Midnight Studios FX

Velvet Vampire said:

On with my story. The first two pictures are of the Destiny I found on ebay. I sent him those pictures and asked him to use them for a guide for mine. I asked if I could have the same light auburn hair. He said yes, everything's custom, so I could have it like I wanted it. I asked him if he had any arms that would work for her, and if there was any reason I would have problems mounting her to a Spider Hill PVC frame. He told me he would make me a set of arms for $160, and would attach them for me since it was much easier that way. He said the arms cost that because there's a lot of smoothing to do to get them looking right. He also said he'd leave a pole in the base of the bust so I could attach her to the frame. I very much appreciated him doing both things for me.
Final cost for Destiny, $460, plus shipping, of course.

When I got my Destiny, this is what she looked like. I can live with the hair being a different color, but her paint job and rough finish really upset me.

Here is how things transpired. The details are from emails I sent to interested parties on the day it happened. (I would like to mention that while I was waiting for my props to arrive, I also bought a Crypt Keeper and Tom Cruise as Lestat prop head from Kyle on ebay. Both were of far superior quality and finish to my Destiny.)

10/27 "Kyle is a really nice guy. Just got himself in a tight, I think. He said that when Brianna left him several months ago, that left him trying to figure out the supply side of the business, and he ended up spending a lot of time running for the things he needed for different projects. He ended up getting someone to help him with some of the painting, and my Destiny was one of the things he didn't paint himself. He said that going forward, he was going to do all the painting on the orders, and that he would work on any of my orders himself exclusively. As for the mold problems, he said he's cast 75-100 sets of arms with that mold, and needs to make a new set.
He said he took last week off, and I guess is going to relax this week to, because he was pretty adamant that he didn't want me to send the props to him until after Halloween, even though I told him to take his time, and I was in no hurry for him to get them right back out to me. I'm willing to wait for awesome, and I told him so."

1/21/15 "I didn't call Kyle again until today. He said he's made new casts of the arms, and that he would make me another Destiny and Pesci, and let me know when they are ready. He asked me again for details of what I wanted, and I emailed him the pics of Jdubbya's Pesci, and the Destiny he'd sold on ebay. I asked him if he was ready for me to send the pieces I had back to him, and he said to wait until he'd finished making the new pieces, and then I could send them.

He apologized again for the problems, and said that for this season, he had a couple of girls he's going to train to paint for him, but that he plans to eyeball everything before it goes out. He said that he's getting 100s of orders, and just can't keep up by himself. He didn't give me a completion date, but said he'd keep in touch with me."

6/9/15 " I heard from Kyle today, and don't know what to think. I called him on 5/20, left a message on his sales number. No response. So yesterday, I called both numbers, and left the same message: Who I was, calling to check on the progress of Destiny and Pesci. Told him I'd called on 5/20, and hadn't heard back, so please call me. I made sure to keep the tone pleasant.
This morning, he called. He wasn't unpleasant, but I could tell he was stressed. He wasn't as friendly and apologetic as he'd been before, and seemed to not remember much about our previous discussions, or my order. He wanted to know where Destiny and Pesci were...why he hadn't gotten them. I was shocked. I told him that the last time we talked, I asked to return them, and he said to keep them until he'd finished making me a new Destiny and Pesci.

He first told me he could make me a new Destiny, but he had not made a new mold for the arms, so they probably wouldn't be much better. I said, "Oh, I thought you said you'd just finished them the last time we talked". He said, no, he never got them done.
He asked, okay arms on Destiny, and repaint her, anything else? I said yes, she needs a pole in her torso, like before. And he raised his voice at me, "TORSO?!?!?!" I said, "No, sorry, not torso. At the bottom, below her breasts. She's a bust. Sorry, I just used the wrong term."
He ended up telling me that if I'd return the pieces, he'd re-paint Pesci's horns, and he'd clean up the arms and re-paint my Destiny (NOT make a new one) and ship them back to me at his expense. I guess I should've hounded him more, but he said he would work on it, and I took him at his word. I told him no rush so he wouldn't just throw something together, but from his demeanor today, I'm not sure that approach worked out.

I have to admit that when I talked to him last, and he told me to not send the pieces back until the new ones were done, I found that odd. Especially since all I asked for regarding Pesci was for his horns to be repainted. I wonder now if he wasn't hoping I'd just go away. And I really don't think I should have to put good money after bad, hoping he'll make it right. I don't know if I should send them back, or just write it off as a really disappointing experience. I hope, once he sees the pieces, he'll do right by me, and make them look awesome. But I just don't know..."

Long story longer, it would have cost me $78 minimum to ship them back. The impression he'd given me from our first talk was that he would send a call label for them. Nevertheless, I was going to pay the money and send them back because to this day, I get upset every time I see Destiny. I would have never bought that prop had I seen what I was actually going to get. The quality just isn't there. Kyle does some incredible work, but this isn't it. Anyhoo, every time I started to take them to the Post Office, something went wrong, and I didn't get there. After that happened, the third time, I took that as a sign that I should just let it go. So I did. I didn't call him again, and he hasn't called me.

However you feel about the details, the pics stand for themselves. Be aware that what you order might not be what you get. I'm talking quality and appearance.

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