[RETRO] Ring Masters by Rush Collectibles

[Roy Alrumblay]

“Looking over his units” Rush has 10 bloody variant Trumps available still! There were only 50…massive price increase to $55.

Has anyone ever seen Rush and ZST in the same room?

[Jonny Flashback]

Has anyone actually seen any evidence these figures exist?

[raylancrowder]

Nov 22, 2024 5:10:28 GMT -5 Roy Alrumblay said:

“Looking over his units” Rush has 10 bloody variant Trumps available still! There were only 50…massive price increase to $55.

Has anyone ever seen Rush and ZST in the same room?

They're at the bar with moffit and captaintransparency.

[Roy Alrumblay]

Nov 22, 2024 5:37:18 GMT -5 raylancrowder said:

Nov 22, 2024 5:10:28 GMT -5 Roy Alrumblay said:

“Looking over his units” Rush has 10 bloody variant Trumps available still! There were only 50…massive price increase to $55.

Has anyone ever seen Rush and ZST in the same room?

They're at the bar with moffit and captaintransparency.

Ryan- “Mick Foley is dude love, cactus Jack and mankind!”

[@Chair.Shot]

Nov 22, 2024 5:35:24 GMT -5 Jonny Flashback said:

Has anyone actually seen any evidence these figures exist?

Just the videos he has posted showing them.

[@Chair.Shot]

I haven’t paid much attention to the figures he just got in because they didn’t interest me at any point. But I noticed something seemed very off about the suited figures…it is the shirt. They actually painted it above the tie and now I can’t unsee it:

[Roy Alrumblay]

Ha he has wherewithal to paint a pocket square but not put the tie knot to the top of the shirt?! Will nail polish the gap I guess.

Wondering how that Trump head would look on the RSC Exclusive FTV Heyman.

[britishbrickfan]

that CVV figure just looks dreadful IMO

his head looks completely out of scale to the body, and the design of that tie/collar is awful - far too high, and given he's had years to make changes, he's failed (again) to actually improve his product for the better

the only change I can see is that the head no longer has the other part of the neck on it! now there's just no neck

so glad I am not wasting my money on these cheap figures, they look awful compared to the others on the market. he recently did an interview with TB Toycast where he said he's not aiming to be number one - the problem is, it shows in his own product that he's not aiming to be anywhere near the top 10 either! bargain bin quality, as is standard for his products. anyone paying more than $4 for each figure is being seriously overcharged here

[@Chair.Shot]

Sal did another live that wasn’t his best video. I think his time would be better spent reaching out to different toy, wrestling, movie, horror, and artist communities to try and push his Kickstarter. It’s got around 40 days left and it’s only at 30ish percent.

In the recent video, it sounded like there were about 250 Trump figures sold (70 or so being the bloody variant). And there are claims that he gets 28 messages a day asking him to buy more but these people don’t understand that there aren’t any more.

He also put over his packaging…a lot. I can’t remember what his claim was for using the resealable bubble (so people can enjoy them for as long as possible?) but it didn’t come across as genuine. I think the biggest reasons are that it allows him to assemble the figures himself or quality check them himself like he did with French Angel. Then there is the added benefit of the bubble not being able to fall off the card.

In other news, some store will have an exclusive version of Frankenstein that we haven’t seen yet. So…look out for that. Bloody variants will be a thing as well and the glow in the dark version is “sold out.”

[kojikanemoto]

The collar on the prototype is different, not just the paint, it’s weird. But seems like they cheaped out and didn’t paint the skin tone on the top of the torso/neck

[@Chair.Shot]

Nov 24, 2024 12:27:06 GMT -5 kojikanemoto said:

The collar on the prototype is different, not just the paint, it’s weird. But seems like they cheaped out and didn’t paint the skin tone on the top of the torso/neck

This was the original which had the tie coming up to the neck similar to how it would in real life. But I noticed even in one of the renders, he failed to paint in the ^ shape of the neck and instead kept it the color of the shirt. Mistakes happen but that one really throws it off as it looks unnatural/doesn’t look like clothing ever produced.

http://instagram.com/p/DBGHjtcuPSq

http://instagram.com/p/DCLyhePuVfz

[Roy Alrumblay]

Nov 24, 2024 10:37:17 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

Sal did another live that wasn’t his best video. I think his time would be better spent reaching out to different toy, wrestling, movie, horror, and artist communities to try and push his Kickstarter. It’s got around 40 days left and it’s only at 30ish percent.

In the recent video, it sounded like there were about 250 Trump figures sold (70 or so being the bloody variant). And there are claims that he gets 28 messages a day asking him to buy more but these people don’t understand that there aren’t any more.

He also put over his packaging…a lot. I can’t remember what his claim was for using the resealable bubble (so people can enjoy them for as long as possible?) but it didn’t come across as genuine. I think the biggest reasons are that it allows him to assemble the figures himself or quality check them himself like he did with French Angel. Then there is the added benefit of the bubble not being able to fall off the card.

In other news, some store will have an exclusive version of Frankenstein that we haven’t seen yet. So…look out for that. Bloody variants will be a thing as well and the glow in the dark version is “sold out.”

Just listened to the 25min video. TBF to Sal, he does these often and answers all the comments that come in. IMO Sal would 100% sit for an unscripted long form podcast however he would tangle himself in a web of his own confusion. I don’t think other Indy toy makers would do this without a list of caveats. So he is trying but gets in his own way.

Here are the points I took away from the video:

-He is still assembling the arms, heads and putting in the packaging. He will let us know when they ship.
-Slide packaging explanation was all over the place but what I assume he was trying to get across is that you can go back and forth between loose and MOC.
-Everyone is asking for Trump figures, they were waiting for them to come in before ordering but that’s not the Rush business model.
-Sal zings ZST a few times, nothing too crazy.
-He gets 28 dm’s a day at least asking for Trump.
-65 Bloody Trumps, 185 traditional.
-Sal is unlike anyone else in the Indy toy market right now bc he doesn’t lie.
-Sal owned between 500-600 TMNT figures growing up.

[britishbrickfan]

Nov 24, 2024 13:58:38 GMT -5 Roy Alrumblay said:

Just listened to the 25min video. TBF to Sal, he does these often and answers all the comments that come in. IMO Sal would 100% sit for an unscripted long form podcast however he would tangle himself in a web of his own confusion. I don’t think other Indy toy makers would do this without a list of caveats. So he is trying but gets in his own way.

Here are the points I took away from the video:

-He is still assembling the arms, heads and putting in the packaging. He will let us know when they ship.
-Slide packaging explanation was all over the place but what I assume he was trying to get across is that you can go back and forth between loose and MOC.
-Everyone is asking for Trump figures, they were waiting for them to come in before ordering but that’s not the Rush business model.
-Sal zings ZST a few times, nothing too crazy.
-He gets 28 dm’s a day at least asking for Trump.
-65 Bloody Trumps, 185 traditional.
-Sal is unlike anyone else in the Indy toy market right now bc he doesn’t lie.
-Sal owned between 500-600 TMNT figures growing up.

I think the term he prefers is "being economical with the truth"

seriously, who are these 28 DMs from? the same person? or are 28 unique people actually asking him daily for a figure which, at best, looks like a dollar store toy? no-one is clamouring for these figures, no-one outside of the wrestling figure collector community has even heard of Rush, and those who have, really shouldn't have any confidence in his business model.

he is still assembling his figures because, he's gluing the parts together himself. no professional operation would be as cheap as this, which sets him apart from the rest as nothing more than a guy trying to make a few bucks on the side, putting out cheap quality goods.

I heard him in an interview saying he wants to be the TNA, not WWE of the figure market. well, at the moment, he's not even reached the level of a high school gym promotion.

[rkmo: Autonomous Meat Shield]

Nov 25, 2024 8:25:17 GMT -5 britishbrickfan said:

Nov 24, 2024 13:58:38 GMT -5 Roy Alrumblay said:

Just listened to the 25min video. TBF to Sal, he does these often and answers all the comments that come in. IMO Sal would 100% sit for an unscripted long form podcast however he would tangle himself in a web of his own confusion. I don’t think other Indy toy makers would do this without a list of caveats. So he is trying but gets in his own way.

Here are the points I took away from the video:

-He is still assembling the arms, heads and putting in the packaging. He will let us know when they ship.
-Slide packaging explanation was all over the place but what I assume he was trying to get across is that you can go back and forth between loose and MOC.
-Everyone is asking for Trump figures, they were waiting for them to come in before ordering but that’s not the Rush business model.
-Sal zings ZST a few times, nothing too crazy.
-He gets 28 dm’s a day at least asking for Trump.
-65 Bloody Trumps, 185 traditional.
-Sal is unlike anyone else in the Indy toy market right now bc he doesn’t lie.
-Sal owned between 500-600 TMNT figures growing up.

I think the term he prefers is "being economical with the truth"

seriously, who are these 28 DMs from? the same person? or are 28 unique people actually asking him daily for a figure which, at best, looks like a dollar store toy? no-one is clamouring for these figures, no-one outside of the wrestling figure collector community has even heard of Rush, and those who have, really shouldn't have any confidence in his business model.

he is still assembling his figures because, he's gluing the parts together himself. no professional operation would be as cheap as this, which sets him apart from the rest as nothing more than a guy trying to make a few bucks on the side, putting out cheap quality goods.

I heard him in an interview saying he wants to be the TNA, not WWE of the figure market. well, at the moment, he's not even reached the level of a high school gym promotion.

I would comment about those ~28 requests a day, but it would get removed.

[@Chair.Shot]

Nov 25, 2024 8:25:17 GMT -5 britishbrickfan said:

Nov 24, 2024 13:58:38 GMT -5 Roy Alrumblay said:

Just listened to the 25min video. TBF to Sal, he does these often and answers all the comments that come in. IMO Sal would 100% sit for an unscripted long form podcast however he would tangle himself in a web of his own confusion. I don’t think other Indy toy makers would do this without a list of caveats. So he is trying but gets in his own way.

Here are the points I took away from the video:

-He is still assembling the arms, heads and putting in the packaging. He will let us know when they ship.
-Slide packaging explanation was all over the place but what I assume he was trying to get across is that you can go back and forth between loose and MOC.
-Everyone is asking for Trump figures, they were waiting for them to come in before ordering but that’s not the Rush business model.
-Sal zings ZST a few times, nothing too crazy.
-He gets 28 dm’s a day at least asking for Trump.
-65 Bloody Trumps, 185 traditional.
-Sal is unlike anyone else in the Indy toy market right now bc he doesn’t lie.
-Sal owned between 500-600 TMNT figures growing up.

I think the term he prefers is "being economical with the truth"

seriously, who are these 28 DMs from? the same person? or are 28 unique people actually asking him daily for a figure which, at best, looks like a dollar store toy? no-one is clamouring for these figures, no-one outside of the wrestling figure collector community has even heard of Rush, and those who have, really shouldn't have any confidence in his business model.

he is still assembling his figures because, he's gluing the parts together himself. no professional operation would be as cheap as this, which sets him apart from the rest as nothing more than a guy trying to make a few bucks on the side, putting out cheap quality goods.

I heard him in an interview saying he wants to be the TNA, not WWE of the figure market. well, at the moment, he's not even reached the level of a high school gym promotion.

Honestly, I don’t care too much at this point. It’s one step above being a customizer and most people aren’t “too good” for that. If the products end up being okay and affordable, it doesn’t matter to me that he is assembling and packaging them himself instead of an underpaid factory worker. Most of these pieces should just pop into place so there shouldn’t be any complexity to it.

[britishbrickfan]

Nov 25, 2024 10:09:39 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

Honestly, I don’t care too much at this point. It’s one step above being a customizer and most people aren’t “too good” for that. If the products end up being okay and affordable, it doesn’t matter to me that he is assembling and packaging them himself instead of an underpaid factory worker. Most of these pieces should just pop into place so there shouldn’t be any complexity to it.

true, it is just one step above customisation, but when you're buying from a customiser, you're not buying from a "business", you're usually buying from someone's sideline

Sal attempts to represent Rush as a business, and that "business" is taking money from buyers (about $20-30 per figure) and manufacturing them on the cheap. even the bags of 100 plastic soldiers or bootleg action figures you find in any bargain/discount store have better production investment than his stuff.

yeah, the pieces should just pop into place, which shows how cheap they are for the form factor - he's not even paying for full figure moulds, just a bunch of moulds for individual pieces. and then assembling and packaging them in his apartment, rather than in the factory where they're made. what kind of QC does he have if the feet don't fit into the legs, or the arms don't connect to the torso correctly?

if he was honest and said, publicly "I'm a cheap guy, I'm grifting a massive profit from this gig compared to the cost per figure" then at least he would have been honest with his audience. but sadly, most people still think Rush Collectibles/Toys is more than a one man band. which it's evidently not.

[@Chair.Shot]

Nov 25, 2024 14:17:43 GMT -5 britishbrickfan said:

Nov 25, 2024 10:09:39 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

Honestly, I don’t care too much at this point. It’s one step above being a customizer and most people aren’t “too good” for that. If the products end up being okay and affordable, it doesn’t matter to me that he is assembling and packaging them himself instead of an underpaid factory worker. Most of these pieces should just pop into place so there shouldn’t be any complexity to it.

true, it is just one step above customisation, but when you're buying from a customiser, you're not buying from a "business", you're usually buying from someone's sideline

Sal attempts to represent Rush as a business, and that "business" is taking money from buyers (about $20-30 per figure) and manufacturing them on the cheap. even the bags of 100 plastic soldiers or bootleg action figures you find in any bargain/discount store have better production investment than his stuff.

yeah, the pieces should just pop into place, which shows how cheap they are for the form factor - he's not even paying for full figure moulds, just a bunch of moulds for individual pieces. and then assembling and packaging them in his apartment, rather than in the factory where they're made. what kind of QC does he have if the feet don't fit into the legs, or the arms don't connect to the torso correctly?

if he was honest and said, publicly "I'm a cheap guy, I'm grifting a massive profit from this gig compared to the cost per figure" then at least he would have been honest with his audience. but sadly, most people still think Rush Collectibles/Toys is more than a one man band. which it's evidently not.

I agree in part that there is some level of grifting involved but I don’t think you are being realistic with the economics of this. This is Sal’s side hustle. It is technically a business (legally). I don’t think he is making real money off of this (yet) as he is constantly trying to fundraise to pay for prior projects. I don’t think it’s a question that most of those projects didn’t do great numbers. If you are charging $30 per figure and are selling only 500 of them - that’s only $15,000 which isn’t much my friend. Even if he keeps his costs low and he is cheap about that…you are assembling 500 figure by hand and then placing them into the bubbles with the card backs as well.

Sal has a lot of faults but he is also a very talented and skilled artist. So he is designing these for fun but he also pouring a lot of real work into these. Then he is spending his time assembling them and also trying to market his other products. Like I get that it feels like a total hustle at times but the amount of time and work he is putting into these projects might not even be worth it for how little he would be receiving after all the bills are paid. I think a lot of what he is doing is out of necessity to try and keep things with the company afloat because he took on more than he could afford as we have all seen evidence of. That is irresponsible and bad business but he might be able to turn that corner if he lands a hit figure/larger license. Time will tell.

And army men operate on a completely different economy. Many are probably using copycat molds to begin with but even if they are not, the sheer quantity at which they are produced creates a whole different pricing discussion.

[britishbrickfan]

Nov 25, 2024 18:31:14 GMT -5 @Chair.Shot said:

I agree in part that there is some level of grifting involved but I don’t think you are being realistic with the economics of this. This is Sal’s side hustle. It is technically a business (legally). I don’t think he is making real money off of this (yet) as he is constantly trying to fundraise to pay for prior projects. I don’t think it’s a question that most of those projects didn’t do great numbers. If you are charging $30 per figure and are selling only 500 of them - that’s only $15,000 which isn’t much my friend. Even if he keeps his costs low and he is cheap about that…you are assembling 500 figure by hand and then placing them into the bubbles with the card backs as well.

Sal has a lot of faults but he is also a very talented and skilled artist. So he is designing these for fun but he also pouring a lot of real work into these. Then he is spending his time assembling them and also trying to market his other products. Like I get that it feels like a total hustle at times but the amount of time and work he is putting into these projects might not even be worth it for how little he would be receiving after all the bills are paid. I think a lot of what he is doing is out of necessity to try and keep things with the company afloat because he took on more than he could afford as we have all seen evidence of. That is irresponsible and bad business but he might be able to turn that corner if he lands a hit figure/larger license. Time will tell.

And army men operate on a completely different economy. Many are probably using copycat molds to begin with but even if they are not, the sheer quantity at which they are produced creates a whole different pricing discussion.

I'm fully aware of the economics involved, but take my point about the army men - yes, many are using copycat moulds, but the "manufacturer" is still paying for a mould in some cases. And they're manufacturing enough quantities so they can retail at what, £1.50/$2.99 a pack of between 50 and 100 pieces, and still churning a profit??

meanwhile, Sal's operating in a market where he can't even turn a profit from a $30 figure?? and is now crowdfunding to generate the cash for earlier projects? how will newer figures be funded if the crowdfunding cash has already been spent on the moulds for other figures? his Monsters line truly is something I wanted to invest in fully. I couldn't care about Cthulu, it means nothing to me. but the Nosferatu and Frank figures, plus the Creature.... those were worthwhile IMO! same with the now-canned Van Helsing figure!! I would have paid for those figures. but having seen what he did, and how he handled the debacle that befelled his wrestling figure line, it's just not worth the money to invest in figures which are not even going to be manufactured for a tenth of the price of the figure.

Sal's problem, and he's still honest about this today, is that he will always rely on the preorder model to fund his venture. And in doing so, that removes any obligation to provide quality products that people want to pay for. If he just took the initial hit, bought a bunch of moulds and had figures manufactured that were of sufficient quality (and durability) that people would see them and say "I need that figure!!" then he'd be making a profit, a healthy one, and be able to expand his line.

but he's not doing that. and he's quite open that this is not his priority, nor is it something he's prepared to invest in going forward. so it's just a money grab, from a guy who's already spent the money he's received to date, and now can't afford to produce the goods that money was supposed to pay for.

[@Chair.Shot]

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