Looking 4 Russ customlabs

[GUYx1]

Everyone gets into trouble when they start having Point and click websites or Ebay auctions.
It's like that commercial where the new business gets crazy amounts of orders that they cannot cover.
Then things get behind and it becomes a huge mess.
On custom transactions done purely with emails, usually things aren't so huge and the UNKNOWN elements often aren't so bad.

I am sure this is all some big misunderstanding. The Villagers with torches should not have to be out in droves.
I am sure everyone will be friends in the end once this blows over.

I always figured that was what the Mego Meet was for...
To recoup all the orders you had missing from the year before.
You find the person who sold you the item and they give you resin heads from their table
to make it up to you and everythign ends with happy smiles.

[thunderbolt]

A LOT of his stuff was from DC Direct and Marvel Legends figures so recasting shouldn't be a problem if someone chooses to go that route...it's not as if he was offering exclusive/all-original head sculpts.

funny, he sure acted like they were.

[GUYx1]

Yes, I know what you mean. There certainly seemed to be a lot of exclusive items.
A lot were Randy Bowen Mini Busts.
Just looking at them, I can already see new heads Russ should have made..
And it takes a bit of $$$ to buy all those to begin with...
Dunno if anyone else would go to all the trouble.

[PNGwynne]

I've been reading this thread with great interest as a newer member.

My experience with Customslab was not entirely positive. I did receive my Nov. '07 order finally in Sept. '08. After many email prompts, which Russ was good about responding to.

I ordered about 15 heads. About half were in-scale and well-cast. Several were so tiny as to be unusable. A few were poorly cast. After all the waiting, I was just relieved to end up with some decent ones.

I did do my homework (Dave Mc warned me of scale problems). I loved the fact that some were cast from DC Direct & busts & blended well with Megos; I hope another vendor will fill this void--Blackknight?

I hate to hear that people have lost money--I'll admit that my experience with Russ made me drag my feet in ordering from Austin, which I'm sure is silly. But y'know, once burned, twice shy...

Still, my other experiences have been very good: Dave Mc, oc Mego, Toyroom, BlackKryptonite, Laurie H, Tray Younger, Brian Leitner. And Jessica & Theressa have been helpful with tailoring info.

It's a damn shame, because this kind of toxic opportunism really hurts our hobby. If he was having trouble, he should be up-front about it and quit taking orders. Even if he meant well, the road to Hades is paved with good intentions...

[marbkwds]

This is so sad to read as I dealt with Russ extensively the last few years and had nothing but great experiences. What the heck is happening to this board here? Was every screwball and cheat trying to meet a quota or something this past year? Do yourselves a favor and make mental notes of who screwed you. The day will come where you will be face-to-face with these creeps and you can settle the score the old-fashioned way. No one who cheats anyone should get away with it...revenge is a dish best served cold.
I can't believe this is Russ we are talking about though...that is truly shocking as I always got my stuff within a week of paying from him, each and every time. I hope everyone gets what's rightfully theirs, either a refund or the items...and of course I hope there's nothing more serious going on behind the lines with Russ.

I think that you hit the nail on the head everyone keeps saying things like people should ask around before dealing with a person selling goods whether custom or other . It is not like we are talking about someone who just joined ,offered products , took monies and Ran . Instead we are talking about Russ who has been around here for years and everyone knew him and recommended him as well . I bought from Russ before and never had any problems as did most members here , Maybe we should be asking what the hell happened to Russ that it came to doing what he has done . I don't understand , Maybe I am out of the loop here , Has Russ been known to be a bad guy that everyone is kinda pounding him for what he did as if it were expected . Hasn't he gone to MegoMeets even , I am at a loss of words on this topic now ............. Roy

[GUYx1]

It never starts out as toxic opportunism.
It is just the seller is so overwhelmed that he can't handle all the orders.

Thanks for commending about the head size though. Austin is awesome with the head sizing, but Russ never did a lot of resizing and had a lot of "Teen titan" sized 8" heads.
Be prepared - Austin has a lot on his plate, so he is not exactly Lightning quick. Best to not expect a 2 week turnaround from him.

The more popular the seller, the slower the response time.

[Dave Mc]

Turning around orders can get overwhelming. When I was sewing for hire, I'd have a years worth of work waiting. And even though I didn't take cash until I started the job, I still felt like I was being unfair to people. It got to be stressful, so I had to give it up. I still get behind on painted head orders sometimes. It just happens. Orders seem to come in groups. Today I'll have a couple orders waiting, then BAM, I get slammed and what was a couple weeks wait turns into a couple months.

The point is, while it's easy to get behind, you have to know when to say when. When it becomes too much for you, you have to give it up or make some kind of adjustment in fairness to both the person ordering, and you who are filling the order.

As has been said many times in other threads, communication is key. I've never had anyone get mad at me for a longer than expected wait, as long as I've keep the communication channels open. Most in the group are pretty reasonable and are just happy you're working on things for them.

[GaryPlaysWithDolls]

Size-wise, I bought about $40 dollars worth of heads hoping that MAYBE I could use them for 9 inch scale and was shocked to see that they are almost too small for regular mego use.

[LOU]

It's a damn shame, because this kind of toxic opportunism really hurts our hobby.

That phrase is perfect PNG..."toxic opportunism". Indeed, people like that are cancers to any hobby. I do believe what comes around goes around though. If someone has the audacity to screw someone over in a deal; they'll always be looking over their shoulders. Making enemies is never cool for that reason.

Instead we are talking about Russ who has been around here for years and everyone knew him and recommended him as well .

That isn't 100% reliable around here either my friend. I got screwed quite badly myself by someone everyone thinks is great so it's always a gamble. As PNG coined, "toxic opportunism", by it's very nature, can strike at any time. Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe.

[Bizarro Amy]

funny, he sure acted like they were.

There was a thread, early on in my membership here, where he was being congratulated for how well he did such detail on some new heads. If you collect DC Direct figures, you can tell that they were just resized from that line. Their style, especially those done from Tim Bruckner sculpts, were easy to spot. Not meaning for it to turn as ugly as it did, I mentioned it, and got a lot of flack for saying so. He did eventually say that his heads were often made from others, but that he did "some sculpting" on each one. The only change I could ever see was the neck plug.

[BlackKnight]

When you Resize a Marvel Legends, DC Direct, or any other 6 Inch figure...
There is some serious sculpting that goes into that Head...

Whether or not you Half to fix an Air Pocket, Holes, Re-sculpt Hair, Noses, ears, Jaws... & Then there is the Whole Sculpting the Neck, around the Jaw , & THEN there's the Neck Plug.

It's No easy Feat. & I Still don't see that Many People that do it, or that can even do it to the Level of Quality Russel Did it. Whether or not he owes Whatever,.. The Man was a Fantastic Artisit,.. & there was a ton of Sculpting that was his in his Heads. .. I know 1st hand,.. I am doing a Bunch of different stuff right now...

Lets not jump off course to the true Nature of this thread.

[Cosmicman]

Size-wise, I bought about $40 dollars worth of heads hoping that MAYBE I could use them for 9 inch scale and was shocked to see that they are almost too small for regular mego use.

Unless you are into the customization of Famous Cover figures. The heads work for that line because they made the heads too tiny for the bodies.

[thunderbolt]

^^^ They are way to small for FC, too. Russ's heads were to small for Mego bodies.

[The Phantom]

This is why I only ever buy a max of two heads from anybody.Just in case something happens(IE...Divorce,loss of job,family illness,death....) Which is a real possibility these days.I'm only out like Twenty Bucks.It takes forever to do a bunch of customs but in my Exp it's a safer bet.Also my wife doesn't mind me spending a twenty here or there...LOL
I'm sure he will come through for you guys.I know I have always gotten my stuff from him.If not then yes you have to protect yourself financially when it comes to deals.

Is this a joke?

The last time this topic was brought up you made a big(really big) deal about the "quality" and how Russ was second to none in customizing heads.

At the time, I knew that you were wrong, but now you say that you never ponied up more than $20.00 per? What do you call that?

A "quality" product that you argued about tooth and nail, and yet you never had enough faith in his integrity to go out on a limb for more than you would throw on the bar? Seriously?

All I said at the time was that he had no right to keep customers waiting for months for something they paid for upfront. I still feel that way. About him, and any other "store".

After that, you told me to relax, and after I told you not to tell me to relax, I had to read posts by the moron who told me to "lighten up Francis", not to mention being called an icehole by another idiot.

Well, now we're here. This is what that "quality" is all about?

From what I've read so far, Russ's heads sucked. I've seen them on customs, and I always thought that(too small, too big, too lame, etc.), and now, unfortunantly, he's MIA. Yes, MIA and leaving a lot of people in the lurch. I know how that feels, and speaking from experience, I can tell you, it bites.


Yeah, he can't even get his act together long enough to fill orders, and yet he's going to change the face of customizing forever.

Bottom line is this: Russ is NEVER going to make good on his orders. With all due respect, BK telling you that, "He knows, nuff said" is manure.That and a token will get you on the subway.

So, either you can chalk it up to experience and take the hit, or you can band together and see how much this leech actually owes. If it's a significant dollar amount, he could be looking at mail fraud.

Something to think about.

It's a shame that other sellers get lumped in to a catagory with this parasite, but that's the way it is. No one actually knows anyone on this forum, all you really have is a level of trust. That's it.

[bobbait]

Is this a joke?

The last time this topic was brought up you made a big(really big) deal about the "quality" and how Russ was second to none in customizing heads.

At the time, I knew that you were wrong, but now you say that you never ponied up more than $20.00 per? What do you call that?

A "quality" product that you argued about tooth and nail, and yet you never had enough faith in his integrity to go out on a limb for more than you would throw on the bar? Seriously?

All I said at the time was that he had no right to keep customers waiting for months for something they paid for upfront. I still feel that way. About him, and any other "store".

After that, you told me to relax, and after I told you not to tell me to relax, I had to read posts by the moron who told me to "lighten up Francis", not to mention being called an icehole by another idiot.

Well, now we're here. This is what that "quality" is all about?

From what I've read so far, Russ's heads sucked. I've seen them on customs, and I always thought that(too small, too big, too lame, etc.), and now, unfortunantly, he's MIA. Yes, MIA and leaving a lot of people in the lurch. I know how that feels, and speaking from experience, I can tell you, it bites.

Just today, I read a post on Mego Central (yes, MEGO CENTRAL, I'm not going to call it,"the other site") and Russ was saying (it was an old post) how he was going to change customizing with new heads, bodies, blah,blah,blah.

Yeah, he can't even get his act together long enough to fill orders, and yet he's going to change the face of customizing forever.

Bottom line is this: Russ is NEVER going to make good on his orders. With all due respect, BK telling you that, "He knows, nuff said" is manure.That and a token will get you on the subway.

So, either you can chalk it up to experience and take the hit, or you can band together and see how much this leech actually owes. If it's a significant dollar amount, he could be looking at mail fraud.

Something to think about.

It's a shame that other sellers get lumped in to a catagory with this parasite, but that's the way it is. No one actually knows anyone on this forum, all you really have is a level of trust. That's it.

lighten up Francis