River Tam statue by Phil Robinson

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theguru1

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Hi all, its been a while but that?s mostly due to the fact I stopped collecting 3 years ago.. with the exception of one project.

For well over 10 years, one ? scale mix-media statue that I always wanted was of River Tam (from Firefly) based on the Serenity movie cover. I had a few initial promising options (some at 1/6 scale) but they never worked out, until in 2011, after further searching, I came across a sculptor in the UK by the name of Philip Robinson (www.facebook.com/philip.robinson.9231). His website at the time showed a range of statues and busts from ? scale to life size and initial email discussions looked promising.

The total cost for the first ?prototype? was going to be ?2000, paid over 4 equal amounts as the statue progressed. Phil gave the initial timeline for the project in an email on 7th May 2011 as follows:

?Now as for the Timeframe... I don't want to drag this out with me being overloaded with work and you getting restless for updates so I'd need to clear a couple of projects first before we start so I can have at least a clear run of 4 - 8 weeks from start to finish, end with a fully finished proto-type. So those other projects might take another month to complete...but I also have a couple of small vacations set in June and July to get out of the way but I'll be free to start from July 16th 2011 - can you hang on that long? After then I can commit 100% to the River Tam commission and I'll be fully concentrated.?

With a request for an initial 10% deposit which was paid on the 15th May 2011. At first it all proceeded fairly well? up until it didn?t. Here is a visual record of the statue progress using the photo?s Phil has sent me over the years.

2011
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The base reference image

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The initial round of sculpting. The first 50% of the project cost was paid at this stage.

2012
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After feedback, work continued by the end of 2012.

2013
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Adjustments needed, but full progress being made.

2014

No work was done during 2014.

2015

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This is in fact a brand new sculpt. The initial one was left for too long and dried out, becoming unusable.

2016

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Starting to now really get it all together and truly match the reference photo.

2017

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The final sculpt more or less done, at least it seems Phil decided this was now all correct.

2018

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One assumes that the weapons are the correct scale this time.

2019

At this stage, after months of asking, I still have yet to see any new photos or been able to confirm how final all the sculpting is. After having already paid around $1600AUD back in 2011, since the 5th October 2019, Phil hasn't replied to any Facebook messages.

From the start, the initial idea was of course to also do a limited run of statues, if any other collectors also wanted a River Tam to display on their shelves. Should I get any updates and if anyone is interested, I will let you know, its only been a 8 and half year wait for me so far.
 
Well the only update I have so far is that it's now 8 and a half years since my first payment was made for a statue which was going to be "4 - 8 weeks from start to finish", starting on the 16th July 2011. :thud:
 
Well...Did you try to bombard his facebook page with inquiries? I see he is very active on it.
 
Any time that I posted comments about the River Tam statue in the past, he has just removed them as soon as he saw them.
 
So, I actually have an update, well a reply from Phil at least:

Hi I've been putting you on temperoy ignore while I clear projects... I can't cope with this stress... Will get back to you early next month

Guess we will see what 2020 brings....
 
JUST. NOT. OK. Nothing more to say. 8 year project. I think people put together a DeLorean 1:1 in that time..
 
In all of my years in this hobby the amount of artists that do this is shocking. If someone was running any other type of business these excuses wouldn't suffice.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
So, I actually have an update, well a reply from Phil at least:



Guess we will see what 2020 brings....

This guy is unreal. He had 8 years to complete this and he's trying to whine his way out of it... :gah:

I hate to say it, but something tells me he's not going to contact you again anytime soon.
 
As an artist myself who's stupidly taken on too many projects at once, the stress can be overwhelming.

But you know...not 8 years overwhelming.
 
I hate to say it, but something tells me he's not going to contact you again anytime soon.

I know that nothing will really happen come December, so that will be all of 2019 without seeing any updates. Then in 2020, next time I ask to see anything, it will just be more of the same.
 
I know that nothing will really happen come December, so that will be all of 2019 without seeing any updates. Then in 2020, next time I ask to see anything, it will just be more of the same.

I hope for your sake that I'm wrong and that he eventually works things out with you. I'm not familiar with this guy at all, so I checked out his Facebook and it looks like he occasionally works on movies and such... That's not an excuse to jerk a client around for years, though.

The best thing you can do is to keep posting this to collectible forums and other social media platforms. People like this generally won't do anything unless they have a fire lit under them.
 
The best thing you can do is to keep posting this to collectible forums and other social media platforms. People like this generally won't do anything unless they have a fire lit under them.

Yeah, that was one of the mistakes I made from the start. I was thinking back then that given it would only be 2-3 months away, it would be best to just wait till the statue was in hand and be able to start any thread with a big WOW of a completed statue. Things just didn't work out that way.

Second lesson learned was then still not starting any thread till after 8 years.
 
You know what would bother me most about this. Him fulfilling countless other orders for all the years afterwards and leaving yours on the back burner. Why do you get second place to all of those after years of waiting? I hope this is sorted out for you.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
After 8 years he should be giving you the statue for free!

I used to be big into Sketch cards and I wanted some done by a specific artist that had a waiting list. I would email the artist to see when I would be next up on the list and it would always be "I'll let you know". This was 11 years ago and I never made it off the waiting list! Thankfully there was no money paid upfront. You do have to wonder why some artists offer a service, but then are just not able to get it done.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
You do have to wonder why some artists offer a service, but then are just not able to get it done.

For some I think its the whole issue of being freelance and not wanting to turn down work in case future jobs all dry up and they no longer have any cash flow.

Still, there's really no excuse for ones inability to manage workflows and projects for years.
 
Much like the UK election, I have some updated results. Unlike the election, my update is far less surprising.

1. It is now 8 years and 7 months since initial deposit was paid.
2. Communication from Phil a week ago was to "Expect pics next week"
3. A week later and still seen nothing

And so the saga continues......
 
Well, just had a quick chat with Phil about the lack of any update last week and the new promise (confirmed twice) is for an update/photos: "Backend of this week".

So lets wait and see what the weekend brings.....
 
It will likely come as no surprise (at least it doesn't surprise me at all) that "Backend of this week" turned into "Late Sunday" which has now become "little bit behind... give me another day".

Anyone want to take bets on what will happen tomorrow.....
 
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