[RETRO] Ring Masters by Rush Collectibles

[Zincdust]

Ha ha, Rush started following me on IG. I went over to his page, and saw the NES "Pro Wrestling" retros. I got pretty excited about 'em, as I am a huge fan! So I came here to see if there was any info, and quickly realized "Ugh, it's THIS guy." Pass. Even though those would be amazing, I have my sincere doubts that I'd ever get my grubby little mitts on 'em (plus he didn't bother to make a Giant Panther, who was my main man!). Not only that, but if the Big N ever got wind of this... I sincerely doubt that they are licensed. I'm 99% sure that Nintendo would still hold the copyright for these characters. They usually keep their IPs pretty close to their chest.

[@Chair.Shot]

Oct 16, 2024 11:16:21 GMT -5 Zincdust said:

Ha ha, Rush started following me on IG. I went over to his page, and saw the NES "Pro Wrestling" retros. I got pretty excited about 'em, as I am a huge fan! So I came here to see if there was any info, and quickly realized "Ugh, it's THIS guy." Pass. Even though those would be amazing, I have my sincere doubts that I'd ever get my grubby little mitts on 'em (plus he didn't bother to make a Giant Panther, who was my main man!). Not only that, but if the Big N ever got wind of this... I sincerely doubt that they are licensed. I'm 99% sure that Nintendo would still hold the copyright for these characters. They usually keep their IPs pretty close to their chest.

It truly is a shame that he has “plans” for so many amazing things but has produced so little. If he ever manages to to release several more things, confidence might slowly start to grow. But he is so far behind right now that it feels like it’s impossible to ever shake that reputation.

If he wants to announce projects for the future? Fine. Cool. But asking for money for that well in advance when there has been zero real movement on everything else…that is just absurd. But I do want to reward and encourage the products that are actually in hand. The monsters and the NES figures really excite me…I just can’t hang my hopes on them. At least with the NES figures they would only require different heads.

[parrish]

Oct 16, 2024 11:16:21 GMT -5 Zincdust said:

Ha ha, Rush started following me on IG. I went over to his page, and saw the NES "Pro Wrestling" retros. I got pretty excited about 'em, as I am a huge fan! So I came here to see if there was any info, and quickly realized "Ugh, it's THIS guy." Pass. Even though those would be amazing, I have my sincere doubts that I'd ever get my grubby little mitts on 'em (plus he didn't bother to make a Giant Panther, who was my main man!). Not only that, but if the Big N ever got wind of this... I sincerely doubt that they are licensed. I'm 99% sure that Nintendo would still hold the copyright for these characters. They usually keep their IPs pretty close to their chest.

Giant Panther is coming in wave 2. 

Give the guy a chance to improve. From what I see he is trying. 

[britishbrickfan]

Oct 16, 2024 13:32:58 GMT -5 parrish said:

Giant Panther is coming in wave 2. 

Give the guy a chance to improve. From what I see he is trying. 

what are you looking at?

he's still not shipped out the French Angel figures to the people who paid for them.

he's still not even produced the CVV figures that people paid for over 18 months ago.

he's still not produced the Frankenstein figure that people paid for as a preorder, and then subsequently launched a Kickstarter to fund (which was the purpose of the preorder....)

if he is "trying" to improve, he isn't demonstrating it very well. he's failed to deliver anything of the value or quality he claims to want to produce. what he has actually delivered is not even bargain bin quality.

I've said repeatedly, he's a scam artist pulling a fast one on the collecting community. he's still at it, just using a different marketing strategy to once again take people's money and not provide.

[parrish]

Oct 16, 2024 14:48:07 GMT -5 britishbrickfan said:

Oct 16, 2024 13:32:58 GMT -5 parrish said:

Giant Panther is coming in wave 2. 

Give the guy a chance to improve. From what I see he is trying. 

what are you looking at?

he's still not shipped out the French Angel figures to the people who paid for them.

he's still not even produced the CVV figures that people paid for over 18 months ago.

he's still not produced the Frankenstein figure that people paid for as a preorder, and then subsequently launched a Kickstarter to fund (which was the purpose of the preorder....)

if he is "trying" to improve, he isn't demonstrating it very well. he's failed to deliver anything of the value or quality he claims to want to produce. what he has actually delivered is not even bargain bin quality.

I've said repeatedly, he's a scam artist pulling a fast one on the collecting community. he's still at it, just using a different marketing strategy to once again take people's money and not provide.

I'm looking at my French Angel figure that I received (After he shipped it out to people who paid for it). It's much better than the first 3 figures (I have every variant). The figure is put together a lot better than the first three, it is molded in skin tone rather than being molded in white and painted, and he released a version with soft goods which was a first for the line. That is 3 improvements just off the top of my head. 

Then I look at the samples of Trump and CVV and they have obviously improved from series 1. My distain for one of them personally aside, the figures look good. As far as it taking 18 months. . . . . and? Power and Glory from Zombie took just as long if not longer, Bulldog 92 and Diana from Hasttel took what 2 years? It took a long time because Mitch decided to switch factories. 

He's also been a little better about keeping the reels/videos on instagram rather than deleting them. 

I don't expect your opinion to change in the slightest, but these are improvements. I choose to be optimistic about the future, time will tell. 

[britishbrickfan]

Oct 16, 2024 16:34:15 GMT -5 parrish said:

I'm looking at my French Angel figure that I received (After he shipped it out to people who paid for it). It's much better than the first 3 figures (I have every variant). The figure is put together a lot better than the first three, it is molded in skin tone rather than being molded in white and painted, and he released a version with soft goods which was a first for the line. That is 3 improvements just off the top of my head. 

Then I look at the samples of Trump and CVV and they have obviously improved from series 1. My distain for one of them personally aside, the figures look good. As far as it taking 18 months. . . . . and? Power and Glory from Zombie took just as long if not longer, Bulldog 92 and Diana from Hasttel took what 2 years? It took a long time because Mitch decided to switch factories. 

He's also been a little better about keeping the reels/videos on instagram rather than deleting them. 

I don't expect your opinion to change in the slightest, but these are improvements. I choose to be optimistic about the future, time will tell. 

which one is that? the original, or one of the variants he said "he wasn't going to do out of respect for the estate" and then did anyway

well, you say you've received yours, he still hasn't shipped all of them and actively blocks people chasing for updates

I'm not surprised that the samples of Trump and CVV have "improved", the prototypes haven't been made by children this time around it seems but still, where is CVV??? the payments were taken years ago. Zombie and Mitch took a long time to release their figures, but at least Mitch didn't hold onto money for over 18 months before sending out figures that cost less than 10c to make

my opinion will change, once Sal puts his money where his mouth is and provides the figures that people paid for years ago, and have been waiting to receive. and it's interesting that you reference his background for deleting IG content - he still blocks people who contact him for updates, and he STILL deletes the "live" videos before the 24hrs is up, usually once someone comes on here and calls out his BS

[parrish]

Oct 17, 2024 0:15:35 GMT -5 britishbrickfan said:

Oct 16, 2024 16:34:15 GMT -5 parrish said:

I'm looking at my French Angel figure that I received (After he shipped it out to people who paid for it). It's much better than the first 3 figures (I have every variant). The figure is put together a lot better than the first three, it is molded in skin tone rather than being molded in white and painted, and he released a version with soft goods which was a first for the line. That is 3 improvements just off the top of my head. 

Then I look at the samples of Trump and CVV and they have obviously improved from series 1. My distain for one of them personally aside, the figures look good. As far as it taking 18 months. . . . . and? Power and Glory from Zombie took just as long if not longer, Bulldog 92 and Diana from Hasttel took what 2 years? It took a long time because Mitch decided to switch factories. 

He's also been a little better about keeping the reels/videos on instagram rather than deleting them. 

I don't expect your opinion to change in the slightest, but these are improvements. I choose to be optimistic about the future, time will tell. 

which one is that? the original, or one of the variants he said "he wasn't going to do out of respect for the estate" and then did anyway

well, you say you've received yours, he still hasn't shipped all of them and actively blocks people chasing for updates

I'm not surprised that the samples of Trump and CVV have "improved", the prototypes haven't been made by children this time around it seems but still, where is CVV??? the payments were taken years ago. Zombie and Mitch took a long time to release their figures, but at least Mitch didn't hold onto money for over 18 months before sending out figures that cost less than 10c to make

my opinion will change, once Sal puts his money where his mouth is and provides the figures that people paid for years ago, and have been waiting to receive. and it's interesting that you reference his background for deleting IG content - he still blocks people who contact him for updates, and he STILL deletes the "live" videos before the 24hrs is up, usually once someone comes on here and calls out his BS

I only have the original figure that was up for pre order, black pants no cloak. I missed out on the cloak, so I ended up passing on the variants. I'd like to hunt them down possibly, but I wont pay more than $40 for them. I havent seen a review of the variants either. Are the pants painted over the black? If they are molded I'd like them, but if they are just paint overs I don't need them. To me that's more of a custom. 

[@Chair.Shot]

Remember those unlicensed NES micro-brawler style mini figures Rush has been trying to offload for 2 1/2 years? Sal is now trying to sucker con sell people on the idea of pre-ordering the Retros by including those minis as an incentive. In a recent live video, Sal said they are almost at 150 sales. If you order the three pack you’ll get the figures, three belts, a poster, trading cards, and now two mini figures. If pre-orders reach 300, you’ll get that fourth figure free.

Almost sounds too good to be true…

[britishbrickfan]

there's almost 150 mugs out there, still prepared to give him money??

wow!

[parrish]

Oct 18, 2024 8:29:27 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

Remember those unlicensed NES micro-brawler style mini figures Rush has been trying to offload for 2 1/2 years? Sal is now trying to sucker con sell people on the idea of pre-ordering the Retros by including those minis as an incentive. In a recent live video, Sal said they are almost at 150 sales. If you order the three pack you’ll get the figures, three belts, a poster, trading cards, and now two mini figures. If pre-orders reach 300, you’ll get that fourth figure free.

Almost sounds too good to be true…

If he comes through with this, he deserves credit. That is the best deal I've seen in this space. It's a great idea I'm my opinion and could put Rush back on the map. This is going to be his make it or break it opportunity. 

I think he should go all out and produce the 4 pack and just charge people that didn't pre order a higher amount for the 4th figure. Putting a threshold on the pre-order makes people question if they will get the 4th figure or not, it creates doubt. Doubt is detrimental to the pre-order model. I get the idea is to incentivize more pre orders, but I feel it may be counterproductive. 

[@Chair.Shot]

Oct 18, 2024 17:30:49 GMT -5 parrish said:

Oct 18, 2024 8:29:27 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

Remember those unlicensed NES micro-brawler style mini figures Rush has been trying to offload for 2 1/2 years? Sal is now trying to sucker con sell people on the idea of pre-ordering the Retros by including those minis as an incentive. In a recent live video, Sal said they are almost at 150 sales. If you order the three pack you’ll get the figures, three belts, a poster, trading cards, and now two mini figures. If pre-orders reach 300, you’ll get that fourth figure free.

Almost sounds too good to be true…

If he comes through with this, he deserves credit. That is the best deal I've seen in this space. It's a great idea I'm my opinion and could put Rush back on the map. This is going to be his make it or break it opportunity. 

I think he should go all out and produce the 4 pack and just charge people that didn't pre order a higher amount for the 4th figure. Putting a threshold on the pre-order makes people question if they will get the 4th figure or not, it creates doubt. Doubt is detrimental to the pre-order model. I get the idea is to incentivize more pre orders, but I feel it may be counterproductive. 

Meh. Not to go all Kanik on this place but I’m 99.99% sure he is making these illegally so while it is a fun idea, other people would have done it first if it were that easy.

The second point is that the molds are all the same minus the heads. Not the worst idea by any means as it keeps costs and errors to a minimum. It shouldn’t take long to produces these in a half decent factory. There are also no royalties for him to pay nor does he have to pay to have someone assemble them. Not hating on that as a whole but there are reasons why this is half the cost of your standard Retro release.

Last but certainly not least: it speaks volumes that his reputation and credibility is so damaged that he can’t even get 300 people to unlock this bonus (as of a few hours ago they were less than half way there). So that is under 150 sales in a week. I’m not hating on him just to hate on him. It’s just a lot of red flags. This model of getting people to pre order four projects in order to fund one is basically a house of cards.

[britishbrickfan]

Oct 18, 2024 17:59:24 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

Last but certainly not least: it speaks volumes that his reputation and credibility is so damaged that he can’t even get 300 people to unlock this bonus (as of a few hours ago they were less than half way there). So that is under 150 sales in a week. I’m not hating on him just to hate on him. It’s just a lot of red flags. This model of getting people to pre order four projects in order to fund one is basically a house of cards.

I'd go further than that, and say that only being able to achieve 150 sales in a week, in what is supposedly a red hot market, proves that there's little faith in his ability to deliver.

but why is he still pushing for people to preorder???

does he not even believe in his own business enough to invest his own money to turn things around and prove he's capable of delivering the goods? I see this as his acceptance that his credibility is so damaged that he knows he'll never recoup any investment made, so he'd rather waste our money than his own. I'm still waiting to see what scam he pulls in a couple of week's time when the Monsters line goes up for preorder again.....

last year it was heavily hyped for the series, then changed to Frank only, then changed to "If enough people buy, we'll make it", and then turned into a kickstarter to fund the production of a figure that was obviously not backed enough by potential buyers.

so what will he do this time around, since he's claiming that Nosferatu will go up for sale? he's not invested a penny into production, and having seen the latest 3D sample (where's the removable brain??) it's unsurprising that it still looks like a kid made it. I am just shocked that people still have faith that he's not a scammer.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBPyCPhMnZS

[hulkjoegan]

Oct 18, 2024 22:59:49 GMT -5 britishbrickfan said:

Oct 18, 2024 17:59:24 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

Last but certainly not least: it speaks volumes that his reputation and credibility is so damaged that he can’t even get 300 people to unlock this bonus (as of a few hours ago they were less than half way there). So that is under 150 sales in a week. I’m not hating on him just to hate on him. It’s just a lot of red flags. This model of getting people to pre order four projects in order to fund one is basically a house of cards.

I'd go further than that, and say that only being able to achieve 150 sales in a week, in what is supposedly a red hot market, proves that there's little faith in his ability to deliver.

but why is he still pushing for people to preorder???

does he not even believe in his own business enough to invest his own money to turn things around and prove he's capable of delivering the goods? I see this as his acceptance that his credibility is so damaged that he knows he'll never recoup any investment made, so he'd rather waste our money than his own. I'm still waiting to see what scam he pulls in a couple of week's time when the Monsters line goes up for preorder again.....

last year it was heavily hyped for the series, then changed to Frank only, then changed to "If enough people buy, we'll make it", and then turned into a kickstarter to fund the production of a figure that was obviously not backed enough by potential buyers.

so what will he do this time around, since he's claiming that Nosferatu will go up for sale? he's not invested a penny into production, and having seen the latest 3D sample (where's the removable brain??) it's unsurprising that it still looks like a kid made it. I am just shocked that people still have faith that he's not a scammer.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBPyCPhMnZS

While you’re not necessarily wrong, you’re also maybe not looking at this from a fairly standard business perspective….that being that it is not always common for people to front up all business costs themselves - that’s why there are investment firms and how Dragons Den even became a thing. Using other people’s money to grow a business.
And I suppose that’s where the pre-order model becomes a viable option, as it takes away accountability to a specific investor, but rather to a faceless group.

But the main problem here is that Rush have blown buyer confidence….and I don’t think many people have confidence that he can deliver based on those past experiences.

[@Chair.Shot]

To add to what hulkjoegan said - the biggest problem is that he using multiple groups of faceless investors to try and fund…anything. Looking at his website and his posting history, he has 9 preorders open going as far back as 2022 and he has yet to produce a single one of them. To make matters worse, he is about to add a 10th preorder next week:

-Mini figure Road Block (3 versions - presale started December 1, 2022)
-Joey Knight mini figure (3 versions - presale started December 1, 2022)

-Chris Van Vliet (3 versions? Presale started May 19, 2023)
-Retro Frankenstein (At least 2 versions - presale started October of 2023)

-Winnie The Pooh mini figure (2 versions - presale started May 2024)
-Tigger mini figure (2 versions - presale started May 2024)
-Winnie The Pooh 8 inch (3 versions - presale July 1, 2024)
-Trump (2 versions? - Presale started August of 2024)
-NES Pro Wrestling 3 Pack (presale started October of 2024)

Nosferatu pre order starting next week

[nomorexclusives]

Have not ordered any of these and glad I didn't. This was the concern I had with powertown. If this company has nothing to show for itself since December of 2022 than this thread should have been locked already

[@Chair.Shot]

Oct 19, 2024 12:16:23 GMT -5 nomorexclusives said:

Have not ordered any of these and glad I didn't. This was the concern I had with powertown. If this company has nothing to show for itself since December of 2022 than this thread should have been locked already

They did ship out the French Angel figures this past July/August…but even those took over 2 years (pre order started on June 10, 2022). For a while I had a scam warning in the thread title but the mods chose to remove it at some point.

[britishbrickfan]

Oct 19, 2024 12:24:40 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

Oct 19, 2024 12:16:23 GMT -5 nomorexclusives said:

Have not ordered any of these and glad I didn't. This was the concern I had with powertown. If this company has nothing to show for itself since December of 2022 than this thread should have been locked already

They did ship out the French Angel figures this past July/August…but even those took over 2 years (pre order started on June 10, 2022). For a while I had a scam warning in the thread title but the mods chose to remove it at some point.

well, there's still people waiting for their French Angel figures, so I believe that the scam warning should return, nothing that Rush has done has ever delivered on expectations, or quality

yet here he is, starting yet another preorder to take funds for one product, to pay for another

the guy's practically operating his own pyramid scheme

[Ruby Fusion]

Oct 19, 2024 17:13:14 GMT -5 britishbrickfan said:

Oct 19, 2024 12:24:40 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

They did ship out the French Angel figures this past July/August…but even those took over 2 years (pre order started on June 10, 2022). For a while I had a scam warning in the thread title but the mods chose to remove it at some point.

well, there's still people waiting for their French Angel figures, so I believe that the scam warning should return, nothing that Rush has done has ever delivered on expectations, or quality

yet here he is, starting yet another preorder to take funds for one product, to pay for another

the guy's practically operating his own pyramid scheme

Since I can order (not pre-order) that figure from the UK (R&R Collectibles) it is available so not a scam.

[@Chair.Shot]

Oct 20, 2024 15:46:55 GMT -5 Ruby Fusion said:

Oct 19, 2024 17:13:14 GMT -5 britishbrickfan said:

well, there's still people waiting for their French Angel figures, so I believe that the scam warning should return, nothing that Rush has done has ever delivered on expectations, or quality

yet here he is, starting yet another preorder to take funds for one product, to pay for another

the guy's practically operating his own pyramid scheme

Since I can order (not pre-order) that figure from the UK (R&R Collectibles) it is available so not a scam.

I really don’t know if that person is telling the truth about their French Angel figure but I don’t have any reason to doubt them either. Sal has not yet earned the benefit of the doubt in my book. But given the mini figures not being delivered nor updates given (according to one of the performers themselves) - that should constitute a scam. But I’ll leave it up to you; I’m not a mod.

[wwa]

It's annoying that he has some good ideas but isn't trustworthy at all. I was excited for the ECW OSFTM style Ringmasters and we saw what happened there. Then NES Pro Wrestling, but again it's Sal and unlicensed.