If you told me I’d one day be writing about Geoff Beckett and Dave Vonner in a single post I’d ask you what Bizarro world we’ve been transported to. Apparently, it’s one in which Bizarro does not exist, because both guys just might be making action figures from independent comics real soon.
Let me start with an update on GBJR Toys and Geoff Beckett’s Save Indie Spotlight campaign on GoFundMe. When last we checked, the Save Indie Spotlight campaign was floundering at just over $700 raised. And while the comments on the post here were predominantly negative, the campaign is now upwards of $17K, approaching the $20K funding target. Could it be that Beckett will be getting another shot at series 2 of Indie Spotlight, which had its inauspicious beginnings years ago while still part of Shocker Toys?
Beckett has had help from two big donations taking advantage of the rewards to get your own toy made. Red Star Comics (I could find no info for this publisher) pledged $6K for their own Mallow, and Angry Viking Press, beneficiary of their own successful crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter, pledged $10K for its own action figure, of indie character Artica, from Shawntae Howard’s Extinctioners. Getting an Artica action figure was a $25 reward offered during Angry Viking Press’s Kickstarter, which exceeded its $12K funding target and reached over $20K pledged, back in November. The estimated delivery for the action figure was listed in that campaign as July of this year.
Both of these sizable pledges to GBJR Toys are marked as “offline donations,” which signifies ones made outside of the GoFundMe platform. These have to be entered manually by the people running the campaign, and they are not subject to fees, as online pledges are.
Meanwhile, David Vonner, one of my favorite guys in the toy biz, has been pretty busy since leaving Hasbro last year. He started up pop culture company Kasual Friday with fellow Hasbro alum Scott George, and opted not to join Jazwares – I was hoping he would make some improvements to their Mortal Kombat line of figures. (I really want some MK figures but can’t bring myself to buy them in their current state.)
More recently, he’s been teasing his Twitter and Instagram followers with an upcoming, as of yet unnamed action figure project. Some folks are convinced the silhouetted figure is Bloodshot from indie comic publisher Valiant. I suppose we will find out in the days to come.
So there you have it – two guys, one of them hated by the customers he’s sworn to serve, and the other beloved by so many. Does that make Beckett a mutant and Vonner an Avenger? Dang it – there I go mentioning mainstream comics again.
Beckett would likely be an evil mutant, since I don’t remember any of Xavier’s team stealing my money.
to anyone who has been following geoff becketts story for years the idea that he will actually get anything released is laughable. even if he did raise that money, hes lost the rights to quite a few of his promised characters from wave 2. hes screwed over so many creators, artists, sculptors, customers and retailers i doubt many venues would even carry the figures anyway. he can claim hes not shocker toys anymore, but its not shockers named thats ruined it geoffs. and before he releases anything new he owes a lot of people the mail away mr gone figures, the 2010 sdcc exclusives he collected the money for and everyone else hes ripped off taking preorders for things he never produced. all we ever got for that money was stories of pirates, crooked customs agents and blaming everyone (but himself) from the internet to his own customers for his faults. why the federal trade commission hasnt looked into him yet still amazes me. cause what your looking at is a poorly played action figure ponzi scheme.
This article has the nerve to speak about Geoff Beckett like he’s some kind of David Vonner? Wow. Just wow.LOOK AT THE PIC! That’s a Madman’s head, photoshopped onto Jack Staff’s body because Geoff Beckett no longer has the rights to Jack Staff. Well guess what? He probably doesn’t have the license for Madman or the Tick either, they just haven’t raised a fuss.There is no way that $20K is gonna cover everything Beckett has promised, and the page he’s using to collect this money does not require him to follow through in any way, shape for form. Those people DONATED that money, it’s not Kickstarter or IndieGoGo…Geoff was thrown off of those because he’s a shady worm. Gofundme just doesn’t care.There’s also the fact that there are 3 types of donation pages you can do on Gofundme. Personal Donation Campaigns, Charity Fundraising Campaigns & All-or-Nothing Crowdfunding Campaigns. Guess which one is being used?
@ereiter74 the nerve of the writer! why I oughta… hey, that’s me!
I’m not sure where you got that I think Beckett is “some kind of David Vonner” – while I’ve met and spoken with both of them, Dave has been involved in the production of a ton of toys that I’ve bought and enjoyed. I’ve never been compelled to buy a toy that Geoff Beckett has made (the closest has been the Tick) and I know people who never got the products they pre-ordered and paid him for.
it just happened that I came across GBJR’s progress on the Save Indie Spotlight campaign and Dave’s teaser image right around the same time. as they are both action figures from indie comics (at least it’s rumored for Dave’s stuff), it was interesting to write about them together.
thanks for highlighting the campaign types on GoFundMe. I touched on that a little in my previous article on the Save Indie Spotlight campaign – https://www.actionfigurepics.com/2012/12/geoff-beckett-of-gbjr-toys-wants-you-to-save-indie-spotlight-should-you – but I wasn’t aware of the three different types of campaigns. certainly sheds some more light on GBJR’s fund raising effort.
@SamuRon Well if it wasn’t your intention to compare him positively to Mr. Vonner, I apologize. The article seemed to indicate to me, that they were both heroes of the action figure industry. Vonner being Captain America or an Avenger, and Beckett being Wolverine or one of the X-men.Sorry, I must have misunderstood.I certainly agree, that Beckett is a mutant.
@SamuRon @ereiter74 As you can see from his Facebook post, Geoff also likes your article.