Boss Fight Studios 1/12 and EPIC HACKS

RNL actually stands for REAL Nerd Life. Totally different person, I expect. Rick's Nerd Life is clearly casual, at best.

Also worth pointing out that Rick and I do not know each other (so far as I am aware) and therefore we either have similar sources for our information, or our separate sources agree on the details. But nothing I said here came from Rick, and presumably vice versa.

As for Bobby Vala, like most complete dumbfuck lunatics, he's a right-winger. That alone causes friction between him and BFS then and now, as it has mostly always been staffed by lefties (with the possible exception, I believe, of Dave Proctor - the first founder of BFS to leave the company -- possibly specifically because of ideological differences with the other founders). And also can confirm from what I've heard that basically everyone in the industry hates Bobo and that he really has no choice but to run his own toy company because practically no one wants to work with him.
He's a piece of garbage, a wannabe tough guy, and sucks at his job. That's why he got shitcanned at Hasbro and has jerked off to his grudge about it ever since. Also, he PERSONALLY BLAMED ME when his first Kickstarter failed, for those of you that weren't around on Fwoosh to see him do that. It was hilarious because he's such a fucking loser and all I did was tell everyone why his action figures kind of sucked and why he was bad at his job (to be clear, I only said things that were true and you know they were true because he fixed it all prior to his successful Kickstarter -- which means I actually fixed his company for him and never got a dime).


If all this wasn't enough to get you upset with BFS, by the way, everyone should also know that what Andrew did to Erik and Catrina has basically caused Erik to have a complete breakdown and at least consider (not sure yet if he'll ever follow through with) completely abandoning the toy community and moving on to do something else with his life, as far as I understand. Like... this situation broke him. Not something I'd say is deserved for a guy that's legitimately one of the kindest dudes I know.
 
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Justice said:
Well if you see Ronald tell him I enjoy all the info I get from his Reddit posts. That guy knows stuff.
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Well, I'm sure he appreciates the support. I know he can venture into asshole territory at times when defending himself, but he means well and just enjoys sharing info with his fellow nerds.

Allegedly.
 
RicksNerdLife said:
Well, I'm sure he appreciates the support. I know he can venture into asshole territory at times when defending himself, but he means well and just enjoys sharing info with his fellow nerds.

Allegedly.
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Who among us hasn't had to venture into asshole territory from time to time when dealing with other collectors. We can be a very testy bunch.
 
Damien said:
If all this wasn't enough to get you upset with BFS, by the way, everyone should also know that what Andrew did to Erik and Catrina has basically caused Erik to have a complete breakdown and at least consider (not sure yet if he'll ever follow through) with completely abandoning the toy community and moving on to do something else with his life, as far as I understand. Like... this situation broke him. Not something I'd say is deserved for a guy that's legitimately one of the kindest dudes I know.
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Agreed, great, great dude and Andrew essentially crushed his spirit. To the point where he was in an even darker place than that, but I won't go further--I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. He was betrayed by someone he considered a best friend. I would be in that head space, as well. Completely undeserved.

Speaking of, we have crossed paths before, but during a time where I, myself, was not in a great place mentally and in my life, so I was an insufferable prick to you (and many others), and for that, I am incredibly sorry. Things are good now, though, got the help I needed-- so hopefully you'll allow me some grace to make amends. 😀
 
RicksNerdLife said:
Agreed, great, great dude and Andrew essentially crushed his spirit. To the point where he was in an even darker place than that, but I won't go further--I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. He was betrayed by someone he considered a best friend. I would be in that head space, as well. Completely undeserved.

Speaking of, we have crossed paths before, but during a time where I, myself, was not in a great place mentally and in my life, so I was an insufferable prick to you (and many others), and for that, I am incredibly sorry. Things are good now, though, got the help I needed-- so hopefully you'll allow me some grace to make amends. 😀
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Yeah, I know what you're talking about with Erik. It's super sad. Not to leave Catrina out because she's been hit real hard too. Sucks all around and it's all thanks to one greedy piece of shit that thought he was better than everyone else.

And no apologies necessary, my guy. Whatever it was, I don't remember it. And if you reminded me, I probably still wouldn't remember. I try not to hold grudges over stupid shit we all say to each other online. It happens. I'm an insufferable prick just as often as anyone else, and far less apologetic about it. Welcome to Articulated Thoughts. Stick around.
 
RicksNerdLife said:
No. When it comes to Bobby, it's something even dumber.

Erik posted on his own personal Facebook page something about being excited that a "real" Sgt. Slaughter figure was coming out when Mattel released one as an SDCC exclusive. This was around the same time Bobby put out his "Sgt. Slammer" figure, or whatever he called it.

...that's it.

That post got back to Bobby and since then, he's held a grudge against Boss Fight and Erik. Said that Erik was trying to quote "ruin his business". Even threatened to physically assault Erik if he saw him at a show.

Again, to reiterate, Erik posted that to his private, PERSONAL Facebook page.

I'm 100% serious. Bobby is a loon.
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For a moment I was worried, but this sounds like the Bobby Vala I've seen online and in videos. Like, the man just cannot help himself. He's almost always in offense mode when 99% of the time he'd be way waaaay better served if he just didn't say anything.

Interesting about the BFS stuff. I'll have to take that into consideration going forward. I'm not deeply invested in their figures as all I've gotten were some of the skeletons so far. Sucks how all creative industries, I suppose all industries period, have this sort of drama. My background until recently was the comic book scene and boy I know some folks who have been royally screwed over there.
 
JakeEkiss said:
For a moment I was worried, but this sounds like the Bobby Vala I've seen online and in videos. Like, the man just cannot help himself. He's almost always in offense mode when 99% of the time he'd be way waaaay better served if he just didn't say anything.

Interesting about the BFS stuff. I'll have to take that into consideration going forward. I'm not deeply invested in their figures as all I've gotten were some of the skeletons so far. Sucks how all creative industries, I suppose all industries period, have this sort of drama. My background until recently was the comic book scene and boy I know some folks who have been royally screwed over there.
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I'm so sorry, I'm confused by the first part. I was speaking about Vala. Unless you meant something else.
 
RicksNerdLife said:
I'm so sorry, I'm confused by the first part. I was speaking about Vala. Unless you meant something else.
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I mean that for a moment in previous comments on the thread it seemed like Bobby might've taken a principled stand against some unprincipled people. But your post clarified that no, it's just his usual stuff. Grudges and such.
 
Damien said:
As for Bobby Vala, like most complete dumbfuck lunatics, he's a right-winger.
He's a piece of garbage, a wannabe tough guy, and sucks at his job.
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I try to stay away from the toy influencer side of YouTube, Instagram, etc. I'm happy to watch reviews or Robo's news breakdown, but I don't have any interest in industry drama. Despite that, I've seen Vala quoted here or there. He seems like a posturing loudmouth.

I should probably start biting my tongue about such things now that I run a toy forum. 😄
 
TheSameIdiot said:
I try to stay away from the toy influencer side of YouTube, Instagram, etc. I'm happy to watch reviews or Robo's news breakdown, but I don't have any interest in industry drama. Despite that, I've seen Vala quoted here or there. He seems like a posturing loudmouth.

I should probably start biting my tongue about such things now that I run a toy forum. 😄
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Nope, I’m the same way! I literally don’t watch anything action figure related on YT other than Pulse livestreams if I happen to catch them.
 
TheSameIdiot said:
I try to stay away from the toy influencer side of YouTube, Instagram, etc. I'm happy to watch reviews or Robo's news breakdown, but I don't have any interest in industry drama. Despite that, I've seen Vala quoted here or there. He seems like a posturing loudmouth.

I should probably start biting my tongue about such things now that I run a toy forum. 😄
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Yeah, that's accurate. He, just like most right-wingers, desperately wants to be right without actually having to know anything.

To be fair, I don't really follow the 'influencer' side of things, except where it intersects with people actually within the industry doing industry things. I do really like to peak behind the curtain with my hobbies. And even then... I don't watch Bobo's goofy little YT channel or really pay any attention to him at all unless something is brought to my attention elsewhere.

His disgusting and laughably stupid attack on Erik Arana is the first time, I think, that I really paid any attention to anything Vala said that wasn't directly related to making toys or a personal attack he was making against me directly.

Ultimately, I would say that I don't go out of my way to find industry drama, but I also don't shy away from it when it's presented to me. And that's just because I really do believe in spending my limited dollars as wisely as I can and with as many people that deserve it as I can. Knowing what a piece of filth Bobo is just helped me make a decision about whether or not buying a few figures from him was something I wanted to do knowing what kind of person I'd be giving money to.

I consider all this a shame. Erik and Catrina are extremely talented and are now no longer making toys. A huge loss to the industry.
Andrew is a piece of shit and has ruined a company for me that I really enjoyed collecting from and supporting.
Dudebro Vala is also a piece of shit and that ruins a company for me that, also, could be making stuff I enjoy adding to my collection once he took all of my advice and made his figures not shitty (again, you're welcome, Bob - and feel free to toss me a royalty check or something any time).


Also, dude.. fuck that. Say what you wanna say. I think the days when toy industry guys hung out on the forums and interacted with us are long gone. We don't have to worry about scaring anyone off. None of us are toy journalists that have to worry about losing access to insiders. And anyone shitty enough to get a shit-talking here probably isn't someone we want joining up. So it's kind of a no-loss scenario if you speak your mind, I'd say.
 
NORM said:
Is it prerequisite to lack conflict management skills if you’re trying to run a small action figure studio? I would expect better from “our kind”. But I guess with guys like Brian Flynn and the dude who ran Shocker toys, delusion seems to be common.
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In my experience as a creative who has worked for many of these types, it takes a certain personality to lead and have risk tolerance and also want to be the face of the brand, etc.

Sometimes that person is Captain America.

Sometimes they are (if they know it or not) narcissists. And that always comes back in a catastrophic way at some point.

Delusion and reality warping come with Narcissism.
 
altcunningham said:
In my experience as a creative who has worked for many of these types, it takes a certain personality to lead and have risk tolerance and also want to be the face of the brand, etc.

Sometimes that person is Captain America.

Sometimes they are (if they know it or not) narcissists. And that always comes back in a catastrophic way at some point.

Delusion and reality warping come with Narcissism.
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Can confirm, working in biotech. My multi-decade year career since my PhD has been a repeat cycle of inventing cool solutions to overcome previously intractable challenges only to have C-suite execs and academic founders run me out and revise history to pretend they invented my work. Happens every time something works out in the lab. I think it is universal across creative endeavors that the people actually creating rarely have enough power or a sufficiently big voice to counter the powerful players who swoop in and claim credit when something of value is created. Those bellowing "I BUILT THIS" through the media megaphone probably didn't. But they hold the megaphone.

Sorry for Erik and Catrina. Many of us have been there and we understand that it was actually you who built the thing.
 
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