London Diffractor (!!! --- EBAY AUCTIONS ARE LIVE --- !!!)

[VXD]

Hey Harvonsgard

The cities we choose all have a connection to gambling / casinos and hence playing cards. All being well, we plan to launch pop-up stores and also distribute to luxury stores in these cities (things in motion for Las Vegas and London already) and also offer Diffractors to the casinos for use in advertsing & promotion, via the transparent holographics inside the pips.

New York is a bit of an outlier in this respect, although it is such a big famous tourist city and has many luxury department stores and we could see the New York edition doing well there. The rest all have strong, famous casino presences, so we follow that line.

The decks we produce for the pop-ups and for luxury stores will be metal decks only (ie no traditional tucks) and color-altered from the KS decks and will be un-limited and un-numbered.

So Berlin....we thought about it, but it's actually very unlikely tbh.

Regards

[irtjames14]

@VSD, you are KILLING me here!!! i'm loving your approach, but really am scared of how hard this will hit my wallet...

i only backed for the classic tuck in the Vegas KS, but am considering picking up the Gold/UltraViolet (non-metal version for now) from your webiste. Since this is blowing up to a full series, I'll for sure back the Classic/Turquoise/Green 'standard' versions in the upcoming KS for sure. I really want the metal versions for all too, but way too pricey for my budget for all of them

But I'm loving your thoughts/approach to this whole thing. Given I am a Chicago native, it'd be awesome to include Chicago on here, but based on your reasoning above, I don't see that happening.. haha.

Would you be able to spoil what other colors you plan on using in the future city decks?

Thank you for all that you do, and really looking forward to the next KS!!

[Bradius]

A not so small package arrived, so photos are in order

The decks are all numbered (024 for the boxed set), the individual deck sets are 75 and 175 interestingly enough.

As promised, I did open at least one of the decks to check them out first hand. So, I chose one of the ultraviolet decks. The cards handle nicely. They do clump just a little bit, so not quite in the top tier of handling, but not bad at all. I give it an A-/B+ in handling, which is honestly much better than I was expecting. Some of the cards though don't appear to be exactly the same height. It is like every fifth card is ever so slightly smaller.

Now onto the good stuff. The foiling and holographic images are just as stunning in person as you have led me to believe. If this is what I can expect, I am super excited about the upcoming London Kickstarter. I really think in the spot lighting in a casino, the holographic parts will really shine. When I toned down my office lights, the deck really shimmers. The front image is very faintly impressed on the reverse side. It become more noticeable when you move the card around to appreciate the holographic images on the face side.

I am sure hoping TGW will do a deck review on these beauties.

For any that missed this Kickstarter, seriously consider at least getting one of the decks. While the boxed set can kick your budget in the teeth, they really are an epic display.

Take a bow VXD. Excellent job.

[VXD]

JAMES -

Yes, get involved sir! our KS prices are about half price, so it makes a huge amount of sense to back at KS stage of course. Glad you're looking forward to the London launch. We are too. Flat out now getting everything prepared!

Chicago Diffractor....well there is a big poker scene, but I think it may be a bit of a long shot currently. Let's see.

BRAD -

Glad you received them, safe and sound. Looking good there!

Re the minor cut discrepancies - we are aware and we'll have that sorted for next time. We've had so many obstacles to cross on our path but we're at a point now that everything is coming together and the product is only getting more refined.

Re the bling - yes, you got it (as our card to backers suggests)...if you dim the surroundings and have just one bright light on the Diffractors, they really come alive! If you black out a room and shine one light or a torch etc on them, then it's really diffraction party time

Cheers

[VXD]

Just to give you all the heads-up here on UC...

There will be some BIG EARLY BIRD ACTION at the launch. They were extremely limited last time. This time we will probably do EB's for all tiers.

Cheers

[aardvarkgod]

Any word on the left-over Vegas decks from your website?
"Reserve your serial numbers for our remaining Vertex Deck & Vegas Diffractor stock"

[irtjames14]

Can't wait!!

[justplaycards]

Sounds great... Any idea on a rough time it will drop?

[VXD]

MIDNIGHT BST (London Time) this Friday coming

[MagikFingerz]

MIDNIGHT BST (London Time) this Friday coming

Just so we're absolutely clear: One minute after 23:59 on Thursday?

[VXD]

Magik

One minute after 11.59 PM (BST) on Friday.

Cheers

[justplaycards]

One minute after 11.59 PM (BST) on Friday.

Is that not Saturday?

[VXD]

I'm honestly not sure...even after googling it. Maybe we should do as the airlines apparently do and schedule it for 11.59 pm on Friday, instead of midnight, to avoid confusion. Probably should.

Cheers

[Bradius]

Well, it will be early Friday evening for me. I may need to pull off the freeway to try to snag an EB. Sigh, I need lessons from Pierre on how to pledge faster.

[montenzi]

Thank you, the VXD Team! I was a bit skeptical until I received this beauty! I have never seen anything like this before. It's one of a kind, it's different, it's fun!

Metal boxes are so brutal and much better in hands than on photos.

Everything is 10 out of 10!

p.s. I made four cuts on edges to open the black box without damaging it. I know, it's a temporary solution to store cards, but it's easy to fix in your next releases.

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[aznh]

Ok, so today I received my decks without damage. The tucks and 8 card look fantastic. My only issue with the overall handling of the fulfillment is the following.

During the campaign it was clearly asked by many backers on more then one occasion and confirmed by the creator that any decks purchased in sets of two or three in different colours (Regular+Gold+Violet) that the decks would ship together as matching sets.

So I reached out during the campaign PM and asked for a specific number. They was nice enough to grant me my request. Conversations confirmed on more than three occasions and prior to fulfillment that everything was good. Then my parcel comes today with a note on my invoice stating "00# decks promised". Upon looking, of course two decks come requested (Reg/Violet) and Gold is way off.

So I reach out email. Supply photos and ask what happened and how can I get my missing deck? Here is the response;


Thanks for your e-mail.

It was un-avoidable I’m afraid. Cartamundi made the tucks for us and when they delivered, we found they had missed out the numbering for the Gold decks from #001-#053! We were very angry about that and have demanded they fix it for us. We have to deliver 50 un-numbered decks that they gave us back to them and then wait to have them numbered. However this is also not guaranteed and they won’t say when it might be done.

We did the best we could by giving you the only other 2 decks of 00#/499 numbering.

Please also remember that this was a special request, which we granted and we do it only as a favour. However, given the issues that granting these requests causes us, we will certainly NEVER do it again in future campaigns. It is already very stressful and hard work and granting special requests that are not specified on the campaigns just adds to the stress and workload.

I do hope you are otherwise very happy with your rewards and we hope you enjoy viewing / playing with your Diffractors.

Thank you and kind regards
The VXD Team


So no resolution to my overall issue here. I was hoping they would at least offer me a chance to purchase the missing numbered deck if and when it every does come in.

Secondly, what gets me from that email is the "we will certainly NEVER do it again in future campaigns" displeasure of pleasing backers.

After reading the email, my response to them was of trying to keep my Diffractor decks collection a complete collection as a whole not just for the Vegas campaign but for all future campaigns. A second email stated the following;


No more than 10-15 backers of 466 requested specific numbers. We granted them this time but will make it 100% clear that we won’t do it in future

So only 15 people out of 466 requested specific numbers and that caused so much stress that "they're NEVER doing it again". OK!

Well, there goes my future pledge to this coming London campaign.

Good luck to everyone that is expecting matching numbers from any future Diffractor campaigns as it's not going to happen according to the VXD Team.

[VXD]

Kevin

Maybe it is the way you have gone about the whole thing. For everyone's ref here on UC, this is the email we got today:

Hello Felipe,

Today I received my parcel. It came without damage but I have an issue regarding my numbers. I specifically requested #5 for one set and I received #5 for 2/3 decks.

#5 Violet & #5 Regular.

The #5 Gold version is not within my package. A picture is included for your reference.

I really didn't expect this error to come from your warehouse staff as a note was specifically made on my Invoice stating "#005 decks promised"

Please let me know how I can get my #5 gold version to complete my pledge/order.


-Kevin

[Azid]

Got my decks yesterday without any damage (2 of each in classic tuck boxes).

I didn't ask for any specific number but i got two complete sets WITH matching numbers (360 & 390 that's nice).
The decks are pretty cool as expected, but you really need good light to get the full shiny holographic effect.

The only thing that should be improved is the cuttig of the cards.

[VXD]

Azid

Thanks. We try our absolute best to please our backers and unfortunately some then think we own them our right arm for their backing and we (I'm sure other creators too) get all sorts of threats and blackmail. There are great backers who we love and we talk to a lot and do things to show our appreciation, then there are toxic backers.

Kevin - due to your instantly entitled and demanding approach to a FAVOUR we were doing you and then to come on here and post private messages from us in public.....if you ever try to back one of our decks in future, we will see it and instantly refund you. Your backing is no longer welcome.

It's a real shame this sort of thing happens, but we deserve a level of respect, just like everyone else and we have our limits.

[aznh]

Kevin

Maybe it is the way you have gone about the whole thing. For everyone's ref here on UC, this is the email we got today:

Hello Felipe,

Today I received my parcel. It came without damage but I have an issue regarding my numbers. I specifically requested #5 for one set and I received #5 for 2/3 decks.

#5 Violet & #5 Regular.

The #5 Gold version is not within my package. A picture is included for your reference.

I really didn't expect this error to come from your warehouse staff as a note was specifically made on my Invoice stating "#005 decks promised"

Please let me know how I can get my #5 gold version to complete my pledge/order.


-Kevin

Andrew Dodds,

It seems the only time you thank people is when they only say good things about Diffractor.

That doesn’t really responded to my overall issue other than showing everyone my initial email to you. If this is the way you handle your first “real” campaign with everyone that may or may not have issues or concerns, I’m sorry to say but I won’t be backing you any further. Your lack of communication prior to shipment speaks volumes. You could’ve easily reached out, explained the situation and offered another set then the one requested. But you purposely failed to notify any backer of this issue until now, to me.

And btw Andrew, this is a rhetorical statement to you. No response is needed.

[MagikFingerz]

Preface: On reddit, there's a subreddit called r/AITA - Am I The Asshole? There, people post a story and seek confirmation of their actions being reasonable/valid, or those of an asshole. Commenters post with abbreviations that are tallied up: NTA (Not the asshole), YTA (You're the asshole), or ESH (Everyone sucks here).

In this situation, I'd be inclined to say ESH. I agree with Kevin that the issue should have been communicated to him and the others earlier. I also see how this was a huge favor that they had no obligation to grant, and I completely understand that it's something that can cause stress during fulfillment. It's an unfortunate situation, and both parties should be understanding of the others' predicament. Too bad things turned out the way they did.

[Decknowledgy]

There are great backers who we love and we talk to a lot and do things to show our appreciation, then there are toxic backers.

Kevin - due to your instantly entitled and demanding approach to a FAVOUR we were doing you and then to come on here and post private messages from us in public.....if you ever try to back one of our decks in future, we will see it and instantly refund you. Your backing is no longer welcome.

It's a real shame this sort of thing happens, but we deserve a level of respect, just like everyone else and we have our limits.

Just seeing this is not a good sign and approach to treat and "sort" backers imo. I've not backed the previous ones, but this kind of comment have been seen in some of the most toxic, if not banned, creators that's come to UC.

Like it's always been with KS campaigns, communication is 1000% important for a successful reputation.

[hsbc]

I mean, have you ever worked in any sort of retail or customer service job? People can be entitled, arrogant, rude, selfish, and worse

No one should be posting emails. If Cartamundi didn't get the numbering right, then VXD ought to wait until they rectify that and then deliver the full matching set. It's a favor, sure, but it's also a commitment between a business and a customer and ought to be honored if possible. From what I understand, matching numbers for people is much more logistically difficult than it sounds, so swearing off VXD projects because something they tried to do was "too stressful" seems like an overreaction. Also it's a very bad look to just straight-up ban someone from buying your things, especially over... this...?

Come on everyone

[Bradius]

It should be pointed out that I am fairly sure all established playing card creators have their own list of people they don’t want to do business with. Each for their own reasons. The creators I am talking about are good folks, and try to make their customers happy. I can tell you, you will never make everyone happy all the time. It can’t be done. It should be attempted though. As far as I can see VXD did try its best to accommodate these requests. It appears there was a problem on Cartamundi’s end with some of the low numbers. Think about this from their perspective. They aren’t getting any more extra money for this, and a lot of headaches. Yes, they agreed. But seriously? If this is the best complaint you got, I am with VXD on this. If I paid extra for a specific number (which I have done ) okay. Otherwise, I don’t see anything here other than going forward folks can EXPECT not to get specific number requests granted! If that is the only reason you will back a deck, then you are crazier than me (which is saying a lot, because ... just look at my photos of what I order. I have a problem.)

[brownsl]

You do have a problem with what you order. It makes me feel that my problem is not so bad!

I agree with everything you said but I think better communication with those this impacted would have been good and might have avoided the angry feelings.

[Decknowledgy]

Just to clarify that I'm not taking sides on this issue, but that statement alone has often come from problematic creators and members on this forum, and it ticks off a sign of warning in my experience on UC.

[VXD]

Changing the subject back to positive & what I should be posting about here on UC...

Epic tuck artwork by Lance (now finished):

[Bradius]

That looks great. After looking at my foiled versions, I am probably focusing on those. I really like the foil combined with the holographics. I think they complement each other. Also, as I have handled the Las Vegas Ultraviolet deck today, I am finding the handling keeps improving as Ilightly and carefully handle the deck.

[VXD]

Brad

That's great to hear re the handling. The comments on the KS and elsewhere suggest people have been pleasantly surprised with the handling, given the 3 layers of foiling we apply. Hearing that the handling can also improve slightly with use is also great news. These are things that only experienced playing card aficionados will pick up, so I very much appreciate that feedback.

Thanks also for the compliments on the artwork. Lance will be happy to hear that.

Cheers

[VXD]

Brad

Are you talking about these? :