scenario is not a mod and his friends targeting MJ and singling him out. I know the mod himself and some of MJ's customers are mine as well. And strangely, from what I've seen, some of them have been more patient with MJ than they were with me, and I've never had orders take longer than 7 months, depending on the product.

Anyways, the issue that triggered the mod to get involved is because numerous customers of MJ posted he was not responding to their PMs for simple updates. Most just want an update, some have had urgent requests, like address changes. Some people even went as far to contact him by facebook and email to get an update, and they posted they had no luck. Thats what triggered the ban. You are right, MJ doesn't have to reply back to non business PMs. No one does. I've sent him PMs when he first started, and never got a response, which were not about orders. But when money is involved, he should reply always. From what I gather, there are easily over 10 people over on TFW who have orders over $400, that they are waiting on. Thats easily $4,000 MJ got paid over a year ago.

MJ's last update estimated he would be done with all orders in 13 weeks or so. I think that time has passed, and he hasn't posted any sort of update since. The only new info people are getting is when some gets a shipping confirmation email, or if their order simply arrives.

From my point of view, as someone who runs a business like MJ, I think he should at least post an update every 2nd week, on his facebook club so people know things are still in the works for their order. Its true, answering a ton of emails and PMs would take time if he truly is busy. Making a single post at this point is easier, and would get the word out still. I think with how he has the new "factory" made versions of his kit out, he really owes his customers better communication. It took more emails to organize that, then it would for a quick update to a customer.

To end, I did get a chance to meet MJ at Botcon 2011. I have a lot of respect for the guy as a fellow artist, and am truly jealous of his sculpting and painting skills. I'm happy I was able to own at least one set of his upgrades.

Exactly!

Not responding to regular PMs is nothing. But where you have money involved, it's something you have to do. And if MJ isn't then I can see TFW stopping their involvement with him promoting his product by banning him and locking his threads. You can call it "bias" if you will, but it's a totally justified and understandable "bias". TFW is well within it's right saying "we don't want you to conduct business on the board anymore."

Gauntlet101010:

I see some important points made here. Especially when it concerns address changes. But cutting away one of his lines of communication isnt solving the problem, it's just making it worse by clogging up his personal e-mail and facebook pages even more. If TFW2005 really wanted to send a message to him, then they should delete profiles. Leaving the profile locked as a homage to better times is really more of a punishment to his clients than a benefit. I still say a news mods should stick to the news and stay clear of fandom politics. Just my opinion. These TFW2005 guys are burning bridges with someone who is very talented.

Venksta:

I know you do a great job keeping your clients informed. You always get back and answer my questions and keep everyone in the loop about delays. I will say that you release your products in pre-determined numbers while Maiden Japan makes them to order in unlimited quantities. That might be the reason why his waiting list is out of control. I had a chance to meet you at the last 2 Botcons. Even though we really didnt talk that much, I was happy to meet you and know that you get involved with the fandom at conventions. Thats good for business in my book.

Seems like MJ burned his bridges with them by refusing to communicate. Even just a monthly update on orders in his thread probably would have appeased everyone.

Banning or deleting his profile really just ends communication anyway on the forum, so I don't see why you'd think deletion is better.

If you don't think mods should be able to mod, I dunno what to tell you.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:If you don't think mods should be able to mod, I dunno what to tell you.

Seibertron.com has better mods because they dont be all up in peoples private business. They seem to know how to remain neutral. Taking sides over customer complaints is not being neutral. Ive heard stories about a fight at Botcon back in 2008 or 2009 involving TFW2005 members. Actions like this make me believe those stories...