TGW presents The Beetlebacks designed by Widakk

[TheGentlemanWake]

Hello, I'm writing a new update for Beetlebacks bricks soon. Gamblers uncovered that some of the brick boxes have some water damage. We had a similar issue with the uncut sheets. I'm working to get them replaced asap.

[steampunk52]

Hello, I'm writing a new update for Beetlebacks bricks soon. Gamblers uncovered that some of the brick boxes have some water damage. We had a similar issue with the uncut sheets. I'm working to get them replaced asap.

Omar, thank you for the update and appreciate you are seeing this through.

[masagin303]

Anyone here that ordered a brick heard or received a notice yet? I believe the last update suggested shipping in Sept due to the GW workload, but I haven't seen anything yet. I did get Parlour, yesterday so wondering if BB bricks went out to anyone thus far?

Not yet, but I already have Parlour Royale in the customs so these will be at home sooner then the brick. Lol.

[0x5053]

I'm starting to think that we're never going to get the brick-boxes. Can it really be that yet another coincidence delays this even more? How long does reprinting take? When are you going to ship? Give us some more info

[Constantine]

Ironic that the avid backers and the whales got the most inconvenience. While a casual can just pick up a copy on any retailer store.

TGW had a good run. It rained and it poured. But maybe Icarus flown too close to the sun.

[steampunk52]

He posted this a couple of weeks ago the Discord. "No ETA right now. I'm hoping the reprints will be done in time for the new year. Sorry I don't have more solid info. "

[0x5053]

Still no news and I still have not received any brick box. Doubt these will ever be delivered. Unless he suddenly messages us and says "hey, I need you to pay some more money. It's not my fault, it's X, Y, Z".

[steampunk52]

Most recent Discord post as of Feb 1st was "New update coming soon. I’m sorting things with gamblers."

[Adamthinks]

Hes been very very sparse with communication for a while now. I've been hopeful some of those projects in the pipeline ( ie Grave Witness) would eventually get released, but it seems very unlikely as days go by. Its too bad, I was really looking forward to those.

[Disenchanted_11]

The Grave Witness is a big one, like his version of Eye of the Ocean with puzzles and stuffs. Does he have the audacity still? Is anyone still willing to go all in on him? I'm there will be some.

While Kevin Cantrell said his TGW projects couldn't feed his children. This one's a shame cause they're real beautiful.

He also retailed the Goldsmith, so it looks like he's trying to clean shop.

[Evilgamer]

Goldsmith has been on his web site since the day I learned about him for the same price.

Its seemed to me hes only interested in continuing if each project brings in hundreds of thousands of $ which is ...just not happening much any more. Im definitely fine with quality over quantity but...dont think the market has stayed large enough to live off a project every 12-18 months.

[steampunk52]

My guess is that this project went sideways and he is still trying to recover. If I recall, there was Cartamudi abandoning printing of custom work, cards were initially shipped to his home instead of GW and he spent time trying to figure out how best to deal with that and then the water damage of the brick boxes which then needed to be reprinted overseas and sent to GW. At each step of the way, I imagine there were financial implications that were unforeseen - possibly including negotiation with the printers that shipped to the wrong destination and/or GW regarding water damage and shipping the remaining orders.

Im disappointed with the lack of communication, but am still hopeful that he will see it through. I have supported projects by Alex (Seasons) who has gone missing, Native Tongue who disappeared, Marvelous Decks who disappeared, and Lotrek who is what, going on 5 YEARS behind now for Year 2 Patreon? At least he has said something recently so he hasn't bailed yet. I'm willing to give grace to an independent producer that has had a rough go, though admittedly that would be easier with regular, honest communication.

[Adamthinks]

Goldsmith has been on his web site since the day I learned about him for the same price.

Its seemed to me hes only interested in continuing if each project brings in hundreds of thousands of $ which is ...just not happening much any more. Im definitely fine with quality over quantity but...dont think the market has stayed large enough to live off a project every 12-18 months.

I know that for Successor he had been hoping it would make enough that he would be able to quit his job and do cards fulltime, but it didn't make enough profit to do so. The Beetle Backs made even less and Goldsmith ( despite being incredible) sold far far less than they had been hoping. He had been hoping 2024 would be the year he would be able make this a full time business and developed a lot of ideas towards that, but that went well astray with the sales issues, the various stresses with Wyrmwood, Cartamundi catastrophe, and now the multitude of issues with Beetlebacks ( shipping to his house, brick box damage at GW, etc.). My guess is that in the end all of those projects together didn't make much if any profit for him all told. The absent communication isn't helping his brand at all but I imagine he's feeling pretty defeated right now. Which really sucks, cause he put out some really awesome stuff throughout all that with some great stuff on the horizon. A number of his projects are among my favorites for the year they released. And I hate to see creators struggling like that. His silence is really not helping him though.

[Honeybee]

I do not have as many of Omar's releases as I might because I am a backs man who you will not woo simply with foil, Kevin Cantrell's backs are good enough but I want better than good.

[felicityk]

i love Kevin Cantrell's work and was really hoping to see Sanctuary someday. There's also Villa Belluno, which he designed ages ago and was supposed to be the next TGW collaboration after Goldsmith.

[friscards]

It must have been quite shocking to find out that part of the delivery got ruined in transit, and I can only imagine the trouble to understand whose fault it was, and it must certainly be difficult to sort out the reprint at the end of the year. Transport in December and January is a disaster as there are gifts sent all over the world. And once that ends, you enter the Chinese New Year celebrations, and that can cause further delays with production in China. So I can only understand the difficulties faced and hope they will be able to sort everything out.

I agree with Evilgamer that the market is really tough right now, and there is fierce competition, so as a creator, it is very challenging.

@felicityk, I think this deck you showed is for a Villa in Argentina with the same name, and the website looks as if it was designed by KC, a beautiful one.

[Evilgamer]

It must have been quite shocking to find out that part of the delivery got ruined in transit, and I can only imagine the trouble to understand whose fault it was, and it must certainly be difficult to sort out the reprint at the end of the year. Transport in December and January is a disaster as there are gifts sent all over the world. And once that ends, you enter the Chinese New Year celebrations, and that can cause further delays with production in China. So I can only understand the difficulties faced and hope they will be able to sort everything out.

I agree with Evilgamer that the market is really tough right now, and there is fierce competition, so as a creator, it is very challenging.

@felicityk, I think this deck you showed is for a Villa in Argentina with the same name, and the website looks as if it was designed by KC, a beautiful one.

Shipment damage seems to be a recurring thing, I know that TWI just had a large number cards ruined and Im pretty sure Ive heard 2-3 other reports recently

[TheGentlemanWake]

Hi all, been awhile. I'm having Gambler's ship out the decks that would be part of the brick boxes. THe bricks boxes themselves are not ready. And expedited it costs funds that would have long run out. So instead I'm having every 'brick' of decks upgraded with a dynastinae, a legacy and a prototype deck (the last of the wjpc prototypes--not the cartamundi ones which were the ones in the proto tier). Then I'm having that package of decks, sans the brick box itself, sent out to each who ordered it. Note that when the boxes are finally ready, I will send them out flattened to each person. But I've been taking a beating in the comments section from a few very loud folks and frankly I'm tired of it.

In the end, this will have cost me an additional $3400 out of pocket.

[kevork]

This is more than plenty to rectify things. I hope people will be grateful.

[Bikefanatic]

Sorry to see the frustration on both ends, hopefully it'll work at the end.