New! SPIRITS: SEANCE & SOUL COLLECTOR Tuck Boxes

[Evilgamer]

I dont see anything on the KS page that says hes quit (but I also don't see anything he posted since January).

Socal shipping it just seems like he never followed through on. The last update was that he had to redo that agreement because he didnt complete his end the first time.

And yes I certainly had this in mind when TGW said he was going to try to ship himself...... But I thought in both cases just..."get it done, either way pay to ship it or rent a uhaul and drive it down (not sure if you can do that across the US/Canada border but still...).

yes its sad either way

[Disenchanted_11]

I dont see anything on the KS page that says hes quit (but I also don't see anything he posted since January).

They never really announce these things, do they?
But when comments resorted to "Thief" and they go unanswered, and official accounts get deleted, you already know...

[Evilgamer]

I dont see anything on the KS page that says hes quit (but I also don't see anything he posted since January).

They never really announce these things, do they?
But when comments resorted to "Thief" and they go unanswered, and official accounts get deleted, you already know...

Yeah Im not going to defend him, I have a thing about being trustworthy and doing the thing you said you would, I checked and he hasn't updated patreon in months either.

(and yes I realize I did get my kickstarter cards though he owes me one or more patreon decks).

[kevork]

Hi everyone,

Thank you all so much for your patience. I know this has been a weird, frustrating ride; for you, and for me.

Here’s the truth about what’s been happening behind the scenes.

As some of you may already know, after our Kickstarter campaign wrapped, a brand in another country filed a trademark under the name Playthevillain. Even though they had no intention of ever producing or selling playing cards, they spitefully added “playing cards” to their trademark filing after our campaign had already concluded.

That single, calculated move triggered months of behind-the-scenes legal troubles. We worked closely with legal counsel, trying to determine whether their “intent to use” claim would be legitimized, and what that meant for us. Every path forward was blocked by legal red tape, and every attempt to talk about it publicly risked serious consequences.

During that time, your cards, shirts, and other rewards sat packed in boxes and on shelves in my office, like a tomb.

We looked at every possible workaround: placing stickers over the branding, shipping everything to SoCal to try and find a loophole, anything to keep this moving. But each option came with the risk of lawsuits, heavy fines, or worse.

We were advised in no uncertain terms not to interact with the public through anything connected to Villainous Industries, including on social media. This is why our official Instagram has remained blank for so long. We were being monitored, and any slip could have been used against us.

This is also why we quietly rebranded for other projects. We hated the silence, but it was necessary for our protection.

To everyone who messaged us; your frustration is completely valid. We saw the comments. We felt every word. And it was heartbreaking not to be able to respond or even explain why.

But today, I finally get to say this:

We’re clear. I received confirmation that we are no longer under threat of legal action for shipping SPIRITS or the Patreon decks. We are finally allowed to fulfill orders under the original vision, without fear of retaliation.

We’ve already resumed packaging. We’re shipping individual orders again; starting with unpacking everything that had been prepped for SoCal.

Tariffs and Canada Post strikes be damned, orders begin shipping out this month.

Thank you, deeply, to everyone who waited. We’re just as relieved and excited to get these decks into your hands as you are to receive them.

With gratitude and a big exhale,

Ben

[Disenchanted_11]

This is unheared of. Ben must've really pissed those people, or they just screwed him over for whatever reason.

[JazzBaloo]

This is unheared of. Ben must've really pissed those people, or they just screwed him over for whatever reason.

I also am left wondering what transpired between them. Incredible to see the fulfillment appears to be back on track.

[GandalfPC]

It doesn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary - just bad luck. Without trademark protection you risk this happening I guess.

Company is in music and I imagine they are covering all uses of the name.

Ruthless music industry folk probably noticed the deck and decided that diluted their name - or perhaps they wanted to make some promotional material - we will see if the deck appears…

I would imagine this is them (or they would have sued them already

https://soundcloud.com/PLAYTHEVILLAIN


Seeing they have 7 followers I am going to guess the lawsuit didn’t have high dollars behind it - but who knows.

[kevork]

This is unheared of. Ben must've really pissed those people, or they just screwed him over for whatever reason.

I do recall him having a bit of a temper, but if it stems from being overwhelmed by all of this going on behind the scenes, I could understand it to a degree.

If what he's saying is accurate, the fact that this other entity tried to add “Playing Cards” to their name after learning about Ben’s company is really slimy. Now I see Gandalf's response which does make sense as a plausible explanation.

[VillainousIndustries]

They, infact, tried to tell me that I owed them money from the Kickstarter. Since they filed after the kickstarter had finished. They were just trying to get fear money, and I was having none of it.

Also, to vent a little. Kind of smurfing tired of this shit. I wanted to ship everything out myself, and it would have been done on time if these pieces of shit didn't put "Playing Cards" in their trademark filing. Everyone would have their decks a long ass time ago. But now, Trump is in office and has a hate-boner for Canada and China.
I cant catch a smurfing break.
Everyone in the world has their decks except the US, all due to external circumstances I cant control, nor could I have ever foreseen.

Literally bringing boxes of product to canada post for them to take only to be turned away due to country of origin issues, and having to have the correct codes for every little thing in every box, and tarriffs, and this and that, and smurf right off.

No matter what I post as an update, it wont matter. This campaign has been tainted for a long time. And, like a dumbass, im still trying to keep my word about not shipping patreon rewards until Spirits is fulfilled.

Like. There are some people who got their GRAFF deck from me before they got SPIRITS.

The biggest shitshow of my entire life, and there isnt a smurfing thing I can do about it.

I can just sit here and take all the rebuke, and disdain, and pleas for refunds, and accusations that are blatantly false, and do nothing, and say nothing, because there is nothing further to say or do.

Im so tired of seeing these smurfing decks. And thats not even counting the boxes of the unlimited versions of the foil decks I have that I was going to sell after. Just a huge cluster smurf of massive proportions that I never thought was going to go this way.

Truly cursed.

And now, I have to wait, just like my US backers, for the day that shipping Chinese produced goods, worth a lot of money from Canada isnt a meteoric risk for me or for the people theyre being shipped to.

I thought "Hey, I have an idea for an enamel pin" and it would have been fine and all good, but then Trump decided to make shipping small Chinese produced goods worth a small amount of money from Canada smurfing imppssible too.

Vent over.
Im so over this shit.
smurfing clown shoes.

[GandalfPC]

And, like a dumbass, im still trying to keep my word about not shipping patreon rewards until Spirits is fulfilled.

It sounds like the one thing you could fix would be that - not shipping what is ready to be shipped to other customers is not a promise to make to give console to ones you cannot ship to - certainly not at this point - with all that stuff on the ground.

[VillainousIndustries]

It sounds like the one thing you could fix would be that - not shipping what is ready to be shipped to other customers is not a promise to make to give console to ones you cannot ship to - certainly not at this point - with all that stuff on the ground.

So, I should ship the Patreon decks? Theyre made in the US, so it is less hassle and for less risky to ship them across the border.
It just sucks.
Like, I had over 20 decks planned. Everything just went out the window lol
And when their trademark on playing cards got thrown out, and we started shipping again, I even got excited and started teasing the deck I had been working on in anticipation of finishing SPIRITS fulfillment.

Like, I said, clustersmurf.

[Fenrir]

It sounds like the one thing you could fix would be that - not shipping what is ready to be shipped to other customers is not a promise to make to give console to ones you cannot ship to - certainly not at this point - with all that stuff on the ground.

So, I should ship the Patreon decks? Theyre made in the US, so it is less hassle and for less risky to ship them across the border.
It just sucks.
Like, I had over 20 decks planned. Everything just went out the window lol
And when their trademark on playing cards got thrown out, and we started shipping again, I even got excited and started teasing the deck I had been working on in anticipation of finishing SPIRITS fulfillment.

Like, I said, clustersmurf.

I don't have any skin in the game here but I saw some of the comments on your campaign after I got curious about your response here. I am not sure if you are aware but you can ship anything made in the USA from Canada without any duties or taxes. You just need to properly select the origin (USA) and then the correct HTS code 9504.40.0000. Whether it is through Canada Post or otherwise. Regarding how to get your Spirits decks across, I can think of two solutions, one is easier than the other. Depending on how close you are to the border, I would just drive across and mail them all in the USA. The other is to contact a company like Gamblers Warehouse or other logistics provider in Canada and see if they can help you import the Chinese made decks.

Might resolve a lot of your issues.

Happy to offer whatever limited support I can if you need it.